Day 8 - Laptop

I am a computer type of gal...well sort of! Who would have thought that. I also love, love, love having the internet at my fingertips. Literally, I have it on my phone, we have wi-fi in our house allowing me to take my laptop with me anywhere and be connected. I do love it and when I am somewhere I cannot/do not have this easy access I can get/be a bit c.r.a.n.k.y. This is the case when we travel and when we visit family. Crazy I know but it's true.

My laptop with me in bed on a recent lazy morning :)

Being in MO with family is killer as there is NO internet at my parents. We have a few wi-fi options but you have to "drive to town" so to speak, thank goodness for Mickey D's, and Hardee's! LOL Anyway, I enjoy internet, what did we do before that? I remember when we first got internet. We really didn't Twin #2 did. He was living with us at the time and he wanted to get it and see what it was all about. I really didn't think it was all that great. It wasn't until we moved to COS that I fully got the whole internet thing. I loved it, I used it and I truly cannot imagine life without it. We were dial up f.o.r.e.v.e.r. In fact it wasn't until we lived in Italy that we had the high-speed stuff! Then when we came back to the states we stuck with that. It's amazing stuff.

If I were getting to be really extravagant and all I would be sportin' an Apple iPad...but since I'm not I am happy to use my trusty little ole HP, she's working fine. Now that's not to say that I won't upgrade someday, but for now I'm good with what I got! 

Hmmm, guess this is more about internet then laptop but it's really my laptop that I use the internet on the most so it works. I have no idea the statistics but in my world most ordinary people I know have internet. Most people I know even have it on their phone. I know we are not feeling like it is truly a necessity but I certainly feel that I would choose to have it over something else. Like for us we like internet better then cable, therefore, we do not have cable we have internet. It's  choices...most of life is! That's definitely a look at my ordinary life!

Check here if you are clueless of the Day+# thing...

Thursday Thoughts!

Hmmm, this week has been a wee bit down for me, I think it has to do with LilBlue having a birthday. And thinking about MiB taking off for a 3 weekish trip and finally scheduling my long overdue dentist appointment for a checkup and cleaning Yeah, that's my exciting life! LOL

The weather here has been unbelievable, it was over 70* this week and now it had dropped to cold temps again. It's those cold days that I wear my Uggs even in the house! When we first got here I thought they would probably just stay in their box, I am pleasantly surprised they are getting use!

I have had made the time to work on my scrapping lately and it has been AWESOME, I have completed the 1999-2010 years in the new CM books. I will be starting 2011 in the even newer 12x12 format. However, I still have to finish my Vegas trip mini album, do the two Hawaii mini albums and finish MiB CMSgt Promo mini album and I want to get those done first before I tackle 2011.I also plan to do a couple projects digitally. After I see how that goes I am contemplating switching to digital for this year...it's a tough choice and I'm not totally sure I will like switching, but I am giving it a go. I will do a small project to see how I like it first. I love that I have been able to play with our pictures again, it has been too long! I am also planning to get our early year albums into better albums. That will be a huge undertaking and I will be getting the replacement albums at Hobby Lobby as funds and sales coincide to complete this huge task! That is not to mention I need a sale on the pages and protectors so I can procure the new 12x12 size supplies since I have none. Did I mention I am trying to SAVE money...yeah, well, I am, it's new year's plan and so is getting the scrapbook albums done so I guess those two sort of work against each other, hmmmmm.

I also have a couple sewing projects  I would like to work on/complete. I am waiting til after this weekend then I am getting out LilBlue's sewing machine to tackle those. I am setting it up on the dining room table and I anticipate it could be there a few days, okay weeks, as I snatch moments of time to work on the the projects I have. I'm so glad she let me bring it down to play with :) Love you LilBlue!

Thoughts:

• Spring Break - what to do, what to do??
• Couple more "home" days would be nice...
• My ice dispenser  in the door is still not fixed!
• I need a haircut or at the very least my bangs trimmed!
• Neighborhood progressive dinner this weekend, oh yeah :)

Thursday Thoughts...

Another week is nearly in the books, hard to believe. It's been such a full week and I will be ready for the weekend for sure. I do wish we were able to have pulled off the road trip we had tentatively planned but maybe next time. It's still all good.

Thursdays have quickly become my near favorite day of the week. I enjoy my time at the Attic. It's such fun to interact with the young ones . Today has a bit more then just the Attic since I will also be going to a MLK event this morning and then this afternoon there is a Shirt retirement. Good stuff!

I may stop in the commissary on my way home, but hopefully not! I'm trying to avoid all shopping, using what we have in the pantry and already own. This is not a new concept to me, but one I sort of got a way from and I want to get back to it. I want to really ask myself do I need it or do I want it. This is not really in regards to my food shopping, but more for our other buying. However, with the food shopping I want to ask myself is it good for me or do I just want it. I am still on that quest of ridding myself of those #'s so thought this mindset might help. We'll see.

Anyway, on to thoughts!

• Do I need that?
• Do I really want that?
• I don't like shopping anyway...
• Weekend plans will be low key!

