The Sewing Mom

Just like most everyone else, our household has had to do some belt tightening as a result of the current economy. I’ve been working more hours and spending less and we’ve put a number of household projects on hold. I find myself constantly looking toward the future which, I have to admit, does appear to be a bit brighter for our financial future. By the end of this year we will have paid off several items, including my daughter’s orthodontist and her musical instrument. The next major event happens in April, the lease on our car expires.

Truthfully, I love our car, but, I’m not sure what I want to do when the lease expires. We could buy the car and it would be ours to do with what we please. I’ve actually been thinking though how nice it would be to not have a car payment of any kind. Our van is paid for, so we just have this car payment. I work from home and the only time the car gets driven is to take my daughter to school on the mornings she doesn’t ride the bus. I do run a few errands with the car, but I’ve found myself wondering if we couldn’t manage, at least for a while, with only one vehicle. My husband works just 10 minutes from the house, so, yes, there would be some inconveniences, but, I think we could make it work.

Of course, while I’m trying to convince myself that being a one car family could work, Charter has decided to host a Camaro Sweepstakes and the prize is the beautiful 2010 Camaro 2SS. This would be fantastic to win! Not only would we have a brand new car, it would be paid for!

Charter believes in high speed and fast service and the 2010 Camaro 2SS delivers both, just as Charter High Speed internet does. There is no purchase necessary to enter the sweepstakes, but if you do order a Charter service online, you’re automatically entered. A random drawing will be held on or about Dec. 10, 2009 and one lucky winner will receive a beautiful new 2010 Camaro 2SS. Maybe this is my lucky day!

You can also follow Charter on Facebook and Charter on Twitter. In addition, there are gift cards from major retailers that are being given away for signing up online for a Charter service. This sweepstakes is open to those living in the continental U.S.  I think this car would be FABULOUS in my garage!

For whatever reason, this past week seemed to drag on forever.  It was busy, filled with work and activities, but it seemed like the weekend would never arrive.  Thank goodness it did!

I managed to work a little bit every single day this week, no days off.  That’s good news considering recently my paychecks have been a bit short due to working fewer hours.  I try to work a minimum of 20 each week, but there have been cuts and I did have one week in August that was only 7 hours.  That was a painful paycheck!

My daughter has been extremely busy with school, tons of homework, a few projects, band and softball.  The homework is much more than she’s had the last couple of years and so I have to hope she doesn’t get frustrated.  Most of the work is in her French and Math classes, both of which she is earning high school credit for (she’s in 8th grade), so I do hope it’s all worth it.  Band stepped it up a notch this week too because they had their annual tailgate party.  This is an event that includes all of the bands from all 3 middle schools, plus the entire band from the high school.  When you add them all together, it fills a football field with around 1,000 kids!

Due to band, she did miss her softball practice, they were on the same night.  She will have batting practice this afternoon.  I did work Saturday morning, 4 hours, but after that, I managed to have some much needed down time before a friend came over to look at our drywall damage that was caused by our water heater bursting in the attic a couple of weeks ago.  I think he’s going to try to repair it sometime this week, not sure yet.

I think I’m going to head out for a nice walk around the neighborhood (1.5 miles) to get my day off to a good start.  It’s my one day this week that I’m not working and it’s a beautiful morning outside.  I hope everyone has a beautiful Sunday!