Hello? Is anyone still there?

I'll just spare you the "sorry I've not blogged since October speech." I'm busy, yo. And I haven't felt like writing anything, despite some huge changes, okay?

If you didn't already know, we're expecting #3 (Little Baby Sunshine, keeping with the weather-themed nicknames) in mid-May. Call us one of the crazies with 3 kids (possibly all boys), we don't care. Someone was missing from our family and s/he is growing in my belly right now. We had an ultrasound last week and all was well. We got a CD of pictures but the CD drive in my computer is broken (I may or may not have dropped this sucker a few too many times in the last NINE YEARS I've had it, especially in the last 6 months or so). No, we did not find out the sex. You know me and how I like surprises!

And...no other news from the last 2+ months tops that, so...moving on...

I always like to reflect on the new years resolutions I made last year and see how I did. Here we go...

Resolutions for 2013:
1. Pay OFF all debt. Heck yeah! This totally happened, earlier than expected even! The only debt remaining is our mortgage.
 
2. Run another 5k. Check that. I walked the Color Run 5k in June (July?) and I also ran the Women Rock 10k in August. And I didn't die!

3. Unplug. Yeah...still working on that.

Now GOALS for 2014: (I like goals better than resolutions)
1. Build savings. Now that our debt is paid off, this is step #3 in Dave Ramsey's baby steps. We are looking forward to getting a decent amount saved up in case we should ever need it.

2. Do yoga and be a strong mama. I follow a mom of 5 named Melissa (she's also MN photographer) on instagram. She started yoga in March and she can do amazing things like handstands and all sorts of crazy things, and I want to do that too. I started tonight by signing up for a free 15 day trial of yogaglo. I can watch it on the TV through Roku or on my laptop. I figure if I can keep up with the trial, I can keep up with it after that. And since I don't like running while pregnant or breast feeding, I can do this as exercise this year instead.

3. Unplug. Still working on it. Still bothers me. I need to set some parameters with myself or something.

So...that's about it. I'm not sure when I'll update next, so don't hold your breath or anything :)

*Clears throat, steps onto the stage*

WE'RE DEBT FREE!

I would LOVE to call Dave Ramsey on Friday and scream that, but, you know...work and all. So I'll scream it by way of large, bolded, italicized, underlined font!

A post I wrote in August about being credit card debt free was a HUGE step because it freed up a large chunk of money we had to pay monthly. If you go back and read that post, we had a goal to pay off our Explorer in November and my student loans in January. Well guess what!??! We made it happen TODAY. In OCTOBER. Isn't that crazy!?!? Kevin has taken a few overnight jobs (and sometimes 3 overnights in a row) every once in awhile to earn some additional money that definitely, definitely helped us pay these off sooner.

Considering our original DMP plan wasn't supposed to end until June 2014 and then we had the other debts--Explorer and student loans--to pay, I'd say we did pretty darn good, finishing a year ahead of schedule.

So...what's next? We're on to Dave Ramsey's Baby Step #3: 3-6 months of expenses in savings. According to our calculations, we should be able to finish this step within 6 months (even with Christmas accounted for) so huzzah! And you know how our calculations go. We always seem to overestimate how long it will take because we think on the conservative side.

I'm really getting dorky-like excited to start saving up for retirement and the boys' college fund (although we do have the college fund already set up for them, we're just not contributing yet).

Life Lately

We've settled into our routine now, and routine is good.

A few weekends ago the four of us went to Como Zoo/Town for probably the last time this year. Colin had a blast going on the "big rides" with Kevin. My body just can't take those anymore. I went on the Tilt-a-Whirl earlier this summer with Colin and almost threw up. No bueno, because I love rides. Ben rode on the rides that go around in a circle, and I hopped on the train with him.

We also attended Josie's baptism. Benny loves baby "Doe-Dee," and he got his turn to hold her and give her a bottle.

I had a pretty stressful week last week. Kevin was working up north Tuesday through Friday. There was some work drama involving hiring a kindergarten teacher (like, now) and moving either me or a third grade teacher out of the hallway we're currently in. Long story short, I'm not moving--the other teacher is, but oy. There was stress involved there.

This past weekend, we met up with my family in Red Wing at a park to play and eat lunch. My grandma is visiting from Tucson so we had fun spending time with her. She gave Ben (and, as a result, Colin) a "Bug Vac" that sucks up bugs so they can study them. They've been having a blast with it, although bugs in general are pretty sparse this time of year.

Colin is loving school. Every day he comes home with a new song he learned. He illustrated (colored) a book called "Do You Know Clifford?" and he reads the book to us with pride. My teacher heart goes pitter-patter when I see his little finger out tracking the words and "reading" them.

Ben is still silly Ben. He's for sure going to be the comedian of the family. He knows a lot of single words, even uncommon ones like ladder and window. He's still not putting words together. Sometimes he'll say 2 or 3 words in a row that "go" together, but not very often. He'll get there.

