Mind on my money and my money on my mind...

Yesterday was a good day. My tax refund hit my bank account AND it was extra paycheck month. I nearly pooped myself with glee when I saw my balance.

Anyone who has been paid on a biweekly basis is familiar with extra paycheck month. Right? If not, you are really missing out.

Generally speaking, people on a biweekly pay schedule are paid twice a month (you know, four weeks a month, divided by two) on, say, a Wednesday. This year, there are five Wednesdays in April, July, September and December. Two of those months, your paychecks will grace your bank account three times instead of two.

It is glorious.

Of course, extra paychecks usually leave your account as quickly as they come. Sigh.

Mine paid for my semi-new, shiny, refurbished laptop, the new Adobe design software suite, some basics at gap.com, my boyfriend's bday present (Rockband 2), my mom's bday present (shiny new jewelry making supplies) and my little brother's bday present (clothes).

An aside: what is it with April birthdays?! The one ex I'm still good friends with also had his birthday, as did my grammy and ultra awesome cousin. And don't even get me started on all of the Facebook birthday reminders that kept popping up. Yeeeesh.

Before you get mad at me for making too much money in a recession, my paycheck wasn't what paid for most of this stuff. It was the tax refund. The huge tax refund. That's what paying for school out of pocket will get you.

Why do recessions make me want to shop?

I've been hit hard by a shopping bug lately. For the most part, I have resisted the urge, but it doesn't mean that I have managed to cut down on the E-daydreaming.

I'm working on making over my little apartment. In my head.

So far I found a coffee table I adore from Cb2.com. I'm sure it weighs 1,000 pounds, but no matter. I have Popeye arms in dream design land.
The boyfriend loves it and the best friend hates it.

Well, technically the best friend said, "You like ... that?"

Oh well.

Oggle

I need to stop looking at this darn thing:

• Intel Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9800 (2.93GHz)
• 18.4" Monitor
  
• Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
• 8 GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 4GBx2)
• 1 TB [4200 rpm]
• DVD±R DL / DVD±RW / DVD-RAM Drive
• XBRITE-FullHD™ (1920x1080) with Adobe® RGB color management
• WLAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth technology
• Extended Battery

For the low, low price of $3993.99. Sigh.

Maybe if my tax refund is big and I get a few more freelance gigs...

Time to get back to work.