These Days...

Gosh, it's been too long. But I've been thinking of lots of things to share, so here goes.

These days:

-You will find us learning a lot more about being wise with our finances. This includes eating out almost never. This definitely includes no more Starbucks. This also means that I am much more likely to invite you over for a game night than to meet you for coffee or dinner somewhere--which is way more fun anyway!

-You will find Tricia working a new 2nd job, at Fanatic Fanz, about 10-20 hours/week. So far, this has been a fun job. It's nice to have more face-to-face time with people and get to have more project-type things to do at work.

-You will find that we have almost purchased a 2nd car and plan to pick it up tomorrow, actually. :)

-Nala spends a lot more time at home, sadly, since our schedule doesn't allow for as much dog-park time as she had when Tricia would be off at 4 pm.

-We are soaking up our last weeks with Ginger, who will be leaving soon to do a year away with Mercy Ships.

-We have had a 2nd yard sale and already have the date set for the next one. So... we spend our spare time going through things from each of our parents' homes--still quite a long way to go with this. Gosh, Tricia is a pack-rat. Seriously, she's saved just about every single note anyone has ever sent her. Though it's a lot of stuff, it's providing some fun memory-lane journeys.

-Valerie lives out of town now, so not as much sister time, but for awhile, we were able to spend a lot of time together and grow closer as sisters again which is a blessing. One of my favorite nights since we've been home was when Laura, Valerie and Ginger came over for dinner and game night. Fun times!

-I actually just recently feel as though I'm feeling 'settled' here in Charleston, and that means we are finally starting to catch up with more friends who we haven't seen in a long time.

-Nala has been introduced to babies and seems like she will be a good guardian. Cindy and Jerry came over one day with baby Lily, and that was the first time Nala ever met a little baby. She did really well, which was good because Zack, Stephanie, and baby Josiah stayed with us the next weekend.

-Matt is still working 3-11 pm shifts at Doubletree and hoping to find a 2nd job soon, which will be made much easier by the purchase of our 2nd vehicle.

-Tricia works a 10am-7pm shift now and spends most of the days on the phone serving customers. A picture of her training class is above. The days go by much faster on the phones than in training classes.

-Matt has his piano back.

-The Wii came back from Thailand inoperable. We are trying to figure out what exactly is wrong and if it's fixable. If it's not...

-We are looking forward to friends coming over for brunch tomorrow and then some other friends coming to stay with us next weekend!

Hopefully, more updates soon. :)