Show me the money!

Hello everyone!

So, no worries to anyone who has left me their email to be apart of my private blog. So far, I have procrastinated and not even started it yet. I'm trying to decide if I will make this blog be private or start a brand new one altogether. Either way, I've found myself so busy lately I haven't even been able to think about doing either. So for now, I will just keep writing here until I decide. 

So what am I keeping so busy with lately? Well, first of all, working! Kellen and I are taking Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University class on Thursday nights and have found ourselves trying to get "our income up" so we can really "pay our debt down". If you have ANY desire to get your finances under control, I would strongly suggest you check out Dave Ramsey's program at daveramsey.com. At first its seemed a little silly to  me to pay close to $100 to take a class on how to SAVE money, but now, I am beyond happy we did. We've been going a strong month now and have saved quite a bit of $ that might have otherwise gone on our overdraft credit line- or our version of the "close your eyes and swipe" syndrome. 

My favorite things about being on a budget so far:

-Kellen's amazing commitment. At the beginning of this program we both agreed he needed to start making and bringing lunches to work, instead of going out to eat (like he normally would). I asked him what he wanted and he said "Peanut butter and honey sandwiches." I was like....um...ok...but don't you think you will get sick of them? "Nope!"--and one month later the guy is still eating (and enjoying!) those sandwiches like they are going outta style! Now thats commitment!

-Having money leftover before payday. Wow! What an amazing feeling to log into my account on Thursday night (we get paid Friday) and not see my account nearly drained- or worse- going onto our credit line. 

-I'm a geek. Dave ramsey talks a lot about the "geek" and the "free spirit" in a marriage. The geek is the one that drools over lists and excel spreadsheets. Yeah, that's me. I really do love writing out that pretty little budget and following up on it at the end of the week.

-My small group that is putting on the FPU class. We've just met all these new people and we are having fun getting to know them all. It's nice have more friends in this area that at can relate to this stage of life we are at!

-Thinking about how much money I will have at retirement. According to Dave Ramsey, that number is a lot. I couldn't be more excited to be 55 (or maybe even younger!) :)

I'm being pretty openly honest about this because realistically I think money is such a hushhush topic and it NEEDS to be talked about! Everyone struggles at some point in their life. I wish someone would have came to me when I was in high school and said "Hey! You don't HAVE to go into debt to live! You have other options! You CAN have financial freedom at young age!"

Uh....How did that happen?

Seriously woke up yesterday morning and this happened over night:


No jokes or fake bellies this time :)

I'm stealing this from Katie's blog Third Time's a Charm- hope she doesn't mind!:

How far along: 18 weeks 2 days!

Total Weight Gained: 8lbs. Yuck! I still hate seeing that scale go up. But I gotta be honest, I am having a darn hard time saying no to the preganancy cravings...

Maternity Clothes: Only one pair of pants. I can still wear a lot of my jeans from before I lost weight, so that's nice. The maternity pants are seriously saggy, it's so annoying!

Stretch Marks: No. Not from pregnancy at least. hehe

Sleep: I've noticed that I turn a lot in my sleep and the most comfortable position is on my tummy with one leg propped up to kind of prop my belly. It kind of looks like I'm straddling the bed. Probably a really funny visual.

Best Moment of the Week: Either just feeling it move like crazy, or really starting my baby registry tonight. I still don't know the gender so I can't do clothes and stuff,  but most other things are gender nuetral and it was really fun picking them out!

Movement: Majorly! Especially when I'm lying on my tummy. He/She also really likes food (of course I pass on this trait!). I can tell because it starts going whacko about one hour after I eat!

Food Cravings: Honestly anything and everything. But last night it was french fries, and since we are trying to not eat out, I attempted making my own. It ended up with me crying on the couch out of frustration (hormones!) and kellen finishing the job. Luckily it satisfied the craving! :)

Gender: To be determined! Only about two more weeks of waiting!

Belly Button: Same?

What I miss: Feeling really energetic and WANTING to work out. (basically not feeling like a sloth all the time). I also wouldn't mind a margarita. Just sayin.

What I'm looking forward to: Finding out the gender! I literally can't stop thinking about it!

Milestones: My belly popping! Not even kidding when I say it happened over night!

My Money Soapbox

Something that's really getting under my skin lately is money stuff. Just trying to figure out how to get the income up before this little one arrives so we can afford the medical bills that come along with it. Why is it so expensive to birth a child in this country? Honestly, I am not a political person. But I have to say it really PISSES me off that I can go to the Emergency Room for 45 minutes and get a $500.00 bill, or that doing something as natural as having a child will cost me well over $3,000 WITH INSURANCE. It's absolutely ridiculous.

