Well folks, I do believe I have seen the Writing On the Wall.

This morning when I got to work, E was there. We were chit chatting about this and that, when he mentioned that paychecks would be available tomorrow. *Then* he mentioned that they had opened a new check writing account at a different bank which only has branches in a town about 20 miles North.

So, what this means is that there will not be the opportunity to take the paycheck directly to their bank and cash it. (Unless I want to drive 20+ miles on my day off hoping that the money will be there.) So, the only way to get the money is to deposit the check.

We know how well that goes. Not.

E assured me there'd be enough money for all our checks. I just kind of gave him a look, and told him that I certainly hoped so, because I did NOT want to have to deal with NSF or Returned Check fees.

So, feeling really upset about this all day. I came to the decision that the first time a check bounces, I will be putting in my notice.

I simply refuse to deal with this anymore. It was annoying enough to have to go back to their bank multiple times to be able to cash my checks, but at least the embarrassment factor was solely in their court. Bouncing checks that I deposit in MY checking account puts the embarrassment factor on me as well.

Next question is how am I going to pay for school and living expenses without this job?

Well... I think I'll probably have to take my grandma up on her offer of financial help. I'm thinking of asking her to pay my tuition as I go, and then while I'm still in school, I'll pay 5% interest on whatever the total amount is each month. Then, once I'm out of school and have a librarian job, we can work out the repayment terms.

I also am working on applying for a number of scholarships I've found - but none of them would work until 2010.

With tuition covered, then all I would need to worry about is living expenses.

If I didn't make another dime, I could live on my savings for 13 months - supposing no emergencies or car repairs.

So, obviously I'll need to reduce my expenses + find odd jobs or maybe a part-time job.

To meet my goal of finishing within 18 months, I need at least 30 - 40 hours a week of study/homework time. The gym job is so perfect for that. Ugh.

I haven't heard from my brother yet about him moving here, so that *might* be a possibility. But I kind of doubt it.

I think it may be getting close enough to September for me to talk to my Pastor about any families he knows of that may be willing to exchange childcare/tutoring for partial rent.

I will know probably by a week from tomorrow whether or not this check has cleared. I really hope it does, so it'll give me another two weeks before saying sayonara. But, I think the smart thing to do is to start planning as though it WILL bounce.

I sure will miss working out with the lady who works out in the mornings -- and easy access to treadmills.

Le Sigh.

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Well, when my prescription is ready to be refilled, I have a coupon for CVS to get a $25 gift card. I need to see if I can find my Walgreen's one and check its expiration date. If it's in August, then I'll have my next two refills basically paid for.

Yesterday when I got home, my apartment was hotter and more humid than I think it ever has been. I'd left the a/c on in the morning - it's on constantly actually, thanks to our constant 100 degree weather we've been having.

I called the apartment management office, but it was after hours. So I called the emergency line to report it. Apparently I wasn't the first to call about it - they had a message saying that if you were calling about the A/C being out to not leave a message because they were aware of it and working on it.

At that point I did what I could to get myself and my apartment as cool as possible. Turned my ceiling fan on high, brought my floor fan into my bedroom, opened up a window and put a wet towel over it, got down to minimal beach ware.

All that made it just bearable - but I was already sleepy. So I ended up zonking out on bed for a couple hours, then got a call from my mom at 10:30.

By that time either the A/C was working again, the night had cooled down enough, or my cooling measures had worked -- maybe a combination of all of them. Then I preceded to stay up till 2 a.m. Heh.

Here's really hoping the A/C doesn't go out again. The temps do NOT look like they're going to get any better any time soon.

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I don't remember exactly where I found this link, but it was pointing actually towards the bottom of the Wikipedia page talking about how CNN has pre-formatted obits on famous people and how some years ago somebody found them.

So, anywho. I looked at that and thought it was kind of interesting, but then kept on reading (going up).

Boy howdy, there were a bunch of interesting stories. A few of the more famous ones involving Bob Hope and Mark Twain. Ernest Hemingway's story is a sad one. Then a couple stories of Japanese soldiers who didn't believe the war was over until 1974.

Then I read this one, and thought that it could be turned into an amazing book under the right talent:

"Ann Green (or Anne Greene), a servant in Oxfordshire, was hanged for allegedly murdering her newborn child in 1650. Having presumably been declared dead, her corpse was taken away for dissection, but she revived. She was ultimately pardoned, and became something of a celebrity."

