Thursday Thirteen, because it’s been a while

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I haven’t done this meme in a long time. And after my negative post last night (which I am glad I password protected) I think I need to write something positive. Here are some things I am looking forward to:

1. Meeting my friend Cara for lunch at this great Mexican restaurant

2. Delivering my Avon orders and getting some cash!

3. Seeing my friend Faith tomorrow- shopping and eating at Chevy’s

4. Going out to breakfast with Jonathon tomorrow (he’s off work) and then maybe going to Grant’s Farm or the Magic House or something with both him and Bailey.

5. Picking up my stuff that I left for custom picture framing and hopefully having our bedroom more “decorated” looking.

6. Nothing at all planned for Sunday- relaxing, hopefully!

7. Getting our carpet cleaned next Tuesday. It really needs it. I had it scheduled for this week, but someone (ahem, Jonathon) didn’t get the downstairs cleaned.

8. In two weeks, I am taking my mom to a Stampin Up card making class for her birthday.

9. In September, we are going to Disney World!!! I have been reading these boards obsessively lately.

10. I also turn 28 in September. Not that I am excited about getting another year older, but I love celebrating my birthday. I hope I still love celebrating it when I am even older.

11. For lack of anything else in the reasonably near future… I am looking forward to Halloween! We already have Bailey’s costume, but I’m not going to tell you what she’s dressing up as. It’s cute, and surprisingly, it’s not super-girly. Just for fun, here’s a pic from last year when she was Tinkerbell.

12. I am signing Bailey up for a few Parents as Teachers classes this fall. One of them is an eight week motor skills type class. We are also doing some singing and another gym class. (If you aren’t enrolled in PAT and you have a child under three, call your school district. It’s a great program. If you are in Missouri, I guarantee they have it because they get state funding and it’s a mandatory program. We have parent educator visits at our house every three months, but they also have lots of free one-time classes and fairly inexpensive multi-week classes.

13. Cooler weather? It’s been in the 90s here and I have been avoiding outside. Yuck.

North Carolina and Other Places

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I have a good friend from college who lives in North Carolina right now. She originally got a job and lived in Southport, I think, and she might still work for a radio station there. I came across a Coldwell Banker site advertising Wilmington real estate and it made me think of her. Which made me think of an old roommate I have, who works for a tv station in Wichita, producing the 10 o’clock news… okay so that was the first link I could find for her but anyway… Which made me think of another roommate I had who is here in STL and has a successful public relations career. Which made me think of another friend I have who lives in Virginia now and works for a non-profit organization, and loves her job (most of the time). I wonder what career I will end up with. I have a feeling that going back to school for a different degree might be in my future, once my kids are in school. I’m not jealous of the success, I just wonder when I will find what I want to do.

Yes, we really ARE going

Filed Under Frugal, Future, Travel | 8 Comments

To Disney World. This fall. Without Bailey. I know, I know… who goes to Disney World without their kids? A mom and dad who need a break, that’s who! I love Disney World and haven’t been in years. Jonathon has only been for a day or two while passing through Florida from Haiti. We always do beach vacations but we were having a dilemma of where to go, since the Caribbean area has hurricane issues in the fall and Mexico is so hot that time of year. I know Florida might be rainy but typically in September it rains for about an hour a day, from what I remember from our vacations. Plus that is a less expensive time for Disney, and it’s less crowded because the kids are back in school!

Bailey will stay with my parents, at our house and she will love the time with them. Plus, toting a 17 month old around a theme park is not my idea of fun. We’d have to go back to the room every day for her nap, and she couldn’t do any rides yet. And lines? She’d lose it in line for a ride!

I am not going to disclose the details like our hotel name until we get back- but I will say that we did an “all-inclusive” vacation package. Airfare, transportation to/from airport and also from our resort to all the Disney parks, a six day Magic Kingdom (and Epcot and Universal) pass, and a Disney dining plan where we get two meals (one table service and one quick serve) and a snack each day, for each of us! The meal plan was free with the current special package. And we are in a Disney resort, so even though I have never been to this particular one, I know it will be well done and an enjoyable stay. Also, we got this all for an amazing price. I love finding vacation deals!

