I know it is Tuesday, but I am just now getting a little breathing room to jot down a few thoughts from the weekend.
Saturday was nice. We spent the whole day at home and tried to get some things done. Notice I said "tried". We did get most of the books put onto the book shelves downstairs which is something I have been meaning to do for months. Then we made a BIG dent in cleaning all the crap out of our room. It became the dumping ground for all the stuff that we cleaned out of the office/guest room so that we could turn it into Caleb's big boy room. The weather was crappy so it was pretty easy to justify staying inside.
Sunday we did some running but managed to not spend a ton of money. Caleb and I went to Tanck's house so Caleb could play with Naomi, while Scott met Marty at the Alliant center for the Deer and Turkey Expo. We met back at Tanck's and then stopped at Noodles for lunch. We had a BOGO coupon so we decided to treat ourselves. Caleb decided to be quite the brat on Sunday so there was a bit of a battle going all afternoon. It was very draining and I think I ended up more worn out than he did.
Potty training has been pretty much a lost cause the last week or so. He didn't tell us ALL weekend when he had to go or had GONE for that matter. At one point I went to change his pull-up and his little bottom was flaming with diaper rash. Felt bad for him, but I didn't know it was there to even change! He may have had a bit of an intestinal bug because he had about 5 BM's in two days. Not like him at all, but he didn't complain about a yucky tummy.
The good news for the day is that I sent the last payment in for Caleb's furniture. That means the first of our debts has been paid off is about 1 month. Now we are moving onto paying of the living room furniture once and for all. Should be able to send the last payment in on that in June. Can't wait!
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Friday, March 30, 2007
Home Again
Well, Scott got home last night and was able to put Caleb to bed for me. Of course, I managed to fall asleep on the couch about 10 seconds later. There went all the plans I had for getting stuff done last night.
Tonight I have decided to run away. I am going to go over to a friends house for a couple hours and just chill out. I hope there will be alcohol involved but since I am trying to save money I don't think so. Should be fun and a little time to just get my head back together after this week.
I was hoping to have a "no spend" weekend, but Scott has plans to go to the Deer and Turkey Expo this weekend. That will be about $6 in admission fees and then they will probably go out for lunch. At least I have no plans to spend money, unless you count the gas I will be burning. :) Don't know what the weather is going to be like but it would be awesome to take Caleb to the park again. And I would LOVE to be able to get the kite out this weekend. Caleb has never flown a kite before and I think he would love it.
The spring cleaning bug is starting to bite me pretty hard. The yard needs a lot of work but the inside of the house is even worse. It is going to take us MANY weekends to get it in order. With Caleb demanding our attention so much (specifically mine) lately it has been all I can do just to make dinner. We are virtually piled under mountains of crap that don't seem to have a home. That has GOT to change soon or I am going to hurt some one. Maybe I will ask the neighbor kid if he wants to earn a little money watching Caleb while we are at home. That way we can get something done but Caleb will still be entertained.
Tonight I have decided to run away. I am going to go over to a friends house for a couple hours and just chill out. I hope there will be alcohol involved but since I am trying to save money I don't think so. Should be fun and a little time to just get my head back together after this week.
I was hoping to have a "no spend" weekend, but Scott has plans to go to the Deer and Turkey Expo this weekend. That will be about $6 in admission fees and then they will probably go out for lunch. At least I have no plans to spend money, unless you count the gas I will be burning. :) Don't know what the weather is going to be like but it would be awesome to take Caleb to the park again. And I would LOVE to be able to get the kite out this weekend. Caleb has never flown a kite before and I think he would love it.
The spring cleaning bug is starting to bite me pretty hard. The yard needs a lot of work but the inside of the house is even worse. It is going to take us MANY weekends to get it in order. With Caleb demanding our attention so much (specifically mine) lately it has been all I can do just to make dinner. We are virtually piled under mountains of crap that don't seem to have a home. That has GOT to change soon or I am going to hurt some one. Maybe I will ask the neighbor kid if he wants to earn a little money watching Caleb while we are at home. That way we can get something done but Caleb will still be entertained.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Random stuff
Scott has been in Detroit since Monday and I am beginning to unravel. Caleb has been a bit hard to handle the last couple days, plus he didn't sleep well, therefore I didn't sleep well. At one point he was awake and yelling for me because one of his socks had come off. Sheesh! I am going to need a little time to myself once Scott gets home on Thursday.
