2013 Goals

This is a pretty comprehensive list of my priorities and goals for 2013. I have the lists I based mine off of referenced at the bottom. I may break some of these down over the next couple weeks to explain more in detail how I plan on achieving them.

My main word for the year will be faith. All of my other goals and priorities will be based off of faith. My marriage and health will be my 2nd and 3rd priorities.

Feel free to share your goals and priorities for 2013 in the comments below :)

2013 Goals -Google Docs Link

http://thefrugalhomemaker.com/2013/01/02/2013-goals/
http://moneysavingmom.com/2010/11/time-management-101-determine-what-your-priorities-are.html

2013

Goals.

Personal.

Financial.

Spiritual.

Marriage/Family.

Homemaking.

I'm not making resolutions, I'm making plans.

Come back for more over the weekend. I've been working on them, and I keep working on them, and I will keep working on them.

Cupp Of Coffee is back. (Guess what one of my goals is?!)

<3

Lucky Tails

One early Sunday morning in June, and by early I mean about 1:30 AM, the wonderful husband of mine calls and says he has a German Shepherd puppy in the back of my jeep.

Wide awake now...

We posted found ads, told everyone we knew, called the SPCA. By Wednesday, he was ours. We named him Lucky. He peed a LOT. I pretty much carried a mop around with me those first few weeks. He had so much energy and loved to lick. I am not going to say I was enjoying this.

(Cannot believe he was this small not that long ago)

Yeah, we had a Golden Retriever (our golden child) but this was a puppy. A puppy with no bladder (figuratively speaking). Our wonderful friends that raise German Shepherds gave us some toys, food, and a crate. Boy, were we thankful for that. 

Next stop, the vet.
The Vet guessed he was anywhere from 3-4 months, had a heart murmur and a hernia. Along with being at least 20 lbs under weight. He had probably been on his own outside for over 2 months. Heart murmurs and hernias are apparently common in GSD (German shepherd dogs). The vet said it was very possible the hernia would heal and he would grow out of the heart murmur (Let's pray).

We scheduled neutering and hernia repair for early August. His bladder was improving drastically. Still loved licking. The day arrived, and Bill dropped him off at the vet. Within two hours, the vet called.

"Lucky still has his heart murmur, if we go through with this, he has a 20% chance of surviving the surgery"
Bill went and picked him up. He may be a pain, but he's like a child to us.

The vet said to wait 2 more months to see if he grows out of it, because as of October he should definitely be 6 months old. If at that time he still has the heart murmur, we were referred to a dog cardiologist (I kid you not, they do exist!...for $600 an appointment).

We can barely afford all the dog food we are running through, let alone a $600 dog cardio appt.

So last Monday, October 8, was the big day. Would the heart murmur be gone? Can we go ahead with the neuter and hernia repair?

YES! He is gaining weight as needed, growing as needed, has the right amount of energy, he's doing great! He has his surgery scheduled for the first week of December.

Here he is just this past week, as big, if not bigger than our full size Golden.

Dogs may be expensive, may be a pain and a big responsibility, but our children have four paws. 
(As i'm yelling at them to share their toys with each other)

I'm BACK!

So apparently I decided to take the summer off.

I actually didn't, I just had other things to do. 

I love blogging, I really do, but I also love sitting on the porch and spending time with family and friends. Haven't seen me lately? COME VISIT! :)

I promised pictures in this post (according to my post 3 months ago). Check out my Pinterest-TONS of pictures ;)

Back to why I originally started this blog. The church has too many taboo topics, that the Bible actually talks about. Submission, Sex, Love, Marriage, the way you live your life, obedience, the list goes on.

Yeah, I'm going there. Check out To Love, Honor, and Vacuum. Seriously. 29 days to great sex challenge. This is for you, Christian married women! Ugh, are brains are so full of how BAD sex is before marriage that  half (probably more) of us don't even enjoy it when we are married.

Better yet, read her article on submission isn't abuse. The comments as well. Wow. What Submission Isn't

My list goes on and on about what I want to talk about. and my BIGGEST concern is that I might not be right. That what I say might not be in line with God's vision for us. 

But I am trusting that God is leading me to these thought-provoking articles for a reason. That he gives me such strong ideas because he wants me to share them with you.

I want to go there, because not many people do, and we are just hiding behind our "Christian" label, when we should be shouting it to the world. I feel there are too many people out there showing off their "Christian" label and making us all look BAD. Why don't we start showing off how AWESOME and WONDERFUL it is. How God loves us and wants us to love, obey, and follow Him.

We can do it. We should do it. We are called to do it.

Let's start talking.

Hiatus

Who am I trying to impress anyways?


