Apparently I am a tropical storm. No chance of it turning into a Hurricane and making landfall–which I guess is a good thing but it would be pretty cool to hear the weather people say “Hurricane Laura”. (My mom did always say that my room looked like a Hurricane had passed through!)
Archive for September, 2008
da da da dum . . . da da da dum dum . . ! THREE DAYS until New Kids on the Block! I am so crazy excited for this. I have literally been dreaming about it for weeks now! Seriously, I have had at least three dreams about this concert. I don’t even want to wake up in the morning because I want to keep dreaming about it . . . sigh. (My hubby is rolling his eyes right now and thinking, geez I can’t wait until this nonsense is over! Hey babe–at least I’m not making you sleep on New Kids sheets!). On Thursday at noon, my friend Steph and I are heading up to DC where we are staying the night at the Red Roof Inn. It’s walking distance to the Verizon Center and we’ll be heading there around 7 pm or so. The show starts at 8 and the Kids come on at 9!
Yeah–I’m not embarrassed to profess my love for them! I don’t care who knows it. I LOVE NKOTB! Especially that one in the middle with the red shirt on! : ) Jordan’s been my favorite for a long, long time. You know what is funny? My mom still remembers their names. I guess she didn’t have a choice since that was all I talked about for about 3 years of my life! (Not to mention that every square inch of my bedroom walls were covered in photos of them!)
Can’t wait to share an update this weekend! I’m going to sneak in my Flip camera (it may have to come in tucked inside my bra–but it’s coming in with me!). I hope we get some really good photos and video to share!
Have you heard of muffin tin lunches? I read about it on a blog awhile ago and kept thinking it would be a neat idea for the girls. So Saturday, because we were running low on groceries and the girls didn’t want what Aaron and I were having for lunch I threw together a muffin tin lunch for them.
I was surprised because number 1–they shared without complaining and number 2–they liked all the foods! Especially the cheese. Normally Annagrace doesn’t care much for cheese by itself but they both ate it all up! They had strawberries (and sugar for dipping), grapes, cheese, goldfish, marshmallows, fruit snacks, and PB&Js.
Yummo! I think we’ll have many more muffin tin lunches to come! If I can find them cheap, I’m going to get them individual half dozen muffin pans and I may even decorate it somehow with their names on it! They loved it (and asked for more cheese)!
(The table they are eating on was another project–I painted the top with chalkboard paint! They have really enjoyed it. It’s a nice place to draw towns for play cars, to play tic-tac-toe and just to doodle on!)
This is my second installment of One Room a Month! We decided to really get busy this weekend and we knocked out TWO rooms! Originally we hadn’t thought that the bathroom would need much more than a new floor. However, after some thinking I decided that it really needed a good update. Stupid me forgot to take before photos!
The bathroom before featured an off white linoleum tile floor (and the tiles were starting to seperate), an oak medicine cabinet, oak sink cabinet, old dirty one knob faucet, and old gold (UGLY) light fixture. Here is the update bathroom:
This is looking in from the girls’ room. I painted the cabinet black and added new silver knobs. The floor is peel and stick linoelum tiles (I love the new darker color). And here is another view:
We added a new faucet and a new light fixture. I don’t have a photo of the light fixture installed yet but this is it:
That photo got a little distorted, but you get the idea.
We had A LOT of trouble in the girls’ room. It was a dark yellow color to start out with. You can kind of see it here–I didn’t think to take photos until I had already started painting. The new color is over the door and the old is by the window and over the t.v.
Anyway, I thought that the color would cover pretty good but I was so so so wrong. After almost a whole gallon of paint and four coats on ONE wall I decided to go get more primer and paint and start over. It still took a coat of primer, 3 coats of paint and still needs a few touch ups along the top of the walls and around and over the doors and windows.
I don’t have finished photos yet–I’ll try to add those later this week. It’s too dark to get a good photo now and the bed still has junk on it to be put away! We also need closet doors. And just for the record, that closet is staying pink! Here is a photo of the inside of the closet and my labeler put to good use:
I LOVE that Madalyn can only have a box at a time instead of stuff being all over the room. I also love that the crayons, markers and pens and pencils can be put way up high out of the reach of both of them!