The discussions started earlier this week about when to start trying for kid #2. We have agreed from the beginning the two is a good number but the added daycare costs are going to kill us. But with our get out of debt plan in full swing we should be able to soon free up about half of what we will need ($500) but that won't be for another year. Where the other $500 is going to come from I have no idea. I am torn right down the middle about wanting another child. On one hand I want another child, but at the same time I really like the fact that Caleb doesn't need constant attention and is becoming more independent. I am finally able to get a few things done around the house without holding a kid in the other arm. I am already exhausted every night, how much more tired am I going to be if there is another person to do everything for?
I feel badly whenever I have the thought go through my head that Scott doesn't help out around the house. The truth is he does help, but usually only with what I tell him to do. I end up feeling like his mother at the same time as Caleb's. No, that isn't fair to him, but when I am looking at the disaster that my house has become and then look at Scott sitting at the computer surfing for Jeep parts we can't afford, I can't help but think that isn't fair to me either. Why should I be the one who has to clean up all the messes? I don't MAKE all the messes, do I?
But I can't expect things to change if we have another child. As a matter of fact, I can only expect them to get worse. Caleb is already insanely jealous whenever I hold another baby. I can't imagine what he will be like when and if we have a baby of our own. He is almost 3 and we may have already waited too long to give him a little brother or sister. WAY too long if you ask any of the 7000 people who seem to ask us weekly when kid #2 is coming along. At this point I think it is illegal in the state of Wisconsin to only have one child. Two is the norm, maybe even three. Heck, even 6 to 8 isn't unheard of. But only ONE!?!?! Why would we even consider such a thing?
Well, I am going to think on this a little more and head to the bank. Then I will be picking Caleb up and heading home to a nasty mess and dinner that I have to make. At least I have it all planned and I just have to put it together. Never got around to starting the dishwasher this morning so I will have that to deal with as well. What a great night this is going to be.
The discussions started earlier this week about when to start trying for kid #2. We have agreed from the beginning the two is a good number but the added daycare costs are going to kill us. But with our get out of debt plan in full swing we should be able to soon free up about half of what we will need ($500) but that won't be for another year. Where the other $500 is going to come from I have no idea. I am torn right down the middle about wanting another child. On one hand I want another child, but at the same time I really like the fact that Caleb doesn't need constant attention and is becoming more independent. I am finally able to get a few things done around the house without holding a kid in the other arm. I am already exhausted every night, how much more tired am I going to be if there is another person to do everything for?
I feel badly whenever I have the thought go through my head that Scott doesn't help out around the house. The truth is he does help, but usually only with what I tell him to do. I end up feeling like his mother at the same time as Caleb's. No, that isn't fair to him, but when I am looking at the disaster that my house has become and then look at Scott sitting at the computer surfing for Jeep parts we can't afford, I can't help but think that isn't fair to me either. Why should I be the one who has to clean up all the messes? I don't MAKE all the messes, do I?
But I can't expect things to change if we have another child. As a matter of fact, I can only expect them to get worse. Caleb is already insanely jealous whenever I hold another baby. I can't imagine what he will be like when and if we have a baby of our own. He is almost 3 and we may have already waited too long to give him a little brother or sister. WAY too long if you ask any of the 7000 people who seem to ask us weekly when kid #2 is coming along. At this point I think it is illegal in the state of Wisconsin to only have one child. Two is the norm, maybe even three. Heck, even 6 to 8 isn't unheard of. But only ONE!?!?! Why would we even consider such a thing?
Well, I am going to think on this a little more and head to the bank. Then I will be picking Caleb up and heading home to a nasty mess and dinner that I have to make. At least I have it all planned and I just have to put it together. Never got around to starting the dishwasher this morning so I will have that to deal with as well. What a great night this is going to be.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Another blog
Since I seem to be writing so much lately about our finances I decided that it would be better to create a separate blog for that and leave this one for the purpose it was meant for....recording family happenings so that I can remember them in the future. If anyone is interested, you can find that blog here.
Where is Caleb?
Scott and I were woken up this morning by noises coming from under our bed. Scott got up to find that Caleb had decided to hide under our bed again. But this time he took his puppy pillow with him and was all the way in the MIDDLE of the bed. When asked what he was doing, he said "Hiding!". Why? We may never know. At that point Scott looked at the clock....it was only 4:20 AM! WHAT!?!?!? It took us over an hour to get him calmed down and back to sleep. Needless to say, we were all late again this morning.
