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Jul. 25, 2008

Richie Was Attacked By.....A Cougar!?!?


Posted in Family

Today was the unofficial start of volleyball season.  A bunch of girls from JV and Varsity got together to play volleyball at a park.  It sounded like a chance for the girls to just get together and hang out.  But I knew better.  This was really a chance for the coaches to evaluate the girls before the real tryouts begin. 

Kalene had a good time.  She'll be trying out for Varsity this year and she was a little nervous moving up from JV.  But she quickly made friends with the other girls on the Varsity team.  So today was really just a preseason practice and get to know the coaches.

Since the park was quite a hike from our house, Richie and I stayed.  I read a book and he climbed trees and practiced with his weapons.  I think I have mentioned his obsession with weapons before.  When I noticed that there was a creek, I got Richie and we went to explore it. 

The first order of business was to find a way to cross this creek.  He could have just taken off his socks and shoes and walked across the little trickle.  But that is not nearly as adventurous as gathering up a bunch of sticks to make a dam and walk across the sticks. 

This is all due to the fact that grama allowed him to cross the Escanaba River last year.  Now he just has to cross any moving water he sees.  Let me just add here that this was barely even a creek in some spots.  The Escanaba River however is really a river.  A fast moving river that could have carried him away.

Grama, for the record you are still officially way cooler than I am now.  Allowing Richie to cross rivers and Kalene to drive definately puts you in the top spot ;-)

Oh, I want to add one more thing.  While Richie was playing in the creek barefoot a lady came by walking her black lab.  Richie didn't see it coming towards him.  When he did he freaked out and tried to run up the bank to get away from it.  The dog just wanted to play with him, it was alright. 

The funny part is the Richie told me later that he thought it was a cougar at first.


Jul. 23, 2008

Insurance


Posted in Frugality

After my last post I remembered something else that I need to get in order in the next couple of days.  I am going to make all of our family doctor appointments.  I already did the dentist for eveyone.  Next I think I will move on to the eye doctors and ten check-ups.  It is very important to take care of your family.  It is so much better to keep your family well with regular check-ups.

Rich and I have been talking about some of the ways we would like to take care of our family.  One of the things we would like to do is get life insurance for the both of us.  In the past we thought this was a silly idea.  But now I realize that it is a very responsible idea.  Although we hate to think of the idea of dying we know that it is ineviable. 

Life insurance is not all we have thought about.  There is also burial insurance which is so valuable.  We learned recently how expensive a burial is.  I wouldn't want to leave that burden on my family while they were already grieving. 

One last thing that we really need to look at is mortgage insurance.  This is not just a piece of paper but an investment in peace of mind.  How great it will be to know that with mortgage protection insurance my house wil be paid for in the event that there is still a mortgage on it.  I never knew this was a real option.

So there you have.  We have entered our thirties and see our need for financial responsibility in more than one way.


Jul. 23, 2008

Plans


Posted in Keeping the Home

We have been using this week to try and get our house in order and clean out all of our closets.  Unfortunately I haven't gotten as far as I would like to be by this time.  But I will not give up.  I will press on until it is all done. We were able to get rid of a lot of junk today to the garbage men.  So I am happy about that.

I'm not sure what it is, I just feel this need to get things organized.  I guess I know that once we start school again full time things will be a bit crazy around her.  Kalene should be starting soccer here in a couple of weeks.  And then we will be starting up with art and piano lessons.  Kalene will also be doing volleyball.  Richie does basketball and we are thinking about getting him involved in a martial arts clas, we just aren't which one yet.  And this doesn't include field trips or spontaneous stuff.

I'm not overwhelmed by it, in fact I am excied by it.  But I also know that having some kind of organization will go a long way to maintaining the sanity around here.

Next week I'll begin planning and getting ready for school.  I'll also spend some time organizing all of our household and business records. 


Jul. 22, 2008

Orderly Business


I know that I write a bit about my husbands business.  It has been quite an adventure to say the least.  Although Rich has made the decision to go back into the unionlast year, he still has not given up his business.  And since we have never shown a loss we can still keep it open.  I think his making the decision to go back to work for an employer was a very selfless one.  I know how difficult it must be to go back to being the emplyee after being the employer.  Kind of reminds me of what it must be like to have to move back home after being on your own for a while. 

Since Rich does still have his business, I believe that we should still look for things that will continue to help it grow.  I know that it is Rich's dream to be self employed permanantly.  I think God may be giving us this time to really get things in orderbefore we go back out there on our own again. 

