So last night we ran a few errends. Included in which was buying a Christmas tree and lights for it. I didn't have one, and the one that shannon had was a little tiny one. So apprently we HAD to get one for our house. I guess that's ok. But she already knows that the Christmas tree can not go up until after Thanksgiving. I am looking forward to this Christmas, more then any one that I can really remember, but...as far as having Christmas stuff start before Thanksgiving or Halloween for that matter, I'm not such a huge fan of.
To Help pay for the wedding, I've reduced the amount that I put in my 401k from where it's at to the amount to get the max amount from company matching (rather then 2.5x that). It's also helped make things more comfortable around the house, instead of stressing as much as we were about money. Also coming up, is the selling of PTO (which will go straight into the current tab from the wedding), and the tax return (which I expect will be more sizable then last year, since I didn't get the full year of property taxes and mortgage deductions). We've also reduced some bills by going to CostCo (the chicken, even though I like the other chicken a whole lot more, will stay). And we have also reduced from basically having everything for cable (digital + all movie channels + internet) to the smallest package with the biggest discount that still includes HBO and the internet. Although we'll still be shy as far as money and the wedding goes, we'll be in a better shape then if we didn't do it.
There are a couple more things that are pending, that will save us a lot of money. One is maybe switching from Qwest for home phone service, to switching to Mediacom. Since there's no charge for long distance and it's a flat fee for the services they offer, and they provide discounts for combining with the services we already pay for...but we're not so sure about that. We also are going to combine insurance, but we are waiting for the last part of the settlement ($500 deductable owed to Shannon) for her accident (not Shannon's fault). After that, we'll be able to save quite a bit of money on insurance, since mine would only go up 120$ (over 6 months) to cover her car (that saves her about 80$ a month)...
The other morning George left a long curved scratch on my right forearm...It wasn't so surprising though, since he was being punished and was a bit pissed. I was making my lunch, and George hopped on the counter, right in front of my eyes. I'm fairly certain that they both hop on the counters when we're gone, but when I'm there? Right in front of my face? So I squirted water in his face and his leaping and running way got a scratch in return.
Oh yeah, the christmas lights are LED, rather then normal ones. Says on the box they use 80% less electricity and will last at least 15 years. So...I like that...although they are 10 times as expensive as the normal lights.