A slight change in the wind..

So, not many people really know this, because I don't tell every detail of my life to even my closest friends... I guess I am kind of a private person. But anyways, the last few months, since December actually have been pretty rough. Tony's work has been on a downhill slope. It just kept getting worse and worse.... After all was said and done, Tony and his boss had to lay off 17 guys, some of which were close friends. Tony's salary was cut by 5 %, then 5 % again, and his commision was cut by 20 %, and then a month later, another 20 %. THEN they cut 401k matching and some other crap too. You know, recession. That's how it goes. Well, we always say Tony's dad must be watching out for us because we always come through things, and I guess this is no different. A year ago when we moved here Tony was making a very good amount of money. More than we ever thought. I am SO glad we did not see that raise in income, move up here and buy a 300,000 dollar house or something and just go CRAZY. For some reason we kept our heads on straight, not forseeing the recession or anything that was to come.

Thank GOD. Well, we have made it through all the paycuts, the budgeting and the thinking OMG there is NOTHING in savings anymore... Time to ignore that and just pay the bills! But we are still ok, we can still pay all our bills and eat and have a little tiny bit left over. So it really hasn't been that bad, but it's just frustrating when you move somewhere for something that is supposed to be SO great and it just slaps you in the face.

Ok, to the point. We got word yesterday that Tony's company, Newpark, picked up 9 more rigs. This is REALLY good news. Not only does that mean more work and more commision for Tony, but he gets to hire back 2 of the really hard working guys that they let go a couple of months ago, who STILL had not found work yet. This also means we can breathe a sigh of relief and not spend every waking second worrying about saving, spending, BLAH BLAH. (Ok, so the worrying is more me than Tony, he has no idea about the money or budget lol)

I will say that I am very grateful for this past year. It has taught us how to be practical with our money, and we were SHOCKED at how much we couuld do with what we thought was so little. I had to remind Tony several times of the small amount of money we made it on when we were first married lol. Somehow you always forget those things.... and it is easy to get caught up in it all, to want the new cars and the stupid crap that piles up in your house for God knows what reason. It just becomes a bunch of bullshit, and it is easy to do that.

I am glad we didn't get there. I am glad we are finally at a place where we have our heads on straight as far as our finances go, and that Tony's work situation is looking up again. He certainly deserves it, he has worked his butt off since the day we were married. I am so proud of him.
And that is the end of that rambling mess ,lol.
Now, time to celebrate!! Too bad all of our friends up here have little kids and can't go out.... ;)

Update on the car situation.....

So, there is apparently nothing wrong with the car.

Acura ran a full check and sent us all the paperwork that had ever been filed on the car, and there was NO sign of ANYthing. We also had our friend who has worked in used cars in Tyler for years run the VIN and he found nothing. Then, we took it to the other Acura dealership in DFW and they ran every diagnostic imaginable and found nothing, again.

Tony tried to call the mechanic that originally called us and the phone was off... And the guy never even said his NAME. I mean its all a bit shady... but I have a 100,000 mile warranty so I guess if anything ever does happen they will have to cover it!

I wonder if the guy just had it out for the Acura dealership.... whatever, I'm just glad it's over.