Anyone who knows me well knows that I am absolutely positively horrific when it comes to dealing with money. I could go on and on about all the money we've stupidly spent over the years... it's quite depressing really.
Today we got our tax returns. As per usual it was a sizable amount of money. Usually Jacob and I take this money and spend it on all sorts of stupid crap we really don't need but want to buy. And it's quite frankly one of my favorite times of year because of that. But this year is the year of growing up and becoming the people we need to be...
So we took almost all of our tax return and paid off our car finally. No more car payments!! YEAH!! And we paid off our credit cards with the rest. Which means we're pretty free and clear now. The only bills we have are our month to month bills (cell phones, internet, etc.) and my student loans. For the first time in our life together we aren't going to have to worry about how we're going to pay everything each month.
It feels good. I definitely feel like a weight has been lifted from our shoulders. But I must admit, it's a little sad too. I had a lot of stuff I wanted to spend that money on! But we really don't need any of those things, and we're probably better off without them!
So here's to doing the right thing!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Meal Plans!
I'm also making pre-made grocery lists. This one isn't filled out yet (obviously) but I'm going to *hopefully* get to it in the next few days. It'll be so nice to have everything laid out!! Grocery shopping is my absolute LEAST favorite kind of shopping, so this should make it a little bit more bearable.
So that's my most recent "organization" project. Still a work in progress, but we're getting there :)
A different perspective
I follow quite a few blogs and caringbridge sites and yesterday one of them wrote about a Bible passage I had read a hundred times before but never thought of it like this.
Matthew 14: 24-31
I've always read this passage and thought about doubt- not trusting in the Lord. But yesterday when I read this persons update they made reference to the fact that it's also about focusing on the Lord, not the storm swirling around you. That and what I had always thought go hand-in-hand but I'd never realized that. It's so easy to get caught up in the storm. To worry and toil over it. But in order to truly trust Him we must point our eyes toward the Lord. Focus on Him. And let the storm worry about itself. I found this incredibly applicable to my life- I'm a worrier! Even before the storm hits I find myself staring at the ominous clouds getting ready to consume me- looking in the wrong direction. I think that if I truly trusted the Lord, with all my heart, soul, and being, I wouldn't be watching the storm- my eyes would be on Him. And so that's what I'm going to try to do. Focus on the Lord. And let the rest worry about itself.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Scatterbrained
It's been awhile since I've updated this- not for lack of ideas, there are so many things I want to blog about. But unfortunately so little time. I've kind of been all over the place recently.
As far as things with Jack, every thing's going really well. I had another meeting with the school last week and although it was pretty much the same meeting we've had 4 times already it seemed to stick more... Hopefully. There were lots of great ideas thrown out and they've already begun implementing some of them which is awesome. I don't think that this is going to fix everything but I think we're moving forward. And I think that the teacher is finally taking Jack's sensory needs seriously. Unfortunately Thursday he came home with a letter saying that one kid has chicken pox followed up with Friday a note about another child having Strep throat and yet another with some sort of mystery illness. So here's hoping that we don't all get super sick. Jack's definitely coming down with something over the past few days. Chances are he won't be in school for the beginning of the week. Preschoolers are like walking petri dishes!
His new tutoring is going really well! We've had two sessions now, one at home on Thursday and one down at their clinic on Saturday morning. Thursday was a bit rough but that was to be expected since this is all really new to him. Saturday he hung in there like a champ! Two hours of intensive learning is a lot! But he did it! He even got his "special activity" for the first time because he worked hard, played nicely, was happy, and listened :) If he does all 4 of those things each day he gets to do something fun- he got to paint a little clay teddy bear that morning and LOVED it! I really think that this new program is going to make a huge difference. I hope that it carries over into school!!
So how am I? Such an interesting question. Very up and down. I have really good days and other days just feel like complete failure. Thankfully I've been pretty productive which helps with my overall mood...
Last week I finally broke down and tackled the toy closet. We have SO much stuff for these kids having had therapy for Jack out of our home for nearly two years now. Jacob swears that I'm crazy and they're just spoiled but I can justify (or so I think) the vast majority of the stuff for it's educational value. It really looks like a preschool in their closet (which is a walk in closet, that gives you an idea of just how much stuff I've got). Everything has a place now and every container has a neat little label I made on the computer with pictures and laminated. I'm hoping this will help the boys help me get stuff put away in the correct places. So far I've been doing most of the clean up, so it's still looking good.