I mean, can you just imagine what kind of backstory there was to the whole thing? And I'd be really curious as to how she didn't get accused of being a witch (Salem witch trials was around that same time, right?) And then how she was pardoned, why? What did she do with her life after that? How did it change her?

I don't know why that one just popped out at me. I wonder if a writer has already taken that story and used it as a book?

Here's the link if you want to look at some of the other peoples stories:

Pre-mature Obits.

I think the link was posted because someone was wondering how in the world they (CNN, etc.) were able to get the memory clips up so quickly after MJ's, etc. deaths.

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Well! Upon googling a bit, I have found that someone *has* written a book based on Anne Greene's story -- Newes From the Dead by Mary Hooper. As morbid a story as it seems, I am going to have to see if my library has it. Wow!

Eta more: And, my library has it! 3 copies! It's billed as Juvenile Lit. Interesting. Now I just have to wait for it to come in and get it.

I don't really have too much financial to impart.

I just wanted to let you all know, in the interest of not over running this blog with talking about running, I have started another blog. (Don't laugh too loud please.)

It is called

Run! Laura! Run!

And in case you're wondering, yes, it is a bit of a take on Forest Gump.

So, anyway, I just have one post up so far, and it doesn't look very pretty yet. But I wanted to share it with ya'll.

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In other news - this week sure has been one where we lost a lot of icons.

Ed McMahon's death has kind of been lost in all the MJ adoration ... which I think is truly sad. I grew up hearing him say "Here's Johnny!" The last few years of his life were a financial mess, but he still left behind a legacy of a life lived to its fullest.

Then of course Farrah losing her battle with cancer. What a beautiful, strong and courageous woman. I hope to never have to battle anything like cancer, but if I do, I hope to be just half as strong as her.

And last of course, Michael Jackson. I really surprised myself by how emotional I got upon hearing that he was dead. I've enjoyed his music through the years, and found some of his songs to be particularly meaningful to me at times - but he also led a life which was quite strange. I guess I prefer to focus on the legacy of the music he left behind, rather than what he may or may not have done in his personal life.

Unfortunately, like when Princess Di and Mother Teresa died, one person's death seems to be overshadowing the others.

RIP Ed, Michael and Farrah ... along with all the non-famous people who also went took their last breath this past week.

I got my membership package from the running club yesterday. So today (my day off)I did a number of errands.

First, I stopped at the library and picked up a bunch of books (most of them for my grad class, plus a couple on running.)

Then,I headed to the dollar theater and saw "17 Again.' Cute movie.

Finally, I managed to find the running store. I had my feet refitted/analysised and ended up switching from Ascicss (which is what I had) and getting a pair of New Balance. Since I had a 15% coupon, I decided to get a pair of moisture wicking socks and a pair of winter running pants - both of which were also on sale.

Right now when it still is in the 90's at 7 pm, it is hard to think about wearing anything close fitting that goes to the ankle - but come late October/early November, I think I will be very happy to have them.

I didn't track mileage on my Asics very carefully, so basically went with when my calf muscles and feet were telling me I needed new shoes. So, with my new pair, I am going to really try to keep up with mileage better.

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I ate supper at McDonald's with my friend T and her two children. (She treated me actually - got a fruit and walnut salad which is about all I can eat at McD's.) In the course of our conversation, she mentioned some friends of theirs that her husband was going to go see "Transformers" with tonight. These friends had BOTH of their cars repossessed two days ago.

My mouth hung open for a bit before I could control myself.

The husband of this couple actually stayed with my friend T and her family for over 10-months rent free while getting established in the oil and gas business. While he was staying there - rent free, not helping at all with anything in the house (in fact not just not helping out around the house at all, but being a significant contributor to making the house a mess), nor contribuiting towards groceries - he often would go out to eat or go to first-run movies -- letting T's husband pay. Adding salt to the situation though -- several times his wife and kids came to visit for a weekend or vacation -- they'd go out to eat or to first-run movies -- and not invite T or her family.

At one point T finally had had enough (he was only supposed to be there for 5 months tops) and told her hubby it was either his friend out the door, or it was her out the door. The friend was gone two weeks later.

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Ok, it's now time for me to get back to reading one of my acquisition's from the library today -- "Finger Lickin' Fifteen" by Janet Evanovich.