So Aaron is starting to work on the outside a little bit. I think our next project inside may be the bedroom and bathroom upstairs. That is going to be a lot of painting but it really needs to be done.
I am just ready to get this done, get this house finished, get it sold and move on!
I haven’t read much of my new Dave Ramsey book yet, but I have read enough in it and online to get the idea of paying debt down by starting with the smallest debt first. I don’t have as much debt as the average American but I have enough. Too much.
I mentioned before that I have “come into some money”. With it, I will be able to pay off one of my major credit cards, my two store cards (Old Navy and Kohl’s) and my hospital bills (I owe $125 on my stay when I had Madalyn–and she is almost three now!–and over $600 for Annagrace’s tonsillectomy). That will leave me with one credit card bill that is a shade over $7000. Yeah. I know. OUCH. But there is light at the end of the tunnel! I can see it . . . down there just a little ways! I am also going to pay the rest of Madalyn’s preschool tuition for the year (that will free up $95 a month). So with all those bills paid, I guesstimate that I’ll have approximately $300 a month that will be freed up to put towards my big major credit card.
So here is what I am planning to tackle the larger credit card bill.
1) Look into getting a lower interest card.
2) Set up my account so that I will automatically pay $250 from each pay check onto the card.
If I am able to get a lower interest card (I get several 0% offers each month in the mail) then by paying $500 a month I will have paid off $4000 by next Spring. We are hoping that when we sell our house we will make a good amount on it and can use some of that money to pay down some debt. I will have approx $3000 left on that one card and that will leave my BIG debt–my van–needing to be paid off. My prayer is that we will make enough off of our home that we can pay down a good bit on the van and maybe refinance for a shorter loan time. When we bought our van, we got a 7 year loan with the idea that once some money was freed up (we knew that our school loans were almost paid for and I figured I’d get these cards paid off soon) we’d have more to put towards the van. So I’d like to get the van at least half paid for, refinance and up my payment (using that $500 from my credit card payment and adding it to my van payment). If I am able to do that, then the van will be paid for in about 2 years instead of 6 more (we are already one year down).
So that’s the plan if anyone has actually read this all the way through! Oh yeah–I also have an opportunity to apply for a bonus at work. I have to submit a “curriculum vitae” and apply for Clinician 2 Status within the nursing department. If I get it, it will be about a $2000 bonus paid in one lump sum next Spring. So there is most of the credit card bill wiped out. I really need to get on the ball and get going on my curriculum though! I’ve waited until the end of the year and I have to apply for it by the first part of October!
Just one more quick post for tonight. Madalyn has a new tooth coming in! Yes, I know. It’s completely and utterly ridiculous since she is almost three years old. My dad has jokingly said she was ‘snaggle toothed’–we all just assumed that she was born with a missing tooth. I figured that eventually she would get more teeth and they would fill in the gap. About 3 weeks ago Aaron was brushing her teeth and he said, “Did you know Madalyn has a tooth coming in?” Crazy. Can you see it? Over on her left–it’s one of her canine teeth!
And my final thought for tonight. Well, my first thought for this morning since it’s well after midnight now. My friend Nikki is a genius. She had the neatest idea for keeping up with all the cute things that her kids have said and I am totally stealing the idea. I thought, wow–I need to share that with my blog readers. I always have good intentions of writing my cute kid stories down (like the time I complained about another driver being ‘on my tail’ and Annagrace pointing out to me that “Mama, you don’t have a tail!”. Or the time when I was preggers and she asked me if I could swallow a Polly Pocket so that Madalyn would have something to play with) but I never take the time to do it. Here is a very easy way to get into the habit of writing things down. Get you a little index card notebook like this one:
and dedicate a separate page for each cute little thing that is said. Be sure to write which child said it and the date! I had a great time reading through her books and reading the silly things that her kids said. Her two year old, Simeon (who has a thing for the ladies–including my daughter Annagrace!) has one that is classic. He said, “Mom, ya know those guys who hurt Jesus? I’m going to punch them in the wiener.” LOL!!!!
So I bought my little book tonight and am hoping to fill it with all kinds of silly goodness in the coming months! Thanks Nikki for the fantabulous idea!
