Work Day

Finally getting motivated to work on the house...mainly in the area of cleaning. I have been keeping up with basic cleaning, but in the six+ weeks we have been here, I haven't done any serious cleaning. You know, like dusting the wood paneling in our family room ("Seriously I have to dust the walls?!" is what I was thinking while I did it), sweeping under the area rug, cleaning both sides of the windows, dusting under items on shelves instead of just feather dusting around them.

Here let me insert an apology to anyone who has visited or stayed with us prior to now when house was not so clean.

I also have moved a few small pieces of furniture around that I have been thinking about for a while. Things look a little more "homey" now than just dropped in the rooms as well as bit more organized. I am a perpetual "reorganizer" ... I always think there is probably a better way to set something up to make it more efficient or look better. I have changed a couple of things in the time we have been here, but I have spent most of my time contemplating options UNTIL TODAY!

Part of me doesn't want to "waste" too much time on things like this when we are likely only going to be in this house for a year (maybe two), but I feel like I need a project so today I am working instead of reading or playing. There are also a few things I would like to buy to help in this pursuit, but along with not wasting time, I don't want to spend much money on things that may not be useful in a future home.

This week has been kind of a rough one, so I think that is what has motivated me to try to be productive. Why is it rough? you may ask. Well, it has been rough for me because it is Vacation Bible School week back at our church in Oklahoma. That was always such a big part of my summer/year/life, that I am really missing it and my friends, especially my preschooler friends. (sigh)

Anyway, my pity party is over and I am going to get back to work! Maybe some pictures will show up later.

Back On-Line!

Now that I am back to my normal stress level and am on-line, I hope to be sharing more again here.

A new chapter in our life has started with this move. It's like other moves in that we are starting all over again -new church, new school, new friends, new opportunities- but it is also our first move that has allowed us to become more connected with our hometown family.

I worked on updating the background and colors of our family blog today, so you might see an update here soon too. The problem still remains with the title of our family blog "Cowboys" doesn't fit us the best anymore. I haven't looked into how it works to change that though or what a better name might be for us now. (hmmmm)

I seem to have made it through all the stress that I mentioned in my previous posts with nothing worse than exhaustion which I seem to be recovering from gradually. I can't tell if my "tiredness" now is from being bored or I am actually tired. Moving into a new house + four kids + a husband who works a lot of hours = bored?! Probably doesn't sound quite right, but without the busy-ness of driving kids to/from school and activities and without my church job and without all the hours I normally put into Vacation Bible School during the summer actually does leave me rather unscheduled. There are plenty of things I could be working on like the last few organizing things in the house, crafting projects, mailing the pile of goodies sitting on the desk waiting to be mailed, and making some phne calls regarding changes of address and bank account info ... but I am enjoying doing nothing other than daily chores, spending time with the kids, and reading.

Personality Type

So, in an effort to decompress from my busy, overly emotional day, I decided to take the personality test suggested by my friend; author of the blog www.schreibtischdc.blogspot.com (also seen in sidebar) and here are my results...

Ta-dah, your personality type is ISTJ!

Introverted (I) 89% Extraverted (E) 11%
Sensing (S) 59% Intuitive (N) 41%
Thinking (T) 80% Feeling (F) 20%
Judging (J) 86% Perceiving (P) 14%

One of the questions was actually something about sharing about myself with others, and I am pretty sure I said I don't do that very often, so I am obviously breaking from the mold here to share this personal information. =)

ugh

I think I may be a little stressed out ...

The reason I think so is because for the second time in less than a week I have wanted to throttle someone for making me angry (neither person was one of my children).

I usually am able to get along* with everyone even if I don't like them, don't agree with them, or if they say something that bothers me. In general, I am difficult to offend because I can usually see things from multiple perspectives and understand what prompted them to say what they did (even if it was tactless, offensive, or inconsiderate).

[*Note: This does not mean that I am all sweet and sugar with everyone because although I do try to be polite and respectful with everyone, if I am anything, I try to be genuine.]

Anyway, after today's experience with one of my unfavorite people, I really wanted to scream, left the area with less grace & lots of frustration, and cried. This is definitely not like me!

Stress, surely that is the cause?! Yes?! (hopefully)

Still Learning Tricks of the Trade

[Could also be title- Can It Really Be This Easy?!]

The newly turned four year olds in our family got these cute stuffed animals that have books that go with them. (Thanks, Great Grandma and Grandpa!) You turn on the animal, read the book, and at certain points the animal speaks up and responds to the story. They are super cute!

Our daughter really enjoys the book and reading aspect. Our son has really become attached to the animal itself. His animal, a raccoon named Watson, helps his friends find things in the story.

Now this particular son is the baby of the family; even though the twins are the youngest together, he was born last. It is amazing how well he can play what I call the "baby card" when he feels moved to do so. One time this often comes up is when he asked to go look for something (his shoes or jacket for example) or when he just can't find something he wants (say, a toy or book). He often becomes "too tired" or just plaing whiney.

