Hey! The internet's back! Woohoo!

So, Darren and I had a heart-to-heart this afternoon while my cajun-parmesan-chicken-alfredo-pasta concoction made the journey from done to I-hope-you-like-it-black done. He helped me come up with a budget using my current paycheck to figure out what I can afford. As my mom and I concluded earlier, that's not much. After figuring in the necessities, I'm already in the red. But - that's if I have to pay bookoodles of money on car insurance. I got a quote from Progressive when I was in school and they said I'd have to pay in the neighborhood of $350/month for car insurance. Ouch. Really, ouch. Just take my firstborn while you're at it! I figure it's so high because I have only been driving, to date, for almost four months. I think I'm a so-so driver, but I can totally understand why an insurance company would charge so much for a beginning driver. But try telling that to my bottom line! From what Darren tells me, though, Geico gives huge discounts to Navy Federal Credit Union Members (thanks, Mom and Dad!), and has beginning-driver plans. Still, I am cursing myself for being so stubborn about driving. I'm a stubborn person, and if something scares me (like driving used to) I ain't budging, or if I do, it will be on my own damn time, not yours! Anyway, if that becomes a more reasonable figure, then I might (might) be able to scrape by.

Darren and Kim said that they would not kick me out, and that there was no major rush for me to move out, but at the same time...they've not had the place to themselves since April, and if it's baby-making time... This is the part when Darren said I might get embarrassed. Silly Darren. Sex does not embarrass me. I think sex is a beautiful thing (when done right, of course), and that it should be celebrated (at an appropriate time and place), and it isn't anything to get (majorly) embarrased over. But I think both of them would be embarrassed to get jiggy with it if I was in the house. Kim said she just doesn't want me to hear anything, and I am totally down with that. I said that if need be, I can be told to get out for an hour ... or four, if necessary. I've done similar things when I was in school and I was cool with it (although not with my sister and her boyfriend! Hell would have to freeze over first!). Sorry, Kim, if you're reading this!

Anyway, my to-do list just keeps growing and growing. Get auto insurance. Transfer my license from NC to SC. Buy a car. Find an apartment. Move. Keep to a budget. Actually, when written out like that, the list doesn't seem so long! Maybe when I get my own place, I'll get a pet. Ideally, I'd love to get a dog, a big one - a lab or lab-retriever mutt-mix type thing - but it wouldn't be fair to coop a big dog like that in an apartment all day, so I'll settle for a cat. Little dogs are cute, but they are not for me. I'm a dog person, but cat's are loving in their own way. But that's neither here nor there right now, except that I'd look for an apartment that allows pets. Maybe Mom and Dad would let me take Zeus! Zeus is always happy to see me! If I trained him up, he'd make a good dog. He's got the love of ten-plus dogs, it's only that he likes to chew on things, namely my arm, that detracts from his obvious appeal.