Temperature Drop

Last week was absolutely beautiful.  The weather was unseasonably warm with record temperatures Sunday-Thursday.  I didn't catch all of the previous records, but some were from the late 1800's and, with 80+ degree temperatures, were broken by more than 20 degrees!  The kids and I went back to the park.  The big kids biked, and I jogged with Quin in the stroller.  He's quite independent, so I let him get out and walk for awhile.  I went back on Friday afternoon with Christa and we jogged/walked out to the point and back.  It's so much easier to be active when you have someone there with you!

Lake Champlain

By Saturday, the weather had cooled considerably and I spent most of the day indoors. We had a mini Thanksgiving feast for dinner, and I planned my meals for this week around the leftover turkey, so we're trying things like Turkey Tetrazzini and Turkey Spinach Lasagna.

This week has been much cooler and the kids are wearing hats and winter coats again at recess and we've kept the wood stove going in the house.  Last week was a wonderful sneak peak of the summer, and makes me anxious for the higher temps to come back and stay.

FPU Update #3

Almost daily, I go to Dave Ramsey's facebook page, click on "everyone" or "all" (so that I see everyone's comments and not just those working for Dave), and read the comments left by people.  It keeps me motivated.  Reading about what a difference FPU has made in the lives of strangers boosts my confidence in the program.  I haven't yet listened to the radio show and probably won't until we have watched all of the lessons on DVD.

In an effort to being more organized relative to money and bills, I have been trying to check our bank accounts online and balance the checkbook daily.  It only takes about 5 minutes and will save me time in the long run.  The kids and I worked on cleaning out the office and I focused on organizing the desk.  All incoming bills now have a little bin rather than just being tossed on the desk.

We're still trying to sell different things that we don't really need.  An extra patio set, a canoe, an air hockey table, etc.  There are a few things that we can't decide if we should try to sell or not.

Last night, JD and I watched the 5th FPU lesson, Credit Sharks in Suits.  It was very timely as I received an email from Bank of America with my newest statement as soon as we finished watching the lesson.  I was excited to look and see a balance due of $0.00.  We hadn't used it in about 6 weeks and had paid the balance in full earlier this month.  I was confused when I saw a balance of $15.90.  There weren't any new purchases, and we realize it was categorized as an interest charge.  We had paid the balance due in full, so we weren't sure why there would be an interest charge.  We called Bank of America and were surprised to get a real live person at about 11 p.m. on a Saturday night.  When I asked about the charge, the gal was extremely pleasant and immediately said she'd reverse the charge due to there being no new purchases, and she then went on to explain why the charge was there.  Since some of the previous month's charges were from a prior month, interest was still being added daily until payment was received.  I'm still a little confused as to how you can pay a balance off in full and still get charged, but I didn't question it since she did reverse it.  At the same time, we asked her to cancel the card.  Yay!

Next, we printed out free credit reports from www.annualcreditreport.com.  Federal law requires the three main credit reporting companies to provide a free credit report each year.  We each printed one out (you can get one every 4 months by choosing a different company each time) and looked through them.  We marked off all the things we needed to cancel, mostly store credit cards like Sears, Kohls, etc.  We are going to keep one credit card for now, but we have no plans to use it.

I will be calling to cancel all of the other cards this week; some are accounts with stores that I don't even shop at and have no idea what happened to the card (Pacific Sunwear?).  We'll also be looking at our budget plan for April and figuring out how to do the whole envelope system thing.  JD and I were talking to friends about FPU and I like how he described it to them as a challenge, something we're out to prove we can do.  Stay tuned.

A Glorious Weekend

Last year in March, several feet of snow fell here in Vermont.
This year, we're wearing shorts in March.

Saturday morning, my good friend and her babes came for a visit.  We don't see each other nearly enough and it was so nice to catch up.  I spent the rest of the day outside with the crew.  The kids had fun just being outside, and JD and I got a bunch of work done.

This afternoon, we packed up to go biking at a local state park on the shores of Lake Champlain.  We filled the bed of the truck with 4 bikes and 2 dogs and the backseat with 3 kids.  We got there and realized that everyone else in the county had the same idea.  The park isn't open yet, but about 20 cars were parked on the side of the road outside the gates.  JD ended up walking since he had to keep the dogs on their leashes due to the number of other canines around.

