Quality-V-Quantity During the Holidays.

Hey there!!! With Christmas just round the corner I wanted to share something.  Do not forget what the holidays are all about.  Sue it is nice to get a gift from people, but the important part is the time spent.

Especially with kids.  Most of the time people can not remember what they got for Christmas when they were little but what they do remember is the people.  They remember that they always spent time with their loved ones.  That family was there.

Don't have a big family or really any family?  Again it is about quality.  Spend time with your favorite people.  Make the time count with the people that matter the most to you.  That is the big picture here.  For me and my daughter it is time with my parents.  Unfortunately since my Mom passed this year it is a little harder but that means the time with my Dad is even that much more special.

No matter who is there or what you do I sincerely hope you have a blessed and happy Holiday season.

Thanks for visiting talk to you soon.

A Trip To The Zoo

Yesterday we decided to go to the Detroit Zoo.  It was a great day to go.  It was the perfect temperature so you were not hot or cold.  We got to see a lot of different animals that are not at our local zoo.  They did have the over head viewing tunnels so we got to see the penguins, sea lions, and polar bears swim overhead.  That was fun to see. The sea lions were playing and swimming upside to look at us.

It was a fun day getting out of the house which with all the stuff that has been going on we definitely needed to get out and have fun.  We have not been doing a whole lot of anything lately so for the most part it was really nice.  I am not an out in public type of person so that is a little hard for me.  Not that I am afraid but I get frustrated with rude people who think the world revolves around them so they just do what they want.  Like in the snake exhibit there was a lady that literally kept leaning on me to look over my shoulder because she felt the line was moving to slow.  There were a ton of children so I had to fight the urge to make a scene and say something though.

The other thing is I do not walk that much anymore.  So after 3 hours of walking around I was in great pain.  I could barely make it to the car.  Then after sitting in the car when I tried to get out and walk to the restaurant it was horrible.  Today I am still quite sore so I doubt that I will be getting a whole lot done.  My feet are so sore and my back is in massive pain.

Oh well I guess it is the price I pay to enjoy my friends and make sure my daughter has a great summer.  Plus I got some exercise to say the least so it was worth it I am guessing.  I hope you are enjoying your summer!

Just a Little Chat

So the holidays are upon us.  For me that means shopping for my daughter, parents and a few friends.  It is a time to just be with family and enjoy,  we can start to look forward to the next year as well.  It is a fun time of year.

Some people get all stressed out and are so caught up in the shopping they miss out on the joy of the season.  I like just slowing down and enjoying what is going on in my life.  My daughter gets so excited about Christmas still which is nice to see at her age.  We take time to pick out the gifts for everyone together.  She is very particular about what she wants to get people.  We help buy gifts for a needy child each year and she likes picking stuff out for them.  I think she would spend every last dollar I have on them if I would let her.  I feel blessed to have raised such a caring child.

As we get closer I want to slow down even more and enjoy the time.  It seems like each year it goes faster and faster, before I know it she will be 18 and graduating high school and off to college.  I want to enjoy every last second I can.  Even though this year has been so rough, when I stop to think there is still so much to be thankful for.

So as the holidays roll through take take the time to enjoy the people around you.  Slow down and just take it all in.  It is going to go by no matter what so why not just enjoy it.  You will not get time to do it again.

Another Year Older

So my birthday was Sunday and now I am a year older.  I am in my late 30's and so much has happened in my life.  This last year has been a complete roller coaster.  Though I have figured out that each year I worry less about the number my birthday brings.

I am more happy with spending time with my family.  For the last 3 years I have used my birthday weekend to go with my daughter and my parents to Uncle John's Cider Mill.  I am in Michigan in case you didn't know and it is a very popular place during the fall.  They have a pumpkin patch and make their own cider and donuts.  When we get there we take the ride to the patch to get started.

We stroll through looking for the perfect pumpkins, then we load them in the car and head into the mill and get cider and donuts.  We pick out a table and eat and drink for a moment.  Before we go we hit the gift shop to see what new stuff they have that year.  It is a small trip but one I enjoy.  Why do I enjoy such a simple birthday?  Because it is with people I care so much about.

Sure I could have a huge party and invite a ton of people, but would it mean as much?  Would it create the great family memories that I now have.  Not at all.  My daughter will soon be grown herself and the childhood memories will be just that, memories.  She will have things of her own to do and ultimately have less time for these types of things.  I want to do things that make me happy.  Having my little quiet birthday does just that.  One year older and another year of joy.

Kids Growing UP

So the girl is in her freshman year of high school.  It has not started out so well but I know she has to grow up a little some time.  It is hard but I am trying my best.  This week she has her first homecoming dance.  Now she has been to other dances but nothing so important like this.  This is a big first step.

She originally even had a date to go but unfortunately he can't go now for what ever reason.  Honestly I am ok with that to tell the truth.  I was not ready for her to have a date too.  She seems to be ok and says she is going no matter what.  I am proud of her for stepping out of her comfort zone as well.  This is something that before she would not have been so willing to do.  All the other dances I had to be a chaperon so she would go.  This time she was the one who made the decision and knows I won't be there but she can call me if she needs me and I will be right there.

