Meme time.

I saw Sara do this little meme a little while ago, and I wanted to post a blog today, yet didn't want to put too much work into, so here we are.

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? That's a tough one. I feel like during the holidays I choose Egg Nog just because that's the only time i can have it. BUT, if Egg Nog was available year round I probably wouldn't ever choose to drink it because it's really not that good. I always crave it throughout the year and make it so delicious in my mind but when I get to drink it? All I really get is a stomachache.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? As a kid they were all wrapped. Now I'm lucky even we even make it to Christmas before we give each other out gifts! Also, we don't have room for a tree...

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? On the house, colored, on the tree, white.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No, I steal kisses when I want them!

5. When do you put your decorations up? As an adult, I haven't put up any decorations until this year. Vince and I picked up a few things at the dollar store today though, and we now have a cute santa face for the front door, a snowy doormat for the front door and some red lights.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Mashed potatoes or pumpkin pie with cool whip. I love cool whip.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? As weird as it is, it was reading scriptures in my grandparents bed! They had a big bed and me and my 2 brothers and sisters and 7 aunts and uncles and parents and cousins would always have to lay in/around the bed and read the Book of Mormon before we were allowed to open presents. While I definitely won't be reading my kids the BoM it would be nice to keep with that tradition of reading in bed but read something else!

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I was staying the night at my grandparents and my mom had all of our presents in a back room where she was wrapping them. I accidentally walked in and saw this doll that I REALLY wanted. I quickly closed the door and went back to bed but in the morning I saw that it said it was from Santa. Then I said that Santa didn't give me this, my mom did! It was over from then on for everyone...

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yep! We have ALWAYS had to go Christmas Caroling before we could open one though. That included the whole family (whoever was in twon at the moment) to load up in vans and go caroling to many many houses, between 5 and 10. We would even have chimes and we'd make the families cry every year.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Our house is too small for one! Our first year here we bought a 3 foot fake one, but we had no where to store in for the rest of the year and it truly took up too much space. One of us was always knocking it over so we sold it at a yard sale. This year, we're going to decorate some of the art we had hanging up! We have a huge yarn tree thing in our living room so we bought little decorations to pin onto it. I can't wait for us to do it, and I'll be sure to post pictures!

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? I can't answer that, I change my answer minute to minute!

12. Can you ice skate? I used to go every Friday in elementary school! I haven't gone in years but I'm sure I can still do it!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? My Walkman and a 98 Degrees CD. Seriously. My sister and I both got Walkmans one year and she got a Backstreet Boys CD and for weeks after our dad yelled at us to turn our headphones down because he could hear them. That was ALL we did: listen to music! (Crappy music at that...ha!)

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Being with family and friends!

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Pumpkin or Pecan Pie.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? It seems like my family has SO many traditions, it's hard to pick a favorite! One tradition that I'm definitely sticking to for my family of Vince and I is making my grandmas potato soup and clam chowder. I don't think I've ever eaten anything else for Christmas and even though my grandparents are in Peru for 2 years, I got the recipe and will make it!

17. What tops your tree? Haven't decided on that yet...

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Neither! Both are too stressful, I'd rather just hang around and eat lots of food.

19. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum? Yum! I like the fruity ones too!

20. Favorite Christmas show? I don't know of any Christmas shows, so none?

21. Saddest Christmas Song? I don't know, most of the Christmas songs I know are pretty cheerful!

22. What is your favorite Christmas song? I posted about it last year, and it's definitely my favorite! I still don't remember the name of it though...I'll have to ask my grandma. I'm guessing that's going to be the first song my niece knows because I sing it to her all the time even when it's not Christmas! Here's the lyrics again:

Long ago one cold cold night,

bringing gifts of wonderous sights,

three kings seek a star above to honor the gift of love.

Now every winter when the wind blows

and the chill in the air warns of snow,

gifts are exchanged in remembrance of that special gift of love.

Ring the bells, ring the bells,

Christmas is coming,

Sound of hope, sound of joy,

for this gift of love.

Nontraditional

Everyone is the blogosphere is going to write a 'What I'm Thankful For' post today and I am, too. But mine? Will not be like anyone else's. Sure, I am thankful for my family, my friends, my house, etc. but I'm probably going to be over hearing about everyone's family by the end of the day and I'm sure you will, too, so I will spare you! Instead, I will write about the teeny tiny things in my life that I'm thankful for.