In a desperate attempt to find last years tax information (which has self destructed, I swear! It's not here!!) I've knocked out a room a day trying to find the darn thing. It's nice to have stuff getting back to a manageable order. Sometimes things are just out of control- which is how I feel about the vast majority of our house at this point. But we're getting there, slowly but surely. And hopefully the darn tax paperwork will show up!
I've been pretty good about doing my bible reading. I've stumbled here and there but have caught up fairly easily. Right now I'm a day behind. I haven't felt good at all today so I haven't done today yet but I'm hoping I'll get to it tonight. I've gotten through Matthew and Mark and am about halfway into Luke now. It's really exciting! I can't believe I'm actually doing this! Haha, who'd have thought?!
We officially became Catechumens last night into the Orthodox Church. Which is really exciting but it was a horrible experience. Usually we don't bring the boys to Vespers on Saturday nights because they go to bed at 7 and starting a service at 6:15 with them is just plain foolish. But since it was a special occasion for us we brought them with us. Well we were supposed to do the service before Vespers but Father was late and so we had to wait until after. Liam was just being defiant. Every time I asked him to whisper he would very loudly reply that he didn't want to! Finally I took him outside to the car to talk because the more I talked to him the louder he got. He decided he wanted to just stay in the car so we spent the last half out in the car. Finally at 7:15 we went in and had our little service- at which point Jack repeatedly asked Father where the bread was (they get blessed bread on Sundays) and Liam refused to participate in any capacity. But we made it! And we're officially members of the Russian Orthodox Church! From here we'll be chrismated and baptized at some point down the road and then we'll be full-fledged, 100% active members of the church! I'm really excited!
I've really dug down deep lately, plugging along with all this organizing. I've come up with a plan as to how to organize our eating. I'm so terrible about making meals- if I don't plan it out, I just simply won't do it. And so I've begun creating meal plans. I'm going to make 4 weeks and just rotate through them. Along with each weekly plan I'm going to make a master shopping list that corresponds with each of them individually. Sounds like it should work right? I hope so! Now I just have to dig out all the old recipes and start actually plugging in meals to days. It's been a really fun project- I actually drew little pictures to put on the calendars in Photoshop- something I've never done before. Jacob was shocked and impressed. I may be able to create things on the computer but I've never really actually drawn anything from scratch. When I get a menu finished I'll post it on here!! I'm hoping to get it done by the end of the month so we can start using them!
Instead I'll finish with a couple of pictures of the boys from last night.
As far as things with Jack, every thing's going really well. I had another meeting with the school last week and although it was pretty much the same meeting we've had 4 times already it seemed to stick more... Hopefully. There were lots of great ideas thrown out and they've already begun implementing some of them which is awesome. I don't think that this is going to fix everything but I think we're moving forward. And I think that the teacher is finally taking Jack's sensory needs seriously. Unfortunately Thursday he came home with a letter saying that one kid has chicken pox followed up with Friday a note about another child having Strep throat and yet another with some sort of mystery illness. So here's hoping that we don't all get super sick. Jack's definitely coming down with something over the past few days. Chances are he won't be in school for the beginning of the week. Preschoolers are like walking petri dishes!
His new tutoring is going really well! We've had two sessions now, one at home on Thursday and one down at their clinic on Saturday morning. Thursday was a bit rough but that was to be expected since this is all really new to him. Saturday he hung in there like a champ! Two hours of intensive learning is a lot! But he did it! He even got his "special activity" for the first time because he worked hard, played nicely, was happy, and listened :) If he does all 4 of those things each day he gets to do something fun- he got to paint a little clay teddy bear that morning and LOVED it! I really think that this new program is going to make a huge difference. I hope that it carries over into school!!
So how am I? Such an interesting question. Very up and down. I have really good days and other days just feel like complete failure. Thankfully I've been pretty productive which helps with my overall mood...
Last week I finally broke down and tackled the toy closet. We have SO much stuff for these kids having had therapy for Jack out of our home for nearly two years now. Jacob swears that I'm crazy and they're just spoiled but I can justify (or so I think) the vast majority of the stuff for it's educational value. It really looks like a preschool in their closet (which is a walk in closet, that gives you an idea of just how much stuff I've got). Everything has a place now and every container has a neat little label I made on the computer with pictures and laminated. I'm hoping this will help the boys help me get stuff put away in the correct places. So far I've been doing most of the clean up, so it's still looking good.
