Yeah, so, been kinda busy...

Last I posted it was the end of the year, almost Christmas, and I had lots of fun ideas for the new year. I had a big work deadline mid-January and, after that, my plan was to live it up and get stuff done. We are definitely working on some of those items, but I guess you could say we had a monkey wrench thrown into the general works...

The day after my work deadline, my darling husband was laid off from his job. It was not a total surprise, as the firm had already had three rounds since summer of 2008. Basically, every two months they'd look at the numbers and realize it just wasn't working. I, personally feel like a lot of the money-saving measures were too little, too late, but hopefully everybody learns from these experiences.

So, what do we do when we go from two salaries to one? We make do and mend and all that fun stuff our grandparents taught us! We did the math and realized that we could make it by on my salary... not 'well' but well enough. We also met our goal of setting aside an emergency fund, which is happily earning interest in a high-interest savings account. The interest rate has dropped significantly since it started out, but it is still better than most CDs, and it is available. I take a calculator with me to the grocery store on most of my weekly trips now. I've always taken my lunch to work, at least most days, and DH has attempted to cut back his soda consumption. We make a mean jug of sweet tea! It gets a little tricky, as he has high metabolism and munches even more now out of sheer boredom. He *is* getting lots of projects done around the house and yard, though. We're re-glazing and painting windows, working on the garage and we re-graded the back yard and put down (free!) sod. The garden is coming along nicely, too.

I've taken one ARE exam and have another scheduled for April 27. My next big project deadline is the 24th, so I'll have the weekend to cram! There will be some more work and travel for this project and then DH and I are both taking the LEED exam on May 11. Oh, and my birthday is April 29!