I Confess

I have a confession.

I used to be a shop-a-holic.

Ok wait, I still am. It's just that all of my credit cards are either cut off, closed, or maxed out, so there fore I am a recovering shop-a-holic. Ugh.

Impulse shopping was my worst, especially on make up. I'll admit, I have a closet full of clothes and some are expensive, BUT, I wear them. I love them. With makeup, I have so much sitting brand new (probably expired), that I just had to have because of cute packaging. I'm a sucker. I do wear the clothes though.

Or at least those that..ah-hem... don't seem to have shrunk. What's that about? ;)

Anyhow, I can't impulse shop anymore. Or shop at all for that matter. We're trying to get finances in order and this time I am trying to stay committed. I rarely shop here, mainly because we have no money and I am sure husband would kill me if he knew I used a credit card. Some of them I just refuse to cut up, like Old Navy. It's the only thing that allows me to shop at Gap without having to buy one piece at a time, and without having to apply for their credit card. We have to have it for kids school clothes, summer clothes, etc. But, I still haven't been using it though it kills me to have that available credit.

Well in light of my attempt at not shopping, I have developed a new (bad?) habit.

I am an impulse traveler.

If you recall last week, we planned a Girls Cruise this fall. I already have plans of using my birthday money to pay for it. Then husband finds this. A ferry service on a small cruise ship from Ft Lauderdale to Freeport Bahamas. The poor guy was just trying to research an option for a family vacation that we can actually afford, and showed that to me. I mentioned it to my grandma in passing, just making conversation, and she got so excited about it that I felt like I need to take her. About 6 years ago my grandpa had open heart surgery. He's probably more healthy than anyone else his age (78), but mentally he is just not. He is 100% competent, they drive themselves, etc, but he is just in a funk. I guess it's part of getting old, but he just likes to sit around and sleep. So they never go anywhere, and I feel bad about that. They used to be heavy travelers, they've been so many neat places. Before we moved away, we took my grandma with us everywhere- well, we invited her, she wasn't always able to go. I feel bad because she is SO lively (at 76 years old!) and healthy, but feels like she need to be home with him.

So when I told her about the ferry she went on and on about how she'd LOVE to do it, especially since with good planning it could be done in a 3 day weekend, which is about as long as she will come down for. She doesn't like to leave him alone long, though he is fine.

I got the wheels turning and now my two kids, mother in law, grandma, and myself are headed to Freeport Bahamas at the end of July. I know I sound like I'm complaining, I'm really not. Once you've been to the Bahamas once though, I think most people see no need to go back just because there honestly isn't much there. So we compromised on a one night trip- just so we can say we went to the Bahamas for the weekend. It always makes me feel good to do something for her, to make her smile. I wish, daily, that I could just convince them to move down here and move in with me, so I could take care of them. They can take care of themselves, but you know, I could just be there. I am probably most close to them than anyone else in my family, and my world will be very dark when they are no longer in it.

Ok anyhow, before I upset myself for totally unnecessary reasons, we booked the trip. We are all excited, everything is mapped out and I must say that I think I had some hiden travel agent skills. It took quite the arranging to get them down here, to the bahamas and back within a 4 day 3 night time span, including reserving 5 different hotel nights at 2 separate locations, 5 ferry tickets and 2 airline tickets.. With my birthday money already spent on the girls cruise, my only other thought is

How the hell am I going to pay for this??

I'll get back to you on that one, as ideas are still forthcoming. Actually I have no ideas, so hopefully some will come forth. :)

I could always use that massive tax credit that we will get in paychecks now. A whopping $15 per paycheck. I'm sorry, I realize that over the course of millions of people, this equals a lot of money being pumped back into the economy. But seriously, $15 per paycheck? What does this do for the average family who is struggling and already so far behind? Notta, in my opinion. Something is better than nothing, but $15 isn't going to go far. Especially when you have to air condition a 2 story house in the summer in FL.

OK that's all that I have to say for now. It's another stormy night here, so I won't be sleeping for quite awhile. Ugh. I seriously hate storms, it is my one major turn off about living here. When you move away from mountains, a thunderstorm on flat land is a whole new experience. Lightening lights up for miles, the thunder never seems to end. Why can't it storm during the day when I can keep a better eye on things??