Last week we got a lot of snow. Like a lot of snow, like 20 inches a lot of snow. School was cancelled for three days, then the kids had a late start on Thursday, and then on Friday because we got two more inches and another late start.
My oldest was relieved school was cancelled, at that point we really knew he had too much on his schedule. This child has never been excited about school being cancelled. Two days into it we realized why he had a research paper due on Monday that he was STILL working on. He finally finished it Wednesday. At this point Brent completely agreed, something has got to change. So we decided we would finally talk to the Gifted Education Teacher.
We also discussed with our 4th grader that he had just too much on his plate and in the future it would not continue that way. We talked about how we all have to pick and choose what we have time for and we don't always have time to do the things we love to do. He cried quite a bit, I think my husband wanted him to pick an activity to drop, but I told the 4th grader he didn't have to drop anything but in the future we wouldn't be signed up for so much. (Chess club will be over in two weeks so that will help.)
To be continued....
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Monday, February 8, 2016
Another Blog?!
You might have noticed I started another blog.
Here is the link
I felt drawn to it. I've been trying to up my religious studies, and it seemed like a logical progression. I go into more depth on why here.
Clearly I'm not taking all religion out of Hapilly Ever After, but I needed a place to go more indepth.
I don't expect anyone to read it, I'd just rather type than use a paper journal.
Here is the link
I felt drawn to it. I've been trying to up my religious studies, and it seemed like a logical progression. I go into more depth on why here.
Clearly I'm not taking all religion out of Hapilly Ever After, but I needed a place to go more indepth.
I don't expect anyone to read it, I'd just rather type than use a paper journal.
Mondays Suck
I've decided Mondays suck, and I don't think its because its the start of the week. I think its because I'm exhausted.
I really quite enjoy going to church. When we have a sick we practically draw straws to see who HAS to stay home with the sick kid.
I like church. I go to church, and I think ok, I can handle another week. I can do this for 7 more days. The Lord loves me, I'm a child of God. I have value and worth, and the Lord is pleased with my effort even if I fall short everyday. Hooray I can do this!
Then Monday happens, Satan hates me hearing that stuff. I swear everything goes wrong Monday mornings, I come home from church with such optimism and hope, and by Monday at naptime, I feel like I've been through hell. All day the world seems to tell me I'm not good enough, I'll never measure up, and overall you suck. I'm now finally getting smart enough to realize those two messages are complete opposites, and that message is not coming from the Lord, and so all I can figure is that Satan doesn't want me to remember what I was taught on Sunday.
Can I go back to Sunday please? My calendar is overbooked for this week maybe month and I'm overwhelmed.
P.S. Today is class picture day. I forgot, I drove to the school to turn in the money. Yeah, my daughter went to school today without her hair combed. She bonked her head last night and ended up with a nasty goose egg, this morning she said she didn't want to comb her hair because it would hurt. I thought whatever. She cries on good days when she combs her hair, who cares. And now for all time, we can remember 1st grade class picture day was the day after the Broncos won the Super Bowl and she got a goose egg at a party. Ah, memories.
I really quite enjoy going to church. When we have a sick we practically draw straws to see who HAS to stay home with the sick kid.
I like church. I go to church, and I think ok, I can handle another week. I can do this for 7 more days. The Lord loves me, I'm a child of God. I have value and worth, and the Lord is pleased with my effort even if I fall short everyday. Hooray I can do this!
Then Monday happens, Satan hates me hearing that stuff. I swear everything goes wrong Monday mornings, I come home from church with such optimism and hope, and by Monday at naptime, I feel like I've been through hell. All day the world seems to tell me I'm not good enough, I'll never measure up, and overall you suck. I'm now finally getting smart enough to realize those two messages are complete opposites, and that message is not coming from the Lord, and so all I can figure is that Satan doesn't want me to remember what I was taught on Sunday.
Can I go back to Sunday please? My calendar is overbooked for this week maybe month and I'm overwhelmed.
P.S. Today is class picture day. I forgot, I drove to the school to turn in the money. Yeah, my daughter went to school today without her hair combed. She bonked her head last night and ended up with a nasty goose egg, this morning she said she didn't want to comb her hair because it would hurt. I thought whatever. She cries on good days when she combs her hair, who cares. And now for all time, we can remember 1st grade class picture day was the day after the Broncos won the Super Bowl and she got a goose egg at a party. Ah, memories.