Strange Spoons This one is insanely helpful around the house and I love it to the moon and back. It's perfect for many things, such as scraping out little yogurt containers, eating an avacado, stirring my tea, and eating food when I am out of regular spoons.

Yoga Ball It's a great foot rest as well as a back stretcher, though I rarely use it for actual yoga. Vince enjoys bouncing the ball towards Roxanne and watching her get nervous.

Mason Jars I am QUEEN at breaking stuff. I just have to look at a nice expensive things and poof! it's shattered. Mason jars are awesome though and rarely seem to break. Luckily we have wood floors, which helps prevent them from breaking as well. I think I've only broken one in the past year! These are the only cups we have aside from coffee mugs and I love them. It's also super classy when our friends are over and we serve wine in them...haha!

What? How did those Twilight books get there?! Hehe I must admit that I got two of them from the libraries Summer Reading Program for free and the other two were $.50! 

Built in Shelves Our house is so teeny and it would be even smaller if we had to have a stand-out bookshelf. It's so nice to store books and some craft stuff on it! We also have built in shelves in the bathroom lining one wall (a whole 5 feet wide, our bathroom is teeny as well!) and it's kind of a catchall for stuff that won't fit elsewhere.

Electric Heater We have a behemoth gas heater in our living room that takes up so much room but doesn't heat the whole house. It just makes the living room like a sauna and the rest of the house freezing. It's nice to have this electric heater that I can move around the house with me that works super well. I highly recommend it, it's not too expensive and it great!

Pre-Thanksgiving Food That My Husband Made and Then Served So Tastefully I mean seriously, how can I not be thankful for him and a tamale with an over-easy egg?!

You could run that child over!

As a young teenager, I didn't believe that the adults in my life really affected me in any way. My thought process was that, no matter who I lived with or surrounded myself with, I would still be the same person. People couldn't affect my thoughts or actions.

Oh, but how wrong I was.

Last night I was driving home from class and noticed a giant box in the road with items strewn everywhere, across 2 lanes of traffic. A little further down the road there was a giant, and I mean giant stuffed bag of clothes-one that would wreck my car if I tried to run it over. I immediately thought, 'I need to call the police!' So I safely on speakerphone called the non-emergency police number and let them know of the situation and explained what intersections the items were at.

When I got off the phone, I thought about why I did that. Why did I call the police right away to tell them about that? I was already safely passed it! Then I had a memory from waaaay long ago of me and my grandma driving along the highway. There was a large box that was barely in one of the lanes, sort of resting on the white and as soon as she saw it she quickly reached for her phone.

I reminded her that she shouldn't talk and drive, so she gave it to me and told me to call the police. I laughed and asked, 'What? Why would I do that!'  She asked me if I had seen the box on the side of the road and I replied in my smart aleck way, 'Duh?'

She told me that an officer needed to come grab it so that nobody would get hurt. I laughed and said, 'It's only a cardboard box, anyone could run it over and it would just flatten.'

Then she got all wise and asked, 'Ahh, but is it just an empty box? What if someone was moving and it's full of their stuff? Or what if a child was playing in it in the back of their dads truck and it fell off! Then someone might run that child over and kill them!!'

At that point, I was a little traumatized, thinking, 'We almost killed some kid!' until I realized she was just making a point: we didn't know what was in the box and that it was better to be safe and call it in.

So I called it in for her and it didn't really cross my mind again until now. It's little memories like these that make me realize all the great people in my like growing up. Sure, I had a bunch of crappy and bad influences, but it was the great ones that really stood out and shaped me into a great person. (In case you didn't know, I'm a great person.) I love you gram!

Hate.

You know how 'they' say 'Everything in moderation?' Well, I've been posting a lot about what I love, so now it's time for what I hate. I'm not in a bad mood or anything, sometimes things just get on my nerves and it's nice to vent about it. (And with all that positivity out in the blogging world that sometimes makes me want to puke, I feel the need to counteract it. Ha!)

Whites (As in clothing, not people) Every time I do a load of white laundry, I always find something around the house that I forgot. It's especially annoying because my load in never full since I don't have that many whites, so I'm paying for a half-full load. Which, after my previous laundromat experiences, makes me mad.

