Author: Shara

3 Down, 3 To Go….

~ Shara ~ 8 Comments

Today is a day to celebrate: yesterday, I paid off one of my remaining four student loans. *throws confetti*

Back when I graduated with my M.A., I had accumulated seven student loans. Two of them were my undergrad, and because I consolidated after getting my B.A., those two loans are treated as one BIG loan, even though it’s broken down on my bill. The other five loans stand for each term at grad school (a term amounting to half a year). It took me five terms to get my degree, one more than it should’ve, but that’s a story for another day.

In 2009, my husband and I refinanced the home. We paid off the cars and still got a lower interest-rate, and one of the options we considered was folding my student loans into the refinancing package. I said no: I get tax credits on student loan interest, and while I can claim interest paid to the mortgage company, it doesn’t work the same way on our taxes. So we didn’t, and I worked out a very detailed plan to pay off my student loans faster than paying the minimum would allow: I’d pay the minimum on all the loans except for the one with the highest interest rate, and throw extra money at it until it was gone, and then do the same thing for the next loan with a high interest rate, and so on and so forth.

I paid off my first loan in 2011, about three months ahead of schedule. I paid my second loan in 2012, and I’m still ahead of schedule. Yesterday, my payment was received for my third loan, and yes, I’m still about three months ahead of schedule. And so I will continue. I keep sending the same amount of money every month to the loan company, but all the extra over the minimum is targeted at one loan.

The next one I’m targeting is my undergrad loan, which won’t be paid off until next year. Then the last two will be paid off in 2015. And then I’ll be done.

When I’m done, we’re talking about moving. Getting me a new car. Maybe even going to the U.K. to celebrate. But when that day comes, it’s going to be a huge relief. My student loans aren’t as large as some, but they exist: I didn’t have parents paying for my college education. That being said, I know I’m very fortunate to have enough income to throw extra money at those loans. It’s a nice cushion to have, especially if we ever run into a situation where I have to use that extra money for something else: if that happens, I can always pay the minimum. Some people, I know, aren’t that lucky.

But today is a celebration day. Three loans down. Three to go. BRING IT.

Our Daily What?

~ Shara ~ 2 Comments

Yesterday, I was Skyping with a friend of mine and I was telling her how I have a small list of things I’d like to do and/or am doing daily. They are:

1) Read one issue of Hellblazer.

2) Walk the neighborhood (weather permitting).

3) Write one page in current project (which is Space Vampires).

4) Write a blog entry at Calico in Transition.

So, how’s that working out for me? Continue reading →

When Trampolines Attack!

~ Shara ~ Leave a comment

So. For the past four or so years, Tennessee has been hit with massive flooding, rain storms, hail, and torandoes. This happens pretty much every spring, and every spring, when the weather finally starts warming up, hearing that thunderstorm is coming also means we need to get our cars covered and keep one eye out for funnel clouds.

Three years ago, we had to replace our roof & guttering due to hail damage. Last year, our neighbor’s trampoline flew into our yard during a storm and dented the brand new gutter. Since that was all the damage, and his insurance wouldn’t cover the cost of replacing it because he had his trampoline weighed down based on their guidelines, we decided not to get it fixed. The neighbor was happy to pay for it himself, but we decided not to bother. Good thing.

Thursday, we got hit. The National Weather Service says it was a thunderstorm with winds reaching up to 100 mph, but people around here swear there was a tornado. Whatever the case, at 8:30 pm the storm REALLY hit hard and while I decided to see if we had hail, the neighbor’s trampoline took a flying leap and hit the house and then rolled alongside our house to get stuck on our porch.

The damage: the gutter we should have but DIDN’T replace last year? A new dent! But this year, we have three panels of siding broken, one broken so badly it shows the wood beneath. My husband suited up that night in a rain jacket, got the neighbor, and removed the trampoline from our property and investigated and talked about the damage. Neighbor is a nice guy, but not the brightest: he doesn’t think his insurance will cover anything because the trampoline was weighted down (he should’ve been using stakes though, not sandbags, and also: when you hear a big storm is coming and you KNOW your trampoline likes to attack the neighbors? You should take it down before the storm. Or at least turn it upside down). My husband stressed, however, that we’re getting this fixed this year, so we’re hoping that if his insurance says no, he’s going to pay. We’ll find out soon, once we get our own estimate, which likely won’t be more than our own deductible, and we’re not going to claim it on our insurance regardless, just because we shouldn’t have to and also, a lot of insurance companies in this area have a “three strikes in five years, you’re out” rule. Which means I don’t want to add a second strike when I shouldn’t have to.

