Murphy's Law

So David Ramsey mentioned that when you are starting to save money that Murphy comes knocking. He says that if you have money saved, Murphy goes right on by. Well, we are very much in the starting point so of course, Murphy is going to come visit. Today Michael went out with Allisyn to run to the store. I was working on my stuff. For those of you who don't know, I am doing an at home Medical Transcriptionsit program, I'll address that a little more later. So I was working away and didn't notice that I hadn't heard the dogs. They like to talk to all the other dogs in our neighborhood.



Well Michael came home with a sleeping Alli. She has been resisting her nap for mom lately and takes LATE naps for dad. Not a good thing for our night schedule. Anyway, he noticed that our fence had blown down. That is right, our fence blew down. Two panels and a post. Our dogs had of course taken advantage and took off to explore the neighborhood. Michael dropped Alli off, and then took off in the truck to find them. Our wonderful friends and neighbors, Brian and Kim, had noticed and had stopped by to tell us. Luckily I was outside and they did not have to get out. Right at that time Michael let me know that he had them. They had almost made into the next neighborhood! We have been really bad dog owners lately, and our dogs are not wearing collars. Shame on us. Max, our cocker spaniel, is microchipped, but we haven't updated his info for it. Again, bad us. Our lab has no microchip, but we are fairly certain that they would not take off from each other. Praise the Lord, they are home safely and that we did not have to call the shelters to try to find them. We are lucky enough to have a small fenced in area inside our yard so we can still let them out without having to worry. I don't know how I would walk them both with Allisyn!



My Medical Transcription program was started to give me something to do that was mentally stimulating, and to help give me something to work towards to be able to work at home when I am done. It is taking a little longer to get through than the school advertises. Which seems to be the normal for most of the students. I can do some of the work with Allisyn alone, but mostly I need Michael to be home to watch Allisyn. It is hard to listen to a dictation and pay close attention to Alli. It can be a little stressful at the times when I am trying to work, and Allisyn thinks she needs mom. Michael often just tries to give up and let her come bug me. It often ends up in some snapping at each other, but we are really trying to work on it.



Other things we are working on, THE BUDGET. The first go at it, was very scary and had me in tears, but it will get there! Thank you, Jessica, for your encouragement! It really means a lot. One thing, that has really overwhelmed me is that the reccomendation for transportation is 10-15% of your budget. Ours is a pitiful 23.8%. If anyone knows anyone in the market for a used 2004 4-Runner with under 36500 miles on it, let us know. Well, it is getting close to Allisyn's bedtime, and I am sure it is going to be a battle thanks to the late nap.

Overwhelmed

After tonight's FPU, this is how I feel. I almost cried on the way home. I mean, we sort of have a budget, but the idea of sitting down and figuring out where every single penny is going to go almost threw me into an attack of some sort. It is feeling that I cannot seem to shake either. Yuck, I am not looking forward to this at all. I know we need to it, and I know why we need to do it, but I just don't want to go into that much detail about how much we really owe on stuff.

Tonight we had to write down the amount of all our debt not counting our house on a note card. I wanted to cry when we wrote that down. It is not pretty. Granted the biggest chunk of that is Michael's student loan, but it is still a HUGE number and it scares me. I don't really know why either. We have never defaulted on any payments or anything, we live comfortably and are not overstretched, but the amount of our debt, really freaks me out.

Just had to get that out. I feel a little better now. Now if OSU can keep their lead in the B-ball game, then that would just rock!

I did it!

This is one of Allisyn's new phrases! She kept telling my brother "I did it," earlier when they were playing with some of her toys. It was really cute. Even when he did "it", she still claimed that it was her! My brother came by because we forgot his Christmas present here on Saturday when we went to go see them. Aren't we just wonderful? And yes, I meant Christmas present, it was something special he wanted that I had to order online and they just delivered it last week. Allisyn really enjoyed the box, but I am glad it is gone. She kept trying to pack it around, and it was not a good size for her to attempting such a task.