Dog Hair It never ever ever ever ever goes away. Roxanne doesn't shed very much, but I can never get it all swept/mopped off the floor! There's always little tufts of her hair that never manage to make it to the trash.

Chapped Lips I drink massive amounts of water throughout the day, and if I have a day where I don't drink as much, my lips are immediately chapped for 3+ days! Nothing but time and more water seems to make it go away.

Dirty Keyboards Last week I took off all the keys on my MacBook and cleaned them all individually. I was so sick of looking at the brown grossness and the dog hair that was getting stuck in the keys. Now it looks brand new!

Loose Keys As a result of taking all my keys off last week, I haven't been able to put a few on correctly! The escape key, down arrow, and a shift button need a little finagling to work right.

Internet Oh my lord. My internet company was bought-out by a larger one and they touted that they were 'Faster and better than before!' But now it is WAY bad. Our internet was nice and fast before and I didn't have a single problem. Then after the company switched, I've had problem after problem and the internet is so slow. Screw you, Suddenlink! There's a new local Internet provider in town, and I keep meaning to drop by and try out their 30 day free trial, but I keep forgetting. Oof.

So, what are you hatin' lately? Come on, tell me you first world problems.

My reads.

I've been doing a lot with my time lately, and when I do something that isn't productive I feel so terrible about it. Some days I'll come home from work and just sit on the couch for a few hours reading blogs until Vince comes home. When I'm finished with them, I rarely feel happy or better about myself despite what I've read! Because of this, I am going to try and limit my blog reading by a massive amount. If I don't come away from that blog feeling great or thought-inspire every time (because some blog posts won't be 'happy' ones, and that's ok!) then I won't read them.

In a way I feel bad because some of blogs I used to read are also readers of mine. I feel like I need to reciprocate their readership in a way, but do I really? Should I feel like I need to or should I just be fine knowing that they enjoy reading my blog? I feel like all the blogs I read are really great, but at the same time, not totally necessary in my life, given the amount of time it takes to read and comment. I'd rather live my real life, have a clean house, and spend time with my husband walking the dog!

I know there will be some days where I'll click back through blogs I used to read which are all on my blogger profile and 'catch up' on them but I don't think I need to be caught up on everything they post as soon as they post it. I need to focus more on my life!

When we moved over the summer we didn't have internet for a few weeks and I was WAY more productive. I wasn't able to sit on the couch and watch Netflix and I wasn't able to surf the Internet which left me with a lot of time to organize, create things, read, and just enjoy downtime.  I really want that again!

I'm still going to blog because this is ultimately for me and this is my creative outlet, but I definitely feel the need to cut back on some reading. I feel so torn because there are a lot of people that I've really grown to love as I've gotten to know them over the Internet! But in the end? I come away from their blogs and in all reality my life isn't changed. Sure it's nice to see their pretty outfits or hear about the book they read, but it's not something that affects my life in a dramatic enough way for me to spend my time on it.

So here's a list of the few blogs I read that are absolutely fantastic, in alphabetical order (and keep in mind, I don't read blogs every day...I don't have time!):

2birds1blog - Abso-freaking-lutely hilarious. 100% inappropriate (for real) but 100% amazing.

Dooce - I read Heather Armstrongs book It Sucked and Then I Cried, and my life was changed. I saw depression in a whole new way and was at peace with it. Turns out, she also writes a blog and I spent months of my life reading every single post of hers and she is by far my favorite Internet person in the world. She is so extremely hilarious at times, yet so completely honest at other times. It's a great balance.

Emmy Suh - Every single one of her posts are a million miles long, but I love them nonetheless. They are so insanely funny and so heartfelt, and even though you realize you just spent a half hour reading her blog, you are ok with that. I wish I knew her in real life!

Enjoying the Small Things - Kelle Hampton has 2 daughters and one of them has down syndrome, but she doesn't focus on that; she just focuses on life! The way she writes makes every single ounce of life absolutely precious and I've never walked away from reading her blog without feeling over-the-moon ecstatic. She is just amazing and has love pouring out of her, and her blog is the first thing I check for a new post. And her pictures? Stunning. Such an inspiring lady...she's definitely my#2 most favorite person in the blogging world!

Luminous and Edible - I came across a link to her blog that was talking about how she's getting out of debt and I loved it. She outlined the process she used and it was inspiring! She posts about various things which is great.

