So so so close!

We made another payment on our business loan yesterday. So now we have $2500 left to pay with 33 days before our goal. Can we do it? Yes, I think we can. I hope so anyway. It will surely be a stretch though.

We also had a quick sit-down with our loan officer and he was very impressed to see that we had paid over 10K in the past year. I'm also impressed - I have no idea how we managed that.
I was a little depressed yesterday while balancing our meager checkbook, and was lamenting to Brent that we had nothing to show for all our frugality - but I guess we do. Paying off a $25K loan (almost) in less than 3 years is quite a feat.

I'm pretty proud of us. :)

First Game Night

Brent and I have been meaning to start playing games on Tuesday nights instead of watching movies like we do every other night. Finally we got around to it.

First we played Thuder Road which Brent had picked up at Goodwill. I didn't really like it. It seemed kind of easy. It is a kids game, so what did we expect? One game lasted about 15 minutes and I quickly boxed it up before Brent could set it up again. Brent liked it pretty much though. I chose to play Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. Dumb. Boring. That game is going to Goodwill. I have no idea why I even owned it. Although I did learn that the island that the Statue of Liberty is on is in fact Liberty Island, and not Ellis Island. And that people in Japan speak Japaneese (yes that was a question).

Even though both games were pretty cheesy, it was a fun night. I'm looking forward to our next board game night.

Expensive cars and scary macaroni

Today Brent and I got to pick up our car - just under $500. Luckily we had it and didn't have to charge it. It was nice to have the car back too. Brent and I raced to it in the parking lot to see who got to drive it home and who got to drive Brent's mom car that we were borrowing. Thanks, by the way Margaret - you're a lifesaver!

Then tonight I was multitasking with the finest - I pulled up a recipe on the laptop, then I was cooking it and chatting with my Brother-in-law at the same time. And talking with my mom on the phone. I'm awesome! :)
We invited my parents over for homemade macaroni and cheese, but my dad was afraid of the healthy-ness of it. No better way to ruin good mac then to add cauliflower! But they were going to bring me yummy leftover stuffing but now they're not. Booo.

The mac was good though - here's the recipe.

Small cooking mishap

Brent left some coffee in the pot and it got cold and undrinkable so I decided to try a recipe I saw online for Espresso Jello. Sounds good, right? It's not. Don't try it unless you really really like black coffee.

It turned out, that wasn't the mishap.... The mishap was making it in the evening and eating it at 9 PM and then expecting to go to bed any time soon.....

I hate cars

Yup, it's true. I would love to live in a city where I could depend totally on public transportation and never drive again. Josh, want some new neighbors?

Our car blew up last week. Well it didn't really blow up, but it is in the shop. Brent and I got out of the movies last Friday and started up the car to a very loud squeaking noise and smoke coming from under the hood. We jumped out and popped the hood. One of the belts had disintegrated or something and wrecked the tensioner or something. So we called a friend to pick us up and called a tow the next morning.
Since we have a weird foreign car, they didn't have the part and it's still there, waiting. Hopefully Monday it will be done. Hopefully it will be less than $500 to fix. Boo.
Brent't parents conveniently are out of town at the moment, so we have their car to use until we get ours back.

So do cars make us more independent, or more dependent?

Back from 1 month of vacation

So I was chastised by my Sister-in-law for not posting. So here's a quick update post before I probably disappear for another month. Well maybe I won't, we'll see.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you Americans - hope your day was yummy and fun. We went to my parents house with my uncle, aunt, two cousins, and another couple from church. Brent lost at Snakes and Ladders, and I kicked butt at Pick-up-Sticks. Then we went to see Casino Royale, which I didn't really like, but Brent loved. Then we came home and watched Netflix movies until I fell asleep on the couch and Brent had to drag me to bed. Good day all around.

Today we slept until noon, then Brent and I laid in bed with our respective laptops and did most of our Christmas shopping. Then we got up and ate lunch and went to take a nap. Then we watched a movie and now we're eating KFC and pushing the cats away from my potato wedges.

Lessseee, what else.

I designed a catalog for an acquaintence's business - that was an experience. I really learned a lot and would love to do more of that kind of thing in the future. I'm reading Brent's college Art History textbooks and trying to read about all different kinds of design and learn as much as I can.

We really haven't started with the adoption yet. We're hoping to start the homestudy part in January. First we have to pay off some debt and get our home ready. Currently the boy's room is a junk room, and that's the biggest project.
Still haven't picked a country or an agency or have decided anything yet. Only thing for sure is International and hoping for a boy. Beyond that we have a lot of discussing and praying to do. I'm still at a loss as how to even begin to decide this kind of stuff.

Oh yeah, Brent and I went on vacation to Iowa. That was super fun. We stayed in a nice B&B with a lovely fireplace and claw-foot bathtub. I took a bubble bath every morning :) There wasn't much to do for tourism so we just shopped and drank coffee and drove around. Eastern Iowa has really beautiful scenery and is not all flat and cornfields :) the only bad thing that happened is my nosering popped out on a towel when I was drying my face. I couldn't get it back in until the next day and I think I basically repierced it. Oh boy did that hurt! Brent was very queasy and grossed out by the whole experience.
Then on the way home we met my parents at Ikea and went shopping. It was a fun vacation.

Brent's employer got him a new laptop and since his old one belonged to him, I inherited it. Yay me!

Our church album finally is finished - you can listen to some of the songs here - www.myspace.com/praisefellowshiprock If you listen really really close you can hear me in the background. I'm the really loud soprano.

That's about it. I think I'm going to shut this down and watch Netflix movies until I fall asleep on the couch and Brent has to drag me to bed.

:)