My Explorer's battery and alternator died today. I got to daycare and left it running. When I got back, the battery light was on so I turned the engine off and couldn't get it started again. Neither I nor Sandy had jumper cables. I called Kevin who told me to turn off the remote start. I did, and I got my car to start, so I drove to work. When I got about halfway between Sandy's and school, my radio died, my airbag light turn on, and all of my dashboard gauges when to 0. I pretty much coasted to school, my car lurching up the hills. Kevin came to school this afternoon to fix it. When I left (early, just in case!), I was able to start my car, but again, halfway to Sandy's the same thing happened. I was able to coast juuuust past the train tracks (thank GOD because they're still in use multiple times a day), where I called Kevin and waited. He jumped my battery, and we went to Sandy's, but then the battery was dead, dead, dead. I got to drive Kevin's beast of a work van home to make it back in time for piano lessons, while Janelle drove to Sandy's to pick up Kevin and the boys. While I was teaching piano, Kevin and his dad were able to get an alternator and a battery and install it in Sandy's driveway and Kevin drove the Explorer back home. Such a fiasco. Murphy is totally at play here since the Explorer will be paid off in TWO DAYS! :)

WAHOOOOOOO!

If you've been following our credit card debt pay off, you know that we took charge of the situation way back in June 2010. Since then, we've lived on a strict budget and have spent very little on "entertainment" and other extras. In the beginning, it was a little rough not getting what I wanted when I wanted it. But with that, we've learned some great lessons.

We've learned to live frugally. We've learned to entertain ourselves for free or very little money. We've learned that it's not about "stuff." We've learned we can make ends meet even when life throws us huge curve balls. We've learned not to rely on credit. We've learned that in the future, it is truly best to save up and pay cash.

Kevin woke up on Saturday morning and one of the first things he said to me was, "I'm going to pay off the last credit card today." I mean, I knew we were going to pay it off this month, but I thought we were going to wait for our DMP payment to go through at the end of the month and pay for the rest after that. Nope, Kevin decided he wanted to pay it now to avoid a service fee for the DMP. So he did.

Today is the day that we can officially say that our credit card debt total is....(drum roll please)....$0! Zero. Zilch. Zip. Nada. Nothing. Nuffing (<--colinese p="">
I emailed the lady at Family Means and told her our last credit card was paid off. She's sending us some closing paperwork in the mail and that's that. We're done! I was hoping for a little more fanfare, but oh well. It doesn't matter. :)

Next steps:
Pay off the Explorer. Goal end: November
Pay off 2 student loans. Goal end: January

Then we can officially be truly debt free (except the house...). But this? This is a great start.

Debt: 90%!

We paid off our 4th credit card! Now we only have 1 left, with a balance of about $3000. It WILL be paid off in August. With my summer school checks and the payment we already pay towards it, it will GONE. That is going to feel so great!

It's still so hard to imagine our past life when we owed $35000 to our credit cards and now we're only down to a measly $3000. And soon...$0.

I look forward to my next debt update, when I'll be screaming it from the rooftops and doing a little jig :)

60%

I'm SO freaking happy to say that we paid off our third credit card on Thursday! :) We're on track for paying off #4 in June and #5 in August! Our credit card debt is now under $10,000. It's still a huge number, but it seems so small and manageable compared to where we started less than 3 years ago. We have a plan and there's a light at the end of the tunnel that we keep creeping closer and closer to.

It's going to be a long couple of months wait until June, since we paid off 3 cards every other month since September. However, we write the new balances every month on our whiteboard and to see card #4 drop between $660 and $900 a month is going to be very satisfying!

60%. 3 out of 5 credit cards paid.
73%. Total amount of money paid off.

New Year's Resolutions 2013

We rang in the new year in exciting style. The boys went to bed at their regular times and Kevin and I were tucked in at 11:00, although I wish it were more like 10:00 (or maybe earlier).

I'm so excited for 2013. I already know it's going to be an amazing year. Before I get to my new resolutions, let's review the 2012 version.
1. Pay off more debt.
Heck yeah! We paid off 2 credit cards, and another will be paid off this month.

2. Declutter.
I was a very good declutterer while I was on maternity leave. Our closets are still pretty organized with the baskets and bins I bought last year. As life goes, I didn't finish the whole year's worth of decluttering and it would probably be beneficial to start all over again. I've learned a lot about decluttering though and that "stuff is just stuff" and I truly won't miss the things I get rid of.

3. Survive the "Terrible 2s" and the first 8 months of the "Trying 3s": Round 1 (Colin).
We're surviving and there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Now that he's getting closer to four, he understands there's consequences to his actions and he takes less time outs. Thank the baby Jesus.

4. Be more generous. I don't know...I kept this resolution in the back of my mind a lot though and I like to think I was a little more generous. There's always room for improvement.