We have learned how important it is to keep perfect records for a business.  It is also important to keep up on all of the record keeping or it will easily overwhelm you.

Project management software helps to keep track of each project from beginning to end which I think is perfect for someone like me. Timesheet Software  also helps you track any employees you have.  These are the kinds of tools a small contracting business needs to keep things running smoothly and efficiently.  This is one of those gems that will save me a ton of time and headaches from trying to organize it all on my own. 


Jul. 22, 2008

The Rundown


Posted in Random Thoughts

I finally bought myself a laptop last night!  I am so super excited ! I wrote all about it here.  I really got a great deal with a few freebies of course :-)  I used some coupon codes to get the freebies which I've listed there also.

Today I have to go back to the dentist because last week they found that I have 2 cavities in my back molars.  What?  I am so serious about taking care of my teeth that I couldn't believe it.  My kids of course think this is funny.  Mom brushes her teeth almost obssesively and still gets cavities.  I am not happy about this situation or the fact that it is going to cost us almost $150 to do them.  I guess this will teach me to not be quite so hard on my kids. 

I have spent the last couple of days trying to purge some of the stuff that has taken over our house.  It is amazing how it just seems to multiply and grow when noone is looking.  I am getting excited about the upcoming schoolyear.  This just feels like a season of new beginnings to me right now and I look forward to that.


Jul. 19, 2008

Mean Little Buggers


Posted in Random Thoughts

I live in Michigan where there are no known infestations of fire ants.  These painful stinging insects inhabit many of the United States including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.  They have also recently been found in Missour, New Mexico and Nevada.

I never knew about these ants before.  But I am glad to know about them now.  Seeing as how the insects can be relentless there is a chance that they will make their way into the Great Lakes State eventually.  So it is good to be informed. 

Especially if you live in one of the states mentioned.  Or even if you are planning on vacationing in one of those areas.  These ants bite in order to grab a hold of its victim before stinging with its tail end over and over again.  Doen't sound all that pleasant now does it?  I think if I ever go to one of the states mentioned I'll bring some fire ant insecticide.

Have you ever had any dealings with these mean little buggers?


Jul. 19, 2008

Super Saving Saturday


Posted in Random Thoughts

I am sorry if you have come here looking for my Super Saving Saturday post.  I have it posted at This Side of Eternity.

As it turns out I have a lot to say which is why I have more than one blog going now.  I am planning to post about the rest of my trip to Chicago.  Hopefully it will be up tonight.

I have begun to get those homeschool catelogs in the mail.  I wrote a bit about how in the past these have been extremely dangerous to me and my family.  Maybe you have found yourslf at the bottom of this slope where I spent my first couple of years homeschooling.  If you would like to read about it you can find it at Welcome To Our Homeschool Adventures.


Jul. 17, 2008

Financial Responsibility


Posted in Frugality

Well it has been about 6 months since I seriously began looking at how we use the money we have in our daily lives.  Doing this has caused us to begin to look at money in a whole new way.  One of the first things that we did was create for ourselves a budget.  And even more than that, we stuck to it.  It was no longer a dreadful thing to look at our bills each month.  Once we were able to pay off all of our credit debt that we had acquired it was actually an exciting time for us.  It is a lot more exciting to do your bills when you have the finances to do them with.  Our credit debt had taken over our financial lives and begun to put the strangle on us like a python.  So once it was finally gone it was like a refreshing breath of air for us. 

Now that we have finally gotten our bills in order and under control.  I think that it may be time to move on to the next step in financial responsibility.  Rich works for a union now that offers a pension that is really great.  But as we have seen in the news that last couple of years, you can't count on a company or union to be there necessarily when it comes time for you to retire.  So we are thinking that one of our next steps should be some type of retirement. 

We also have heard that it is a good idea to have an emergency savings account that is equal to six months of pay.  I am sure that this may seem like an impossibility to some people.  I know it did to us just six months ago.  But now we have started to put the money we would have spent on our credit bills into a savings account. 

lastly we are thinking that with Kalene getting closer and closer to entering college, we should be putting away money for that.  I know we should have thought of this a long time ago.  But we basically were very irresponsible financially.  We are not sure what kind of educational savings account we should choose. 

There is so much to think about.  We do we go next?  Maybe we will seek some advise from a financial advisor.  Have you ever used a financial advisor? 



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