Christmas Tree Inspiration and Most Comments EVER!

Thanks to SITSmas, I got the most comments I have ever had on my last post! Thanks gals! I don't know if I won anything, but it doesn't really matter because I found some wonderful new blogs to read and got some new readers! I love it! Through this, I also found inspiration for my Christmas tree this year, Twilight, from Smile! It's Becky! Mine will be a mini version because I only have room for a 2 ft. tree in my apartment, but it will be beautiful! Last year, I wanted to do a peacock themed tree but Toby wouldn't let me... This year I am not asking... Just doing :D... He's going to say I'm obsessed! Not that he doesn't already know that, I read all 4 books last week without stopping, but I still NEED to see the movie! (Cash flow is still a little low, but I will scrounge some to go see it)... Now I just have to get to cleaning the living room so we can go get our tree!

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? :)

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...