And the good stuff keeps on rollin’…
First and foremost: as takaza mentioned, he was offered and accepted a position at his company’s headquarters in Buffalo Grove, IL. That’s about 20 minutes closer to us, and they’re right next to the Buffalo Grove Metra station. Even better, it’s a significant bump in pay and a much better career path for him. I’m so very happy for him! It also moves him out of the toxic environment that he’s in now, which makes me even happier. There will be a 30-day transition period, but as of March 1 he’ll be in his new job. Hooray! That’s also very near the Westin Chicago North Shore, where Midwest FurFest 2008 will be, so he will be helping to scout out restaurants for the Restaurant Guide on his lunch hours 🙂
More good news: I filed my taxes for 2007 the other night and found out that between federal and state taxes I have a refund of $1,300 coming my way. Woohoo! Of course, after spending some time looking over newegg.com at all the sexy laptops, I realized that mine gets me where I’m going (albeit slowly) and that the money will go better to pay down debt. Not nearly as much fun, but hey, it will make life a lot more fun later. Here’s a very handy tip: if you use State Farm Insurance, log into their website. On the left is the link “FREE tax filing” – click on that and you will be taken to the Turbotax website, where you can get access to Turbotax Deluxe for free – including free federal and state e-filing. That saved me $58 over last year. Sweet!
As Dan mentioned, we’re hosting his family and friends for dinner and games on Saturday night. If you’re interested in joining us, let me or Dan know by Friday night (so I can shop and cook accordingly). Having read through the Cooks Illustrated French Onion Soup recipe I’m all about that. I just need to figure out if it’s possible to roast multiple chickens in our oven or if I’m going to need to re-think things. That may become roast pork 🙂 Since it’s his sister’s birthday, dessert will be birthday cake from Lovin’ Oven Cakery. Nom nom nom!