friday quote

A three year old child is a being who gets almost as much fun out of a fifty-six dollar set of swings as it does out of finding a small green worm.  ~Bill Vaughan

I saw this quote today while looking up party ideas for my soon-to-be 3 year old son.  I can't believe it has been 3 whole years since his birth.  That was an amazing day, with amazing people (for the most part).  I will share the story of that day on another post.

The quote reminds me of my son cause he is filled with such curiosity.  He loves playing outdoors and most definitely loves to look for worms!  Maybe we should think about getting him a worm farm for his birthday.  Does anyone have experience with those?  I actually think if we got him one that he would want the worms out so he could hold them, and then I would just be finding dried worms all over...yuck!  I think we will just stick with some toys, lol! It is bad that the only thing I have done for the party is ordering a dinosaur ice-cream cake, YUM!!!!

Have a great weekend! 

messy purse

I was probably 21 or a little older before I really started carrying a purse, and it was small!  It was a little rectangle with a small shoulder strap, just big enough to hold a check book and a thin wallet with id and some money.

Fast forward about 11 years and this is what I have now. 

I bought this purse while on vacation down in Florida.  It was actually a great deal from Pac Sun.  It was the only item in their display case and when I asked to see it the cashier said he thought it was on sale, but they just hadn't received the new style in yet.  So he took out the purse and it was on sale for 50% off, which made it $14.00.  It was perfect! Low price and it would hold everything I needed while on vacation: wallet, camera, couple of diapers, wipes, and anything else I needed without carrying around a huge diaper bag.  Unfortunately John wasn't so lucky in finding a hat to wear, so we ended our Pac Sun shopping and went to pay.  The purse rang up $7.99!!!!!  Can I get a WHOOP WHOOP!!  I love when that happens!

So here we are at today, a big bulky purse that I still use everyday ( I am definitely not one to switch purses everyday or even every month).   All I really carry in it is my wallet, check book, phone, lip gloss, camera, and occasionally a few diapers and wipes. In the picture you can see there is just so much room in it that it looks slouchy, and the contents are all over the place.  I am on a mission to organize my purse.  I have found a few sites with great ideas, like here on Fresh Crush and here on The Giving Flower.  Hopefully, I will be trying this out tonight cause I am almost positive I have enough material at home to make it.  YEAH!!!


Update: 5/20/11:
I worked on part of this last night and will have it done soon, and I will be posting pics!

debt

Get tired of seeing stacked up bills on your desk, counter, or dining room table?

A couple years ago John and I took a Dave Ramsey course.  It really helped us get a hold on all of the debt we had.  There were credit cards, doctor bills, student loan bills, vehicle bills, and all the other monthly bills that NEVER go away.  It was not fun keeping track of all of the different due dates and minimum payments.  We set up a plan to get rid of the smallest debts first, Dave Ramsey's plan.  It works!  I was amazed how awesome it felt to get some debt paid off.  We paid off all of our credit cards, sold a car, sold a truck, paid off some doctor bills, and reduced the bigger debts in chucks that were very noticeable.

Warning: This does not come without some sacrifice.

For me, being in debt is never an option.  I don't like it, and I HATE worrying and arguing about money. I have always worked hard to save my money and pay my debts off as fast as I can.  I hate monthly bills, period!  So, I started a monthly plan so I would only have to worry about them once a month.  I figured up the amount of money I pay out for all the monthly essentials, house, utilities, phone, cable/internet, trash, and daycare, and other monthly debt payments.  After totaling all that up, say it was $1500, I opened a savings account just for bills.  It took me about 2 months to save enough in the account.  After I had enough in the special account for my bills, I transfer the amount needed to my checking account, and I waited til the first of the month rolled around.  As soon as the 1st comes, I get online (which I use to pay ALL of my bills) and just go down my list and pay off each one.  Now, one thing I learned is that not all of the bills were ready on the 1st, but it was no big deal to call and have the billing dates changed around to fit my pay schedule.  So one by one, and only on one day a month, I pay each and every bill that I will owe for one month.  This is such a stress reliever for me.  When I received my paychecks for the month I just place them in the special account, and then on the 1st I transfer just enough to cover my bills to the checking account. For example, the checks I received in May will be deposited in the savings account, then on June 1st will transfer just enough to cover all of June bills.  This is awesome in 2 ways.  I have found that I have saved a lot more than what I had planned since I like seeing my savings account grow with the "extra" money left over, and it helps me keep in perspective how much money I am actually spending each month.  I only use my debit card, or cash, for everything so being able to log on to one bank account and see everything that has come in or gone out is awesome to me.  I love not feeling like I live paycheck to paycheck (which is probably what I do anyway, but at least it doesn't feel like it :D )

I know it may sound kind of confusing, but it is really easy once you have enough saved to cover one month of bills.

I personally only have 2 debts right now, my student loan and my mortgage.  My student loan will be paid off in about 2 months (unfortunately I am not graduated yet so that might pop up again). My mortgage will be paid off in about 7 years, I bought the house in 2007.  This will all be done using the Dave Ramsey plan of once something gets paid off, you take that monthly payment and add it to another debt payment.  I will definitely be throwing a debt free party when that day comes!!!

all in

Finally, this morning I checked my grade book and all of my grades are in.  All A's!!!  My GPA is at a 3.9, I could almost cry reading that.  For those of you who are going to college trying to get your first degree, while having a family at home, I applaud you!  It is not easy to feel like you are being selfish by going after your own dreams.  Getting a degree is definitely one of my dreams, and I am so grateful to have people in my life that are allowing me to pursue that. 

I have decided, however, to not take any classes over the summer.  This is so I can finish working on the house and my purging to get ready for the baby to come in August.  I do plan on starting back up this fall, classes start in middle Sept.  I don't know how it will be having a 3 year old, a new baby, and classes....plus cooking, laundry, and all the other things that come with having a family. But I do know one thing, I CAN DO IT.  My best friend Trina bought me in inspiration book for Christmas and one of the quotes is "half of doing something is knowing you can do it"  I have it on my nightstand to remind me everyday that I can do whatever I put my mind to.  My son, and the new baby, and my family will always be my first priority, but there is always a space somewhere to fulfill your own destiny.  Whether you are in college, starting your own business, staying at home with your children, homeschooling, being active in your children's lives, or whatever you find yourself pursuing, please know that you CAN do it.  Life is about choices, priorities, and a whole lot of fun things.  Enjoy it all while you can.

let's begin the DIY fever

Now that classes are over with, I am in the mood to get crafting.  I have several projects up my sleeve and really need to start on them or else my brain is going to go into overload.  This is a plant stand that I re-painted this weekend. Small project to start off with, but I think it makes a big difference.  I can't wait to plant some coleus in this stand.  With the aqua color and plants it will look beautiful.

This is the plant stand before. I took all the pieces apart, cleaned and sanded the whole thing.  The gold color just kind of blends in with the deck, fence and trees.  It definitely needs some color!

The plant stand primed and ready for some color! (sorry for the dark picture, the sun was going down fast)

The aqua color sure makes a difference!

Hello sunshine!  There is no blending in now, I love it!

tuesday quote

"Be true to your word, your work, and to your friends,"  As seen on the middle school sign coming into work this morning.

I don't think that much has to be said about this quote.  I saw it this morning and thought to myself, "wouldn't that be an ideal world."