I think that is an important factor in her feeling confident in this new journey.  I have made sure she knows that no matter what she can count on me,  I always tell  her even if it is something that might make me mad she can always call me for help.  I tell her I might be mad but we can talk about it and I would rather her tell me the truth then lie and end up in danger.  She knows that even if she wants to date or drinks at a party she can talk to me and we will get through whatever together.  I want her to know that I am there.  Even if she makes a bad choice I would rather her come to me for help than get hurt.

Happy Mother's Day

I was not prepared for what becoming a Mother really meant.  It is a huge sacrifice of your former self.  It has no manual to tell you what to do for any particular event that may come.  There is no pay, time off or anything that would be associated with regular employment.  None the less it is a position I proudly hold.

Our life together has not been easy since the beginning.  We have had our fair share of challenges to say the least.  The thing is at the end of the day we are together so the hard stuff isn't as bad.  I am able to see my daughter grow up into the amazing person that she is.  Becoming a Mom has changed me for the better.  I can not say where I would be if I had not become a Mom.

Being able to take care of my daughter and show her of to the the world is an amazing feeling.  She is really my greatest accomplishment.  There are so many things that I could have changed about the way I handle being a Mom but then would she be the same person.

So to all the Mom's who have put there children first and sleep last.  For doing your best to make the world just a little better by being there for them.  I shout to you HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!  May each year be better than the one before

When Kids Grow Up

As a parent we all want to treasure those moments when our children are little.  We love how they are constantly learning new things.  Everyday is a new adventure.  We get to have so much fun and get so much joy out of their experiences.  It is the joy of parenting.

The problem is they are growing up a little each day.  They know it is happening and are very eager to get to the next step.  As parents we just see our little baby playing and having fun.  Then BAM! suddenly it starts to set in to you they are growing up.  They are no longer a baby but they are learning to be more independent.

The hardest hit for me so far was realizing my daughter is a teen and she is really only 3 years away from being an adult.  It is hard to accept the fact that eventually she is going to be the one making all her choices and she will not have to listen to me about how to be careful or make sure you are doing this and that.  She is developing into a young lady and there is nothing I can do to stop what is happening.

Here is my advice.  Let them be little for as long as you can.  Do not force them to be older than they are.  They will grow up soon enough so let them go.  Let them get messy, be crazy, have lazy days, have pj day.  Soon enough they will have a fashion sense of their own, they will have activities they will need to attend to. They will worry if they look ok no matter what their fashion preference is. IT IS OK TO LET THEM BE LITTLE!  If your kid is not going potty at 1.5 do not let the parents who have kids at 1 using the potty get you down.  Chances are they are forcing their child before they are really ready and that could be scaring their kid.  Now if they are 5 in diapers then maybe you want to push a little more but even then maybe they are just late bloomers.  Lord knows my daughter is blooming far behind the other but I am ok with that.

The day will come that she has to be responsible and she will learn to get through it just like the rest of us have.  Soon enough I will be older and it will be her helping me make sure things are in order or I am getting around my house ok.  So for now I want her to be 14.  I want her to have 14 year old things to do.  I want her to look 14.  Soon enough she will be 18 and that is when it will time for her to look and act 18. Until then she is my little girl and I am not trying to rush a second of any of it.

Just Because

So this weekend has been very relaxing.  My daughter and I decided to visit my parents for the holiday weekend.  My mom's birthday is Monday and it is not often we get to just come up here for the weekend.  So we decided to use our free time this time to see family.  My parents moved two hours away so it can be challenging to see them some times.  We all have different schedules and then this time of year with the weather it makes it more challenging.

It is crazy how fast time goes and then you realize it has been more than a month since you have visited some one.  I realized it has been over a month since I last saw one of my friends and I actually drive by their house every week for other stuff.  It is crazy how time goes by so fast and we are so worried about getting things done all the time, we don't actually have time to enjoy life.

It seems more as the time goes by I get more used to not seeing people.  It is sad that we put more value on what we are getting done than the people in our lives.  It seems that being with the people we care about the most should be our bigger priority.  We get so caught up in getting a pay check or what we have to do around the house that we push the rest to the side.  I mean really, if you don't do the dishes today what is the harm they will still be there tomorrow and most people now have a dishwasher so it isn't like it is an all day chore like before.

It amazes that with ll this stuff we have to make our lives easier, we have actually complicated it more.  We are jam packing more things to do each day.  We make it almost impossible to just sit and enjoy life as it is.  Just spend time with our family.  Enjoy our time with the people we care about the most.  When you think about it when those people are gone are the dishes going to be that important?  The day of their funeral are you going to not go because there are dishes to do, or are you just going say heck with the dishes I am going.  So why wait until their life is over to see them.  Why not have today be the day that the dishes can wait and you go spend time with important people now.

How Do We Save Money We Don't Have

So there are articles everywhere on how to save money.  They explain how to save a bunch and get your debt paid off.  The problem you ask?  Well they always use big number like saving hundreds or thousands at once.  Sometimes it is even you should save 50% of your income.  Well if you are like me you don't have that kind of money.  If you put that much in savings your bills would never get paid off.  So what is the solution?

