Valentines Day - Tuesday - 2/14/12
I'm watching the kids all day today. That's why I slept over last night. I was hoping to wake up before Christina. So, that I could do my prayers and meditation without taking time away from her. No luck! She's trained herself to wake up when I do so we have more time alone together, before Logan wakes up. I'm so honored to have them in my life, and so thrilled that they both love me!
Christina is up way early. I get her breakfast and we play with these big cardboard blocks they got for Christmas. Then, Tracye texts to say her training was canceled and she's on her way home. That changes the plans! I was going to babysit all day, go home with Tracye's commuter car (as she will only need the kid car for the next day) and come back tomorrow night for another sleepover followed by another day of babysitting.
I guess Tracye will be here in time to take Christina to school and I'll take off with her car when she gets here. Flexible is the word for the day! Tracye offers to pay me, anyway, for the day of babysitting. I refuse. I don't need to be paid for work I didn't do, and I know they can use the money. They need to refinance their house as their loan will become variable in a few years. I'm really proud of the way both of them work with money, look ahead, and plan for the future. Tracye gave me money for watching the kids the little bit I did. That wasn't necessary, but was nice of her.
All of a sudden I'm free and with a car! I had planned to take Logan and try the Farmer's market in Irvine while Christina was in school. I think I'll still go. I look it up and it's too early. It's not open yet! I decided to go look for more things to sell on Ebay. I know I haven't listed anything in awhile, but having a backlog of things to list isn't bad. It turns out that it's too early for that too!
Last night, I was using a little notebook to track the bus routes I needed to take to Tracye's and I lost it at the bus stop where I made the last transfer. It must have fallen out of my pocket. I decide on a whim to go track down the bus stop and see if my notebook's still there. I found the stop, but not the notebook. I don't know why it bothered me to lose it, but it did.
Now, I go look for things to sell on Ebay, and then off to the Farmer's market. It's finally late enough!
Charles calls. His truck is still parked at my apartment and he needs it for tomorrow. I tell him I'll drive it over to him this afternoon.
The farmer's market is small, but good. Only two booths have organics, but two booths have organics! I probably won't come back to this farmer's market often, but there aren't many that happen on Tuesdays. So, I might need to sometime and I'm thrilled to be getting a feel for what the different farmer's markets are like!
One of the vendors told me how to keep beets and celery and lettuce fresh longer by keeping them in some water. That tip is worth the whole trip! I have to figure out how to set this up at my place!
My last stop is at the Mother's market in Santa Ana for a top-off on groceries. I love this particular Mother's market and it's a lot harder to go to when doing without a car. I'll probably stop here almost every time I do have a car! There are a lot of people here handing out taste samples. Between the samples I had at the Farmer's market and the samples here, I think I've had a full meal!
While I'm getting ready to take the truck to Charles, I go on-line to pay extra on my Chase card. The end of the billing cycle is today and I have extra money! The Chase website won't let me make a payment. My last payment posted yesterday. They say you can't make more than one payment for every three days. This is ridiculous! I figure that is an on-line rule and call them to make the payment by phone. The man on the other end of the phone tells me that I can't make another payment because I can only make one every three days. How funny! I know I only want to pay $171 extra, and even with a high interest rate, the interest on that for three days won't be much, but I really want to pay it and can't understand a company that won't take money. I ask to talk to a supervisor and explained the problem. He said that, yes, Chase has that rule and they are thinking about changing it, but for the time being, he can't get around it. He tells me that he's going to make the whole next month interest free for me as a way of apologizing for the problem. I'm thrilled! That will come out to about $200! He tells me "Happy Valentines' Day!" How wonderful!
We get to talking and I tell him about my quest to pay off my debt and how I'm doing without my car for a year and riding the bus and using the scooter. He asks me if there is anything else he can do. I tell him it would be a big help if he could lower the interest rate on my account. I owe the most money to Chase, and it's also the highest interest rate I have. He tells me he isn't allowed to change interest rates, but looks something up and says that my account is set to be reviewed next week. So, I might get a lower interest rate! He says the decision process is based on three things: my payment history with them (which is good), my overall debt (well, not so good, but my debt to credit ratio is better than it was. So, who knows!), and how Chase did in the last quarter (I have no idea about this one!)
He also tells me that since he can't lower my interest rate he is going to credit me back all the interest I've paid in the last two months! That comes out to a more than $400! I'm so thrilled I'm starting to cry. Chase has now given me over $600 toward my goal of being debt free! How wonderful!
I had a nice time visiting with everyone at Charles'. They are loaning me a bike. I had problems with my knee hurting when I rode my bike at Burning Man two years ago. So, I gave away my bike. Now I need to find out if the problem was my knee or the bike, or trying to ride it through sand. Borrowing a bike is the first step. I had a choice of two. I tried out and picked the shorter one, since I think height was part of the problem with my last bike. Now, Charles is driving me home, telling me about his apartment management woes. It's nice that I can understand and sympathize with his problems.
What a terrific day this has been! I'm ending the day with steamed vegetables fresh from the farmer's market, a chocolate candy bar from Mother's Market (it is Valentines' day after all) and the glow of knowing that it's possible I'll be debt free by the end of this year. God is working miracles! Thanks to all of you for your prayers!
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