It's Cricksmas Time!

That's how Steve likes to say "Christmas." I am so excited for Christmas this year that I can hardly wait! I am going to have virtually all of my family here: Steve's mom, dad, brothers, soon to be sister-in-law, grandma, my mom, David, Susan, Josh and Kirby. We are also inviting a friend Steve works with and her son to have Christmas Eve, Eve dinner with us. It will be a full house, but I've been preparing for all year.

I love it when the weather turns cold, lights twinkle inside and out and people expect you do to a half-ass job at work because it's the holidays. We lost our receptionist at work so we're back down to the office manager and me. It's sad, but it feels more normal when it's just the two of us. We understand each other's quirks and have even learned to appreciate them. We can anticipate when the other needs help and can swoop in before there's a problem. It's nice to have that kind of comfort level at work.

Steve and I are have been making good progress on our debts over the last couple months and will have a credit card paid off this month and should have another one paid off before Easter. It would be pretty sweet if we could pay off a debt every major holiday. We spread the Dave Ramsey financial gospel to anyone who will listen. We need to harness that same energy into losing weight and forwarding God's kingdom.

I need to work on a grocery plan now. I normally plan a week at a time, but this month I am trying to keep are grocery bill under $120 for the month (excluding Christmas), so I am going to plan two weeks at a time. We'll see how it goes. I want to have enough money to really live it up while my family is here so we going to be eating a lot of rice and PB&J the rest of the month. If anyone has an recipes that can feed 2-4 people for under $2, please share them!

I'm a Drug Head Now

Well, I finally went the doctor and the dentist last Thursday. I have been putting it off for about 3 years. I was blessed with good teeth genes, because I don't take very good care of them but my teeth are still in good shape.

The OB/GYN put gave me a prescription for Metformin to treat my PCOS and we she did blood work to start treating my thyroid. I was doing some research on the Medoformin and if it works properly, it should fix virtually all of my health problems. I'm keeping my fingers crossed but not counting on anything. So far the only side effect is that is messes up my stomach. If it works, the benefits will far out weigh the negatives. The doctor said that I wouldn't be on any kind of birth control and was I ok with getting pregnant. It was hard to not laugh at her. Partly because it's pretty doubtful I would get pregnant and partly because I have been trying to have a baby for 10 years, so yes....I think I would be ok with it.

I saw my doctor's office on TLC's show "17 Kids and Counting" with the Duggar family. It was pretty cool to see somewhere I had just been on TV. They must be good at what they do if one woman has had over a dozen kids there.

Wheelin' and Dealin'

Well, Steve and I had our last FPU (Financial Peace University) class today. It has been fun and really helped our finances. October was the best month, financially speaking, that we have ever had. We have been wanting to do it for years, so when Steve's company offered it to employees for free we jumped at the chance.

Last Saturday we applied one of his techniques when we bought another couch to match the one we got in August. We paid $300 for that one and I was hoping to get 10% off this time. We found the couch and saw that the sales price is now $342. A salesman found us and I told him about the couch we already bought and asked him to match that price. He said he couldn't and gave the typical salesman pitch about how everything costs more now...blah...blah....blah. He also told me that they have never sold that couch for $300. I wish I had known that I needed to bring my receipt with me. I told him he would have a cash sale right now if he would sell it to me for $300. He said he would talk to the manager and left for a minute.

When he came back he said the manager had never seen the price that low and they couldn't give us that kind of discount because they were already taking a loss on it. About that time, Steve sits down, pulls our a wad of cash and starts fanning it out and counting it in front of the guy. I wish I had a picture. The salesman then offered to split the difference with me and when I walked away to think about it he started following me like a little puppy. I said that was unacceptable and talked the manager about it. I asked if he really wanted to lose a sale over $20 bucks. He said there was nothing he could do so we left the store empty handed.

We went to a couple other furniture stores where they were selling almost the exact same couch for $500-700. After seeing what I had to work with, we agreed that $321 was a reasonable price and went back to the store to purchase it. I felt a little defeated, but very proud of myself that 1) I negotiated a better deal, and 2) Had the strength to take me emotions out of the deal and walk away. Now I have two awesome couches (without debt) and no buyer's remorse.

Election Day

Don't forget to vote today!

Bad News for McCain

In addition to having one foot in the grave, McCain has some more bad news. I was listening to AFR at lunch today and they were talking about the debate last night. After their standard 20 minute oration on how gay people are trying to steal marriage away from me, they gave their thoughts on the debate.

I appears that even they thought Obama won the debate. They said that he sounded knowledgeable and he had several good moments where he appeared presidential. By contrast, McCain didn't seem comfortable and presented ideas that were borderline socialist. They said that they think many voters may be more concerned about the economy than gay marriage and abortion issues which doesn't bode well for McCain. Ya think? We aren't electing spiritual leaders. People need to search for righteousness in their Bibles and churches, not the White House.

