Where does the time go?

We had a great time at Disney, but of course it was more exhausting than we expected. The kids did great on the plane rides to Orlando and back. We were thrilled and shocked by this! I highly recommend direct flights on Jet Blue. The kids did not watch much of the DirectTV, but it helped some and every little bit of help is gold! I will put up a Disney post with lots of pics, soon.

So, getting back to some stuff that I said I wanted to blog about... Our house we are renting was sold over the summer. The couple who bought it live in San Diego and want to move to VT in a few years, maybe for their retirement. So, they basically invited us to sign another lease and stay in the house for the next 1-2 or so years. We signed the lease for a year and we hope to be able to buy something next year. We will start looking around in the Spring and Summer and maybe buy in August or so. Having never bought anything bigger than a car, moving towards homeownership seems both terrifying and thrilling to us, especially since, um, we have no money! Good times of working in nonprofit mental health and having two toddlers in full-time daycare. Hey, if we had no school loans, credit card debt, or kids in daycare, we would be living high on the hog! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

The new landlords have put some work into the house and we are so happy with the results. They put on some amazing and very safe hardwood railings all along the stairway going up to the second story. Some of you know that before, it was all open, with no railings, other than on the wall side. It would have been very easy to fall directly from the second floor down to the first floor and we had to be super vigilant about the kids. We could not even attach a gate, because there was nothing to attach it to! All the work on the stairs was done while we were on vacation. Perfect timing. The other big change the new owners are making is installing a dryer! We have had a washer, but no dryer, which has meant weekly trips to the laundromat for me to partake of their hot air. Every Thursday, after my day at home with the kids, my treat has been that I "got" to go do the drying when Penny got home from work. Now, don't get all jealous. Soon, I will do the drying like everyone else...at home in my very own dryer! We can't wait till it gets here. We are told it should be here soon. Yay!

Penny has a new job with the same agency we both already worked at. Penny was working as an employment specialist for adults with mental illness since December. Well, a case manager position became available, so she applied and she got it! Our badass teacher/anthropology grad student is now working in the mental health world! Who woulda thunk it? Well, when you live in a more rural place, you get whatever work you can. Congrats to Penny on her new job, which comes with a nice little raise. This little raise will help us to keep our previously glub-glubbing heads, a bit more above the water. Thank G-D for small miracles! Penny felt badly about leaving the first position because she had been there for less than a year, and people have a habit of moving from the other position into this new one because the money is so much better. And, she really liked the other position and the clients and her coworkers. And, and, and....But, the move was very necessary for our family, so she had to do it. Thanks for making the sacrifice, Pen. Our family and our checking account thanks you!

That's enough for now, I think. More soon. Sooner than a month from now, I promise!