Introspective

Well, it's been a long couple of weeks at the Stuehlmeyer house. For one thing, I live with a bunch of sicko's who can't seem to get healthy! That means little sleep, runny noses, crabby people, coughing, and finally...medicine. I think they're finally on the road to recovery (the runny noses are finally not green!). And, since we've not left the house much...I think. I mean literally, I think about stuff more than normal.

We've been doing lots of thinking and praying and spending time as just the 3 of us. We're trying to figure out the balance between work & home, friends, extended family, close family, and the 3 (+2) of us. Life gets messy as we begin to deal with our issues and as we start prioritizing. As it turns out, you can't do everything, you can't be everything, and you certainly can't do it all well if you're ridiculous enough to attempt it. (Sadly, I am ridiculous enough to attempt it...a lot.) What I can say about this week is that I'm really thankful for old friends. Sometimes it's nice to have a conversation with someone who has already walked a long path with you & you don't have to explain all the details and explain yourself. They already get you and sort of understand your mindset & why you do what you do. There are always those people who you just click with and when they're old friends it's fabulous because you always click no matter how close or far away or how much time you spend apart. I love that type of friendship. I have several in my life and I love them dearly. I rejoice when they rejoice and hurt when they hurt.

Don't get me wrong...I like new friends too. People who don't know all the crap you've done and you don't have to tell them! You can be who are now and don't have to fit into the little box they've put you in because they haven't known you long enough to put you in a box yet! That's freeing.

I guess what I love the most is the grace that you get from both types of friendship. Old friends love you despite your crap and give you grace. New friends give you grace because they don't know your crap yet.

The trick right now for me is realizing that my relationship with Jesus should be old friend and new friend. To know that I can crawl up in His lap and not have to explain all the past hurts and junk and He just gets me. Also, to know that He gives me grace because He doesn't know all my past sins. Seriously, they're gone. As far as the east is from the west, right (Ps 103:12)? Grace rocks.

The Dark Side

So, I finally crossed over. I mean officially. I let Hannah watch her first DVD. I mean in the room alone with her toys and a DVD playing. I got to sit in the kitchen and work while she entertained herself. Ahhhhh, the slow sigh of guilt and glee. I swore I wouldn't let her until she was 2 like "they" recommend. Who is "they" anyways?? Doctors, specialists, really smart super moms? Well, since none of them live in my house I get to make the rules (with Chad's help and consent, of course). And, along with making the rules comes changing them. So, we did. And Hannah got to watch Baby Einstein's Neighborhood Animals. She loved it! Watched it, sang to it, and played in the same room as it. What more could a mom (especially a mom who works from home) ask for?!? Well, all things in moderation (and taking into consideration the attention span of a 15 month old)...I think we might have to check out more Baby Einstein DVDs. :)

15 Months & Counting!

We have 15 months to be debt-free-but-the-house! We are Dave Ramsey hardcore at our house! And it rocks. We're starting Financial Peace University in 2 weeks & I'm hoping that will help us kick it up a notch even more during those 3 months! I'll keep you posted to our progress. We are certainly fired up & I'll probably drive you crazy until it's done b/c I'm so passionate about it! We started Jan 1 of this year and it would shock you how much we've done since then. It's shocked us for sure. :)

Recommended reading:
www.daveramsey.com
The Total Money Makeover
Financial Peace Revisited

Join us on our journey if you dare!

PS - To date we've paid off 2 credit cards (& within 2 weeks that will be 3)!

April Fools

April Fools! Ok, so it's not April Fools Day, but instead an account of my April Fools day.

I should have known when I got up that it was going to be a day. I found a spider crawling on my kitchen table. First, you should all be quite proud that I didn't scream. I just calmly killed it with Hannah's sippy cup (the first thing I could find with a flat bottom). And then I left it there all day as a notice to all its little spider friends to go back where they came from. But seriously, I was a little disturbed that out in the wide open plain sight this little spider thought it could crawl on my table?!? I try not to think about it.

At any rate...work was fine, (Chad is out of town mind you, so I'm a little on edge all day just because) I got home, fed Hannah, and had a relatively uneventful mealtime. So, I got brave & decided that we'd go on a walk. When we go on a walk, it's Hannah in her stroller & Lizzie & Cooper on a 'y-ed' leash together. So, I get some looks b/c I'm pushing the stroller & have 2 dogs (crazy yappy dogs usually). Well, as luck would have it there's a big dog sitting right where we get on the trail. Cooper of course goes crazy, because he doesn't realize the 50 lb dog would just smash his little 6 lb frame with one paw. So, I'm dragging Cooper & Lizzie trying to get the stroller up the curb to move past the big dog & its owner (who apparently thinks its cool to just sit & watch the Stuehlmeyer spectacle). Somehow (& I'm honestly not sure how...I promise I didn't run him over) Cooper ends up yelping & limping on his front paw. So, much to his dismay he has to finish the mile-long walk in the bottom basket of the stroller. Boo to injury # 1 of the evening.

We make it back to the house where Cooper promptly lays down & doesn't really move for the rest of the evening. I'm trying to get the dogs out of their harnesses and get some stuff done & Hannah (paci in mouth) somehow falls flat on her face in the living room (hardwood floors) and gets up with a mouth full of blood. For those of you who don't know me, that alone is enough to make me leave the room at a minimum and worse case senario, pass out. Well, the heroic mom that I am picks her up, thinking to myself...if there's a tooth through her lip we're in trouble, and seriously she couldn't have waited 20 minutes for Chad to get home?!? So, I now have blood all over my shirt, Hannah's got it in her mouth, on her fingers, her shirt, and her poor paci! We only ruined 1 washcloth, I managed to salvage 2, and nothing but a busted lip & the roof of her mouth. Can you believe it? We all lived. She didn't cry near as badly as I thought. I didn't pass out. She was eating crackers the next day. Cooper's up & running by the next day! Seriously, we're all still alive. And, it wasn't quite as traumatic as I expected. Hm, maybe I'm going to mellow out in my old age afterall. Thanks for reading.

Stuehlmeyer Budget Cuts Save Green

Our budget is getting cut. We subject ourselves to this torture partly kicking & screaming and partly out of competition with ourselves. Here are our favorite ways to save money:

• Eat the food in the cabinets (spent only $25/week on groceries for 4 weeks doing this! Who knew I had so much food in my house!)
• I make my own foam hand soap (diluted liquid soap = Cheap!)
  
• No eating out (we definitely kick & scream about this one)
• Even Lizzie & Cooper participate - they get cheaper treats
• Rent DVD's from the library, for FREE!!
• No new stuff (I'm pretty shocked that Wal-mart is doing so well since Chad cut me off)
• Chad cuts his own hair (and mostly does a better job than the people he was paying)
• Use cash & not credit cards (studies show you spend 12-18% more when using a credit card)

What are your favorite ways to save??