A Total Money Makeover

So I finally decided to just read the book The Total Money Makeover to john, while he played his video games and kids were entertained/sleeping, and i feel like we are finally on the same page. he's been in agreement with me on some issues, but i wanted him to see where i was coming from, why i wanted to be so intense...and i think he gets it now. we shall see. i like how Dave talks about being GAZELLE INTENSE. we are going to do it! we've been in the process for a while, but we weren't both in it together in the past. so with arms locked we're beginning to run full force into our debt and begin the snowball...it's like the game "Red Rover" where you try to break the chain of arms in front of you. well let me tell you...we're gonna break free! if anyone out there hasn't heard about Dave Ramsey you've got to check it out. it will change your life. 

we've set a goal to be completely debt free (and we can say that, because we don't have a mortgage) by the end of the year!!! we only have about...roughly $15,200 to go. so we'll see. i'll post updates every now and again to let you know how we are doing!

your baby can read

wooo

my mouth and jaw hurt. i just got a root canal done this morning and a crown soon to be replaced. yeah, not the first time, but this time really hurt. the gums were really infected so that didn't help. oh well, no more pain in the stupid anymore. 

so i'm so excited. my husbands company is giving the option of receiving your W2's online. and we opted for that because we do everything online. they just came up today!!! middle of january! i can have my return filed before Feburary!! YES!

so question to all the mom's out there. have any of you heard anything about the program called "your baby can read"? i'm interested to know what others think about it after seeing what it is about. i'm really anxious to see if it will work, but it's pricey. but my children's education is VERY important to me, and if this program would help... so if you want to look into it, here's the link. if you watch the video tell me what you think. 

getting out of debt anyway we can

so i've been thinking alot about our debt that we have, and john and i both want to be debt free. i want it so badly, that lately i've been roaming the house for things to sell...lol. and i've had some success, but well, only 2 things out of 15 or so sold, so i'm thinking of other ways to try and bring in extra income. 

i've made bows in the past, and been successful at it, but i have run out of people who are interested, so i'd have to search them out, and it's almost not fun for me anymore. (it's been about 8 months since i've made one!) plus, i hardly have the time to do it what with 2 kids that want my attention...and it just seems like for the amount of time it takes me to make one bow, the profit i make isn't worth it. 

i thought about making and selling cloth diapers...not hard, takes about an hour for one, but only make about 6 bucks per diaper...or 6 bucks an hour??? no thank you.

so what else am i good at that i am confident enough marketing to everyone else, and furthermore, with everyone tightening their budgets, what would people be willing to buy?? well, my thought was food. no matter the price, people need food, no way around it. and the weathly workers will pay for good food. so, i make a mean lasagna....i've never had anyone who has tried it tell me anything different from it being some of the best they've had... so i could put together a lasagna lunch, with a piece of lasagna, a roll or two and a piece of brownie or a few cookies...all of this would be homemade of course...and i could sell it for a set price... scout out the doctors offices' and the pharmacies...and with the calculations i've made, with selling two trays worth of lasagna (the number of lunches vary depending on the serving size of lasagna) i could make about $80 profit. the prep and cook time would be 4-5 hours for making lasagna, rolls, and brownies or cookies. 

i keep going over in my head how i could do this...am i crazy for thinking about such a commitment? and would there be any stay-at-home mom's interested in helping me accomplish this and get paid?

if i'm not crazy and you think it might be a success, are there any suggestions for other "lunch" type meals i could rotate between?

"cinderella, cinderella, night and day it's cinderella"

geez, now i realize why on some days i just give up trying to accomplish anything before half the day is over. 

this morning daniel woke up at 7 wanting to nurse...and kathryn woke up at 8, so i finally kick myself out of bed to make breakfast...but daniel, with his really bad ear infection, only wants to be held, and so putting him down for even a second is like murdering him...(which i figured out is the cause of all of my horribly painful back problems) 

so since it is cold, i figure, lets make oatmeal...get in the kitchen with daniel in one arm, getting the bowls out, only to realize kathryn is going for the oatmeal container, but it somehow slips, and crash, a nice mess to clean up. ok, not bad, it's dry, just sweep it up....so i put daniel down, ugggh screams ringing in my ears, i clean it up while taking a deep breath...

ok, so pick daniel back up, get back to the oatmeal, i get it all preped for the microwave, give daniel a piece of bread, put him down to get the bowls to the microwave, turn it on, turn around, and daniel has crawled over to the highchair where kathryn has just placed her juice (he is just tall enough to reach) and grabs her cup (not sippy cup) and turns it over...all over him. 

so do i give him a bath or just change his clothes wipe him down and fill my own growling tummy...

yeah, skip the bath, struggle with daniel to get his clothes off, wipe him down, battle with him to get clothes back on, and at this point trying to calm kathryn down who is now screaming for more juice...deep breath...."JUICE JUICE JUICE MAMA!!!" aaaaagh, "i just want to finish the oatmeal!!! is that too much to ask!!!" 

ok, so now i get to eat my oatmeal, and only hope the rest of my day doesn't go this way. 

i've still got to do the dishes and the laundry, and clean the kitchen, vacuum the floor (for remaining oatmeal), mop the floor (all the juice will get sticky) and possibly make dinner too?? i feel like cinderella. couldn't possibly be because that is the movie of choice kathryn decided to play 4 times already this morning.  =) ::sigh::

but i would like to say thank you to my wonderful husband who watched the kids and put them to bed so i could run off to foxy's last night and sit in their hot tub to loosen up the muscles and pain in my back. it helped so much, i feel much better, so thank you  johnathan!

getting to be a kid again

so, my in-laws let everyone open gifts yesterday, because that was the only day that everyone was going to be able to get together before christmas... (thanks to retail) and kathryn got a nice 5 pack train set (geotrax) and so, after sorting through everything, i decided to get it out and put it together, after putting together the other new train set at the in-laws house yesterday (trackmaster train set). i just had so much fun doing both, and realized obviously because of the lack of money my mom had, we never got things like this (except legos and barbies) but i have always like the "boy" toys better. hehe. so i got to be a kid again and play with the flippin sweet train sets with kathryn and daniel too. he liked to look at them. so check out all the fun we had!

daniel is growing up too fast!

so just last week, out of the blue, daniel started crawling all the time, getting everywhere super quick. and a day later, he started pulling up to a kneel on things like chairs, my legs, and whatever else. yesterday he started pulling himself up to a stand, and today he pulled himself up on an empty rubbermaid container, and leaned forward, and it started moving across the tile floor (it was empty) and he was walking with it! then he let go and stood up by himself for a second before grabbing back on!! he's only 6 1/2 months!!! this is crazy talk! i can hardly believe what i'm seeing. my little baby boy is growing up. but he sure loves his mommy and loves to cuddle and eat my feet...yeah, it's his way of telling me he wants to be picked up. 

and kathryn's new thing is "i'm fine" do you want a sandwich? "i'm fine" do you want to take a bath "i'm fine" do you want some water "i'm fine" do you want some candy "i'm fine...oo, candy candy, please" it's pretty funny. it's her getting a bit of an attitude i guess.

Audio Books

hmmm...i have recently been listening to the Book of Mormon on audio, and wow! i love it! most of the time i follow along, but i can see why people love audio books! i know Aaron Saxon has a few audio books, and i may see if he's got twilight...heh heh. it is a wonderful way for people to "read" books, who either read slowly, or don't like to read.