5. Make time for Rocket. I made a conscious effort to make sure I gave Rocket attention every day. If he snuggled with me in the evenings as I'm relaxing he'd get a lot more pets. But this is one thing I will be continuing to do.


Now for resolutions for 2013:
1. Pay OFF all debt. The remaining 2 (count 'em TWO!) credit cards will be paid off this summer at the latest! Then we're going to pay off my student loans and the Explorer and then we'll be debt-freakin'-free (aside from our mortgage) baby! I'm so freaking excited about this. We've been working really hard at sticking to a budget and "sacrificing" to get this debt out of our lives forever.

2. Run another 5k. It has been far too long. I've run one time since May 2011. Not good, but growing and breast feeding Ben took priority and now that we're on the cusp of being done with it, I can start running again.

3. Unplug. I admit there are times when I'm on my phone or laptop when I should be playing with the boys or doing something more productive. So I'm going to put the phone and laptop away until they're in bed.

40%

Today we officially paid off Credit Card #2 in our debt snowball! ::cue happy dance:: This means both of MY credit cards are paid off and we can move on to Kevin's. The next one is slated to be paid off in February, and the other 2 by August (calculated using conservative numbers). Now that the cards are getting paid off, it's so fun to see them drop off the radar FOR GOOD.

2 down, 3 to go! = 40% paid off

How are we making it happen these days?
-Cloth diapering
-Breast feeding
-Grocery shopping at Aldi with $80/week budget, and no we are not starving ourselves or our children!
-Emeals for meal planning
-Not spending money just to spend money
-Not eating out (unless we have a gift card)
-Buying clothes that are on sale
-Selling stuff we don't need
-Teaching summer school and piano lessons
-Couponing (a little bit here and there)

2013 is our year. 30 days left until it starts :)

About sleep and other topics

I'm home all by myself in peace and quiet today. I've been fighting allergies and/or a cold (not sure which) for going on 3 weeks now. I should have taken a day off a long time ago, but here I am. I feel better today than I did all last week. Better late than never. I've got comfy clothes on, a Caribou Hot Apple Blast by my side, TV, and a few projects I'd like to get started on. And a nap. There will be napping.

If the boys weren't such early birds I could get more sleep! Ben nurses at about 7:20 and is passed out and in bed by 7:45 every night. He wakes up, pretty reliably, at 5:00 on the dot every morning. He's finally sleeping through the night. I decided once he turned 10 months that I needed to be done nursing him in the middle of the night when he woke up. I loved that quiet time with him in the dark, but it was more for selfish reasons that I allowed it. A good sleeping habit is more important than midnight nursing (good Lord, have we learned that!). We had about a week of really rough nights. We timed it pretty poorly and sleep training ended up coinciding with teething. After a few nights of Ibuprofen and after his teeth cut through, something clicked and he's been sleeping much better since. Sometimes after I nurse him when he wakes up in the morning he falls back asleep and lets me snuggle him up.

Now if we could pass that sleep through the night dust to Colin that would be great. I don't think he'll ever sleep all night consistently. He has blanket issues. He's pretty helpless in the middle of the night and needs help covering himself up at some point almost every night. And now he's switched his preference in HOW to cover him up. He use to want to be snug as a bug in a rug, but now he wants it "smooth like the bike path." ::sigh:: 3 year olds. As soon as he hears that someone in the house is awake, he's awake too. He doesn't want to miss anything.

*************
Not about sleep...

I worked on Colin's Halloween costume yesterday and finished it. He's going on a "field trip" to the child development class at the high school, and they were supposed to wear their costume so I had to rush and finish it. I haven't seen him wear it yet, so I hope it's cute. I can't tell you what it is yet. Ben's going to be adorable too.

We have officially paid off our first credit card and now our snowball is rolling and growing very quickly! Our second credit card should be paid off in December! This feels SO good. I also just enrolled two new kids for piano lessons and there are quite a few more interested. The money from all of these new students is going straight to the credit cards.

I have an iPhone now. Kevin gave me his hand-me-down. That is part of the reason for the lack of pictures and the lack of updates. It will be nice to have it for piano lessons--scheduling, recording, etc.

(Summer) School's out for Summer!

^A spin on Alice in Chains :)

After 3 weeks that crept along yet flew by so fast, I'm now officially done teaching summer school. It was a fun experience. My co-teacher and I (who also teaches 1st) got to meet a few of our next years' students (unbeknownst to them!), and we got to "practice" some intervention and progress monitoring stuff we're implementing next year. It was academic, but it was easy to teach and it was laid-back. I even liked teaching this type of summer school better than teaching what I did in the past (knitting, play dough, tye-die, etc.) And best of all, we got a nice little check yesterday which, I hope you know by now, when straight to our credit cards. I'm hoping our first credit card in our snowball can be paid off in September or October!

