What is it about being sick...

that men seem to think that everything is 6 million times worse for them?

Sometimes I just want to say:   Get OUT!   I'll just do everything myself.  


Maybe it's just mine.   They don't all seem to be that bad.  

2013

I typically do a new year's resolution post - I didn't get to do one this year yet.

Here is what I wanted to do on January 1, 2012:

1. Pay down the credit cards under $1000.00. Seriously. That is my biggest goal this year. I want to follow the principles of Dave Ramsey and the "Snowball" debt pay off theory. Pay the minimum on the rest and pay off the one that is the smallest (I think -- I'd have to review) and the take that payment and apply it to the next one until it's gone. Etc. 
2. I don't know if I will try to save anything this year or not -- I'm really going for the payoffs of our major debts this year. Credit cards are the worst, followed by the dang Saturn. 
3. Lose 15 - 20 lbs -- I'd like to get back to under 200 lbs. 
4. Finish all the construction projects in the house and move the two boys into one room late this year. Max will have to be sleeping through the night for this to work in my mind. So, I'm hoping in the fall, we will be able to do this and move to the bedroom downstairs. 
5. Get Ryan to use the regular toilet and get him out of diapers.

What did I accomplish?   Did not pay off the credit cards, not even a little - in fact, with poor money management, things got worse.   But, we survived.   #1 and #2 - not even a little

#3 - Well, I did lost 5 pounds right at the end of the year.   However, I gained 20 before that.   So, not even a little there, either.

#4 - they are in the same room, but construction projects are still moving around.   So, half done!

#5 - He uses the potty LIKE A BOSS

Potty training was huge to me, so that's a major accomplishment in my book, especially when it was done with a newborn in the house.


My major To-Do list for 2013:

1. Pick a way to budget and start to do it and HOPEFULLY, get off the using the credit card cycle.
2. Save an emergency fund that has 3 months of bills
3. Get back to 200 pounds by May 13 (Ryan's 4th Birthday) and back to 175 by December 20 (Max's 2nd Birthday) - I'm not totally sure of how realistic this is, but I am sure going to try.
4. Finish getting rid of all the miscellaneous stuff in the house
5. Start potty training Maxer - I'm not totally certain of this one, but it's worth a shot


There are other minor things that I would like to get done this year - finish all the weird miscellaneous projects in the house, get Max into the lower bunk and Ryan into the top bunk.   We really need to pull the drywall off of the bedroom and take a look at the roof - I think there is more leaking when it rains than we know about.



Starting resolution #1:

I have actually started this one already.   While looking through my Pinterest feed, I found a pin that someone had of a blog about budgeting for a family with an income of less than $30k a year.  I was reading and loving the advice.   Some how, I managed to stumble upon another blog at a website called YouNeedABudget.com, code name: Y-NAB.

I am currently in the middle of the trial for the software and am LOVING it.   It teaches you to budget the money you actually have.   This really works for me, because while my paychecks are fairly consistent, Jake's can be all over the place and I never know exactly how much we will have any given month.   Where YNAB tries to lead you to is to live in the current month on the money you made in the previous month.   Genius!   Maybe I'm just not that good with my own personal money, but I never had thought of anything like that before.   BTW, I'm not being paid for my endorsement or anything.   LOL

I just have struggled and struggled and struggled for a way for me to track what we are spending and why we never seem to be able to get ahead of the game at all - and this seems like the magic fix to me.   Well, "Magic".   I mean, we still have to plan and save and make sure that we aren't going hog wild, but I would really, really, REALLY like to get to the end of the year with no credit card debt and possible no car payments.   It's totally within the realm of possibilities, if we try and stay focused.

Happy New Year!

My Christmas Vacation

You probably wouldn't be able to tell from my Facebooking (or maybe you can), I have been on vacation for the past two weeks - today is January 4, 2013.   The last time I was at work was Friday, December 21, 2012 at 12:30 pm.   Hey, at least the world didn't end.   And, did I just use Facebook as a verb?

Anyway, my daycare was also on Christmas Vacation during this same time, which is why I take it off most of the time.  Unless you ask a particular co-worker I have, and then I just take the time off so she can't have it off.   Never mind that I don't really have alternate baby sitting and if my husband doesn't work, he don't get paid.   But, I digress.