Today I spent about 90 minutes or so searching the internet for the various required books for my upcoming courses.

The first course, coming up here in just a few weeks, requires a great number of books. Most of them are novels, but two of them are actual textbooks. Guess what? I found ALL of them at my library!! Yes!!!

Of the three classes I'll start in August, one of them has no required texts (Yay!), one of them I have not found any info on yet (will be calling Monday!), and the third requires two texts. I found one of them at my library, and the other one I found a very used copy of at AbeBooks.

Hopefully, I will have as much luck in finding the required text(s) for the one remaining class.

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I made a suggestion to my brother today. I suggested that maybe we could convert my livingroom into a bedroom for him, and clear out closet space for his stuff, and we could split my apartment.

Long story - he and sil are getting divorced - have already short saled their house. He's decided to go back to school and become a nurse.

If he can find a nursing program he can get into here in Dallas, he said he'd be willing to talk further about the idea.

With me working 4 days a week at the gym and going to school full time and him going to school full time and working, we probably wouldn't see each other much at all. I very very rarely use my living room for anything, so it wouldn't be much of a sacrifice.

This would cut 3 -4 hundred dollars a month off my expenses - and I would know I'd have someone I get along with pretty well.

Some of you may remember me talking about joining a local running club, oh 6 - 8 months ago or so. I got out of running regularly in November, and didn't really get back into it until about 6 or 7 weeks ago.

Well, for some reason today, I decided that it was time for me to do something where I'd get some social interaction as well as exercise. So... I joined the Dallas Running Club!

It costs $25 for a one-year membership. The membership includes 8 free races a year plus discounts on a bunch of other races, a free runners magazine, and discounts to athletic stores.

After signing up, I noticed that they have a 23 week training program called "Couch to Half-Marathon." Hmmm... interesting. The basic requirement is that you can run/walk 3 miles. Well, I can do that, if you give me 45 minutes or so ...

So .... for $30 ... I signed up!!!! The program is to get you ready for a half-marathon in November.

They even had a pace group for the 14 - 16 minute milers! (Which is where I signed up.)

Once I get my membership packet, I'm going to go get new running shoes. (15% discount.) Mine are getting to the point of needing replacement soon.

So, July 8 I will be registering for my first grad school class in the morning, and attending the first meeting of the Couch to Half program in the evening. Then, on July 13 I will have my first training run in the early morning, and start my first grad class (officially).

I'm hoping that this will give me some kind of a social outlet, as well as help me to stick to an exercise program.

Oh yeah, the first free race coming up is a 5k on July 4 - which I have signed up for. My first race since October 2008!

Woo Hoo! My first class starts in less than 4 weeks!

It's a class about youth graphic novels and comics. It looks like it is going to be quite a doozy - one assignment is to read a graphic novel such as Spiderman 3 and then watch the movie.

But really, it does look like a lot of reading. The graphic novels won't be a problem for me, but the comic books will sure be a different form of reading than I'm used to!

I'm going to have to buy MS Office. To get the discount, I'll have to go on campus and get a student id made. I'm not sure when I'll have a chance to do that.

My Fall semester classes will start Aug 22. Two of them are what they call Web Institutes where you go on campus for a few days and attend class from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. then have some social events. Then for the remainder of the semester, you do your coursework online.

I'll also be taking a 3rd class, which is the first one in the School Librarian certification lineup.

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I am going to need to come up with a way to access the internet at the gym, sooner rather than later.

I checked the cost of the At&T usb plan, and it costs $60/month for 5 gb. (It works wherever there is cell phone service.)

I'm not sure if 5gb would be enough for a month, especially if I eliminate my home internet (to save $20/mo.)

I'm hoping to be able to find a less expensive alternative.

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Today my mom and I did some major spring cleaning. She left with more than she came with. I gave her the Macy's gift card to thank her for her help, along with a couple other things. We only managed to finish the kitchen and the bathroom. (Of course, we took a few "breaks".)

She's going to come again next week to help me with my bedroom (i.e. clothes!! and boxes of stuff she unloaded on me when she married stepdad that I still haven't unpacked.)

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I played around with TurboTax last night attempting to figure out what 2009 taxes are going to be like. Umm... I think I might have to figure out how to do estimated taxes/quarterly payments.

