Crossing fingers

As Monday, March 1st approaches, I am crossing my fingers. I have paid off all deragatory collections on my credit report except for one. Unfortunately, I had my credit checked four times this month (on the same day) to see about qualifying for a home loan. I had pulled my credit report a few days ago and my scores went way down because of those checks for the home loans. I was told after 30 days, it will combine into one check instead of four. So March 1st is the day I can check my credit again (apparantly you can check your own credit as much as you want without being penalized). So Monday will be the day to see if everything I have done is for something. Worst comes to worst, I may have to wait one additional month. We'll see.

Nothing planned for this weekend. I am dirt poor again and every paycheck is going towards bills and keeping them current. I can't wait for my GI Bill to come in and my TA to get paid to my college so I can have extra money in my pocket. It seems that everytime you try to get ahead or do what is right, it takes you three steps backwards.

It looks like I will finally be going to a school for my civilian job. It will be in Wisconsin for two weeks around the end of July, beginning of August. Don't worry, Mom, I'll be home for your birthday. So nothing is planned for this weekend except sitting at home and vegging out on the tv.

Looking for...

...the money tree, the ca$h cow, free money. I just want money. I am back into my own predicament I eventually get to every year. Pay the bills, get caught up, and stuff happens. I mainly mean that whole letter from the IRS saying I owe them from a few years ago. I still haven't gone to H&R Block yet, but I am still preparing for the worst. I finally got all my collections paid off of my credit-minus one-which is still good, and have caught everything up to where nothing is late right now. Now, I have to just sit and wait for my credit score to slowly climb up. Don't know how long that will take.

I am also trying to get the military to pay the Tuition Assistance to my school from 2 classes ago because the school used up my Pell Grant to cover all my classes. Once the TA starts getting sent to the school, it will get sent right to my pocket. Which will help A LOT.

I have been despising the Olympics these last two weeks. It is interefering with my regularly broadcasted shows. Although HEROES already did their season finale before the Olympics started, CHUCK had just started their season. I honestly believe some of the other shows on the other stations are showing re-runs because of the Olympics. Just make an Oympic Channel for the Olympics, you make a channel for everything else.

I have started watching KITCHEN NIGHTMARES which stars Gordon Ramsey. He goes to regular businesses and tries to help them out to bring their restaurants up to par. It is just so funny watching these owners be so bitc*y to him that they know what they are doing. I like HELL'S KITCHEN a lot better and can't wait for the next season.

Well, I ain't really got nothing else to write about. We'll see about tomorrow.

Feeling better

Well, I am feeling better, as far as health-wise. However, I just received a letter from the IRS this past weekend. It appears I owe them a little bit of money from a few years ago. So I will take those documents from that year and the letter to H&R Block, since I always use them, to see if it will still stand. I may have to pay it though, but we shall see.

I did watch three movies this past weekend. CABIN FEVER 2:SPRING FEVER. This movie was stupid. The first one was not too terribly bad, but this one definately was B-rated. Not worth it. I also saw LAW ABIDING CITIZEN. This movie was amazing. I was just shocked about how everything happened and how it ended. I am not going to go into details on it, but it is definately a great movie to watch. The last movie I watched was A PERFECT GETAWAY. Another great movie. I was trying to figure it out throughout the whole movie, but in the end, I was wrong. It did a good job of keeping the movie going and the movie watcher guessing.

Don't know when I'll plan on watching more. I am too busy trying to keep things paid and getting things paid off right now. I hate stress.

Sick as a Dog

That is how I feel right now and have been feeling the last couple of days. I think it is food poisoning. This past weekend we went up to the FIL's and his wife had made some salsa and gave us some to take home Sunday night. We brought it home and everything. The next day, Monday, I asked my wife where the salsa was, although I had no chips. Apparantly we brought it in the house, but did not put it in the fridge Sunday night, so it had sat out all night Sunday and all day Monday. I put it in the fridge and bought chips on Tuesday. I figure I've got an iron stomach and I very rarely get sick. Well, Wednesday night, I wasn't feeling too good. Yesterday, I was fine, but then last night started feeling sick again. This morning I am still feeling it. I don't know. I have been starting to get sick a lot lately. Maybe it just comes with getting older.

Be sure to click on my brother's blog on the right. Yesterday he posted about our dad, who passed away 25 years ago. There is a post about him a little bit in memory of him.