As I mentioned, Saturday we drove up to Stillwater to see my brother and sister-in-law. We ate at Eskimo Joe's, because Michael had never eaten there and wanted to try it out. It was pretty good, and I got some cheese fries!! Yumm! We had a really nice visit with them and Allisyn enjoyed spending time with them as always! She slept on the way up there, and we were pretty sure she would nap on they way back, but she lasted until we got into Edmond and the passed out. She woke up when we got home, so there was no nap for mom and dad.

We have continued our trend in making dinner! We are up to 6 days. Well, we made lunch yesterday and kind of forgot all about dinner. We were going to go to church, but Allisyn wasn't in a great mood so we knew it would be best not to take her. Michael left and went and played some basketball, and luckily she and I got along fine. She was all about Dad yesterday afternoon so I was a little apprehensive. I was catching up on some recorded shows. I have one left until I really feel the effects of the writer's strike. Anyway, she was sitting in my lap and looking at a book. Then she got down and got right back up. I was so absorbed in my show since she was in my lap. I mean really, how much trouble can she get in when she is sitting in my lap and looking at a book right? Well, I failed to notice she had gotten a crayon and was coloring in her book. Luckily it was a cheap book that she had gotten in her Halloween bucket, but still. It was not one of my finer parenting moments.

Then this morning she was going to hand me my glasses and broke them. They are still wearable, but one of my ear pieces is just barely hanging on. Hopefully they can hang on a while longer. Tonight is night 3 of FPU and Michael has been whining because he has had to turn down free dinner at Mickey Mantels and free tickets to the OSU/OU game. Well, Allisyn has her coat halfway on and is trying to convince me that we are going somewhere, and I must go convince her that we are not. Fun times.

A much needed MNO

Last night I got out for a much needed Mom's Night Out. Nine moms from my online mom's group got together at Starbucks. We got there about 730 and didn't leave until a little after 10! We just last track of time talking. It was nice to get out and relax. Allisyn gave her daddy a bit of a rough time and didn't go to sleep for him very easy. She was out by the time I got home though.

The past two days have been pretty good. Allisyn is saying more and more. Yesterday she told her daddy. "Cows go mooo." It was so precious! Right now she is pulling around her train all over the living room. It is cute. We are also watching the Goonies! It has been forever since I have seen it. It really cracks me up.

We have made it to 4 nights with making our own dinner! Go us!! It has all been pretty good too! Michael was supposed to get another check from William's today. A week's worth of vacation pay plus 2 hours they owed him that they left off his last check. Of course they conveniently forgot to cut his check this week and it will be there next week. Luckily we were not expecting to begin with so we aren't going to be hurting without it. Still it is very frustrating to know you are supposed to get a check and they don't follow through.

I forgot to mention another wonderful family event in my last post, but the 23rd also marked the 1 yr anniversary that my Aunt Lea and her family brought home their 2 beautiful boys from Russia. I can't believe it has been a year. We do not get to see them as often as we would like, but it is great to watch them grow!

Tomorrow we are heading up to Stillwater to see my brother and sister-in-law. They always stop by and see us, but we do not get up to see them very often. So it will be nice to go and see them for a change.

Aren't children so funny with their resilience. Allisyn just comes through running the living room, wipes out, cries for a second, daddy helps her up and she takes off again! I am cracking up over something I totally should not be laughing at. She was playing with my purse just fine on her own and Michael tries to get her to play with him. She was NOT wanting to do that, so she whacks him with my purse a couple of times! I know I should not laugh at that kind of behavior, but it was soooo funny.

Now she is happy with her daddy again and they are trying to find something to eat. They ended up with some ice. Well, I know that this has been really random so I will wrap it up because I am not any kind of focused today.

One of THOSE days.

