The Night Watchman

A few weeks ago she suddenly discovered that the top of our bed makes the best perch. It doesn't matter to her that it hurts when she uses one of us as a springboard. And for a cat that only weighs 5.5 lbs, it's amazing how much it hurts when she jumps down on one of us. It does rank higher than her playing in a bag during the night, though.

"You were hot!" (Past tense)

Twice within the last month, and very near my 30th birthday, a man in my life has used the past tense of this phrase. THIS is why women get so mad at men for being stupid. THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK.

With a Bowl Full of Sugar

I broke my sweet tea streak...on accident :(

We had our monthly lunch at Grandma's house, and totally out of habit and using no conscious thought, I poured myself a glass of tea. And I took the first drink while talking, and I thought someone had poured the entire contents of a sugar bowl into my mouth. And the good news is, I was repulsed! You know how you hear people say that once you've been drinking Diet Coke for awhile you can never go back to regular Coke because it will taste too sweet? That has never worked for me with sodas. But after 23 days without sweet tea, it worked for me! Yum, yum is my decaf unsweet tea!

I am realistic enough to know, however, that this will never work with my beloved Dr. Pepper.

30th Birthday (@ home) in Pics

Bring on the Eye Cream, This Girl is 30

I came into the world in a thunderstorm (insert obvious jokes here), so I think it's kinda cool that today is a rainy day.

Erica made my morning by calling and singing Barbra Streisand to me. Facebook is full of well wishes, and two friends even made me their FB statuses!! JACK has already called me (I'm very impressed with this one). Sara and Van have IM'd. Coworkers have well-wished from the hall. My boss is taking me to lunch with all my work buddies. And my guys and I are having a mini celebration tonight (chili dogs, french fries, and cupcakes), though I had to plan it myself...ah, the things we do so our kids won't think we're lame :)

Tomorrow night, dinner at my Mom's. Oh, and shopping with my mom this afternoon. (Had a nice meal with Doug's family last weekend.)

Look out 30s, here I come!

With Credit to Tim McGraw

Appropriately, I have been singing this song over and over again as I too ponder my next 30 years:

Artist: McGraw Tim
Song: My Next Thirty Years
Album: A Place In The Sun

I think I’ll take a moment, celebrate my age
The ending of an era and the turning of a page
Now it’s time to focus in on where I go from here
Lord have mercy on my next thirty years

Hey my next thirty years I’m gonna have some fun
Try to forget about all the crazy things I’ve done
Maybe now I’ve conquered all my adolescent fears
And I’ll do it better in my next thirty years

My next thirty years I’m gonna settle all the scores
Cry a little less, laugh a little more
Find a world of happiness without the hate and fear
Figure out just what I’m doing here
In my next thirty years

Oh my next thirty years, I’m gonna watch my weight
Eat a few more salads and not stay up so late
Drink a little lemonade and not so many beers
Maybe I’ll remember my next thirty years

My next thirty years will be the best years of my life
Raise a little family and hang out with my wife [husband]
Spend precious moments with the ones that I hold dear
Make up for lost time here, in my next thirty years
In my next thirty years

Hero Worship

I was just saying how I'm trying to fit in all the other chores into my life that are needed. And even though I am guilty of it, one of my pet peeves is hearing, "I don't have time." Seems like I could always find time to sit and watch TV (have you noticed that I'm trying to convince myself to keep to the very little TV watching?). Anyhoo, I am encouraging us all to reevaluate our priorities, our schedules and our timing. Here is a story to inspire you.

Van and Gregg have been married 10.5 years (two days short of being married exactly one year longer than Doug and I). They have 3 children ages 10, 8 and 3 (I think). They both work, and they have both gone back to school. If you are keeping score, that means that not only do they both have college homework, they have to help with two elementary kiddos' homework also. They cook at home every single night. Van makes a menu and grocery list every single week. Her house is always clean (picked up, organized and actually clean - the whole kit and kaboodle). And now, they get up at 4:30 AM to exercise. Yes, you read that correctly. FOUR-THIRTY AM...TO EXERCISE...TO A JILLIAN MICHAELS DVD. They are my heroes. You guys rock!

Mom Multitasking

I continue to "strive to be better at life" in many avenues: as a wife, mother, worker, in my health, in my housekeeping, all of it. And with much less TV watching going on, I'm focusing more mental energy on how to add all the things to my schedule that I need to. I used to read magazines while Elliott was taking a bath, so now I'm reading more Dave. But my real breakthrough came a few days ago when it was time for the nightly Memory playing. I now play Memory...sitting on my exercise ball! And when it's not my turn, I bounce. By the end of the game, I've completed a 15+ minute mini-workout. And dude, judging by how my muscles yelled when I got up, I'd say it's a pretty good workout!