House for Sale

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Not ours! My childhood best friend’s old house is now for sale. The one we grew up playing in all the time. So many memories there… This is the house where we went “tanning” on the roof. We played Nintendo for hours until we beat Zelda, sitting on her brother’s top bunk and looking down at the tv. We got locked outside and climbed in through the kitchen window more than once. We jumped off the deck onto the trampoline. It was just the house where we always hung out. She hasn’t lived there since 8th grade when they moved about a half hour away, but when we went to stop by a friend’s house last week we drove past and I saw that it was for sale. I looked at the listing and it looks amazing. And, get this- it’s a SIX BEDROOM house. How cool would that be. We could sell our house now and pretty much trade even, price-wise. It also has all new cabinets, countertops, hardwood, etc. Living room, family room, eat in kitchen, formal dining room, finished lower level with rec room and big storage room…

If I thought we could sell right now we seriously might be interested. I would just be afraid our house wouldn’t sell. We started looking at online mortgage stuff and it looks like we could get even a lower interest rate than what we have now. (Just under 6%). Gah, I know it’s not realistic but it’s fun to dream. I should be content with this house for now. Why is it that we are always wanting the next, bigger, better thing?

Jonathon is my Alexander Graham Bell guy

Filed Under Daddy, Future, Money, Random | 1 Comment

My husband daydreams about being an inventor. He is always having these *big* ideas. Some of them are really good, and others are really weird. (No offense, honey) but like the air-conditioned suit? Now we actually know someone who has made an invention. It’s some type of glue stuff that goes over ink. Jonathon probably knows more about it than I do because he has talked to the guy about “inventions.” Anyway, I like to indulge his fantasy about being an inventor but I also would love to see his dreams become reality. And of course I wouldn’t mind being rich, either.

In order to do any type of invention thing, we’d have to have some extra cash, though, which we don’t have. He told me he wanted to take a year off work but I told him that probably wasn’t a good idea since he is our only income. Am I a horrible wife for crushing his dreams? Anyway, I guess there is always the possibility of getting some type of loan if he does have a good idea that he wants to work on. I don’t know that I would want to do a home equity line of credit, because then I think it restricts how long you have to stay in your house and stuff like that.

I found a website for AmericanOneUnsecured.com and they have unsecured Lines of Credit, which are basically loans that you don’t have to put up collateral for, as far as I understand. I don’t know if there are any other loopholes or gotchas for that kind of loan, but it sounds more like what we would be looking for. This company offers a free consultation, and the approval depends on your credit standing.

I guess this is always something we can talk about in the future. Right now I am looking forward to getting our tax return (we just filed) and hopefully our government $1500 this spring before we do anything else!

Rejoining the work force

Filed Under Being a Mom, Future, Thoughts | 2 Comments

Sometimes I think about it. Daydream about it- you know, like the grass is always greener on the other side. The other day, I was sitting at a table with my friend Jen, and she was talking to someone about masters programs and their jobs/career field. Sometimes I want that. I don’t want to leave my baby, but I feel like I am ONLY a wife and a mom sometimes. That should be enough, and most days it is. It’s just nice to know that sometime in the future, there will be an identity outside of that again. I will most likely go back to work once the kids are all in school. I would like to either finish my masters program (Speech Comm) or get a different degree. One that keeps entering my mind is social work, because that would open a lot more doors to the type of non-profit work I want to do. My current degree is in Public Relations. I’m sure by that point I will have to learn new human resources software and all kinds of other stuff. I might even finally have to start using Raiser’s Edge!

This probably sounds dorky but I have always somewhat enjoyed school/classes and it came fairly easily to me- so I wouldn’t mind going back again. Someday waaaaay down the road