My tax bill - even with Lifetime Learning Credit and making about $900/mo from April - Dec, is going to be close to $900!!!! 2010 will be even worse, and that will be with making less than $12k the whole year + the LLCredit - that tax bill will be closer to $1600!!

I guess EIC doesn't work for self-employed/independent contractor income.

The sooner I can cut my housing costs the better!

This Wednesday my mom is going to be coming over and help me do a major decluttering/disposal/cleaning of my place. Since in about 5-6 weeks time, I'm going to have very little free time anymore (yay!) I figured I need to start getting prepped for moving out earlier than later.

So, anyway. I decided to get a bit of a head start on it today, and took everything out of one of my dresser drawers. Only maybe two of my dresser drawers has actual clothing items in them, the other 4 are either empty or just have "stuff" in them.

Well, as I was cleaning it out, there were a bunch of envelopes. One of them was a mypoints envelope, and I felt something hard in it. So I looked in it, and lo and behold - there was a Walmart gift card!!!! Who knows how long it has been in there - but I checked the balance, and it is worth $25!! I can get a lot of food at Walmart for that!

I wonder what else we might unearth on Wednesday.

Woo Hoo!!

I checked my email this afternoon, and what did I find at the top??

"Welcome to the Graduate Program for Library Sciences"

I'm gonna be a librarian, I'm gonna be a librarian!!!!

Yahoo!

So this morning around 4 am, after an already fitful night of little sleep, I was thoroughly and soundly woken by the start of a wicked lightning show. I laid in bed listening to it cracking away, and wondering just how long it would last. It just seemed to keep going and going.

I really don't recall ever experiencing quite a lightning show like this one. It *finally* started to calm down a little after 7, although it still was pouring down rain.

Oh, and the best part? Yesterday I had slightly cracked my car windows while at the dollar theater. A fact I totally forgot about -- until this morning when I got out to my car. Talk about WET! Even better, I had a bunch of library books on the front seat that were ready to be returned. Luckily they seemed to dry out fairly well today, but the car sure is one Musty ol' car.

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Now, why did I have such a fitful sleep before the storm hit last night?

I was reading some different threads on sparkpeople, and saw someone mention a cool youtube exercise video. So, I checked the video out. While there, I saw another video in the related section - demonstrating a move with resistance bands.

Eventually that led me to visiting the Bodyelastics.com website. Even though I kept telling myself to go to bed, I was just so interested I kept on going.

Bodyelastics are resistance bands. But they're not you're normal run of the mill bands. Two of the really neat features (that I was impressed with at least) was how you add the weighted bands to the handles - you just clip them on! I also like how they have each band clearly labeled for how many pounds.

A set runs $45+. Yes, I know I probably could get an adequate set for $20 or so. These just captured my imagination.

What if I could get E to purchase 5 sets of them? Then, what if I could get people to sign up to use them in classes? Maybe do 3 classes a day 4 times a week? I could go over to G3 location where we have the mirrored cardio room. Maybe charge a $25 equipment fee and then $3/class. do a 50/50 split with the gym on class fees.

Eh.. I doubt it would work. Liability issues with my not being a certified trainer probably would prohibit it in the first place. But it was kind of fun to dream and scheme - although it wasn't so fun to not get much if any shut-eye.

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Ooohh! I just got a call from a job posting I responded to on Sitter City. It's two days a week for a total of about 16 hours taking care of a 1 and 3 year old - $11 - 13/hr! If I got this, then I'd reduce my gym time to 20 - 25 hours a week, and still end up making more than I'm making now - plus have fun with kidlets!

Unfortunately I think I sounded kind of like an idiot on the phone. I've always babysat for people who already knew me. I had to admit that I thought I could do pretty well keeping the 3 year old busy, but would probably need to do some research to figure out how to keep the 1 year old busy.

Then she asked me what I was looking for in a family. Ack! I started rambling about how I was looking for something that would last through next August or so because I'm going to be getting my Masters in Library Science.

Ugh! I don't do well with unexpected phone interviews.

But, she did set up a time to meet me -- next Friday afternoon. Hopefully I can make a better impression in person.

Any ideas on how to keep both a 1 yr old and 3 yr old busy at the same time?????

Okay, first off, I have to share this video. Hey Kashi, if you're reading you might just recognize this.