It started off ok. Allisyn woke up in a good mood giving out hugs and kisses. She got to talk to Pap-paw on the phone before she even had to get out of bed. What a great way to start the day, right? I was able to get dressed and got her partially dressed (BIG mistake). I decided to leave her pants off and her onsie undone because I knew I was going to have to change her diaper before we left for my Bible study. Well I was in the bathroom with my glasses off and cleanser on my face and in she walks with her POOPY DIAPER!!! She had taken it off, and brought it to me. Not after getting poop all over the carpet and peeing on the floor twice. I wanted to scream. I manage to refrain while blindly cleaning up the carpet and Allisyn.

I finished washing my face and finished getting her dressed and we were off. Well, not before she turned the dogs loose in the living room before I could let them outside, but that was only a minor problem. Then about half way to the church, Alli sneezes. The kind of sneeze that requires a nose wiping. Sooo, here I was praying for a red light, and none came. She was finally able to wipe her own nose just in time to prevent the snot from going into her mouth. Finally I was able to pull into Sonic and wipe her nose. Of course she just thought she had to have a juice while we were there, so we got her an apple juice. She drank it until we got to the church and we left it in the car for later. I got my Dr Pepper and things were good for an hour while she was in the care of others.

Then back out and about. I somehow missed out on lunch, so we stopped at Chick-Fil-A, but on the way, she managed to put a whole in her apple juice cup and while I picked it up, I made trail all over the car. Just wonderful. Then at Chick-Fil-A I had to wait on our order as the 10 people who ordered behind me, got their food. At least 4 of them, ordered the same thing I did. What is up with that??? I am holding a 30lb child waiting on my food, WHY do I have to wait? So we finally got our food and she did pretty good at the restaurant until we were getting ready to leave and she wanted down. Then she threw a fit when I said no.

Then I had to drop some stuff off at a friend's and she fell asleep on the way! YAY! Only to wake up as soon as we got home. BOOO! No nap for mom today. Luckily she was in a good mood for the rest of the afternoon until dad got home.

We have set a record! We have cooked full meals two evenings in row! WooHoo!! How sad is that? But they have been good meals and we are excited about getting back into the groove of cooking. Last night Michael started some chicken tetrazini and I had to step in and take over to save it. It really came out good. His best friend came over to try to help with some stuff so he had dinner with us. There was not much left! Tonight we had tacos! Good stuff.

Some congratulations to some friends are in order. Some friends, of ours from church, JC and Courtney, had their beautiful baby boy yesterday!! Also taking place yesterday my friend, Kristen and her family, completed their adoption of their little girl! It was a good day for families yesterday!

Well after today I am ready for it to come to an end and I am off to bed! Actually my little girl just came to get me!

A loong day

We started out today at 630 am. UGH! I am NOT a morning person. I really don't do well when we wake up before Playhouse Disney comes on. For the first part of the morning Alli was cranky and irritable. It was one of those days you wish you could wiggle your nose and start the day all over again. Finally she got in a little better mood, but was still pretty moody. She finally went down for a nap about 230. Then when we got her up to get ready for Monday Night for the Master and our Financial Peace University, she just was not having it. So she and daddy and stayed home. I am hoping tomorrow goes better or else I might go a little crazy.

FPU was interesting tonight. He was talking about how men and women different in money matters. I have to say that I am very blessed to have a pretty responsible husband husband. Well, as I was typing that up he just started talking about buying a bigger projector and screen for down here. UMMMM, we don't even have this one close to being payed off. So usually, he is pretty responsible. And I can happily say that we are not like the majority of the population and we have very rarely had disagreements about our money management and I cannot recall any actual fighting over it.

He was also talking about how one person is a nerd and one person is a free spirit. I wish one of us had a bit more nerd in us. I have some in me, in that I like to have things down on paper and organized, but the follow through is just not there. Let's take our Home Depot account. It is the 12 months no interest plan. It is not due until June. We have just now started paying it back. I had it all planned to make a big payment on it, multiple times, but we just kept putting it off. I know that we will get it paid off in time, but I had better follow through, or more nerd in me, it would be farther along by now. Anyway, we are working on it and hopefully I can step it up and be more of a nerd.

