Financial Friday

This is going to be a quick driveby post as I've got a lot going at the moment, and I still want to be able to get around to your blogs!

Just wanted to give you a few financial suggestions from your friendly neighborhood frugaltista who splurges and pays $1.99 for fancy, smancy bread.

Do a budget!

A budget is important for several reasons.  You need to know where your money is going.  Jay & I work on the budget at the first of the month, calculating the projections of our spending.  Then I go back at the end to see what our actual totals are. 

It also promotes conversation in my marriage.  I don't have to tell you how busy life is, but real, meaningful conversation is vital to the health of a relationship.  Jay and I have plenty of "hi honey how was your day" conversations, but I love having at least once a month where we discuss our hopes and dreams.

The first month we budgeted, we made a list of all the things we wanted to do with any "extra" money that came our way.  Since then we've both opened Roth Ira accounts and have had a contractor to the house to give us a rough quote about adding a garage to our home.  I think it might be awhile before we get the $30,000 in the "garage/master bath" column of our savings, but its nice knowing where it stands on our priority lists.

Eliminate wasteful spending

A lesson our government could stand to learn. 

Seriously though look around.  How many button up blouses do you really need?  Really wear?  And 60 pair of shoes?  Come on that's pathetic.  What - I'm the only one with that many?  Oops, forget I said anything.

I think most of us have more than we would ever need.  Today Lois issued a challenge - starting June 1st, no clothing shopping for a year.  I'm going to take her up on it, with a slight modification.  I do need new pants, as I've dropped 2 pant sizes in the past year.  The HR lady has even commented on my pants being too big (Lois - no telling them she's one of my besties and is trying to  make me feel good). 

I'm taking her up on her challenge in part - no new tops, no new shoes (besides Jay would kill me if he had to build even more shoe shelves), no new purses.  If I buy pants, I have to donate a too big pair to charity.

Consider your gifts

This year, my sister threatened bodily harm if we bought her children toys for their birthdays & they didn't need new clothing.  The princess lied to her babysitter and told her that her pants were so tight she couldn't eat lunch (lie #1) and that they were bruising her belly (lie #2) so the babysitter took her on a target shopping spree.

My sister's suggestion was to either put money in their college fund, or buy a toy for an orphan.  Since I don't know any orphans, Jay and I wrote a check to be deposited in their bank account.  I wouldn't be cool Auntie Boo if I didn't buy them a toy to open at their party, but a $1 DVD from the Dollar Tree about Daniel and the Lion's den will work just as well as a $20 Hannah Montana DVD.

When I called my niece on her birthday she told me "thank you for the money making money."  That's how my sister explained it to her - that Aunt Boo and Uncle Jay put money in an account for her so that it would make even more money.   It wasn't a lot, but hopefully over the course of the next 12 years compound interested will work in her favor and it'll help her further her education.

Follow the Babysteps

Its no secret I'm a Dave Ramsey fan.  His baby step process really works - so try it!  (He's also giving away $1,000 every day in May so go register!)

What kind of blogger am I?

This week I'm both versatile and honest. 

C-Foxes gave me the versatile blogger award last week and RR Mama gave me the honest blogger award. 

The rules of each award say I have to tell you some random stuff about myself, so I decided to combine the two into one big fun award post!

1. I won the 5 year old division big wheel race when I was only 4 years old.  It was held in the Pizza Hut parking lot.
2. I learned to speed read because of the Book-it program.  For every book you read (or maybe 4 or 5) you got a free personal pan pizza growing up.  Too bad they don't have something like that for adults!
3. I was embarrassed just a few weeks ago to be shopping in the children's section of the used book store, but I want to read the Chronicles of Narnia series and our local library never has the first book on the shelves.
4. Jay wants to have build in shelving installed in the upstairs landing of the house.  While it would be beautiful, I'm hesitant because I just see it as another surface to clean.  Also currently all of our books are properly housed in bookcases, so I would have to go shopping for something to put on the shelves.
5. He also had someone to the house 2 nights ago to get a price quote on building a garage and revamping the master bath.  The revamp, turned into building a first floor master and landed us with a $30,000 quote.
6. This was moments after I left the grocery store feeling guilty for spending $60 on out of season veggies to make a salad and fresh strawberries.  Okay so since I'm supposed to be an honest blogger I also got a 12 pack of orange soda, loaded up on $0.84 2 liter drinks, and got some whole wheat bread products for myself.  But I seriously felt guilty for "splurging" at the store.
7. On one hand, I sit back and judge the people I see chugging cokes, eating greasy hamburgers, on the other I'm jealous.  Not that I never eat those things, just to be able to eat and not think about it.  That sort of freedom sounds wonderful right now!

