Celebrating Labor Day

Is it bad that we barely moved from the sofa all day yesterday? Jace was with his dad for Labor Day, and Neil was at the lake with his friend's family for the weekend, so it was just the two of us. We thoroughly enjoyed all ten episodes of the Band of Brothers marathon on Spike TV. We watched more TV in one day than we will watch in the next three weeks.

That's not to say that we didn't do anything all day; at least a few chores did get checked off the list, so the day wasn't a total waste. Lawn mowing (Dave), laundry (me), bill paying (Dave), grocery shopping (me)-- but that is about the extent of it, and that was only because the wonders of techonology (DVR) allow us to hit pause and get some work done in between the stretches of relaxation. Dave actually owns this miniseries on DVD, but we still watched it. My viewing was fairly intermittent, between snoozing (and then waking up and asking Dave what happened... can you believe that he refused to tell me after the fourth time I woke up and asked???), reading and halfway paying attention. It was a very enjoyable day, after a busy weekend spent at my parents' house, and then a friend's wedding reception Sunday night.

It was great to see all my siblings this weekend, (except for youngest brother Thomas, who was working) we only get together a few times a year. Saturday night the grandkids found a couple of hats, and had some fun:





I was so happy to kiss and hug and snuggle with the two newest additions to our family - my niece Eva, who is the only girl with all of these boys -- she is BEAUTIFUL!





And my newest nephew, Isaac, who I kept calling Winston Churchill, with his serious look. He is absolutely adorable, with the most animated expresssions I've ever seen on a baby as young as he is. You can see more pics of him here on my sis Tara and her hubby Luke's photo blog.



Had a great weekend, then back to Springpatch for a day of relaxation before this short work week, which already started out at a crazy pace with a Tuesday that was definitely a Monday!

"Act Your Wage"

If you are familiar with this phrase and the man who uses it, then you already know what I'm going to write about today. Although I've mentioned it briefly a couple of times in previous posts, I haven't gone into much detail about it. But it has been a part of our daily lives for the past couple of months now- we have been transforming the way we handle our finances, our spending habits, and our everyday life, and it has been amazing to see the difference.

I've never been accused of being frugal - anyone who knows me is aware that I'm a spender. My dad is good about saving, as are my siblings - I fell far from the tree in this respect, I guess. Don't get me wrong -- I'm not broke, I've never been through bankruptcy, or really suffered through any dire financial straights. I just like to have a good time and enjoy life, certainly more than I like to save money. The majority of my expenditures aren't on BIG things, but those little everyday things. Trips to Target can easily result in a receipt totaling $200+, and for what? I go to Target with a short list of necessities and come out with a gazillion awesome things, most of which I didn't really need. And clothes? Shoes? We don't even need to go there. I have always told my husband I'm "saving him money" since I love to buy secondhand from the higher end resale boutiques here in town, but believe me, I still can spend the dough.

And likewise, I married someone who also likes to enjoy life. We both have a history of being spenders; he is more of a big ticket type of guy, and has had a Harley, a Jeep, an ATV, and a bass boat (he sold all those boy toys after we were married, though) in just the few years I have known him. So, between the two of us, we certainly have our work cut out for us. We both have known for sometime that we really need to crack down on our debt, pay off the credit card balances that we have, and get in better financial shape. But in spite of our resolve to do better, things really didn't change. As they say, how can you do the same thing over and over again, yet expect to get different results?

But then along came Dave-- Dave Ramsey, that is. And for two non-budgeters, this has been a life changing experience. Bye bye, debit card and hello, cash! Bye bye, impulse spending, and helloooooo, planning!

All I've used for the past two months is cold, hard cash, with the exception of the debit card for planned purchases, such as my every-6-week hair appointment. But for the weekly things, we now have cash. I have $100 to spend every week on groceries, and I've done a great job with that - we have all that we need, and I don't get all the extras that we really don't need anyway. I make a list, and I stick to it- we still get lots of the yummy things we like to eat, but also we're eating healthier because we're eating at home more instead of eating out once or twice a week.

We use cash for gas money (no more convenience of "pay at the pump", darn!) and we each have $25 lunch money each week -- this is to cover our lunches out, or if we want to get dinner out in the evenings. The lunch thing hasn't been as big of a deal for me, because I bring my lunch most days anyway, but I think Dave has had to adjust. Luckily, he still has client lunches out sometimes.

This has been a huge change for us - just in how we are looking at our money. You think a lot harder about buying something if you know that you only have x dollars for the week or month in that category, and after it is gone then it's gone. So there have been some things we've decided not to do or buy, and BD (Before Dave) we wouldn't have thought twice about it. Just slap it on the debit card (or worse, credit card) and there ya go. Figure it out at the end of the month, when you're paying all the bills, and wonder why you don't have enough money to cover everything.