I almost regret not teaching the entire 6 weeks. Had I done that, that credit card would be completely paid off. But I know this sounds funny, it wasn't even a choice for me this year. So it's fine.

Now I need to make up a rest-of-summer bucket list!

Gazelle Intensity

Kevin and I are big fans of Dave Ramsey. We "graduated" from Financial Peace University two years ago and we're halfway done with paying off our credit card debt. One thing Dave talks about in FPU is living with Gazelle Intensity to pay off debt. Get a part time job, cut your budget down to barebones, things like that.

We've cut our budget down to barebones. We don't set aside any money for entertainment. We don't splurge. We don't eat out (very often). We basically buy groceries, paper/personal products, and clothes and essentials here and there for the boys. That's it.

I teach piano lessons (I'm up to 11 kids which adds up to 2 1/2 hours per week). That's like my part time job.

I told you about my summer school mishap. Well, my principal told me she should have a spot for me the second 3 weeks of summer school. I'd prefer to do the first 3 weeks, but at this point I'll take whatever. This morning the other summer school coordinator approached me and asked if I was available for the first 3 weeks in case she needs me to be a second teacher for some of the fuller classes. It might not even be the full 4 hours of time. Just an hour or two.

And with that, I have this dilemma....
1. I want to, need to spend time with the boys this summer. I've done 6 weeks of summer school the past 5 years. By the time it's over, summer is practically gone. I'll never, ever regret time I spend with the boys. And they're only going to be this little for so long.

2. Entertaining 2 kids for an entire day is hard work. I might need the break.

3. One of the best things about summer is hanging out with friends and their children. If I'm working, when will I be able to do this? Our beach and park visits will be limited to afternoons.

4. But then there's the money. If I just suck it up and work as much as I can this summer, I can cut back next summer. Our credit cards will be paid off by June 2014. My summer school money could potentially go straight towards it and change it to May 2014. Maybe even April :).

I feel so uneasy about working so much this summer. But then I remember I'm blessed that not working for 2 months is even an OPTION for me. And I remember that by paying off debt, we're giving our kids a better life (not with stuff, but with financial peace).

I'm just going to roll with it and see what happens. I feel like if I have the opportunity to make money, I should take it.

And, if you're wondering, no we haven't found a "subleaser" for our daycare spot yet.

New Years Resolutions

First, let's see what resolutions I stuck to in 2011.

1. Run/"do" 3 races. One I have in mind is the Root River Triathlon, which includes 6.5 miles of canoeing instead of swimming. Also, 8 miles of biking and a 3 mile run.
*Did this race whilst 11 weeks pregnant. Haven't run since. It's all good though. A triathlon is like 3 races all rolled into one, right? I will get back on the running bandwagon in 2012, and perhaps run a 5k. I'm not going to worry about running too much this year because breastfeeding is a bigger priority in 2012.

2. Pay off a large chunk of debt. I'd like to say half of what we owe. Seems like a lofty goal, but perhaps we can do it barring no financial obstacles getting in our way.
*We did pay off a large chunk, but not half of what we owe. All together, we've paid off about $12,000 since June 2009 :) And that's about a third better than where we started from. Bottom line is, the numbers are getting smaller and we are making headway.

3. Leave work at the end of the day with a clean(er) desk. The least I can do is put the papers in one nice, neat stack, right? Really, I'm going to try hard to get better at this.
*Yeah, this didn't happen. Except for the 2 weeks before Ben was born when I cleaned it off every single day just in case I wasn't back the next day.

4. Get Colin potty trained for good (I know, I keep saying that. 2011 is the year baby!).
*Totally conquered this one so long ago.

5. Re-start "date nights" on the 7th(ish) of every month. Kev and I have been slacking. With a fresh batch of gift cards in-hand, we're ready!
*We didn't go out every month...just a few scattered here and there, and they were more like lunch dates, which is fine and dandy too. Usually the 7th would come and go and we wouldn't even think about it.


So maybe I didn't do so well. Let's see what 2012 will bring:

1. Pay off more debt. Losing salary due to 6 weeks of non-paid maternity leave will put a damper on that, but starting in September (when my paychecks go back to normal) hopefully we'll be able to put all of the money I make teaching piano lessons towards it.

2. Declutter. Dudes, I found this decluttering calendar and I'm going to declutter in 2012. It's going to be dorky but it's going to be awesome. I invite you to join me. I have even gotten an early start and will post about it soon.

3. Survive the "Terrible 2s" and the first 8 months of the "Trying 3s": Round 1 (Colin). I hope to come back unscathed.

4. Be more generous. Not necessarily with money because we can't offer more right now. I'm talking about being more generous with my time, my love, and my heart. I often find myself selfish when others are so generous to me. I want to be more giving. There will be a time when I can also afford to be generous with my money, which I also will enjoy.