Potty Training in August
I realized I never wrote my obligatory potty training post back in August.
Last week my sister called for potty training tips. Funny, since she has potty trained two kids. But I get it, I hate potty training. Plus I did it more recently then her.
Then I remembered I never wrote this post, and I really did want to.
I potty trained my other kids in the summer of being 2. Since they were winter birthdays, it worked. My son was about 2 and quarter and my daughter was full on two and half or more. I was in my first trimester with my son and it was mostly a nightmare. My daughter had an older brother that was potty trained and all her friends were 6 months or more older than her and all potty trained so it went as well as could hoped.
My third child, he was not potty trained at 2, he is a summer birthday, had a baby brother when he was two and a mom with depression. That was never going to happen. He had no idea what was going on with his bladder and bowels forever, it was a huge blessing. He never knew if his diaper was wet, dirty or dry. Literally he would come to be screaming he was messy and his diaper would be bone dry. I thanked my lucky stars every time he had no idea what was going on because that meant I didn't have to feel guilty I wasn't potty training him. I definitely had no plans of potty training while I was breastfeeding his baby brother.
Then at 2 and 3/4ers something magical happened, he just seemed to over night know what was happening in his diaper. He soon turned 3. I decided I did want him potty trained before his siblings went to school it just seemed easier if I didn't have to go to pick up or make lunches at 8 am. We canceled our pool pass before the summer was over, so we would have no where to be. My husband actually went on aHigh Low Lame Adventure and took the 9 year old brother with him.
I was all prepped. I bought 100% juice and soda.
(With my first kid I bought juice blends and it never made him have to pee, a week or two into it, I found out only 100% juice got things moving for him.)
Also salty snacks, can make them thirsty.
I made a list of activities we could do in the kitchen.
Coloring
Playdoh
Cars
I can't remember the list, but I made a list and had everything prepped where I could get it quickly.
The tablet so we could watch tv
I pulled out towels
I obviously had a mini toilet (a red car one!), lots of underwear. Flushable wipes
I didn't leave the kitchen for two days, I sat on a folded towel for two days as we played an potty trained. I make crock pot dinners while he was taking a nap.
As I was prepping, I think I fast the weekend I started. I had an epiphany. No doubt a true epiphany. Before I potty trained my first child, I read a book about potty training in a day. It was written by someone who said this method can work on anyone, we know it can, because we have potty trained many older handicapped individuals using this method. Since it worked for us it can clearly work for your toddler. Because of the way the book was written I got it my mind, using a diaper is a problem is and we will cure it out of your child.
The whole time I was trying to "fix" my child, which is utter crap, and completely wrong. There is nothing wrong with a 2 year old that uses a diaper.
With my second I gave away the book, and listened to my sister in law, who said, just explain what you are doing, and set the timer for them to sit on the potty.
With my third, I fasted and received my epiphany. This is my chance to do nothing but love this child for week. Nothing is on my list of to do, but love this child. It is my opportunity to not fix him, but help him on the next step on his mortal progression.
I told my older children, this is Turbo's week to be my center of attention, I know you don't remember when you were potty trained but you got that chance too. (We did look up pictures of them potty training.) There are only two things you can do this week. Drink juice and play with Turbo, or play in your rooms quietly. (During his nap I gave them attention instead of ignoring them during nap time.) You don't get to decided what we do, Turbo does. This week is all about him no one else, this is his chance.
I don't know if I got lucky, if he was older, or if my change in perspective made all the change.
So. Much. Easier than any time before. I still set the timer and tried every time it went off.
I guess we'll get to see this coming August when I potty train the next. He'll be 2 and half, I like to potty train in the summer, when my house isn't cold. I think my youngest will be ready. He pretty much knows whats happening in his pants, but I'm putting it off. He's funny, he'll stand in front of the potty with his pants on yelling because he can't pee like this brother.
Its actually helped parenting perspective, I stopped trying to fix my children's annoying habits and inabilities to helping them in their mortal progression.
Lastly, I have learned how to poop train, after all these years. #tmi
I have found most books gloss over poop training. Which became a huge problem for most of my children. The book says, the child will learn how to poop in the toilet just like they pee. Yeah, right, it never worked like that for me.