Okay so there you  have it.  I'm also supposed to pick people to pass the award along to, but I'm feeling particularly lazy today.  Feel free to snag the awards and post some random things yourself.

On a more serious note - I had an eye opening moment last night.  One that makes me want to cry just thinking about it.  Don't worry, no one is hurt, my world is not crashing around me, but out of sensitivity to the other parties involved I don't want to share in an open forum like this the details.  Please just pray for me about this situation.  It breaks my heart.

Now that I've killed the fun/random vibe this post had going for it - I shall release you to the comments section!

Weigh-in Wednesday - 21 Day challenge

I have a tiny confession to make.  Even though I've sworn off calorie counting, exercise tracking, calorie burn tracking, and weighing myself - I stepped on the scale today.  Honestly it wasn't all that bad.  In my head I was convinced that I had gained every last pound back and that I was as fat as ever.  Never mind the fact that all my clothes were still fitting the same. 

Given all the different variables, I really haven't fluctuated all that much.  That should take a huge burden off my shoulders, but it doesn't and I can't really pinpoint why.  Don't get me wrong, I'm very thankful.  It seems that my body has found its happy place and as long as I don't go extreme in either direction I'll be good.  Then again maybe its just too soon to tell.

Okay now on to my accountability for the challenge.



My goals?

1) Serve at least 1 veggie with every meal
2) Eat 5 fruits/veggies every day
3) Pick up the house every night before bedtime.

How'd I do?

1) Veggies with dinner

I did okay on this one.  Last Wednesday we went out to eat and he got a Philly cheese steak burger topped with green peppers and onions so that was a big - CHECK - for the evening.  By Friday, I was feeling bluesy and couldn't muster up the gumption to do much in the way of cooking.  He had a leftover hamburger  with a side of ramen noodles.  I just had a bowl of ramen (fail).

The others nights' veggies included fries (fail), canned diced tomatoes, and salsa.  Then there was last night...I was so overwhelmed at all I've got going right now - I just laid down on the couch, wrapped up in a blankie and did nothing.  I had chips and salsa for dinner.  Jay had chex mix.  (Epic Fail)

Final count 4/7 days serving at least 1 veggie with dinner

2) 5 fruits/veggies

Even stretching it and counting pizza sauce as a veggie, I didn't meet this goal.  Most days I had 3 servings - typically 1 fruit, 2 veggies.  Saturday I did the best, eating a pear, green & red peppers, onions, and green beans (teriyaki steak at Outback).  While I did get in 5 different kinds of fruits/veggies, I'm sure I didn't 5 full servings of each.

Today will most likely be another fail, as I've only had pizza sauce thus far today.  Maybe a strawberry/chocolate/banana smoothie for dinner with a side of green beans.  Okay I said that jokingly but how easy would it be for me to make a salad* and a smoothie for dinner after spin class?  I'll be getting home late any way. 

Okay so if today isn't another epic fail - I need ideas as to how I'm going to get Jay to eat a veggie to accompany his frozen pizza (his dinner standby when I don't cook anything). 

*I always wash/chop my veggies when I bring them home from the grocery store - just add lettuce and I've got an instant salad.

Final count 0/7 days eating 5 fruits/vegetables per day

3) Pickup the house every night before bedtime.

EPIC FAIL!

My house is a wreck.  Partially my doing, partially Jay's.  I've let it get bad though.  I've got to get back on the wagon or go crazy.  My next week is booked up, so it'll be hard to get anything done.  Maybe I'll tweak this one for the coming week and pledge to spend at least 15 minutes per night (not including dinner or dishes) cleaning or picking up. 

Right now I have 3 loads of laundry waiting to be folded and put away, as well as about 2,000 square feet of hardwood flooring begging to be swept (thanks Misti for letting me know I'm not alone in my plight!)

Monday night I was going all all cylinders.  I took spin class from 5:30-6:15, got home around 6:45 and didn't stop going until I went to bed at 10.  Even when I slowed down long enough to watch one of my favorite TV shows Chuck, I still stayed busy.  I started laundry while I cooked dinner, did dishes during the commercials of the show, and during the show itself I wrapped the birthday gifts I just purchased for the Princess and the Little Man, as well as preparing all my birthday cards for the month.  (May is a busy month - I've got 5 card worthy people born this month.)

(I can hardly believe that today is her 6th birthday!!  And he'll be 2 at the end of the month.)

Before you think I'm super woman (or every woman if that sounds like your life all the time), I did just the opposite last night.  I went grocery shopping after work, skipped my weights class and doing the Shred workout I promised myself would replace the skipped weights workout, put away groceries, chopped veggies, got freaked out because Jay had a contractor to the house to talk about adding a garage and doing a complete master bath overhaul, (which turned into adding another full bath & walk in closet completely).  As soon as dude left I put on my jammies & crashed on the couch to watch the 1st hour of biggest loser.  Then I moved into the hearth room (our living room TV doesn't pickup ABC) and crashed in the big red chair to watch LOST. 

