I have a headache...

I was actually trying to avoid updating today, as I'm in something of a bad mood, but since someone demands an update, here goes.

You asked for it, Chera. ;~p

Where to start? At the beginning, I suppose? Okay, fine. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. God saw that the light was good; and separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Oh, not that far back? But it's so much more interesting than my week!

*sighs* Alright, alright, you win. Here's the jist of how things are here right now:

#1. We're within the "90 days before our second anniversary" during which we have to file paperwork with the INS to have the "conditions" removed from Stephen's Permanent Residency. What conditions, you ask? Why, simply the fact that his green card was only good for two years, since his immigration was based on a married less than two years old. So, basically, we have to file to say, "yes, we're still married, and yes, he wants to stay in the country". All of this is really just an excuse to milk another $275 out of us, which I've managed to not only put away, but start to build up our savings a little bit too (and by "build up" I mean we've only got about $175 in savings, but it's better than nothing, right?). Now, all of this would be well and good except for...

#2. We don't have insurance on our car. I know, it's wrong. I am well aware of how screwed we'd be if we did get into an accident without it. But I'm also the one who balances our checkbook every week, and as such I'm also keenly aware of how much we can't afford for an insurance company to be ripping us off (because all insurance premiums are a rip off). However, our time of non-insurance was rapidly approaching its end, because as soon as we had another payday after the $275 to the INS, we were going to get car insurance. We're talking another two weeks here. Three at most.

#3. Apparently, the middle brake light on my car--you know, the one in the middle of the back window?--was out. Stephen, who's been out doing garden department resets in Home Depot stores other than his own, was on his way to work at just after 3 o' clock yesterday morning (yes, a.m.), when he discovered this. How did he discover this from inside the car, you ask? Well, because the police officer told him so after he pulled Stephen over for it, of course!

#4. Now, in the course of the next week or two we've got to send out Stephen's paperwork to the INS with their $275; before we leave for Stephen's last garden reset (less than 48 hours away), we have to get the car insured (because we have to have insurance before he has to be in court anyway if we're to have a prayer of getting the $550 ticket knocked down at all, and because if we should happen to get pulled over again and ticketed for the same thing twice in one week we'd be in trouble), for which it looks like we'll be paying about a $150 "down payment" thingy to get it started; we have to actually go to this final reset, which lasts for two days, and we're staying in a little motel near the store he's resetting in ($105 for two nights, plus we'll have to get a few groceries so we can eat while we're there); all at the same time that our gym membership payment is due, our storage unit payment is due, gas prices are steeply rising (hey guys, it's spring break time, let's raise gas prices so we can make even more of a profit! *evil laughter ensues*), groceries have to be bought, tithe taken out (I don't have a problem with this in the least--I love taking tithe out--but it still has to be figured into my calculations), and whatever else happens to come up in the next week or so. Bah.

*raises high a glass of sparkling cider in each hand* Welcome to the real world, Elizabeth. Now stop whining and get on with it. *clinks glasses together*

*ends up spilling half the cider while trying to take a sip out of both glasses at once*