you win some, you lose some...

It’s been quite busy the past few weeks. My sister flew home from Arizona last weekend and my parents and brother came over for the weekend. It was so much fun. We ended up going to the casino about an hour away in Hinckley Saturday night. The place was crazy busy, Alan Jackson was performing at the outdoor amphitheater. We waited an hour for the buffet before the AJ fans headed outside, so we gambled before we ate, had dinner and then gambled a little before we left. Everyone but Joe walked out with emptier pockets. He won close to $400 on the Monopoly slot machines!! It was much needed, our cell phone contract was up and we had both got new phones earlier that day so it paid for those and the rest will go towards a plow for the 4 wheeler. Seriously, that boy wins EVERY time he gambles. At least he makes up for the money I lose every time :)

We got the news we’ve been dreading and hoping would never come…my renter is moving out at the end of October. I’m thankful he’s stayed as long as he did. We’ve been month-to-month since February so I am looking forward to not having the suspense each month of whether his next rent check will include his move out notice…that extra stress and not knowing will be nice to not deal with anymore. But I’m not looking forward to two mortgage payments in November and beyond until it’s rented again. We’ve decided to go with a rental mgmt company this time around. We might end up losing a little more each month than we do now but I’m not in the mood (nor have the motivation or energy) to advertise and search for a new tenant. The ads should go up today, so hopefully we can get it filled soon! The company has been averaging 2-3 weeks of filling their openings but things will slow down quite a bit around mid-November so hopefully we got in just in the nick of time. Time will tell, I guess.

We both continue to job search and each have had a few interviews over the past few weeks and are waiting to hear back what the next steps will be. Really just hoping something comes along for us but I’m also very thankful for the jobs we do have…the next few months are going to be extremely tight for us and I don’t know how we’d make ends meet if we both weren’t still employed.

Otherwise, not much is new. I feel like I was just writing about my 5K, not realizing it’s been almost 2 weeks since my last post. I hope you all have wonderful weekends! Joe is heading north with his brother to put up their deer stands and have some male bonding time. I’m heading to Dick and Wanda’s on Friday night to celebrate Dick’s 60^th birthday. Then on Saturday, I’m attending a self defense class with Wanda in Oak Grove. I’m excited to see how it goes, I’ve always wanted to sign up for those classes but never knew where to look or go. I’ll let you know how it goes!