PostSecret - If you aren't reading this yet, just go. Click it.

RunningWildly - This is a nursing blog, but she doesn't always write about nursing. It's great to read posts about the emotional side of nursing, because that's definitely the part I feel I'll have the most trouble with!

Tales of a School Zoned Nurse - Another nursing blog, obviously about a school nurse. It's such an eye opener to see how screwed up our school system is, especially when it comes to children's health. This lady is in charge of thousands of kids at a few schools...which means at any given time the other schools she is in charge of won't have a nurse at them. I would be outraged if my child was in school without a nurse present...especially if they were diabetic or had sever allergies!

The Rhythm Method - She's a lovely lovely writer and every single time I leave her blog I just think and think and think. Her posts are so full of so many great points!

The Traveling PhoBlogWriPher - Sara is such a kind soul and is another person who just loves life! I'm a little jealous of her, because she and her husband are soon going to start traveling the country in their Winnebago Brave! You have to check her blog out if you haven't already, she's so amazing!

The Bloggess - Another one of those slightly inappropriate blogs, but it's just too funny to ignore!

Welcome to Sara's Organized Chaos - Her blog is so 'everywhere' that I can't help but love it. In one post she's explaining how her and her husband are working through his infidelity, the next she's talking about her cake decorating class, the next she's doing a book review. I love that she posts on such an array of topics and she's SO funny in the process.

Blogs of Note: These are ones that I check about once a week on Sundays because I like to be caught up on them, just not every day! I also like reading a few posts at once because they tend to be short:
Holly's House (Not a Perfect Mom's Blog)
The Ivory Tower Library
Just Let Me Finish This Chapter...
The Meanest Mom
Peachy Keen
Take-Hart

I also regularly check my family members blogs, but notice how I've cut out a lot of the 'big' blogs that I used to read? While I love what each individual posts, I'm so sick of the sponsors and the sponsor posts! I know some people make their blog a business, but I end up clicking 'Mark as Read' on most of their posts even though I didn't read it. It makes me sad, but it drives me nuts to go to the blog, knowing what it used to be when it was sponsor-free. It makes me think about sponsorship and I wonder if I'd ever do it (granted that my blog had many readers.) I really love the way Kelle at Enjoying the Small Things incorporates her sponsors though, it's so much better! I feel like it's appropriate to have a sponsor and giveaways, but to have multiple posts a month dedicated to them? It's just too much for me! And honestly, do I want a pair of Blowfish shoes(Not to pick on Blowfish, but they are everywhere right now! haha),  and will I really be the lucky winner out of 4,000 others?

Anyways, did I mention I've got an iPhone now? I must say, having it makes blog reading so much easier(along with many other things in life, seriously). If I'm waiting for a prescription or am on break at work I can pull out my phone and read a few posts instead of sitting there doing nothing! Then, when I get home I don't have any to read and can focus on other things!

So, I think I mentioned all the blogs I read, and if not, I'll update it later!

Happy Happy Joy Joy

Things in life that have been making me happy and thankful:

Class - I have clinicals for my nursing assistant class on Friday and Saturday and I'm excited! What are they, you ask? Well, basically I go to a nursing home one weekend and the hospital another weekend and I do hands on experience as a CNA. It's not the most fun work, but at least I'll get my first experience in the 'medical world'. And I get to wear some ugly SUPER white shoes. (And ignore the less than awesome quality of the pictures, they're from my iPhone and somewhat poorly lit!)

Books - I am reading Jodi Picoult's book 'Perfect Match' and I love it. I've been reading a few other books recently but just haven't really gotten into them. But, as usually, I'm completely infatuated with anything Picoult writes!

Dates - I went on a date wih my man last night and it was fun! We went and saw a movie at the university here in town and there was a great discussion afterwards. More on that to come!

Salads - Vince and I have been eating massive amounts of sales the past few weeks and we've been loving it. I figured it that if I just prepare a huge salad at the beginning on the week I'm way more likely to eat it than if I just made a 'new' salad each time. It totally makes sense, I've just never done it before!

Christmas - Figuring out Christmas presents for people. I'm basically doing the same thing for everyone, but I'm personalizing it! I wanted to keep it cheap since I'm quitting my job soon, but still personal and nice.