All the while 3 loads of laundry were staring me in the face.  You see, yesterday morning I couldn't find my wedding rings.  I freaked out, afraid I lost them while transferring laundry from the washer to the dryer.  So I emptied both machines shaking out each item as it was removed.  Turns out the rings were on the counter by the sink.  I'd removed them to bleach the sink and forgot to put them back on.

Back to the story at hand - I managed to not look at the load of towels in the laundry basket, load of workout clothes on top of the dryer, and completely forget about the sheets in the dryer. 

I am a woman in desperate need of a list.

Final count 2/7 days tiding the house nightly before bed.

Hopefully I'll make it by your blog today to see how you're doing.  If not I'll get there eventually, but apparently I have an emergency list situation that desperately needs my attention.

Pictures from the homestead

After church on Sunday morning, the whole crew met up for Mother's day lunch at our favorite homestyle cookin' joint.  (The whole crew = my grandparents, my parents, my aunt & uncle, cousin & his wife, my sister & her kids, Jay & me.)  The restaurant was giving away free red velvet cake to all the mothers, but as my cousin's wife and I learned, they didn't bother to ask who was a mother and who was not.  All of us adult women at the table got a piece.  I suppose I earned my piece by being the best auntie in the world & she earned hers by being a mommy to a beagle.

Jay and I followed my parents (who were driving my sister's minivan with her crew in toe) back to their house to just hang out for the afternoon.  We found ourselves out by the swing set.  After the Princess demostrated her mad skillz on the monkey bars, we decided to go track down Beautiful the donkey.

My grandparents came over to the house as we were loading up, so they decided to join us on our journey.  Mamaw hates having her picture taken so for the entire afternoon these are the only shots we were able to get of her.

Jay was slightly more creative getting his picture of her than I was. 

He captioned this one "sexiness in a pickup", but prefaced that the redneck in him wanted it to be a picture of me holding a beer can, rather than a Pepsi can.

We found Beautiful on the back part of the farm, protecting her charges.

My pawaw got Beautiful because several of his calves went missing the night they were born - no doubt cyotes were to blame.  Its her job to protect them, kick the crap out of anyone who tries to mess with them.  Although she's not above kicking them if they come between her and her feed.

At first the Princess didn't want to get her shoes dirty, so she requested that Jay hold her.  She quickly got over that though and got down to the business of letting the donkey eat out of her hand.  Beautiful sneezed on her, so the Princess had enough.  I stepped in to help Jay out feeding the donkey.

The countrified men looked on, probably amazed that what they consider chores we consider a fun way to spend the afternoon.

We call this section of the farm "honeymoon lane" because my Papaw (on the right) had to go milk cows on this part of the farm on his wedding night. 

I'm not sure how I became lucky enough to get all blessings of growing up on land this beautiful and none of the chores, but I'm not going to complain!

Mount LeConte Take 2

A little over a month ago I took a day off work for Jay & I to hike to the top of Mt. Leconte.  Jay & I got into an argument about a mile in The weather was terrible so we decided to turn around and save it for another day. 

A coworker mentioned going this weekend,  so Jay and I decided to give it another try.  The hike to Leconte Lodge is 5 miles via the Alum cave trail (there are several ways to get to the top).

I could talk all day about the area, the history, and what its like.  Instead I'm going to skip straight to the pictures.

The Lodge:

You can click the picture to make it larger or I can save you a step.  It reads "LeConte Lodge" then under that "Elevation 6593" and the date.  The elevation is important because LeConte is the 4th highest peak east of the Mississippi.  Sure, the Rockies make the Smokies look like babies, but for this side of the country Leconte is just about as good as it gets.

To stay in a shack like this on the top of the mountain, people make reservations a year in advance and pay over $100 (per person) to stay.  If you do stay, be sure your food is protected - you never know when a mouse or a bear might be tempted to share.

One of the aerobics instructors at my gym also works at LeConte, so I had to hunt her down while I was up there.  Sure enough she was trying out new moves for the next class she'd be teaching.  One thing is for sure - those steps were not made by Reebok.

After that we headed up to Myrtle Point.  I'd been up to the Lodge area 2 other times, but never had I made it to the true summit of the mountain.

High point is the tallest part of the mountain.  As we passed, Jay decided to stop and make it just a hair taller.

Myrtle Point, while not the true summit, certainly has the best views.  The views going out are wonderful, but can be a little concerning if your child wanders off and gets a little too close to the edge.

The views from the point itself are magnificent.

My willingness to talk to strangers typically pays off - and this day was no exception.  I offered to take a picture of an entire family together, so they returned the favor.