Have a few movies at home to watch this weekend. Can't remember what they are right now, but I'll be sure to post about them next week. I am looking forward to this weekend as I do not have drill and I am not traveling anywhere. Maybe, just maybe, I can relax and get better. We'll see.

Couldn't think of a good one today. Title that is. The weekend was good, got to get out of town even if it was just leaving Saturday and returning Sunday. The kids got to play in the snow for a few minutes when I stopped to get gas. The only snow we came across was in Heber/Overgaard area. The sides of the road had snow piled up almost as tall as my van. So when I stopped to get gas, we pulled all three dogs and all three kids out and went and played in the snow a little. We then headed up the rest of the way to the FIL's. Stayed overnight and returned the next day.

I did watch AMELIA and found it a little boring as far as the story. However, as far as historical, I enjoyed it and learned a few things. I did watch UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION and it was worst than the second one. Of course I watched THE HANGOVER and THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE again. I can watch those movies a few times and still enjoy them. Watched THE STEPFATHER and was unimpressed. I know this was a remake, but it was far from being labeled as Horror or Thriller. COUPLES RETREAT was another I watched and thought was pretty funny. Any movie that has Vince Vaughn and Jon Favura in is going to be hilarious.

Hoping to hear good news next month when I am able to pull my credit scores again. Hopefully they will be high enough to get my VA loan and start looking at purchasing a house. Until then, it is all just wishful thinking. That doesn't stop me from looking though. Well, that's all I have for today.

Holiday weekend

Yay, it's a holiday weekend. I am only excited because I get monday off. It's always nice to get a 3 day weekend after working 12 days straight. I'll be leaving tomorrow morning to head up to northeastern AZ to the FIL's place. Maybe even see snow on the way. That will be fun for the kids.

I watched SURROGATES last night starring Bruce Willis. That was a lot different than what I had seen from the previews. I thought the storyline was a different way than it actually was. I thought it was a great concept and it was really believable as well. At least it was better than a lot of other movies I have seen recently.

I have two more to watch tonight. AMELIA and UNIVERSAL SOLDIER the third one, forget the rest of the title. After I watch those tonight, I will pick up COUPLES RETREAT and THE TIME TRAVELERS WIFE. I had already seen the last one, but the wife wants to watch it. It was a great movie as well and worth watching again. I am also picking up THE HANGOVER to take to the FIL's place. He hasn't seen it yet and it is so hilarious, I could watch it over and over.

Finally received my final grades in my last class and I passed with an A. I am almost finished with my first week in my current class, no grades for this week until after Tuesday. The first week seems simple enough, it is the last 3 weeks I am skittish about as it has a lot of writing assignments. I am just looking forward to passing this class. I don't know why, but I have always looked at English as being the hardest class to take. We'll see.

Well, I'll update more when I return next week. Be safe and watch out for the idiots that are out drinking and driving.

Almost broke

Yes, a little over a week and a half of receiving my tax refund, I am almost broke. With my tax return, I paid some debts, cleaned up the collections off of my credit report, was able to spoil the kids a little, replace two tires, and pay a down payment on my oldest son to start getting braces. I think I was able to accomplish a lot and I am back on track again.

Although I only put a down payment on the braces and still have a monthly payment, I do have a couple of things that I will not being paying anymore in the next few months. So until then, things will still be tight. However, the outcome will be great as I will have two things paid off and will have a little extra money. This will also improve my credit score hopefully.

I watched a movie last night called NEW YORK, I LOVE YOU. I picked it up at Blockbuster because it had a lot of stars in it such as Ethan Hawke, Orlando Bloom, Christina Ricci, and many more. However, it was one of the lamest movies I had seen. It was like 10-15 segments of a couple of people living in New York and it would move on to the next scene. There was no story line. It seemed more like a staged documentary of why people loved New York. Not worth wasting time or money on this one.

I've got three more movies to watch before I leave Saturday to head up north. Probably post about those next week or maybe even tomorrow if I get through them all tonight. We'll see.

Feb Hump Day

Here it is mid week in February. Nothing much to post today. This past weekend I bought Super Mario Brothers for the WII for my boys. That is fun. Especially if you played all the Super Mario Brothers on the original Nintendo. At least this game doesn't hurt my arm like the WII Sports does.