So I have not been blogging much lately about saving money. I haven’t been spending much money but I have been spending some. So I know it’s time to get back on track with paying down my debt, clipping coupons and counting my pennies! I bought a Dave Ramsey book tonight–I’ve had lots of people recommend him to me and my friend Nikki was talking about him yesterday and it motivated me to buy his book “The Total Money Makeover”.
I recently have come into some money that is really going to help me pay down a lot of my debt. I am anxious to get some bills paid and start throwing more money at my other ‘big’ debts (mainly my van!). So I’m going to set some goals and start sharing more about what I am doing to cut costs, save money, pay down my debt, be more frugal, etc. More on that tomorrow because it’s after midnight and I have to work tomorrow!
We just took a weekend trip to DC and I have to say that if you are looking for an econonical and educational trip with your kiddos you can’t beat our nation’s capital! I had some difficulty with finding information about traveling with young kids to DC so I thought I’d blog about it and maybe in the future someone out in bloggy land will find it useful!
We decided to drive up Friday morning. Our goal was to leave at 6:30 a.m. but that turned into 7:30 a.m. mostly because I was up late the night before packing and then I was too excited to sleep! I always get that way the night before a big trip! So we left at 7:30 and decided to avoid the interstate at all costs. It took us exactly 3 hours to get there by going the “back way” up and over the mountain. We decided NOT to drive into the city. I highly highly highly recommend that you don’t attempt to drive into DC. It is very difficult to find a parking place and if you do find one, you may end up like this poor soul:
What you can’t see in this photo is that there is also a car in front of the red car that is also touching his bumper! I felt so sorry for this person. Who in their right mind would park right on someone’s bumper like that? (This was taken in front of the white house!)
There are several metro stops along the suburbs of DC in Virginia and Maryland and you need to park there and take the metro in. We found a really nice hotel right beside the Dunn-Loring metro stop. It is the second metro stop when you are coming into DC from Virginia off of Interstate 66. We got to the metro parking lot at 10:30 and at first I didn’t think we’d find anywhere to park. There were very few spaces left! You do not have to get a ticket or anything when you drive in but you are required to buy a SmartTip card before leaving and that is how you pay for your parking. It’s $4.50 a day. So park there and head into the metro station.
Once you get into the metro station you will see kiosks on the left where you need to purchase your tickets. You can buy an all day pass (we didn’t the first day because we only got on once and off once!) for $7.80 or you can purchase only what you need. The machines are very easy to use. Buy your ticket, head downstairs to the train level and sit and wait for your train. It’s easy peasy. It was not crowded going in at all. Coming back was another story. That was stressful for me because you need to move quickly getting on and off and we had the jogging stroller for Madalyn. Not so easy when it’s crowded but we managed.
So we took the metro in to the Smithsonian stop. Got out and off the elevators and walked past the USDA to the National Mall. The USDA has a farmer’s market every Friday from 10am-2pm. Lots of good stuff to be found there. We bought some homemade pumpkin bread and it was delicious!
We decided to pack a picnic lunch and we found a nice spot under a tree right there on the mall and ate. It saved us a lot of time and money. I froze juice boxes and bottles of water so that we would have enough for the whole day and brought my insulated picnic basket (found on clearance at CVS for $9.99!). We didn’t have to stop and buy snacks or drinks and that was really nice!
We went first to the Natural History Museum. Madalyn loved the dinosaurs. There was so much to see and we knew the girls wouldn’t last too long and would get bored quickly so we hit up the most interesting areas–the dinosaurs, the mammals and the Hope Diamond! Annagrace loved seeing all the gems and jewels! One downside about the museum is that the restrooms are few and far between and are difficult to get to. Some are upstairs, some are downstairs and none of them are conveniently located! The other downside to this museum is the crap that they try to feed our children about evolution, the age of the earth, etc. It was a good chance for us to talk to Annagrace about creation though. I asked her if she thought that earth came from a big explosion and she said, “No. Jesus made it”!
We decided to get all the long walking out of the way the first day. We made our way to the Washington Monument, the White House, and the Lincoln Memorial (stopping at a street vendor for ice cream along the way! That was $6 well spent!). I made a wrong turn walking back and we went WAY out of the way and walked by the Tidal Basin and could see the Jefferson Memorial across the river. It was pretty but we were so tired when we finally got back to the metro station!
