Spring Break!

Spring break has begun and while I have long list of spring cleaning projects, I'm not wasting anytime getting out to enjoy it. Over the weekend, I went to the Memphis Botanic Garden and tip-toed thru the tulips and gazed up into the magnolia trees. This week, a trip to the Dixon Gallery and Gardens for more tulips is in the plan.
And then eventually... the attic and spare room will be cleaned and organized.

I'll post some pictures of my before/after shots of my "To Do List". In the meantime, Happy Spring, Peeps.

Change Is Good

Well...the time was bound to come. Gotta say goodbye to you, Old Man Winter. We loved visiting with you; catching up in front of a cozy fire and sharing cups of hot chocolate. But like a great friend, you know when its time to go. You will never be forgotten and we will remember our coolest memories. We will miss you, dear friend...til next time.

Hello Lady Spring, how excited we are to see you again. Thank you for the flowers you sent to let us know of your arrival (a tad early but we are NOT complaining). Please feel free to stick around for awhile and make yourself at home. We will be out and about enjoying your company as often as the schedules allow.

Let's raise a glass of our favorite spirits and toast to a change in seasons!

Mr. Man

After throwing Mr. Man under the bus earlier this week, I felt is was only fair that I point out how much I appreciate the things he does to help me out.

Since he's been out of work, I've had it pretty easy around the house. The MOST I do is cook dinner and go grocery shopping. He always has the kitchen cleaned up and most times has the house vacuumed before I come home from work. He's completed a few home projects in between computer failings and even shampooed the carpets. All in all, a great stay-at-home husband.

Let's Eat In

I never thought it could be done, but it was. We, Mr. Man and I, ate in every night for a week. A WHOLE WEEK!! I cooked dinner for 6 nights in a row...a MAJOR accomplishment for me. And after much deliberation, we determined that it was the most consecutive nights in our marriage. We never realized how much our lives revolved around socializing and events.

All this came about as we started the Financial Peace University with Dave Ramsey (which coincided with Lent and my giving up eating lunch out for 40 days) . The month of March will truly be a test of our resolve as we made no allowances for eating out or outside entertainment as a way to build our emergency savings quicker. This has already created a tsunami wave in the Hapner House. Ask Mr. Man...I still haven't let go of his "lunch" from February yet and actually yelled at him for spending $9! Then, in our class, I threw him under the money bus! Poor guy. I may be soon singing "All The Single Ladies". (But at least I'll be $9 richer!!)

The irony of all this...? Of the two of us, I am...no, was...the worst when it came to money. I was the first to encourage eating out, meeting friends and spending money I/we didn't have. And I may as well confess, Mr. Man lost his job in October and we've been ok with his severance, unemployment, and my income. But after 5 months, its getting really tight and we really need a Dave plan.

And there ya have it. So, I'll keep cooking (need to dust off the cookbooks) and we'll keep saving (need to dust off the savings account) and hopefully I'll get to stay cuz he "...put a ring on it"!

Making Peace

Well....I'm starting a new personal journey that is going to require me to do A LOT OF WORK! While I haven't been staying on-task with my running (wow, big surprise), I think finding Financial Peace is going to be so much harder than any half or whole marathon. However ironically, a quote that Dave Ramsey uses is "Saving is a marathon, not a sprint."

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Hope House is offering a 13 week class to better educate our staff and families about finances. We're using Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University and the teachers of Hope House are the "guinea pigs" before presenting to the clients. There are several steps that are used, in the correct order, that will bring financial freedom for anyone no matter what income level.

I already know that my biggest obstacle is going to be...wait for it...its gonna shock you... DISCIPLINE. Yeah buddy. The first step of the program (seriously, there should be 12!!) is to save $1000 for an emergency fund as quickly as possible. Did I mention THAT I'M BROKE?!?! (hence the program, of course.) Did I mention this was going to take discipline? Did I mention this was going to take some serious work? I did? Well then I must be trying to convince myself. I know the sacrifices I will have to make and I know that I am gonna have to be truly and brutally honest with myself and only I am accountable for my failure or my success.

I also wanted to point out that our first class was on "Fat Tuesday" and as a non-practicing Catholic, I can't help but wonder if I just created my Lent project. The class is 91 days and Lent is 40, so I think I will look at it as giving up spending for the first 40 days of Lent, I mean class. So my goal will be any money intended to spend on eating out will go into my emergency fund. There...I said it out loud!
~No, Libilibis I cannot go to lunch. No Libilibis I cannot go to lunch. Well, Libilibis...(Dear Lord, please give me strength!) =)

I have a very long road ahead of me with a few tough truths and owning of mistakes that I need to take care of to clear my path to a road to financial/personal peace and freedom. I also believe that this will be a task that will reconnect my spirituality as well, a part of me I lost thru my adult years.