It's been a wonderful month (aside from not blogging)
My coupons are well on their way to being organized with dividers I got at Dollar Tree (only $1!)
I'm making progress in spending my time the way I want to, instead of trying to please others.
AND my house has been relatively clean, without me going crazy each day trying to keep up with it...YAY!


I've just been thinking about a lot over the past couple weeks. Why I do what I do, and what I would rather be doing. A girl I went to school with took a hiatus from Facebook to get away from it all and focus on herself. I don't think I could do that. I think I'd be very bored with myself. So I started thinking. Why am I so focused on a "show-room" clean house, when I don't have anyone coming over? Billy doesn't mind a "lived-in" look. Heck, I don't think I mind it much either. So if Bill and I are happy, then why am I choosing to clean the house over going out? or sitting down and watching a movie? or taking a walk? or doing something I enjoy? 


...Yeah, I'm not too sure. So I've been working on it. 


I had a fantastic weekend. 
Started off Thursday at the Sweet Valley fair, got some photo frames for my wall collage I'm working on. 
Friday Bill and I spent the day shopping for the pampered chef party, and we had lunch at cosmo's cheesesteaks in Kingston-YUM. The party went very well, enjoyed every minute of it.
Saturday Stef and I went shopping, and then I watched some netflix for the afternoon
Sunday I went to church, then watched more netflix (yes. I was lazy. I enjoy it)
And Monday Bill and I did some errands and visited his family in Mtn Top. Then a cookout at moms :)


Cleaning? Yeah, I took about 1/2 an hour each day to straighten up...not enough to keep me from doing what I wanted. And the house is pretty decent. :)
No coupons this weekend because of Memorial Day, so I got a break there.


So maybe I will be posting more regularly again, and maybe I won't. But either way, the next post will have pictures. Pictures are so much more fun, aren't they?


Hope you all had a wonderful May :)

Slacking and Succeeding

Hello slacker. (speaking to myself). Organizing? Couponing? Time Managment? How are these things going?!

This is my living room MESS. I hate it. Piles of to-do and to-file and to-toss. It really is hard to keep up with it all. Fortunately, I had time tonight to tackle most of it. I think a Home Office is in my near future....

My coupon binder. It needs more sheets and more dividers. I will tackle this next week. Stay tuned for some more couponing tips, I know a few of you who are just waiting for me to help you out, and believe me, I want to :)

See? lots of coupons NOT in sleeves. So not helpful.

So maybe a few more posts on my problems, then I will start sharing my progress. And in the time-management area, there has been DEFINITE progress-Woot! Now to get on an even better schedule, including daily blogging, couponing, and loving. That will be a success...

To be continued...

So here's the problems

In my last post, I mentioned I had my own plan for this month. A focus on where things are in my life and how I want to change them. I chose 3 main points for the month of May. And here is the problems I have with them. I apologize in advance for any ranting that might go on.


Streamline Couponing:


Problem? 
-Couponing takes time and effort to get the maximum savings. I check at least 2, if not 3 blogs as often as possible-multiple times per day to stay current and catch the best deals. That takes a TON of time.
-Then they need to be organized. A lot. I do have a binder. I have sleeves full of coupons. They need to be organized better IN the binder though, cause I can't find a thing.
-There are a lot of stores. and a lot of deals. I need to begin to track prices to be able to determine a "good deal" quicker.


Fortunately, this all won't be hard because I have time at work to work on it, and I have my ideas and some tips in place already, I just need to implement them :)


Stick to a Budget:


Problem?
-We eat out. A lot. Turns out, last month we spent over $140 on fast food (as my friend Kasie shakes her head in disgust) We need to cut way back on that if we want to ever get ahead.
-We have a good amount of debt. I want the personal loans and credit card debt paid off before children. and I want children soon.
-We don't have much savings, and we always wish we did when our cars break. which they do. a lot.


So, we have plans. We need to watch our spending. It's as simple on paper as weigh down, and yet just as hard to actually do.




Spend Time More Wisely:


Problem?
-I think I have a slight OCD problem. I can't just "straighten up" the house, it needs to be CLEAN for me to feel like it's presentable. it cuts into time to go and do things and have fun. I need to let go of my inner expectations I'm trying to live up to.
-I want to visit more people, and have more of a social life. I don't make time for it, and I want to.
-I want to read more of the Bible. To have my "Jesus Time" more often. More regular...
-I also want more quality time with Billy. Who doesn't want more quality time with their Husband? I want memories, new experiences, and laughter <3


So, I need to work on the whole housework taking over my life, and start focusing on some other priorities.


Keep checking in to see how my month goes :)






Side note. I attempted homemade seasoned baked french fries. Won't do that again. Ore-Ida is the way to go :)