Back home, we enjoyed the weather for a few more hours before heading in for the night.

I still can't believe we were wearing shorts today.  I don't remember EVER wearing shorts in March.

Zeke wanted to take a picture of me.

 Quin wanted to no part of being in this picture.

 He insisted on jumping up and down for this one.

He is sick of riding.

Back home, he spent a couple of hours playing in this (free on the side of the road) little car.

The big kids played some b-ball.

ALS & My Dad

"ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) is possibly the most deadly disease many people have never heard of."

 -alsa.org  

ALS took another man from his family today.  A student at my school lost his grandfather.  His mom lost her dad.  I'm very familiar with ALS.  At 17, I wasn't.  I had heard of Lou Gehrig's Disease but only because of my interest in baseball and Lou Gehrig as a player.

I didn't know anything about the disease itself (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis).  When I was a freshman in college, I learned more than I wanted to know when I got the call from my mom in January that doctors suspected my dad may have the disease.  I was 17; my siblings were 19, 14, 9, and 4.  Dad had just turned 43.  The doctors still wanted to rule out a couple of things that may be causing my dad to lose muscle tone in his legs, but I had a gut feeling that it was ALS after reading about it on the Internet.  In April, a week before my birthday, Dad was diagnosed with ALS, a death sentence.

What is ALS?  Read here for the medical explanation.
Here are some more facts (taken from the ALS Association website):

• ALS is not contagious.

• It is estimated that ALS is responsible for nearly two deaths per hundred thousand population annually.

• Approximately 5,600 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with ALS each year. The incidence of ALS is two per 100,000 people, and it is estimated that as many as 30,000 Americans may have the disease at any given time.

• Although the life expectancy of an ALS patient averages about two to five years from the time of diagnosis, this disease is variable and many people live with quality for five years and more.  More than half of all patients live more than three years after diagnosis.

• About twenty percent of people with ALS live five years or more and up to ten percent will survive more than ten years and five percent will live 20 years. There are people in whom ALS has stopped progressing and a small number of people in whom the symptoms of ALS reversed.

• ALS occurs throughout the world with no racial, ethnic or socioeconomic boundaries.

• ALS can strike anyone.

• The onset of ALS is insidious with muscle weakness or stiffness as early symptoms. Progression of weakness, wasting and paralysis of the muscles of the limbs and trunk as well as those that control vital functions such as speech, swallowing and later breathing generally follows.

• There can be significant costs for medical care, equipment and home health care-giving later in the disease.  It is important to be knowledgeable about your health plan coverage and other programs for which your may be eligible.

My dad went from walking, to using a crutch, to two crutches, leg braces were added at some point, to a manual wheelchair when needed, to a power wheelchair.  Friends made our home accessible by building ramps to the main entrances and within the house.  We received a power lift recliner as a gift.  A track system was put in the house from the bedroom to bathroom.  My parents' bed was replaced with a hospital bed.  Hand controls were put in Dad's truck.  A van with a wheelchair lift was purchased.  And the list goes on.  I went back to college in Iowa for one more year after the diagnosis and then transferred to a state college to complete my degree.  Dad reached his goal of making it to his 25th wedding anniversary.  My dream of having him at my wedding came true when JD and I married when I was 20.  (The anniversary party and my wedding were just a week apart).

Through it all, Dad was strong.  He was positive and upbeat most of the time, even as he had to depend more and more on his family, friends, and caregivers for daily care.  He participated in a drug study, and while there is now a drug that is believed to slow down the progression of ALS slightly, there is no cure.  If you ever have the chance to give to the ALS Association, please do.  Help us find a cure.

On August 22, 2003, at the age of 47, my dad went to rest in the arms of his Heavenly Father.  He's in a better place with a new body.  A month earlier, we had found out we were expecting Ryley.  He never met any of his grandchildren.  We talk about him often, the kids know who he was, what he looked like, and like to visit the cemetery.  They know that they will get to meet him someday in Heaven. I'm thankful that JD knew him and we can share memories.  We started dating about 4 months after Dad's diagnosis, so he traveled most of the ALS journey with me.  The saying "It's better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all" is so true.  While I miss my dad greatly, I am thankful for the time I had with him and the love that he had for his family and the love and respect that we had for him.  He'll always be in our hearts.

