Mixed Emotions

If I wasn't so relieved, I might feel guilty. Over at the Teaching LJ community, there's another post about job cuts up tonight. My heart goes out to teachers who found a spot that fits them - and then lost it. There's a post every couple of days.

But it seems like while everyone else is getting laid off, we're doing better than ever. Three months ago, we finished paying off the Hunk's student loan. Two months ago, we paid off the loan we'd taken out to fix the roof of our house. And this past month, we paid off my student loan.

And then...

One of the APs brought me in for a sit-down talk (OH NO!) and cautiously informed me that there had been a mistake with my contract. (OH NO!!) Not that I didn't have one at all, but the state had issued the wrong type. (Okay, not QUITE as oh no as I was thinking.) So I'm doing my best to keep my cool as she explains how it happened, and that as a result, I was one step lower on the pay scale than I should've been.

For three and a half years.

Oh my!

SO, yeah. I was SO glad I was already signed up for direct deposit, because having to keep track of that check on the way to the bank would've made me awfully nervous! We're not just going nuts spending it all, but....

we've made a few upgrades to our plans for this summer! We were already hoping to go, since we knew we'd have fewer bills each month, but this meant we were able to pay for the reservation up front.

Also, I got two pair of pants and an adorable lavendar tunic-length cardigan from J. Jill, and a dark pair of jeans from Lane Bryant. And two super-twirly skirts for dance class (one in white chiffon, the other in this luscious green satin). But those were birthday presents!

(Tangent: the Hunk pouted a tiny bit because I squealed more about my green twirly skirt than I did about the book he got me - an omnibus of Lang's rainbow Fairy Books. But I'd ordered my skirts off the 'net, and neither one had arrived after several weeks, and then the J Jill stuff arrived almost immediately and I got nervous and I thought maybe it wasn't coming at ALL! And I kind of resigned myself to that possibilty, so then when it DID show up I was surprised and delighted.)

We still need to pay our taxes - gotta do that soon! - and then after that sit down and take a look at our spending practices. I want to make sure that this wonderful opportunity doesn't wind up allowing us to develop bad habits.