Man. All it takes is one whopper of a credit card bill to make me awfully antsy about the financial situation. Yeah, it's an outlier (a conference, trip to see Dad including airfare, hotel, and car rental, and the deposit on my braces) and yeah we can pay it in full but whoa Moses it makes me queasy.
So I started looking at job postings.
Fifty-seven SALES OPPORTUNITY, Chipotle cashier, Earn Money From Home Typing Medical Things! and Wanted: Pediatric Oncology Researchers later, I am remembering why I am planning to go to nursing school.
Half of the posts were for RNs and NPs and LPNs. Full time, part time, take your pick.
And all I have to do is take the GRE and about 16 credit hours of prerequisites for which I will have to take out loans and oh yeah wait for the baby to get a little bit older and get straight As and do really well on the GRE and...
Piece of cake, really. Ha ha ha.
In the meantime I will just feel antsy, I guess. Although I am seriously considering applying the Chipotle job, or package handling for UPS -- something for a few post-dinner hours each night, or maybe on weekends. The library jobs I'm qualified for are all full-time, and we aren't in dire enough straits for me to be ready to leave Daphne all day. I'm embarrassed to admit I don't have the faintest idea of how to parlay this internet-writey thing into any kind of paycheck.
Anyway, that's enough of that. Feel free to judge me as I visit Target to purchase a $5 DVD for the plane ride on Friday.
I'm glad you get to go see your dad.
Posted by: Mary | October 20, 2009 at 02:59 PM
I hear you, only I've been feeling queasy about money and piling credit card debt for over a year now, thanks to K deciding to leave his nearly six figure big pharma gig in favor of going back to academia while we made serious renovations to the house we didn't have the money to pay for (enter credit card debt). And yet I haven't had the pluck to just leave the boys at whatever school they could go to (either private one from the past 2 years I wasn't happy with or our excellent school district) and go to work. But I just couldn't do it. Yeah, I'm crazy. I hope my super-extra-clingy/needy five year old will thank me for it someday... sigh.
Posted by: Lilian | October 20, 2009 at 04:53 PM
Mary, me too. I just wish I was at a stage in my life when I could throw the kids in the car and drive -- but 12 hours of solo driving with a 4yo and a baby =/= sensible.
I realize this post edges into "unjustified privileged whining" territory. Forgiveness please.
Posted by: Jo | October 20, 2009 at 05:15 PM
I didn't hear any whining, privileged or not. Was I not paying attention again? I do that. Hope the visit is as good as possible.
Posted by: Mary | October 20, 2009 at 06:11 PM
I judge you to be a very smart and well prepared mom, one who anticipates and is ready!
Posted by: Namita | October 20, 2009 at 07:41 PM
i should point out that it actually will be a piece of cake for you to get straight A's and do extremely well on the GRE. because you're so smart it's stupid. would you like to share with the class what you received on your SATs, or shall i? i understand that things are a little different now, but....
as for the dvd...make it a good one. don't want my baby disappointed.
Posted by: gretchenosis | October 20, 2009 at 08:27 PM
Eh, maybe the whining was in my head. Aw, you guys are nice. Hey, while I've got you here, does entering online sweepstakes count as a part-time job?
Gretchen, I hope you like inappropriate, violent old cartoons.
Posted by: Jo | October 20, 2009 at 09:06 PM
No judging, just glad you are taking care of yourself (braces) and your emotional needs (visiting Dad).
I work part-time at Belmont U. as a secretary and I have a M.S. in journalism. But that's the only decent paying gig I could find that didn't turn me off. I too and wondering what I will do next when Genghis gets big enough.
Rock on.
Posted by: Micaela | October 20, 2009 at 09:29 PM
Oh and have I mentioned you look like one of my favorite rocker grrrls, Lisa Loeb? She's a hottie. So there.
Posted by: Micaela | October 20, 2009 at 09:30 PM
No judgement from me. Those all sound like necessary/sensible purchases.
Unlike me, who still spends (cash at least, not credit) on non-necessary items even though I'm staring down the barrel at unemployment and still doesn't have a new job. It's those darn Avon catalogues. *shakes fist*
Posted by: Olivia | October 21, 2009 at 09:01 AM
SAT scores please. :)
Posted by: Tine | October 21, 2009 at 10:49 AM
Below is a link to a weekend GRE course given by the company I work for. I'm biased, of course, but I feel that they give a very effective "crunch" course for much less money than many of the other test-prep companies ($395 for the weekend course).
Of course, it's not necessary to spend much of anything to prep, but a course can sort of force you to get down to brass tacks.
If you have any questions about prepping for the GRE, please e-mail me. I love helping people jump through this silly, arbitrary - but necessary - hoop on the way to grad school!
http://shopping.powerscore.com/findcourse.cfm
Posted by: Anonymous Test Prep Teacher | October 21, 2009 at 05:05 PM
I meant to post a comment last night thanking allyall but apparently was outsmarted by TypePad. My SATs, by the way, were a very uninspiring 1300 or 1350, higher verbal than math.
Back then I didn't know you could prep. Or re-take. Silly teenager.
Posted by: Jo | October 21, 2009 at 11:43 PM
wait i seemed to remember you got, like, a perfect score. guess i've been bitter all these years for nothing...guess you're just as average as i am.
so...i also guess this means you might not be smart enough to become a nurse. gosh, jo. i'm sorry. i'm truly sorry.
mWAHAHAHAHAHA
Posted by: gretchenosis | October 22, 2009 at 06:24 AM
i think there are lots of ways for money to trap us in anxiety -- having not enough of it, of course, but also having too much of it.
living out of a sense of scarcity and anxiety often has very little correlation to our actual financial circumstances, and likewise living out of a sense of abundance. at least for me -- i can go from anxiety about money to the freedom of abundance and back again in less than 24 hours, and surely nothing has actually changed in my bank account!
i don't like materialism or wreckless spending, but i know you don't either. simplicity is a virtue i aspire to for all sorts of reasons (and again, i know you do too, for many of the same reasons). but thriftiness does not preclude living abundantly -- indeed, i think it can foster abundance. it can also foster anxiety, though, and that seems to me a shame. life is too short.
which is all to say, i too stress about money, especially when the visa bill comes. but most of the time i try not to, because life is just better that way.
i'm rambling .... sorry!
you rock.
Posted by: marta | October 22, 2009 at 08:29 AM
True, true, marta. And I too have the wild swings!
It's never about the money, anyway. I think this might be about a transitional time in life, and feeling deeply unsettled.
Wait, gretchen, what were YOUR scores? Our entire family narrative hangs in the balance!
Posted by: Jo | October 22, 2009 at 10:52 AM
1150, higher verbal. but i was hungover.
Posted by: gretchenosis | October 22, 2009 at 07:03 PM
I heart Chipotle.
And speaking of spending money, let us Atlantans know when you want to do an IKEA meet-up.
Posted by: juliag | October 22, 2009 at 10:14 PM
My advice on the GRE is to treat the analytical section as fun and games if you can. Do enough of those logic puzzles in advance that when you get to that section on the test you get a bit of a breather. Well, that and the fact that no one knows exactly what to do with that section anyway...
Hope your trip is going well--so glad we got a chance to meet last week!
Posted by: Jenn (dish) | October 26, 2009 at 03:29 PM
Ooooh, Atlanta meet-up! I will!
And Jenn, the feeling is mutual! I think Sophia wants to come live with you.
Posted by: Jo | October 27, 2009 at 11:47 AM
That little angel is welcome in our home any time (along with her awesome family, of course). She is beyond precious.
Posted by: Jenn (dish) | October 27, 2009 at 08:22 PM