Food for CHRISTmas thought...

I recently ran across THIS blog...I think it is a MOST worthy read.

However, you may need to put on your big girl or boy pants as it might make you bristle. As for me I didn't  have any issues with it, after all, we were and still are some of those people who just don't and never have really BOUGHT into the materialistic side of CHRISTMAS.

In fact our kid is one of those who did not have the Santa experience and so far she has not been in therapy for it and we feel she is going to turn out all right! We told her he was just a fat silly Christmas clown. She also gets three gifts and she knows why.

We try to keep the main focus on the real thing. Just our way, it's not for everyone, we know it and we are okay with those who hold to other beliefs. But I still felt like sharing.

So I did, again, my blog, my thoughts...

MONEY

I guess it never hit me so hard how many people focus on money...yeah, I know, it's part of everyday life but I don't give it much thought. It's a necessity and all but I see it as part of the big picture not the picture, ya know??

So anyway I have many thoughts on and about money but it's not a topic of conversation for me, usually, but lately it's been in the topics of conversations I have been on the fringe of...I am just going to tell you right now we are a one income family BY CHOICE, we are not in debt, we buy cars without a payment plan, we have retirement accounts, we do not live paycheck to paycheck, we tithe, we save and we are by no means destitute but we are not what I would consider wealthy. I like to think we do all right. How much we make is no secret, it is readily available published information, my husband is in the military and that's just how that works. We have always tried to live within our means, we budget, we save, we do without, we have had PBJ months so that we can do other things, it's never been a problem, I think we managed well. 

Anyway, I am hearing about people who are struggling, who are losing their homes, who are losing their cars...I'm blown away by the number of folks who are walking away from "things" they cannot afford that I consider basic necessities (homes). They don't even look back...there are a couple things I "notice" about the ones sharing this...

WARNING: THESE NEXT FEW STATEMENTS COULD BE CONSIDERED JUDGMENTAL...continue reading at your own risk.

So you are losing your house and you still have a state of the art cell phone...yeah, okay.
You are letting your house go back and you have acrylic/gel nails and you just had a pedicure...
You are going to walk away from a home that was too expensive to begin with...
Your house is being foreclosed on and you just spent $400.00 on a COACH bag...

Are you getting the picture? It's crystal clear to me and yet the ones in this situation seem to want sympathy...no, I don't think so. I'm old school, I think you tighten your belt and take care of your business. Give up some of your "necessities" to take care of the real bills, get rid of extras to take care of basics.

It was only nearly three years ago that we have switched from prepaid (read that TRACFONE) cell phones to contract phones and that was only due to some unique aspects and giving up the landline that we decided to do that. We do not and have not had cable TV since we have been married with the exception of our stint in COS, CO when we lived at the base of the mountains and could not get rabbit ear reception. We had dial up internet until we lived in Italy and only DSL was available. We don't eat steak at home and rarely out either, we drive new to us cars and we pay cash for them. I am not bragging here, I am telling you that this is how we roll, we don't buy it if we can't afford it, we don't have the latest gadgets nor do we long for them. Living is not about having stuff and having stuff is not living in our world. We are pleased with our life, it works for us. 

Find out what works for you and start making changes to have more money then month, to be free to help others, to find happiness not in a dollar figure. I think everyone has dreams, I do, I dream of a simpler life with less. I want less stuff, less distraction, less busyness and the sad thing is I already have less of each of these things if you compare me to someone else in my socioeconomic situation and that is scary! 

When MiB retires we are considering lots of options, one of those is a nomadic lifestyle. Sounds nuts and somewhat off the wall but if you know us very well that's not so hard to picture us doing it and I think we could do it, seriously! We have a while to decide but with careful planning and not having the debt monster eating at our heels and if we really think it's what we are supposed to do we know it's possible.

I hope if you have financial issues you are taking an active role in figuring ways to solve them, that you are seeking guidance and making a way to get into a better place. I like this guy and I think he gives solid advice if you are needing/wanting some direction.

My personal favorites on being better with your money are 

• Have goals! 
• Live below your means...always!
• Save and pay cash, it's very rewarding!!!!
• FREE is good, do free things and be happy about it!
• Eat meatless one or more nights per week (or try the vegetarian lifestyle)
• Shop as a necessity not for recreation; don't shop with friends, you spend more!

You can make it work, don't give up, tomorrow is a new day and everyday can be a fresh start, aim for better, try never to do worse!

Another good read and I try to get this into the hands of young people is The Wealthy Barber. It's a really, solid easy to understand book. I snag copies on ebay and half.com fairly cheaply and have also picked it up in used bookshops. MiB keeps copies in his office to hand, sometimes the copies come back sometimes they don't. It's a good read!

You know you can do it...so save some bucks, pay cash, live large with little it's an amazing thing to do and feel! I know we are truly blessed, we have abundantly more then we need, we are wealthy beyond understanding; it's a contentment that we found not in the monetary system of our society but in an eternity system within our beliefs. God is good and he is the source of our true wealth and everlasting life that he freely gave to us and we accepted it. Wow, what more could one really ask for?