This is what a doctor taught me:
At lunch you feed the child prunes, raisins, some sort of dried fruit. If your child isn't constipated I wouldn't recommend prunes, but if they are, and they are willing to eat "big raisins" its a great place to start. As is unfiltered apple juice. So you fiber them up, then while you are cooking dinner EVERYDAY you say, oh, its time to try and go poop. You sit them on the toilet and have them stay for 10 minutes (unless they go faster). Within less then a week, they should be regular and have a bowel movement everyday before dinner.
I have used this method multiple times, it works like a charm. (Pretty much anytime something big changes in the family, whether a new baby or something else, I loose track of life and someone stops going regularly.) As far as I can tell a young child will never be able to stay dry during naps and bed if they are constipated. We still have wet sheets once and a while, but anytime a child has reverted and started regularly wetting the bed, it turns out they are constipated. Also I will say, even if I child goes daily they could still be constipated. Make sure they are actually able to empty their bowels (ie the need for more fiber). Constipation puts pressure on a bladder and makes it weak. If this has become a chronic problem then it will take a while after the child becomes regular for their bladder to regain bladder strength. The bladder is muscle and if it has been weaken for an extended period of time, it will be take time to regain strength.
Lastly, if you and your child are struggling with this, I would take a look at their diet. My almost 2 year old was painfully constipated. We were doing apple juice and dried fruit, and still he would only go every couple of days, and when he would try to fill his diaper he would be in tears. I told my husband I don't know what to do, beyond a trying a laxative. He replied, you don't? I said no, do you have any ideas? He said, yeah, take away all the crackers. He was right, we moved all the crackers where the baby couldn't reach, then when while I was in the shower, when his siblings where eating breakfast in the morning, instead of filling up on crackers he started eating cereal. Overnight our problem was gone. Now he is regular as his older brother, which means multiple times a day, which may or may not be improvement as the mom. But I'm relieved he isn't crying anymore.
Speaking of breakfast if this is a struggle, I would cut out sugary cereals. My children now rarely get anything but "healthy" fibrous cereals. In the beginning they complain, but they get use to it after a week. Cheerios, Honey Nut Cheerios, Shredded Wheat, Honey Bunches of Oats, there are plenty of "healthy" fibrous cereals that still have a sweet taste. The best part of our family is they get fuller quicker with the healthier cereals. Also feed them more produce for snacks less processed food that comes from a box, even if the box claims its healthy.
Last week my sister called for potty training tips. Funny, since she has potty trained two kids. But I get it, I hate potty training. Plus I did it more recently then her.
Then I remembered I never wrote this post, and I really did want to.
I potty trained my other kids in the summer of being 2. Since they were winter birthdays, it worked. My son was about 2 and quarter and my daughter was full on two and half or more. I was in my first trimester with my son and it was mostly a nightmare. My daughter had an older brother that was potty trained and all her friends were 6 months or more older than her and all potty trained so it went as well as could hoped.
My third child, he was not potty trained at 2, he is a summer birthday, had a baby brother when he was two and a mom with depression. That was never going to happen. He had no idea what was going on with his bladder and bowels forever, it was a huge blessing. He never knew if his diaper was wet, dirty or dry. Literally he would come to be screaming he was messy and his diaper would be bone dry. I thanked my lucky stars every time he had no idea what was going on because that meant I didn't have to feel guilty I wasn't potty training him. I definitely had no plans of potty training while I was breastfeeding his baby brother.
Then at 2 and 3/4ers something magical happened, he just seemed to over night know what was happening in his diaper. He soon turned 3. I decided I did want him potty trained before his siblings went to school it just seemed easier if I didn't have to go to pick up or make lunches at 8 am. We canceled our pool pass before the summer was over, so we would have no where to be. My husband actually went on a
I was all prepped. I bought 100% juice and soda.
(With my first kid I bought juice blends and it never made him have to pee, a week or two into it, I found out only 100% juice got things moving for him.)
Also salty snacks, can make them thirsty.
I made a list of activities we could do in the kitchen.
Coloring
Playdoh
Cars
I can't remember the list, but I made a list and had everything prepped where I could get it quickly.
The tablet so we could watch tv
I pulled out towels
I obviously had a mini toilet (a red car one!), lots of underwear. Flushable wipes
I didn't leave the kitchen for two days, I sat on a folded towel for two days as we played an potty trained. I make crock pot dinners while he was taking a nap.
