Not very interesting, but still....
There's not a whole lot that's new. Just living life day to day.
We're moving off of the island, about 5 minutes from where we currently are. The house we're moving to is a bit smaller than what we're in now, but financially, it's the right thing to do. It's gonna save us $175 in rent a month, plus we're gonna rent the garage to Rob's parents, so they can save money (they have 2-3 storage lockers, plus boat storage), and we'll apply the money they pay us towards rent, so that saves us even more. Plus, we'll have a yard. This will be the first house that we've ever lived in on our own. We won't even need a key to get our mail, cuz we'll have our own mailbox in our front yard. And I get to mow the lawn again! But we have to get a lawnmower first. There's a boat launch and a park at the end of the street, and one of my friends lives like 8 houses down. I'm excited. We were able to have our new lease start on May 15, which will give us 2 weeks to move and and do the move out clean on our current house. I think I may take some vacation around that time, just so I don't go crazy.
And don't worry kiddo's, we're still close enough to the beach that you can come stay with us if you need a beach fix. We're also *thinking* about getting a pool for the backyard. (Walmart-199.00, but we'll see). I've already started packing. Rob tried to help last night, but then a friend called (It was great talking to you!), and he got distracted, and I ended up filling the rest of the boxes that we had. Rob wants to have a yard sale, which we'll probably do at the end of this month.
On the job front, I still hate my job, but I've made it this far, might as well stick it out until Rob decides we can move back to Maryland. We work for the same company, but all of the benefits are in my name, and come out of my check. Plus, the president pays the premium for all employees, but not spouses and children. So, previously, before Rob had insurance, my premium was paid, and all I had to pay was $110 a pay period for the girls. Now that Rob is an employee, and we are on the family plan, the company pays the equivalent of 2 single employees towards our family premium, and we pay the difference for the girls (I think it's about $90 per pay period). I'm not gonna find benefits like that anywhere else around here, and none of us can afford to be without health insurance. Rob went for too long without his medicines. So, I'll keep my chin up and continue gritting my teeth at night, and hope that he'll come around next year and maybe we'll move back up there then.
Speaking of teeth, I went to the dentist last week and I have my first 2 cavities in my life. Nothing to brag about, I know, but the dentist was impressed at how healthy my teeth were (seeing as how I don't floss, and I haven't been to a dentist since I lived in Laurel with Dave and Mikey). But now we've all been to the dentist (the girls don't have cavities, Celeste may need braces). I'm gonna have to wait for a while before I get my cavities filled, cuz Rob has to have a couple of extractions, and I want to see how much that's gonna be before getting mine fixed. Come on Rebate Check!!!
What else? We were without a dishwasher for about a month. That sucked... A Lot. Ours died, and the homeowner is so anal about making sure he gets a deal when purchasing an appliance, on top of the fact that he's in Florida, that it takes forever to get things fixed, which is one of the reasons we are moving! But hand washing-I forgot how much it sucks. And I think I almost pushed the family over the edge when it came to stacking the dishes neatly before I washed them. I'm sorry, some people can have a messy pile of dishes, in no apparent order, and be fine, just grab and wash, grab and wash. Me, not so much. I want the plates stacked, the silver all together, the bowls stacked, all of the cups together, and the pots and pans together. So, I would come home from work, and if there were dishes in the sink, and Rob was cooking dinner, I would stack the dishes neatly so that I could do them after dinner. Instead of picking up the bowls and putting the plate with the plates and putting the bowls back on top ot the plates, Rob would rest the plate on top of the bowls, and leave the silver stacked on the plate. It sucks, because as soon as I got him accustomed to EXACTLY how I wanted him to stack the dishes, we got the dishwasher replaced. I think my crazy scared him a little.
We've both been exercising, but he's the only one seeing results. I had said to a friend a couple of weeks ago that I wanted to be smaller than her the next time I saw her - yeah, I don't think that's gonna happen. Not that I'm not going to try, but I've cut calories, and I exercise 3-5 times a week for at least a half an hour each time, and I can't budge on my weight. I've even stopped drinking for the most part (I had one beer on Wednesday, and the last time I drank before that was on Rob's birthday). Not that I don't want to drink, but I'm looking at it from a calorie perspective. I still have some time, so I'm not giving up yet....
My class is almost over. I take my final next Wednesday, and then I have to take the state test. I'm gonna take a couple of practice tests today, but I think I'm gonna be alright. I missed class both nights last week cuz I'm so done with my teacher. He's not teaching anymore. He asks us what we want to review, and then reads to us from the book. I can do that on my own. So I've gotta go tonight and Wednesday.
The girls are doing great. Chloe's got allergies, so she's been dealing with all the fun gunkiness that comes with that. Celeste used to have them, but they aren't affecting her or Rob as bad this year as they normally do (knock on wood). We've sporadically started working with her on phonics, but she gets distracted and discouraged, so we don't want to push her. She's all about princess this, mermaid that, and she loves her webkinz animals. She's grown out of needing one specific blanket, and now has a small army of multiple blankets that she picks and chooses from. Heaven forbid the one she chooses isn't available! We had a blanket war around Christmas, and at this point, I have no clue as to who claims ownership to each of the blankets. I had gotten a blue snowflake fleece blanket from my secret santa at work, and the girls both fought over who got to use it when I wasn't. So santa brought them both their own blankets, but Celeste still wanted mine, so I got hers, and Chloe would leave her blanket at school and have to use mine. Then Rob went out and got himself one (no, santa didn't bring him one), so that one's added into the mix as well. I only know where the purple one and the snowflake one are right now.
I could keep going with this randomness, but I need to take my monday midmorning nap.
I'm thinking about all of you, and wondering how you are. I miss and love you all (except you)!