Moving?

We got permission this morning to move out of our house once a replacement tenant is found. No punishments other than that. That's in accordance with Oregon law, but sometimes landlords to pickle-y things. 

We really love our current home. It's wonderful. Unfortunately, it's in the wrong town. It's an hour drive for B to work, and I'm looking for work in B's town. The rent will also be cheaper in B's town, and he won't have to drive far in bad weather. I will also be in the town I need to be in for networking and interviews.

I can't believe we are possibly moving, AGAIN. Hopefully, the next place we're in will be a decent month-to-month place. We can stay there, I can get a new job down there, we can save up, and our next move will be to a home of our own. 

Still. Oy. Moving. 

Right now though, I have to prep this house up like crazy. CLEANING! It's generally pretty clean, but there's a difference between clean and staged house clean. So to work I go.

New hair, new start!

Gosh, I feel good.  I needed a change. So I hacked off 10 inches of hair!

I actually went back to a haircut I had a few years ago (see photo of old haircut, below... ignore the lizard on my head), so it wasn't a HUGE shock. 

 

I LOVE IT. So easy, so light! I feel better and more professional.

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Bring it on, job search.

Insanely Grumpy.

I do NOT want to be at work right now. I'd much prefer to be in bed snuggling with my sweetie. Two weekend days this past week and neither resulted in any sleep in time.

Yes, I know. Once we have kids, goodbye to the weekend sleep-ins. But we do not have kids so we appreciate the sleep-in days, ok?

Saturday morning I realized I had forgotten the darn dog vaccination records AT WORK. I made it there and back (just over 2 hours total) in time for the appointment, but I was STRESSED out and in a grumpy mood. B had to pack up everything for our weekend overnight trip down south.

Vet visit went well. I felt like a horrible person for wanting a corgi with pointy ears. Seriously. Give me a break. I'm not talking about cutting the darn dog's ears or causing her pain. I'm talking about putting non-stick tape on her ears for 3 days. No pain. They are SUPPOSED to go up naturally, but our dog happens to have Dumbo ears and they (though they are TRYING HARD) cannot get up on their own. Dammit vet, answer my questions. And B was silent, so this provoked grumpiness from me.

Sigh.

We had an hour drive to our friends to get over said grumpiness, which we mostly did. The afternoon got better from there. Went to the winery we liked and got this executive tasting thing for our friend's birthday. YOWZA. Too much wine for me.

Found a picture of me from the trip though, and ugh, elephant thighs. I swear. I splurge a little and it's like they get the get-out-of-jail-free card. And I should add: My friend chooses to post THAT picture of me on facebook, despite the other, better ones of me out there. Motivation, I guess, since this week I start my lunchtime workouts.

We went out to dinner, which was fun. Myhusband accidentally ordered 2 expensive things, which I wasn't too happy about, but it was a legit mistake. Grumble, but nothing you can do about that.

Sunday woke up early. Our friends have a 20-month old, so sleep there is for the weak. And may I just say DANG it was cold! It's October and it was 32 degrees outside. Brrrrr. I had left my coat at the winery, so I had to scrounge in my car and borrow a coat from my friend. Breakfast was good, then we went to clayfest where I ended up getting interviewed by the local news station. Woot! B was laughing at me getting all miked up and then he was all for it when we found out I got a free pot for my efforts. HA!

We stopped by an old friend's house to see her remodel, and we were reminded again how much we want to buy a house. SIGH. Now is such a good time to buy, and it's sad we cannot. Our jobs just don't permit us to buy a house where we live. THe commutes aren't permanent, so why buy a house in a non-permanent area?

We walked Maddie for a long time in the park, went to the fancy grocery store where I went hog wild in the bulk bin and candle sections, visited another old friend, and then went home. Yawn!

You've got to be kidding me...

Right after I wrote that last post, I checked my credit card. My cell company I just switched us to? DOUBLE billed! And it may be 2 unnecessary bills.

Dang it, you have to be vigilant!

Auto pay or go nuts?

Adulthood.

TheNest has a really nice income calculator. I have been using it for the past few months and LOVE it. So nice because it a) automatically calculates and b) thinks of a lot of things we forget accidentally when calculating budgets.

When paying bills, I don't like the offered auto-pay feature that most companies offer. First off, I've had 2 companies NOT stop auto-deducting when they were supposed to. I had my old electric company deduct some weird crazy amount that resulted in a huge surplus on my account. And, worst of all, Comcast messed up my bill so atrociously and I didn't realize it because it was autodeducted. That got taken care of, but what. a. mess.

I think it's important to separate credit cards and utilities. The Comcast experience aside, most utilities don't screw you over. But credit cards, you have to check that darn statement every month.

That said about utilities, there are things to watch for with them nonetheless. Did you know that if someone imputs your cell number into a ring tone site, it automatically bills your cell phone plan? I got nearly $100 billed on one cell bill because that happened. Nasty.

So what to do? The ease of autopay and avoid the risk of missing a payment? Or trying to get it all done yourself?

Hm.

We have student loans to worry about, all our house stuff, and all our job stuff. No kids to throw into the worries yet, but now's the time to build a good foundation to work from right? Hm.

Maybe I should auto pay everything except for credit cards and then schedule a day a month where I have a list and I review all the utility statements.