(Now to the point of the post...)
For the last few days that we have had Watson, when it is time to find something, I have been sending Watson along with said son and it is amazing how much faster items are found and how much more cooperative (=less whiney) he is.

Moral of the story: If you have a little person in your family who "can't" find things on a regular basis, come up with a helper for him/her to use.

Now we just have to keep an eye on Watson because if we loose him, we'll be in big trouble!

Came across these cute Valentine's lunch box notes while I was searching for ideas for school Valentine's parties. Thanks, Family Fun magazine, for more great ideas. I love you!

Check In Post

I have been keeping up with my Read the Bible in 90 Days, but obviously at the expense of blogging. I am on Day 29 now. I am enjoying it and have found inspiration for Spirit Week - an event I plan for the kids' school so that has been an extra bonus.

I have also found a few interesting stories that I don't ever remember reading or hearing about before. I just might have to share some of those another day.

I have been spending some time sewing. A friend is having a "trunk sale" for homemade items and home businesses (like Pampered Chef, Scentsy, etc.); I have decided to participate, so I have been working on some blankets and burp cloths to sell. It has been fun. It will be even more fun if some of them sell! I will try to post sometime in case anyone out there would be interested in purchasing - I am happy to make and mail!

We have also some snow here in Oklahoma. The kids had three days out of school last week and are out today. If I had to guess, they will probably be home tomorrow too, but we will see.

Our oldest was sick last week with the flu and a stomach thing all at once. Yuck! The youngest likely has/had the flu too although he didn't go to the doctor. I think both are feeling better now finally.

And last but definitely not least, we celebrated the twins' birthday! They are four now which just really seems hard to believe. Four is the age of our oldest was when we moved here and the twins -well, let's just say we didn't even know they were twins at that point!

How Some Other People Do It

Interested in living more frugally without commiting to a class like Financial Peace University? Clicking anywhere on this paragraph will take you to a first hand account of how one family has adjusted their budget or (what we around here call) a spending plan.

Some of the Heida family's planning might be drastic for people -like NO money alloted for entertainment and eating out. There are some realistic examples here though for anyone struggling on how to make choices on what stays and what goes. The fact that they have purchased (unfortunately using credit) a new piano for their daughter shows the uniqueness of each family when making a plan. No two families will have the same priorities ... other than hopefully keeping your actual needs (shelter, utilities, food, transportation, and actually needed clothes) in the spending plan and then prioritizing wants using what cash is available AFTER any debt payments are made.

Movies

I often find that I am uncomfortable watching rated R movies. The language, violence, subject matter, you name it that is found in them is just plain outside my comfort zone.

I am much more at home watching PG13, or even PG movies.

Weather Check

Just checked the weather.

It is 19 degrees right now.

Supposedly feels like 3 degrees.

Not sure our kids own enough layers to stay warm in that weather ... we do, after all, live in the south! =)

Might have to distract them inside a while longer before we head out.

Keeping Up and Slacking Off

So, I had gotten in a bit of a groove again of posting more regularly here. I was pleased with that (even tho maybe no one is reading). However, now that I am working to keep up with my 12 pages a day in my Bible, I have slacked off again on posting.

Of course, I was also reading a book for fun that I finished last night, so now maybe if I just read the Bible I will still find time to post and read . . . anyway, I digress . . .

At least, I AM doing my Bible readings even after my slow first day. In fact, yesterday I read a bit ahead, so today I only have 10 pages to read which is why I am here right now using those extra few minutes to report in.

Also, we have a snow day today, which adds about an hour and a half to my day since I have no school drop off and pick up. My work out also got canceled so that gives me another hour! Just think of all the things I can do!

Of course, so far all I have done so far is feed my kids, shower and get dressed, read email, checked on a couple of my coupon sights for good deals, read my friend Nicole's blog, and checking in here now. However, I would normally be at my workout right now, so all I would have done is feed the kids at this point, well, and be exercising . . .

There are still plenty of more hours to get things done. Right now my kids are wondering if they can go play in the one inch of snow we have so I am going to scope out how cold it is so I know how many layers they need to wear.

Yes, I did say one inch of snow.

And, yes, I did say we are having a snow day.

And, yes, I know that sounds ridiculous, but we live in Oklahoma so that is the way things roll here.

And, it is actually the layer of ice under the snow that is what canceled school today as the winter weather began with freezing rain last night.

Still a little pathetic, I know, but that is life in the south.

Happy day to all!

Ashamed to Admit

. . . that I ended up two pages short on my first day of reading! How sad is that?! I guess starting at 10:20 p.m. wasn't such a good idea.
I
just
got
so
tired.

The good news -- I made up my two pages and read all of the second assignment on day 2.

A good sign that I am not destined to be a complete slacker with my new program. Fire up for Day 3!

Reading the Bible in 90 Days

I just started a new study with the Ladies' Group at our church. This semester we are following the program as outlined in The Bible in 90 Days.

