So many things have happened over the last few weeks. I feel like I'm keeping all you blog-viewers in the dark, but I just haven't had the time to sit down and write. But honestly, you all would rather see pictures of Sophia, right?
Alrighty. Big news #1. We will be moving back to the Indianapolis area at the beginning of 2009. (Pause for effect.)
Long story behind this one. We are currently living in a cute little townhouse that we're renting from a friend of mine. She tried to sell the place last summer but had no luck, so we rented it over the winter. She's going to put the place back on the market some time this month, so we decided to look in to buying our first house. We definitely can't afford anything on the east coast, which is alright because neither Brett nor I want to put down permanent roots in Albany. Do you know that a 1000-sq-ft house in a bad neighborhood runs about $160,000 here? Insane. We can get a better bang for our buck in Indiana.
So two weeks ago, we made a trip home to talk with a realtor and mortgage office about what we can do. We went and looked at some houses around Indianapolis that were in our price range, and I wasn't impressed. Ends up that if we wait until after we file our 2008 taxes, we can use Brett's (much) higher income and my self-employment income toward a bigger loan. So in order to get that bigger loan, we're going to wait, save some money for a downpayment, and be patient. Of course, there is also the possibility that we might have to move early because the townhouse that we're renting might sell. Yup. Possibility #1.
Big news #2. Brett's company is reducing operations and furloughing 50-60 pilots. (Pause again for effect.)
The freakishly high fuel prices are really hitting Colgan Air hard. Fuel price are affecting everyone now. Holy cow, we paid almost $48 to fill up the Pontiac yesterday, and that was at a cheap gas station. Anyway, Colgan had to cut a bunch of routes because they weren't making any revenue off the flights. Pilots are being furloughed, which means they are basically let go without health benefits and travel privileges but still remain on a waiting list to be hired back when operations increase again. Luckily, Brett is high enough in seniority that he won't be furloughed. Sigh of relief. But, there is always the chance that they might move him to another base or even transition him from the Saab 340 plane to the Q 400 plane, which is a lot bigger. We have to wait and see. Voluntary furloughs start this month. Pilots will be changing planes, which means more training. The company plans on having everything reorganized by November, so that means chaos will stop some time in February of next year. So if Brett has to change bases or transition to another plane, we'll be moving.
Other than dealing with living-condition limbo, things are going well. My business just keeps increasing, so that's really nice. I love being able to stay home with Sophia and still do my own work. The extra money is really nice. Extra money...I should say second salary. I'm on pace to make a little less than Brett this year, which is good. We need it.
Sophia is growing like a weed. I know I always say that, but seriously, the girl is getting so big. We took her in to the doctor on Monday for her 6-month check-up. She weighed 16 lbs 12 oz and was 27.5 inches long. Doc said she's going to be tall like her daddy. I say, she's practically the clone of her daddy, so what's new there? Sophia army crawls everywhere now. She'll follow you down the hallway. Or, her latest accomplishment, she takes off and ends up on the kitchen floor. She loves that linoleum. I'll be working on my computer, and I'll hear "slap, slap, slap!" which is Sophia hitting the kitchen floor. She's also started this whole "da da da da da" thing, so Brett feels pretty important.
That's it on the news front for now. Brett just made breakfast, so I'm going to sit and enjoy my eggs and toast. He's been home for the past 5 days, so it's been like a mini-vacation. I'm going to take advantage of the time.