Whoa!
My boss just fired my co-worker yesterday. Don't get me wrong, this is something that I (we) have been hoping for for 3 years now, but to have him actually FINALLY do it was a bit of a shock. We thought it was going to happen so many times before, but it never did that we had convinced ourselves that it was never going to happen. Then it did, and all of a sudden, too. While a very big part of me can't stop grinning, another part of me help but sympathize with the guy. He has a daughter who just turned a year old and his wife is a SAHM. I don't know how I would feel or what I would say if something like that ever happened to me. Don't get me wrong....the man was an anchor to our team and every project he ever touched turned into a horrible mess, but I can empathize with him at the same time.
On another note, we have taken a step forward in our quest to be free of Wells Fargo. I have always hated working with them as they can never seem to post anything in a timely manner and the customer service has always left a lot to be desired. We have had a Wells Fargo credit card since we were forced into taking it as part of our first mortgage when we built our house. Never really used it for much, but ended up with a fraud claim when some one charged more than $2000 worth of stuff to the card both in Canada and Japan. That was a nightmare process that involved the closing of our number and the issuance of a new card. When the new card arrived, I didn't activate it for almost 2 years. Then, Scott decided to use that card to go to Germany with so he activated it. It has been nothing but a nightmare for the past month because of it. BUT, I didn't want to close the card because I was afraid that it would negatively affect our balance-to-limit ratio for the credit report. (i.e. having $10,000 in CC debt looks better if you have $20,000 in limit than if you have $12,0000) So, we decided to try applying for a different card so that we could cancel the WF card altogether. I applied online yesterday for an MTU alumni Mastercard and was approved with a much higher limit than I expected, $15000. That means I can close the WF account and still be ahead! Plus, this card offers a 0% interest rate on balance transfers for the first 12 months so we are transferring all of the balance from the UWCU card (9.9% interest) to the new card and will end up saving $500 in interest over the next year. Since we are planning on being having the balance paid off in the next 12 months, that is a great deal! Then, that frees up the UWCU card, which I have never had any problems working with, for Scott to use as his travel card.
However, here are the other accounts that we have with Wells Fargo:
On another note, we have taken a step forward in our quest to be free of Wells Fargo. I have always hated working with them as they can never seem to post anything in a timely manner and the customer service has always left a lot to be desired. We have had a Wells Fargo credit card since we were forced into taking it as part of our first mortgage when we built our house. Never really used it for much, but ended up with a fraud claim when some one charged more than $2000 worth of stuff to the card both in Canada and Japan. That was a nightmare process that involved the closing of our number and the issuance of a new card. When the new card arrived, I didn't activate it for almost 2 years. Then, Scott decided to use that card to go to Germany with so he activated it. It has been nothing but a nightmare for the past month because of it. BUT, I didn't want to close the card because I was afraid that it would negatively affect our balance-to-limit ratio for the credit report. (i.e. having $10,000 in CC debt looks better if you have $20,000 in limit than if you have $12,0000) So, we decided to try applying for a different card so that we could cancel the WF card altogether. I applied online yesterday for an MTU alumni Mastercard and was approved with a much higher limit than I expected, $15000. That means I can close the WF account and still be ahead! Plus, this card offers a 0% interest rate on balance transfers for the first 12 months so we are transferring all of the balance from the UWCU card (9.9% interest) to the new card and will end up saving $500 in interest over the next year. Since we are planning on being having the balance paid off in the next 12 months, that is a great deal! Then, that frees up the UWCU card, which I have never had any problems working with, for Scott to use as his travel card.
However, here are the other accounts that we have with Wells Fargo:
- Slumberland furniture
- American furniture
- first mortgage on house
Monday, March 19, 2007
More Water Heater Drama
Want to hear something funny? My brother, Jay, who is a contractor, highly recommended the tankless water heater to us from the very beginning. Well, when I talked to him a little more this past week, he said that when he talked to a bunch of his buddies he had changed his mind. He suggested that we try to find an ultra efficient traditional tank model instead. I just had to shake my head in disbelief. But, all of his points made sense and we are going to take his advice(AGAIN) and look at a tank version. Hopefully we can find one this week so that Dad and Jay can get it installed this weekend. The good news is that we are going to be saving a ton of money and I have family who knows how to do the installation for free. There are perks in the end, but I found myself defending the decision to go tankless to a bunch of people and now we are going completely the other way. Oh well...that's life I guess. In the end, at least we will finally have reliable hot water from a water heater that doesn't sound like the house is going to take off.