Mall of America "You Make My Dreams Come True"

For those who don't know, Mall of America is in Minnesota. It's one of the largest malls (at one time I think it was the 3rd largest anywhere, but I don't know if that is true anymore.) I remember a number of times my family eating in one of the restaurants lining the ice skating rink and people watching. It's a really neat mall, as malls go.

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Ugh! So I finally *finally* got the final materials mailed out today for grad school. What a fiasco trying to find stamps.

First I had a doctor's appointment this morning (paid cash, got 20% discount.) Then I went to the dollar theater which was on my way home, and saw "Knowing." Ok movie, not great. Next I stopped at Kinko's and printed out the documents I needed to mail. Kinko's didn't have stamps!

So, I went next door to Tom Thumb. They only sold stamps in books. I only wanted two. A book would take me at least 5 years to use up.

Next, I stopped at the Post Office which still was on my way home. Got my envelope stamped (went to counter.)

Then I realized I needed to get a card for Father's Day. Stopped at Walgreens and found a card. Asked about a stamp - again, only sold in books!

Finally, I stopped at another post office which was on my way home. I thought I would get a stamp from the machine in the lobby. I only had cash/change on me because I didn't want to spend more than I had budgeted for the day.

The machine only would take credit or debit cards!!!!! I got in line to go up to the counter. Then I saw a note saying they also only sold stamps in books - plus the line was at least 20 people deep.

Arghh!!!

So, I think I might look into buying a set of forever stamps. That way, it won't matter how long it takes me to use them because they'll still be good. I just will have to be very careful to keep track of them!!

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Update on my gift card on Ebay - it's now up over $21!!! Woo Hoo! I hope my other two do as well.

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Weird, I think the tornado sirens are going off. The weather doesn't seem like tornado weather - it was really hot and humid today.

Speaking of weird. I was looking on msn.com at the local news, and saw that Cleburne (a town about 45 miles South of Dallas or so, and where I lived for a few years) has had three mini earthquakes in the past 7 days. They've never had an earthquake before this past week.

Eta: A few minutes after I posted, it started raining. It now is raining and I think they're may be some small hail thrown into the mix. Rain wasn't even in the forecast earlier today!!

Well, I bit the bullet. After not having sold anything on Ebay since December of 07, I listed a gift card.

I actually was going to list 3 gift cards, but apparently you can only have one listed at a time. They are all $25 gift cards (thanks Mypoints!) for Gap, Macy's and Magazines.com. I originally redeemed the points for them to use as gifts ... but various circumstances happened, and they were never sent.

So, since I am looking for extra money whereever I can find it, I thought I'd see if I would have any luck.

The Gap card already is at $9.99 with one bidder. I really hope it gets bid up to near full value like most of the other cards have,(listed on Ebay for Gap) but I can live with $10.

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Tonight I went with my friend T to see "Angels and Demons." (Thanks to a really sweet gift my dad gave me a few weeks ago - with specific instructions to spend it on fun stuff!) I had really liked "Davinci Code," but even though "Angels and Demons" was kind of predictable in places, I think I liked it better. The ending just had a a whole better feel to it.

When I first decided to go ahead and go full time working at the gym, I *thought* I had it figured out that I would be able to make enough on 36 hours of min wage per week to cover expenses, with the exception of Cobra. However, I must have miscalculated something somewhere, because even without Cobra, I am still coming out at least $80 behind.

I chose to not pay for Cobra, because in September the discounted rate would end, and I'd be out $1500 and still be without insurance (when it went to the 100% rate of $425/month.) So, really, what would be the point?

So I have been watching the gym losing more members than they are gaining. I've seen the last two income reports. It doesn't look good. I'm seriously wondering how much longer E's mom will be willing to throw away $2-3K+/month on gym payroll when it's mostly coming from her inheritance - even if they do consider the gyms to be a "mission."

Yesterday when I got to the gym, E was interviewing a new person. He's also hired on someone just for the summer. Personally, if I was E, I'd be scared to death to hire anyone new. How does he know that these new people would be willing to put up with bouncing paychecks, or having to hold on to a check for two - four weeks before it finally cashes? Stuff like that is liable to tick someone off in a not good way.

So, even before going to the bank three times this week, after being assured the money was there to cash my check, and still coming out with no money, I started to seriously consider what other options may be available.

The pros of this job: Lots of free time for studying once I start classes, one weekday off each week - so only work 4 days a week, ability to exercise a lot.

