Home Alone

Guess what?! Ariel moved out! It's not that I'm excited to see my sister go. I just feel like we don't spend as much time together when she lives with me as we do when she doesn't live with us. Hope that made sense. Plus, we don't really click as roommates. She came by this past Thursday and packed up all her stuff. Unfortunately she chose to do this on a day with severe thunderstorms. I guess all her stuff got soaked which added to her stress. But at least it's not in our house anymore! She even put the room back the way we had it.

Ariel is planning to live with Robert again, only this time she'll have her own bedroom and she'll pay rent. Even if she doesn't stay in it every night, it's still there for when they need it. Plus, she now has space for all her stuff. She is a pack rat - which I'm pretty sure she got from BOTH of our parents (sorry guys!). I used to do the same thing until a couple of our friends told us to "simplify" our lives. It took about a year of them brainwashing us before I finally realized how much unnecessary crap I had. Now I religiously go through my house and closet and pull out stuff I no longer use. Travis does the same for his closet and we donate it all to Goodwill. I just found out that if I get a receipt for that, we can claim it on our taxes. I really wish I would have known that a year ago...

More great news! Travis passed his Journeyman's test on Saturday! Woohoo! He was definitely prepared - he was given four hours to finish the test and it only took him two hours and 45 minutes. I'm so proud of him! He is supposed to receive official paperwork with his score (they only tell you if you pass or fail after the test) and Journeyman number by Friday. Once he receives that, he just has to mail in a form to get his license. Hopefully soon after he'll get that raise. Travis also said that he has so many hours under his belt that he should be able to take the test for Master electrician within the NEXT TWO YEARS. I thought it would be another decade before he was at that point! He sure has the drive to succeed.

In related news... We have been planning on getting an SUV within the next month. The three main vehicles we have been looking at are the Chevy Equinox, Jeep Patriot and Nissan Murano. We kept the Murano on the back burner since it was a little more pricey than we were planning on, but we liked it so much we couldn't put the idea out of our minds. Since Travis should be getting a raise soon, he pointed out that we might be able to get the Murano. I am soooo excited! I need to keep that in check though because it will be a little while yet. My hope is that we'll be able to get a nicer vehicle AND be able to pay off some of our darn credit card debt. Maybe even save a little extra each month.