We had a very nice dinner last night with some friends who we really should have over more often. Eryn went to Tech with Scott and I, even though we didn't know her at the time. Turns out we know a lot of the same people though, which is pretty cool. They just had a baby boy who is about to turn 3 months this week. We are going to be able to share a lot of baby stuff with them which should help lessen the piles of stuff that we have building up in the basement.
Cadbury Carmel Eggs are a tool of the devil. They are so freaking good that there is no way that I could resist them. I did pretty well this year though, considering that I just bough my first one this weekend. I know, I know....bad for me, waste of money, you are on a budget now....believe me you are telling me anything I haven't already told myself. But did I mention the are really really good?
Caleb is back sliding with the potty training and the bad news is that we are letting him. We didn't get him to go potty all weekend and then today at daycare he had an accident and then ASKED to be put back into a diaper. Poor little guy. I can imagine how stressful and tough learning something so completely new must be. Granted he is only 2.5 and is doing great for a little boy, but apparently he just needed a little break.
What do we do with an old computer? It would be a great computer for a kid in HS or MS, but I don't think we are going to get anyone to buy it. Then what? I don't know if we are going to get much of anything from it if we donate it, but I guess any little bit that we can get back on our taxes is going to help.
Speaking of taxes, did I mention that we have to pay in this year? Yeah, that pretty much sucks. Granted, after you figure in what we are getting back from the state we are going to owe $350 to the feds, but that still hit us below the belt. Hopefully, if the same thing happens again next year we will be in a better financial position to handle it. Thank goodness we are going to be getting a big flex spending reimbursement this month, because Scott's increased withholding from his check is hitting us a little hard at the same time. I just have to get everything figured out in YNAB and we will be fine, but things are still going to hurt a little.
Well, I guess that is enough for the moment:). I am going to finish watching TV and then go wake up my DH so we can go to bed. He is currently sleeping upstairs with Caleb, just like I did last night. At least this way one of us gets caught up on our sleep while the other one gets some alone time.
We had a very nice dinner last night with some friends who we really should have over more often. Eryn went to Tech with Scott and I, even though we didn't know her at the time. Turns out we know a lot of the same people though, which is pretty cool. They just had a baby boy who is about to turn 3 months this week. We are going to be able to share a lot of baby stuff with them which should help lessen the piles of stuff that we have building up in the basement.
Cadbury Carmel Eggs are a tool of the devil. They are so freaking good that there is no way that I could resist them. I did pretty well this year though, considering that I just bough my first one this weekend. I know, I know....bad for me, waste of money, you are on a budget now....believe me you are telling me anything I haven't already told myself. But did I mention the are really really good?
Caleb is back sliding with the potty training and the bad news is that we are letting him. We didn't get him to go potty all weekend and then today at daycare he had an accident and then ASKED to be put back into a diaper. Poor little guy. I can imagine how stressful and tough learning something so completely new must be. Granted he is only 2.5 and is doing great for a little boy, but apparently he just needed a little break.
What do we do with an old computer? It would be a great computer for a kid in HS or MS, but I don't think we are going to get anyone to buy it. Then what? I don't know if we are going to get much of anything from it if we donate it, but I guess any little bit that we can get back on our taxes is going to help.
Speaking of taxes, did I mention that we have to pay in this year? Yeah, that pretty much sucks. Granted, after you figure in what we are getting back from the state we are going to owe $350 to the feds, but that still hit us below the belt. Hopefully, if the same thing happens again next year we will be in a better financial position to handle it. Thank goodness we are going to be getting a big flex spending reimbursement this month, because Scott's increased withholding from his check is hitting us a little hard at the same time. I just have to get everything figured out in YNAB and we will be fine, but things are still going to hurt a little.
Well, I guess that is enough for the moment:). I am going to finish watching TV and then go wake up my DH so we can go to bed. He is currently sleeping upstairs with Caleb, just like I did last night. At least this way one of us gets caught up on our sleep while the other one gets some alone time.
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