A few things going on in my world

I am loving this budgeting stuff with my total money makeover! Not only can I set up my budget but I can see how long it will take me to pay off all of my debt. I love it! I have needed this in my life and it is really good at keeping me motivated.
I met with the school counselor at the middle school this morning. My son is interested in an advanced science class next year. We were told in December that there would be a program he would work on at home and submit. Today that has all changed. It seems the program our school has used in the past went bankrupt so they found a new one and that one makes each child take the courses at school in addition to their core classes. The counselor is trying to get it set up as a summer school program. My son is already in advanced English but wants more. He's looking at taking a full year of German next year which is a high school credit in addition to Advanced English and Science. Okay, I'll stop bragging but I am a very proud mama.
I returned to third grade again today. The children were headed to music class. I will meet with the principal on Thursday morning and spend 45 minutes in each classroom after that. I'm hoping to find out what resources are available to assist my daughters in their education. Also possibly having them tested to make certain that there are no learning disabilities.
I had a long phone call with AT&T wireless this a.m. as well. They were calling me wanting me to pay my bill. What they got was an earful of how horrible their service is. I'm very unhappy with AT&T and the iphone in general. I have to call them back from a land line this afternoon to try to troubleshoot the problem. I think for the amount of money it costs to have two iphones that they should at least work in my home and at my husband's employment. His phone is a business phone and the two places he spends all of his time (home and work) get no reception. FYI I am waiting on a direct deposit into my account today so I'm not neglecting to pay AT&T due to this problem. Three months ago when I had a conversation with them they told me my only option was to get rid of the iphones and terminate my contract in which they planned to bill me for breaking the contract. That is NOT customer service! Wish me luck with this ;)
I hope to have some down time with the husband tonight. The hot tub is sounding really good about right now. I'm getting a haircut tomorrow morning and then we will spend the day together. The best part is we have no plans!!!
Ravn, I hope you and all your crew are feeling better. I'm praying for all of you guys!

I don't remember...

third grade be so intense. I spent all day today in my oldest daughter's class. We learned some Geometry, how to read a map, math skills in the computer lab, and several other things that have slipped my tired brain at the moment. It was exhausting and I want a nap. Of course it's time for homework so that won't be happening. The day just seemed much more crammed full of activities than I remember my third grade class being.
The past two weeks the husband and I have been working on our budget. We were told at our FPU class that it will take several months to get it all just right. I'm glad to know that because we are constantly changing ours right now. It's stressful but nice to have some real direction going on there. Another FPU class on Wednesday night and I haven't even begun my homework for last week. I'm the slacker in my own homework right now since I've been going to class with my girls for three weeks. I think I'll send them outside to play and I'll do last weeks homework while they play.
Thursday was my injection day. I had an epidural spinal injection in my L1. I don't think they are as bad now that I know what to expect. Although I've noticed I'm really sore for 3 days after the injection. I see the spine specialist in two and half weeks to re-evalute.
I hope that everyone in the blogger world is doing well this week. I see that Ravn is FINALLY home!!! Get well soon my friend. That's it for now

Blog neglect...

I'm guilty as charged. It's been so crazy around here. We have had to set up a real budget and an emergency fund. As I type this I still think "doesn't everyone do this?". I now know that most people do not budget or plan for their future. We are those type of people who just pay the bill as it comes in, buy groceries when we want something, and we dine out very frequently. That has all changed since we've begun to budget. I'm not sure I like all this budgeting but I am convinced it will get me where I want to be. Even if that is at least a year away.
I've been going to second grade and watching my daughter. I will be doing this again next week. I'm considering holding her back for a year so that she can get that feeling of mastery. Tuesday is her birthday and she has tons of surprises coming her way.
My father-in-law is arriving tomorrow since the birthday girl requested his presence. He'll be here for five days. I'm planning her a birthday party in a couple of weeks with all of her friends. This party has had to be delayed a bit since my son is taking the SCAT a week from tomorrow.
I think I've decided on a cake for her party. It's a flower pot cake with a candy made flower. Basically you take a clay pot and bake chocolate cake in it, ice it and add sprinkled oreos on top. Then I will stick a few gummy worms in. Here comes the tricky part, I need to make a flower. My thoughts so far are to dye a lollipop stick green and stick it in the cake, take the wrapper off the lollipop and use edible glue (aka sugar and corn syrup) to attach another round candy to the lollipop to make a flower. I've been searching for round candies that are colorful. I'm hoping to find some disc type candy in multiple colors. These will be made in clay pots that have each child's name on them and Happy 8th Birthday. My son has a birthday 18 days later and has requested a skateboard cake. I think I have figured out exactly how I will make that happen and will use trucks and wheels from an old board to make it look more real. I will smell like icing until March.
Anyone see that new movie Taken? It was really good but pretty intense. The husband and I saw it last night. That girl has one badazz daddy!
I think I've rattled enough at the moment. Time to make sure that everyone is getting their job done for today and start some lunch. I hope everyone has a great weekend. Enjoy watching the super bowl...I'll probably be chatting with friends and watching the commericals!

