[spending money]

We filed our taxes last weekend, and we are eagerly awaiting the refund so that we can spend money! We have a couple of big plans for it, which I am excited about. First and foremost, we are building a new porch on the front of the house! It will be deck-style, and span the entire front. I can’t wait, and already have fun adirondack chairs mentally picked out for it.

This was a project we were planning for last summer, but we spent that money to buy our boat instead. No regrets there, but now we really are in dire need of a new porch (our current one is cement, and is no longer holding up well).

We are also using some of the money to pay off a small debt that we have. And possibly purchasing a new refrigerator. I fear that ours will go out at any moment, and would rather just purchase one now while we have the money and aren’t desperate for one. Otherwise we might end up in a position where we don’t have the money and it goes out completely, which will leave us scrambling (and possibly not getting the best deal), and force us to put it on a credit card.

We will see what happens. Prioroty is the porch, as ours is in rough shape.

There are other things I would like to do (go on a small anniversary trip in March, buy a tankless water heater, buy a front-loading washer and dryer set, and the list goes on). We will have to see what the final cost of the porch is and decide our priorities from there. We are estimating around $1100 for the porch at this point. Thank goodness for handy husbands, as that is all supplies with free labor!

Other than anticipating some serious shopping, not much is happening around here. No word on the job Greg applied for, except the notice that the hiring process is slow, and that there were quite a few applicants. My job is still what it is, and I am just trying to lay low.

School is busy – we had two exams last week, and one the week before. I am nervously awaiting grades on the most recent two. The earlier one I have back already, and not only did I get an A, but I got the highest grade in the class (a fact my teacher informed me of after calling me up in front of the class, haha). I know I got at least an 80% on one of the others (I was positive of my answers on 80/100 questions), and I feel like I did reasonably well on the other. I’m just an impatient person when it comes to things like this.

Ok, time to get things ready for tomorrow and head to bed. Night!