5. Make time for Rocket. I hate to admit it, but there are many days when I go to bed and realize that I haven't given the pooch very many pets or belly rubs or ear scratches or ball tosses or chases around the yard. He's my "first born" and I don't like knowing he's been put on the back burner that's behind another back burner.

Simply Music

I've been teaching piano lessons for about 6 years now. Boring, traditional piano lessons. After co-teaching a group piano lesson class during summer school, I looked into changing up my methods a little more, moving away from private lessons and towards group lessons. I "researched" group lessons on google to try to find ideas of how it worked. Now, I put researched in quotations because it last all of a half hour before I stumbled upon Simply Music.

In a nutshell, Simply Music is a non-traditional way of teaching piano lessons. We teach our children how to talk before we teach them the ABCS, spelling, and sentence structure. But when we teach piano lessons, we jump right into reading music instead of just letting students play.

Look at this:
There's a lot going on there. Straight lines, curved lines, and each line has a different letter, and oh by the way the lines on the top and the lines on the bottom don't have the same letters, symbols, numbers, notes that look different, letters... A lot to learn! And students learn all of that in the first 6 months or so in traditional lessons.

In the first year of Simply Music piano lessons (which are in a group setting), students don't even learn how to read music. They just play it! In the first 3 months, they have a dozen songs from various genres that they can play by memory. They even leave the first lesson knowing how to play a song. And that's what they really want to do. They want to play, not learn!

Simply Music is not sold in stores (infomercial alert!). You have to sign up on their website to be trained, send them a bunch of money, and then you get the training materials to learn how to play and teach the Simply Music way.

Through the website, I found a local Simply Music piano teacher and attended a free information session she held in her in-home "studio." I was hooked on the program. I knew I would be. She told me I'd definitely have to raise my rates by about $10 per lesson per student. This scares the crap out of me, but she reassured me that it will work because 1) students in group settings get a longer lesson 2) students get books and DVDs to practice with at home (which is an additional fee) 3) students will progress so much faster than students learning traditionally, which makes students and parents very happy 4) students will be motivated to play. Instead of that fight to go practice, there's a fight to STOP practicing, which, again, makes parents very happy.

Needless to say, I'm very excited about starting the process. I sent in my application and my money today and look forward to receiving a package in the mail soon. I am ready to use my time more efficiently and make more money to supplement our incomes. In turn, hopefully I can push our DMP payments to the max because every penny of what I earn teaching piano lessons will be going towards that.

Debt: 13 months later

It has been a year since we started our Debt Management Program (DMP). I'm so happy to report that, after this month's payment to Family Means and an extra $800ish on top of that from summer school money, our credit card debt total will be down to $26,000. That's $9,000 less than where we started.

Plus, we were able to pay off a few other things this year: one of Kevin's student loans (3 more left between the two of us), a line of credit, and by the end of this month, the Explorer. There might be more; it's just that they're a distant memory so I can't remember them!

We haven't put any extra money into our DMP yet since we were focusing on building up our emergency fund and paying off other non-credit card debts. However, now that those are paid off, we can shift our focus onto the DMP and really get things rolling. Hopefully by next summer we'll be able to say our debt is less than $15,000!

We couldn't have done it without Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. We created a budget we actually stick to. I'm even a huge dork because I use a calculator at the grocery store each week to make sure I don't go over my allotted $100. We don't splurge on anything. We talk about where our money will go each month. It's not an argument; it's not a "we'll never get out of debt!" crying fit I used to throw on occasion. It's marked progress each month when we erase old balances and write smaller ones on our whiteboard.

It's slow, but it's sure, and it's good.

Snow Day

It's inevitable. Every March, the snow starts melting and you think spring is right around the corner. Then BAM! Another snowstorm just to bamboozle you right out of your spring jacket. And so it was.

School was canceled today, so Colin and I stayed home. We didn't do much. We played inside and outside. Colin wanted to stalk the plow around the neighborhood in his car stroller thing, but I didn't allow it. I spent a few minutes here and there designing his birthday invitations. I will reveal them once they are distributed in the mail. All I can say is I love them and thank you to Leah for her expertise in deleting backgrounds from pictures and her general designing knowledge :)

After lunch and nap, we played some more. Then we went to Walmart to pick up the invitations, which got tossed at the store because the writing on the top got cut off at printing. Back to the drawing board on that one.

After Walmart, we went to the bank where I deposited a good amount of piano lesson money into our Explorer loan account. I hope on all my hopes that I can continue to use piano lesson money towards the Explorer for the next two months and squeak a few extra hundred dollars in before summer comes along and I don't have students anymore. Being that there's only two months left, it won't be much, but every little bit helps! I just wish I would have thought of doing this sooner. I guess I did, but just didn't commit to it.

Kevin was home when we got home from the bank, so I tweaked the invite and ordered it again. I haven't gotten them yet because Walmart's photo department is closed for the night, but I'm super anxious to see them!

