Day 97 and the Chili Recipe

First off, some news. The first payment I sent on a credit card a couple of weeks ago came back yesterday! It had a letter saying that our payment wasn't acceptable and to call to make "acceptable" arrangements. Well, I am starting a file for that, and am sending another check today, asking them to work with us as we try to get our finances in order. It really upset me. Here we are really trying and they refuse our payment. Interesting.

Chili
3 pounds ground beef (browned and drained)
32 oz. tomato sauce
2 cans Ranch Style beans (we sometimes use one can of the sweet onion beans and one can of the jalapeño beans).
1/3 cup chili powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
2/3 teaspoon cumin
1/3 large onion, finely chopped and saute
2 green bell peppers, finely chopped and saute
salt and pepper
2/3 cup ketchup
1 cup water

Mix all ingredients together in a slow cooker and cook for at least 3 hours. I usually put it on high for about an hour to get it bubbling, then turn it down.

Now the thing you have to understand about Tom is that he never really follows a recipe so he tends to add stuff as it is cooking. However, this is about as close to his "recipe" as it gets. LOL.

I'm off in a little while to a child care class. The contractor is coming today to start some of the repairs.

Day 96 and updated debt list

Below is a copy of our updated debt list. We have paid off over $3600 in debt since January! Isn't that awesome? Even more incredible, we have had some major car repairs and a plumbing problem and paid cash for all of them. I just cannot tell you the peace I am feeling in my heart right now.

DLO: $14.40-PAID!
DLO: $34.11-PAID!
Radiology: $37-PAID!
Urgent care clinic: $46.15 (August 2007)-PAID!
Urgent care clinic: $40.55 (November 2007) PAID!
Dr. Office: $79.20-PAID!
ER Doctor: $93.54-PAID!
dentist: PAID!!!
Auto parts store: $161.73-PAID!
Josten's-PAID!
Second half 2007 real estate taxes: $148.64-PAID!
Hospital: $261.16-PAID!
Car loan: Balance: $2559
House: paid $1005.18
Credit card #1: $2970-paid $75
Credit card #2: $1104-paid $25
Credit card #3: $990-paid $25
Credit card #4: $899-paid $25
Credit card #5: $908-paid $25
Credit card #6: $2509-paid $75
My student loan: $12, 913 (in deferment due to my full time student status)
DH student loan: $53, 248(in forbearance)

As of April 18^th: $3639.80 in debt paid off!

Tom gave me permission to post the chili recipe so I'll try to get that done this weekend. I've got a busy weekend. I'm taking a child care class in Enid all day tomorrow, then on Sunday we have two church services and a baby shower in Enid to go to. I will be on the run! Thankfully, I've got all of my homework that is due on Sunday already submitted except for one paper. It's a 5 page paper for humanities and I've got about 3 pages written, so I'm getting there.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Day 95 and Well...I'm a KLUTZ!

Oh wow, am I ever a klutz! Yesterday, I got my foot (specifically my big toe) caught on a gate and fell right on the same knee that I fell over the same gate and landed on last summer. At least this time my knee hasn't swelled up horribly, but it is pretty sore. I do think I either chipped a bone on the top of my big toe or pulled something in it (are there muscles in big toes, LOL?) because it is swollen and hurts very bad. Naturally, it's been stepped on several times today, too.
Tom gets paid tomorrow and so do I from some of my families, so I'll be posting an updated debt list. I've got $225 worth of payments to credit cards ready to send out. With the payment I sent earlier this month, that will total $250 so far on credit cards this month.

On other stuff, I started an envelope to save for Josh's graduation gift and to pay for his reception afterwards. I've also started an envelope to save for our real estate taxes at the end of this year. If we can save $40 a month, we should have enough to pay for our property and personal taxes all at once in December. My next goals are 1) to start saving for the kids to go to Falls Creek. We usually pay their way and they have to take their own spending money. 2) to start saving for vacation week this summer so that maybe Tom & I can do a little something, plus to help make up for the money I won't be making that week since I don't take paid vacations.

A true confession: We've got Sonic drinks the last two days. Hanging my head in shame. Well, we're not perfect, we've just got to keep trying. On the positive side, I had to run to Enid last night to take back some jeans of Josh's that we got Monday night. They didn't take the shoplifting ink disk off. They took it off and gave me a $5 gift card since I had to drive all the way back in to have it done. I was seriously tempted to bring home fast food for supper, but I did not! I came home and cooked, even though my knee and foot were hurting. I was very proud of myself for that!

Day 94 and blasted taxes!

It occurred to me yesterday we had never got the 1099 for Josh which meant we hadn't done Josh's taxes yet. I called and found out how much Josh made and figured his taxes, then filed an extension for him. Since I don't have the 1099 yet I don't want to make any mistakes on how I entered the information so I didn't want to file them yet. Anyway, since he is considered contract labor when he works for my dad, he has to pay self-employment taxes. That came to $297! So guess that answers my question on where my scholarship money is going. Sure made me glad that Josh is working at Lowe's this year and will just be getting a plain W-2 form next year. His taxes will be much easier and he shouldn't have to pay.

Day 93 and I am so tired today!

Tasha had a band trip today and had to be at school at 5:15 a.m., so I got up around 4:00 to make sure that she was up and around. My plan was to go back to sleep in the recliner but that didn't happen, I was wide awake, so I did some stuff around the house. Now it's hitting me hard!

We took Josh out to eat for his birthday last night (finally!). That should be it on eating out for a while. Sure don't want to slip back into those old habits! It sure would be easy.

I've got a crockpot of Tom's chili recipe going for supper. Already smells wonderful! If I can get his permission, I'll post the recipe for everyone.

Speaking of crockpots, something that Tom & I really like in the crockpot is meatballs. Sometimes I make them and sometimes I buy them pre-made. But we make them several different ways:

Meatballs with a jar of spaghetti sauce poured over them and cooked on low for a few hours. These make great meatball subs or spaghetti & meatballs.

Meatballs with homemade bbq sauce or a bottle of bbq sauce poured over them and cooked on low.

My favorite is: meatballs with a diluted can of cream of mushroom soup poured over them and cooked on low. If you have a lot of meatballs, you might want to use two cans of soup. These are yummy on mashed potatoes!

Day 92 and it's been 3 months today!

3 months ago today, I started this blog to talk about our journey to financial peace. I have actually posted everyday for the last 3 months, and told more about myself than most people wanted to know. LOL! I think we are doing well and I am proud of us for not giving up. When we sat down and did the April budget meeting, we didn't have one argument or cross word. I even let Tom change something without getting mad. LOL!

I still have not made a decision what to do about taking a summer class. If I take just one, I won't be graduating next May, I'd still have to take a course next summer or the next fall, unless I tried to take 15 hours instead of 12 hours one semester. However, considering how overwhelmed I've felt at times just taking 12, I'm not sure that will be a good move! I wish that someone (i.e. GOD!) would just tell me what I"m supposed to do! LOL!

Day 91 and last FPU class tonight

We had our last FPU class tonight. It was called "The Great Misunderstanding" and Dave talked about giving. It was a wonderful lesson and very touching. Giving is an area where Tom and I have struggled.

I got one of my homework assignments done and turned in this weekend and hope to finish up the rest of them by Friday since next weekend is so busy. I've had a horrendous headache this weekend that I could not get rid of and it's about knocked me on my tail. Hope you've all had great weekends!