Hey, everybody. Hope you guys had a great Memorial Day weekend. I didn't do squat - just hung around the house. I take it back, we did go to see National Treasure 2 at the $2 movie Saturday evening and we all thought it was great. I hated the cliffhanger, though - I hope they make a National Treasure 3 so I get to see what's on page 47 of the presidents' secret book!
Okay, so here's the deal with the potential Florida move. Larry and I talked it out this weekend and we decided that the smart thing to do is ready our house to be put on the real estate market (which will take quite a bit of time) and work on paying down our debt at the same time. It makes no sense to try to find jobs now, knowing that we can't go to Florida until our house sells and we can't sell our house until we do the repairs it needs (not to mention that the real estate market stinks right now). So we are going to approach this long-term. All three of us are more than ready to move out of the Atlanta area - now - but we are also realistic enough to see that jumping off and moving without the right preparation would be foolish and short-sighted, at best. So we are projecting that we will need about two years (give or take) to get our house in good shape and get out of the majority of the debt we are carrying. We are pretty sure that we will have to live on less money in Florida, so we can't get there without paying off our extra debt. We wanted to do that anyway, but we are going to concentrate on finding ways to bring in some extra money that will go in what I have dubbed the "Florida fund" and will be used exclusively for home repairs and debt reduction. Then when we are in a better financial place and our house is all repaired and spiffed up, we will put it on the market and hope that houses are moving somewhat better by then. Tracy was kind enough to impart some of her e-bay expertise to me, and we think we may give that a try to see how it goes. Larry and I are also considering how else we can bring in extra income and we have a couple of ideas - we'll see how they pan out! So no sudden moves to Florida any time soon (sorry, Stacie), but this is something we will all definitely be working towards steadily over the next couple of years.
Haven't done any significant walking since I got home from WDW. Waiting for the month to end so Larry can walk with me, and in truth just wanted a break for a little while. So it looks like next Monday is the beginning of our new exercise routine. It means I have to get up at 5:00 a.m. again (yuck!!), but at least I will have extra time with him so that will make up for the super early wake-up time.
Thanks to all of you who have had such kind words about my husband and our relationship. He is a great guy, and I love him to pieces, but I just want to note here that we do not lead a charmed existence or anything - we each have our faults and sometimes we get on each others' nerves BIG TIME, but we are in it for the long haul (after 24 years, I guess that's obvious) and I don't think either of us can imagine what it would be like to go through each day without the other. One thing that works in our favor is that we tend to complement each other very well. He is quick tempered - I am laid back and easy going (most of the time, anyway!!). He is a terrible money manager - I am pretty good at it. I tend to plan things down to the last detail (which can be a pain in the butt sometimes) - he is more of a "let's wing it" type of person. I have trouble with anxiety - I worry endlessly about the people I love - and he is of the mindset that worry never fixed anything and that most of what people worry about doesn't happen (and even if it does, worrying about it didn't prevent it). Unfortunately, we both tend to procrastinate on things we don't want to do, so we don't really help each other out there, but you see what I mean. I think our biggest strength is that we support each other in everything, no matter what, and that's getting to be pretty rare these days.
Okay, enough about that. The other news of note is that we also discussed our 25th anniversary plans for next year and decided that, even though we'd love to go to California and check out
Disneyland, we don't think it will be financially feasible. We don't have enough DVC points to cover it, and we don't think we'll have the money available to pay for the airline tickets (no telling how high gas will be by then) and the other expenses for the trip, so we decided to do something different. We are going to take a 4-night Bahamian
Disney cruise and then spend three days at WDW as our week-long celebration. There's no way we can do a cruise without taking Tara (none of us have ever been on one, so it's all going to be brand new to us), but she says she will get her own cabin since it's an anniversary trip (I guess she thinks it will be too difficult for us to control ourselves while she's in the stateroom with us
) - anyway, we will have enough points for that and not break the bank to take the trip, so that's the plan for now.
That's about it for me for today. Hope you guys have a great Tuesday!
Susan
P.S. Debra, I like you, too - thanks for the warm fuzzies!!! Actually, everyone who is so supportive of me in my journal is special to me. I hope one day to meet each of you in person and give you a real hug, not just a cyber one!!
Susan,
I think you are an inspiration. You so easily could have not walked the 5k. You had every excuse, but yu did it, and you finished. I hope you have the medal prominately displayed where you can look at it when you need to remind yourself of your accomplishments.
I think he's insane - we just got back from DisneyWorld - but he says that Tara didn't get to go, and it would do her good to spend a weekend in our laughing place. He's probably right, so I may take a half-day off on a Friday in mid-June so we can jet down there for a quick WDW fix. I am now trying to decide if I should take Friday afternoon and go visit the placement service(s) I have contacted there. So far, the only one that seems promising is in Tampa. They have invited me to come in for an interview and software testing when I am in the area. Larry says it's up to me - Tara says yes, by all means. I haven't decided yet. I'll let you know!
I'm sending some prayers for your family.
One of these days, my DH and I want to do the same thing. We feel more at home in Florida than we do in Ohio. 
If you need some information about Tampa or the St. Pete areas, please let me know. We have a ton of family members that live in those areas.
)
Great job!!!
And your plans to relocate to FL, and the work you're willing to do to make that dream a reality, just make your relationship all that more special. You should know I'll be following your saga closely, living more than a little vicariously through you.
