Monday, March 23, 2009

Lots and Lots of Thoughts

  1. My son has totally hijacked my computer, and my husband usually works at home 4 days a week lately which means I am left offline. Even when my son is not on my computer I can not get on the computer because he just whines that he wants to use the computer. I only have time for bills and budgets, and photo posts. So all my random thoughts for the couple of weeks are all going to be in one post.
  2. My son has decided he does not need naps. This is sort of true, if we were more timely family and I could get him in bed by 7:30 he would not need a nap. He is sort of out growing his naps, but since most nights two parents are trying to wrestle one three year old in bed around 9ish, he needs naps most days, but not everyday. Without the naps he screams and cries more than he ever has in his life. He tells me its day, big boys don't sleep at day. I am sick of the crying, so he is TAKING naps, even if the nap consists of only crying in his room.
  3. My daughter almost always fusses when the heater turns on, I guess she doesn't like the change in the pressure.
  4. I hate when people speed down my street.
  5. I am in the process of de junking the toy piles, it is a very difficult task for me.
  6. My son took his first shower by himself on saturday. He needed to be cleaned before date night, and he didn't see the purpose of that before dinner, so I conned him with a shower. He had a lot of showers with dad while the bathroom was under construction.
  7. So far I am meeting my goal of date night with my husband once a month, this month we wandered around Barnes and Nobles then picked up snacks at the grocery store, and ate them in a park. Where phantom ghost children showed up to play on the playground (9:30 at night??!)
  8. In one of my parenting/children's magazines there was in article about money. It had a picture of a piggy bank with the caption, if you are skimping on savings to take a vacation you can't afford it? That picture is haunting me. I mentioned that to my mom, she said visiting family is not vacation. Or something to that effect, I'm sure I'm misquoting her, and she feels misrepresented because that is how everyone reacts to me quoting them. If visiting family is not vacation, I have not been on vacation in four years. Not to mention my husband and I have lots of relatives and loved ones we would like to go see, we can not go see them all, we can not afford it. I am trying to decided what the most important places are to go to this year, and try to figure out how to afford them, while trying to get into a house, saving for my husband's MBA, and saving for a rainy day. As it is, I haven't even been on vacation to visit family for 16 months. Its TOO long, I need a vacation.
  9. The article also said if you aren't saving 10% of your income you are living beyond your means. My husband also happened to read it. We have discussed it in depth. We aren't saving 10%, I hope he doesn't mind I said that. I wish we were, I wish we were saving more. He said I know we are living beyond our means, that is why we have to move. But I didn't realize that when we moved in. I won't be saving 10% for a long time, there is no way we can send my husband to get a masters and save 10%. Most financial thoughts plan on people getting car loans, student loans, other loans, and plus you save 10%. We have done it a different way, we save to get cars, then we get them without a loan, we save to go to school, then pray and pay our tithing, and hope we don't need a student loan. Which means our savings is not where we would like it to be. But our debt rate is perfect! I don't know if we have made the right choices, but yet we try and they are the choices we have decided to make. Not to mention, we had children before turning 30, and will probably have at least 3 by 30, so that also messes up the conventional planning.
  10. I understand the phrase that says, "interest never sleep, it never takes a day off, it never goes on vacation", so much better when I put it into a physical sense. My laundry never sleeps, it accrues while I'm sleeping, it doesn't take Saturdays or Sundays off, usually collects quicker those days, I have no vacation from laundry with two little ones. I think it might be impossible to have everything folded and washed at the same time. The thought of a vacation scares me, the laundry is a beast I can not tame especially when we are out of the house. By the time we get home from three hours of church, three out of the four, if not all four family members, need new clean dry outfits to put on, we have at least one if not two blankets covered in spit up, and 4 dirty birp clothes.
  11. The primary song Saturday is a special day its the day we get ready for sunday has new meaning after becoming a mom of two. I usually spent all of saturday, getting the laundry, dishes, children, house, all clean for sunday, and getting the church bags packed. This Saturday while my husband was helping someone move I thought, why don't I get a fun day, were is my day off? I want one day a week for all day fun, then I remembered the purpose of this life is not to have fun none stopped. I repented and stopped complaining, and went about having my special saturday to get ready for sunday.
