Welcoming a routine

Now that work travel is essentially over for me (at least in the great excess of the past two months), I am looking forward to re-establishing a routine.  Usually I frown at the predictability of routines, though they are obviously necessary, but after living in the hotel for the past 2 months, I welcome all things consistent!  I am looking forward to going back to work tomorrow, in Tampa, and driving with Patrick. I am looking forward to sitting in my nice comfy chair in my nice comfy office and seeing my friends!

I am also thrilled to know I'll be waking up to my delicious iced coffee.  Who knew I'd get so tired of Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts??  The coffee we make at home is SO much better! It feels good to say that!  Speaking of food, I definitely need to start eating better.  I'm a little tired of dining out. I've eaten so much fast food lately due to unplanned and rushed meals, and it's showing.  Ugg. I can't wait to have packed lunches and better planned dinners!  I can't wait for exercising during lunch time.  I miss my daily walks.

There's no place like home.  Since the housing market is really not improving, I need to put a little more energy at enjoying my home and making some improvements.  It doesn't look like we'll be going anywhere anytime too soon. Lately we've been spending a lot of time on our screened porch. I am looking forward to making this a more enjoyable space in the coming weeks.

Snowballing

We did meet our goal of paying off our Sam's Club credit card last month.  I'm really proud of our accomplishments right now. I can officially say we have no credit card debt or any debt other than house, one car, and student loans.  Sounds good!  Unfortunately, the student loan debt amounts to having 2 really nice cars, so it's really NOT so good. But hey, I'll take our successes where we can get them. Nonetheless, I am happy our credit card and other independent financings are paid off.

Next up, I am tackling the only private student loan I have. Luckily, it has a relatively small balance.  However, due to some uncertainties right now with Patrick's job, I am only putting the money aside rather than making a payment just in case we need to dip into our emergency fund a little. Hopefully everything will work out, and we'll be okay....  And, since we'll be paying 3% into our pensions effective July 1st (Thanks legislature!) I want to prepare for that slight reduction in income too.

Home at last

Well, after 2 months of living out of hotels, Monday-Friday, I am finally finished training my first class.  I think it went very well for my first go, and the employees seem excited to get to work.  We had a great graduation celebration yesterday.  I bought grad decorations from Dollar Tree, and we had a nice potluck.  They got me the sweetest card with a gift card to Dunkin Donuts (they know how much I love my iced coffee), and most importantly they bought this tree picture frame, with all of their pictures hanging from the branches.  They said it is our family tree.  Awwww.  It's double sided, so one side is their individual faces, and the other side has their funny face pictures.  It'll be perfect to sit on my desk at work. It also says "Thanks Marcie - we appreciate you."  (It probably would have just been easier to post a picture, but it made me cry.)  So sweet!!!

Patrick came up with me on Sunday night so he got to see the place, and we had a great time. It meant a lot to me for him to come and see my other life. ;-) 

Now, we are off work for the next 5 days, and I couldn't be happier to be HOME.