In a desperate attempt to find last years tax information (which has self destructed, I swear! It's not here!!) I've knocked out a room a day trying to find the darn thing. It's nice to have stuff getting back to a manageable order. Sometimes things are just out of control- which is how I feel about the vast majority of our house at this point. But we're getting there, slowly but surely. And hopefully the darn tax paperwork will show up!
I've been pretty good about doing my bible reading. I've stumbled here and there but have caught up fairly easily. Right now I'm a day behind. I haven't felt good at all today so I haven't done today yet but I'm hoping I'll get to it tonight. I've gotten through Matthew and Mark and am about halfway into Luke now. It's really exciting! I can't believe I'm actually doing this! Haha, who'd have thought?!
We officially became Catechumens last night into the Orthodox Church. Which is really exciting but it was a horrible experience. Usually we don't bring the boys to Vespers on Saturday nights because they go to bed at 7 and starting a service at 6:15 with them is just plain foolish. But since it was a special occasion for us we brought them with us. Well we were supposed to do the service before Vespers but Father was late and so we had to wait until after. Liam was just being defiant. Every time I asked him to whisper he would very loudly reply that he didn't want to! Finally I took him outside to the car to talk because the more I talked to him the louder he got. He decided he wanted to just stay in the car so we spent the last half out in the car. Finally at 7:15 we went in and had our little service- at which point Jack repeatedly asked Father where the bread was (they get blessed bread on Sundays) and Liam refused to participate in any capacity. But we made it! And we're officially members of the Russian Orthodox Church! From here we'll be chrismated and baptized at some point down the road and then we'll be full-fledged, 100% active members of the church! I'm really excited!
I've really dug down deep lately, plugging along with all this organizing. I've come up with a plan as to how to organize our eating. I'm so terrible about making meals- if I don't plan it out, I just simply won't do it. And so I've begun creating meal plans. I'm going to make 4 weeks and just rotate through them. Along with each weekly plan I'm going to make a master shopping list that corresponds with each of them individually. Sounds like it should work right? I hope so! Now I just have to dig out all the old recipes and start actually plugging in meals to days. It's been a really fun project- I actually drew little pictures to put on the calendars in Photoshop- something I've never done before. Jacob was shocked and impressed. I may be able to create things on the computer but I've never really actually drawn anything from scratch. When I get a menu finished I'll post it on here!! I'm hoping to get it done by the end of the month so we can start using them!
Instead I'll finish with a couple of pictures of the boys from last night.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Stagnent
Ever feel like you're just not doing anything? Like you're not even moving? That is how I feel.
I do a lot of "stuff." Mostly pointless, everyday things. Nothing of any real value. And that sucks. I go through these phases in life where I feel like I'm growing as a person and doing things. Right now I'm very much stuck going through the motions.
I am improving things in my life. That is true. But it still doesn't feel like enough. I guess I've been holding my breath, waiting for a break through moment where things would change. But we're still not there yet. Patience has definitely never been my strong suit.
And so I think what I need to do is just sit and be silent for awhile. Stop pushing forward and trying to break through and just let go... and let God...
I do a lot of "stuff." Mostly pointless, everyday things. Nothing of any real value. And that sucks. I go through these phases in life where I feel like I'm growing as a person and doing things. Right now I'm very much stuck going through the motions.
I am improving things in my life. That is true. But it still doesn't feel like enough. I guess I've been holding my breath, waiting for a break through moment where things would change. But we're still not there yet. Patience has definitely never been my strong suit.
And so I think what I need to do is just sit and be silent for awhile. Stop pushing forward and trying to break through and just let go... and let God...
Friday, January 14, 2011
I did it!
I just moments ago finished reading the book of Matthew. I am quite proud of myself. 1 week and 1 chapter down! I'm excited to keep going :) I truly feel God at work in my life and I'm so thankful to be able to draw close to Him through His word. It's nice to sit down mid-day and just have some time with God both in reading the Bible and in prayer!
And I got some exciting new yesterday, we are going to become Catechumen in the Orthodox Church! Hopefully this weekend! Basically that means we're officially excepted into the Church and on our way to being Baptized into the Orthodox faith. I was baptized as an infant into the Catholic Church but this is different. Becoming Orthodox (to me) is really a reorganization of my relationship and recommitment to Christ. I'm excited to actively pursue my relationship with Christ in a whole new way!!
