Tackle it Tuesday: Debt Reduction

It's true. We are sick of debt (who isn't?!). Between student loans, moving expenses, among other things (like everyday bills), it's hard to get ahead...but we are getting there. Slowly, but surely. (For those of you that are debt-free...you are awesome. And we are a tad jealous of you!)

Debt reduction feels so good. It really does! We have been able to cut down on bills..

I'll keep the updates going..but here is some thing that you can do right now to get ahead.
*Look at places where you can cut back. We cut down on our cell phone (unlimited text is now only 400 per month) and our cable. That saves us X amount each month...and we put it towards another long-term bill (aka credit card or student loans). It works and it feels good. If we try hard enough, we'll be out of debt in 4 years instead of the 10-15 years originally planned (stinkin' student loans). BUT if we try really, really, REALLY hard, we could be out of debt in about 1 1/2 to 2 years. Wow. That would feel really good.
*Oh, and credit cards? BAD! Enough said.

*This totally isn't all me talking here..I've had some great convos with some great friends...and am reading books. Interested? You can also read: One for the Money by Marvin J. Ashton

Cute Girls Hairstyles

Wow! 3 posts in a little over a day??! Something is going on here! :)

Anyway, in an effort to be a better mom (this pregnancy is lasting a bit too long, if you ask me!), I have been blogging to find other ways to do livi's hair. I always thought that I was somewhat creative and pretty good at doing her hair, until a friend posted about THIS blog. It was a reawakening, if you will. MANY people have been commenting on her hair lately and although I am a bit hesitant to blog about it (giving away secrets:) I wanted to share a hairstyle that all the teachers were talking about when Livi showed up at school. It was adorable and TOTALLY appropriate for St. Patty's day!

Yep, that's a clover. It was adorable..and would've been even MORE adorable if I had used clear rubber bands instead of black ones. (Her hair is JUST too light to pull it off!!) I did add a ribbon, but the picture didn't turn out...oh well, next year!

One day, I might get up the courage to try THIS hairdo (her husband came up with it!) and I have already tried the MESSY BUNS..I do them a bit differently, but they are probably my all-time favorite!

Updates on Food Storage

I'm not professing to be all-knowing in the art of food storage or 72 hour kits, BUT there have been many a people I've talked to, Relief Society lessons/Enrichments, and websites that I have frequented.

Obviously, when you see how much you need to get, it can be SO overwhelming. So, start small. When you are shopping at the store for your groceries, just add a few extra cans of corn or beans. After a while, it starts to add up. (We had an amazing amount of food before we moved from Rexburg...and then it was great in Kansas before we moved...and now we are just down to 2 weeks worth of food)
Anyway, here are some places online to check out:

-Food storage calculations: How much food you need for your family
-Recipes: You need to learn how to use your food storage/rotate it, so why not actually make homemade bread and soups with it? One of my great friends does this and is a HUGE advocate for using your food storage..and she has gotten REALLY good at it! Obviously, there are other places to get recipes, but I figure the LDS website is a great place to start!
-Monthly grocery list: This is great for slowly getting things together over a year. It tells you what you need each month for BOTH your food storage AND 72 hour kits. It's was nice to look over and get ideas!
Melissa gave these sites as places to try to. I haven't had a chance to really go through them, but if someone else has..let me know what you thought! www.trackmyfoodstorage.com and www.foodstoragemadeeasy.net.

Tackle it Tuesday: Food Storage

We've (ok, I) been thinking a lot about food storage. No, I haven't gotten it all together, but I am in the process. Our ward YW (YM?) are going down to the cannery next week and are going to do the canning for me!

I am hoping to get between 6 weeks and 3 months worth of stuff. I think it can happen. It will be so nice to get it all done. Unfortunately, living in an apartment isn't my ideal situation for storing food storage or the knowledge that we will be moving within the next 6 months. (Where we don't know yet, but it's the fact we have to pack 200lbs worth of wheat/oats/rice/ect ;)

I also think getting a 72 hour kit together is very important as well...and ours has been well underway for the past few years. I have to add and exchange things, but I think we are almost there. We are missing the food and clothing portion of it. But we have other things like toilet paper, first aid kits, flashlights, matches, soap, toothpaste...you get the picture.