Planning on going up to northeastern AZ this weekend to go to the Father in law's. From what I hear, we will be running into snow on the way up, but he usually doesn't get any that sticks. It is just the route we take, we will be going through a few feet of snow. Plan on leaving on Saturday and returning either Sunday or Monday, haven't decided yet.

Just started my next class. It looks like this one is harder than all the others than I have taken. When I say harder, I mean more work, longer papers, and reading I actually will have to do. Oh, well, get this done and I meet the requirements for English. After this class, I will officially be half way to my Bachelor's Degree.

Well, you all have a safe holiday weekend. I'll try to post more tomorrow as I have some movies to watch tonight.

I'm sore and grumpy

Well, I took the PT test this past weekend. I scored a 213 overall. I did improve my run time a little from a couple of weeks ago. I don't care, I still passed. Now I am reaping the rewards...sore legs and thighs and upper chest. I'm grumpy for a couple of reasons. First, the Vikings didn't make it to the Superbowl. I decided to route for the Colts. They lost. The commercials were weak this year. The best ones I liked were the Bud Light commercials and the one Doritos commercial where the kid slaps the guy and tells him to keep his hands of his momma and off his Doritos.

Friday night I watched ZOMBIELAND. It was more comedy than anything, so I guess it was ok. Saturday night I watched a movie called NINJA. I saw this at Blockbuster and decided to pick it up. Bad move. You know the movie is not going to be that great when you watch the previews for other movies and they all seem lame. The martial arts and action were awesome in this movie, but that was it. The acting and story line was so terrible.

Today is the last day for English Comp I. I am at an A right now, but have to wait a few days for my final grades. Tomorrow I begin English Comp II. I have already looked at what the class will have that I will need to do and I am already hating it. In my past classes, my essays were anywhere from 2-3 or 4-5 pages. Now in this class, they are asking for 8-10 pages and citing references which will be required. I am not that good at listing references. Oh, well, I guess we'll see how I do on this class. All I need to do is pass it though.

That's it for this weekend and today.

Just another Friday

Well, here it is, just another Friday. Just eating lunch right now. Soft Tacos from Chipotle. My Commander is coming in today from CA to be here for drill this weekend. She may show up to the office today, so I am cleaning a little. Watched WHIP IT last night. It is the movie about roller skating that Drew Barrymore directed and has Ellen Page (JUNO) in it. It was pretty good.

My tax return is almost spent now after cleaning up my credit and catching up on bills. Now I have to wait another year for a large sum of money because I know I won't win the powerball. I did win $10 from Wed night though. I am in my last week for my English Composition I class. I still have an A, but it ends on Tuesday and I won't have the final grades until probably next Friday. I start English Composition II on Tuesday.

Valentine's Day is coming up. Don't really have any plans. May go up to the FIL's that weekend as I will have Monday off for President's Day. If you haven't noticed, I added a few links to the right side of pages I go to frequently. As of right now, it is my little sister's blog (which she doesn't post that much because she does it more frequently on her MYSPACE page), my big brother's blog (a better read than my blog), IMDB which is where I go to find out about movies and actors that will be doing movies, and AZ Realty Agents (this is my older sister and her husbands real estate page). So if you are looking for a good read, want to be up to date on movies, or looking to buy a house in AZ, the links are to the right.

I did check IMDB last night and saw a few things coming out for this year. SAW VII will be released in Oct 2010. A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, a remake of the original. SHREK EVER AFTER, yes, another one. There are actually quite a few good ones, but can't remember them all right now. Well, have fun, probably won't post again until next week.

Blah...Blah...Blah

Nothing to report on the credit/home loan process at this time. Since I had bought my boys netbooks a few days ago, my wife complained that I am always spoiling the boys and not my daughter. The thing is, she is 5 years old. She is too young to have something like that. I have already told my wife that I plan on getting all 3 of them, to include the daughter, Nintendo DS's later this year. My wife continues to point out and throw examples out of everything I do for my sons, but not my daughter. Fine. Whatever. So I took my daughter out last night and we went shopping for clothes and shoes. Thank God for Clearance items.

