She Rewards Herself

Morning peeps!  I've got over an hour before church and it really doesn't take me that long to get ready, so thought I'd do a blog post.  Except for the situation with my daughter (she's a drug addict, if you're new to my blog) I'm doing well in my life these days.  So well, that I decided to do this:

My first brand new car!

It's a 2017 Fiat 500 and only 113 miles on her.

Can't even begin to tell you how much I'm enjoying this new car!

So if you've been around long enough, you might remember that in 2014, I bought a Dodge Dart.  It was not my dream car.  It was the car I needed at the time because I had three teens living at home and needed a full size back seat, but still I needed good gas mileage.  It was a mom car for sure.  And it did the trick for four years!  Well, my oldest son moved out, my daughter is in and out of either jail or rehab, and it's really only me and my youngest kiddo.  I drive 300 miles per week just going back and forth to work, and my Dart was leaving me stranded.  The AC would cut in and out (not in Florida in the summer...oh hell no), I was replacing parts every month plus still making a car payment, and the gas mileage wasn't as good as it used to be.  I was fed up, frustrated, and after a 2 hour drive home in traffic one day when the AC went out again and I nearly fainted from the heat, I had had enough.  I traded the Dart in (got a much better price than I expected, about 3000 more than Kelley Blue Book), and ended up with a payment only 100 more per month.  I know, I know.  I hate payments too.  But with my husband being a trucker and gone a lot, I needed a dependable car with a warranty.  For the extra 100 per month, I'd say that's worth it.  Not only that, but because of my amazing job as a coder, I did it all without my husband.  The car is in MY NAME, I used MY PAY STUBS, and I handled all of the paperwork MYSELF without him.  I got a little emotional over it.  My husband and I, we are a team and I love him to pieces.  But knowing that I was able to afford this little car on my own, independently, made my heart swell with pride.  I think when you grow up so stinking poor, on food stamps and Medicaid and all the government stuff, you don't ever forget how quickly things can go to hell.  Knowing that I managed, with the help of God, my mother who raised me without my father giving a damn about me, and my own hard work, that I can take care of myself now, made me tear up.  I will never, ever, EVER, forget where I came from.  I know it's just a little car, and not an expensive one at that, but I can't stop grinning when I look out my windows and see her sitting there, waiting on me.  I get up in the mornings excited to get on the interstate (who the hell am I?!?) so I can drive her.  Oh, she doesn't have a name yet, I've only had her for a week although I'm leaning towards Valentina.  Why Valentina?  Because I love her and she's red.


One other thing I get to share, is that I was able to pick up a second job, and I am in love with this job.  I wasn't even actively looking, as I'd applied to Publix, Pizza Hut, and a  Mexican joint near my job, and heard back from none of them.  I knew I couldn't be fast enough to do fast food.  So I just figured that I wasn't going to get anything, and I was fine with it.  A friend of mine from the AAPC meetings messaged me out of the blue to ask me if I'd considered teaching.  Now, I tried this before and never got a response from the college which tried to recruit me before, and I gave up on it after 9 months or so.   This was a different school, so I forwarded my resume and didn't expect anything.  I was right: it took 6 months for them to call me back, but I finally got an interview and was hired on the spot as an online adjunct instructor for medical coding and billing.  Yes, that's right.  I'M A COLLEGE PROFESSOR!!!   Now, it's only part time, and I'm only teaching one class right now because I'm new and trying to get the hang of it.  But I love it so much.  I get to do it from home, I'm able to show my love of this field to newcomers, and the pay is decent.  Every single penny is going towards debt (it's not very funny, but all of my credit card debt is due to my daughter; rehab bills and her car) and I get to do it while I'm doing a load of laundry in my pajamas.  God is good, peeps.  I struggled quite a bit financially and professionally from 2014 to 2016, but it has turned around and I am so geeked over it!

Now my prayers are centered over the health of my daughter (mentally and physically) and my husband, who is definitely over long distance trucking.  I hope you'll be praying for the health of my family, and I'll be praying for yours.  God is good, all the time.  All the time, God is good.