Day 341 and on the run today

Well, I got my wish to get out of the house today! Goodness! I got up and had to go to the bank in Enid this morning (since I couldn't go last night). Came back home and Tom & I went to get our hair cut. Then I took Tasha and a couple of other girls to play practice at church. After we got back from that, I took Tasha and a friend to Enid to do some Christmas shopping. Busy day! Tomorrow we've got church in the morning and the Christmas play tomorrow night.

I have a doctor's appointment scheduled for Monday morning that I"m going to have to cancel if I don't get my van back because I won't have a way to get there.

So how's everyone coming along for Christmas? I think I'm about ready. I do need to go to the grocery store before Christmas day, but that should be about it.

Day 340 and I want my van back!

Ok, I want my van back! It's been gone for a week and I still don't have it back. Tom was gone tonight and I was stuck at home with no way to get anywhere. I needed to go to Enid, I wanted to get out of the house and I'm stuck at home. AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!

Ok, enough of that. LOL.

I am officially on vacation until December 29th! I am so looking forward to a few days off. I have a few things I want to get done around the house, but I mainly just need to relax.

Day 339 and Silver and Gold

Another one of my favorite songs from the Christmas tape is "Silver and Gold".

Silver and gold...
everyone wishes for silver and gold
how do you measure it's worth
just by the pleasure it brings here on Earth?
Silver and gold...
means so much more when I see
silver and gold decorations on every Christmas tree.

Its really easy to want to chase after money and things and forget about what's important. It's especially easy this time of year. I am always filled with guilt and angst this time of year because I never feel like we give our kids "enough" stuff. Life isn't just about having money to get more stuff. It's about being with our families, helping others, and sharing love. That is the real silver and gold!

Day 338 and There's Always Tomorrow

This is another of my favorite songs on the Christmas cassette:

There's always tomorrow for dreams to come true,
believe in your dreams, come what may,
There's always tomorrow, there's so much to do,
and so little time in the day.
We all pretend the rainbow has an end,
and you'll be there my friend, someday...
etc.

Well, as we all know, there may not always be a tomorrow. But I think it's important to learn to delay gratification in order to meet your goals. We have not always been very good at that, we still aren't sometimes. But what a difference we've made in our lives over the last year. Just out of curiosity, I looked at our December 2007 bank statement today. At the end of last year, we had paid over $1100 in courtesy pay fees to our bank. This year, we've bad $67.50 and $45.00 of that was before we started this new journey. Our debt paid off is up over 10,000. We have made mistakes and will probably continue to make them, but we're trying. That's all we can do. Believe in our dreams, come what may.

Interview tonight (prayer request)

I have an interview tonight to fill my spots that have been open for a while. I'd like to ask for good thoughts and prayers that the interview go well and if the Lord's willing, they be the one to fill the spots. It might be good if I have my voice back before the interview too. LOL.

Day 337 and frugal wisdom from Christmas songs

I have a favorite cassette of Christmas songs that I love to listen to. It has songs from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty, and other favorite Christmas shows that I watched growing up. As I was listening to it yesterday, I started thinking about some of the frugal, get out of debt wisdom available from some of the songs. For example:

Remember this one?

"Put one foot in front of the other"

Put one foot in front of the other (Follow Dave Ramsey's baby steps)
And soon you'll be walking across the floor (soon you'll be making progress!)
Put one foot in front of the other and soon you'll be walking out the door. (Before you know it, you'll be debt-free!)

You'll never get where you're going
If you never get up on your feet (You'll never get anywhere if you don't try)
Come on, there's a good tail wind blowing
A fast walking man is hard to beat.

If you want to change your direction
If your time of life isn't had.
Well don't be the rule, be the exception
A good way to start is to stand. (As Dave says: Live like noone else so later you can live like noone else!)

If I wanna change the direction, I see in the mirror each morn (oh you do?)
You mean that it's just my election (Just that!)
To vote for a chance to be reborn?
Hoo-hoo! (It's up to the person in the mirror-THAT'S YOU! to make those changes!)

Tomorrow..."There's always tomorrow" (pun not intended. LOL)

Day 336 and a better day

Well, I felt much better today, except for barely being able to talk. Let me tell you, a house full of kids and no voice does not go well together. LOL. For some reason I'm coughing a lot too, but hopefully that will pass in a day or two. At any rate, compared to yesterday, I feel dandy!

My mom gave us our Christmas money when we were down there visiting which was a relief to me, now we should have the money to pay for the van repairs.

Coming up tomorrow (I hope)...I've been thinking about frugal and getting out of debt lessons based on some Christmas songs.

Day 336 and sick today

I woke up sick around 2:45 a.m. and have felt pretty miserable since. I finally managed to eat some toast tonight and I think I"m on the downhill side of it. But ugh. What a miserable day. Hope everyone's day was much better than mine!