The cons of this job - overwhelming stifling boredom, minimum wage, never knowing if check is going to cash or not, inability to just deposit check due to knowing it may bounce, Boredom, gym closes for any and every holiday which equals loss of any pay for those days

Like I've said before, I like E. He is a good person, and he really tries to make everybody happy. This fact has made it somewhat easier to deal with the paycheck problem. Today though, after stopping by the bank once again, hoping to come out with money in my hands, only to come out empty handed, I was very very aggravated.

So, I'm really not sure what to do. Should I just stay until my lease is up on my apartment and hope the business is still around until then? That way very little will be going out of savings each month. Then I can quit there, and move into a room wherever I find the least expensive option and live off of savings + whatever odd jobs/temp jobs I can come up with?

Or should I try to find something else entirely?But if I somehow manage to find something else, then what would happen with school????

Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. This job is just such a perfect thing for when I start school - it would allow me to go full-steam ahead because I could fill my working hours with studying. But is the aggravation over the money worth it?

I wonder if I switched my day off from Wednesday to Friday, and then signed up with temp agencies. Mondays and Friday's seemed to be the two most assigned days. That way I'd at least have one check I could count on, and could have it direct deposited. Of course,that's assuming that there are any temp day jobs even available right now - unemployment hitting 9.4% I heard today.

Before today, I had been trying to think of what I could do to just bring in an extra $100/month - to fill the gap between the gym income and my outgo. I have some things I could sell via Ebay or Craigslist, but not more than maybe a few hundred dollars worth (if that.)

This is my budget for June:

Rent: 665 (lease ends in Sept.)
Cell: 48
Internet: 20
Gas: 40+
Tolls: 25
Food: 60
Roth: 50 (Can't stop because its under 3k)
Meds: 25

Total: 933
Income: 854

I can't cancel my cell phone because its under contract and its my only phone.

I do manage to make *some* money via the internet (blogs, youdata, surveys, etc) plus its my main means of communication with other people.

Gas and Food ... I'm trying to keep them in those ranges, but with the way gas is going up, I don't know if it is a reasonable amount. Food .. as long as I leave my cards at home except for planned grocery days, I can do that amount.

My July budget looks even grimmer. My first paycheck (once cashed) is minus a normal 12 hours pay due to Memorial Day. Then I have to get my registration renewed for my car. Oh yeah, starting this coming Monday, I will have one hour less a week due to ending my Mondays at the South gym which closes earlier than the #2 gym.

My mom asked me if I was having money troubles. Technically, the answer is no, because I have plenty of savings to fall back on. But realistically, I am living way above my means - with really nowhere to cut.

Yesterday E, the gym manager, asked me if I would open the #2 location, and then go over to the South location until closing. I agreed to do that (usually I stay at #2 until closing.)

My lunch was a couple of frozen items and I was going to be at #2 for a couple hours, so I brought them in and put them in the fridge. When my replacement got there we started talking and I got distracted.

20 minutes down the road I remembered that I had left my lunch at #2.

Normally I could just stop at Taco Bell or something like that and pick something else up. But in order to help myself fight the temptation to buy food I don't need when overtired, I have been leaving all money at home, except for days I know I'll need to get gas or will be going grocery shopping.

I had $1.60 in change which I was planning on using to pay to print some things out at the library. The library that is on my way home from the #2 location, but out of the way for the South location.

So, I decided that I could probably get two things from the vending machine. Not a great meal, nor very healthy, but better than nothing. I bought the first item (pop tarts) and then put the money in for the second item - it stuck!

So, all I had was the first item and no more money.

I called E to ask him if he knew who I should call to get my money back. It went to voicemail. A couple hours later he called me back. When I told him what had happened, he insisted on buying me lunch. At first I resisted, but finally I accepted - cuz, well, I was *hungry*. So he gave me his credit card number.

The pizza was SO good.

It's stuff like this that makes me not get too upset about paychecks taking forever to cash.

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Now I have a question. I feel like I should pay him back. Should I? Or should I just accept it as a nice thing he did for me and move on?

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I had such a fun afternoon today. I spent it at my best friend T's house with her and the kids. We made waffles and had a picnic lunch in their living room while watching "Beverly Hills Chihuahua."

Then the kids were sent outside to play, and T and I watched "Maid of Honor." What was so funny was the kids kept coming in and out, so we had to keep pausing the movie. It ended up taking almost twice as long to watch it.