Well I have tried a lot of things.  One thing that was useful was the envelope system.  This is where you take out the exact amount of money you will spend from your pay check and label an envelope for each thing you would spend money on.  For example your car loan, groceries, eating out if you intend on doing that.  You only take cash out of the envelope that you intend on using it for.  Once the envelope is empty you have no more money for that particular activity until you get paid again.  In theory it really does work, if you can stick with it.  I was able to for  little while but then I found myself sneaking a dollar from this envelope to go to the other envelope and then I gave up.  If you can do it then by all means go for it.  Just wasn't my thing.

What did work you ask?  Saving the money I already had.  Didn't I just say I had none to save?  Well that is the trick.  First you get a jar and a savings account.  Preferably find a saving that you will earn decent interest from.  Then comes the easy part.  Say you have a $20 and you spend say $13.75,   You now have 6.25 in change.  Take the $1.25 and put it in the jar.  Every time you get coin or dollar bill you put it in the jar.  You are less likely to miss small change than you are trying to put away a $10 each time.  Then when your jar is full you take it and put it in your savings.  Then the best part it is so easy.  You leave it there.  For me it is a little easier because I work at a bank so I can deposit mine as soon as I get them.

The beauty of this is that you don't really notice your money going because it is such a small amount at a time.  I mean will you really notice that $.20 cents is not in your pocket.  Most likely not.  It is actually nice to not carry around loads of change.  It adds up quicker than you think.  Before you know it you will have saved $100 easy.  Now you have options once it builds up.  My advice?  Leave it alone as long as you can.  Although if you have saved $100 and have a bill that needs to be paid off then do it.  The nice thing is what you can do with that extra money.  This will be the topic of my next post.

Remember if you have ideas please share.  We are in this together.  You may have a suggestion that I have not even thought of.  Thank you for reading and see you next time.

Where Is Everyone??????

So I am writing these posts hoping I am helping some one out there.  I would really like to hear any feed back you have.  If you want me to change anything or add something.  I really hope that something I have said is useful to any one out there.  I have more helpful tips to share but I want to make sure that people are actually seeing them.

If you have questions or even some input of your own I would love to hear from you.  I would love the interaction from you guys.  I am doing this to help you so what ever you want to add please feel free.  Just like in school, no question is too small.  You may have the same question as some else and if we share we can all help each other and make our lives a little better.

Great News

Thanks to the wonderful people at Rent-A-Center I have a laptop again.  I will be picking up where we left off on my debt help series.  I am very excited to get back to this so that I can share how I am getting my life turned around and back on track.  I hope you come back and learn some steps that have helped me so much.  I will do a re-cap of what I talked about before and then we will get into Ditch the debit card.  I know it sounds crazy but i have been without one for 2 months now and doing great.  See you soon!!!!!!

Good Morning

Good Morning.  How is your morning going?  This morning is going pretty well.  I woke up in a good mood and my daughter got up happy. 

This is not the normal in our home usually there are about 3 taps to the snooze.  Then we go through the whining about not wanting to get up.  Then there is the pretending to get up but not really moving.  Then finally we are out of bed and complaining about everything . My daughter has ADHD so she gets distracted easy.  Then we finally start really getting ready like 20 minutes before we have to leave. 

This is pretty much a daily thing but the last two days we have not done the snooze.  We got up in a good mood and got ready early.  It was nice.  I made sure that we were following schedule and remained calm all morning.  The not arguing about getting ready and waking up nicely has really seemed to help.  Guiding her rather than fighting has made a big difference.

So if you have a stubborn child try working with them instead of fighting them.  They may just surprise you and start working with you also.

Different kind of Day

So this day started off on a not so awesome note.  My daughter needed blood drawn for her Dr's appointment so we went.  When we got there they said there was no order.  Mind you we set this appointment up in November and were told that we could go anytime.   We even got up at 550 AM so she would not miss school.  The lady found her last one in the computer and was able to draw based on that but because they didn't talk to the Dr's office in time the results were not ready for our appointment, which we still had to go to so he could send refills to the pharmacy.

The snow made it almost impossible to go anywhere so I canceled most of my other plans today.  I even tried to male my phone calls and that got me nowhere.  I was very frustrated by the time I brought my daughter home from school.  We almost got stuck on the road because of the snow.  I have not parked in my driveway for over a month due to not being able to shovel.  I have an injury and the plows packed way to much snow up for me to clear on my own.

After we left the office we came home and I saw my neighbor on his 4 wheeler with a plow.  I was pointing it out to my daughter telling her we needed one too.  As we parked I noticed the guy coming down the road.  He ended up plowing most of my driveway so for the first time since the January storm I parked in my driveway.  I even backed in which I never do in hopes that I don't get stuck again.

Then I had a great idea!  Me and my daughter had movie night.  We watched two different versions of Gulliver's Travels.  We both decided that the one with Jack Black was way better.  It was very funny.  It did have a little language that surprised me because they are  watching at school.  Over all though it was great and we got to enjoy a nice evening together with no stress in the end.

Moral of today= just because the day does not start out so awesome does not mean it can not end awesome.