The people and their actions are what determines the moral fiber of our country. We have many things that violate God's law but are legal in our country. I don't know why people get so bent out of shape over just these two issues. When was the last time you saw people protesting lying? Why don't we boycott Target because they employ people who have committed adultery? For some reason we feel that we're "making a difference" when we forward an email or watch the O'Reilly Factor. We need to spend more time raising our children to love God and less time forwarding stupid emails.

Fall TV Schedule

It's that time of year again...the leaves begin to fall, the sweaters come out, and we get ready to welcome old friends and a few news ones into our homes. That's right, the fall television season has begun!

Our favorite returning shows are:

• The Office
• Lost
• Desperate Housewives
• Smallville
• Heros
  
• Gray's Anatomy
• Chuck
• Dancing with the Stars
• Dirty Sexy Money
• 30 Rock
  
• Life
• Ugly Betty

New shows we're excited about:

• Fringe
• My Own Worst Enemy
• Privileged

I don't know much about all the new shows starting this season, so if you are watching something good, please comment!

New Church Family

We have been visiting Grace Harbor Church every other week for the past 6 weeks and decided we want to be more than visitors. They - I mean "we" - meet on Sundays at 10 AM have have house churches that meet during the week if want to. They are like small groups. The preacher asked us to be involved with a group that meets on Thursday nights and is made up of a few young couples with various church backgrounds. One couple in particular that he would like us to get to know are Mormon converts (I may be asking Susan and Josh lots of questions) who are struggling a little with their families who are still LDS.

The church is probably about 70% former church of Christ members then a mix of everything else. My favorite thing about worshiping here is the way I feel when I leave. Everyone participates in worship and seems genuinely happy to be there. The singing is upbeat and alive. People think about the words they are singing and don't just drone on. People treat you like members of a family. Communion is served every week in a way I have never experienced before. We have several tables in the back of the auditorium that have bread (it looks kind of like a whole wheat pita) and grape juice poured into little cups. Everyone gathers around the tables at the end of the service and after a prayer, we all eat the bread and drink the juice at the same time. It seems to be more in tune with the way the first century church may have done it. Being gathered together around a table. Anyway, it feels more like we are communing together versus hurrying up to pass the plate.

We are having the preacher and his wife over for dinner on Tuesday to ask them questions and let them get to know us better. It dawned on me that we have NEVER had the preacher over for dinner at any of the places we have ever lived. I'm excited to get to know them and make more friends.

Are you kidding me?

Church member: "I wonder what we could do to get more young people involved in the church?"
Minister: "I know, let's put a line from a song they listen to. That will get their attention. Then we say how that relates to God."

Here's what you get when Pharisees try to evangelize.

Before & After Part 2

This past weekend, we finished painting the living room and painted the kitchen and dining room. We also installed knobs and drawer pulls on all the kitchen cabinets. I think it turned out amazing. The best part is that everything we did was around $60 but boosted resale value by hundreds if not thousands.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Before and After - Part 1

Here is my first set of before and after pictures. I spent some time this weekend painting the entry way and two walls of the living room. The paint color is called "Mocachino" and it is a khaki, tan color. It's funny, when I see it in the daytime, it looks tan, but at night when it is under the artificial lights it takes on an olive tone. Fortunately, I like them both!

A is for Awesome!

The carpet hadn't even sprung back to life before we replaced Carl the Crappy Couch with Abby the Awesome Couch. She is soft, yet firm; sleek, but still cozy and most important....bug free. She has brightened our living room and our lives as she radiates comfort throughout the home.

I'm finally feeling inspired to start painting and decorating the living room! FYI - we found our digital camera and our iPhones take awesome pictures so I'll be posting more photos of the house soon. For real this time :)

Ding Dong the Couch is Dead

Thanks to Jeff sharing his new found fortune with us, we were able to get rid of the ugly couches and buy a new one today. So, let's all take a moment of silence and as we remember all the good times we shared with Carl the Crappy Couch.....oh, you can't think of one either? Well then, I guess it's good riddance!

Thank you Jeff!

The Birdies are in the nest

After a grueling 7 days, our iPhones are now here! Steve and I ordered iPhones last Friday and since they are still in such high demand, they had to order them. My patience has come along way. I don't think I would have been able to do this a few years ago.

I still can't hold it or look at it yet. It's being held hostage at the AT&T store until I get off work. I only have 2 hours to go. Poor Steve has to wait even longer. He has to wait for me to go get them then pick him up. I hope his phone doesn't become too attached to me and not bond with him.....

Well, after I sign our new contracts we will have new phone numbers. If you are our contact list, we will send you a message with the new phone number. We will probably be hard to get a hold this weekend because both our butts will be glued to a chair somewhere playing with our new toys. Now we have one more gadget for George to be jealous of. He already hates the Wii and sulks anytime we start playing it.

Is it Friday yet?