But the damage could’ve been so much worse: the trampoline didn’t hit the window, so that’s a relief. And we don’t have trees, otherwise the would’ve been bent over, broken, or completely uprooted, which is what I saw Friday morning while driving to work.

Tornado or not, it was bad. I’m really tired of these storm systems, but every geographic location has some kind of SOMETHING that makes the location somewhat undesirable. Like getting lots of snow. Or having ungodly heat. Or being subject to hurricanes. Or earthquakes. There’s always something. It’s just that in this neck of the woods, that SOMETHING used to be rare. It sure as hell didn’t happen like clockwork every year.

Stupid climate change….

Storm Shadow vs. The Dentist

~ Shara ~ 10 Comments

I’ve been horribly lax about updating lately, and I can only apologize. The past few weeks have been busy, and I haven’t wanted to be on the computer much, if at all. Today, however, I have a breather, so I’m going to tell you about my cat, Storm Shadow and his recent visits (yes, plural) to the vet.

Last Friday was Storm Shadow’s least favorite day of the year: the annual trip to the vet’s office. It’s not just the fact that it’s a different, strange place where they give him shots and poke and pod him. It’s the fact that every trip is some combination of this:

P cubed + D + lots of yeowling = car ride

What are those variables, you might ask? Continue reading →

Spring Fever and Cookies!

~ Shara ~ 10 Comments

So some of you eagle-eyed readers may have noticed I’ve been quiet lately. Quiet, and if the two-weeks’ lack of progress reports is any indication, not writing. You’re right on both accounts. I’ve been feeling utterly blah and uninspired, unable to muster even the tiniest amount of motivation for anything at all, including work.

I spoke to a friend of mine last week who rightly called it Spring Fever. A funny thing to have, given the weather. I’m not located in one of the many parts of the US that’s been lambasted by snow, but today, the outside looks like a furious snowglobe, and while nothing is sticking, it lifts my spirits.

Weirdly — and I say this is weird since I’m not a domestic housewife by any means — the only thing satisfying lately is cleaning and baking. The former is weird because I like to put off cleaning until it’s absolutely necessary, but Saturday I woke up, stripped the bed down to the mattress, and washed every damn thing that goes on the bed that I could. Which doesn’t sound very impressive, but when you have a mattress pad AND an allergy cover (it covers both the mattress itself AND the mattress pad), you’ll understand I was in for a long day of laundry. I also vacuumed the bejeezus out of the bedroom, so hopefully, my allergies will thank me. Because they certainly don’t thank me when the cat sleeps on my head.

Baking is a running joke in my family because I don’t cook. I can screw up the most simple of instructions (seriously: I once tried cooking a Hot Pocket without its pocket, and it wasn’t like I didn’t know better!), but I really have a soft spot for baking. As long as the recipe isn’t too intimidating, I’m happy to try it. My hips and waistline aren’t so happy, so I have to be careful.

But this weekend, I tried the whole wheat recipe in the bread machine, and that was… disappointing. I think there were a number of factors involved, namely it missed one of its kneading cycles because the dough got stuck at the top of the pan and away from the kneading blade, and I didn’t catch that until the first cycle passed (not my fault that I couldn’t observe the cycle, and I won’t go into why). The bread itself turned out rather lopsided and really dense and, well, wheaty, so I think next time, I’m going to add more butter. Possibly more brown sugar. I like my bread sweet. Sue me. 🙂

However, I did have a baking triumph. Giraffe Days posted a recipe yesterday for Andes Mint Cookies, and once I read the instructions, I knew I had to make them ASAP, as I am a lover of Devil’s Food and Andes Mints. 🙂 Today, I picked up my ingredients and whipped up a batch right after dinner, and I must say: they are yummy! If you’re like me, and prefer easy recipes and don’t require everything be made from scratch (the devil’s food mix came out of a box, yo), then you’ll be really, really happy with these. I know I am. They’re fast and easy too, which means this recipe will be my go-to if there’s an event I need to bring something for.

As for the rest of my apathy, I’m hoping I’ll shake out of this mood soon. Writing-wise, the apathy deserves its own post, so I’ll wrap it up here with a simple HUZZAH for successful cookies!

Facebook Withdrawal

~ Shara ~ 2 Comments

The title of this post is misleading. That’s rather intentional, but I’m trying an experiment and I’m officially on day two with total success.

That experiment? No longer checking Facebook on my iPhone.

Some of you will read that and immediately understand why I’m doing this. For those of you who don’t, let me explain:

Continue reading →

The Call of (Jury) Duty

~ Shara ~ 7 Comments

It’s over. Thank God.