Validation - Having people tell me they love my blog. I know I shouldn't need validation, but honestly, it's super awesome to hear every so often!

Love - A dog and a husband that love to cuddle each other.

It seems like the easiest post of the week is Thursday, because I have a 'specific' topic to post on! I really need to get back to specific things on specific days like I used to so I can get in the groove of writing/blogging again...

Believe it.

I no longer have any qualms about my body. It's strange.

To start from the beginning:

I've never really had body issues like a lot of women have and I am SO grateful for that. I don't think I have the perfect body in any way, body things just never seemed to worry me. I did have 3 things that I was somewhat self conscious about until recently, though, that just seem silly to me now.

The first thing was how skinny I was. I was CONSTANTLY made fun of growing up because I was so skinny. So many people at school would joke around calling me anorexic and twig and a lot of hurtful things. It was so frustrating because I ate SO much damn food! Little did I know at the time that the food I was eating was making me sick, and that was why I was so skinny.

I was talking to a friend in high school and said that I felt like I got made fun of as much as an overweight person did. He was taken aback and said that there was no way that was true. But it felt like I was, because the words truly did hurt me. I was made fun of on a daily basis, certain people weren't friends with me because of it, and it was on my mind all the time. Every time I would eat at lunch, I would think everyone was thinking that I was going to go throw it up after or something.  I obviously don't actually know what people though, but that's how I felt. I was always so self conscious when eating.

When I found out that I had celiac and couldn't gluten, I became even more self conscious in a way. I would go out with my friends and I would usually only be able to eat a salad, which for a long time was SO embarrassing! Here I am, this skinny tall girl, sitting with friends as they're eating delicious lasagna, fried zucchini or giant yummy burritos, while I sit there with a small salad. And there were times when I couldn't even eat dressing which made it more embarrassing because it would make me think that people thought I wasn't eating dressing to save on calories or something. Ya, I clearly overthought a lot, but I couldn't help it!

For some reason, I have a calm feeling about it now. If I want a salad and I'm skinny, who cares? Why do I care if this person thinks I don't eat enough? I'm most likely never going to see them again! I know that I eat enough food and I know that I eat a lot of healthy food. I also know that I eat a lot of unhealthy food, and I'm totally fine with that.

Another issue that I've dealt with my whole life is my legs. They are SO white, and they have gross looking spider veins. I've always had them for as long as I can remember, and I absolutely hate them. When I would go swimming at our local pool, other kids would remark that I have old lady legs and oh man, would that hurt. I was so embarrassed! To solve that issue I just never wore short shorts or skirts. When I would go swimming I would always wear boys board shorts over my bottoms to hide my legs.

Over the summer for my birthday some friends and I went to the creek. I was considering wearing my longer shorts that go to my knees, but another friend had just given me a pair of her old shorts that were SO cute and I really wanted to wear them. They were super short though, so I didn't think I wanted to wear them. Then all of the sudden, something just came over me and I started laughing. Would my friends really care if my legs weren't perfect looking? They probably didn't notice and it was just in my head! So I wore those shorts and when we got to the creek, I even took them off and just wore my swimsuit. That is something I rarely do, and only when Vince and I are alone at the creek. It was so awesome to just walk along the creek and truly not care what my body looked liked. I had no worry about it at all, and it made me so happy!

A while ago I had some errands to do around town and it was HOT. The only pants I had that were clean were a pair that are not breathable at all and I feel like 5 times hotter than I really am in them. So I decided to wear a skirt. A mini skirt, actually. And let me tell you, it was WONDERFUL. I wasn't as hot as I would have been had I been in pants, and I was working on my 'tan' while walking around town!

The last problem I had is a tattoo on my back that I got when I was 16 in some persons kitchen. It was supposed to be a peace sign, and it looks SHITTY. So horrible. For a long time I was super embarrassed by it and would only wear/buy a shirt if it covered the tattoo. Like the skirt thing, there was a hot day a couple weeks ago and I just wanted to wear a strapless shirt. I was worried about not having my tattoo covered up. Again, something came over me and I just didn't care anymore. I was frickin' hot, and I didn't want to wear a regular shirt. So I put on my strapless one and was confident in how I looked. Maybe it's the fact that I have other tattoos that are really great pieces of art, but I just was over caring about my back!

