A few weeks ago we crossed off the first thing on our Fall bucket list....we went apple picking! A nearby town, Bluemont, was holding a Cider Festival on the 14th of September, so we hit that up with our friends Melissa and Jay. There really wasn't quite as much as we had expected...the cider testings were just a couple of sips each, and there was no hard cider like they had advertised, so that's always a little disappointing for those of us who don't have kids with us! There was a LOT for kids to do though, but we didn't take Morgan, and they didn't take their daughter Autumn, so we couldn't really participate in a lot of the activities. However, we did indulge our inner children, and went to the petting zoo to see the animals, along with the big slide that Melissa and I went down! The apple picking part was a lot of fun though, and we picked up some yummy apple cider and apple butter on our way out! After we were finished at the apple orchard, we headed across the street for some wine tasting before dinner!
The following weekend, Josh and I had planned to take a road trip to Michigan from Friday through Sunday, and stay with my aunt and uncle, who live up there along with most of my mom's side of the family. We had tickets to see the Detroit Tigers play the White Sox on Friday night, and then Saturday night, we had tickets for Dane Cook's Under Oath comedy tour....he's one of our favorite comedians, and we haven't seen him live in 7 years. But unfortunately, a few days before we planned to leave, we received our personal property tax bills in the mail for both Loudoun County AND the Town of Leesburg (unfortunately we have to pay two sets of taxes here), and they were NOT small. So we ended up not being able to afford to go, no matter which way we tried. So we gave the baseball tickets to my aunt and uncle that we had planned to stay with, and gave the Dane Cook tickets to my cousin, who was able to find someone to take them. Super disappointing, but these things happen, I suppose! Welcome to adulthood, right? So we spent the past couple of weekends just hanging out here in town, and last weekend I did a big cleaning and put out my Fall/Halloween decorations. I have a couple last minute things to put out, and I want to mulch the front yard around my outdoor decorations, and then I'll post pictures of those!
In other news, I started a new job about a week and a half ago. Still at the same facility where I have been working, but I switched companies, from General Dynamics to Tenacity Solutions, and I am SO excited. A little bit of a raise money-wise, but the thing I am most excited about is my new health insurance. With GD, I had a $2500 deductible that I had to reach before I could simply pay a copay, so basically in the past 9 months I have not been able to go to the doctor. Basically, I was paying a large amount per paycheck for insurance that I couldn't use. Since I had to pay out of pocket regardless, I might as well have not had insurance, but Morgan has to be on two insurances, and Josh's was even more expensive than mine. And you know that if we had no insurance, then we'd have something huge happen that would cost $15,000, and a simple $2500 deductible would have been a drop in the bucket at that point. So now I have new insurance that only costs a normal copay per visit, and I am so excited. I have been needing to see a specialist for nearly a year now, but without being able to afford it, my symptoms are just getting worse, so I have an appointment with a new doctor on Tuesday, and I can't wait! Speaking of Tuesday, that's another benefit of this new job....it's my birthday, and I get 11 holidays off a year....the 10 regular federal holidays, plus my birthday! So I get a paid day off on Tuesday, yay :). And lastly, the new job actually focuses on more of what I want to do, which is information security. My official title is Information Systems Security Officer, and I am really excited about everything I've been learning thus far. It's all new and a little scary, but that's like any new job, right? Pretty soon (I hope), I'll be able to do everything like its second nature. So I started last Monday the 23rd, and so far it's been great. Only problem is, I work for the government...and as I'm sure anyone who isn't living under a rock knows right now....the government is officially shut down. Sooooo things are a little unsure as to the future of our jobs right now, but we are all keeping our fingers crossed that Congress finds a solution SOON, considering both Josh and I are government workers, and we do have a house to pay for and a family to take care of! So please be keeping your fingers crossed for us as well!!
Below are pictures from the cider festival; hopefully I will not get quite as behind in my next updates as I did this month!
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