Picked up some movies last night also. I'm not going to list them all now, but I'll post about them as I watch them. Last night I watched SAW VI. I enjoyed the first 3, but IV and V seemed like they were reaching. Now after watching VI, it seems to tie them together. This one I enjoyed more than the last two. I think it was great. Still no word on if they decide to go through with SAW VII yet or not. I have seen it on www.imdb.com as they may do it, but I haven't checked on it recently. I did finally watch THE BLIND SIDE and AVATAR.

First, THE BLIND SIDE. Great movie. It even made me tear up at different points. I had to watch it because Tim McGraw was in it, but this was a great movie and it is based on a true story. AVATAR, I just don't know what the big hype was about it. The graphics were great and everything, the idea was believable, but the last 30 minutes of the movie, I was nodding off. I just don't think this movie was as good as they made it out to be.

Well, I have drill this weekend and I plan on taking the PT test. Since my sister beat me a couple of weeks ago, I figured I might as well go ahead and run once this month at least. See if my time improves any. That's all I have today.

Time...is not on my side

Well, I called several places about getting a VA loan to purchase a house. They all said the same thing because of the way the economy is, and has been, that in order to qualify for a VA loan, I had to have a credit score of a minimum of 620, which I am not at. I know it takes time to get the score to go up, but I am trying to do this quickly to qualify for the tax credit for first time home buyers. I have just recently paid all the stuff in collections and everything else is current. So now it is just waiting for time for the score to go up. Will it be enough? I just don't know.

I think by showing that everything was paid off, should be good enough. After all, it may show you fell behind, but you did pay it off in the end. They never take into account the many reasons to explain why things happened, they just see if you missed a payment or it went to collections. I don't have the time to wait another 12 months for the score to slowly rise. Different places tell me different things. One place says to go and get credit somewhere that I can afford payments while another place says not to have any additional credit checks and do not create credit. I don't know who to believe as far as the quickest way to get it higher.

Arggh. I also called the VA about my GIBILL. I am being paid the less of two types that I can receive and I had applied for the higher end one. So now I have to wait another 4-6 weeks to see if they pay it out and retro me the difference since I started school. It may not be much more, but every little bit helps. I know, I just want everything to happen right now. Well, wouldn't you? I mean, if I pay someone and it goes through right away, wouldn't you want the results just as fast, not 6 weeks later, especially if it is dependant in order for you to take the next step for something else.

Time...it is just not on my side. If everything does happen in time, then it is a race against the clock to get it done before the deadline. Stress....it just happens.

Stupid creditors

Here I am trying to make right and pay my debts and these dumba$$ creditors are anal. I have called companies I originally owed and they are like, well you can pay us, but it takes longer to get off your credit if you are trying to buy a house. So basically I am being told to call the collection agency to get it done faster. Fine. The first one said they will have the letter to me in a week and reported to the credit bureau. The next one tells me it will be 4-6 weeks to get it reported. BS. I do my part and they want to jerk around and delay everything. That's ok. I'll keep their numbers and have the bank call them to verify it has been paid. Yahoos.

So, I am pretty much out of money now after paying off a lot of things and staying ahead on bills. I should be able to start pre-qualifying soon for a house. Now it is just a balancing act to keep everything straight until then.

Everything else has been going ok, I guess. I take my oldest in next week to start getting him ready for braces. Well, I guess that is all I have for now.

Ahhhhhh....relief

Today, my tax return has deposited into my account. So I left work to go take care of things such as paying my rent, getting my car repaired, and getting some money to my older sister that I knew she desperately needed. I have also made a few arrangements with some of the stuff in collections on my credit report to pay them off so I can clean up my credit. I am now back at work, finishing up some school work and, oh, yeah, what little bit of work I had for the day.

It's kind of funny actually. There is this Soldier I have been working hard on getting him transferred because he accepted a military technician position (similar to my civilian job) but it is in Mississippi. I guess he spoke to the guy that hired him and told him how hard I work and what little I get paid, and this guy wants to hire me for almost double what I make now. I had to say no. I don't want to move to Mississippi and I want my kids to stay settled in a school. I have too many big plans with the little pay I get. Besides, I can't move that far away from my family.

I think I am happy where I am at in life...for now anyways. Yeah, it would be nice to win the Powerball and have money, but I'd still work. Money isn't everything, although it is beneficial to have some. I have drill this weekend and the weekend after that, I may head to the FIL's for the weekend. Although it is Valentine's Day weekend, it is also President's Day weekend which means I will have that Monday off. So, I deserve a little break.