I did it!

Cut up my credit cards that is! A friend/coworker invited me to join her for week 4 of the Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University last week. That week discussed his method for "snowballing debt". I've heard great things about Dave Ramsey in the past and was excited about attending the class. Ever since then, I've been on get out of debt mode! I've learned how to make a budget and to make each month end with $0 by putting anything extra towards debt reduction.

I'm starting my emergency fund (which for my income will be $500). If nothing crazy comes up then I can have that done within 3 months. I'm planning to offer to some sewing things and crafts for sale to declutter my stash and all of that money will go towards the emergency fund so hopefully I can build it up in less time. Then after the EF is up to $500 I will start chunking money towards the debts. DR's method has you paying off the smallest debt first and then adding the min. payment of that debt to the min. payment of the second highest debt balance to pay it off quicker and so on down the line. I'm totally revved up about it and took the scissors to the plastic tonight!

I'll have to change some habits for sure. No more eating lunches out during work and no more emotional spending. I will have to learn how to cook more from scratch to stretch the grocery budget (which I am going to set a high goal for $300/month for the 5 of us including paper goods) And I'm going to sell anything that isn't being used that I can to pay down the debts.

I am hoping to be able to attend the rest of the FPU classes. I'm just waiting to hear from the coordinator. My friend Andrea is going to try to get in touch with him. I'm really excited about it.

Been neglecting

I haven't been posting much. I don't think I have anyone that really reads here, but I like to be able to go back and look at things I've posted over time. I've just been busy since Christmas. (Still need to add the last few Elf pics so we'll have them all together to look at next year)

Christmas was great. We woke up early Sunday morning to see what Santa had brought and then hit the road to SC to see the family. The kids enjoyed spending time there and then Monday morning we drove back home. I had the week off of work so it was nice to relax and enjoy some time off.

My latest projects have involved power tools and lumber. I've been building. I got the itch to build a side table for the kitchen when I couldn't find one in my (cheap) price range and it turned out great for what I had. A miter box and a hand saw and a drill. I cut all the wood with my hand saw with the exception of the top board. I did use my jig saw for that one. I had to buy treated 2x2s so I've been waiting on the wood to dry out and I'm hoping for clear weather tomorrow so I can paint. I'm staining the top board and painting everything else black to coordinate with my kitchen table. Then this week I build a skinnier and taller version of my side table to go behind my couch. It literally took about 30 minutes thanks to the nice guys at Ace cutting the 2x2s to length for me. Unfortunately it ended up being shorter than I wanted (they cut it where I asked them too but when I got it made, I decided I wanted it taller). I'm going to get some more wood cut and replace the legs with the taller ones.

I've also been upcycling stuff for the house. I used a scrap piece of wood to make a sign with our last name on it. And found a cute plate and candle holder that I painted black and glued together to make a cute stand for the kitchen.

I'll have to get off my butt and post some pics of all the things I've done when they're finished and all set up. I can't wait to show them off.

Dec. 18-22

More Patric pics. This little guy only has 2 more nights with us before he heads back to the North Pole until next Christmas season.

Dec. 18

Dec. 19

Dec. 20

Dec. 21

Dec. 22

Dec. 9-17

I've gotten behind in posting the pics of the elf's adventures so I thought I'd combine them into one post. LJ has really enjoyed looking for Patrick each morning when he wakes up. I'm going to miss this little guy after Christmas.

Dec. 9

Dec. 10

Dec. 11

Dec. 12

Dec. 13

Dec. 14

Dec. 15

Dec. 16

Dec. 17

My little brother

My little brother is all grown up. Married and now expecting his first child. Ricky and Chrissy make such a cute couple. Last weekend they asked me to snap a few pics of them and I just thought I'd share some of my favorites. The third picture was us picking on studio photographers. You know the way they always make you pose with your hand on the other person's chest and your heads leaned in touching? It was a silly picture, but it turned out cute.

Letters to Santa

Maxwell Elementary had a Breakfast with Santa last Saturday morning and LJ went. He had a great time. First he enjoyed a pancake and sausage breakfast from McDonalds. After breakfast he typed his letter to Santa and then went to get his picture made with Santa. The last thing he did was decorate a picture frame. It was a great event and I'm glad I was able to take LJ.





Everyone wrote a letter to Santa (LJ and Alyssa were there to type their own letter and I typed Trinity up one. I knew what she wanted). They had a mailbox set up at the school for everyone to put their letter to Santa in, but we decided to bring ours home so Patrick could deliver them to Santa when he flew back to the North Pole for his daily report.

Christmas fun at school

I came across a cute idea for a goody bag on Pinterest. It's a packet of hot chocolate mix, mini marshmallows, candy cane and hershey kisses. SNOWMAN SOUP. I decided to make up enough for Trinity and LJ's classes and a few for Alyssa's friends. I didn't have time to make a fancy tag, so I just printed this simple tag and attached them to the bags.




For teacher gifts this year I decided on monogrammed fleece blankets. I got a sweet email from one of the teachers this afternoon telling me how much she loved the blanket and that she was ready to get home and snuggle up under it. I'm so glad I'm able to do things like this for the special people in our lives.

All wrapped up and ready for the teachers

Mr. Cook, Mrs. Hayes, Mrs. King

Mrs. Poss, Mrs. Land, Mrs. Howard


And LJ filled out the envelopes for the cards that we attached to the bags. He usually writes butter, but I had given him a sharpie pen to write with and I think that messed him up a little.



We have truly been blessed with teachers this year for the younger two. Alyssa had Mrs. Land and Mrs. Howard last year and they're great. I know Mrs. Poss and was excited to find out she was teaching Trinity this year along with Mrs. Howard and Mrs. Land. And LJ's teachers are fantastic. I told Mrs. Hayes that the group just needed to move on up to teach 1st grade next year so LJ could have them all again.