The puppy November 17, 2008

One thing that BF and I have been talking about for quite a while, even before we officially moved in together, is getting a dog. His parents have 4 shelties that he is very attached to, and my parents have a Jack Russell Terrier that is known as the 3rd, and favorite child (really, my sister and I don’t mind). We’ve always been concerned, though, that our work-heavy schedules wouldn’t be conducive to giving the dog a good home. Regardless, this weekend, we became the proud parents of Diesel. He is a 9 month old JRT, formerly owned by a friend of BF’s mother, who had decided that she couldn’t manage him anymore.

It was sort of a spur of the moment decision, but after having played with him a few times, we really just fell in love. And, yes, we work a lot, but we are dedicated to taking him for walks when we do get home. I’m in the process of trying to find a dog-walking service that will come and take him for approximately a 1/2 hour walk in the middle of every day. For this week, we are getting various family members to help out and make sure that he gets plenty of chances to go outside.

We didn’t have to pay anything for the dog, and he also came with a large crate (which he dislikes) and some toys and food. We’ve gotten more supplies from my mother, and so far, have only had to spend about $40 out of pocket on him, in the form of a retractable leash. The dog walking places that I’m looking into seem to be between $15 and $20 for the 1/2 hour visit, but I think thats a fairly reasonable price to pay. Yes, he will be an expense, but he will also enrich our lives so much – we’ve both felt a little lonely not having an animal companion in our new home. I’m sure I’ll have much more to say on the topic of pet costs in the future!

Stresses April 6, 2008

I fully admit, I’ve been an absolute bitch to deal with lately. I am hugely, hugely stressed out about financial things, and I have been taking it out on BF, who has been incredibly kind and patient about my bad mood. We finally had a down night last night, and spent the night at his house drinking wine, cooking yummy food and chatting with his parents and some friends of ours. We went to bed before 11pm, and finally talked.

Right now, I live with my grandmother, and he lives with his parents. We are both ready to make some changes and move out, and have decided to move in together – We’ve been together almost a year now. We started talking about it back in January, and decided that September would be the best time to make the move – giving us both plenty of time to save up the money for security deposits and such, and also to give us some time to make sure that its the right choice for us both, that its in the best interests of the relationship.

Its now April, and I have been systematically saving a certain amount of money out of every paycheck. I’m excited about the thought of having our own place, and about building a life together, but I am very stressed out about some of the realities of the situation. Basically, BF has massive amounts of student loans to pay off. His loans are currently deferred, but he is going to have to start repaying them soon. He can’t actually make the student loan payment and still have enough money to live on even if he stays at his parents house, on his current salary, so clearly, he needs a different, significantly higher-paying job. I stress because he isn’t looking, and doesn’t seem all that concerned about starting the job search. September isn’t that far off, and if he wants our shared goals to happen, I feel like he needs to take steps now. He says that he definitely does want to move in together, and that it will all work out. I’m not so sure, and will be so disappointed and upset if it doesn’t happen the way I want it to.