Connor family, I'm thinking of you, and pray that God will bring you peace and comfort.

FPU Update #2

We managed to make a zero balance budget for April.  The idea is that you designate where each dollar will go as soon as you get it.  This is a little tricky if you have an irregular paycheck like JD does.  There is a pretty big difference between working 50 and 80 hours a week, so we have to guess at how much he'll be getting in each check.  We decided to base our budget on 50 hours, and anything "extra" will go towards property taxes until we have that amount stockpiled.  The budget thing is tricky because we keep thinking of extra things that we forgot to account for (like Ryleys piano lessons).  Also, our school auction is in April, and we like to support that by bidding on some things, so now we need to decide on a dollar amount that we can't go over.  I'm pretty sure that things won't be perfect the first month, but I'm expecting that we'll be pretty close to our target amounts in most areas.

We watched the 4th lesson, Dumping Debt, the other night.  It took a little work though because our DVD player decided not to work and the disc was stuck inside.  JD had to take the DVD player apart to get the disc out.  A new DVD player is not in the budget, so we'll be watching the rest on our computer.

We have completed Baby Step #1 which is to have $1000 put away in an Emergency Fund.  The Emergency Fund is not to be touched unless it absolutely needs to be.

Baby Step #2 is paying off all debt except the mortgage.  This will take us awhile.  Right now we have a car loan, a personal loan, and a HELOC (home equity line of credit).  We're going to be doing something called a Debt Snowball.  The Debt Snowball works by putting all of your debts in ascending order by total due (not by interest rates).  We're going to include Reagen's braces in our D.S. because, although it's not technically a loan, we are going to have payments for another 9 months.  The braces are at the top of our list, followed by the personal loan, the car loan, and the HELOC (we used this to build our garage, so sadly the garage isn't part of our mortgage).  We'll be making the normal payments on everything, and if we have extra money, it will go toward paying the braces off earlier (the extra payments won't start unless we have stockpiled all of our property tax money).  When the braces are paid off, the $115 payment will not disappear; instead it will be added to the personal loan to pay that off sooner.  It won't make much of a difference because the personal loan payments will be done a month or so later anyway.  Next will be the car loan.  The amounts for both the braces and the personal loan will be put towards the principal of the car loan, and if we did our math correctly, it will reduce the time paying off the car by about 12 months.  We will then put the monthly amounts that we were paying for the braces, personal loan, AND car all towards paying off the HELOC which will take a few more years.  We understand that things will probably come up that cause us to pause the Debt Snowball from time to time, but here's hoping they don't!

Weekend

We had a great weekend.

Ryley and Zeke went to their friends' house after school.  JD washed the van for me and then we decided to use a restaurant.com certificate we had for a local diner.  Quin was invited to join the big kids while JD and I ate out without kids.  So nice!  We picked up the kids, and Ry's friend came home with us to spend the night.  The kids went in the hot tub, but insisted on going in again in the morning when they woke up to a fresh blanket of snow.

On Saturday, Ryley, Quin, and I had to run some errands in Burlington (Zeke went to a chilifest with friends).  We hit Lowe's for a water filter and a couple of hooks, bought some groceries, and checked out Goodwill.  Goodwill makes me happy, especially when I can find what I need without looking too hard!  I was specifically looking for a pair of mud boots for Ryley and a bulletin board to hang in the laundry room.  I found both.  We also went to Tractor Supply to use up a $10 coupon JD had.  We bought all of our garden seeds for 22 cents!  Ry loved the baby chicks there and is trying to convince us to get some.  Anyone have a chicken coop to get rid of?  I think the best part of the trip was the Quin was happy everywhere we went.  When Finn is happy, we're all happy.

