Freedom!

Today is July 12th. My restrictions are finally lifted! Z was pretty excited to rip up the last piece of paper in our countdown chain.

Some things (like coughing and sneezing) still hurt more than I would like. Some things – like when I was driving the car today and needed to turn the wheel all the way to turn – present new areas of pain. I guess some of my muscles are a little tight and not used to moving in those directions anymore. All of that will come with time.

 

On some sad other notes:

Death seems to be the theme this last week.

JJ’s 93 year old grandma passed away on Saturday. It was not a surprise and since she loved the Lord, we were glad to see her pain cease. She will be missed dearly. JJ and Z headed out of town this morning to see family and attend her funeral. We decided it was a bit to far of a car ride for me and fresh off my restrictions, we aren’t sure how exhausted I will be just getting back up to full steam. (My mom is still in town, helping me transition to being “full time”.)

And if you’ve seen the news, you know what happened on Thursday here in Dallas. While we did not know any of the officers personally, Sargent Michael Smith was a member of our church. He served almost every Sunday keeping an eye out at our children’s building. We know God’s plans are greater than our plans – but it is still a difficult time for my church body and our city.

 

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Good Bye Friend

Said good-bye to a friend of 9.5 years. I knew it was coming, but it’s still an adjustment.

My dear Jetta, seen here freshly washed, at my grandparents house in the middle of North Dakota.

I purchased my Jetta in August of 2004. It was 4 years old and such a huge, grown up moment in my life. In the handful of years of having a license, it was the car I ‘dreamed of’. I saved up my money, had a pretty big down payment (prior to my Dave Ramsey days) and worked hard for the next 2 and a half years to pay it off. I even deferred my move to Chicago for grad school so that I could finish paying and officially become the owner.

I only put 60,000 miles on it, but in that time, it took me from Washington State, to Chicago, to Dallas. It even pulled a uhaul on one of those trips. (Ha!)

It played an important role in one particular event concerning the “boy next door” who eventually became a pretty important person in my life (my husband).

It has several issues ranging from a CD player’s broken fuse that continued to drain the battery until removed; a self dimming rear-view mirror, that broke and leaked gunk all over; cup holders that had nifty, spring/size adjusting arms that were amazing – until the springs and arms broke (it never held cups sturdy, with out potential sloshing again).

There were a few bumps and bruises along the way, from the time I backed crooked out of the driveway and sideswiped my roommate’s car; the time I ran into our garage; the time I locked the keys in and my boss used some wood and a hammer to pry open the door; the time the bumper fell off, hanging within an inch or two off the ground and I didn’t know (I proceeded to drive at highway speeds for 20 miles); the time the belt broke and I lost all power steering in the middle of a busy road.

One time, it over heated and – now on my own in Texas – I had to find someone to look at it – figure out toeing and get it fixed.  The shop I ended up taking it to – wow… not in a good part of town. The tow truck got lost trying to take it there. Going to pick it up, one of my girlfriends from work drove me down and I’m pretty sure when I got out to go pay and pick it up – she was getting nervous that I might have been abducted or killed. 🙂 Rough part of town – but at least it was the middle of the day! And they gave me a great deal and did a terrific job fixing it.

Anyway – it was an adventure filled nine and a half years.  We all move on in life. Even with all of the issues, we were still able to trade it in for a decent 1,500 dollars toward our new “I’m officially an old grownup” minivan.  Got to stay practical right?

Good bye friend. I’m so glad we had almost 10 years together and I have two sets of plates (WA & TX) that I will hold on to – and remember you by.

March by the Numbers

Basically the same news as before (debt snowball on pause due to slow work & baby on the way) – with some improvement for the self-employed one of the family.  Work has been picking up a bit – so that’s really helpful. We anticipate adding to the “crisis fund” at a slightly higher rate.

Our little guy appears to be healthy as far as any one can tell at this point – so we are very thankful for that.

We are a little over halfway from his arrival, so we’ve been deep in the throws of preparing for a baby in the house while staying as cost conscious as possible.

