Between taking Sara and Jeremy to lunch at Granite City last Sunday (we figured we would do something nice for them because they are having marriage issues; Brian actually invited Jeremy to over to help him fix his computer so that he could take his mind off things but it was good to see that Sara came with him; we were glad that they were doing things together because it seemed the situation was improving), paying for dinner with Jen at Sumo last night (it was less hassle to just pay for everything because it confuses servers when you make them start splitting things up; if we had Ken it would have been different because he is smart; we ended up getting a different guy this time and he didn’t look like he would be smart enough to figure it out so Brian and I just said whatever and paid for Jen’s food as well; it was easier that way; although, I did tell Jen that she owes us a pizza night for buying her food; lol), and all the other times Brian and I have dined by ourselves this week, we have probably spent well over $200. On a side note, Sunday brunch at Granite City is pretty good. Although, not as good as champagne brunch at Legends which is still my favorite brunch buffet in town. Oh, Jeremy and I agreed that we do not like the cheesy, soggy hash browns (Jeremy and I had the breakfast buffet, while Brian and Sara both ordered from the menu). We like our hash browns crispy. But I digress.. My car is dying yet I can’t buy a new one because I’m afraid that we can’t afford it. This week made me realize how ridiculous Brian and I really are. We need to stop eating my car payment and just buy me a freakin’ car once and for all! Of course, we probably still won’t buy me a car because things never work out the way we planned. A few months ago we started setting money aside to buy a new microwave. We’ve needed one since the day we moved in. Okay, maybe not that long but for a couple of years now we’ve been thinking of buying a new microwave. We finally put the money together and were ready to buy it three weeks ago. We’ve been so busy that we’ve put off buying our microwave and now we can’t even but it anymore. Brian figured our taxes and we have to pay $1600 this year. The microwave money and then some is going to that. I’m actually kind of glad that we didn’t buy the microwave because then it will be that much less that we have to come up with. That’s actually the reason for going to Outback the other night. We were celebrating the joys of living in the US. LOL. I guess sarcasm doesn’t come through too well on text. Brian absolutely hates living in this country would move to the Philippines in a heartbeat. But that’s beside the point. We don’t really eat out all that much because we have been pretty frugal of late. Treating Sara and Jeremy to lunch on Sunday was something that we wanted to do for them because they are great people and we don’t want them to get divorced. The rest of it I think is just a backlash to how miserable life can be sometimes. You take two steps forward and then have to take five steps back. Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out and things are falling into place, something happens to throw off the balance. So as Brian and I are finally getting our finances in order, my car starts falling apart, our house starts falling apart (okay, so maybe this one is recent but has been going on for a long time), we have to pay taxes this year instead of getting a refund (we were actually banking on putting the refund toward the house renovation fund; I guess it just wasn’t meant to be; we are meant to live in a dilapidated hell hole or so it seems) and on and on and on. Seriously, though, in the 28 years I’ve lived in this world the one thing that I live by is “Never give up; Never surrender” (straight out of Galaxy Quest; the lessons I’ve learned in life are all from movies and comedies at that; just kidding). There are many challenges that will come your way. That is to be expected. Just be strong, keep your integrity (yes, Uncle Sam, you will get paid this year even though Brian and I are absolutely loathe to do so) and keep on keepin’ on.

This was an “I’m Sorry” gift from Ray to make up for the fiasco of several weeks ago. Jen wanted me to take a picture of it so that she could blog about it. They have the weirdest relationship ever.

Anyway, Ray really pissed off the family because of what he did. I thought I reacted badly (I’m over it now) but my dad actually reacted far worse. After the incident he proceeded to delete every single vacation picture with Ray in it.

I don’t even do stuff like that. At least when I get mad, I just vent by blogging. I don’t delete people’s pictures. Dad does the most eccentric, adorable things. He just makes me laugh sometimes.