So there you have it; silly things I used to worry about, that for some reason I don't anymore. I still don't think my bodies perfect, but I just don't care, which is such a liberating thing. You should try it!

Ok, and here's a side note: My husband's an ass. While I was sitting here typing, he asked, 'Are you ever gunna get rid of that baby fat?' referring to my double chin I get when I pull my head back. He was joking because I always laugh about my double chin in pictures, but still! He totally owes me a backrub for that.

The pain...

Read this article; take a half hour from your day and read the whole thing. (Unless you're a military spouse, and in that case, you'd just be putting yourself through torture...) It's incredibly sad and will bring you to tears and rip your stomach and heart apart, but it's beautifully written and reminds you that many many people are affected by this war we're in. It puts a face to all this chaos that, I will admit, sometimes doesn't phase me when I read that another person has died. I need to remember that it's real men and women out there, putting their lives on the line, and real families who lose people that are most important to them.

THANK YOU to those of you who defend this country of ours, no matter how fucked up it is. I know I don't have the courage to face death every day, whether yours or someone else's, and it amazes me that you do.
THANK YOU to the spouses and families who have lost your loved ones or have someone away from home right now. I can't imagine the worry all of you have to go through on a daily basis.

Lovin' it...

Winter Days I'm thankful for cold, cozy days with pretty fall leaves that are...falling, and falling fast! I'm pretty sure this tree in my front yard doesn't have any leaves on it anymore.

Over the past few weeks I've really enjoyed the walks I've taken Roxy on. It's been pretty cold, but there are those days (especially after it's snowed) where the weather seems insulating, almost warm and inviting in it's own way. I've tried to not have the mentality of 'Damn, it's going to be cold outside, I don't want to do it!' and instead I just bundle up, making sure I'll stay warm.

My Body I'm also thankful for hands that are creative and am so thankful for a healthy body that allows me to do SO many incredible things. I take it for granted a lot of times, but like my 'Aha!' moment with nursing, I frequently get 'Aha!' moments with my body. I know some day I will grow old and my body won't be as well, so I hope I can continue to focus on all the good it does me right now, such as making scarves for Christmas!

Roxanne I can honestly say I never thought I would be able to love an animal this much. I always thought it was silly when people said they loved their dogs or had bumper stickers that said 'My heart belongs to {insert dog breed here}' but honestly? I've considered getting one myself! I love this little lady so much and, barring any health issues, I'm glad I'll be able to have her around for another 16 or so years!!

Are you thankful for anything? 

If so, leave a comment or link up with some other bloggers!

I quit.

I'm quitting my job and living life how I want to live it. Am I excited? Hell yes.

My job right now leaves me so empty inside that sometimes when I get home I just want to scream. I hate the way it makes me feel and I've felt this way since a couple of weeks after starting.

Why have I stayed so long then? Because I like the stability, the insurance, the money. Is it something I have to have in my life to survive though? No, not at all. There are a million other ways I can live my life that does not include this job.

I haven't talked much (if at all?) about my job and it's mainly because it wouldn't be a good post and I would get fired. I can't exactly pinpoint what it is, but every day after work I feel so drained, like my day was so incredibly wasted, which I don't get! I assist people in finding information on what they need and I put on really great programs for youth who might otherwise go home to a shitty place. Why isn't this satisfying? I love the kids I work with, so what gives?

Whatever the reason is, I plan on quitting the first week of January and I am thrilled. I'll start school full-time and I'll work part-time and the thought of that gives me the biggest grin on my face. I haven't decided if I'll work as a CNA (in a nursing home or the hospital) or if I'll work somewhere more upbeat like a bar or restaurant, but I know I'll be happy either way. I just need to make around $700 a month for bills and I'm good!

For the next couple months I plan on saving every penny I have and not buying anything except food. I've almost stuck with it for the past 3 weeks(seriously...I've only paid $5 when I went out with my friend for food, which blows my mind...I'm usually a spender!)  Maybe I'll stick with that goal, maybe I won't, I'll have to wait and see. Hopefully, after bills and food, I'll have a little over $2,400 saved up. I don't plan on using that money to pay future bills, I just want to have it in savings in case I don't find a job as soon as I'd hoped.

No matter what happens, I am so excited about this new adventure in mine and my husbands life!