One of the common questions people ask is what theme the nursery will be. Our answer… Ah? Mustard yellow walls with a twin bed & desk?  We aren’t “themeing” anything really. Not painting. Not really buying new, fancy furniture. Our changing table will be the desk that is in there now. We added a bit of additional shelving in the closet for better organization of new baby stuff – but that’s about it.  We went with generic blue, green, and random animals in the things that we registered for – so – that’s our theme? I guess if you can call it that.

Mostly, as I mentioned last month, I’ve been hitting up a few consignment sales. It really helps to be in a large place like DFW where the suburbs support multiple sales.  Check out these numbers…. Money spent at consignment sales: $135

Approximate amount if all items were purchased new: $466

Some of the items that we purchased:

• Assortment of bottles
• ‘Snap & Go’ type caddy/stroller
• Bathtub
• A few additional needed clothing items for me
• SwaddleMes
• Highchair
• Nursing Pillow
• A couple small toys/books
• Towels

And last, but most certainly not least, we have a wonderful community of family and friends who have given us so many helpful and much-needed items.  Just a few of the items are listed here. Some are straight up baby gifts, and some are “hand-me-downs” from those who have gone before us on the adventure of having kids.

• Crib & Mattress
• Pack & play
• Bassinet
• Bouncy Seat
• Car mirror
• Breast Pump
• Mobile
• Towels & wash cloths
• Glider chair & footstool
• Bumboo seat
• A tub of Maternity Clothes
• Books – Educational and Product research/money-saving tips

So yes – as you can see – we are doing our best to be frugal; to not give in to the culture & emotions of … got to have the biggest and best, nicest nursery with name brand, new everything.  We are so thankful that our family and friends are helping us so much.

When I listen to the Dave Ramsey show – there seems to be a lot of  individuals who did not have supportive friends and family. They had people in their lives that thought they were foolish or a bit nuts to be working to be completely debt free. We are thankful to report that is not the case with us.  Everyone has been more than supportive of our long-term financial goals.

H-O-T!

I don’t like the heat – I’m from the overcast PNW.  We are just shy of 2 weeks from breaking a record.  Today was the 30th consecutive day that temperatures were 100 degrees or more.  The record is 42 days in a row – set in 1980.

I HATE the heat – but the competitive / story teller in me figures “we’ve made it this far… whats another 12 or 13 days?”

Did you hear about tropical storm Don? The cloud cover from Don may have kept us under 100 degrees, IF it would have made it up here.

With the exception of our little pocket of North Texas, all of Texas is in a drought, and a pretty extreme drought at that.  We were all cheering on Tropical Storm Don – hoping for a deluge of rain;  at least somewhere in Texas would benefit.  It hit land, and the hot temperatures evaporated the storm within 2 hours. Basically, little to no rain.  The radar of the storm was amazing. Poof! It just disappeared.

More adventures in moving

My final load of stuff arrived from WA state yesterday and hopefully it will all be at my house on Friday.

I was able to grab one box when the vault’s arrived so a few books and a couple of kitchen items are already unpacked.  The box also contained some of my old baby clothes, so those will be organized and boxed back up for now, but they were fun to look through!

My friend Vicky is moving from WA State to DFW in a couple of weeks, so she organized and shipped both of our belongings about a month ago. Tomorrow, the Texas side of the team will unload everything. You can follow Vicky’s adventure at her new blog From Evergreen Hills to Texan Flatland.

Between Notes – Second Screening!

So – LOVED “Between Notes” even more the second time around.

And if you missed it at the Angelika – Lucky for you – they added a second screening.

This time around, it’s at the Angelika in Plano — 4:30 on Friday (4/8).

Get your tickets here.

Check out the trailer here.

And watch some video footage from the world premier here.  (I’m the one in purple, with the crazy hair saying something about the film being made for 10K. 🙂   )

Last, but not least, Check them out on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/betweennotes

Between Notes

So excited to head down this evening and watch Between Notes!

If you are in DFW – I’m not even sure if there are tickets left, but if there are – I highly recommend checking out this film tonight. As far as I know, this is the only time it’s playing at the Dallas International Film Festival.

You can get tickets (if there are any left) here. (actually, looks like there might only be tickets at the door now available)

You can watch the trailer on Apple Trailers here.

And you can buy the soundtrack here.

The music is Amazing! And the film itself is very well done. Considering their budget was 10K – it is quite an accomplishment.