I am pretty sure the post was in this blog rather than our family one -I won't make any promises and I don't have time to verify right now- but, a couple of years ago our oldest (then probably 6-7 yrs old) was interested in reading the whole Bible so I printed a read-the-Bible-in-a-year program sheet for him. He got through Judges (I believe) which I think is pretty impressive for his age. I started after him and I think only got 3-4 books in. =(

Anyway, I am up for this 90-day program. Although it requires more reading each day, the longevity of the commitment bodes well for me.

The plan is to read the complete Bible cover to cover. The goal is to READ, not STUDY. I love to read, but I tend to have issues with just reading the Bible. Why?

-> I start to remember other things I have read similar to what I am currently reading and try to find it in other places in the Bible.

-> I feel like what I am reading is conflicting with something else and try to find it.

-> I am reminded of a Bible study I have done before and want to go dig out the study guide so I can see the notes I took during the study and be reminded of all the good things I learned then.

-> When using my own Bible, I get caught up in notes that I have made in the margins which tend to lead to other searches as well connecting ideas, people, places, events.


In order to keep with the program though I am going to have to avoid these traps and JUST KEEP READING. The Bible I am using is set up that I will read 12 pages each day and estimates it will take about 45 minutes to do (sans distractions).

Today is Day 1 and I have only read three pages so far, so I need to sign off and get reading. Farewell!

Financial Peace University

Maybe the phrase "cash only" caught people's attention in yesterday's post. I am writing, of course, assuming that people actually read what I write here. Anyway, as I said, we are a cash only family. Yes, we use our debit card and checks (which are a form of cash) as needed, but you will find no credit cards in our wallets.

Actually truth be told, I do have my church credit card in my wallet for work purchases and Rob has one for his work as well, but we have no personal credit cards on our persons or in our home.

We have not always been a cash family. In fact, until April of this past year I (especially) was an almost exclusive credit only shopper. In all the years we have been married (well, even including my college years prior to being married), we have not paid off our monthly balance maybe two or three times, and that balance only carried over for a month or two each time. I was definitely not taking advantage of credit to buy things I couldn't afford, but I did like the convenience of it.

So why the change? We took the Financial Peace University class presented by Dave Ramsey (via a dvd class) that our church hosted starting in April last spring. The things we learned in the class gave us insights into the advantages of using cash only (even though we were not credit abusers and had no debt -other than our mortgage) as well really helped us focus our spending and do better with saving.

It has been amazing the changes in our spending habits and the balance in our bank accounts. As we didn't have money troubles before, we never fought about money or even really talked about it all that much. We talk about it more now which I'm not sure I like because in a way it feels like money has become more important due to the amount of time we spend talking and planning about our spending and saving. However, it is all constructive conversation and the obvious positive impact this lifestyle is going to have on our future and the future for our children definitely makes it worth it.

There will be more to come on this topic. =)

Food Money

We are a cash only family ... this does include using our debit card for some purchases as designed by our budget. Anyway, each month we plan what we will spend for the next month. Although I wouldn't say we are stingy or are completely bare bones with our money when making the spending plan, we do try to keep it to a minimum necessary to get through the month so more money can go into savings and our (new to us) van fund.

We have been having a little bit of extra money in our grocery fund some months and are not expecting to entertain this month, so we cut that category a bit for January to see if we can do with a little less ... at least for this month.

Now when I say grocery fund, it actually refers to anything I buy at Walmart that we use on a regular basis including but not limited to toilet paper, dish detergent, laundry detergent, etc. Not all of these things are purchased each month (because I buy the BIG sizes of everything), but they definitely come up regularly and their costs can work out to be a sizable chunk of a weekly total. I also have an extra $10/month allowed for health and beauty, $20/month for dog food, and $10/month for school supplies.

Whether our monthly amount sounds like a lot or a little to others would depend on what you are comparing it to. How many people are you feeding? How old are the people you are feeding? At what store and where in the country you are shopping? How often do you eat at home?

We feed six people none of whom have hit puberty yet and live in a community with (I'm guessing) a standard of living on the low side of average. We cook almost all meals at home; although do allow $50/month for restaurants seperate from our grocery spending. Some months we use all of this restaurant allowance; some not.

As I was contemplating our grocery spending amounts for this month, I did a little math to figure out the amount of money per meal we allowed. It worked out to $1.30/meal/person. We don't often spend this much on a breakfast or lunch meal so that allows for a little bit more for dinners. We do like snacks in our house so some money does goes towards those as well. I try to serve or remake leftovers so food doesn't go to waste--some weeks I do better at this than others.

Although I could do more with coupons or driving around to shop at multiple stores to get better deals, I think I do pretty well with our food money . . . especially considering some of that money ($1.30/meal/person) does cover those other non-food items mentioned above. The total amount we spend on food each month is considerably less than what it would be if we did eat restaurant food more often.

I have read a lot about saving money on food from the planning, purchasing, and cooking sides of things. For the amount of time I am willing to spend on all of those fronts, I am currently doing the best I am willing to do (I think). I would be interested in hearing what other people do though to keep costs down or their thoughts on this.

I plan to post more in the future about our cash only - no debt life style because WE LOVE IT!!!