But for the first time in my life, I am looking at budgeting and finances in a different way. I don't feel anymore like I'm almost punishing myself by not buying things that I want, but rather I'm helping myself by saving and planning. We ARE acting our wage, and we do have a plan. And it is not an easy plan, but it is worth it. Every bit of our income is allocated to something each month, so no dropping $200 at Target. We now put a monthly amount aside for all of those yearly big expenses (vet bill, vacation, home repairs, Christmas, etc) so when the time comes then we will have money for them, and not have to dip into savings or worse, pull out the credit card. And Dave (my Dave) is the spreadsheet king, so he is awesome at tracking all of this.

You may be thinking "This is such a drastic change - how will they ever be able to stick with this!?" and it is a valid question. All I can say is that it really has been a mindset change, and when you start seeing the results then it is easier to keep plugging away. And there is wiggle room in this plan, with a "blow fund" each month, where you have extra money (extra cash, in an envelope) allocated so you don't "blow" your budget when unplanned expenses come up. So that does help.

Plus, we are working at this as a team, and a lot of the time we "blame" Dave Ramsey for not "letting" us buy/do those things that one or both of those would like, when before it would have been one person wanting something and the other saying no. Just like that whole Martha's Vineyard day in August, where Dave was wanting to rent a motorcycle or Jeep to drive around on the island all day. When he was considering it, I said something like, "Well... that would be so cool, but I wonder what Dave Ramsey would say..." (not that I didn't already KNOW what Dave Ramsey would say -- "What!?!? $200 for a motorcycle for one day!?!")

And Dave thought about it for a minute, and then agreed that even though he REALLY would've liked to rent the motorcycle, we didn't really need to spend money on that. And he decided it without me saying "Honey, that's not in the budget, blah blah blah"... so that was it, we didn't rent the motorcycle, The End. (Well, except for the miserable day of riding the hot, smelly crowded bus all around the island, but I already told that story in a previous post!) And there have been other things that I have wanted, and I get to hear that reminder from Dave, that "Dave Ramsey won't let us"... Dave Ramsey, the guy you love to hate!! But seriously, it is just a good way to keep in our mind what we are working towards, when before it was easy just to think that we had money in our account, so why not buy what we wanted?

I have to give (my) Dave the majority of the credit for our success so far, in that he is keeping us on track, and that is a HUGE part of the process. It takes both of us to not spend, but it also takes time and work to make our money and budget work for us, and he is really the one that is doing all of that. We can see our debt shrinking, and that is an awesome feeling; we have a spreadsheet that he downloaded from the Dave Ramsey website that shows when we will be debt free - cars paid off, credit cards paid off, second mortgage paid off, ALL of it. And it is not in the too distant future, at all!

We are well into the first steps of the debt-free program, and once we do pay off our debt, then we will be able to grow our savings account,
ramp up our retirement accounts, start paying down our mortgage, and all of those other things that we really hadn't thought about being able to do with our current financial status. We have agreed that when Dave's current car goes to Neil when he turns 16 in May 2010, then we will be getting a car that we can pay cash for, not another car payment. Down the road we may trade it in for a better car, but again, not one with an accompanying loan payment.

Living within our means, and acting our wage. It is a pretty cool thing for us, and just wanted to share. Hope everyone has an enjoyable and safe Labor Day weekend!

Go Cards!

Saturday night's game against the Nationals was our last of three Cards games this season, and it was a great game! This was actually Jace's first St. Louis Cards game, and he had a blast. He has been to several of our local double A Cardinal games here in Springpatch, but I guess we haven't made it to a St. Louis one until now. This is the first year that we have bought tickets to games, although Dave did get four tix through work and took Neil, Paige and me to a game a couple of years ago.

Jace and Neil have been so busy with their own baseball practice and games here in Springfield this summer; they couldn't go with us to the June game that we had planned on, and we ended up taking my dad and brother instead. So I was very glad that this weekend's game worked out for both of them to be able to go.





We arrived at Busch Stadium almost two hours early, hoping to see team batting practice, but Saturday night was photo night with the players. While we didn't get there nearly early enough to get down on the field and get photos, Neil and Jace did walk around some beforehand. They were interviewed by the Team Fredbird girls while out walking around - Dave happened to look up at the tv screen near our seats and there they were!


The game was terrific, and the Cards were goin' crazy with the hits (this time it was Holliday and Rasmus, and not Pujols). The game was a blowout, with the Cards winning 9-2. Jace took a ton of pics of the field, trying to get a shot of one of the big hitters as they came up to the plate.





