Family, Fun, Florida

Well, we ended up going to Florida after all and I am very glad that I did. Mom, Casie, and I arrived in Orlando on Thurs. 10/27. After picking up the key to the condo, we headed out towards Melbourne, near Indiatlantic. By the time we picked up the food, drinks, etc and got to the condo, it was almost dark but we made it out to the beach for a few minutes. We had to look for shells, you know. It was pretty windy and a little chilly. The next morning, we woke up early and headed back out to the beach with our coffee on a mission to find neat shells. (Mom really likes to look for shells.) Eventually we will create some magnificent work of art with all the shells we have collected :) It was still a little chilly out on the beach. We saw a few people running and walking and a few fishing but all in all, not too many people out there. The rest of the weekend we ended up shopping, snacking, drinking, and watching chick TV. We had a really great time! I can't wait until the next girls weekend!

To sell now or later

This is our house with it's Halloween costume on. Actually, we've been thinking about when to sell our house. Right now, there are many houses for sale on our street. The reasons for selling it now would be...the trees are in bloom and starting to change colors which make our area more appealing, the house looks better with green grass and shrubbery, it's before christmas, etc and we may be able to get more for it. Although, if we put it up for sale and it sells quickly, where will we go? We can't actually leave town until around March 1st (contractual agreements). We would have to buy and move into the RV early and stay in a park in town, and there are only a few parks in town, or move into an apartment on a short term lease, which would be expensive and negate the savings we are trying to accomplish. Also, if we sell prior to the two year mark (Jan. 31st) we would have to pay more taxes. So we have a quandary. I think we would have a better chance of selling it right now but really, I'd rather stay here and enjoy our house until we are able to leave the area. I think that is probably what we will do. If it takes a little longer to sell in the spring, so be it, we will get out on the road as soon as we can. As a side note, the jeep is now clean and ready to be sold, so that will be the next project on the list.

Girls weekend gone wrong?

Well, we were supposed to have a girls weekend (my mom, my sister, and I) next weekend in Melbourne beach, FL. Right now, we are just waiting to see what happens with Hurricane Wilma. Where we are staying is on the Atlantic side but right now, it is in the projected path. As of today, the forecast is for it to hit Florida on Monday and we are supposed to arrive on Thursday. I'm going to wait and see what happens tomorrow and possibly Monday morning before deciding whether or not to cancel the trip. Hopefully, Wilma will die down and travel fast across the state of Florida so that the damage is minimal.

Saving money

We've been busy working...trying to save up some extra money. Due to unexpected expenses, we haven't put any money in savings recently. The year ahead is almost always on our mind. There was an RV show nearby this weekend but we weren't able to attend. I think we've settled on getting a 34ft Tiffin Allegro. This will probably be the best combination of size and affordability for us. Plus the reviews I've read on Tiffin motorhomes have been good. We're still trying to decide on the other little details. As an update, the jeep should be on the sale lot by early next week. Exciting but sad to see it go. We really enjoy driving it.

Liberty for sale

We have decided to put Mike's Jeep Liberty up for sale. The first step in this process includes having it detailed. We set up an appointment with my friend, who does a great job detailing cars, for Saturday. Unfortunately, we had some unexpected family issues come up this week and are going to make a quick trip back to Texas this long weekend. Hopefully this car will be out on the sale lot within two weeks. By the way, our house is feeling so empty. It is approx. 2600 square feet and I think we have less stuff than we did when we lived in a 1200 sqft apartment. Our flight leaves at 6am. I have to pack and hit the sack.

Glacier trek

Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau, AK (8/17/05)

Alaska in August

We were in Alaska recently. This past August, Mike and I took an Alaska cruise aboard the Sapphire Princess, Princess cruise lines. Although we only saw the southeast corner of Alaska, we had a great time and we are ready to head back for more. It was a 7 day cruise and we stopped in the ports of Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway with a morning cruise through Tracy Arm. It was beautiful and the weather was perfect. We had calm seas the entire time. I will post a photo from our excursion to the Mendenhall glacier. If we can swing it, we may try to venture up to Alaska one summer in the RV. After all, we only saw a tiny piece of it and there is a vast amount left to explore. I can't wait!!

Successful Sale

Well we wrapped up the fall garage sale yesterday around 1130. It was supposed to start at 8am but I heard a lot of cars out on the street early so I opened the garage around 7:30. I think most of the big stuff was gone in the first 45 minutes. The rest of the morning, the people came in waves and it pretty much died off by 10am. I guess it was better that it was so busy in the morning because it didn't leave me anytime to think twice about selling certain things. All in all, I only took two things out of the garage sale and back upstairs into the house. Not bad. Now Mike and I will have to figure out what to do with the leftover stuff.