This is all prompted by the fact that every month one small thing slips by me. No, not the big stuff like credit cards or student loans. But one small thing. Gotta build a better system.

Goals and changes.

Does anyone ever feel like life is a series of leaps from one quest to the next? Once you meet one goal, another one pops up?
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I suppose that's a good thing. It means you're constantly challenging yourself, setting new goals, and striving to achieve what you want.
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But it's exhausting.
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This past weekend, when I was sitting out in the countryside with B and Maddie, I thought:

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"This is life. Life is good."

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I've been thinking about that. Life IS good right now. But there are things we want to get to that will still involve change. At some point, we will move. We will buy a house. We will change professionally, and because of that, our jobs may change. We will have children.

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Part of me wishes I was better able to predict at this point when those changes will occur. When will we buy a house? Well, that depends upon when we're both in the same approximate geographic place job-wise to be able to buy a house. When will we have kids? That depends upon when we are in the same geographic area job-wise (and hopefully house too). But, right now, those are unknown. We both like our jobs and we don't want to change. And right now, we work 55 miles (in opposite directions) from home.

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I'm glad I have B. He and I are constants for each other. No matter what happens in changes to come, we will have each other's support.

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But... sometimes I wish I was better able to at least outline a 5ish year plan. But right now, we'll just have to wait and see.

Would you like some puppy with your wine?

B and I went wine tasting on Saturday. It was a gorgeous day. We mixed in some pumpkin patch visiting with our wanderings too. 2 orange carving pumpkins, 3 decorative pumpkins and one gourd later, we were off to Yamhill county.
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We found out that there are 395 wineries in Oregon. WOW! We love the countryside where the vines are. Actually, I think meeting new people and playing outside are our favorite parts of visiting wineries. It is so pretty. Even if you don't like wine, I think you would have loved to come with us. It is so idyllic.

Here is the view from one winery.

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And the view at another winery. They had frisbee golf baskets set up and you could play around. Maddie romped in this field and everyone came out and played with her!

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We brought Maddie with us and she was a very good girl in the back seat. Most of the time, she just SIGHED dramatically when we looked back at her. I think cars are boring if you have to really stretch yourself to see out the window. Just wait till you get a little bigger, pup. The day was pretty cool out, so she got to stay in the car sometimes, sleeping. She was SOO tired by the day's end.

On one of the back roads, we let Maddie into the front seat to look out the window. She was SOO excited.

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B took a picture of her bottom. SIGH. Her little stub tail was wagging happily as she balanced on his leg... and then....

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Whups! I slipped down!

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When we got home, Maddie instantly began playing with her favorite friend, Rumpole. He is such a motherly cat. He watches out for her and lets her pounce on him, chew his ears, you name it. We have a back room for the cats that they can get to and Maddie cannot. Plus, if they're on the couch or on a chair, they're out of her reach. So, it's not like they HAVE to interact with her. But Rumpole, he asks for it.

Cat abuse? Nope. He asks for it. He also enjoys batting her (non claws out) on top the head just to rile her up to get her to tackle him.

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More cat abuse? Nope. Still just playing.

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We've also been entertained by Maddie's ears. We knew they'd go up and down until they finally stay all up all the time. But seriously. Every day it is different. At the wineries? One ear up, one down. With my parents last weekend? Both ears up. Last night: Both ears down.

You making fun of my ears AGAIN?

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Little girly pup sitting on her favorite rug, both ears down, WAITING for Rumpole to come over and play.

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But what she really loves, is B. LOVES him. I like trying to catch them hanging out together. I swear she imitates him. But maybe I'm looking too much into things....

Pup and B, chillin'...

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Sleepin'...
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So that was basically our weekend. Out and about on Saturday, enjoying the weather. Sunday dawned rainy, so we had a fun day doing nothing indoors. And the pup? So good. No accidents this weekend! We still have to monitor her (she hasn't gotten the "go to the door when you need to be let out" thing), but she was so good this weekend.

Mercy! Mercy!

That's it, week. It was a good haul.

But in the end? You whupped my behind.

So now, I'm crying out like a 5th grader playing thumb war. Mercy! Mercy!

Please let me go home, put on my pjs and do nothing.

Please end.

Please?

I've squashed all you've tossed my way. I've handled stressed-out people and refrained from biting off their heads back. I've been a good girl and gotten all my jobs taken care of, on time, and without errors.

So now you need to go. You've been conquered.

And when you return next week, please be better behaved. This week was a doozy and totally uncalled for.

End of the month scramble

Whoo!

This past month, I took off the Friday before Labor Day. Then, obviously without advance notice, I took off Monday and Tuesday last week.

Result? Minor panic attack at month's end.

I have a certain number of hours to get in every month, and the 2 days last week threw things into a disarray. But, after working long hours last Wednesday through yesterday, I came out more than ok.

But, I'm left exhausted. Is it Friday yet?

We have "let's see and what happens" plans this weekend. Besides a tentative dinner with friends on Sunday evening, NOTHING is planned. I could spend all Saturday in my PJs.

I think B may want to go wine tasting... or maybe we'll head to the coast. Maddie is still not vaccinated (we have to wait until a week from Saturday, augh!), so we have to be careful where we take her so that she doesn't catch any doggie diseases.

Can't wait till tomorrow afternoon... Sigh!