We had a great time last weekend with the Williams Family Reunion-Nanny's 75th Birthday-Greg and Danielle's Engagement-Extravagansa but now I'm beat! Since we had a lot of family in from out of town, we had Steve's cousins stay in our old apartment with their families and his aunt, Elizabeth stay with us in our house. That makes her the second visitor at Chatau Seay.

I still haven't put any pictures up of the new house or the reunion because we can't find our digital camera since we moved. If anyone out there has seen a Nikon Coolpix 9100, let me know because I desperately miss my camera.

This week Susan and Josh FINALLY hooked their Wii up to the internet so now we get to play Mario Kart with each other. We've had the game a bit longer so it's pretty easy to whoop up on them right now, but it should get pretty intense after they get some more practice.

Down with the Laudramat

We have been without a washer and dryer and have been going to the laudramat for over 2 months now. I am please to say, those days are gone! We purchased the washer and dryer of our dreams last night and will be able to pick it up on Friday, the 4th. Happy Birthday, Robbie!

So, Mom, when bring a couple loads of laudry with you when you come down this weekend and you can be one of the first people to use it.

Steve's First Man Chair

Moving day is exactly one week away and this weekend we started getting some furniture for the house. We found some living room furniture in the classifieds and got a sofa, love seat and Lazy Boy recliner for less than $400! The recliner is huge and in really good shape. It will be great for the next couple years.

We also found a Mission style coffee table that pops up so now we can eat dinner on the couch and still use a fork and knife. Sweet! The next thing on our list will be a washer and dryer then a guest bed

Moving Soon

It seems like it's been almost a year since we first talked about buying a house and soon it will be a reality. We found a home in Centerton, Arkansas that is kind of a like a cross between our old house in Utah and Steve's parent's home. We are super-excited to get out of our one bedroom apartment and move into our spacious three bedroom house.

It is an all brick, 3 bed/2 bath house with about 1450 square feet. It has some really nice features like a huge kitchen and a nice master bath with a whirlpool tub, separate shower and double sinks. George is looking forward to have a big backyard to run around in. They have planted a lot of trees that we may relocate to show off the house a little better. I am hoping my mom and David can come visit soon so he can give us some landscaping advice. Their house is landscaped very nicely....except for all the crepe myrtles. :)

Our closing date is scheduled for June 16th but we will have our apartment until the end of July so we plan on moving in slowly. We want to repaint the entire house but don't have the money or the energy to do it all at once so we will probably tackle one room at a time. I will post pictures as we make improvements.

We hope to get the guest room completed soon so friends and family can come visit. I'm really excited that Susan and Josh will be spending Christmas with us and my mom and David will be coming up for Thanksgiving. Holidays are more complete when you have all of your family there.

Running the numbers

While Steve did his homework last night, I worked on a debt snowball calculator to see how long it will take us to be debt free. I played about with different payment amounts and found that we can be completely debt free by June 2010 without having to change our lifestyle. That is awesome!

We are going to look at the budget and see what we can do without with move that number up even sooner. I'm getting pretty excited! Once we dump this debt we can be wealth building machines. Now, if I could only find a way to lose weight this fast.............

I'm almost old

Well, I turned 29 a couple weeks ago and watching a little more of my youth leave every day.  When I first got married I had many goals I wanted to achieve before I turned thirty.  Here are a few of them:

 

1)       Have 2 kids

2)       Steve finish college and be established in a career

3)       Be out of debt

4)       Get down to my ideal weight and be smokin’ hot

5)       Own a home

 

I guess I’m not doing too bad.  Steve loves his job and is working on school….if we get “Giselle Intense” on our debt, we can be debt free in about a year….and we did buy a home but sold it.  I still have one more year.  I think I’ll come up with some new goals for the next year then come up with a plan to actually make them happen. 

 

Please post some of your New Year’s Resolutions or your five year plan for the rest of us to mock….I mean…..enjoy.

Sick Sucks!

I am soooo sick with "flu-like" symptoms right now... missed the last day and a half of work. My husband has taken such good care of me. I don't know what I would do without him. Hopefully I should make it back to work tomor.. tomorr...... next week.

Dinner last night

Roy's brother, Danny and his wife Wanda are here visiting this weekend so we went to Acambaro for dinner last night. It was pretty good. I think the place is growing on me. They have been shut down a couple times in the past year after and INS raid, so you know that's authentic Mexican food!

We are working on our New Year's video this weekend. Hopefully we can mail them out by the end of the month. Once Steve starts class again he won't have much time to work on it. We're getting ready to go see Juno to help get us in the film making mood.

Poll Added

Check out the new poll question on the right.

 

 

 

New Beginnings

Ok, I'm going to try this blog thing again. I think they're cool and I enjoy reading other people's stuff, but it just seems like a lot of work to remember.

Please leave your own comments too. I think of this blog like a rant. Somewhere I can vent frustrations and give my husband a little bit of a break. Feel free to add your own rants and correct me if I'm wrong. Wait......what am I saying?.......I can't remember the last time I wrong about something!