Although it was uber productive, I hate snow days this time of year. I want warm and sunshiney days. Enough of winter.

Life's Little Updates

(poop free)
Debt:
Well, we're not getting back as much money from taxes as we hoped. Still, it's enough to reduce our car debt by 25% so who am I to complain? I've also decided that all piano money from now until forever will go directly to the car payment. I'm teaching 5 weeks of summer school this summer. We were hoping that money could go to Family Means, but it looks like at least the first check, if not also the second, will be going towards the car. After the car is paid off, all extra money will go to Family Means and we can get the ball REALLY rolling.

Piano lessons:
I'm kind of sick and tired of teaching them, to be quite honest. Right now I have 2.5 students! The .5 student takes lessons every other week. What's the point? I mean, IF everyone shows up, that's $125 a month, which isn't a lot, but it goes a long way. However, a lesson or two get canceled every now and then and it's less than that. I wanted to teach until our debt was paid off, but now I'm not sure if I'll be teaching at all next year.

Running:
What running? Good God, the Triathlon is 2 and a half months away! Why would I bother to train for it? Oh yeah...because I'm sick and tired of running on the treadmill. I was thisclose to gearing up to try running outside, but I'm currently sickish AGAIN! I'm beginning to think it's allergy related since it happened in the spring and the fall. I lose my voice and everything. Going to bed by 9:00 is my treatment, and it may be working, because today I had more voice. In all honesty, I can run 2 miles straight off the bat, so that's a big start. I just have to pump up the tires on my bike and hit the pavement. With upper 40s in the forecast, I may be able to try soon.

School:
My classroom is infested with ringworm and lice. YAY! The worst part? The girl, E, who has ringworm has had it for a LONG time and we just found out about today! Her brother has had it for a month. Yesterday, we had spring pictures at school and E said her head itched. With the lice outbreak I'm also dealing with, I decided to lift her hair where she said it itched and noticed a BALD SPOT! I had no idea what it was, but thought maybe it was psoriasis or something. I never thought to think of freakin' ringworm! And I touched it! That stuff is contagious, and she was in school today!

The lice. Oh the lice. R has had lice 4 or 5 times this school year. Her mom is pretty diligent about treating it, but it seems to come back every few months or so. I've completely limited the use of my listening center. Then, yesterday while the students were lined up to get their pictures taken, one of my aides said that C told her her head itched. So I went and looked at the top of her head and I could see the nits. I gave her a VIP pass to get her picture taken first and I scooted her to the office. She went home yesterday and came back today. I sent her straight back to the office to get checked and sure enough, they were still there, so she went home again.

::heebie jeebies::

Other than that, and the political uncomfortableness, school is fine. We got a "contract" to sign today, but it's more like a "you-have-a-job-until-we-decide-you-DON'T-have-a-job" type of deal. We'll find out by June 1st if any lay-offs have to be made.

I hear the kindergarten class coming up to 1st grade next year is a trainwreck. So that will be fun!

Spring break is next week!!! YES! I have no plans. My previous plan (potty training) got canceled :D So my schedule is open to fun times with the little dude. Hopefully the weather will cooperate for us to be outside.

Picture Ketchup ;)

Over the last few weeks, we've done some fun things and celebrated another birthday.

A few Saturdays ago, Kevin suggested we go to the MN Children's Museum. I'm all for an outing any day, so of course I said YES to it. There aren't many times when Kevin wants to trek it to a busy public place! We chose to go on a Sunday as soon as they opened at 9, hoping to avoid the post-church crowd. It worked! Colin got to explore the museum to his heart's content. He even got a long turn driving the bus.
My son as a masterpieceAnd playing in the water learning about hydraulics and whatnot:
The museum was running a special where the year long membership was $10 off, so we partook in the deal knowing we'd go enough to make it worth it. We were planning on getting a membership for Colin's birthday anyway. We left the museum at 11:00 just as it was getting busy.

It was wacky hair day at daycare. Speaking of masterpieces, check out this sweet faux-hawk!
80's style side view:In case you're wondering how I accomplished that feat, all I did was wash and condition his hair on Sunday night and put it up in the faux hawk and let it dry like that. The next morning it was still sticking up (although the back flattened out, obviously). I was pretty proud.

Last weekend, on Saturday, it was Rocket's 4th birthday. Hard to believe that our little pooch is off to preschool next year ;) We celebrated as we always do. Frosty Paws ice cream...
...and party hats
We've been making an effort to go to church more regularly. Colin has gotten a few compliments about how well-behaved he is at church. We've learned that we have to sit so we're surrounded by people so he has a lot to look at. If we sit in the back, he sees wide open spaces and doesn't want to sit with us. Today wasn't as great as previous Sundays, but he still did okay.

