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!
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
Day 215 and exhausted tonight
It was a rough day and I'm so tired tonight that I almost forgot to blog before I went to bed! How bad is that?
Anyway, I rolled some change tonight and I've got $25 to cash in to get our baby EF restarted. It's not much, but it's a start!
I'll try to write a better post tomorrow!
Anyway, I rolled some change tonight and I've got $25 to cash in to get our baby EF restarted. It's not much, but it's a start!
I'll try to write a better post tomorrow!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Day 214 and Busy Week
This has been a busy week. I started two new girls on Tuesday, I had a meeting Tuesday and I have a meeting tonight. But it's been a really nice week. The kids and I have done lots of fun stuff together.
Tom got to drive his car to work today! He was so excited. It's the first time he's got to drive it to work in weeks. He drove it the day I left for Tahlequah and before that, the last time had been before our vacation. He even walked through the pouring rain to get to his car instead of just driving the van that was parked in the driveway. LOL.
My friend and I have been brainstorming ways to build up our EF's. Hers has taken some hits lately too. We both work in child care and some of her ideas included taking just $5 off each family's check that we get, and maybe an extra $20 out of our hubby's checks, too. I'm going to list a couple of books on half.com (my goal is to get it done by the end of this weekend) and roll my change. At least the change will get me started, I'm sure there's at least $25-$30 in there.
Tom got to drive his car to work today! He was so excited. It's the first time he's got to drive it to work in weeks. He drove it the day I left for Tahlequah and before that, the last time had been before our vacation. He even walked through the pouring rain to get to his car instead of just driving the van that was parked in the driveway. LOL.
My friend and I have been brainstorming ways to build up our EF's. Hers has taken some hits lately too. We both work in child care and some of her ideas included taking just $5 off each family's check that we get, and maybe an extra $20 out of our hubby's checks, too. I'm going to list a couple of books on half.com (my goal is to get it done by the end of this weekend) and roll my change. At least the change will get me started, I'm sure there's at least $25-$30 in there.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Day 213 and Zero in the emergency fund
Well, Josh's car is back and our baby emergency fund is down to zero and we still owe over $300 to the auto parts store. It was hard to hand that money over, but as Tom pointed out, thank goodness for that emergency fund. So we are back to square one and it's time to figure out some ways to rebuild that. One thing that will help is that I'll be making more money now that school will be starting back. I'm glad that we started this journey because I can't imagine how stressful all of these vehicle problems would have been if we'd still been living our Gomer Pyle on Valium life.
My back has been hurting today, I think I slept on it funny last night. So I've taken a muscle relaxer and I am headed to bed soon.
My back has been hurting today, I think I slept on it funny last night. So I've taken a muscle relaxer and I am headed to bed soon.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Day 212 and Getting Enough Sleep
The keynote speaker for the child care conference that I went to last weekend was Denise Ryan, the founder of FireStar speaking. Her website is:http://www.firestarspeaking.com/ She is one of the most dynamic speakers I have ever heard. I was so impressed with her keynote that I attended two of her breakout sessions and then she came and sat with us at lunch. If you ever need a motivational speaker for a conference, I'd highly recommend her.
One of the things that she spoke about in both her keynote and the class that I went to on stress relief was the necessity of getting enough sleep. When we don't get enough sleep, our emotions tend to get the better of us and things can get blown out of proportion. Not to mention that sleep helps our body fight illness. I know that last week when I wasn't sleeping well and had other stuff going on, my exhaustion made it even harder to focus on the positive. All I could see was the negative. Getting out and taking a walk with the kids helped re-energize me and helped me be able to look for the positive. It was probably one of the first times in my life that I was really aware of how being tired was affecting my attitude. So that was one of the most important lessons learned from the conference: get enough sleep!
One of the things that she spoke about in both her keynote and the class that I went to on stress relief was the necessity of getting enough sleep. When we don't get enough sleep, our emotions tend to get the better of us and things can get blown out of proportion. Not to mention that sleep helps our body fight illness. I know that last week when I wasn't sleeping well and had other stuff going on, my exhaustion made it even harder to focus on the positive. All I could see was the negative. Getting out and taking a walk with the kids helped re-energize me and helped me be able to look for the positive. It was probably one of the first times in my life that I was really aware of how being tired was affecting my attitude. So that was one of the most important lessons learned from the conference: get enough sleep!
Monday, August 11, 2008
Day 211 and Random Thoughts
Today it is two weeks until my college classes start back up. I'm excited, but a bit nervous about getting back into the swing of things. I have enjoyed my summer off though.
I should have two new kids starting tomorrow, which is exciting. It's always a little bit nerve-racking too (for them and me both, I'm sure).
I haven't forgotten that I promised to share some of what I learned at the child care conference last week. I will try to do that this week.
Tom & I are going to buckle back down and try to get caught up on things again (the last few weeks due to less income, we've got behind on some stuff). So we're going to avoid eating out and avoid Sonic drinks and be extra careful with our $'s until things are on a more even keel again.
I should have two new kids starting tomorrow, which is exciting. It's always a little bit nerve-racking too (for them and me both, I'm sure).
I haven't forgotten that I promised to share some of what I learned at the child care conference last week. I will try to do that this week.
Tom & I are going to buckle back down and try to get caught up on things again (the last few weeks due to less income, we've got behind on some stuff). So we're going to avoid eating out and avoid Sonic drinks and be extra careful with our $'s until things are on a more even keel again.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Day 210 and another new week
Well, here we are getting ready to start another new week. Hope all of my friends and family had a nice relaxing weekend. Tom & I went to see Serenity yesterday. Tom got her bookshelf put together for her and her cable internet working on her laptop. Then I helped her unpack her books and movies and put them on the shelf. She wanted them all in alphabetical order. After I got tired of doing that, I put the rest of them on the shelf and she said she'd go back and fix it later. LOL. I don't know where that child came from!
Tasha's driving went pretty well yesterday. I think she had a good time, but of course she had to fight her usual motion sickness problems when she wasn't driving. Poor girl. They drove to Atoka! There were three of them in this group. They have a total of 18 hours of driving between the three of them to do and they got 14 of those hours done yesterday. Yikes! I said that the teacher must have nerves of steel to be in a car for 14 hours with inexperienced drivers.
Tasha's driving went pretty well yesterday. I think she had a good time, but of course she had to fight her usual motion sickness problems when she wasn't driving. Poor girl. They drove to Atoka! There were three of them in this group. They have a total of 18 hours of driving between the three of them to do and they got 14 of those hours done yesterday. Yikes! I said that the teacher must have nerves of steel to be in a car for 14 hours with inexperienced drivers.
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