In other news, we've got a pretty nasty cold going around our house. Jack was first last week and I was able to hold it off pretty well with lots of vitamins and some Benadryl to help him sleep. Liam came next with rivers of snot everywhere and quite the attitude to match. He's still recovering (with the aid of Vitamins and Benadryl of course) and I think we're nearing the end. But unfortunately Jacob's sick now. He's been coming down with it for a couple days now and is quite miserable. So inevitably I will get it too. I'm trying hard to stay healthy- lots of vitamins and sleep. But I'm not going to hold my breath, I always get sick last and always stay sick the longest. Here's hoping we can at least hold off until Tuesday. I have too much to do this weekend!
Things are pretty up and down with Jack these days. We're going in for his assessment Monday and it will be interesting to see what they have to say. I'm excited to get a new plan in place and start moving forward again! Everything with the school is still relatively turbulent- still not eating, they're still not doing virtually any sensory with him during the day, and we're STILL waiting to have our next meeting. I just don't understand why no one else feels a sense of urgency in this. For Jack to start improving and moving forward we all have to be onboard. And it will be good for everyone involved! But unfortunately they're all SOOO BUSY and the meeting just isn't getting scheduled. We'll see if there's any news in Jack's notebook when he comes home today!
Although things in my life have been going relatively well since the terrible day I had on Tuesday I must say I have a very heavy heart today. One year ago today a beautiful baby girl named Hazel went home to Jesus. My heart just breaks for her parents Ryan and Angie. But I know that one day they will be reunited, just as I will be with Zoe, and live for all of eternity in Paradise...
And I got some exciting new yesterday, we are going to become Catechumen in the Orthodox Church! Hopefully this weekend! Basically that means we're officially excepted into the Church and on our way to being Baptized into the Orthodox faith. I was baptized as an infant into the Catholic Church but this is different. Becoming Orthodox (to me) is really a reorganization of my relationship and recommitment to Christ. I'm excited to actively pursue my relationship with Christ in a whole new way!!
In other news, we've got a pretty nasty cold going around our house. Jack was first last week and I was able to hold it off pretty well with lots of vitamins and some Benadryl to help him sleep. Liam came next with rivers of snot everywhere and quite the attitude to match. He's still recovering (with the aid of Vitamins and Benadryl of course) and I think we're nearing the end. But unfortunately Jacob's sick now. He's been coming down with it for a couple days now and is quite miserable. So inevitably I will get it too. I'm trying hard to stay healthy- lots of vitamins and sleep. But I'm not going to hold my breath, I always get sick last and always stay sick the longest. Here's hoping we can at least hold off until Tuesday. I have too much to do this weekend!
Things are pretty up and down with Jack these days. We're going in for his assessment Monday and it will be interesting to see what they have to say. I'm excited to get a new plan in place and start moving forward again! Everything with the school is still relatively turbulent- still not eating, they're still not doing virtually any sensory with him during the day, and we're STILL waiting to have our next meeting. I just don't understand why no one else feels a sense of urgency in this. For Jack to start improving and moving forward we all have to be onboard. And it will be good for everyone involved! But unfortunately they're all SOOO BUSY and the meeting just isn't getting scheduled. We'll see if there's any news in Jack's notebook when he comes home today!
Although things in my life have been going relatively well since the terrible day I had on Tuesday I must say I have a very heavy heart today. One year ago today a beautiful baby girl named Hazel went home to Jesus. My heart just breaks for her parents Ryan and Angie. But I know that one day they will be reunited, just as I will be with Zoe, and live for all of eternity in Paradise...
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Yesterday...
Well yesterday was the day, the day I fell off the wagon. It was basically complete chaos all day long and I definitely wallowed in my self-inflicted pity party.
We had Jack's intake meeting with the new tutoring company and it went really well- just as I suspected. I can't wait to get his program up and running! Assessments Monday and then we're just waiting on the insurance company :)
But that was the only high point of my day. Being that we had our meeting yesterday my entire schedule was thrown off. It's funny how I focus so much on keeping things routine and the same every day for Jack's sake- in all truth it's probably more for me! I get so crabby when things aren't the way they are everyday. I get stressed out and arguably neurotic. Not good. And I'm the only one who really seems to care that the schedule's different. Most certainly one of my own issues I need to work on. Life isn't perfect, it will never be predictable, stability is a gift- but certainly not a given.