Dec 22-Dec 30 were family filled. Besides what amounted to three Christmases, there was Max's First Birthday party on the 29th and both boys got baptized on Dec 30th.  It was BUSY BUSY BUSY.

I was supposed to be home alone the past three days - Wed was fine - did a lot of shopping and actually got my Lexus to pass the emissions inspection!   (that is a WHOLE other story); Yesterday, I just felt off.   Did a few things around the house, but not much.   Then, the Maxer struck.

He went to bed at 6:15 after complaining for 15 minutes about going to bed.   This was unusual.   About 10pm, he woke up and was crying that heartbreaking crying - the "there is something wrong with me" crying - kind of high pitched and very whiny.   When I went to get him - burning up.   So, I've been home with the boys today - good thing that I was already off anyway.   Poor kid.   At this moment, I can't decide if this is the flu or a shot reaction.   I'm thinking shot reaction, but who knows.

So, thus ends my Christmas Vacation.


And, as always, I need a vacation from the vacation.   I had big plans to get lots of things done - essentially, I kept the house from becoming a disaster and that was about it.  Small victories.

Thoughts on Super Mario

This happened a while back, but it's still funny.

"Ryan, what do you think is wrong with Bowser?   Do you think his butt is itchy?"

It was EPIC

Maxer had an epic meltdown last night - it was of newborn proportions.  

I'm not sure what the heck happened.   I was just straightening Max out, something that I do almost every night, and he woke up and COULD NOT GO BACK TO SLEEP.   He SOBBED.   To the point where he was hyperventilating and was waking himself up with his hitching breathing and sobbing more.   Finally, I took him upstairs so Ryan could sleep and he eventually passed out - with some help from Bon Iver and "Holocene".   I love Bon Iver.   He was quiet for a while and then he started again - this time, I gave him tylenol and rocked him and he passed out at 11pm - and slept until I woke him up.

He was a beast at daycare today.


He is my fussy, fussy pig.   He's just very particular!   He really has very specific likes and dislikes and he's not too shy about letting you know what they are.  

He's really been a lesson in rolling with the punches.  

Biometric Screening

So, for 2013, my job is switching insurance carriers and we have to have these measurements taken so they can help us be healthier.

Jake had to go to his own doctor, whereas I got to have it done at work.

Me:   So, what was your blood pressure?

I hope that if you know Jake AT ALL, you can hear him saying this in his "yeah, baby" voice:

Jake:   138/80!

After consulting the Mayo Clinic's website:

Me:   That's pre-hypertension range.

Jake:  Oh.   Is that why he told me to get some exercise?

Starting Over

You may be aware that I have been blogging for years now - but, it was mostly in that "Dear Diary" format - like this is what I did today and this is how I felt about it.   

When I had Little Boy #1, I blogged the crap out of that pregnancy....and then sort of was in and out of the blog 'verse.   When I was pregnant again, with what turned out to be Little Boy #2, I really didn't do a whole lot.   Problem with his is this: we thought he was a girl until he was born.   So, most of the blog is centered around my thoughts and hopes and fears and dreams of my daughter Lily.   Big deal?   Not really, but it was sort of hard to keep going when the universe had just done a 180 on me. 

Is it worth starting over?   In my mind, yes.   I would like a place where I do more than just talk about the day to day minutiae - I mean, as must fun as complaining about my crazy family or my crazy co-workers is, there certainly must be more to the earth than that. 

So, where to begin?   I have lots of thoughts, but it's always the organization of all of them that gets me. I mean, who doesn't like a good stream of consciousness post, but that can't happen every day.  Is this an effort for me to make money?  I don't think so.   Mostly, I love to post about the boys and my life, etc. etc., but Facebook is really starting to irritate me.   Would everyone come to a blog, rather than Facebook?   Just for me?  Maybe not. 

I suppose in the next few days, I will organize myself.   And I know for a fact that I'm going to take a page from the book of a real-life/interweb friend and start posting some of the more ridiculous/hilarious things that my husband says.   Might call it:  Things that Jake said.   Maybe it's not as funny to you, but the non-sequitors are hilarious to me!  

In any case, look in the coming days for a little more info, a little more organization.   Maybe some random musings from Jake.   If I can stop laughing to write them down.