As I was prepping, I think I fast the weekend I started. I had an epiphany. No doubt a true epiphany. Before I potty trained my first child, I read a book about potty training in a day. It was written by someone who said this method can work on anyone, we know it can, because we have potty trained many older handicapped individuals using this method. Since it worked for us it can clearly work for your toddler. Because of the way the book was written I got it my mind, using a diaper is a problem is and we will cure it out of your child.
The whole time I was trying to "fix" my child, which is utter crap, and completely wrong. There is nothing wrong with a 2 year old that uses a diaper.
With my second I gave away the book, and listened to my sister in law, who said, just explain what you are doing, and set the timer for them to sit on the potty.
With my third, I fasted and received my epiphany. This is my chance to do nothing but love this child for week. Nothing is on my list of to do, but love this child. It is my opportunity to not fix him, but help him on the next step on his mortal progression.
I told my older children, this is Turbo's week to be my center of attention, I know you don't remember when you were potty trained but you got that chance too. (We did look up pictures of them potty training.) There are only two things you can do this week. Drink juice and play with Turbo, or play in your rooms quietly. (During his nap I gave them attention instead of ignoring them during nap time.) You don't get to decided what we do, Turbo does. This week is all about him no one else, this is his chance.
I don't know if I got lucky, if he was older, or if my change in perspective made all the change.
So. Much. Easier than any time before. I still set the timer and tried every time it went off.
I guess we'll get to see this coming August when I potty train the next. He'll be 2 and half, I like to potty train in the summer, when my house isn't cold. I think my youngest will be ready. He pretty much knows whats happening in his pants, but I'm putting it off. He's funny, he'll stand in front of the potty with his pants on yelling because he can't pee like this brother.
Its actually helped parenting perspective, I stopped trying to fix my children's annoying habits and inabilities to helping them in their mortal progression.
Lastly, I have learned how to poop train, after all these years. #tmi
I have found most books gloss over poop training. Which became a huge problem for most of my children. The book says, the child will learn how to poop in the toilet just like they pee. Yeah, right, it never worked like that for me.
This is what a doctor taught me:
At lunch you feed the child prunes, raisins, some sort of dried fruit. If your child isn't constipated I wouldn't recommend prunes, but if they are, and they are willing to eat "big raisins" its a great place to start. As is unfiltered apple juice. So you fiber them up, then while you are cooking dinner EVERYDAY you say, oh, its time to try and go poop. You sit them on the toilet and have them stay for 10 minutes (unless they go faster). Within less then a week, they should be regular and have a bowel movement everyday before dinner.
I have used this method multiple times, it works like a charm. (Pretty much anytime something big changes in the family, whether a new baby or something else, I loose track of life and someone stops going regularly.) As far as I can tell a young child will never be able to stay dry during naps and bed if they are constipated. We still have wet sheets once and a while, but anytime a child has reverted and started regularly wetting the bed, it turns out they are constipated. Also I will say, even if I child goes daily they could still be constipated. Make sure they are actually able to empty their bowels (ie the need for more fiber). Constipation puts pressure on a bladder and makes it weak. If this has become a chronic problem then it will take a while after the child becomes regular for their bladder to regain bladder strength. The bladder is muscle and if it has been weaken for an extended period of time, it will be take time to regain strength.
Lastly, if you and your child are struggling with this, I would take a look at their diet. My almost 2 year old was painfully constipated. We were doing apple juice and dried fruit, and still he would only go every couple of days, and when he would try to fill his diaper he would be in tears. I told my husband I don't know what to do, beyond a trying a laxative. He replied, you don't? I said no, do you have any ideas? He said, yeah, take away all the crackers. He was right, we moved all the crackers where the baby couldn't reach, then when while I was in the shower, when his siblings where eating breakfast in the morning, instead of filling up on crackers he started eating cereal. Overnight our problem was gone. Now he is regular as his older brother, which means multiple times a day, which may or may not be improvement as the mom. But I'm relieved he isn't crying anymore.
Speaking of breakfast if this is a struggle, I would cut out sugary cereals. My children now rarely get anything but "healthy" fibrous cereals. In the beginning they complain, but they get use to it after a week. Cheerios, Honey Nut Cheerios, Shredded Wheat, Honey Bunches of Oats, there are plenty of "healthy" fibrous cereals that still have a sweet taste. The best part of our family is they get fuller quicker with the healthier cereals. Also feed them more produce for snacks less processed food that comes from a box, even if the box claims its healthy.
