I bought a Kindle...

I am so bad... I have been drooling over these readers for a while now and Friday I finally broke down and ordered one! It's still being shipped but I really can't wait for it to get here! I feel pretty horrible about ordering it though. It's a big purchase and we've been really tight on money lately. I talked to the hubby about it and ended up pulling money from a savings account I keep in case HE spends money that I hadn't planned on spending. Kind of a little rescue account. I'm planning on using my Swagbucks to purchase the books with so I feel a LITTLE bit better about that...but still. It's a splurg!!

picture from amazon.com

Debt Progress!

I'm slowly working towards my get-out-of-debt goal!! Yesterday, I paid off my pledge loan! There was only about $350 left on it and I usually put anywhere from $25-$50 a week towards it! I can now apply that money to other debt and make further progress!

I also called about my student loans. I've been out of school since 2005 and I was still paying interest only! AHH! I think I knew at first, but my payment has gone up since I first began paying it off and I thought that some was now going to principle. Well...I was wrong! So after talking to customer support, I'm now on a NEW payment plan that does work on the principle as well. FINALLY! It's less than $20 more a month then what I'm paying now. So I should be a proud owner of a college education in about...umm....17 years...

Yesterday was my FIRST Mother's Day

I must say, it really didn't go as expected. Little S made a fingerpainted "puff" can with flowers in it for me at daycare. It's SO cute and one of those little things that really warm your heart. I also got a card that she "signed" herself in perfect baby-playing-with-a-pen scribble.

I thought maybe I'd get to relax with my baby and go out to eat or maybe have the hubby cook for me. (He LOVES to cook and used to do it all the time) Well, hubby spent all our extra money on work clothes so we didn't have any extra to go out. That's ok... He offered to make me dinner and even thawed out the meat. Then he proceeded to putter around the house demanding when the food would be ready because he was hungry. He mowed grass while I cooked my Mother's Day dinner, cleaned baby bottles, did laundry and cleaned the kitchen. This too is ok... I'm taking care of my family and that's my job. My family makes me happy even if they also make me tired!

It was a less than glamerous first Mother's Day but I'm still super grateful for what I have and really love being a Mommy! There's nothing better in the world!

Health Updates

This has been a really rough couple weeks on me. I have now been sick 11 days straight. UGH! I take the last of my antibiotics today. I went to the doctor last week for the antibiotics. Early this week, I threw my back out coughing and have been to the chiropractor twice this week. I am going back to the doctor today for a physical check up and see if she can address my coughing issues as well. I'm really hoping that it's not turning into pneumonia.

Yesterday I also took Little S to the pediatrician for her 9 month checkup! I just doesn't seem possible that she's almost a year old! She weighed in at 17 lbs 2 oz and 27 inches long. She is healthy and well! She is still being stubborn about crawling and pulling herself up. It's like she has no interest at all. I guess she'll get it when she's ready. I'm not worried about it....and she gets the stubbornness honest!

I really hope I feel better soon!

Making a plan...

I am realizing more everyday how close our budget really is. (I use the term "budget" loosely as I really don't maintain one at this time...when the money is gone, it's gone.) I have been looking for a good way to view my accounts and set up a really good budget that maybe we can follow - and initially see where we are just spending TOOOO much! My "little" goal for this month is to get a good budgeting system started and then develop it further over the next few months. I want to see where exactly we are leaking our "extra" money. Debt progress needs to be made! I'm all for giving up some things now for later comfort!

Learning to FLY!

As of yesterday, I started to learn to FLY! What is this?? Finally Loving Yourself! I found this wonderful website http://www.flylady.net/ and I think this will help me reach my goals! Flylady starts you with 31 baby steps and it all starts with shining your sink. It's Flylady's way of giving you positive reinforcment. When you wake up, your shining sink it there to make you smile. I think this program will really do me some good if I continue to follow it. As of today, my sink is still super clean from last night (it's a white sink so hard to really "shine") and I got ready for work this morning that included shoes. :) I've never been so proud of my sink!

Wearing good shoes is another big part of the program and today's job was to get completely dressed included lace up shoes!


photo from flylady.net website

Major goals!

I feel that I've been blog neglecting...I do have an excuse!! I'm now on my 9th day of this blessed illness. Sinus infection, coughing, BLAH!! Luckily, the rest of my family hasn't came down with it too. May not be the best excuse but it's an excuse none the less!

On to new things!

I believe I'm going thru a new phase! I don't know it it will last but I hope it does! Since starting to cloth diaper Little S, my mind has began to open to a lot of new ideas. I've already posted on how being part of the cloth diapering online community has opened me up to whole new online areas that I had never explored before! Now, I'm seeing more and more how my personal life needs work. My house, my body, my mind and soul....my wallet! LOL! I've started a new goal list. These are broad goals but I have to start somewhere. I will them break these goals up into pieces I can handle and move forward with them.

My BIG goal list:


1. Get out of debt (specifically credit cards - the cars will follow)


2. Lose 60 lbs


3. Make my house "company ready" at any given time.


4. Develop a home management system


5. Find more ways to go green and save money!


6. Find time for myself and my hubby...it's easy to get lost in the "mommy" world


Now I know these are very BIG goals and none of them are going to happen over night. I also think it's hard to concentrate on them all at the same time. In the past, I've only been able to concentrate on one big thing at a time and all others fall apart. I need structure (home management) but not so much that I can't have fun with my family. Family and God must remain my top priority.

That said, I think one of my greatest barriers in this adventure is my hubby. :) God bless him! He is one of the messiest people I know who thinks that he's not. He spends money like crazy! (Just because it's on sale, doesn't mean we NEED it!) He's also in no way "green" although he's doing well with cloth diapering now.

Some things that are going to help (I hope!) and progress I've recently made:


1. Hubby just switched to dayshift at work so we should be spending more time together!


2. Made a list of my debts and am going to apply the Dave Ramsey "Snowball" method


3. Of course, I cloth diaper my baby but I've also just started using cloth wipes and just ordered my first "mama cloth" to try and am considering making my own "family cloth" even if I'm the only one using it now. I'm trying to evaluate what items are disposable in my world and try to replace them with something reusable.


4. I'm trying to meal plan! This will hopefully help diet and the grocery budget!


5. Yesterday was Day 1 for me following flylady.net - My sink is clean!


I have a lot of work to do...but I hope to break up my adventures into bits that I can blog about to encourage myself and maybe someone else too!