January Plan

Towards the end of the month I hope to update you on previous months, and lay out the plan for the next month. I hope that this will keep me on track.

We have about $40k in debt right now. We don't even own our own house. We rent. While there is nothing wrong with that, we are in NO position to buy. I want us to be in a position to buy when our lease is up in 2.5 years.

So what is our Plan for January? First and foremost it is to watch our spending. In Oct we were given a gift. That gift allowed us to pay of some things, save some money and do some other fun things. But when it comes down to it, I feel like we squandered it. And its my own fault. Both Jess and I hate to say no. To ourselves, for our kids... its just no a word that either of us like to hear. This has become apparent in our spending habits. I go to the store for milk and come home $20 later. No, milk isn't THAT expensive... I just can't say no to myself.

Well it stops and starts here. In 2011. No is my new best friend. I will stick to the budget. I will help us get out of debt. I will

Live Like No One Else, So Later I Can Live Like No One Else

2012

Do I put resolutions down or goals?

Resolutions (as defined by dictionary.com):

a resolve or determination: to make a firm resolution to do something.

 

Goals: 

the result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end.

 

I think both are equally important words but I think I am going to go with....

 

Plan:

a scheme or method of acting, doing, proceeding, making, etc., developed in advance: battle plans.

 

So here are my Plans for 2012.

 

• Use the Dave Ramsey budgeting software I got
• Not only use it but stick to it!
• Use quicken to track all of our cash envelopes
• Only shop online for non grocery items*
• Unless its in the budgeted envelope the answer is NO 

 I think that is good for now.

*This one is my plan for January. January starts tomorrow. I am starting today. As of right now, there is nothing that we need. But my soap.com shopping cart has everything in it that we are going to need and qualify for free shipping.

 

 

2012 Weightloss Goals

Looking back on the post I made the end of October (here) and the goals that I made, kinda made me laugh. Life got in the way. Again. Like it always seems too!

For most of the month of both November and December at least one person has been sick. Most recently its been me. Two weeks later and I am STILL not over it. Well, what does this all have to do with weightloss? When you don't feel well its really hard to make yourself eat well and exercise. Not the best excuse but its all I have for right now.

The picture on the left is from just a few days ago.
The one on the right is from my brother's wedding summer 2010.
I can see that I have more work to do, but my arms (at least to me) look smaller.
So I do have that going for me.

I hit my GW1 (goal weight 1) and I am only 3 lbs away from my second GW. The hardest thing for me to remember is it took me a good 9 months to put the weight on, its going to take that it get it off. Its a slow process. But I am up for the challenge.

2012 Weightloss Goals

• GW1 - 174
• GW2 - 169 *would be nice to be here before my birthday in Feb
• GW3 - 164
• GW4 - 159 *this would be less than I weighted on my wedding day

I think 4 goals are good for now. So lets do it!!

2011 In Review

January

January brought with it me entering into my second trimester and meeting with the midwife for the first time. It was an exciting process to start! I also went back to being a full time Stay At Home Mom (SAHM).

February

We sold the sports car!!!! This was the BEST thing ever. And we got $700 more out of it than I had it listed for. This really was such a huge blessing to have gone. We went from owning 3 cars to only two.

March

There was nothing really special about March. Just watching my big boy grow

April

We found out in April that we were expecting..... a baby! ;-) We choose not to find out what the sex of our baby was. This was VERY exciting and hard! This is the best ultrasound picture and its not nearly as good as the ones I got with Jacob. Which is a bummer, but oh well.

And of course Easter!! Jacob got a tractor and he LOVES it!!

May

This handsome man turned 30 this month. I threw him a surprise party. Even after he found out about it, I managed to mislead him enough to think that it was on a different date, thus still surprising him.

June

We moved!! Into a new rental. 3bd, 2ba HOUSE. And we love it!

July

4th of July was fantastic. Jacob loved it! I am here looking as big as house. Due date of Aug 1st.

August

No labor to report. Levi Andrew was born Aug 1st at 5:47pm via c section. He was 9lbs even and 21 inches!

September

Had a heck of a wind storm that bent our new tree.

October

Our annual trip to Greensbluff. Jacob loves to get to ride the horses. And we did a wagon ride this year. I look forward to this outing every year.

November

In November we took an impromptu trip to Boise, Idaho. Which resulted in us touring the old Idaho state pen. We had a lovely time, encountered ghosts and all!

Levi got to meet his Great Granny (and his Great Great Granny) and by the look on his face, I would say he loves her!

December

My big boy turned 3!! The last three years have been amazing with him. He is so smart, and helpful. I love him to pieces.

2012 is already shaping up to be a GREAT year!!!

No voice and a toddler

It is SO hard to parent a toddler when you have no voice. It really is. But here I sit trying to do just that.

My chest hurts, my throat hurts, the whole no voice thingy, and I am tired. The upside to all of this? There are little to no medications that I can take that will not either dry up my milk, or make it so Levi ends up on the loopy train. Don't you wish you were me? HA!

I feel like I need to apologize for my lack of blogging here lately. Kids have been sick, I have been sick and in between I have been trying to kill the germs with my army of Lysol products. Both Jacob and Levi seem to be allergic to the first round of antibiotics, Levi is done with his, Jacob is almost done. Hopefully I won't need antibiotics and we can kick this sickness out for good!

Lets also add in the fact that both cars need work. Jesse's is the worst. The CV axles on both sides need replaced. BAM! $120 later... The Passport still does this weird freakout thing at about 70 mph. Gremlins, I'm telling you. Oh and Jesse's car also needs O2 sensors, and some other work.. its a 4 door sedan that is getting the gas mileage of my suv. This is what happens when you drive two paid for 10+ year old cars. But its still less than what it would be with car payments. So there is a silver lining.

I'll leave you with pictures of the cars, I'll blog more when my thoughts make more sense to me.

21 questions at age 3

 All of these were answered by Jacob at age 3.



1. What is something Mommy always says to you?
Jacob: Jacob is best friend

2. What makes Mommy happy?
Jacob: Jacob makes mommy happy

3. What makes Mommy sad?
Jacob: Jacob does

4. How does Mommy make you laugh?
Jacob: "haha" thats how you do it

5. What was Mommy like as a child?
Jacob: ME!

6. How old is Mommy?
Jacob: 2.5

7. How tall is Mommy?
Jacob: *points up high* like that

8. What is Mommy's favorite thing to do?
Jacob: dance

9. What does Mommy do when you're not around?
Jacob: Goes in my room

10. If Mommy becomes famous, what will it be for?
Jacob: you

11. What is Mommy really good at?
Jacob: really good at playing cars

12. What is Mommy not very good at?
Jacob: Not good at the baseball game

13. What does Mommy do for her job?
Jacob: cleaning up

14. What is Mommy's favorite food?
Jacob: Mac and cheese and noodles

15. What makes you proud of Mommy?
Jacob: staying in my room

16. If Mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Jacob: A baseball guy

17. What do you and Mommy do together?
Jacob: play cars

18. How are you and Mommy the same?
Jacob: together

19. How are you and Mommy different?
Jacob: different like this *and then random noises*

20. How do you know Mommy loves you?
Jacob: "mommy loves me to the moon and back, to infinity and beyond, forever and ever"

21. Where is Mommy's favorite place to go?
Jacob: go to bye bye