Also, want to know something that borders on miraculous? My former piano student's dad owed me $220 for lessons that went back to a year ago. I FINALLY got a check from him yesterday and it went straight to one of our debts. We'll be able to pay that one off this month (!!) and move on to paying off our Explorer. Hopefully we'll get a good amount of tax money back and be able to make a big payment on it. I really hope we can pay it off before summer. Then my summer school money will more than double our monthly payment to Family Means, which will be amazing.

The rest of the day will consist of finishing up nap time and then playing outside! It's 44* right now and the icicles hanging off the roof are dripping and disappearing :D

Life's Little Updates

It has been awhile since I did a grand ol' life-in-general update that doesn't include the happenings of the boy child, so here goes:

Running: I haven't run since Sept. 25th due to my cough/ribcage pain/bronchitis I've had since Sept. 19th (not that I'm keeping track). I finally went to the chiropractor a week ago and I feel like $750,000. That last $250,000 will come when I'm finally done coughing. I'm just glad I can read a story to my sweet first graders without coughing through it now. I should have gone to see Dr. S. a long time ago, and I'm considering seeing him another time to really knock the crap out of my system. I do want to start running again once this cold is gone. I'm just nervous about running outside in the cold weather. Part of me thinks I should join Snap again, and actually go 3x a week so I can get my Health Partners discount.

Debt: People, I've never felt so at ease about being $32,549 in credit card debt. Yes, that is the current total. Why do I feel so good about it? I'll tell you why.
#1. Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. THE best $100 we've ever spent. Should've spent it years ago. In two months' time, it has more than paid for itself in the amount of money we've saved using Dave's techniques, advice, etc. Even if you aren't in debt and just want to live feeling more at peace financially, you should check it out.
#2. A budget. We've never had one. We thought budgets stifled fun. We found out that they are a great tool, and heck--obviously we've had way too much fun in the past. It's time to get serious anyway. We don't feel deprived. We feel in control.
#3. Envelope system. We have an envelope for gas and groceries. A certain amount of money goes into those envelopes--based on the budget--and that's what we have to spend. We get $100 for groceries every week. It doesn't seem like much, but e-mealz coupled with a few coupons stocks the cupboards. I'm the dork that punches numbers into a calculator while shopping to make sure I don't go over the $100. And I always save about $5 to buy milk from KwikTrip ($2.14 per gallon!) halfway through the week.
#4. At the end of December (or maybe before!) we'll have our baby step 1 ($1,000 in the emergency fund) finished. We actually just started putting money in our emergency fund last month, so when it's all said and done, it only will take us 3 months to finish that step. In January, we can start putting that couple hundred extra dollars a month towards our debt. This is huge!
#5. We're seeing huge decreases in our debt. We keep track of our debt balances on a whiteboard in our office. If I look back to June, our total was over $35,000. Now it's down to almost $32,000! We get our statement from Family Means every month, and some balances go down by $300. My most favorite thing is when I can change a number in the thousands place :)
#6. Credit card, shred it card. We have none--we shredded them all--and never looked back. LOVE the freedom.
#7. Paying cash rocks my socks.

School: I still have the sweetest class. I don't have huge behavior issues like I did last year. They're not perfect, but they surely aren't driving me bonkers like my class (read: a certain student and all the chaos that revolved around him) last year did.

This weekend, Colin and I are headed to Roch. I'm visiting my girlyfriends, and C and I are staying at my parents' to hang out. It's deer hunting weekend, so it'll be crazyfuntimes. I haven't partook in this annual tradition for probably a decade. I don't hunt deer. I hunt craft shows and the mall. Only this time, it's only window shopping.

"What I Learned on Summer Vacation" by AJ

[in the "spirit" of the going back to work tomorrow...ugh...I've decided to write a 5 paragraph essay]

I learned many things over summer vacation. I learned more about money, I learned an undefined amount about Colin, and learned about myself.

Kev and I started to really dig into getting out of debt. We signed up for a debt management program and we're 2 payments into it and we're seeing our balances slowly but surely decreasing. We're going to start Dave Ramsay's Financial Peace University online this week to further our money smarts and hopefully progress through the program faster. We also started e-mealz and we're loving it! Most of the recipes are pretty good. There have been a few we didn't even attempt (pecan encrusted fish), a few we regretted attempting (sausage and crab gumbo), and a few we absolutely loved (grilled chicken and veggie tortellini, chicken lo mein). We're spending less at the grocery store for good food and a better variety of dishes. We're eating more veggies and trying new things.

