I have not forgotten you fellow bloggers, I have just been busy trying to get my house and life in order to get 2009 off to a good start... Check out my 101 blog to see the goals I have set to work on this year and the year and a half following...
I have started 3 (count them 1...2...3...ah ha ha ha) new blogs to chronicle my other projects I am working on because this blog is ADD enough! Now let's just see if I can keep them all updated (probably not everyday for all of them)... There is a list in my side bar with them, but I figured I'd post a quick blurb about them here since I don't have time to write much else today...
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? :)
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...
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 :).