Sometimes I forget just how blessed I am to live in the middle of all of this natural beauty.  Not to mention almost 12 miles of hiking and I wasn't all that sore the next day!

Mixin' it up - Oh My blog!

aka Freestyle Friday.  I did a Shrinking Jeans Monday project a few weeks late, and never got around to posting the pictures.  Then Pubsgal nominated me for an award and the two meshed together beautifully.

First the award:

Here's what I get to do:

•  Get really excited that you got the coolest award EVER! 
  EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
  Good enough?
• Choose ONE of the following options of accepting the OMB award:

1.  Get really drunk and blog for 15 minutes straight, or for as long as you can focus.
2. Write about your most embarrassing moment.
3. Write a “Soundtrack of your childhood” post.
4. Make your next blog a ‘vlog’/video blog. Basically, you’re talking to the camera about whatever.
5. Take a picture of yourself first thing in the morning, before you do anything else (hair, make up, etc)and post it.

•  Pass the award on to at least three, but preferably more, awesome bloggers as yourself. Don’t forget to tell them.

Here where my shelved Monday project comes in - I'm going to take a few liberties with the instructions.  I mean the point is to make a fool of myself right?  So here you go my pictorial embarrassing Monday Project moment - Super Boo goes Skiing.

May I interject that I love being a super hero?  I use to call my adventures "Fat ass goes to _______".   Mostly because all of our memories are on a camcorder - video taken from my dad walking behind my mom, sister, and I.  Totally not a flattering angle.  Anyhoo, so glad I have a positive adventure name now.



Step one in the skiing process (when you live in an area that never gets substantial snowfall) acquire snow gear.

CHECK!

Step two - find a place to ski

CHECK!

Step 3 - Try not to get discouraged that this little guy picked up skiing quicker than you.

If a ski suit circa 1980 and a small child skiing circles around me isn't embarrassing enough - I'm not sure what more you could want!

Okay fine, I'll admit that I only went down the regular slope twice.  I stayed on the learners hill practically all night.  When I finally got going, I'd freak out that I was going to fast and I'd bail.  I got very good at stopping and at getting up unaided with my ski's on.

Now for part 3, choosing 3 other bloggers to shame themselves for the entire blog-o-sphere to see.

1. Amy (who could just add this to her Miss-series)
2. Amanda (who could use a break from law school stress right now)
3. Jen (who's always up to something fun with her 3 monkeys)

Thursday's Three

Normally I'm happy enough to participate in the Sisterhood's Thursday's Three by replying to their post with my answer.  This week's three thought provoking, and I think it deserves more than just a 2 minute glance.

Lisa has asked us to fill in the blank:

When I look in the mirror I like my...

1)   Hair.

Even back in the day when I wasn't working on loving myself, I couldn't help but admit I had great hair.  My mom and sister both have thick, coarse hair that is difficult to manage.  Not sure how I wound up with fine hair - but I'm thankful.  Granted its just as thick as theirs, but that really makes it the best of both worlds.  I don't have to worry about limp, flat hair like most people with fine hair.  I also don't have to worry about unruly hair.

My hair does that I want it to, and in most cases without a fight.  I typically wear it curly due to workouts.  A glob of gel & 2 minutes and I'm ready to face the world.  If I workout/shower at night, I let it dry naturally and use the curling iron on it the next morning for that Claire Bennett look.

(source)

Yep, that's me.  I totally look like that. 

When I'm feeling really adventurous, I wash my hair, then use the hair dryer and a straightening iron on it.  The 15 minute process didn't seem to be all that involved until I discovered the beauty of the wet/curly look.

It even looks good short. Okay so I thought it did you might not.

Okay so this picture is proof that the pixie cut isn't the most versatile, but I loved it none the less. Most of the time I would spike the back, making it look funky. 

2)   shoulders/upper back.

Oh look - a picture of my curly hair in a pony tail! (I went looking everywhere for a curly hair shot).

I love all the work and improvement I've done on my upper body.  I could stand to have a bit more of shrinkage in the arms, but I love the way my shoulders and back have really started looking.

Don't neglect your weight training boys and girls!!!

3)   my hands. 

They may not score me a hand modeling gig, but they've served me well.  How else would I change gears on my bike, write this blog, stuff donuts in my pie hole, or chop fresh veggies for lunch?  Not to mention holding up around 2 carats worth of bling.  Larry Bird has nothing on me ladies - 33 diamonds total (22 small stones in the engagement ring + the big one & 10 in the wedding band).  That's not easy work for my little left ring finger.

Given the tendency to arthritic hands (my mom at 54 years old already is dealing with them) I know I need to appreciate them now while they are working well!

Now its your turn!  Fess up, I know there is something you're just dying to brag about!