It's the end of the month and we're penny pinching!

Back in January, I read Dave Ramsy's Total Money Makeover. It was very motivating and after reading it, we decided to stop paying for things with cards and to only use cash. At the beginning of each month, we pull out a set amount of money and once it's gone, it's gone! We have saved a ton. Our spending each month has been very similar: At the beginning of the month, we splurge and spend a good one hundred bucks at Sams Club or Costco. During the middle weeks, we do a pretty good job at sticking to our budget. But by the last week, we are scrimping and saving! I find myself digging into the very depths of our cupboards and getting very creative about what we eat. (And creative does not mean tasty!) 


We're finally at the end of the month and we're out of cash until Monday. We are just fine except... Pizza Hut!!! Last night we both had an insane and desperate craving for Pizza Hut pizza. Now, Pizza Hut is great because it is so disgustingly good and greasy that after eating, I swear I will never eat another slice of pizza in my life! (The last time we had Pizza Hut was the night I went into labor with Jack - yuck!) It satisfies our pizza craving for a long time so in the grand scheme of things, we think Pizza Hut probably saves us calories and money. But back to money - we are out! And we weren't about to cave and use our debit card. But then I had an idea...surely our jar of change in our bedroom could add up to 10 bucks?!...


Turns out, it added up to $56 bucks!! We spend a good 45 minutes counting our change like 8-year-olds, found two free Aggie Ice Cream tokens at the bottom of the jar (score!), paid for our pizza with 42 quarters, 2 dimes, 1 nickel, and 1 penny (the pizza guy loved me), and celebrated the approaching end of the month and our new found last-week-of-the-month-craving-fund with some greasy pizza and Aggie ice cream! 

P.S. What do you do to save money?




P.P.S. My baby is almost rolling over!

Carpeted kitchens and brain explosions

Today was one of those days where I really badly wished that I had anything but carpet in my kitchen. Anything!

I was shaking my protein shake in a hurry to drop Spencer off at school and pick up Jack's prescription when the lid popped off and that protein shake exploded all over my body and clothes and hair! And all over our orange carpet, and all over the counters and cabinets and into the two open drawers. I laughed for two seconds with Spencer but then somehow that small little protein shake explosion triggered a much larger explosion in my brain. Because I now had to clean up the mess and get in the shower and throw my clothes in the wash. And then I needed to do the dishes and clean our disaster house and speaking of house, I needed to find housing in Alabama and find out when and how we are going to move and OH MY GOSH we are moving in a little over a month!!! And I need to sell stuff and start packing stuff and find new health insurance and what if we can't find jobs in Birmingham?! And what if Spencer's tuition is more expensive than we thought?! And what if we can't actually afford this?! And OH MY GOSH we are moving in a little over a month!!!

Spencer never knows what to do when my brain explosions trigger. Most of the time, he awkwardly and hesitantly pats me on the arm or on the back and says, "Are you okay?" Um, does it look like I'm okay?! And how are YOU okay?! Why aren't YOU stressed out?! This time, he avoided that question for a while and just kindly asked, "Do you need a hug?" To which I quickly responded, "No!! I need you to do the dishes and clean our disaster house and speaking of house, I need you to find housing in Alabama...." And my brain exploded all over again.

I dropped Spencer off and as I drove to Walmart's pharmacy, my scattered brain continued to be scattered. Because here's the thing: I am all for adventures. I just need adventures with a plan. I like knowing the who/what/when/where/how of adventures. But sometimes marriage and motherhood make adventures a little more tricky and a little more out of my control.

I took a deep breath, said a little prayer, then felt that familiar quiet voice:


Since when has your plan and your timing ever worked out? Haven't you learned by now that My plan for you is so much better than your plan for you?


I picked up Spencer from school and once he realized that I had come out of my funk, he told me that even if we were on an all-inclusive relaxing cruise, I would find something to stress out about. I agreed with him.

Tonight, I dropped a bottle of sesame oil that shattered onto the kitchen carpet. I took a deep breath and sopped that oil the best I could out of that darn orange carpet.

