Craig's New Job and our TO DO list

After many months of Craig working on his own with his business, he has taken up a new job. Things with his business were really slow and it took Craig awhile to even apply for outside positions because he really wanted to continue his business but financially couldn't justify it. This whole process has happened so quickly and his first day on the job is today even though he accepted the job last week. He told them that he needed a couple days to wrap things up at home so we've been out playing with the kids to take advantage of his last free days with us. Craig will be the V.P. of Marketing for a company that deals with residential properties in 5 states and his office will be in downtown SLC. The great thing about this job is that he'll be able to continue his business on the side and search for potential clients. He'll also be doing some traveling a few days 1 or 2 times a month to places like Denver, Seattle, Phoenix, San Diego, and the Bay area. Hopefully in the future we can take advantage of his travel opportunities so that me and the kids can come along sometimes too.

Since the day Craig accepted this new job, we have been so busy getting out with the kids and checking stuff off our long TO DO LIST because we didn't want to spend the money. Now that we'll have a steady paycheck coming in , we figured there were some things on the list that we couldn't put off anymore.

NEW CAR WINDSHIELD:
Craig's car windshield had a crack from one end to the other for a year now and we finally got it fixed along with an oil change and maintenance check. We have to keep this car in good condition since he'll have to keep it for at least another 5 years!!

UTAH LISENCE PLATES:
While Craig's car was at the dealership, we had them do the safety and emissions test too so we can finally get Utah plates since our Indiana plate registration has been expired for almost a year now. The same day, I took my car to our local safety and emission testing place to do the same thing. Both our cars failed!! The cars are in great condition and that had nothing to do with it. They both failed because the tint on the driver and passenger windows were too dark!! Utah must have really strict laws regarding tint since my jeep has passed in both Texas and Indiana. They basicaly told us that we have to peel the tint off to pass our cars. Uhhh....excuse me?!?! So that afternoon, Craig is in the garage with a razor blade peeling off the tint cursing the state of Utah at the same time. What a mess!! My car was especially bad since the tint has been on there for 9 years and 5 of those years baking in the Texas heat. We had to buy this solution to get all the left over sticky crap off the window so that it wouldn't get stick in the door if we ever rolled them down. That is what the safety inspection people warned us about at least and whether it is true or not, who wants to take the chance, right? We took both cars back to get passed, get our Utah plates, and remove the last piece of evidence that claims we once lived in the state of Indiana.

TINT FOR WALL OF WINDOWS:
In our family room, we have 6 large windows above our fireplace that let in the afternoon sun everyday. Not only does it warm up the house which we don't want during the summer but you can't sit in two spots on our couch during 5-7pm because the sun shines right in your face!! The sun has already damaged some wall decorations with vinyl lettering because day in and day out they get baked for hours. I'm really worried about some family photos that get hit with the sun too and wonder if they are discolored at all.

CEMENT WORK:
We still don't have a backyard and it has been hard watching all of our neighbors putting in yards and landscaping. At least our front yard is done and looking great!! I told Craig that all I want to do in the backyard for now is to extend our back patio so the kids could go back there and ride their bikes around. We've been asking neighbors who they got for their cement work and it has been a headache trying to get these cement guys to call us back. I have a feeling that this is going to take some time but hopefully once we decide on a guy, it can go quickly from there.