Day 216 and Self Talk

As most of you already know, I'm a big fan of Dr. Becky Bailey. One of the things that she teaches in the classes that I've been to and the DVD set I've been watching is that the things we say to our children in times of crisis are what becomes their self talk when they get older. So it's what they say to themselves in times of crisis. That's a very scary thought, isn't it? I know what MY self talk is like and I'd hate to think of what my own children's self talk is like because God knows I wasn't by any means perfect as a parent of young children (who is?). Anyway, that's something that I'm working on in my own life right now. When I make a mistake or I'm in a big crisis instead of beating myself up and berating myself endlessly about it, I'm trying to learn to take a deep breath, say to myself "I am safe, I am calm, I can handle this". If it's a crisis of my own doing, I remind myself that everyone makes mistakes and the important thing to do is learn from it. Now naturally, this doesn't always work to calm me down, but it has helped me immensely. It's also made me incredibly aware of what I say to my children or the children I care for in times of crisis. You spilled milk? It's okay, it was an accident, let's just get a rag and clean it up. You broke a toy? Is there any way that we can fix it?

So we're in a financial crisis right now. My normal reaction to this is to beat myself up over all the mistakes I've made, to blame myself because I've had a low enrollment through the summer months, and to just deny to myself that there even is a problem. But instead, I've taken a deep breath, told myself that we are okay, we are safe, and we will get through this (with God). We've been behind on things (much more so than we are right now) and got caught up and we will again. I'd like to ask for prayers for us as we refocus and try to get back on track. We've slipped some the last few weeks and it's time to straighten up and fly right! LOL! I've been listening to Dave Ramsey CD's today as I've worked on stuff around the house. So some goals to help us out:

1. No eating out or having Tom bring home Sonic drinks until everything is caught back up.
2. List those books on half.com tomorrow to try to get a little bit going in the EF.
3. Get a budget ready for the rest of August and September. I'd like to have August's done by Monday or Tuesday (Tom gets paid on Friday), and September by the end of next week.
4. Take $12.50 out of each of the two parent checks I will get next week and add it to the EF. I will account for that on Friday. We'll also be adding $50 from Tom's paycheck. That will get our baby EF up to $100 by the end of the week.
5. Post a debt update with the new debt that we owe the auto parts store.

Just a side note, isn't this weather wonderful for August? Wow! I'm loving it!