And that was the last explosion of the night. 

Cabbage and stuff

We got a cabbage in our bountiful basket last week. We don't care much for cabbage. However, I decided to be healthy and less wasteful so after a tiny tiny bit of research on the internet, I added some cabbage to my protein shake. You know, a green smoothie? It was so gross. Do people honestly like green smoothies? Can you actually make those things taste good? Did I use the wrong vegetable? Any green smoothie drinkers out there?!...

I guess the answers to my questions don't really matter. I never plan to mix vegetables in my smoothies ever again.

Yuck.

Since everyone else is talking about it...

Oh, The Hunger Games! Our Hunger Games plans fell through. I was so sad last night when I was feeding Jack and reading everyone's rub-it-in-my-face facebook status about seeing it. We were just about to start our regular Friday night routine since having Jack (bath, bedtime, Shark Tank and popcorn, then bed around 10 or 10:30), when I  issued my last desperate Hunger Games cry for help on facebook: Anybody wanna come watch Jack so we can go to the the Hunger Games tonight?! He'll sleep the whole time!!!...?  And then miraculously, my dear friend responded within a minute!!! So at 6:45, I found myself frantically driving around Logan from theatre to theatre trying to find a showing that was not sold out. Three theatres later, I got our tickets from the old run down theatre at the end of town and the rest is history. We had an amazingly wild and crazy night at the Hunger Games, weren't home until 12:45, and we felt lively and young and spontaneous (at 12:45!!!) and it was just so fun. 


Have you read this Hunger Games/Twilight comparison? Oh, it's funny.

The Thursday after

We went to Arizona over spring break and it was wonderful. We spent time with my family, visited friends, shopped at Target and Last Chance got $600 worth of Nordstrom apparel for $80!!!, took a trip to the zoo, played racquetball and ping pong and softball, etch-a-sketched clearly that was just Spencer, went for lots of walks and runs, and loved every bit of Arizona's weather. More than once Spencer told me he could picture us eventually living there. And that's how Arizona gets you. It tricks you with perfectly amazing sunny weather in March, makes you fall in love with it and move there, and then hot April, May, June, and scorching July and August happen, and then you hate Arizona almost as much as you hate Logan in February.

We also ate a lot of food. A. Lot. Because, it's not everyday I'm in Gilbert. I have to satisfy all of those Gilbert cravings all in just one week and it's quite the chore I tell you! We filled up on Joe's BBQ, Gecko's Shrimp Mango Quesidillas in Queen Creek!, Bahama Bucks, Flancer's BLTs, my Dad's homemade brownies, and took many trips to get Bobas. I think I gained five pounds in that week and it was totally worth it.

Aaaand the picture overload.

We came home to snow the next day. Oh, Logan.


On the bright side, the weather is beautiful today!

Did ya hear?!

We are moving to freakin' Birmingham, Alabama!! Spencer got accepted to the dual MBA/MHA program at UAB. I never thought in a million years that I would live in the south but I am thrilled beyond words that we have a little more direction in our life.

Today, we found out that we will most likely be moving at the beginning of May, which is earlier than we originally anticipated. We looked at the cost of moving, and did you know that those darn Uhauls are so darn expensive?! So expensive that I am pretty sure that our stuff's value is less than the cost of that darn Uhaul. We may just sell or leave what we can't fit into our car.

My text message conversation with Spencer this afternoon went as follows:

Spencer: What are you stressing about? There is nothing stressful in our life!

Me: I'm stressing about how and when we are going to move and then I remember how we haven't found an apartment yet and then I think about how our savings is draining and how I need to find a job and then I realized I should start packing for Arizona and then it circles around again. There's too much in my head and speaking of head, it hurts from singing high pitched songs to Jack.

Spencer: That hurts my head just following that!

So if ya'lls know how to git from Utah to Alabama for cheap but without hitchhiking, suggestions would be appreciated! 

Can I end this post with an unrelated picture?! K, Thanks.