Oh my gosh, where do I start to even delve into how much I learned about Colin this summer? Good gracious my boy is amazing. He kept me on the go all summer, and you don't hear me complaining about it. He absorbed so much knowledge this summer--about trucks, about play, about playgrounds (climbing, sliding, digging, getting dirty), about books, about so much more. He learned sign language with great interest. He's captivated when I show him new signs and loves to try them out. His vocabulary skyrocketed. He skinned up both big toes, fell down more times I can count, and got bit by mosquitoes just as much. He attempted potty training. He went to swimming lessons. He threw his fair share of tantrums, but very quickly learned that throwing them does NOT mean that Mommy will take him outside. Asking is a much better way. He's using his pacifier only for sleeping purposes. He is becoming so much more independent. At his new daycare's picnic on Thursday, he marched right inside with the rest of the kids to play a "go fishing" game while Kevin and I stayed outside with the rest of the parents. It was almost like sending him to kindergarten. No tears though :)

I also learned so much about myself as well. I learned how to handle Colin's more challenging behaviors in a calm, loving way. I learned how to stand my ground. I hope this carries out to the school year with my students. I learned that Colin can do more than I thought he could. He can help me cook by crushing crackers, he can help me pick up toys, he can put laundry down the laundry chute, and not because he has to do it, but because he wants to do it! It's fun! I learned that I can run. No more excuses--I'm doing it. I made a commitment and bought myself a pair of decent running shoes since I've been having a bit of ankle pain. I'm hoping the shoes will make a world of difference, and end up being a great investment in the long run (compared to a possible doctors appointment, physical therapy, MRIs, etc not being great investments). I'm not going to let the ankle pain become an excuse. I've even found out that there is a 5K in our town every MONTH from October through March that I may sign up for. I learned that I only want to teach summer school just through June next summer. My time with Colin is too valuable. The most important lesson I've learned about myself is that I'm doing a pretty darn good job of being a mom. It took 16 months, but I finally feel comfortable in my "mom" skin.

I am so lucky to be fortunate enough to have an entire summer to spend with Colin. What he and I learned together was incredible. Our relationship is full of more understanding and patience with each other. 301 days from now, we can start another summer together. I hope I learn more next summer than I did this one.

Confession (update pt. 5)

I'm not saying this to put all our cards out on the table and reveal too much to our readers. I'm not saying this to receive handouts. I'm not saying this for pity. I'm not saying this so you can judge us.

I'm saying this so we can be accountable. I'm saying this so that we can be proud of a HUGE accomplishment when everything is all said and done. I'm saying this so we might inspire another family to do the same. I'm saying this because it's on our minds daily and when it's over, we'll feel so at peace.

We're in $35,000+ debt. Credit cards only. Not including student loans or mortgage. You might ask us...WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING? Believe me, we were thinking the best we could. But when...

You graduate from college in August 2004, and apply for jobs you don't even get an interview for, and instead you sub. And you sub some more. And you work at the YMCA. And you teach piano lessons. But you don't get health insurance, so you pay for your own. And then you DO get a full time teaching job in 2007. And you teach summer school. And piano lessons. And you cancel your gym membership. And you have a baby. And daycare costs $720/month. It adds up. And it adds up quickly.

Sure, we had some fun with those credit cards. We went to Jamaica. But I wouldn't trade that for anything. It was something we'd never done. And we wanted to do it before we had kids. And who knows when the next "just us" vacation will be. That vacation was invaluable to us. Sure, next time we hope we'll have a vacation fund of some sort to actually pay for a vacation instead of racking up our credit card bill. We didn't spent outrageously. Look in my closet if you don't believe me. I HATE about 80% of the clothes that are in it. Either they don't fit or they are old.

We tried the Dave Ramsay snowball, and we were doing so well. But then Colin came along and daycare expenses put our momentum at an absolute halt. Hamsters on a wheel--that's how we felt with our credit cards.

Now that you *maybe* understand, you ask, "NOW WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?" Because, obviously, something needs to be done.

And to that I say, "Not what are we going to do, but what did we do?

Through work, we have an Employee Assistance Program through Family Means in Stillwater, MN. We saw a credit counselor there who helped us "balance our budget." He gave us some tips. And he set us up with the Debt Management Program (DMP). It isn't a debt settlement program (which I understand can be a bit sketchy). What happens is that our credit cards get closed. And we're okay with this because we really don't use our cards very much anymore anyway. Our interest rates get lowered to INSANE APRs. What was once a 20% APR is now a 7% APR. So that right there cuts down A LOT of our debt. And now instead of sending money to our creditors, we send it to Family Means and our counselor disperses it to them using Dave Ramsay's snowball. All clients get put on a five year plan to pay their debts off. Ours is more like 53 months (4.5 years) because our debt isn't TOO high. But then we're always going to pay a few $100 more a month to get it down faster. Our credit scores may go down, but only by 10-40 points (more on the 10ish side for us because, again, our numbers aren't THAT high). And then they'll go back up again.

We are SO excited for this. We left our appointment feeling less burdened already. Kevin told me I should have convinced him earlier. I told him he should just listen to me the first time :) We're set to start in July.

I plan on letting you know when good things happen with this. I want to share this accomplishment with you. Maybe if you're in the same situation, it will help or inspire you.