After the game we headed to stay at my parents' on Saturday night. While Dave and Neil slept in on Sunday morning, Jace was up early to see if he could score a ride on one of the horses when his Mimi went to feed them. Grandpa Nick put the lead on Cinco, their calm 10-year-old horse, and Jace took a few turns around the corral.







It was a great weekend, and Jace was hoping we'd be back for another Cards game this year. I'm hoping we will see the Cards go all the way to the World Series again; if they do, though, we will be watching it on the TV here at home. But we will definitely plan on going to see some games next year with the boys, in between their crazy summer schedule of baseball games and other activities here at home.

Moving Day

Whew... Heading back to work almost felt like a break,compared to the whirlwind we've been in the last four days! I wanted to get this posted last night, but instead needed to get some domestic duties done - figured laundry, dishes and cleaning were more important than blogging!

Here was one big part of the weekend, loading up the car and taking Paige to where she will be spending the next four years immersed in higher education:



But more on that in a minute. First, we kicked off our crazy weekend on Wednesday night with a celebration of Jace's birthday and Paige's transition to college. Dave fixed dinner for the five of us and our friends Dan, Gail and their kids. It was great to have all the kids together the night before Paige left for college; we know we'll still see her often, of course, but it is still somewhat sad to know that she won't be just 15 minutes away anymore.


As for Jace, he is now officially one year closer to being a teenager and, as he likes to remind me, one year closer to having that cell phone glued to his ear (or more likely glued to his fingers, thanks to texting). That's his big thing-- can't wait to be old enough to have his own phone. (Here he is with his buddy, Connor, who also has the meanest parents ever, just like me, and won't let him have his own cell phone yet either!)




On Thursday, Dave had a work project that was 2 hours southeast of Springfield, and would not be home until 7pm. So I worked most of the day on Thursday and then met Paige at our house about 4:30 to ride with her to KC. We are so lucky that our good friends Garry and Heather live about 15 minutes away from the WJC campus, so they will be right there if Paige needs anything. And, we will be lucky to have a place to stay when we visit Paige, just like we did on Thursday night. It was great to catch up with them, and enjoy some dessert and drinks with them before Dave arrived about 10:30 that night. Then it was off to bed shortly thereafter, since we had to be at the campus at 7AM.

Jewell is an absolutely beautiful campus, and it was so interesting to me to see the obviously long-standing traditions at the college, and how intimate the entire college experience will be for Paige. With only 300+ incoming freshmen, and 1200 students total, it will be a very individualized experience for her and totally different from the college experience at a big university like Missouri State, where her dad, mom and I all attended. I found myself so excited for her, for all of the people she will meet and the things she will experience over the next four years.

One of the traditions for incoming freshmen is the walk around the quad; they will do this again in cap and gown when they graduate in four years, as well. The walk started with a group (gaggle? chorus?) of bagpipers, followed by the faculty, and then the students, who were all hyped up about their first day.







This took place at 3pm, after we had spent eight hours getting Paige moved into her room (you will notice there are no pictures of the dorm room - it was rather old and nondescript, although it was one of the bigger rooms on her floor), going to lunch with her and her mom/stepdad, and generally just enjoying the campus and all of the activity. The walk and the welcoming ceremony were the last two things of the day before we left, and her dad was in pretty good spirits, considering he was saying goodbye to his little girl.

After the walk around the quad, we all crowded into the chapel to watch the matriculation (I type that like I knew what the heck it meant before last Friday- nope, I didn't, but to bring you up to speed it means "to enroll or begin at a university") ceremony of welcoming the freshmen class of 2013 to William Jewell.

The speaker giving the address will be Paige's Arts and Literature professor in her Oxbridge program, and he was such an interesting individual. I don't if I've ever been so captivated by an address at a program like this- most of the time one just listens, waiting for the address and, quite truthfully, the entire ceremony to be over. But this professor was just so interesting, with a quiet and eloquent diction, a dry sense of humor, and a absolutely fascinating and insightful manner. Paige had already met him when she enrolled, and I look forward to hearing about her classes with him. I have no doubt that he will be one of her favorites, because he will challenge her and expect top notch performance from her and all of his students.

After the ceremony, we headed back to Paige's dorm to say goodbye and let her get acclimated to her new surroundings. The orientation was an all-weekend event, designed to get the students ready to start school on Monday and to keep them busy and not give them enough time to think about missing their families. I know Paige will be fine, and will jump in with both feet, as she does with everything in life. Her dad has already talked to her a couple of times since Friday, and I talked to her last night. It has been non-stop activity and she has already made a ton of new friends. We can't wait to see her in October for Parents' Weekend, and hear all about her first six weeks.



