Pirates of Penzance

We just wrapped up another great production with Fine Linen Drama. It has been so much fun to work with such talented people and learn so much. We even had fun! The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything
General Stanley's daughters

the Policemen

The Pirates

(Joe is in the center, standing on the floor)

The full Cast

Baby Step 1 complete!

Well, it took our tax refund to do it, but we got Baby Step 1: Save $1000 for a baby emergency fund, DONE!

Baby Step 2 is Pay off Debt Snowball. I feel very fortunate that the only thing we have in this category is a HELOC. It is not a small amount, but we are going to get it paid off before its maturity date of July 2021.

All of this is going great. Not perfect or we would have had our $1000 by Jan 31, but we still are making progress.

YEAH!!

Real snow!

We finally received some REAL snow here. Having grown up in MN, I just can't hardly stand being cold with out snow, and lots of it. We got between 4 and 6 inches in the last 2 days and it is a logistical nightmare for those who have to clean it up or anyone who has to get anywhere, but I love it!

The view out the back door
Out the front door

Miss Daisy

Erik was asking if we were getting more tonight, or how long this would last. It looks like temps won't get too high till Saturday, so we will have it at least a few more days. Joe is coming home from work a little early today to go sledding with the boys. Since my motto is "There are no 'snow days' in Home school," I have been generous and let them sleep in an extra hour the last two days and come to school late. We haven't heard yet if the public school will be in session tomorrow or not.

Promise of a great year ahead

We were driving home the other day and this rainbow was over the whole interstate. It was so bright and we could see the whole thing. Joe snapped this picture of it when we got home.

One step forward, two back

Well, don't you know that as soon as I brag about how much we got to save this month, it wouldn't actually turn out that way. But, we are not dismayed! We decided to insure our house for an earthquake after talking to a friend who works for the United States Geological Survey here. He says we are about 50 years overdue for a pretty good size earthquake here. We experienced the tremors from one that happened in Indiana this spring and it was a little unsettling. If the New Madrid fault goes, there is no telling what could happen here. Then we forgot about a little thing here and a little thing there in the budgeting. But, there is still money left, so nothing to sweat! God is good. I hear so much about how the economy is bad, but we have been learning to live with in our means, so we are going to be fine.

On the road to debt free...Baby Step 1

Money and budgeting has always been an interesting topic to me. A frustrating one too. Recently I read two books by Dave Ramsey http://www.daveramsey.com/ Financial Peace and The Total Money Makeover. (If you can only read one, I recommend TMM.) This guy is simple and to the point and tells you some great tips on how to get out of debt. He also dispells most of the lies our culture feeds us about debt and money. One of the things I like best about him is that he is a Christian and he believes that the wealthiest people are that way because they GIVE. I love to give, my resources just don't always match the need. That is frustrating.

We have tried many different things over the years, and some have worked better than others. I used to figure out everything, pay the bills and give Joe some money to have in his pocket for what he needed. He didn't know where our money was going and never knew how much we had or didn't have so we decided that he would take it over. He did a much better job at it than I did, because he is a saver and I am a "pay it off as fast as you can" type. But we were starting to get in a rut again, because he was doing all the budgeting and work on this and I was oblivious to where we were at. Dave suggests that we BOTH do the budgeting and decide where every dollar will go every check. What a novel idea!

The book is full of real life stories of people who were so much farther in debt than we are, but made it out. We feel relieved that our cars are paid for, our credit cards are paid off and all we have to get rid of to be debt free is a HELOC and our mortgage. My goal is to be done with those in less than 10 years. We put the credit cards in the oven over the weekend to see if they would shrink like Shrinky Dinks. They didn't do much of anything except get rubbery while they were hot. Then we shaped them and let them cool and chopped them up. Very freeing!!!!

Now, you may ask, why is she blogging about this?? It is because I am so excited about this plan and I want other people to see that it is possible to get out of debt and no longer be sold the lie of American Consumerism. (greed)

So, Dec. 4th, we started Baby Step 1-Save $1000 fast. Today we have $645. We hope to have Baby step one done by Jan 31.

Think you can't do it? Read the book, there has to be someone who was worse off than you that made it out. There is hope!!

What's love got to do with it?

Apparently everything when it comes to singing Karaoke. We had the Davidson Family Thanksgiving at a hotel in Kansas City and after dinner we had some entertainment by family members singing Karaoke on Denise's 8 Track (yes, I know what I am talking about) machine.

Joe and his sisters and Niece

L-R Nancy, Jodi(niece), Denise, Marilee, Joe and Jennifer