No bike riding this week

The high today was in the mid 40's and dropped consistently the rest of the day. It's below freezing now and is supposed to be down around 17 tonight. They (meteorologist) are telling us to leave water dripping on all your faucets tonight. This is something we were accustomed to in Oklahoma but not out here. All of that to say this...IT IS COLD!
Chiropractor visits this afternoon went well. I got some muscle stimulation on my shoulder and then we headed to the grocery store. A woman we go to church with is having steroid injections tomorrow so I offered to cook for her and her family. She's a single mom and will need all the help she can get. It's not much but just one less thing she'll have to worry about tomorrow evening. For me, it feels really great to be able to help her.
Tomorrow I'll be making a surprise visit to my youngest daughter's classroom. She's having a difficult time staying on task so I'm going to sit with her in class. I'm thinking I'll have lunch with oldest daughter and then appear in the classroom for the remaining part of the day. The teacher has set up a desk for me that will face my daughter. Each time she gets off task I will be there to get her restarted. Fun! Fun! I'm headed back to second grade!
Right now I'm working on getting homework finished up for the evening and looking forward to the weekend. Hope everyone has a relaxing weekend and stays warm. Brrr

Back to Reality

 It's a new year and as I promised I'm more determined than ever to get my budget under control. We are attending Financial Peace University once a week for 13 weeks. We started this last Wednesday. We were just getting started and the power went out! LOL So we went around the room and told who we were, why we were there and what he hoped to learn from this. It was a good time with good people. I'm looking forward to next week. We are assigned homework each week to do during the week. It consists of some reading and this week we had to put down on paper a mini budget. This made me sick and I've been thinking maybe I should get a job at night so that I can be home when my children are, do homework and prepare them a healthy dinner meal. The husband hates this idea so we shall see how this month goes. 

 I ordered our AFM's boxes this month and a fruit and veggie box. I get a recipe menu from menus4moms. For a very small fee they give you two weeks of dinner menus that use your AFM box and a few extra recipes as well. A regular main box is $30 and the fruit and veggie box is $21. You cannot purchase all of that food in the grocery store for the cost that AFM charges. Their website says you can feed a family of four for a week/box. I've had better luck and been able to feed my family almost all month on two main boxes and a fruit and veggie box. Now I do have to buy a few extras for the dinner meals and stuff for the children's lunch everyday. I'll have a better idea of my grocery budget after this month. 

 Our first major step for this month (after writing out a budget) is to save $1,000 for a rainy day and put it in a savings account. We are working on that now. Our goal is to be close to credit card debt free by December 2009.  That will take a lot of frugal living to make it happen. Maybe it's unrealistic and it may change as we get further along through this course. It's a goal and that's a step in the right direction. 

 We are also trying to bundle up our t.v. internet and directv. We want to go with Verizon since FIOS is now available here but I want to keep our directv since we have dvr's with them. I may end up giving it up if the deal isn't worth it. Anyone else doing a bundle with Verizon? This is just one of the ways we are looking into to save a little extra cash each month. 

 Friday I had my second spinal injection. I spent most of the weekend on bedrest and am feeling much better today. I really hope to get quite a bit of relief now that both sides have had the injection. I see my spine specialist on the 30th of this month to re-evaluate. I plan to be riding my bike with the kids by midweek and trying out my Jillian Michaels Wii Fit game by the end of the week. I hope everyone has a great week! 

My Sooners lost

a great game. Congrats to Florida on a well played game. I'm Sooner born and Sooner bred and when I die I'll be Sooner dead! Go OU!

Boomer Sooner and a bit more

 Tonight the Sooners play for Florida for the BCS Championship. We're having a few people over to watch. I've rented the children some movies so they'll stay entertained. I'm surrounded by Fla. fans out here but I wear my OU gear with pride! 

 The husband and I went to our meeting for Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. The weather knocked out the power so we only watched about 20 minutes of our first dvd. We have homework too. I thought two hours of homework with my children was enough but I now have to squeeze in financial homework too. We are really excited about taking this class. I'll keep you posted as we go through this process. 

Hope everyone has a great night and remember... I'm Sooner born and Sooner bred and when I die I'll be Sooner dead! GO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU!