Slightly looking back; Big things moving forward

In 2012, I lost relationships,who I was, a dog & my ability to function without a child. 

In 2013, I quit smoking, found strength in my relationships, found who I am, lost a dog but gained 2 more & could pretty much care less about the subject of children. I am 100% okay with not being a mom & possibly never being one. Time will only tell & I'm happy with either outcome.

In 2014, I hope to never lose a dog. ever. can't do it 3 years in a row. I hope to continue down a path of relaxation & balance in all aspects of my life, including relationships. I hope to practice what I preach in my financial journey & reach my goals. I hope to lose 50 pounds, 20 of which was gained in 2013 after putting down cigarettes. 

I want to get healthy. Just like smoking, losing weight is one of those things we'll say we're going to do over and over and over & never actually do it. This year, just like with smoking, I feel the change & the realness of it all. I am totally going to mess up at some point & eat those McDonald's chocolate chip cookies that I crave ALL. OF. THE. TIME. but I'll get past it & I know it.

Every time we embark on a new "diet" I always learn something new that works best for us. I'm trying to use all of those things to help stay on stack this time.

• Stay organized but not too organized. Meal preparation & planning makes for a lot less stress during meal times which means you aren't as likely to throw in the towel & go get something. BUT I hate plans. I hate big commitments (how did I ever get married?). So I have to come up with meal plans that leave room for flexibility & change. I would totally love to be one of those people that cares enough to be a paleo freak but I know that I don't have the dedication. I can lean towards it & eat a lot of paleo meals but I know the second that I declare to only follow paleo diets that I will fail instantly. Thank you bags of frozen chicken breasts. You give me endless varieties & don't spoil.
• I know myself way too well to know that even if I pay for a gym, that I won't go to one. I won't. Oh, I probably will for the first week but I will have a thousand of the best excuses not to after that. I am a homebody. I always have been & always will be. I get embarrassed in front of strangers in places I am unfamiliar with, especially when doing something completely unfamiliar to me; ie. everything at a gym. I knew I needed to find a way that I would exercise but be comfortable at the same time. In comes my new gazelle. I love her. 
  
• I also know that I'm lazy in more than just that area. I need help getting weight off because if I don't see progress, I will definitely go order a dozen of those McDonald's cookies & enjoy being fat for another year. Thank you Plexus Slim for existing & curbing my appetite. 
  
• Nothing in this world will motivate me more than competing my husband for it & being rewarded for it. So thank you Tommie for being my partner so we can kick our husband's asses. I can't wait to win & rub it in their faces for eternity with our skinny butts & prizes.

I'll let you know at the end of the month how we did on this new journey. Until then, I'm going to go dream about cookies while eating baked chicken.

Weekly Round-Up: July 29-August 4

Life has felt a little hectic as of late 

(hence it taking 4 days longer than usual to do my weekly round-up of last week).

Our evenings have not been filled with the usual busyness or plans...

But adding another dog to our lives has made me feel hectic

& I'm ready for that to go away.

Hank & King are still pretty much a constant wrestle match.

I can't pet one without the other ruining the fun.

I love all 3 of them to death,

I just miss some good ole one-on-one relax time with my dogs.

Also, I'm going through a phase where I don't want stuff.

Well, I do. But only stuff that's useful to our lives or that brings us joy.

I want to live a more minimalist life.
A life that I could pack into 500 square feet if I needed.

Watch out Youngs-Englewood Neighborhood,

you just might hit the jackpot in front of our house next big trash day.

1. The very first thing we did this month was pay our car off! We were shooting for 2 years, but we still managed to pay it off within 3. It's going to feel so nice next month when that payment isn't there.

2. I don't even know what's happening here. They just need to be by each other always.

3. Picked up this little coyote skull from The Salvage Room.

4. These two boys. They are crazy & stressful at times. But always heartwarming.

5. My sister got me tickets to see her most recent musical production of "9 to 5" & it was actually really good. I didn't really know what to expect to be honest but I loved it. Afterwards we had "the best BBQ that ever exists" only it wasn't. At all. It was good but it wasn't GOOD.

6. It's a rare occasion that I can snap a picture of Hank without King jumping in.

Although, Comet is trying to steal the shot. I can guarantee that he was trying to mount Hank within 5 seconds of my camera clicking. My dogs are total perverts.

The List: Week 16 - Accomplishments

See the previous week here.

16. What are your 5 greatest accomplishments?

These are things that mean a lot to me & me only.

------------------------------------------------------

1. My marriage.
It's strong & thriving.
Considering that half of everyone we know
seems to already have been divorced by now,
this is apparently a big deal.
Okay, really it's just a great accomplishment
that I found someone that wanted to marry me. :)

2. My job.
I shouldn't be where I am today
but I was lucky & got a head start at the age of 16.
In actuality, it's just an accomplishment
that I wake up each morning & go to work.
You have no idea how hard that is for me.

3. My finances.
They're not perfect.
Everyone can always use more.
But I'm content.
& I'm proud that I'm always working
to get more out of them.
It's hard to have self control with money.
I know that.
& sometimes we fail & we get off track.
But you know...
we have enough control to get right back on
& that is what makes me happy.

4. Right now it's not smoking.
Yes, technically I am still smoking since we have the E-Cigs,
But if you've ever been a smoker,
you know how big of a deal it is to put down cigarettes
& I have
& it feels more amazing then I imagined.

5. Leaving the car business.
Hardest thing I've ever done.
That place was more a part of my soul than I can describe.
& I left it all behind to be a stranger in a new land.
There are 2 reasons why this is a big deal to me.
One. My anxiety that happens when I'm a stranger
usually prohibits me from branching out.
Two. I hate letting people go.
I've lost so many people I love so much
& that is my only regret.

This pretty much sums up every day with Leslie @ Automax

2013

I have high hopes for this year.

We're exactly 1 week into this year and I couldn't ask for it to be better.

We rang in the new year as Chola's celebrating Tommie's birthday.

Ryan & Jeremy as Cholo's.
I contemplated not displaying this on the web
but oh, what the hell.
Sorry if you're offended. :)

Max's first birthday party was on Saturday.

I can't believe he's already a year. That time has flown by.

I can't even comprehend how his parents must feel.

On a side note, I don't look forward to having to plan birthday parties.

I got to spend the rest of my Saturday with my dear friend Natalie.

It had been a long time since we'd been able to spend some one-on-one time like that

& I cherished every second of it.

I can't begin to describe how much it meant to me to just sit

& talk with her for hours. About everything.

It was the most refreshing conversation I've had in a long time.

We decided to make a spur of the moment mini road trip

& drive out to Eischen's in Okarche

(which is not as far as I thought it was, by the way).

By the time we made it there and walked inside,

we realized neither one of us really like fried chicken enough

to wait in the unbelievable long line inside.

I will say that it smelled like heaven in there though.

We wound up at Sid's Diner in El Reno

& it felt like we were in another world.

No clue why but I felt like an alien in that tiny little shack.

So 2013, please be good to me.

Let me continue to feel the love I feel right now all year long.

This is the year I partly quit smoking 

[ E-Cigarette's count as halfway quitting right? :) ]

This is the year we become debt free.

[ Just 6 more months to go!! ]

Those are my only two statements for this year.

They're the only 2 things I know for certain

& I don't believe in new year resolutions.

These 2 things are enough for me though.

I can't wait.

The List: Week 11 - Pet Peeves

See the previous week here.

I'm in the mood to write nonsense. I skipped weeks in the list because I don't feel like doing some of them.

It's my blog, okay? I'll do what I want.

Apologies in advance for this entry. I'm writing while frustrated so....

11. Describe 10 pet peeves you have.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Moms that think their kids poop gold.

Let's be realistic moms. Your kid screams, doesn't sleep through the entire night

every night and is sometimes a straight up little snot for no reason at all.

I can't stand moms that sugar coat everything.

I'd rather you admit to me that being a mom is exhausting and you just need a break

then tell me for the 50th time that you're baby does everything perfect.

2. When people try to tell you what you should do with your money

when they know nothing about you and your finances.

If I come to you and want advice, that's completely different.

Don't ever comment to me that since I was able

to spend money on this then I should be able to do that.

You know nothing.

3. When people talk bad about their kids in front of their kids.

I've seen this way to much and my heart breaks for those kids.

You're welcoming a long life of depression and no self worth

to those kids.

4. Calling someone out of the crowd randomly to pray for the group.

5. Pregnant people that complain about being pregnant.

I get that there are sides to pregnancy that aren't so fun & really rather gross,

But why not seem a little more thankful that you could actually get pregnant?

6. Don't tell me how much you paid for your car or television. I don't care.

7. Someone that tells the exact same stories over and over and over again.

You really couldn't remember that we had this exact same conversation yesterday?

And last week? And two months ago?

8. People that don't have the guts to confront a problem with someone.

It's not fun having to tell your friend that they're being an ass.

But please, just do it. I don't want to hear from someone else

that you think I'm an ass. I think that disqualifies you as a friend.

Also, apologies go a long way.

9. Laughing at suicide, attempted suicide or abortion.

I don't care if you're the funniest damn person on the planet.

Make a joke about those things and I'm done.

10. The people across the street from us that let their dogs bark

in their front yard at midnight, do drug deals in the median,

that scream at each other through the house,

and that get in fist fights with women on the front lawn.

You drive me CRAZY.

The List: Week 8 - Passions

See the previous week here.

I'm sure you couldn't even tell I'd left but I'm back. :)

The passed few weeks have been a whirlwind but I'll save that for another post.

I tried writing this weeks ago but when I saw the topic

I knew instantly that I really didn't have the energy to be passionate.

8. What are 5 passions you have?

-----------------------------------------------------

1. Right now in my life, I don't have a name for this.

I'll call it "loving people". You might know it

as God, Christianity or Religion.

I don't know much but I know that we're called to love eachother.

And that's what I cling to.

2. My marriage.

I love my marriage & I love everything it holds.

3. My budget.

I know. This is silly.. yet true.

I love my budget. I love my spreadsheets.

I love my debt free countdowns & calendars.

Financial freedom gets my blood pumping.

4. Community.

Family, friends, co-workers, etc.

The people in my life that make me grow.

5. My city.

Plain & Simple.

(And of course the Thunder is a big part of that!)

"Peel back our ribs again and stand inside our chest. We just wanna' love you." - John Mark McMillan

The past few weeks have been really tough for me. I feel emotionally and physically drained.
Why? I couldn't tell you. I have been extremely discouraged.


I am tired of being flesh. Of making human mistakes. I want to live righteously. I am sick of stumbling. I am tired of messing up.


Ryan and I were talking last night about finances and what we want and our selfishness and we both came to the conclusion that we think God is trying to teach us about sacrifice. We have lived a coushiony life as a married couple. We haven't had to make sacrifices. Even when Ryan got laid off two years ago for two months we didn't have to give anything up. Here lately, if we want to stay on the right path, we're going to have to give things up. It won't be easy and we might whine at first but I'm thankful for the lesson. One year of sacrifice ahead and I know we can do it.

For a less serious note, and to keep you updated on what we've doing lately, here you go:


We celebrated Jeremy's birthday this past weekend by taking it old school and having a roller skate party at Skate Moore complete with 3 hours of skating, pizza, soda, cookie cake and the Hokie Pokie. How can you go wrong? It was a blast and it was awesome exercise. I can't stop thinking about when we're going to get to go back. Happy Birthday Jeremy. We love you dearly.


Ryan started his new job and it's gone really well. His eyes lit up when he told me all about his first day and it made my heart so happy to see. I've got such a good feeling that he will thrive there and really find his place.


We're addicted to a game called Wahoo and if you've never played it, you are seriously missing out. It calls for 4 people to be able to play and it's a blast. Although the past two nights we've played and I've gone home with what felt like a fever because my blood pressure got so high. Ha! It really makes you anxious and nervous. I can feel my heart pounding towards the end because it's such an intense game. We play with the wonderful Marshell family and we're currently Boys - 10 and Girls - 9... which means we've played 19 games that generally take atleast an hour to play each. Yikes!


Ryan and I thought we were going to have to bite the bullet and buy a second car this week because of his new work schedule. We spent all of last night driving all over Edmond, Del City and South OKC test driving cars. It was frustrating. All in all we fell in love with the first car we drove (a 2010 Jeep Patriot). I even got Ryan to love the burnt orange color but decided we needed to think it over and see more cars before we made a final decision. I am so glad that we did because after we were done seeing all the cars and we were driving home I started to realize how much it would suck to have two car payments, two cars to put gas in, two cars on the insurance, two anual tag renewals and two cars to maintain. We came to the conclusion that although yes we can technically afford it, we don't want to right now. We can deal with sharing a car for one more year until the Cube is paid for. After all, Dave Ramsey taught us better than that. It was hard falling in love with a car we knew we couldn't have though.


My birthday is next Friday and I could care less. Is that weird? It's not a "I don't like birthdays" kind of thing. I just honestly haven't thought about it. There are so much more important things I want to do or care about than turning one year older... Maybe this another step to adulthood? Haha.

"Yahoo! This is your celebration..." - Kool & The Gang

Ryan got a new job and as Jeremy puts it, "Momma's gettin' a new washer!" (I'm not really getting a new washer...although that'd be nice)


I am so excited and proud of him. I just know that this is going to be a great opportunity for our family and I can't wait to see where it goes.


On a worse note, I just filed my taxes and feel extremely depressed... and desperate. It makes me sick to my stomach looking at the balance we owe.

The Seventh Day

Today is Day 7 of the NutriSystem diet we started. I had heard some good reviews and outcomes from people I know and thought it was worth looking in to. Initially, it looked extremely expensive but after putting pen to paper it’s no more than we usually spend for food in one month so we’re giving it a shot. So far, the food has been really good. We’ve each had only one meal that we didn’t like but it was still tolerable enough to eat. You sign up online, order a month’s worth of food for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert and they ship it right to your door.

It’s been extremely convenient for a few reasons.

1. I hate grocery shopping.

2. I hate deciding what we want to eat for lunch and dinner each week

3. I don’t have to cook!

On the other hand, I’m really craving a burger from Irma’s, fajitas from La Luna and Onion Rings. Just lots and lots of onion rings.

I can deal. I have 30lbs to lose to get back to my pre-marriage self and there is no way I can not lose something doing this diet considering I’m barely even eating.

Ryan and I have been learning to live on very little this week. We literally haven’t had any money for a week now and although that’s a terrifying thought initially, I take a step back and realize; what does it matter? We have food, gas in our car, a roof over our head and all of our bills are paid so why do we need money to just sit in the bank so we can look at it and feel the urge to spend it? It’s scary that I am at peace with this. It’s a whole new way of thinking for me (and I think most Americans). We feel like we should always have money in the bank and in our wallets but we don’t. In fact, Ryan and I spend every penny we make each month on paper before we even get paid. Every penny goes to a bill, paying off debt or savings and that’s how it should be so why is it scary looking at a bank account that has $0.00 when you don’t need any money to begin with?

This leads me to my point that I am extremely thankful and excited that I am being forced to live outside of my box. I’m being forced to change the way I see food, money and materialistic objects. It is good.

Away.

I need a vacation.
I want to go to Kansas City.
Or Memphis.
Or Albuquerque.












I just realized I haven't seen the inside of a mall in like a year.
....I'm completely okay with that but it's still kind of weird.

"I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes. Love is all around me..." - some song from Love Acually that my husband HATES.

Side note: I feel like every blog needs to have a ridiculous song for its title.

I feel like my blog is leaning towards “The Griffis family money situation blog”. I try to steer away from the subject of money but I’m always led back here. I started thinking about it and have realized that I have no idea why. Why are people so weird to talk about their money situation? I am not using it to boast or say, “Wow, we are so awesome with our money.” The truth is, we are stupid with our money. We have been bad stewards and we’re working extremely hard to get on the right track. So if it bothers you that I’m comfortable talking about this, I do apologize. Please realize that I’m not trying to rub anything in anyone’s face or anything people say they feel when money is brought up. I am merely talking about what our life is about and right now, its money. I think it will be nice to look back one day and see where we've been and how we got out.

We’re focusing really hard on staying on our written budget and using all “extra money” we can get our hands on to pay down debt so that we can be debt free and really experience financial freedom. So far we’re doing really well. We've gotten our two credit cards paid off and are working on a small loan and our car (which I have buyer’s remorse about even though I’m in love with my cube.) If we work really hard then we’ll be debt free by June 2012. That sounds like forever away but when looking at the big picture you realize it’s not. We bought our car on a 4 year note in July 10, so to think that we’ll pay it off in less than two years is an awesome feeling.

We got to see this on Saturday and it was amazing.

I am so thankful for being introduced to not just this financial plan but this new way of life and thinking. By working through Dave Ramsey’s program our entire life has shifted. I even believe that our marriage has grown. This whole process has opened up so many doors of communication that we didn't even realize were closed! When money is the number one cause for divorce, being on the same page entirely is so extremely important. The biggest change for me has definitely been my perception of everything around me. I see what I spend money on. I see how I spend money. It’s not just that I see it. I feel it. It angers me. I can’t justify spending money anymore… especially on entertainment. If it’s not free; we’re not doing it. And that’s okay. When our finances are no longer in the hands of someone else and we've worked our way to financial freedom, we will have the freedom to do as many as those things we want. (Although, I don’t see myself being able to spend money easily even when I am happy with my finances. My mind is not the same anymore.)

“I don’t want to walk across hot coals because it is fun, but if I can be shown how a short, painful walk will do away with the lifetime of worry, frustration, stress, and fear that being constantly broke brings me, then bring on the hot coals."

Dave often asks listeners what kind of feedback they've gotten back from people while they’re going on this journey. When I first starting listening, I really didn't understand why he asked this. I very much do now.

The first thing someone said to me when we started all of this was somewhere along the lines of “all he does is teach greed”. This statement baffled me especially coming from the lips of a young single mom. Does she not want the best for her child, for her whole family, for herself? Ryan and I are doing this because we want our families to be taken care of. We don’t want to leave a mess behind that someone else has to sort through and clean up. We want everything to be taken care of and all they have to worry about is moving on. I want my kids to go to college and not have to worry about the money of it. I want my kids to learn the value of money and how to manage it so that they can take care of their kids. I want to change our family tree. Neither of us grew up wealthy… or even close to it. We both remember the stress of a home that worries about money. I remember searching furniture to buy a gallon of milk. I remember hearing my mother cry because bills were due. We don’t blame our parents. Our parents did what they knew to do. Our parents were following society. We choose not to. We choose to live like no one else. We choose to put our foot down and say no to the lenders and the companies that hold us captive. We’re not being greedy. We’re loving our families. We’re giving. And we’re prospering. There is nothing wrong with this.

Now I’d like to apologize to those of you who are annoyed with my love for Dave Ramsey. I know that everyone is sick of hearing about him but I can’t help it.

Snowmaggedon 2011

*Sorry this is an unexciting post without pictures. My pictures are refusing to upload properly.

Life has been a bit of a whirlwind. Not because we've been busy but because my mind is so full that I’m lost inside it. So go with me on this one; it’s not going to flow smoothly.

Weddings are on the rise for 2011 and we better get financially prepared. By the time this year is over Ryan will have been in 4 weddings back to back and I in 2.

That leads me to the point of my sister got engaged! I am extremely happy to see her so happy. It’s a great feeling knowing that she’s loved and taken care of. Full force wedding planning has begun and it’s going to be a long 7 months. Engagements are hard and I believe, very important. They teach you a lot about your future spouse, how you will deal with stress together, and life in general. I pray that Mallory & Jer get the most out of this time together and don’t pull each others hair out… too much anyway.

More than anything, I've prayed my mother would find a good man for almost 10 years now. She’s found one and he’s everything she deserves. We’re all crossing our fingers and hoping to hear wedding bells sometime soonish. It’s amazing to watch my mother act like a school girl in love for the first time. It’s also amazing to watch her change and grow through it all. She is a wonderful woman I tell ya.

Ryan and I have both been feeling very discouraged the past week. We weren't sure why at first but then realized it all comes back to money. We've been working really hard at doing everything right which means that life throws “wrongs” in your way. I’m so anxious to see Dave Ramsey on the 19th and be filled with encouragement once more.

Oklahoma has been hit by a huge Global Warming party for the past week. You can tell by looking out your house and seeing the blazing hot sun beat down on the fiery pavement. Oh wait… that’s 12 inches of snow… two weeks in a row… in Oklahoma. And our neighbors always have the most amazing icicles in the world. I was tempted several times to go steal them and also to take a picture… but then realized that might be a little weird to post pictures of your neighbor’s house… especially when they read your blog.

Snowmageddon 2011 was pretty amazing for the Griffis house. Wonderful perk of being an OU employee? You get 5 paid snow days. Unfortunately, ours was spent without heat. Our heater decided to break (again) on Monday night approximately 1 hour before the storm hit. We had just enough time to drive to Warren & Kim’s (thank you!) and grab two space heaters and get back before the freezing rain came down. We lived by space heaters for about a week and a half. I’d forgotten how wonderful it was to wake up and my entire house be warm, not just my bedroom. We managed to stay warm and had fun despite the lack of heat. But I was overwhelmed with joy when the new motor did finally come in. I can’t lie about that.

We stayed completely indoors from Monday to Thursday. Mr. Cooper came over and stayed with us the first night. What better way to spend a snow storm than to be snowed in with your best friends? (Mal & Jer, shame on you for missing out. :] ) The rest of our break was spent lounging around the house and staying up until morning & sleeping in until afternoon. By the weekend, the roads were fine to drive on and we ventured out to a Barons Game with Jeremy and Natalie. Hockey still amazes me.

We also helped celebrate the wedding of Rachel Roberts & Drew Apple at their pre-wedding wedding reception? They're cute and I’m super happy for them. Kate’s birthday was celebrated and delicious food was had at Warren & Kim’s for Super Bowl Sunday. That woman can cook.

Another week has now passed and I’m very thankful it is the weekend once more. Hopefully my sister will find a wedding dress tomorrow (eek!) and we can spend the weekend relaxing without a care in the world.

This is the only picture that would load.. showing how fat Ryan and I got during the snow storm. 12 eggs, 1 pkg of bacon, and 8 biscuits... SO WHAT!

Blank.

We have finally reached the calm.
Everything feels steady and in balance.


I have nothing new to update and that feels great.
Our house is put back together for the most part.
We're staying on budget more than we ever have.
We've spent our weekends staying up extremely late enjoying the company of one another and then sleeping in really late enjoying knowing that we're safe with each other in the comfort of our bed.
We have been extremely un-busy and it feels refreshing.
It makes me wish that I would never make plans again!
We've been able to make our own plans as the days unfold for the first time in months.


2011 will be the year of weddings and getting out of debt. Those two things don't usually go hand in hand but I am determined.


Now, how can I get $10,000 to fall into my lap without working for it?

"I can fly higher than an eagle. You are the wind beneath my wings." - Chickasha Theme Song

We are back in the work groove and it’s not very fun. It feels like torture being off for so long and having to go back.

Other than a few bumps, our break was splendid. We spent Christmas Eve at our house with Ryan’s mom and siblings (we missed you Christen!). Darren hung out until he had to go home to Skype with his wife and Jeremy came over to stay the night. Ryan and I decided to open our gifts at midnight (which I think we’ll make a tradition). It was fun waiting for the clock to turn to 12:00 before I could rip open my present. 11:59pm was the longest minute of my life. Ryan got me the coat that I’ve been wanting for a few months now and I was very excited! The three of us ended up staying up until 3:30am playing a new video game. We would have stayed up longer but Jeremy reminded us that we had to wake up at 9:30 so we should probably go to sleep.

We woke up late morning and I made waffles for the boys before heading to my mom’s house. The Manuel’s have always been big on Christmas morning. Every year I’m surprised by the amount of gifts under my mother’s tree. Her heart is made of gold I tell you. It was cute to see my mom’s reaction to the iPod Shuffle we all pitched in to get her. She just looked at it a minute and laughed while saying “I have no idea what this is.” J Oh mother, technology has passed you but you try and that’s what matters. Haha. This was also the first Christmas with Jeremiah there. Apparently my sister is extremely in love with this guy (thanks to her little sister pointing her in that direction for months) and we all love him too.

