Hard Times? Nah...

I realized last night that we are WAY over budget for this paycheck (not that we had a budget before last night, but you know, still over what we have to spend)... I downloaded a free trial of a Budget application that has a virtual envelope system set up... We will have $42 after all the bills are paid before the next check comes... That is not counting food and gas... Yikes! But we can do this... I am sure I have enough food supplies to last 2 weeks and 2 days... Though we may be mostly veggie for these 2 weeks :) In the mean time I will not be able to start my Grocery Game shopping, but I did order the local paper on weekends only (Fri, Sat, Sun) using a promo code from the MVP circular (because all I got in my regular circular were dine out and fast food Qs... grrr...), I asked to be billed for it, so I will not have to pay for 18 weeks! By then I will have the $20, but right now I just don't, but I can get started on finding the Qs (coupons) I need to play the game (it really is a game and I like it)... The only thing I am worried about is Halloween... We are hosting a small gathering, but I told everyone to bring something to eat, something to drink, and some candy (not that we ever get Trick-or-Treaters, but if it looks like a party maybe at least the neighbor kids will come get some sweets :)... I am going to make something in my crockpot... Maybe chili... I have lots of beans and some ground beef in the freezer... I have also started to think seriously about how Christmas is going to go this year... In the past we have maxed ourselves out to pay for gifts, but this year I am making food gifts for friends and family... I don't think anyone will hold that against me... Hopefully I will be able to score some good deals on candles or something to beef it up... Just looking for ways to get by, and maxing out our credit card again is just NOT the way... With friends we were thinking of doing a gift exchange, but that might even be too much for some of us (mostly newly weds) I was thinking about maybe doing an ornament exchange (bought or made) that could be really funny with our group of friends :) How do you deal with lean times around the holidays? I don't want to get down about this, I am really looking at the bright side, maybe I can use up most of my 50lbs. of powdered sugar that I bought at Costso for cake deco class and didn't make it into the 2nd class (because of time and money issues)... Hot coco anyone? :)

Grocery Game

SO I have never been into clipping coupons, I always seem to forget them if I do. But this website could change all that... The Grocery Game seems to take all the guess work out of coupon shopping... All I have to do is print the color coded lists for my stores and cut a few coupons out of the paper (the list even tells you what circular they are in)... I am going to try this out during my 4 week for $1 trial and update on how it goes... There are people on the forums for the site saving more that 66% on a bad week! I can do this to help save a little cash while I hunt for a job I think... If you link to the site and decide to give it a try, please enter my e-mail so I get my "free trial" extended :) it is my first and last name (no spaces or hyphens) @ gmail dot com... Thanks!

16 Personality Factors Results

Cattell's 16 Factor Test Results Warmth 62% Intellect 62% Emotional Stability 62% Aggressiveness 62% Liveliness 70% Dutifulness 62% Social Assertiveness 70% Sensitivity 42% Paranoia 38% Abstractness 78% Introversion 34% Anxiety 42% Openmindedness 58% Independence 18% Perfectionism 42% Tension 46% Is this true or off a bit? What do you think?

Take Cattell 16 Factor Test (similar to 16pf)
personality tests by similarminds.com

Smart Cycle ?

Well, I guess I didn't get my idea patented quick enough, but Fisher Price has developed a video game called a Smart Cycle which requires exercise to play (beyond WiiFit)... Now if only we could get one in an adult size for the men folk in our lives... I have been saying for a couple of years that if they connected WoW to a treadmill, we would all be a little more fit :)... I would totally buy one of these for my kids over XBox 360 games...

