Day 343: A Night at The OC

We were invited out for beers at Old Chicago with the whole crew tonight.  Pau is in town, so she and Mary joined us as well.  Our server seemed a little green, but everyone still had a good time.  After we finished drinking - Paul, Deb, Brian, and Jen got their mini-tour t-shirts, and we headed back to Paul and Deb's for a bit of an after party.  This equals rowdy music, singing, and dancing for the men, and quiet conversation on the porch for the ladies.  Late, late, late fun - goodnight!

My side of the table!

Mary enjoying her Stella

Eric's side of the table had plenty of beverages!

And Eric was hogging them all!

Day 342: Booooo Rain!

This rainy day can't ruin my laundry day!  The weather channel app said there was no chance of rain, so I ran a load of laundry.  But by the time the spin cycle started, it was icky and drizzly out.  Instead of reverting to using the dryer (which we've done once in a "work clothes emergency" for Eric), I just hung the clothes up in the bathroom.  It took all day for them to dry, instead of a few hours, but that was worth it to me!

Apparently my new hobby is line/air drying clothes!

Day 341:Oh oh oh, O'Reilly's!

Eric here, it's about time for me to officially update our readers on my new employment. I recently moved from Checkers to O'Reilly Auto Parts in Olathe. The hours and pay are better, plus I actually enjoy what I'm doing! So now my job in a nutshell is to take part orders from our store to several various shops and garages around downtown Olathe. However we're a hub store, so we get in shipments from our distribution center in Kansas City and then deliver them to local stores on *the route*. Lately I've been running the route which is cool because there's no time to take a lunch while I'm out, so I get an hour of overtime every day. I was already scheduled for two hours of overtime this week, and I'm happy to pick up any more hours they'll send my way. I'm excited to get my first partial paycheck tomorrow and get an idea of how much better off we'll be now.

My truck, 6133, and the rest of our fleet.

The store front.

Day 340: The End of the 2010-2011 School Year (and Tornadoes!)

It's finally over, I spent my second year teaching in a new school, and now I'm off to another school next year. That means packing up all of my stuff and hauling it over.  I could have the district move it, but I'd rather they don't mess with my stuff.

After I was finished with my work day, Eric and I did a little shopping.  I read on Facebook that Georgeanna Layton is collecting donations for the relief effort in Joplin, and Eric heard on the radio that donations to the Red Cross are more helpful because they can get items at a lower price, or it can go toward things like the cost of shelter.  So we decided to support from both angles - mostly because I really felt a need to give things and I didn't think money alone would feel like I had helped enough.

 As I was bringing carts out to my car, I felt a little like Harry Potter pushing his train cart.

It was a bittersweet moment turning in my keys at Prairie Park.  I'm so sad to be finished there, but it is all in the name of moving forward.

The last two things removed from my office - our wedding "Save the Date" picture that I keep on my monitor, and a fortune that says "The coming month shall bring you much happiness".



Our $20 bought a case of Ramen, cookies, cups, salt, trash bags, soup, veggies, beans, toilet paper, mac and cheese, bananas, and gum.  I know that $2 could have been better spent - but with everything the people in Joplin are living through right now, I thought cookies and gum were trivial niceties that could be appreciated.



This whole tub is full of fleece blankets that Grammy had boxed up - and we also added an old TV/radio that will only be useful as a radio, a box of corn flakes, and a box of grits.  It's really not a lot, but I'm glad we are able to help in some form. 



And as a surprising dose of karma - as I was sorting through the fleece blankets, I found our family stockings!  They have been missing for 2 years, and it turns out that Grammy had them boxed up in storage!

Day 339: Snowballing Eric's Car!

We've been working hard on our budgeting, keeping track of our planned expenses, and focusing on knocking out Eric's car payments.  Every time it storms he hopes for hail damage so he can get a check for damages and apply it toward his loan!  We've been talking about trading his car in for a "Dave Car" so we can get started on our next step, but nothing has panned out yet.

We forgot to color in our debt thermometer last month, so we just colored in

We are just short of 21 inches ($21,000) colored in!

Almost $1,500 paid off in the last 2 months! 

I know we keep saying it, but we are so close to the armrest on the couch!  Next month we will pass it and then some!

And it wouldn't be home without a topless Eric!

Day 338: Swiss Army Wife!

Today I received a call from Eric while he was at work...he had reinjured his bad ankle and was taking care of it with a wrap and some medicine on his lunch break.  A few years ago he either broke his ankle or really badly injured a ligament or tendon or something (undiagnosed because he didn't have insurance at the time).  It doesn't cause him much trouble anymore - but it's just weak in general and fairly easy for him to tweak it.  He rolled it while reaching for something at work, and is not walking with a pretty strange limp.

I was checking up on him throughout the day and when I got home from work, I changed out his ice pack, and put on a wrap and one of the air cast ankle supports.  Eric said that it reminded him of something he'd heard on the radio, and that I'm his Swiss Army Wife!  Handy in all situations!

He's got the day off work tomorrow, so we're hoping that it gets to feeling better and he doesn't end up needing to go to a doctor.  Here's to hoping!

Poor old man and his weak ankle!

My classroom is completely packed up!  I can't believe this is only my second year teaching and I have so much stuff!

Day 337: Tera Graduates!

Eric, Ashley and I went to the early service at church this morning, and then we headed our separate ways.  Ashley to work, and Eric and I to Lawrence and Topeka for Tera's graduation!  She's worked her tail off and got to walk the hill today!  Yay Tera!

Ashley and Eric tied maroon ribbons on Grammy's tree...

...for their college graduation. :)

Mystic and Addy signed Tera's card with paw prints!

We saw this car in Lawrence (U NOOB)!

This car accident on I-70 made us almost 40 minutes late to Tera's party.  Originally I wasn't going to post this picture because the KTA reported it as a fatality, but tomorrow they made a correction and said that the man was injured, but is recovering.

Tera's Dad has an AWESOME backyard!  The pond has koi :)

Together again!

Graduation Tera!

In other, much less fortunate news, Joplin was hit by an E5 tornado and was left in utter devastation.  While we were at Tera's house, we checked the weather in Joplin because her Dad had a friend or family member who wasn't sure what was going on.  This was just a few hours before the tornado hit - leveling homes, apartments, Home Depot, and Walmart.  We've got all the families affected in our thoughts and prayers.  Ashley and Molly checked in on Phil and Gayle for the family - they were safe from the storm and their home isn't damaged, but they were in one of the places that was destroyed just 20 minutes before it hit.  Well over 100 have been killed by this one tornado, but we thank God they made it through.