Dave Ramsey refers to his steps as Baby Steps...and so I begin, one small step at a time. Now, to work on that running schedule again. (Dear Lord, please give me strength!)

By the way, for more info about Dave Ramsey's FPU, click on his name. I will also add it to my link list.

Dipped In Love

I hope everyone had a warm and romantic Valentine's Day. I had fun creating and receiving a few happies myself. My valentine and I made the most of the weekend even though he had thrown his back out and I ended up with a bad cold. I was also able to share the love with my aunt by dipping these gigantic strawberries in chocolate and adding a dab of love who then shared them with her sweetie and friends.

Now here it is President's Day, I'm off work and curled up nursing said cold. I think tomorrow I will incorporate a dip in a vat of sanitizer into my curriculum. Now that's sharing the love, right?

Snow Day....AGAIN!!

We got for really real snow! 4" of pure fun packing white stuff. And since I don't have any 2 legged children, I took lots of pictures of my 4 legged ones. They had so much fun chasing snowballs, eating snow, and finding treats in the "Dirty Ol' Snowman". Of course, I had lots of fun too. I haven't made a snowman in sooo long. This makes our third snow day in four weeks. I LOVE being a teacher.

SNOW DAY!!

Well, it wasn't really a snow day, more like an icy mess...but a day off none the less. This is our second "Snow Day" and its rare here in Memphis much less to have two in the same month.

Our first one was a complete bust when we barely got a dusting of snow. But funny thing about that was they closed the schools the next day because it was simply too cold not because of road conditions. Then, "White Death 2010" came two weeks later. For two years in a row, we have gotten a slippery mess of this stuff just after my birthday and I get the benefit of enjoying a few more days off. This time, it was not horrible but enough to cripple this poorly equipped town that almost kept us in. (When one has a 4x4, one tends to want to "play in the snow".)

Speaking of my birthday, Michael and his family gave me a new digital camera. There is a long and funny story as to why this is so auspicious (I'll save that for another post) and I thought this was a great opportunity to check out what the camera can do. The pictures at the top were taken the day after all the sleet/rain/snow descended upon us and just before it started melting. Not too bad for a little point-n-shoot. When I grow up, I hope to have my own DSLR to play with.

I do hope everyone else has survived their winter storms and are getting ready for the spring. Now that I have a new digicam, I'll find all kinds of things to post!!

A Giraffe And A Half

In honor of Akili, the newest addition at the Memphis Zoo born January 28th, I wanted to share my giraffe experience with y'all. This was taken about 18 months ago. Having a chance to meet such a majestic family was one of the greatest moments of my life.

The Run That Almost Wasn't

Ever have one of those days where you start with your road paved with good intentions and by the end of the day the only thing you want paved is the pathway to your couch or bed? I was so there. I postponed a run that should have been done on Monday and told myself and others on Tuesday I have to get my miles done. Still had myself convinced even at the end of the work day and in the car on the way home.

And then...it happened. I walked in and put my stuff down. And then... I sat down. And then, I put my feet up. Yeah, there would be no running at this point. We had dinner plans for the evening and I was already hungry. So my now soon-to-be-ex husband (just kidding dear) announced that we should go to the gym to get it out of the way before our friendly rendezvous. In my mind he was stabbed at least 25 times with my dagger eyes. He goes to properly prepare for the gym and I stood in the doorway protesting. And then I actually thought I could prevent him from walking thru the door in an attempt to thwart his evil plan! Damn man was entirely too persistent and then I lost the battle with a case of the giggles.

So begrudgingly, I get myself together and in the car. And trust me, there were no nice words coming from my mouth for the entire 2.3 minutes it takes to get to the gym. I got on the treadmill while that man ran on the indoor track upstairs. For every lap he went by me, he gained a new imaginary wound and was the recipient of several dirty looks.

All this drama was for 3 MILES! That's it. That's all I had to do. Got it done and actually felt satisfied at my completion of a scheduled run and was even glad to have gotten it done. And do you think I would give that man the satisfaction of knowing that he had anything to do with my sense of accomplishment? OH HELL NO!!! But, I guess I gotta love him anyway.