Reality Check

My dad gave Doug and I his tickets to the MSU BBall game tonight. And I have been looking forward to it for days. My mom is picking up Elliott and feeding him supper, and I am super pumped about date night at the ballgame. And I was just discussing eating a super yummy Hump Dog with my friend Jimmie. So I'm waiting on 5 pm, and I'm thinking about tonight...and BAM! I remember that I'm off the DPs. And I got really disappointed! That is the level of my addiction. Sadness over not being able to have a DP at the ballgame.

Sugar Me This

So, beginning Jan. 2 I swore off sugar. And I knew I wouldn't be able to go 100% cold turkey. But I think I've gone ~95% no sugar. I mean, I HAVEN'T HAD A DR PEPPER OR SWEET TEA IN 13 DAYS! That alone is huge for me. And I'm following the lead of my cousin, who inspired me when she lost OVER THIRTY POUNDS rather quickly from just cutting out sugar. So I'm really disappointed that the ticker at the top of the page is on 0. I've decided that when I make any change, the fat globules in my body link arms, raise their picket signs, and start chanting, "HELL NO, WE WON'T GO!"

What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice, and everything nice, that's what little girls are made of.

So now I'm lacking "sugar" AND "everything nice"...tee hee.

The Cure for the Common Mommy Brain

I used to be very good at remember things: all things, big and small. School things, dates to remember, random things, all of it. And telling you this is not bragging because memorization is one of the lowest level learning skills. So I find it incredibly frustrating to be so forgetful now. I never got to blame it on pregnancy brain, so I am fo' sure blaming it on Mommy Brain. But alas, I have found the key to overcoming it: playing the game Memory every night! Ha! Elliott now LOVES Memory. He got his first game last year (as it is for ages 3+), but last year he was not down with rules and such. But at 4, by gosh he is a Memory champion! We play at least once a night. And since he has two versions (Toy Story and Spiderman), at least we get a little variety. For the record, he has more fun playing with me than he does with Doug! ;)

Last night was super fun as all 3 of us played. The competition was on!

Holy Television, Batman!

It's been four days since I cut off the Dish (ok, well, since I "paused" it for six months). And in these 4 days I have flip-flopped between missing my channels a whole bunch and not missing it at all. It's frustrating right now because we can't get the local channels, so we can only watch DVDs. We are working with a friend on getting this straightened out. And I miss the freedom that Tivo gave us. I knew it was taping my shows and that I could watch them anytime I wanted. So now when the local channels are working, I'll actually have to pay attention to what day and time it is.

BUT, with all that being said, I am cheering myself on about saving $50/month for the next 6 months...Woo hoo $300! So then I started thinking, how much have we spent over our married life on cable/satellite? Prepare yourselves.

We've been married 9.5 years, which is 114 months. I'm almost positive we've had cable or satellite the entire time. So if we've paid $50/month (and sometimes it was more), then we've spent $5700 on satellite during our marriage. DUDE.

Every time I miss my shows I'm going to think, "What could I have done with $5700 other than watch TV?" This decision just got that much easier!

I Got Sucker Punched in My Frugal Face

Ok, I am trying really hard to have my frugal face on. I did backslide some over the past two days, having a Starbucks coffee and eating out two lunches (weaknesses that cost me $22.50), but I knew that as soon as class started tomorrow that would be it. In fact, today we had a meeting at Starbucks, and I had a free ice water. Baby steps. Before I tell you what happened to make me want to throw a pity party today, I must provide some evidence in defense of my pathetic self.

Doug started his new job on Monday (yay!). However, that set in motion having to pay for COBRA insurance for one month for him, which we did with his very last paycheck from his old job. The ENTIRE paycheck. G-O-N-E. Then, because it is his first week and how they do payroll, he will not get a check this week. G-U-L-P. I get paid NEXT Friday. D-O-U-B-L-E G-U-L-P. But I had a plan. And then I had to go to the pharmacy for Doug...S-I-G-H.

So there I am, at the pharmacy, a new year upon us which means his ridunkulous pharmacy deductible has not been met, and I had to reach in for that shiny, silver, &^#&@@^$ card.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I went home and was blessed with a meal my in-laws brought over (FREE!). I then attempted to get my antenna working on my TV now that there is no Dish. I wish I had a video of me with that antenna that refuses to assist me; so I missed the Biggest Loser. :(

Ok, so pity party is being pushed to the side because I have to remember to be thankful that we both have jobs in these shitty times; this also makes my resolve so much stronger to fix this mess.