Sunday, February 7, 2016
Ready for 8
Remember how I mentioned I wasn't so thrilled about my child reaching the age of accountability?
I got an answer to my questions today in Sunday school.
First, I found Sunday school quite boring.
I fidgeted and my chair was uncomfortable, I was worried it was going to flare up my back pain.
When I changed positions so my back wouldn't hurt, I became acutely aware that I was fasting and that my stomach was empty.
Now that we have church at 11 am, I realized its been more than 4 years since I've fasted past noon. It was past noon.
Then I thought about how I tried to teach my almost 10 year old, fasting is about telling your body my spirit is control not my physical body.
Then I remember the lesson, talk, or urban legend that says, my father taught me he never sat in a boring sacrament meeting. When asked how he never heard a boring talk, he said I'd write my own in my head if I ever found one lacking.
So I thought ok get it together, what are you doing do help your learning?
But then I got really sleepy and I wanted to lay down.
Sometimes it takes a few times of our spirit telling our physical body to pull itself together.
Our lesson was on 2 Nephi 2.
We talked about the Fall of Adam. People shared some good comments, some people shared some fallacies according to me. I truly believe Eve knew what she was doing before she partook of the fruit. (She didn't know the end result, or what it would really mean to give it up, but I don't think she was clueless.) The serpent did beguile her, but she also knew there was no other way. Joseph Fielding Smith, I also think agrees with me.
Some mentioned they were perfect and innocent before they partook. All of a sudden it dawned on me. My three younger children are perfect and innocent, and I understand why the Lord during his earthly ministry often said, "suffer the children to come to me" but if they don't grow past seven years old they would be missing their opportunity to grow, learn and reason.
I look into my younger children's eyes and they are beyond perfect, I don't even know how to explain it, even when they are sad or ornery, their eyes show complete innocent, because they live a sheltered life they don't understand anything but innocence. But as the months past after my daughter gets baptized her brain will grow and develop in away that was not possible as a little child, and she will begin to reason. She will begin to understand the choices she makes.
Once I thought about it in terms of Adam and Eve in the garden, I started to realize I'm excited for my daughter to grow to 8, I'm excited to give her the choice to be baptized, and I'm excited her reasoning in her brain will start to function in away that was never available when she was younger.
I got an answer to my questions today in Sunday school.
First, I found Sunday school quite boring.
I fidgeted and my chair was uncomfortable, I was worried it was going to flare up my back pain.
When I changed positions so my back wouldn't hurt, I became acutely aware that I was fasting and that my stomach was empty.
Now that we have church at 11 am, I realized its been more than 4 years since I've fasted past noon. It was past noon.
Then I thought about how I tried to teach my almost 10 year old, fasting is about telling your body my spirit is control not my physical body.
Then I remember the lesson, talk, or urban legend that says, my father taught me he never sat in a boring sacrament meeting. When asked how he never heard a boring talk, he said I'd write my own in my head if I ever found one lacking.
So I thought ok get it together, what are you doing do help your learning?
But then I got really sleepy and I wanted to lay down.
Sometimes it takes a few times of our spirit telling our physical body to pull itself together.
Our lesson was on 2 Nephi 2.
We talked about the Fall of Adam. People shared some good comments, some people shared some fallacies according to me. I truly believe Eve knew what she was doing before she partook of the fruit. (She didn't know the end result, or what it would really mean to give it up, but I don't think she was clueless.) The serpent did beguile her, but she also knew there was no other way. Joseph Fielding Smith, I also think agrees with me.
Joseph Fielding SmithSomeone mentioned how they did have choices before they partook of the fruit. They choose to eat other fruit. They choose how to spend their time, they just hadn't choose to transgress, they hadn't chosen to be cast out of the Lord's presence.
" Adam and Eve therefore did the very thing that the Lord intended them to do...The Lord said to Adam that if he wished to remain in the garden, then he was not to eat the fruit, but if he desired to eat it and partake of death he was at liberty to do so. So really it was not in the true sense a transgression of a divine commandment....It was the divine plan from the very beginning that man should be placed on the earth and be subject to mortal conditions and pass through a probationary state as explained in the Book of Mormon." (Answers to Gospel Questions, vol. 4, pp. 79-82 as taken from Latter-day Commentary on the Book of Mormon compiled by K. Douglas Bassett, p.92)
Some mentioned they were perfect and innocent before they partook. All of a sudden it dawned on me. My three younger children are perfect and innocent, and I understand why the Lord during his earthly ministry often said, "suffer the children to come to me" but if they don't grow past seven years old they would be missing their opportunity to grow, learn and reason.