How is your food storage coming along? 72 hour kits? Post a comment and let me know!!

*This is NOT a picture of my food storage...but I hope to one day have a huge storage area for it...oh won't that be great?!!*

kirtland

We went over to Kirtland as a family yesterday and went through THIS exhibit. It was absolutely amazing, considering the woman, Angela Johnson, has never had an art class, pottery or anatomy class. She is pretty remarkable! I wish I could explain the magnitude of these BRONZE sculptors. It is amazing!

The exhibit is touring the U.S. (it was at the Mesa AZ temple visitor's center, St. George, UT Temple visitor's center, Oakland, CA Temple Visitor's Center) and after Kirtland it should be moving on to Nauvoo (I think) Please, please go and see the site. I can't do it justice..it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

When you click on the home page, it will go through the different sculptors....I tried clicking through faster and it wouldn't let me...oh well! :)

Right when I was ready to give up...

Luke walked in the door. It was pretty amazing actually. I was at the brink of insanity. The kids were done with me and to be honest, I was pretty much done with them. In the course of the day, they had trashed the front room, their room, the kitchen, the hall, Spencer had written ALL OVER both of Livi's arms..a lot. basically..you name it, they were there and they had destroyed it.

In all honesty, I guess part of it was my fault. Usually I am on top of cleaning as the day goes on...and the front room is usually always clean, the dishes are done and dinner is close to being done when Luke walks in the door each day. I try to accomplish at least that much. But today, I was a bit lazier than normal..ok, a lot lazier than normal. Last night I was having contraction (regular, every 6 minutes) for 2 hours straight, plus heartburn, plus some other aches and pains and I went to bed late last night (1 a.m.) It was a bit of a hard night.

So back to my day...: After all of this..Spencer decided that he wasn't going to do his duty (#2) in the toilet..but would hide in the closet and go to town. Not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES today. The third time was when Luke walked in, almost threw up and I ended up cleaning it up anyway. BUT I will say, it was great having him there for moral support. (Trust me, I SOOOO needed it!)

I really wanted to go to the enrichment class tonight on gardening, but couldn't do it. Ahhh, I'll learn how to turn my not so green thumb green some other time.

Tackle it Tuesday: Potty Training

We started last Wednesday. He had 2 small accidents. Thursday 1 tiny accident, 1 "big" (#2) accident. Friday 0 small, 3 "big" accidents. Saturday 1. Sunday none. Monday 0 small, 1 "big".

There may be some rhyme and reason to his not wanting to do his "big" business in the toilet. He goes and hides, so Livi and I are on "Hiding" duty. I have heard of MANY boys doing the same thing... one step at a time. He is doing so well and we are so proud of him!!

*These were taken several months ago, but they'll work!*

Tackle it Tuesday: Spencer's Pictures

One Tuesday at the end of February, Luke stayed home from work because he wasn't feeling well. But, on days like these, we HARDLY stay home sick, so we were out and about all day and I LOVED IT!

After dropping Livi off at school, we drove to the mall and got Spencer's pictures taken. It was one of those things that we somewhat dreaded because of last time...but knew it had to be done.

So, we got there and he was AMAZING and PERFECT and CHEESY! Luke and I stood in the hall giggling and laughing at him because he really was too cute for words! Well, since ALL of the pictures ended up turning out (how often does that REALLY happen?) we had a hard time deciding which ones to choose...so after 45 minutes of trying to decide, we finally just got a bunch and who cares, right? We just don't want our 2nd, 3rd or 4th child to feel like they didn't get their pictures professionally taken enough (like livi did)..we are well on our way to going bankrupt with pictures, but I'm ok with that (ok, ok, Luke is the one that is REALLY ok with it..so I might as well go along, right?!)

Also, we are going to bring Livi and Spencer BACK together before the baby is born and then get baby pictures taken when baby #3 is born. I think this is overkill, but we'll have to see!

Tackle it Tuesday: Loads of Laundry

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Well, I finally did it!! Remember how I had all those bins full of baby clothes? I washed every single one..not a small task. There were about 20 loads of laundry..and Luke has yet to bring in all of the bins. One step at a time!

*picture found online at: http://raisintoast.typepad.com