Sunday was definitely the highlight of the weekend for the kids.  We went to church and then drove down to Springfield, VT.  JD's friend Matt lives there with his family.  They recently built a horse barn with living quarters above it, and there is still some large piles of dirt and gravel and boulders.  Enter two little boys, Zeke and Dylan, and hours later we had two muddy messes.  I got to hold baby brother Kien while his mama gave Ryley a riding lesson.  She got to ride on her own for the first time ever and absolutely loved it.  Quin loved trying to keep up with the bigger boys, and eventually found a gravel pile that was just his size.  Matt was sugaring, so JD helped out a bit with that.  I had to convince everyone that we had to head home and they're already asking when we can go again.

 Ryley is getting to know Sybil.

Cute little Kien

Ryley is in love.

The boys

Quin liked taking away Kien's pacifier and then "plugging" it back in.

Horse barn/house

Quin's pile of rocks

FPU Update #1

JD and I both finished reading Financial Peace by Dave Ramsey.  We're both on board with most of his ideas for paying things off and saving money for the future.  I'll be updating on how we're doing with the plan.  If you aren't interested in our experience with achieving "Financial Peace,"  skip the FPU Updates!

• We've watched the first three DVD lessons of Financial Peace University.
• We're watching our spending in every area. Meal planning has helped with the grocery budget.
• We're going to make our first ever detailed zero budget this weekend for the month of April.
• We're selling stuff that we don't need!  I just sold a pack-n-play for $80 that I bought used before Quin was born, and  I bought a smaller used one that will meet our needs for $15.   
• We're planning for next year.  JD has a pretty good stack of wood drying in our lean-to for next winter.  Hopefully we won't have to buy wood!
• We have completely stopped using credit cards, but have not closed the accounts yet.

Part of the plan is to use envelopes for some categories of spending.  You put an amount of cash in each envelope monthly or biweekly, and when it's gone, it's gone.  We'll begin doing this in April with our budget.  I've seen some great fabric envelope systems on etsy, but the price isn't justifiable at this time, so I'm thinking about pulling out my antique Singer (which has been used for exactly one project since I was about 13) and making my own.

I love this picture because: 

A-I can't imagine JD dressed like this

B-I can't imagine him jumping for joy

C-I CAN imagine the thrill of being debt free!

Belated Birthday Post

Our first baby was due to arrive on February 19.  I was counting down the days.  I had gotten all of the baby gear months earlier; the crib and cradle had both been set up since Christmas.  The changing table drawers will filled with gender neutral clothing all washed in Dreft, folded neatly, and arranged by size.  I often doodled our chosen names on whatever scrap of paper was nearby.  We had no desire to know the baby's gender ahead of time, but anxiously awaited meeting the newest member of our family.  I was teaching at a nearby public school at the time, and the baby was due to arrive during our week-long February vacation.  I worked until the previous Friday and went home to await the signs of labor.  They never came.  The week went by, and there still was no baby.  I was finally induced 11 days after my due date.

We went into the hospital on a Monday  morning, and they started me on a pitocin drip at about 7 and told me I'd probably meet my baby later that evening.

Fast forward through everything that you don't want to know about....................

After a bit of a scare due to a drop in her heart rate, our baby girl was born at about noon.  She weighed about 7 and a half pounds (the exact details are written in a baby book somewhere) and had a full head of hair.  We were in love.  She was a very mellow baby, by far the easiest newborn of the three.  She did everything a little earlier than she was "supposed" to, and loved books and animals from an early age.

She still loves books and animals and can be adorable, but isn't always an easy child.  She is definitely strong-willed and extremely stubborn and we work to try to steer that "will" in the right direction.

At eight, she loves animals in this order:  horses, cats, bunnies, dogs.  Her favorite book series are: Thoroughbred, Saddle Club, Pony Pals, Animal Ark, Ramona, and Boxcar Children.  She also loves sports, especially basketball and soccer. 

Her birthday gifts were all well-loved and included:  an Amazon card for use on her Kindle, a horse play-set, books, a colorful stuffed horse, a bag made from recycled juice boxes, riding boots, a new softball glove, two pairs of horse pjs, her first riding breeches, and monetary gifts.

My attempt at making a horse cake.  

Ryley loved it!