Monday, October 1, 2007

September Happenings


School's back in session and so begins another nine months without my girls. 11th grade sees Missy swamped daily with homework from the following classes:
Beg. Spanish
11th gr. English
Chemistry
AP US History
Geometry
and...
Floral Design (it's always nice to have a fluff class that's creative)

Tori's 8th grade experience thus far has been wonderful. She finally has teachers that care and have high expectations. Her teachers actually expect her to read daily. WHAT A CONCEPT!!! I'm anxious to see how far she's progressed by December.

Missy had her 17th birthday. It's hard for me to believe that she will be leaving in 1.5 years. It's too soon! She was just a baby with beautiful curls a few years ago. She still walks on her toes! I'm so sad and so proud.

Don and Missy went to FaithQuest. We went camping. Tori's playing soccer. Rupert and I are walking. Don's been riding his bike all summer to save gas money.

Budgeting is going well. It was so cool! We budgeted $100 for August and $100 for September for the girls birthdays. We actually had money to buy gifts rather trying to come up with the money last minute. It was awesome! This budget-stuff really works.

Until next time...
Di

Friday, September 28, 2007

I Swore I Was Done With 'Em!

It was weird filling out a credit card application today. I swore I'd never do it again. But I just couldn't talk Sears into lowering their 24% interest rate (and I've tried numerous times). I went to my credit union, filled out an application and four hours later I was approved! Should have the account activated next week and then do the balance transfer. Get this... 9.9% interest! Our monthly payment goes up by $30 but it's so worth it (and it'll be paid off that much sooner). BUT... as soon as those cards come in the mail, I think we'll start up the wood-burning stove for the first time. Hasta La Vista, Baby!

Until next time...
Di

Summer Catch-Up

Wow what a summer! As usual, the girls kept us busy carting them around the country. Missy went to Portland to church camp in June with some of her friends. This camp is amazing! What a great place for teens to spend a week and grow spiritually. Tori went to the same camp in July with her friends. Missy went too as the babysitter. July was the month Don and I lost focus on our finances/budget. What did we do? We got back on the band wagon. My birthday got lost in the middle of all this so we never celebrated it as a family. I didn't even notice 'til now. Although Don did buy me my first MP3 player. I downloaded lots of Dave Ramsey's radio shows for my "listening pleasure" during our mission trip. In August, we went on a family mission trip to Tuba City, Arizona. There, at the Navajo Indian reservation, we served families by roofing three mobile homes, built a storage shed, gathered four trailer loads of wood (many families have no electricity and warm their homes with wood), and cleaned the grounds of the church. Trips to Sonic were always looked forward to. Each night after dinner, we headed off to some gorgeous sight to see. If you're ever in the area, you've got to stop at Newspaper Rock. The Indians would go get salt and stop at this spot where they'd find messages carved into the rocks from others giving the latest news. Our last day before leaving was a trip to the Grand Canyon. This is a "must see" for all. It's breath-taking! It's amazing! Pictures just don't do it justice. I did discover my need to have my own vehicle. I've never felt so confined. Next year our suburban goes with us! Missy started working at Larry's Drive-In Chicken. She's so thrilled to be making money again. Tori turned 14 this summer. Wow! My baby is now 14 years old. It just doesn't seem possible. I can still see her waking from a nap with serious bed hair, grumpy face, and eyebrows furrowed.

And now... school begins again. After homeschooling the girls for so many years, it gets kinda lonely around here when they're gone. Last year I went through an early "empty nest syndrome." It was a depression I don't want to go through again. This year, being used to the routine, it's not as bad. I still miss them a lot but I don't cry every day. Now I'm just trying to figure out what I wanna do when I grow up!

Until next time...
Di

Friday, June 15, 2007

It's not in the budget! Dave Ramsey says...


We use to eat pizza AT LEAST once a week UNTIL... Dave Ramsey entered our life. I've never understood this budgeting thing. In fact, Don's cousin TRIED to help me 16 years ago but I just didn't get it. I GET IT NOW!!! We've been budgeting and using envelopes for 2.5 months and feel such freedom. We currently put $30 in the Restaurant envelope every 2 weeks and have enjoyed blowing it all in one place, Starbucks, numerous other places, or not using it all. Well, one place we haven't eaten since starting Dave Ramsey (see daveramsey.com) is Papa Murphy's Pizza. Last night was the night and pizza has never tasted so good! In fact their special was a taco pizza and we hadn't heard about it so, of course, we had to try it. But oh, the calories! Pizza tastes so much better now that I KNOW we have the money. Check Dave out... he'll change your life... if you let him.

Until next time,
Di

Sunday, June 3, 2007

In Transition


This is me. My name is Dianna. I am a scrapbooker. I started years ago and have never stopped... until recently. I am also a homeschooler... or at least I used to be. I'd say my life is currently in transition. The scrapbook store I used to work at once a week closed due to mismanagement. I have scrapped very little in the last year. As to homeschooling, well....... my girls are in school this year. I've cried a lot about both of these events. They were life-changing for me. I miss my job and I miss my girls. So I guess I'm starting this blog to try to figure out where I should go next. I'm getting some hints which I will probably talk about later. This "blogging" thing is new to me so I will probably fumble. Bare with me. My immediate goal is to write something at least once a week. Hopefully there will be a picture, too. Pictures always help me to connect with what I'm reading. It is my hope that through these musings, I will discover where next my life is being directed by God. After all, He is the writer, director, and producer of my life.

Until we meet next,
Di