Things to be done....

It has occurred to me that lately I have been doing a lot of stuff that is pretty darn counterproductive to my goals to spend less money. Here is but a partial list:

1 & 2: Not eating/exercising properly. Not sleeping properly.

Unfortunately I am no longer at the age where what I eat and drink rolls off and doesn't effect my health. I have realized lately--after two painful kidney stones and some other health issues that have never been a problem before--that my diet and exercise program is very sad.

When I was younger, I could eat any amount of sugar and stay up until the wee hours of the morning and just shake it off before heading off to the next adventure. Lately, I spend the whole day feeling like a Mack truck has parked on my body.

Not good.

So, starting tomorrow morning, I am going to take baby steps and get at least 30 minutes of walking done. This will be a small beginning. I'm not in good shape, so starting slow means I will not get worn out and drop it. We have a YMCA family membership that we pay for every month, but I have just not used it very much since I have "been so busy".

30 minutes.

I can manage that to start...I am going to force myself to get into bed before 11:00. 10:00 would be optimal and the most realistic, so that is my goal. I have a problem with wandering the house at all hours of the night, so this will be hard to start. I'm sure it will get better once it is a habit.

Realistically, having better sleep and exercise habits will help me immediately and in the long run. I have noticed that I am just not as flexible and this has caused problems with my confidence. Taking care of these will cost me a lot less money in the long run!

3. Not taking care of some dental issues.
We have excellent dental insurance, so this is just being stupid on my part!

4. Browsing in shops/putting stuff aside when yarn shipments come in at the shop.
If I were the kind of person who could resist "a great bargain", this wouldn't be an issue.

I'm not.

I have bought a ton of yarn and other things in the last month by getting wrapped up in the new yarn I unpack and price at the shop. It's not like I don't have enough yarn to keep me busy for the next YEAR!!! With that said, I did manage to keep from buying some more sock yarn that we got in last week. It is absolutely gorgeous and I want it.

BAD.

But I managed to talk myself out of it by reminding myself that I have 2 projects on the needles and a closet full of yarn for other projects. Last week I shopped entirely too much at thrift stores. While I did find things that I am going to use and were an awesome deal, I probably should have abstained from doing it all at on one pay period...


We are getting out deck rebuilt this week so I will have to be home for an extended period of time. This will be good since it will force me to focus on getting the house in order. I did start packing up my oldest son's room so we can start working towards making it a guest bedroom and a craft room for me. Tomorrow I will pack more. I think I have put this off for the past YEAR because I had a really hard time with him leaving the nest. Time to make it into a functional room. I need to get it cleaned out so I can get the walls painted. Preferably this week....It will be nice to have the deck rebuilt. That has been a looming project for the past year. We already paid for the work last year when we bought the house, we just had to tell our builder friend when we were ready to have the work done. A year passes so quickly!! They start work on it Thursday.

Some upcoming things I am excited about:

Next Saturday I start a drawing class at one of the art museums here in Wichita. I used to draw all the time and had some really good things done. I put it away when my oldest son was born and fell out of practice. This class is a beginner's class, so it will allow me to brush up on the basics and give me a new starting point. I want to take oil painting classes and printmaking classes later, so I can paint things for my house. I am really looking forward to the class...

In October a friend and I are going to take a cake decorating class. She is a member of an organization that has grant money for her and a friend to take a class together, so we are taking this class. The grant also covers class supplies, so this is something we can do together for no cost. I have taken cake decorating classes clear up to the wedding cake classes, but that was over 7 years ago and I am quite rusty now. Taking a cake decorating class is a great way to save money. I was able to make quite beautiful birthday cakes, cupcakes and cookies for a fraction of the cost of a store bought cake. It was really quite fun.


Some things I've been thinking about lately:

I have been thinking about how little we have had family get togethers. My immediate family lives in Oklahoma and everyone now lives in the same town with the exception of us. My other relatives are in Maryland, with an aunt in Arkansas. The boys have never met any of their Yankee relatives. Sad...We are only a two hour drive away from Oklahoma and yet we have been too busy to get back. My son is living 7 hours away in Iowa and we have not gone to visit.

This will change.

I am planning to quit making excuses and rent a car for the drive to Iowa before winter gets here. Plus, I would like to get together with family in Oklahoma at least once a month, or at least every other month. The last time my boys and their cousins were together, they had a lot of fun.

Time to really take stock in what is immediately a blessing for me and work on things that need attention...

I know...blah, blah, blah....