Change

Is not my friend most of the time, at least not until I warm up to it... Tonight Toby and I were talking about how awesome it would be to live more simply... No debt, living within our means, saving money, finishing school... Even to the point of selling almost everything we own and moving out of the state to someplace less expensive... We prayed about it and now I feel like it is out there... Out of our hands, out of our control... Totally in God's... That is scary to me... I know it shouldn't be, but I don't like to give up control, I am human after all... It is something I struggle with daily... Even putting things in my husband's hands and out of mine scares me... We talked about starting slowly by selling my car (our payment is pretty out of control thanks to Toby's meddling grandfather)... I am wondering if his brother will sell my Civic back to me for the cost of what he has put into it (not much like maybe $400)... His parents bought it from my parents (technically) for $500 for him but since he is going to Europe in December to be with his fiance I am hoping he will think of me before selling it to someone else... If we do decide to do that we need to talk to him soon though... I think I can handle that... Downgrading back to my old car... I didn't love it, but it is just a car... It will get me from point A to point B... And it has been taken good care of, well, except for when I had it :)... Toby and I have a bad habit of starting deep thoughtful discussions at bedtime and my mind starts going on them and I can't sleep... Like now... My head is full of "What if's" as my mom likes to call them... I can't seem to shut it off, so I figured jotting down some of my anxieties here would aleviate them... So far, not so good...

Sarah Palin is a good sport...

Since NBC doesn't allow YouTube to post the skit, here is a link to an article that has Sarah Palin's performance on SNL this weekend embedded. I thought she was a great sport and showed Tina Fey up :).

Small Victories

My friend and ADD mentor, Mike, has been consistently reminding me that I need to set myself up for small victories that will lead up to larger ones. One of those is finding a job, any decent job right now, while I try to figure out what my career goal is. I need to finish classes (I will be taking the short term class starting in November so I will not have completely wasted this semester). Tomorrow I am going to go talk to my former counselor (if I can get in to see her for a second) to request my records and figure out what to do once I get home. I am also going to work on fixing my eating and sleeping habits. Going to bed before 1am should not really be a problem, but it so often is because I sleep so late. I know I am perfectly capable of getting out of bed at a decent hour because I did it everyday at Faith's house, we got up around 8 am (and that is late, the boys get up at 6), but the latest I went to bed most nights was 11 or 12. I also need to begin a regular eating routine. I am terrible. I tend to not eat until I am really really hungry, and then I grab whatever is convenient (junk usually). I am working on outfitting my (small albeit) kitchen with stuff that will make it easy for me to make the healthy choices I should be. If Faith can manage 3 squares a day for the boys, Nathan, and herself, I can too :) - I am not comparing myself or anything, I just find her to be a good inspiration for the kind of person I would like to be. I am going to use my Bento boxes to help inspire me to get off my butt (or out of bed) and eat something healthy and creative. I find a good amount of inspiration from Biggie over at Lunch in a Box as well :).

So my goals I am going to be working on when I get back are:

• Find a job (about 20 hours a week) and ask for a regular set schedule
• Eat at least 3 times a day and make healthy choices
  
• Get up by 9am and go to bed before 1am (starting small here)
  
• Go to Family Life with Toby (I know I really didn't talk about that before, but it is a goal)

Help keep me accountable! :)

Doing Better

I am currently visiting my friend Faith (from Blessed Quietness) and her husband and 5 boys in the desert :). I traveled down with her sis, who was my friend first, Grace and her husband David. It has been an eventful couple of days :). We drove all night on Friday got to their house Saturday at 4:30 am and left for the Miramar air show at 6:30 am after a short nap. We were there all day! The boys did so well! They love jets so much (even Issac who does not like their noise but still loves them - especially Fat Albert who flys the Blue Angels "because he is so quiet"). We went to church Sunday and watched the football game. Then we spent today doing school and seeing what Faith does every day (she is a strong woman, I will tell you that).
Edit: We had some fun with tatoos too!





All the boys showing off their tattooed muscles! How strong! Even baby John looks tougher with Batman tattooed on his chest! Tomorrow we will say goodbye and Grace and David will drop me off in LA at my parents house. I am going to Knott's Halloween Haunt to see my little brother at work (I may wet my pants when we go through his maze, I do not like to be scared). I will be there until the 16th! 8 days at home will be the longest stay I have had since I got engaged! I hope to see my friend Dano and my little cousin Mika and the rest of the family if they have time. I miss them a lot. I will probably update again before heading home :).