We spent some time with Jeremy at his aunt’s house afterwards so that he could see his momma. His family was very sweet and extremely welcoming. It was funny how I felt at home with his family. I suppose since Jeremy is so much a part of our family, that I already feel a part of his although we don’t know one another. His mother’s words to me were “So you’re the one who takes care of my son.”

Christmas Evening was spent at Warren & Kim’s house which is always a good time. The men enjoyed playing Wii Golf while I enjoyed talking with Kim. Early that morning Jeremy had said to us, “Congratulations on not getting the crap that’s been going around lately.” As Christmas evening progressed, Jeremy’s words came back to haunt me and I started to get body chills and aches. I haven’t been sick in almost 5 years so I’d forgotten what it felt like to be achy. I was confused at first by how I felt but within a few hours I knew I was in for it. By the time I got home around 10pm, my temperature was 99.4 and I was freezing cold. Ryan was exhausted and went straight to bed while I stayed up and played some more video games with Jeremy. I figured that I felt so uncomfortable I wasn’t going to be able to fall asleep anyway.

I spent Sunday, Monday and Tuesday in bed pouting about how I was ruining our vacation. I was coughing so badly that I was gagging and my stomach was so sore that it felt bruised. The coughing also seemed to make my kidneys and lower back hurt severely. I had to miss our family Christmas in Enid which I was really upset about. I still had a fever when I woke up Sunday of 100.5 and couldn’t risk going and getting everyone sick, especially my grandma. This was one of the first years in a long time that I was actually looking forward to going to Enid and I had to miss it. By Tuesday I was so sick of being in bed that I got up and went to the doctor. Seeing as though I haven’t been sick in 5 years, I don’t have a primary care so I went to one of those urgent care places. $80 later I had prescription cough meds and antibiotics. Was it worth the $80? Not really. Next time I’m finding a PCP.

I mainly forced myself to go to the doctor because I bought Ryan tickets to the Barons hockey game on Tuesday night for part of his Christmas gift and I needed to be well enough to sit in some bleachers for 3 hours without wanting to jump over the glass and let the hockey team kill me with their ice skates. The game was really fun. We’ll have to go again now that I’m feeling better and know how to get cheap tickets. I’m pretty sure that hockey is the hardest sport to play. It seems almost impossible to me.

The following days were spent eating at Ron’s Hamburgers, checking out the Plaza District, dyeing my hair fire engine red, going to see True Grit (AMAZING!), Edna’s with Jeremy and Kate (& finally meeting the mysterious Michael), coughing, Joey’s Pizzeria, staying up until 4am, shopping, my mom’s boyfriend Preston coming to town, snow tubing at the Ballpark, coughing, ice skating & Black Swan double date extravaganza, New Years, yelling at some dumb kids in our neighborhood at 4am for driving through the sweet old woman who lives next doors yard twice, coughing, tears, cuddling, dyeing my hair to a reddish/brownish color, our heater breaking, our refrigerator breaking, our bedroom ceiling getting closer to collapsing, coughing, and dreading the day I returned to work.

Double Date Photo Booth

This only lasted 4 days. It was Orange in 3.

My momma and her man. We like him. :)

I really wasn't in a good mood New Years Eve. I was pouty and really quite depressed. I was surrounded by those I love but I suppose you could say I feel the weight of the world on my shoulders lately. The clouds have come back as of late and I’m trying hard to push them away. My husband helps. I adore that man.

I’m making a New Year’s Resolution for maybe the first time in my life. My goal is to save more money by cracking down on our budget and living like we make $10,000 less a year than we do. We've decided this needs to be done. Our house seems like it’s falling apart around us and it’s all we can do to keep our head above water. For now, we have but we won’t for much longer. I don’t want to go into anymore debt and I don’t want to have to worry about where the next house expense is coming from. Therefore, until we are 100% out of debt and have our savings built back up we will be saying “no” to a lot more in life like parties, eating out and going to do things. The sacrifice will be much worth the reward.

I hope everyone had a really good Christmas and spent a lot of time with their loved ones.

Here are some pictures from Christmas and when we went to Chickasha to see the lights two weeks ago.

Ugly Sweater Christmas Party



Ryan and Jer loved the teeter-totter a little too much.