I have to mention this because it has been on my mind all day. Today should have been my parents 30+ (1 or 2) wedding anniversary. I know it is sad that I don't know for sure, but they were on again and off again so much we did not hold much to them. Anyway today they seem to be having this competition about who can hold out the longest before talking to a divorce lawyer. I have told my dad many times that I am looking at how they did things with their marriage, and I am going to the opposite with mine. One of the major things, money management. I am excited to learn about Dave's tips for raising up children who are money smart. I want to be able to give that to my kids.

I am also trying to come up with ways to help boost our savings. The only thing I can really think of is to try to do more massages, but I'm too sure how well that will work out. We shall see. I did have one on Saturday that went really well! It was nice to actually bring in some $. I haven't done that in a looooong time. One thing we are supposed to do this week is to find accountability partners. People we can call when we are about to do something not smart to our budget. People to say, "don't be stupid, you don't need that." Soooo, I'm asking Dustin and Rachel (my brother and SIL) to be our peoples. They are pretty smart with their money and I think, between the 2 of them, they would be able to keep us in line.

Well my Alli-bug and my wonderful husband are putting the sheets back on the bed. They HAD to get washed today thanks to a little girl squatting and peeing all over my side of the bed. Thanks Allisyn. I think they are just about done and will be wanting mom to come to bed soon. We have so not been doing anything at all to try to get Allisyn in her own bed lately. NOT good, but hopefully soon.

A BOY PLEASE!!

So I have been really good at not caring what the gender of this baby is. I mean, yes we would like a boy, but a girl would be nice because we have so much stuff. BUT, I am now really really hoping for a boy. Why the sudden change of heart? Because I do not think I can take 2 little princesses packing my purse and shoes around the house or always having to put on "makeup" when I am getting ready, or having an obsession with my clothes. This morning it took us 5 minutes to find my shoes for church. Allisyn likes to wear them around the house. She is actually getting pretty good at it. Luckily they are just flats. I have to keep the heels out of reach or I am sure, with her inherited grace and coordination, we could have some serious injuries. I'm just not sure I could be patient enough for two girls. Not to mention the amount of effort it takes to get a little girl ready with her hair and everything. Of course, if we do end up having another princess, I will learn how to cope, but I'm really hoping for a boy.

We got a Life Group at church today! Well, we had on assigned to us and then I lost the contact information and so we didn't know for sure which one we were in. So some guys from our class were like, "Come join our Life Group." So we did. It was nice not having to come home and find something for lunch, and we got to fellowship with some great people. Allisyn actually did pretty good, other than the usual attempts at making the table her chair and all the fun stuff. Her white shirt is still more white than orange, which is a small miracle considering we had lasagna. We were hoping she would fall asleep on the way home for a nap, but no. She is still going strong.

So last night we went out for a little while to one a friend of Michael's who was turning 30. I have often told Michael that it is a good thing that I fell in love with him before I met his friends, or else things might have played out differently. I have come to like spending time with some of his friends more and more over the past few years, but we are still so different. For starters, we are the only ones with a child. They don't always think about that when they call us up, wanting us to do something. They also don't understand why we just don't "drop her off" somewhere and come out anyway. Ummmm, because our daughter comes first.

Anyway, so we went over for a little bit last night and they had rock band set up. I think I mentioned my first encounter with this game on New Year's Eve. Let's just say I am not good. I attempted singing a bit last night, but it kept telling me I was messy. At least I was never the first one to fail out. They kept saying their was something wrong with the calibrating or something, but I have no clue. I did tell Michael that we should probably never get one because I would become addicted. I would hook Alli up with the drum or guitar, which ever one I was not trying to master, and we would rock out. It is a good thing we do not have a gaming system of any kind. This means we are way less likely of getting one.

Well, I am supposed to helping Michael come up with our weekly menu, and instead, I am blogging. We are trying to come up with a menu so we can buy only what we need instead of impulse shopping. We are hoping this will help with out budget. We sat down yesterday and came up with our quick budget for FPU and boy do we need help!