After the meeting I proceeded to inhale some incredibly unhealthy food (pretty much been eating deep fried food since we received a deep fryer for Christmas!) and tried to relax and regroup. Of course that didn't happen, Liam's starting to get a cold and was REFUSING to nap. We argued back and forth for nearly and hour and a half before I finally just gave up on nap time. In all that time I neglected to do my bible reading for the day- hence falling off the wagon. Which probably played a huge part in my overall mood.
Once Jack got home the chaos continued. Liam dumped out my full giant can of redbull (a.k.a. my lifeline) all over the table, the floor, the rug, and their new tent. He attempted to help me clean it but of course that didn't work out so well and pretty much just spread the redbull even more. I proceeded to get out our little carpet cleaner and what do you know? It no longer works. So I scrubbed. And scrubbed. UGH! Shortly after that I layed down on the couch and Jack proceeded to pee his pants- and all over the other rug! I was already way beyond my breaking point and just cried as I scrubbed the floor for a second time in a half hour. Both kids were crabby. I was crabby.
We were scheduled to go over to our Priest's house for dinner last night. Which was the absolute LAST thing I felt like doing. I grumbled and put on my best angry face the entire drive over. I am however polite enough to push my crabbiness down while in the company of others but by the time we left (nearly SIX HOURS LATER) I was well beyond my limit. It was 11 pm, way past my bedtime, and I was DONE. We drove home in silence after I snapped at Jacob about how he seriously needs to work on his ability to shut the heck up. My head was pounding. I was exhausted. So when I got home I curled up in bed and went to sleep- still not completing my bible reading for the day.
It was inevitable- eventually I'd fall off the bandwagon! I wish yesterday didn't suck so darn bad! Needless to say, I will be doubling up this afternoon and doing yesterday and today's readings at lunch... Hopefully...
We had Jack's intake meeting with the new tutoring company and it went really well- just as I suspected. I can't wait to get his program up and running! Assessments Monday and then we're just waiting on the insurance company :)
But that was the only high point of my day. Being that we had our meeting yesterday my entire schedule was thrown off. It's funny how I focus so much on keeping things routine and the same every day for Jack's sake- in all truth it's probably more for me! I get so crabby when things aren't the way they are everyday. I get stressed out and arguably neurotic. Not good. And I'm the only one who really seems to care that the schedule's different. Most certainly one of my own issues I need to work on. Life isn't perfect, it will never be predictable, stability is a gift- but certainly not a given.
After the meeting I proceeded to inhale some incredibly unhealthy food (pretty much been eating deep fried food since we received a deep fryer for Christmas!) and tried to relax and regroup. Of course that didn't happen, Liam's starting to get a cold and was REFUSING to nap. We argued back and forth for nearly and hour and a half before I finally just gave up on nap time. In all that time I neglected to do my bible reading for the day- hence falling off the wagon. Which probably played a huge part in my overall mood.
Once Jack got home the chaos continued. Liam dumped out my full giant can of redbull (a.k.a. my lifeline) all over the table, the floor, the rug, and their new tent. He attempted to help me clean it but of course that didn't work out so well and pretty much just spread the redbull even more. I proceeded to get out our little carpet cleaner and what do you know? It no longer works. So I scrubbed. And scrubbed. UGH! Shortly after that I layed down on the couch and Jack proceeded to pee his pants- and all over the other rug! I was already way beyond my breaking point and just cried as I scrubbed the floor for a second time in a half hour. Both kids were crabby. I was crabby.
We were scheduled to go over to our Priest's house for dinner last night. Which was the absolute LAST thing I felt like doing. I grumbled and put on my best angry face the entire drive over. I am however polite enough to push my crabbiness down while in the company of others but by the time we left (nearly SIX HOURS LATER) I was well beyond my limit. It was 11 pm, way past my bedtime, and I was DONE. We drove home in silence after I snapped at Jacob about how he seriously needs to work on his ability to shut the heck up. My head was pounding. I was exhausted. So when I got home I curled up in bed and went to sleep- still not completing my bible reading for the day.
It was inevitable- eventually I'd fall off the bandwagon! I wish yesterday didn't suck so darn bad! Needless to say, I will be doubling up this afternoon and doing yesterday and today's readings at lunch... Hopefully...
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