I better go roll some coins now...

Happy New Year 2010!

Well, let's see. How have you been? Busy, I'm sure. Same here. I love Christmastime, but boy is it exhausting! I went back to work today after two glorious weeks off. You cannot beat working for the state when it comes to vacation time.

Like every other schmuck, I am starting the new year with some resolutions. What better guideline to follow than the old saying, "...healthy, wealthy and wise." Except let's face it, the best I can shoot for this year is LESS debt rather than wealthy. In fact, I don't even care about being wealthy, I'm shooting for comfortable. Wait, make that shooting for comfortable as a long-range goal and NOT PANICKING as a short-range goal. I am going to be very honest with you, friends. My current debt is crippling me emotionally. More to come on this topic.

So the two books I'm reading right now are Dave Ramsey's The Total Money Makeover (it is taking me a really long time to read it because I read a little, panic, put it down, pick it back up weeks later, repeat) and Weight Watchers Family Power: 5 Simple Rules for a Healthy-Weight Home. Now, I must confess that a friend let me borrow the latter at least a year ago, and I am just now picking it up to read it. Interestingly enough, the stages discussed within the book would tell you that means I was in precontemplation and not ready to even consider a change. Interesting.

Ok, so healthy. As compared to my weight at the end of January 2009, I am only 8.5 lbs down, which really pisses me off. I lost my 10-lb advantage as I've been calling it. However, since that weight was taken near the end of January, I do have a few weeks before I make my official one-year-later weight tally. I am attempting the following steps in order to be healthier:

• Breaking up with Dr. Pepper AGAIN ("Hello, my name is Emily, and I am addicted to Dr. Pepper.") . I have not had one since New Year's Eve, meaning I have not had one at all in 2010! I have also not had any kind of carbonated beverage (not even diet) or sweet tea since New Year's Day. And I've had the headache to prove it. Now seems like a good time to ask myself why in the world after a detox period I allow myself to backslide? WHY?
  
  
• No sugar in the house in order to benefit all family members. I cleaned out the pantry, did away with the regular candy jar, and stashed a secret supply of emergency candy in a cabinet that is not regularly used. Treats are allowed outside the home. I want to make sure my child is healthy in mind and body, so I don't want to create sugar issues for him by going too far the other way either. Hello, sister of a borderline diabetic brother right here. Much more to come on this topic also.
  
  
• Eating out less: work lunches, weekends, the whole kit and kaboodle. This also plays into the less debt aspect. Of course, this has to be balanced against better meal planning and grocery shopping. Working on that with a master menu system (kudos to Sara for this one) and an awesome menu notepad from Erica! I dig it so much I may have lovingly caressed it when Doug wasn't looking. It makes me happy.
  
  
• Exercise and a more active lifestyle for all members of the house. I have a new DVD (Bob's Bootcamp!), a kettlebell, a workout ball, and Elliott got a Smart Cycle Extreme. Oh, and we both have jump ropes now. Other goals include more outside play to come when the weather warms up and being less sedentary (TV!) in general.

Ok, so wealthy...hahaha, in less debt. Let's see, I've paused the Dish Network service, which will not only help with the bullet point above but which will save us $300 over the next 6 months. Some doctor's office will be thrilled to get paid! ;) I hope that the coming tax refund will cover the remaining medical bills and if I'm lucky (I'm crossing all appendages and contorting myself into a pretzel) will also be enough to pay off my friends from the Vegas trip. You want to know when you've hit rock bottom? When you owe people you have a personal relationship with. It not only sucks, it's humbling. And eye-opening. Maybe if Discover put a picture of one of my friends up there, I might think twice about swiping that pretty silver card.

I'm currently working on a mental draft of either an upcoming blog chapter (multiple entries) or just a private journal to myself about my financial sins. Because see, I tend to focus on where and when I DON'T spend money and not to take into account (and take responsibility for) the ridiculous times I do spend money.

My other projects I'm working on in relation to my healthy, wealthy and wise goals are (1) a new multi-author blog and (2) a family (mom, aunts, etc.) accountability system for weight loss and exercise. As soon as Sara, Elizabeth and I roll out the blog, you'll be the first to know.

So here I am, striving to be better at life when I turn 30...in two and a half weeks.