It's officially fall in Portland. I actually feel like we skipped fall all together and have blasted straight into winter. The nice weather lasted for so long into October that I wasn't quite prepared for the cold, rainy weather to come back. Instead of the usual crisp cold with sun, we're getting frosty morning windows and rain. The only thing keeping me from feeling like it's the dead of winter is the gorgous leaves on the trees. I can't wait until the tree in our front yard gets those bright red leaves!
Bryann is determined to keep the heat off until November, but I complained enough on Tuesday (the house was 59!!!) that he turned the gas pilot light back on and let me turn on the fireplace. He also, begrudgingly, let me put the flannel sheets on the bed. :-) Add and an extra blanket on the bed - on my side only though because somehow, even when it's 50 degrees at night, B still manages to start sweating - and some heat to the house, and I'll be ready to snuggle in for the winter.
This has been a rough few weeks getting settled back into the swing of working full-time. B has classes on Mondays and Wednesdays, and I have choir rehearsals on Tuesdays while B goes to board game night, Plus google chat is disabled on my work computer so we really only see or talk to each other for about an hour before we go to bed on those days. It's been kind of nice though. We stay up later than usual talking and laughing in bed, trying to go to sleep, but always thinking of one more thing we didn't get to tell the other person during the day. :-D
We really need to figure out a new meal plan. B doesn't usually come home between work and school on Mondays and Wednesdays and Tuesday is a huge rush between getting home, eating, and going to our respective events. We've been getting stuck with no real dinner, and no leftovers for lunch the next day. I think I've OD'ed on Mac & Cheese (a travesty, I know) and B usually ends up skipping dinner before his class and comes home starving. We're thinking if we do a big meal on Sunday (or a crockpot if we have evening plans) that could carry over for lunches and dinner on Monday. Then crockpot for dinner on Tuesday and leftovers for Wednedsay lunch and dinner. There's a couple slow-cooker blogs I like and can find tasty recipes from, so we're going to try meal planning for all of next week, getting all of next week's groceries this weekend, and see how that goes.
October has been rough, financially. I stopped claiming unemployment when I got hired at Providence but that left us with 3 weeks without income this month. We're trying to cash-flow Bryann's MBA program and not go into any more debt, so our payments for each term are spread out over 3 months. The anti-lock break system in the truck went out, so that was a huge chunk of our emergency fund, plus it's time for both of our vehicle registration renewals. Plus my car has started vibrating and we're taking it in next week to get checked out and fixed. Other than the unforseen vehicle expenses, we've done pretty well with the budget this month, but the rest of this fall is going to continue to be tough. We're losing John as a roommate so we're thinking of finding someone else to replace him, and keep that supplemental income.
I know we'll figure it all out. In spite of our ongoing financial woes, we're really happy. Even with all the hustle and bustle, this month has been full of fun activities and quality time with loved ones. I often find myself marveling at how blessed we are.
Month in review to come next week!
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