Waiting...

There are some opportunities afoot for me, but they’re just taking forever to materialize. I’m getting impatient (which must completely surprise all of you) and I’m finding my motivation waning, which is frustrating. I don’t want to be that person. The one who checks out mentally long before they’re gone – because everyone dislikes that person. Including me. And I have no assurance of any kind that I’ll actually be going anywhere anyway. So…yeah.

K and I have been making regular excursions to the gym, and what I’m trying to figure out now is what I can do that won’t hurt my friggin’ back. At present, most things do to some degree, but it’s a matter of figuring out what counts as “discomfort” and what counts as “pain” or “damage”. And whether or not it’s just a matter of being in poor condition, or a matter of some physiological damage. So, there’s that. I want to commit to swimming one day a week, starting in February, though. We’ll see if declaring it in a public forum makes me feel more accountable.

Probably won’t, but can’t hurt.

I’m curious to see what taxes will be like this year. K and I had that big ol’ panic back a few months ago and took action to try to remedy it – now it’s time to see what the Feds think about it! (And the State of Maryland.) If they think we owe them money, please be forewarned that I am likely to use some very un-Christian language to describe my thoughts on the matter. It might involve some references to my 10-year old Hyundai again, also. (God bless it, it still runs just fine!! Let’s all hope it stays that way!)

As a little update – we did our taxes last night and for whatever reason, the IRS income tax calculator was way, way off for us, and we’re getting a huge refund! As much as we are tempted to go with our original plan of a trip to Vietnam, and trust me, it’s very tempting, we’re instead going to use a tiny bit for fun money, half for debt, and half to hold onto in case we have to move. If we don’t, then that will go to debt, too.

I have to say, for the first time in a long time, I actually feel optimistic about our finances. Things like home ownership are still a long way off for us, but I feel like we’ll be able to make some really good progress this year.

And we are totally going to save up for a trip to Vietnam and Australia next year. That is not a trip we want to do with little kids, and we don’t want to wait 15 more years to do it.

Of course, having actually been foolish enough to write out all that unbridled optimism, I’m sure that something is now going to come and kick us straight in the ass. I’ll keep you all posted…