YAY!

Last time I wrote I reported two bad things... I needed a root canal and the dryer broke.  Well, the good news is that Aaron fixed the dryer & it was only $16!!  I also ended up not needing a root canal because when I went in to the specialist he tested my teeth to see if they were alive & they were, so no root canal!  The appointment cost $100 and I expect the insurance to cover 60-100% of that, so, at most, it will cost me $40 (much better than 40% of $750)!  I guess we won't have to use the emergency fund after all.  YAY! 

On other fronts, I passed my tax class & have an interview tonight for a job.  I'm also still studying for my Financial Counseling certification, but I don't know when I'm going to plan to take the exam.  I did find out I can take the exam for free (the Army has soooo many benefits!).  

That is all...

I Love My Emergency Fund

In a span of 24 hours I discovered that my dryer is broken and that I need a root canal.  I love my emergency fund.  While we're on things that I love, that would include my geek of a husband who is going to fix the dryer for the cost of the part and a multimeter (he's really been wanting one anyway!).  

PS.  We'll probably maybe possibly leave here next July.

Week of Firsts

Well, this week I started volunteering at the Army's financial counseling office.  (They call it their Financial Readiness Program and it is under Army Community Services-ACS.)  I am thrilled to be working with the three ladies there--Bobbi, Sharon, and Beth.  For right now, I will be doing administrative tasks and shadowing them as they go about their daily tasks.  In the near future I will begin editing the slide shows they use for the classes they teach to bring them up to date.  Not too long from now they expect that I will teach some of the beginning classes and will begin budget and credit counseling with clients under their supervision.  Yay!  Also, the director of ACS used to work at Fort Campbell and that is where we are hoping to go (Have I mentioned that?), so that gives me a lot of hope for networking into a job there in the event that we actually go there.  Of course, we'll likely only get 3-4 weeks notice that we're moving.  

This week was also the first week of hosting Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University.  Despite the computer we were using to project the DVD doing a mandatory reboot & install right in the middle of the lecture, everything went really well.  I am not sure of the exact attendance numbers, but we had 66 people planning to come (we called and were able to confirm with almost all of them) and we had 17 people on the waiting list.  I'd say that that is a pretty good turnout & really speaks to the need for such a program.  We'll see how many come back next week...

I also wanted to mention that Ft Rucker has a cool vacation spot that is reasonably priced.  You can rent cabins at the lake for $60-80 per night (depending on how many bedrooms you want).  Also, there is no hotel tax (usually 13%) on these guys!  Anyway, go here if you're interested.  We actually have to rent them for you, but as long as you promise to behave & reimburse us, that will be no problem.  You'll probably want to rent far in advance for a holiday because they fill up fast.  We tried to get one for Thanksgiving in mid-September, and there were no remaining openings.  

Well, that's about it.  I'm studying hard for my tax class and my Financial Counseling certification.  The tax class ends the week of Thanksgiving and my goal for the certification exam is to take it before 11/8 when they suspend testing for 3 weeks (I have no idea why...).  My schedule is pretty dang full (compared to a 40 hour work week)-- 20 hours of volunteering, 6 hours of class, and a stinking lot of studying (think something like studying 10 chapters in a textbook each week)... not to mention chores, time getting to class, continued volunteering as the Audio/Visual person at Church, a new women's Bible study at church, and making a meal for all the girls having babies at church.    So yeah... things will lighten up as soon as my two courses finish.  After that, I'm planning to keep volunteering, earn some money on the side preparing taxes (starting in Dec with pre-tax season training) and start studying my second course for my certification.  After tax season is over and I take my second test, I'll go to volunteering probably 4 days per week.  We'll see...

As for Aaron, he's just studying and working out and playing around with his pictures.  

As usual, I'll leave you with the latest estimate of how long we'll be here-- we'll probably leave sometime late June or Early July.   But, as usual, WHO KNOWS!?!  

Gaffe

Aaron: "Don't forget, I'm going over to the soccer fields to shoot little kids with Perry at 4:30."  

Oh really??

Hopefully he means that he's going to take pictures of them.

P.S. Like any little girl that read too much, I'm cursed by the inability to pronounce the word I used as the title... but I know what it means.

Career Update

Okay, so an update on my career change is due. On Aug 1 I quit my (very good) job working for a defense contractor to pursue a career change to become a financial counselor. I have been working hard at networking and reading up on the subject and so forth. So here are the things I've got cooking....

I am implementing a financial ministry at our church and we will begin offering Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. Through various contributing organizations and the church and military discounts we are able to offer this program for only a $10 suggested donation and we are including free food. This is a great deal considering that the program is like $180.

I am also taking a class on Tax Preparation. Upon completion of the class, if I score at least an 80% on the test, I will be offered a job for the tax season working at H&R Block. Of course, there is no requirement to take the job and I'm very excited about the skills that I will learn in this class. I have the second session tomorrow and it continues until November. Normally the class costs $99, but they offer it free to military spouses (how cool is that!). Also on the tax note, I have found an opportunity to volunteer or get hired as a GS-3 to prepare taxes on post. We'll see what life is like when tax season comes around based on the other things I have cooking....

I am just getting my curriculum ordered to begin my certification course (actually 2 courses) to be a financial counselor, but I have borrowed the text from a friend and am going to start reading it this afternoon as soon as I finish my tax class homework. I hope to take the exam for the first course by mid-October. I have to complete 2 years of work or volunteering to be actually certified which I personally think is a good thing because it means I can get into the field without waiting to finish my certifications.

Also, due to my very awesome networking skills I just today got hooked in to start volunteering as a financial counselor in the ACS (Army Community Services) Office, which is my ideal end-state job. Yay! Of course, some fields you have to start of with no pay, but that's ok. I'm not even certified yet and I have an awesome husband who lets me eat even when I don't work. Of course, as you can see, I'm definitely working towards a paying job. Oh, and these jobs are GS jobs. Yay! And Fort Rucker (which is like 1/6 the size of other posts) has 3 of these positions. So Yay!

That's about it!

Momentous Occassion

For the first time since high school, I have officially maintained the same housing arrangement for 1 whole year. Of course, I did go to college for 4 of the 6+ years since high school, so that contributed, but still... Of course, I won't see 2 years in this house. Maybe next duty station.

In other news... life changes. Aaron is now going to be a Kiowa pilot.

Reasons that today is the best day this week:

1) Free MIT classes on the internet. I think I'm going to start with Micro and Macro Economics. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-D I could only be more thrilled if I could get a degree for free...
2) Aaron is going to be a Chinook pilot.
3) I made Southwestern Salad for lunch.