Don't You Dryclean Your Pajamas?

So, yesterday I went to go get the drycleaning that Cory had dropped off last week. Yes, we are frugal, but I splurge on dry cleaning. My time is worth more than spending hours and hours ironing all of Cory's button ups for work. I live in America rather than India for a reason. Plus, it costs $0.89 to get a shirt laundered and he can wear it 2-3 times because it's starched.

Anyways, as I'm going through the clothes before I leave the cleaners I see that Cory has drycleaned a pair of basketball shorts! I was like, "Cory, did you seriously dry clean your basketball shorts?! Seriously??" Those of you who know Cory well know that he LOVES basketball shorts. He has tons of different kinds and he used to always wear basketball shorts under his jeans. In his words, "You never know when there'll be a pickup game and you need to join the game." He gets home from work and dress pants off, basketball shorts on. Some of the basketball shorts he has are quite nice. However, these...not so much. Let's just say that someone wore them painting last summer and accidentally got paint all over them. Not naming names, but it rhymes with Melamey.

Now, Cory insists that it was an accident. "I just took the laundry basket and gave them everything in it." Riiiight. Last night, he was gushing about how soft the dry cleaned shorts felt. Not that I don't love paying $2 every time I want to wash a pair of pajamas, but, dry cleaning basketball shorts is where I draw the line.

Lighting Things on Fire

Cory and I recently acquired a gas barbecue from his sister. Our plan is to soak up a wonderful summer with lots of swimming at the pool, exploring Fort Worth, boating, visiting Austin, and grilling (among other things). I love the summer. It may make me sound extremely superficial, but I truly feel happier when I am tan. It feels like summer and, let's be honest, tan fat is way more attractive than white fat.

Anyways, back to grilling. Grilling allows Cory to expand his grilled ham and cheese/egg on toast repertoire. Which the man can make a mean grilled cheese. Today, we had the missionaries over for dinner. Being the domestic goddess that I am, I made Southwest Taco Chicken Chimichangas (with homemade tortillas yeah baby) and had Cory grill the Taco Chicken on the barbecue. Then, I thought, let's grill our corn on the barbecue.

Well, I wasn't exactly on my A-game today and we were running only like 30 minutes late for dinner by the time we ate. No big deal! So, it says to soak the corn for 20 minutes. Two minutes will do right?

Well, they did pretty good with lots of rotating and eventually we pulled the husks back and wrapped the corn in foil. Right before we were going to eat, Cory pulled them out of the barbecue and put them on a plate. Next thing I know, he's walking in saying, "So, umm..."

I go out and the corn husks are totally on fire! Like not just a tender flame. I'm talking a husky blaze of glory. Which, of course, I planned to put on a show for the missionaries. I always try and light things I cook on fire. I'm like, "Cory, aren't you going to throw water on it or something!"

We got it under absolute control with no damage to our grill or to our delicious corn. Apparently they weren't on fire when he pulled them out but there must have been a little spark in one of them (kind of like when a smoker lights a forest on fire with his little spark from being a litter bug).

It's a good thing we still have a few more months in the summer to perfect our corn grilling.

The Good Life

I'm sitting here on the couch watching my cat stretch his soul all over my red rug. Not a care in the world besides the number of birds teasing him through the window panes, the timeliness of his meals, and if he gets a good scratch behind the ear.

I've had an unfortunate trait since I was a small child. It's the fast forward syndrome. I've always been looking ahead, looking forward to the next stage of my life. The problem started in middle school, became more of a disease in high school, and settled into a comfortable prognosis in college. My mom would advise me to live in the present, don't wish your life away.

Well, in case you are wondering, I have an excellent life. I live in one of the best states, in one of the best countries in the world. I have a killer best friend, who stands by me as we face our goals, trials, and joys. I come from a solid family who taught me how to love. In an uncertain economy, we are blessed to have jobs that provide us with more than we need. I was raised in a powerful faith to know who I am, where I came from, and where I can go. I have an education from one of the best universities in the country. I am healthy.

But, I still sometimes get so excited when I think about the future that I have a difficult time focusing on the present. Right now, Cory and I are feverishly paying off his student loans so that we can begin saving for our first home. We are very anxious to be in our first house that is ours. We will be finished paying off our student loans and couch loan soon. We were originally saving less than 25% of our income. However, as our self control and income have increased, we have been able to increase our savings to around 37%. I'm hoping this month we can save 42%. It feels good to live on much less than what we earn.

My point is that we will be finished paying off the loans and our couch in mid July! I am unbelievably excited. Then, after that, we would like to save up 3 months of living expenses by the end of November. After that, the goal is to save up 20% down for a house.

Meanwhile, although we are not quite ready to start having children, it is exciting to think about getting closer to that stage. We are feeling more mature, more financially fit, and more rooted in our relationship to take that step. It won't be for a while longer, but in a couple years I will hopefully be in the stage that I think will be the most fun--getting to stay home with our kids.

So, can you blame me for loving the present but getting excited for the future? We will be debt free this summer. After that, all the money we save will be like paying ourselves. Which is totally awesome.

In other news, do you ever have recurring dreams? When I was a kid, I had lots of nightmares. It got to the point that my mom kept a miniature baby mattress next to her bed for me to sleep on when I came down in the night. I think I am cursed to always have school dreams. I recently had a dream I often have. I'm in a class in college/high school and I never attend the class, take any of the tests, do the homework, etc. During the dream, I am cursed to stress the entire time about how on earth I am going to get an A in the class. I start worrying about how "I've never failed a class! How could I have let this happen without noticing! This is so irresponsible..." It's always a major relief when the dream is over. Nerd alert!

And...tomorrow is Friday! Let's hope the Mavericks continue to perform because it keeps Cory happy.