  12. The other day, I saw a poll, would you rather have more money, or more sleep? I asked my husband, he of course over analyzed it to the point, I said forget it, I didn't mentioned it. Then he saw the poll, he said oh I really did over analyzed it didn't I. I would rather have less bills. The more money you have the more bills you have. I thought about it for a second and thought ain't that the truth. LESS BILLS!! Maybe that should be my new campaign.
  13. Food Storage?!? Older people in church keep saying, we have been promised if we prepare we need not fear. Who are they joking? The more I prepare the less prepared I realized I am. Not to mention, you can do food storage all at once, the prophets have counseled us not to go into debt for food storage. So I do as much as I can, with as little as I have. And slowly realize with each little step I go, I see five huge ones in front of me. My next purchase item would be some shortening. Plus water, can we really ever have enough water? We have some, but I never think its enough.
  14. Back to these previously mentioned people, I keep hearing in church, if we are prepared we need not fear. I could be imagining it, but I swear it is said with smugness, with the underlining meaning of I'm prepared. I think how in the world can you think you are prepared? You really have a year plus food, and three months of water for everyone in your houses? You know how to cook with all of it? Brent and I was talking to a man yesterday, with this attitude. Brent said yeah, we are starting to eat wheat a few mornings, to get use to it. The man said, as long as you are eating other things too you don't need to worry about it making you sick. Really?! I have you tested this theory? What are you going to mix it with? Hard beans? Yeah, then you will really be sick.
  15. Here is my take on not being afraid. I really have a hard time believing anyone can be 100% prepared. But I think the more you prepare the closer you come to your Savior, the more you realize you will never be prepared, but you were never asked to be perfect, you were just ask to try to be perfect. The more you try to be perfect, by putting things in moderation the more you understand the Atonement, and the less you fear, because the more you know the Lord is in control.
  16. I have been cooking my family dinner most nights a week lately. I LOVE it! Its so satisfying, and I don't mean physically. Although it has been tasty. I love that I am taking care of my family, even if my three year old, always says, no dinner, just lunch, I need nachos for lunch. No you already ate nachos for lunch, its time for dinner. Eat 5 pieces off your plate. I dream of having a kid that loves to eat, although not likely knowing me and my husband. Anyway back to the cooking, I love spending less money at the grocery store, and actually cooking dinner. I love that we have something to eat, and that we all sit down and eat and have family time. I love not feeling total despair at 6:30, and not feeling guilty doing frozen foods on the CRAZY days.
  17. I just finished off my first bag of onions. I have never cooked with real onions before, I always just used onion flakes.
  18. I love holidays with a three year, they are all getting to be so FUN.
  19. There is something special about having a newborn, relief being one of the chief feelings. But I love once they turn three months and can play and interact. I now know I wasn't a lazy mom the first three months of my son's life, it just that newborns are boring. Luckily my babies like to grow up fast the first couple of months. I love when I see my daughter grabbing things to put in her mouth! I get so excited, and my husband just looks at me like I'm crazy.
  20. With all this said, I LOVE MY LIFE. And I have spent way too much time posting, I got to be a mom again.

2 comments:

  1. I really enjoyed this. I have always counted family visits (weddings, holidays, etc) as "vacations" b/c we spend money and leave home but I would LOVE a "real" vacation.

    I know what you mean about the debt thing. We do save 10% (thanks to a military version of a 401K) and have an "emergency fund" but we will soon live off that fund and it is so stressful. I have always said money is the root of all frustration.

    And I technically have my year supply. We have what they tell you to have but like you said the more I have the more I feel unprepared. I know that if I solely had to survive off of what I have I would be so unprepared.

    nap times have become "fun" around here too... thanks for giving me something fun to read and think about while I have contractions over here

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  2. When I feel bad about food storage, I store some more water. It's cheap, you can't do anything without water, and where we live, a hurricane that knocks out the clean water for three days is not an idle threat.

    Shortening (and oil) goes rancid quickly, so watch out. I wasted some money that way a few years back.

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