Day 252: Apartment Hunting!

Today we went apartment hunting, and I think we were pretty productive on our first day out!  We had 2 places in mind to look at, and ended up looking at a lot of other places too.  We are planning on moving back to the Overland Park area so we're closer to family.  Here are the few we looked at AND took pictures of!

Then after Eric went to and got off of work, we met a bunch of friends at the Lawrence theatre to see Drive Angry in 3D.  Nicolas Cage escapes from Hell, literally, to save his granddaughter from some crazy cult.  It's pretty amazing - both gruesome and hilarious!  I was even able to sneak in a 44oz Dr. Pepper in my purse!

 #1 - Oak Park Village: I loved the floors and the mirrors in the dining room.  It's a pretty small place though.

#2 - Charter House: Really cheap, but not a great looking place.  Tons and tons and a few more tons of storage!

#3 and our current favorite - London House: Amazing features in the clubhouse, pretty affordable, and really nice inside!

Day 251: No More Credit Cards!

Today we received our federal tax refund!  We use that money, and liquidated half our our planned expenses account, to pay off Eric's credit card!  We stopped using credit cards in November of 2009, started Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University in February of 2010, and have since paid off over $20,000 of debt!  Now we've just got Eric's car to pay off, and then all that will be left is my student loans!

That red line has made it past my knee! (Or past our shoulders if we're sitting down by it!)

Day 250: Honk If Your Car Is Paid For!

BEEP BEEP!

We mailed in the final payment on my 2002 Suzuki Reno on Friday, but we wanted to wait until the check cleared to celebrate!  I think it's going to get a little bit better gas mileage now that it only has one owner!

Eric is going to take Addy to get some celebratory soda from the gas station!

She quite enjoyed the 2 minute car ride!

Look how far we've come in a year! 

Pretty soon you'll be able to see it from the other side of the couch! 

More than 12 inches colored in!  Every inch is $1000 of debt - we've paid off my credit card and my car, and have made an $8000 dent across the rest of the debts which hasn't been colored in yet.  We only color in payments on the current debt we are working.

 We've come a long way in a year, and the change of heart about how we're going to live our lives is so much more significant than the amount we've paid or how much we've got left to go.

 Me with MY car!!!

The fine print on the bumper sticker says "I'm living like no one else, so later I can live like no one else!

If you want your own paid for bumper sticker - you can buy the same one as me, or you can customize the color and font!  http://www.zazzle.com/JGreen62010*

Day 249: Valentine's Day Cookies

Our budget obviously prevents us from spending $3 on cutesy smiling (grimacing?) cookies.  But now that it's nearly 2 weeks later...bring on the $.99 cookies!  Our halogen oven is great for impulse cooking like this, no preheating and it cooks them faster!  But when you want cookies NOW, even the halogen oven isn't fast enough...oops!

I guess they could have used a little more time to cook

Day 248: I'm Melting!

Or at least that's what it feels like today.  Today, at school, was so downright miserable for me that I was already done crying by the time I got home, and I just melted into the bed.  Too exhausted to be mad, sad, happy, etc.  I'm not going to go into the details of it here because A) This is a public blog, and B) I don't want to remember the details of this terrible day for the rest of our lives! 

On the plus side, I finished reading The Hunger Games!  I liked the resolution to the story and thought that the little bit of cliffhanger is enough to make you wonder about the truth, but not enough that I'll dwell on it.  I can't believe how excited I've gotten about reading in the past two months!  I've encountered one that I can't seem to pick back up (about Ellis Island, blah!), but other than that I have been flying through books!  No more than a few days on each one.

At least we've got the class clown, Addy, to keep things interesting!

Ohhhhh I'm soooo tired and lazy... 

LaserPointerLaserPointerLaserPointer!!!!!!!!!

Day 247: Mystical Magical

Mystic definitely knows where her place is...right between our pillows.

Just making sure the pillows don't go anywhere...

Day 246: Harleys and Fish

We don't watch Andrew on Sundays anymore, so today we were excited to go home and relax after we got out of church.  Of course we still wanted to see the kid, so we went on a trip that lasted most of the rest of the day!  After we played for an hour or so, we joined Mom and Alan at the Harley store in Olathe to ooh and ahh over bikes.  Eric put in an application, and Mom ended up deciding to trade her bike in for a Harley!

She didn't finish all the paperwork today because between looking around, the test drive, haggling over prices, and walking out because it took so long, we spent well over 2 hours at the store.  This was all in the afternoon when none of us had eaten, and all were eager to go get some food.  So when they told us paperwork would take another 45 minutes, Alan turned around and said "see ya tomorrow!"

Then we headed over to Bass Pro Shop and had lunch in their diner.  Apparently it used to be pretty upscale food and service, but they weren't making enough money so they pulled the prices and dishes down to $8-12.  Mom was disappointed to not get her fish platter, but all in all the meal was good!

Aweeee, Andrew chillin' with Uncle Eric

Mom and Alan test driving her new Harley! 

These trains are facing each other on the same track!  I realize one could have an engine on the back, but it's much more amusing to think that they met head on and were like...huh...what're we gonna do about this... 

Mom: "Why do you always take pictures of your food?" Me: "I'm not, say cheese!" 

The cutest little duck at Bass Pro Shop!