Last week was Massey's birthday and it exhausted my limited cash flow. I only took her and a friend to a restaurant she choose in Atlanta, but it took twenty bucks worth of gas to get there and back.
Tim and I are getting her a car as her present, it's having a new engine put in this week. Tim's Mercedes was just killing us with gas and repairs so we traded it to the guy who works on our cars. He gave Tim a 2000 Volvo station wagon he had put a new engine in and runs like new. Nice body and paint job, leather upholstery and is so much better on gas. Since the blue book value on Tim's car was much higher, he threw in a 2000 Ford Focus for Massey that he had and is putting a new engine in. After all is said and done, we got Massey's car for five hundred bucks and thankfully he is letting us make payments. The car is in great shape body wise and the interior looks good too. Tim's already paid him a hundred bucks and I am giving him another hundred on Monday. We'll have it paid off in two weeks if the tipping gods continue to smile on me.
I had just enough money to take Massey for her driver's exam. Next problem was they want every document you can imagine to give a kid a permit these days. Social Security card, birth certificate, certificate of attendance from her school along with a certificate that says she took the drug awareness program. Dang, you'd think we were signing her up to run in the Indy 500.
I know I have her Social Security card somewhere but couldn't find it for the life of me. First stop, the Social Security office. It took thirty minutes for them to issue her a new card. Next stop the Department of Driver Services...or as I like to call it "The Torture Chamber." Twenty people in line in front of us and another thirty sitting in chairs looking pissed. I'd say out of all the people in front of us, maybe a quarter of them had all the required documents they needed. Massey's appointment which she made over a month ago was for 9AM. They called her number around 10:30. Another set of papers were filled out and twenty minutes later they asked me to drive my car to the designated parking spot and leave all my paper work on the dash so the examiner taking her for her exam would know we were next.
After the examiner got through talking to the ticked off mother of a girl she had just flunked and listed about five things she had done wrong it was finally Massey's turn. I got out of the car, gave a few last instructions like "Check your blind spots and always come to a full stop" I walked back to the sidewalk and sat down. You couldn't pay me to go back inside and I needed to be outside to listen for sirens once my girl left the parking lot in my car.
She passed!
By the time we got through it was almost noon...ridiculous if you ask me but Massey was on cloud nine. It was my only day off and we were both starving. I had two dollars to my name.
Here comes the good part!
While searching through every box in my garage and every junk drawer in my house for Massey's birth certificate, I found not only her birth certificate but a book of checks from my bank. I thought I was out of checks and never ordered more. (I'm bad with checks...see MANY previous posts)
I took that book of checks with me and we went to the grocery store...the grocery store that takes three days to clear a check.
I bought toilet paper, chicken for dinner, bath soap, breakfast cereal, milk, a big bag of dog food and staples I was out of...and enough food to last us a few days. I thought about it...if I write a check for twenty bucks and it bounces they will charge me $35.00. If I write a check for eighty they still charge me $35 but I have a kitchen full of food and toilet paper to boot!
It was wonderful. I made dinner, washed clothes with my laundry detergent and took a bath with a full bar of soap! I have been checking online and my skills seem to have served me well. It still hasn't cleared but I worked three shifts in two days and have my deposit sitting on the kitchen counter for in the morning...early morning.
Sometimes a momma's gotta do what a momma's gotta do. I know I shouldn't have but if there is anyone who deserves to be screwed to the wall it's banks. I deposited my paycheck last week before two and it took them almost two days to process it.
Working all weekend, getting back on track.
Massey had a great birthday, she passed her driving test, the dogs have food and so do we. I got lucky and made enough money to cover it all and will go into work tomorrow and do it all again.
Life could be a lot worse if you ask me....and often times has been.
We are on the upswing, taking baby steps but at least moving forward! I still say I will laugh at all this madness one day and be glad I have it all written down to remember.
Never take anything for granted and be grateful for every thing you do have. I have a wonderful husband, three great kids, three pups who adore me and a roof over all of our heads.
I'd say I am a winner!
Til next time... Cash Flow COTTON
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