So after all that walking we were all ready to head back to the hotel. The metro was crowded and we were glad to get off, get back in our car and head across the street to the hotel! (Oh yeah–to get out of the parking lot you have to purchase a SmartTip card. It is reloadable but the card itself costs $5. So you need to purchase a $10 card and you’ll have 50 cents left on it after you leave the parking lot. There is a seperate kiosk and they all take debit and credit cards!).
We stayed at the Courtyard Marriot and it was a very pleasant experience. Like I said, it’s right across the street from the metro. So you could technically park there and just walk to the metro if you wanted to and if parking was available. They have an indoor pool and hot tub (the girls loved that!), a really nice room and staff and free parking in the garage underneath the hotel. (We lucked out and got a spot out front so I can’t vouch for the parking garage!). We ordered Domino’s and had it delivered. The hotel staff has a list of local restaurants including pizza places that deliver. The only drawback is they do not have free breakfast. They have an overpriced buffett and I’d recommend either bringing your own food or making a quick trip down the street to McDonald’s. I would definitely stay here again. It was not crowded, the staff was nice. It was quiet and the pillows were awesome!
So the next day we metroed back into DC. The metro parking is FREE on the weekends. We got to the lot around 8:45 and it was almost empty. They were doing work on the track and that made for longer waits on Saturday but we still never waited over 15 minutes. We headed to the Pentagon first. I wanted to see the Memorial that just opened last week and it was well worth the trip there. A note of caution–photographs are not allowed on the side of the Pentagon where you exit the Metro. You can take photos at the Memorial but otherwise put your camera away! (They security guard yelled out to us not to take photos after he apparently saw Annagrace snap one of something across the street!). I’m not sure what type of military secrets they think that we can give away with a photo of the sign that says “The Pentagon” but oh well, it’s the rules!
The Memorial was amazing. It is a series of benches, each one bearing the name of a victim in the 9/11 attack. If the person died on the plane, then the bench faces towards the Pentagon. If they died in the Pentagon, then the bench faces away from it. There is a little pool of water under each bench. The benches are arranged according to the age of the victim from the youngest–three years old–to the oldest–71 years old. If they passed away with a family member, then the family members names are also engraved on the bench. The saddest part was the family that was preparing to move to Australia. Mom, Dad and both their daughters passed away (Dana Falkenberg being the youngest victim and her sister Zoe being the second youngest at nine years old) . It was very quiet at the memorial. People were very respectful. It was hard to walk through and read the names of so many fellow Americans that lost their lives that day. People with a story–with a history–with family and friends left behind.
If you visit Washington, make a special trip to visit this memorial. The metro takes you right to the Pentagon and it’s a short walk to the memorial and it is worth it to honor these lives that were lost.
The rest of our Saturday was spent at the Old Post Office Pavilion for lunch. They have every ethnicity of food you can think of there (I recommend the puri and naan at Indian Delight). Then it was on to the Air and Space Museum, a quick stop for a drink and some more ice cream for the girls and then a hop back onto the metro for the ride back to our car. The Air and Space Museum was cool but was crowded and was just too much for two tired little (and one adult!) girls. Annagrace loved seeing and touching the moon rock (although I think she was little disappointed because she thought it would be bigger and she’d be able to hold it!) and going inside a space shuttle! Again, didn’t really care for the huge mural depicting the big bang but again it was another chance for us to teach our children about God creating the world.
So there ya have it! I have to say it was a very frugal choice for a weekend getaway. We spent a little over $230–that included gas, food, parking, metro riding, AND the hotel!!! The only way we could have cut costs more would have been to pack more of our own food for supper and lunch the next day. But I think we made out pretty good. The best thing about DC is that everything is free! All the museums, galleries, etc are free to everyone!
Just one quick post before I head out for work. I got an e-mail in my box for a year of free TV Guide magazine. I already have a subscription to this magazine (free, of course!) but I thought I’d post the link in case someone else is interested! Click HERE to get to it! Enjoy!
Counting My Pennies 