I’ve never done jury duty before this week. I’d been summoned back when I was in college, but because I attended college out-of-state, it was an easy thing to get out of, because I wasn’t even going to be in town. But when I got my summons last year for this year, I swore a blue streak. On principle, I didn’t mind the idea of serving on a jury. I minded the interruption to my daily routine and the hassle it was going to take to make sure that my job didn’t suffer in my absence.

I’m not going to talk about specifics of my case, but I am going to talk about the process and the TYPE of case it was, as well as the verdict. I will say this, though: if you ever have the opportunity to serve on a jury and it doesn’t pose a financial hardship to you, do it. Seriously. Yeah, it’s an interruption and it’s stressful depending on the type of case you have to hear, but it’s utterly fascinating and educational. I’m not a patriot or anything, and I’ll be the first to tell you, when it comes to civic duty, I’m pretty ambivalent. But having an inside view of how the justice system works, to be a part of it, is really, really important. It gives you a new perspective on your community and law enforcement. It can reinforce already held views, but really, it made me feel a part of a the community in a way I never imagined. So while I’ll still grumble about speed traps and photo surveillance of traffic, I have a new appreciation for what the police force has to do when a crime’s committed and what the legal system goes through to follow up.

Yeah, I was on a murder trial.

Continue reading →

Middle School Moment

~ Shara ~ 2 Comments

The following post will be put behind a cut (or, for you email readers, you’ll have to click through to read the full post) for the sake of the squeamish, particularly men. The following post is not graphic in any form or fashion, but it does discuss the visitor women get every month, so even though the story I’m about to tell is funny in a “thank god that wasn’t me” kind of way, if the existence of how a woman’s body functions (or how my body functions) grosses you out, stop reading now (especially if you’re reading this on a feed).

Continue reading →

Progress Report: 3/10/2013

~ Shara ~ 12 Comments

It’s been a hard week. Work’s been busy and stressful for not just me, but those in my immediate circle, which affects me. Writing was often the last thing on my mind, which is making me wonder if I shouldn’t go back to the page-a-day method that got me through Magic Elves, even if I’m not posting said page daily for my accountability readers. We’ll see. This week has the potential to be thoroughly interesting, but not fun and not conducive to a good head-space for writing.

Project Code Name: Space Vampires
Word Count This Week: 1,512 words
Total Project Word Count: 3,057 words
Status: Chapter One is almost complete. It’s a crappy dump of info, but it’s a necessary dump of info, and I have to remind myself that in the first draft, this is okay. Revision is the time to iron that stuff out and make things subtle. Right now, it’s just important to get the story on the page.

Other Accomplishments: the hubby and I spent Saturday running errands, and we picked up a new toner cartridge for my printer and a few reams of paper. We’re going to attempt to print out Telepathic Soulmates ourselves. Which shouldn’t sound like an impressive endeavor, but we’re going to try to print DOUBLE-SIDED on a printer that only prints SINGLE-SIDED! If that doesn’t work, I’ll take the file to the local print shop, because I really want a hard copy for editing. The tentative plan is to have that sucker out the door and begging for agents by the end of April. We’ll see.

Cat on My Head

~ Shara ~ 9 Comments

My cat has a few pretty regular habits.

He almost always gets on my lap when I’m reading at lunch.

He almost always gets on my lap when I’m reading before bed.

He almost always lies on my head while I’m asleep.

The latter is one of those things that truly tests whether or not you’re a cat person. As long as he does this while I’m asleep (in other words, he doesn’t make a beeline for my pillow while I’m trying to fall asleep), I’m good with it. The problem I have is when he wakes up and decides to start biting my hair, or sticking his wet nose in my ear or on my face.

The bigger problem is that he’s a BIG cat. 17-18 lbs worth of cat. And if I wake up in the middle of the night and want to readjust my position, getting my head out from under those 17-18 lbs is difficult. And sometimes, I lose my pillow in the process.

Last night was one such night: woke up at 3:30 am with a migraine (yay, sinuses!), and I knew I needed to take something. So I did. And when I came back to bed, the cat was completely sprawled all over my pillow, with a leg hanging off the edge of it. It was rather cute, and I proved my cat person-ness: instead of forcing him to move (and therefore meow in protest, and therefore waking up my husband), I simply hauled myself to the living room, grabbed an extra blanket and a space heater, and tried to sleep off the migraine on the loveseat. I halfway succeeded.

I love my cat. 🙂 But here’s hoping that he spends tonight beside us on the bed, rather than on my pillow (and therefore my head). 🙂