The Nest

Furbabies

Posted Sunday, June 22, 2008 9:29 PM

Let's see if I can manage this.......Here are some pictures of our kittens.  As I explained in an earlier post, we have 4 cats total.  Two are cow spotted females, and two are tiger striped males.

On the left we have Flora, nicknamed Porno for the goofy way she lays on her back.  On the right is Fauna, nicknamed Floppy for the way she just topples over to lay down instead of circling like a normal cat.

And here they are laying together.  Two sisters snuggling.

Next is Carrot, who is absolutely gorgeous.  I don't have a good picture of his brother Chip to post yet, so I'll have to add one later.

 

Debt Update

Posted Saturday, June 07, 2008 4:33 AM

I know I haven't posted in a while (for shame!) but here's an update on the financial situation.  DH and I have decided to put off our house-buying dreams until the spring of '09.  By that time we should have enought debt paid down, and down-payment saved up to seriously re-consider our living situation.

 As far as the debt goes, we've paid off almost $12,000 in the last 6 months, which leaves us with about $12,000 remaining.  In other words, we've just crossed the halfway point.  If we continue our aggressive/willy-nilly repayment strategy, we'll be completely paid off in about 8 months.

 It's really exciting to see our savings growing and our balances shrinking.  Right now we have about 35k saved up, but it's all in one lumped-together savings account.  I think in the very near future we'll be splitting it up into an emergency fund with about 3 months' savings, and then a separate account for the future house downpayment.

The Big D

Posted Tuesday, March 25, 2008 10:07 PM

Here's the lowdown on the Debt situation:  DH has lingering debt from his past.  I won't get too deep into details because he's sensitive about it.  Let it suffice to say that his divorce a few years ago coupled with poor decisions and denial resulted in a lot of credit card debt.

It was difficult breaking down DH's guard about this topic.  It's like he had his pride mixed up in his finances, and was at first unwilling to work with me to form a financial plan.  His feelings were that this debt was his responsibility, and he needed to work alone on paying it down.  I felt that we needed to work out a strategy together, because we'd be making all of our other big financial decisions together.  After many discussions and a lot of stress, we've managed to start paying it down as a team.  I made a big spreadsheet that I'm using to track our progress, as well as our monthly cash flow.  We're doing so well that I love getting the mail now!  I open each bill and immediately enter the new balances into the chart so we can see our progress.  I've finally got him on board, and it's exhilirating to see how far we've come.

Starting in December, '07 we had a whopping balance of $23,467.  Our balance is currently $13,514.  That equals $9,954 that we've managed to pay back, in only four months!!!  It's an incredible feeling.  We'll be hitting the 10k milestone this month.  I would love to be in good enough shape to start shopping for a mortgage by this summer, but it's going to take a lot of work....Stay tuned for progress updates!

Big Interview

Posted Thursday, March 20, 2008 8:34 PM

Okay, so I'm at work right now and I have a very important interview in a half hour.  I'm such a ball of nerves, all I can think to do is hammer out a blog entry to keep my mind and my fingers busy.

I'm a technician working for a biopharm company.  My current job is to formulate all different types of solutions to be used in the process of making our company's drug.  I've been in my position for 5 years now, and I've run out of room to grow in my current department.  The job I've applied for is a step above what I'm doing now.  I would be working large-scale chromatography columns and ultrafiltration skids.  (Sounds fancy, doesn't it?)  It's a job I've been aiming for over the past few years.

 I participated in an internal cross-training program with this department that lasted six months.  (Meaning that three days a week, I traded places with another associate so we could each have the opportunity to learn each other's jobs.)  I think that's where I have the advantage over any other candidates interviewing for the position.  I already have months of training under my belt, and I've forged professional relationships with all the members of the team!  I have a shining recommendation letter from one of my trainers on the project (which reminds me, I should take a few copies of the letter into the interview!  I'll have to hurry and print some out!)  I think I have a good chance as long as I can calm down!

 Ugh.  Ten minutes left.  Here goes.  Wish me luck!

A Little Weekend Splurging

Posted Monday, March 17, 2008 9:25 PM

 I tried writing this post Saturday night, but something got fouled up and I lost my work....What lies below is a re-write.

Saturday was such a beautiful day here in PA that DH and I decided to skip going to the movies like we'd originally planned in favor of making a trip to do some outdoor outlet shopping.

I made a beeline for sunglasses first because I lost my only pair a few months ago and have been squinting all the time since.  I settled on a pair of A/X shades for a steal of a price.  Score!  Then we stopped at my favorite shoe store where I picked up a practical pair of closed-toe black pumps and a gorgeous spring pair of Steve Madden pumps.  Double score!  I'm a klutz in heels and they just had the perfect amount of height that I couldn't resist.  I included a pic below.

We finished up at DH's favorite gourmet cooking shop that sells all kinds of fancy dipping mustards and his five-alarm hot sauce.  They always have free samples with pretzels and bread throughout the store.  We could spend hours in there.  All in all it was a fun day of pointless spending.  This is our little reward for ourselves for doing such a bang up job on paying down DH's CC debt.  (More on that later.....)  We'll just be thrifty, clip our grocery store coupons, and eat in all week to make up for it. 

Lost Odyssey

Posted Tuesday, March 11, 2008 10:08 PM

I almost hate admitting this, but I like some video games.  Right now I'm excessively preoccupied with a Japanese role-playing game called Lost Odyssey.  It's so long that it's spread over 4 discs, and I've already invested 40 hours of my life in this game.

 Whew!  Admission is the first step to recovery, right?  I justify my ridiculous behavior with the rationalization that I work hard all week, and am generally responsible.  Therefore, I deserve a chance to unwind and waste a little time on entertainment, no matter how anti-social or nerdy it is!  As long as I'm not hurting anyone or annoying my hubby TOO much by hogging his Xbox, then there's no harm.  I can't wait to get home so I can play some more!  Haha!

Opening Scene

Posted Sunday, March 09, 2008 9:52 PM

I've never kept up a blog before, so this will be my expeirment in blogging.

So Hi!  I'm Danielle.  I'm a 24yo newlywed living in southeastern PA.  My DH and I currently share an apartment with our rascally cats.  Flora and Fauna are my girls, and Chipotle and Carrot are his boys.  For the record, neither of us ever wanted 4 cats, but we each had our kitties before we had each other.  Thus, 2 + 2 = 4.

 DH and I met at work.  We're both biotechnicians at a major pharmaceutical company (I know, I know, the Devil!).  We're currently working on paying down DH's substantial, evil CC debt that's leftover from his previous life, and also trying to save up to buy our first home.  Can it be done?  A vacation this year didn't seem like it was in the cards for us, but maybe we'll reward ourselves with the government's tax rebate if we do a good job working on our other financial goals.