And while we are on that subject, why the HECK does higher education in this country cost so much? I just don't get it. Honestly, how can you raise your children for 18 years drilling them that the only way to succeed in this country is to have a college degree- and then turn around and charge them thousands of dollars for it?

What is the point?!?!! WHAT IS THE POINT!! Why should I spend my whole first 18 years of life to get into college, and then spend the REST of my life paying it off?!!? Oh, and by the way, when you want to expand your family and enrich your life, we're going to charge you ridiculous amounts for that too!

I so want to be able to tell my kid to just do his best in school, maybe take some time off to travel after high school, MAYBE get an education (in something that he REALLY KNOWS he wants to do, no rush) and then settle down. But honestly I just feel like in America today that advice pretty much sets him up for disaster. Sad, but true.

Eat.

I am struggling with this eating thing. I must confess, I am struggling too with being ok with this weight gain thing. I liked counting calories and fitting things into a little box (or plate). I liked feeling like I had control and feeling like I was satisfied with one serving (because I really was). But now I feel like my entire life is off kilter- I am SO hungry all the time. I eat and eat and still I feel like I could eat some more. I went a little crazy last weekend for Canadian Thanksgiving and came home weighing 3lbs more. WOAH! Yes, I do realize some of this is bloating (and my scale happily went down a bit this week) but I am still feeling angry and frustrated to have to see that thing move up.

I KNOW it's not in vain...I know I should be gaining weight...but I don't wanna! WAH! I just want my little tike to eat what he/she needs and be nice and healthy and leave the rest of my body alone.

Ok, now that I'm done whining I'm going to go eat lunch. Hmm...what will fill me, satisfy me, and be healthy for my little one? Probably an entire chicken. Ok, I kid.

Lazy Sunday

Am I the only one that feels like a big bum on Sundays every week? Even though the sun is shining and I have the whole day to do whatever I want, here I sit, on my bum, watching a new show that Kellen and I have just gotten into.

Oh well. Sometimes it's nice to be a bum. Sometimes its nice to "close the curtains and pretend like there's no world outside" as Jack Johnson may say. And to tell you the truth: I'm exhausted.

The way society and baby books paint your first two trimesters of pregnancy is this: you begin clenched over a toilet seat for the first few months, only taking breaks to swallow down a glass of water and a couple of saltine crackers. Then your second trimester hits and you magically arise and feel like the world is your oyster. I have this vision of this pregnant, second trimester super hero, kicking butt and taking names. Strategically eating a well balanced diet, she never misses a dose of her pre-natal vitamins and gallops through the park each day making sure she gets her "strongly encouraged" 30 minutes of brisk walking in.

But, as they say, every woman is different. So I was luckily spared from spending my first three months making close friends with the porcelain king, I did however, have several unplanned dates with my two favorite worldly items: my bed and pillow.

Now that my second trimester is here I think everyone (including myself) expected all energy to return and surge through me. Uh....not so much. Oh well. Who knows how long it will be until I feel free from the grasp of exhaustion again?!

I'm Famous!

I feel so special and famous today because I was able to do a guest post on the oh so fabulous blog called Girl Talk. This blog is especially for women (obviously) and covers a broad range of topics- written by a couple different ladies and there for all to see and share! Check it out if you have interest in these kinds of topics!

PS- Amber, you will like this one ;)

Oh Canada....and mashed potatoes?

Hi All!

Man am I excited! Tomorrow I take off to a new country. Crazy, huh?

Ok, not too crazy. Really, I am going to Canada. I live in Washington state so it's really only a couple of hours away. One of my best friend's is Canadian and I asked her if I could join in on her Thanksgiving this year! It kind of makes me giggle that Canadians have Thanksgiving in October, but of course that's just because I grew up here in the U.S. so it's different for me. But I'm really excited to experience it!

So yesterday I was thinking how incredibly funny that God is sometimes. Seriously guys, I am convinced the "big guy upstairs" has quite a good sense of humor. When I was little I remember praying and telling him silly jokes and wondering if He was laughing- which since I thought I was extremely funny, I always imagined he was :).

Anyway, I am reminded of this again this week. A couple of weeks ago I prayed that God would bring some ladies in my life that I could relate too. I am 22, so there are just not a lot of girls in my situation that either have kids/or are pregnant. Most people at my age are still caught up in the single/party life. I love my friends that are still enjoying this stage, but I felt like I needed at least a couple of women close to me that I could talk about things with.

Well, let's just say within the last three weeks it seems that pregnancy is spreading like a contagious disease. The checker at the grocery store. The dental assistant. Almost my ENTIRE bible study group. And also a really good friend who just found out she's due one month after me. CRAZY!

God makes me laugh. Sometimes he answers our prayers in ways we can never imagine, sometimes he purposely does NOT answer our prayers (because he has a better plan) and sometimes he answers them above and beyond what we asked for. I like Him. :)