The rest of our weekend was just as busy, with a trip to my folks and to St. Louis to see the Cards play on Saturday night. Jace and Neil had a great time, it was Jace's first St. Louis Cardinals game! More pics on the rest of the weekend very soon.

11 Years Ago Today

Ok, make that 11 years ago yesterday, since I didn't finish this last night... guess that doesn't make me Mother of the Year, since I couldn't even finish the post about Jace's birthday ON his birthday! But the day was so long, and the sofa was so comfortable, I fell asleep without finishing several things that I meant to do. And, Jace was not here with me last night to celebrate, since he and his dad share the same birthday. They had their plans last night, and he and I are celebrating his big day today, in addition to his first day in 5th grade.

Happy birthday to my son, Jace Nicholas, who so often just makes my day with his sweetness, his humor and his thoughtfulness. He spends some of his time with his dad each week, so I don't get to see him every single day; that's something I never planned on, when I held him in my arms as a baby and thought of him growing up. But life doesn't always turn out like we plan, and we have to make the best of what we do have.

And what I have is an awesome boy... someone who is growing up so fast but still wants to kiss and hug me each day... who is on the verge of liking all the cool music, tv shows, clothing styles and all those pre-adolescent things, but still has some stuffed animals (including a couple of mine from childhood) that he sleeps with at night... who can drive me CRAZY some days but still makes me want to hug him to pieces at bedtime as I kiss him good night and we say our prayers.

Happy birthday, honey. Looking forward to another great year for you, one that will fly by way too fast, just like the past 11 have... I love you!

Heeeere's Johnny! (Uh, who?)

As I was surfing the web via blackberry in bed this AM while hubby was already up and getting ready for work, an article caught my eye: For Class of '13, Times are a changin'.

If you've never seen the "College Freshman Mindset List" put out by Beloit College, it is very entertaining. Most students entering college for the first time in just a few weeks were born in the year 1991. Two Beloit professors have put out this annual list since 1998, as a cultural touchstone of just how quickly frames of reference change from generation to generation.

A quote from the MSNBC article: "This is not scientific research we're doing here, and some of the most important research you get is the blank stare," said Ron Nief, emeritus public affairs director and one of the co-creators of the list. "My favorite one, when you say 'Here's Johnny,' and they didn't know who Johnny Carson was."

For these incoming college freshman, (which includes my stepdaughter Paige), many of the following are a reality:

1. They have never used a card catalog to find a book.
2. They have never had to "shake down" an oral thermometer.
3. Miles Davis, Michael Landon, Dr. Seuss, Gene Roddenberry and Freddie Mercury have always been dead.
4. Mike Tyson has always been a felon.
5. Tattoos have always been very chic and highly visible.
6. Bobby Cox has always managed the Atlanta Braves, and Phil Jackson has always been coaching championship basketball. (I personally have no idea about these, just wanted to include them for my husband, my BILs and any other sports fans who might read my blog.)
7. Ozzy Osborne has always been coming back.
8. Keving Costner has always been Dancing with Wolves, especially on cable.
9. Everyone has always known what the evening news was before the Evening News came on.
10. There has always been a computer in the Oval Office.
11. Earvin "Magic" Johnson has always been HIV-positive.
12. They have never understood the meaning of R.S.V.P. (caveat: I would argue that this is not the case for all college freshman (including Paige!); only those who have not been well-raised by their parents!)
13. Smokers have never been promoted as an economic force that deserves respect. (I don't remember that, either, but I know it was the case when I was younger... But not in the last several years, for certain!)
14. We have always watched wars, coups and police arrests unfold on television in real time.
15. The Green Giant has always been Shrek, not the big guy picking vegetables.

Check out the article here, and it will give you a link to the full list of 75 items. Some of those are unbelievable, to think that this is the only reality these 18-year-olds have ever known. Is anyone besides me feelin' darn OLD!? The times, they ARE a-changin'.

Two of my faves were the one about the Green Giant/Shrek (remember the TV jingle? "Ho ho ho, Green Giant"), and the one about Freddie Mercury, et al. It reminded me of my youngest brother (age 22) this summer, when he had just heard Queen and Freddie Mercury for the first time, and thought that the classic music was "so cool".

Take a look at the full list and let me know...what were some of your favorites?

Guess What We're Doing This Weekend?

Nothing, nada, the big fat goose egg, zip, zilch, zero. And I'm ding dang darn excited about it, people!

Looking forward to enjoying some downtime with the kids, and watching Neil play in a baseball tournament Saturday night. Cleaning out the garage and doing some yard work are also on the agenda, but that's so low key, comparatively, to the last month's flurry of activities, it will actually be relaxing to do those chores. Cheers and TGIF to all!