Self Reflection Day 2

ok...it's day 2 of my self reflection. Here is what I have to add to yesterdays positives.

19) I am good at getting events together.

Here are the things I want to fix and how I plan to go about that.

1) Become more fit. - I started my couch 2 5k today with a couple of girls. I plan to do this at least 3x week with a goal of running a full 5k mid to end November 2011.
2) Eat a healthier diet - I am starting to "eat cleaner".
3) Finish school- hope to apply to KSU this month to start in January. I would like to get a degree in human services.
4) Become more spiritual - Joined a Bible Study that focuses on mothers and trying to attend church regularly.
5) Be a better mother and wife- I am already good at both of these but I want to be better. I need to define what exactly I want to better.
6) Get my house clean, organized and de-cluttered!
7) Get my financial house in order.- First step...make a budget and stick to it!

I will keep you updated on my progress!

Self Reflection

So I haven't been real happy with myself for some time now. Not sure what has brought it on but it seems that I am constantly finding things about myself that I wish were better. I don't like feeling this was so I am determined to fix it. I've been reading on strategies to help me and one thing I read was to take an inventory on the things you do like or are good about yourself. I need to find 50 things. So here it  goes.....
1) I have a friendly personality.
2) I am fairly outgoing.
3) I am very easy to get along with.
4) I have a constant desire to help others.
5) I am funny.
6) I know how to be silly.
7) I am an above average mom.
8) I have a smile on my face almost all the time.
9) I like my long legs! lol
10) I am smart.
11) I like my eyes and their ability to change color.

Wow...this is pretty hard!

12) I am semi creative.
13) I am a sucker for volunteering.
14) I was able to grow my own garden.
15) I am pretty good at finding great deals!
16) I love to laugh.
17) I am good at baking.
18) I am a good wife.

So this is as far as I can get right now. Hopefully, I can add to this list as I think of new things or change some of the things I don't like. Tomorrow....listing the things I want to change and how I go about accomplishing it!

The Party Never Stops

So as you know we have been trying to follow the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University. We are going into our 5th week I believe. Baby Step #1 is to create a $1,000 emergency fund. The purpose of this is that when you have this small fund (later you build a bigger one) is that when "expected but unexpected" things happen you have some money there to deal with the issue rather than pulling out the credit card. So, we started our emergency fund but haven't gotten much in it yet. And what do you know, we have had to replace 2 tires within a week. Two tires that didn't look to need replacing. We talked about this in our class. How when you don't have the fund everything will go wrong but once it is established nothing ever happens. Who is playing this joke on us?

Progress

I started this blog with a lot of intentions and it just hasn't worked out as I planned it! But, I have made lots of progress in a few different areas since the last post. We have been attending our Dave Ramsey class each and every week. We have learned so much. We did our first official budget. A tough task, especially since we have never done one. This week is going to be really scary.....we have to right down all of our outstanding debts and put them in order from lowest amount to highest amount. This is called the Debt Snowball or Baby Step #2. During class we all had to write down how much we thought we had in debt. I honestly had no idea what to put here because I have always tried to avoid knowing what that number would be. Our leader took everyones numbers and added them up. As an estimate, our class has ONE MILLION DOLLARS in debt. Holy cow! I was amazed. Our class probably has about 15-20 couples in it. Wow was all I could say! We are still working on Baby Step #1 which is to have a $1,000 emergency fund. this is harder than it sounds. There are going to be lots of sacrifices along the way but it will be well worth it when we can scream " WE ARE DEBT FREE!"

On another note, there has been major progress in my life as a step-mom. About 2 weeks ago I took a BIG step and approached Jailan's mom. I said listen, I know we have not been on the best of terms lately but I think we can both see what this is doing to Jailan. I would like to move past this and see if we can make things better. I admitted my faults and all the poor decisions I was responsible for. To my amazement, she agreed. We met for a drink and talked about things. There is still a long road to hoe but at least now we can speak to each other like adults and it isn't awkward when we are in the same place at the same time...ahhhh progress. It truly has lifted a large weight off my shoulders.

Ty and Jailan are keeping us busy. Ty is doing some field events with the track team. He really seems to enjoy it. He started out only doing the pole vaulting. Doug pushed and pushed for him to try something else. So he took Ty out to the track and taught him the high jump. Now Ty is in love. He high jumped in his first meet yesterday and wasn't able to clear the bar but I think he will do great. He seems to have caught on to the pole vaulting as well. It will just take some practice. He is already hounding Doug to take him out to the track this weekend to practice. For those of you that know Ty, that is not the typical Ty. Jailan has turned into quite the baseball player. I think it is going to be his sport. He needs to work a little on catching the ball but as far as hitting goes...I think he is the best on the team!

Reviving the Spirit

Today we got back to church. We love our church but it has been a few weeks since we have been. God knew I was going today because the message was perfect and really inspiring. The reading was from Genesis and we talked about the story of Joseph. It reiterated to me that God is always there. Even more so when things seem to be going wrong. As I mentioned before this year has been a very stressful year for my family. I have constantly had to remind myself that God has a plan for us even though we don't see it. Sometimes I wasn't so sure if I believed that and other times it was the only thing that kept me going. I guess we all have questioned God's motives from time to time. I do have to say that all these trials have brought my entire family closer to the Lord.

On another note, we sat down tonight to complete the quickie budget from our Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class. Ugh is all I can really say. It certainly gave us a little perspective on where we stand. A bit stressful seeing it all on paper but also inspiring in a strange sort of way. We have also started our $1,000 emergency fund (Baby Step #1). We are only $100 into it but it is more of an emergency fund than we have ever had. :/ Our next class is Tuesday and I am ready to see what we learn next!

What the Heck Just Happened?

The last year has been a super stressful year for our family. If something could go wrong, it did. Bizarre things seemed to fall out of the sky and land right on top of our shoulders. Our life has been in utter chaos....emotionally, physically, financially. Our home has also suffered. We seemed to be constantly chasing our tails. Nothing was in it's place because it didn't have a place. We count our blessings that our relationship was strong enough to fight through every bit of it. So here we are, a new year that we hope will be a fresh start. I turned 33 yesterday and I think it's time we accepted our wake up call. We have to start living more responsibly and that includes getting organized and getting our finances under control. I want to use this blog to document the progress that we make. We started Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University last night and are so excited to see how it changes our lives. I will be starting to follow FlyLady to keep my house clean, following a few different blogs to get organized and Couch 2 5K to to become more active. I hope you enjoy our journey. We are starting at Chaos in hopes of Destination: Peace, Love and Sanity!