I look into my younger children's eyes and they are beyond perfect, I don't even know how to explain it, even when they are sad or ornery, their eyes show complete innocent, because they live a sheltered life they don't understand anything but innocence. But as the months past after my daughter gets baptized her brain will grow and develop in away that was not possible as a little child, and she will begin to reason. She will begin to understand the choices she makes.
Once I thought about it in terms of Adam and Eve in the garden, I started to realize I'm excited for my daughter to grow to 8, I'm excited to give her the choice to be baptized, and I'm excited her reasoning in her brain will start to function in away that was never available when she was younger.
Saturday, February 6, 2016
Tithing Blessings
What keeps surprising me is tithing blessings.
Years ago we were broke newlywed college students and meticulous with our money. Beyond meticulous, less than 45 cents were spent without me knowing about it. We knew exactly how much housing, food, books, tuition, etc etc would all cost, and we would know how much we made over the summers and how much Brent would make each month during school (he was only allowed to work 20 hours) and we always knew we were going to have to take out a loan before summer, but yet some how there was always enough money for us to move and get to our first summer paycheck. Literally the exact amount we needed.
Brent graduated in 7 semesters and got a full time job, after that things were never as stark.
But this past year has surprised me.
We decided last spring to do a garage sale, this was sort of a big deal for us, because we had never before followed through on our plans to actually have a garage sale. Multiple times in our marriage we would plan on selling a bunch of stuff, but then run out of time during a move and just donate it.
I guess since we weren't short on time for moving and we had A LOT of big ticket items it was actually worth it to sale. I pulled out $100 in small bills before the sale, and then we made a couple hundred more. We made decent, but at the same time we still question was it worth it? We didn't make as much as I was planning on.
Come Fall, Brent's company broke off and merged with another one. The new company gave us stock options, we had stock options from a previous employer so Brent jumped on that. We made quite a bit of money a few years ago. He maxed out that benefit without really running the numbers so it was a bit of a shock for us to say the least. We had more than $1,000 less each month, sure we would get it back in 6 months two fold, but what where we going to do in the mean time?
A couple things happened:
The stock purchase came after I bought school clothes and school supplies so that money was already spent so Brent told me just don't worry about it.
There is a lot of back to school expenses that happen other than supplies and clothes. School pictures, class fees, field trips, class parties, halloween costumes, cross country fees, etc etc. I ended up using the cash that we made at the garage sale to pay for most of this stuff. After a few months of constantly dipping into this envelope. I thought huh! I'm an answer to my own tithing blessing.
I love how the Lord provided for us, even if I didn't realize what he was doing. We changed our budget and our expenses and now we don't even realize we are living on $600 less a paycheck. But it was a blessing none the less.
I guess its true, "you can always save more".
But you can't always do more activities that cost money and save more.
Years ago we were broke newlywed college students and meticulous with our money. Beyond meticulous, less than 45 cents were spent without me knowing about it. We knew exactly how much housing, food, books, tuition, etc etc would all cost, and we would know how much we made over the summers and how much Brent would make each month during school (he was only allowed to work 20 hours) and we always knew we were going to have to take out a loan before summer, but yet some how there was always enough money for us to move and get to our first summer paycheck. Literally the exact amount we needed.
Brent graduated in 7 semesters and got a full time job, after that things were never as stark.
But this past year has surprised me.
We decided last spring to do a garage sale, this was sort of a big deal for us, because we had never before followed through on our plans to actually have a garage sale. Multiple times in our marriage we would plan on selling a bunch of stuff, but then run out of time during a move and just donate it.
I guess since we weren't short on time for moving and we had A LOT of big ticket items it was actually worth it to sale. I pulled out $100 in small bills before the sale, and then we made a couple hundred more. We made decent, but at the same time we still question was it worth it? We didn't make as much as I was planning on.
Come Fall, Brent's company broke off and merged with another one. The new company gave us stock options, we had stock options from a previous employer so Brent jumped on that. We made quite a bit of money a few years ago. He maxed out that benefit without really running the numbers so it was a bit of a shock for us to say the least. We had more than $1,000 less each month, sure we would get it back in 6 months two fold, but what where we going to do in the mean time?
A couple things happened:
The stock purchase came after I bought school clothes and school supplies so that money was already spent so Brent told me just don't worry about it.
There is a lot of back to school expenses that happen other than supplies and clothes. School pictures, class fees, field trips, class parties, halloween costumes, cross country fees, etc etc. I ended up using the cash that we made at the garage sale to pay for most of this stuff. After a few months of constantly dipping into this envelope. I thought huh! I'm an answer to my own tithing blessing.
I love how the Lord provided for us, even if I didn't realize what he was doing. We changed our budget and our expenses and now we don't even realize we are living on $600 less a paycheck. But it was a blessing none the less.
I guess its true, "you can always save more".
But you can't always do more activities that cost money and save more.
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Decluttering and Tidying up
We've been getting rid of lots of stuff. Some of which nostalgic stuff.
Which gets me thinking about my wedding.
I wore my wedding dress four times, one of which was for bridal pictures. The photographer did not take any full length photos for me in my dress for some reason. Maybe her studio wasn't big enough? I don't know.
The last time I wore it was after we got married to take pictures in front of the temple, then some how it got left in a basement closet in my grandma's house. My mom probably left it there?
As a newlywed I lived in a mother-in-law not apartment basement of an old lady's house, where was I going to keep my wedding dress? I just sort of never picked it up.
Then a few months later my cousin was engaged and planning a wedding. I think my grandma mentioned my dress was in the basement, and so my aunt said to my cousin, just try it on.
Eventually they decided to borrow my dress. Which was fine with me.
A little over a year later, my aunt informed me they had it cleaned (which I had not) and returned it.
I can't remember if they returned it to grandma's closet or I took it back to my married college apartment, by this point we were in a real apartment, but I also had a baby.
Three years after I got married, we finished our degrees and we were living in an apartment closer to my grandma then when we were in college. By this point I did have the dress.
I decided I didn't want to save the dress, it took up a lot of space, and what was I going to do with it, any future daughter wouldn't actually want to wear it when she got married.
So I sold it. I feel so industrious that at least three girls wore it for the weddings.
A few years later, I realized I never had a full length picture of the dress, and I couldn't remember really what it looked like. Then recently I was looking a wedding pictures, and I realized I did have full length pictures of me in my dress. Sort of, not formal photos but still!
This one is actually one of my favorite candid photos, it reminds me of everyone that goes into supporting you in life. Looking back I'm grateful my aunts were at my wedding and there to help out with things. I have teenage nieces and nephews and I wonder am I involved enough in their lives that they want me at their wedding? What more should I be doing?
Which gets me thinking about my wedding.
I wore my wedding dress four times, one of which was for bridal pictures. The photographer did not take any full length photos for me in my dress for some reason. Maybe her studio wasn't big enough? I don't know.
The last time I wore it was after we got married to take pictures in front of the temple, then some how it got left in a basement closet in my grandma's house. My mom probably left it there?
As a newlywed I lived in a mother-in-law not apartment basement of an old lady's house, where was I going to keep my wedding dress? I just sort of never picked it up.
Then a few months later my cousin was engaged and planning a wedding. I think my grandma mentioned my dress was in the basement, and so my aunt said to my cousin, just try it on.
Eventually they decided to borrow my dress. Which was fine with me.
A little over a year later, my aunt informed me they had it cleaned (which I had not) and returned it.
I can't remember if they returned it to grandma's closet or I took it back to my married college apartment, by this point we were in a real apartment, but I also had a baby.
Three years after I got married, we finished our degrees and we were living in an apartment closer to my grandma then when we were in college. By this point I did have the dress.
I decided I didn't want to save the dress, it took up a lot of space, and what was I going to do with it, any future daughter wouldn't actually want to wear it when she got married.
So I sold it. I feel so industrious that at least three girls wore it for the weddings.
A few years later, I realized I never had a full length picture of the dress, and I couldn't remember really what it looked like. Then recently I was looking a wedding pictures, and I realized I did have full length pictures of me in my dress. Sort of, not formal photos but still!
I actually can't remember ever seeing this picture.
Its a fun one, poor light quality but fun. I'm glad I found it.
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