6:47 ~ I finally open my eyes after lying in bed awake for several minutes, mentally running through my day and waking with silent prayer.  I shuffle toward the bathroom, careful to stick close to the wall, avoiding the (loud) creaky parts of the hardwood hallway.

7:07 ~ The children have been roused, and my Little Buddy is requesting his Mama.  Let the day begin!  (And hopefully the day’s not as grumpy as he looks!)

If the rest of my day was as productive as the first hour, we’d be in business!  From 7:07 until 8:00, I got breakfast for the kids, helped the preschooler pick clothes and do hair for school, switched laundry, sent everyone off to school, and ran through email.

Fried egg and a heart-shaped cinnamon roll were “what’s for breakfast,” except for the 6yo, who chose oatmeal with raisins.  Crazy kid. 

8:20 ~ Finally time for my breakfast.  Leftover spinach oven omelet and a caramel pecan cinnamon roll.  I generally eat breakfast all by myself, scrolling through social media, as long as there isn’t a monkey climbing on my lap, begging for bites.

Today the monkey kept busy listening to his “songs” and destroying the living room.

10:00 ~ After switching laundry again, we did our 30 Day Shred.  I’m not even allowed to exercise alone, but it’s all good.

Excuse the blur.  It’s a little difficult to take a photo while doing crunches and getting “kssssss”-ed.

Once Jillian kicked my tail, I stopped in the kitchen to pull the cork on my cold-brewed coffee.  We are total coffee novices, but the Toddy T2N Cold Brew System makes some good concentrate coffee for my homemade frappés and iced coffee.

After getting the coffee draining, we headed downstairs to switch laundry again.  So glad I have “help” with nearly all my chores.  Someday, his wife will be glad, too!

He pulls the clothes out of the dryer into the basket while I sort dirty laundry or get a wash load started.

11:00 ~ I finally get the little guy dressed, and my face on so we’ll be ready to take sister to preschool later and surprise daddy with a drink.

11:20  ~ Daddy surprised us first, by sneaking home for a few minutes before his lunch duty!

11:30 ~ We go get sister from her Tuesday/Thursday morning school across the street, and the two littles eat a quick lunch while I make daddy’s homemade frappé (with plenty left for me!)

11:50 ~ We shuffle sister to her afternoon school (it sounds like she’s in school all the time, but it really amounts to only 3 “full” days each week) and surprise daddy with his drink.

Yes, I use and reuse an old Starbucks cup.  Maybe it feels more real that way?  Dunno, but we like the domed lids.

12:00 ~ Naptime.  Finally.  I sit down with some lunch, my own frappe, and the laptop and settle in for my MSM work and my own blogging.

1:00 Up from nap?!  Already?!  Ugh.  Looks like Plan B today, which does not include the 2-3 hour nap or blogging, but does include lots and lots of books.  (Ironically, as I type this on Monday, he’s been sleeping for 3 hours and 4 minutes…)

I’m not exactly sure what we did from then until 3:25, when the kids get home from school, but I’m sure it involved lots of books and lots of Silly Songs from the Cedarmont Kids.  And some cheated laptop time, I’m sure. 

4:00 ~ Kids are playing outside, and I tackle the kitchen.  Dishes are washed; who wants to put ‘em away?!

After finishing the dishes, I scrub a whole lotta potatoes.

When I bake potatoes, I prefer to do a bunch at once.  This will give us supper and homemade hashbrowns for tomorrow’s breakfast!  (Yes, I know I could microwave them, and I’ve done it in a pinch, but the texture is ~ to my tastebuds ~ inferior.  I prefer baked.)

5:30 ~ All 4 children come inside, hungry and tired, and I brace myself for a long evening without my husband, because he has an away game.  I get the kids fed (baked potatoes and smoothies — we go gourmet when daddy’s gone!) and house straightened up.  It’s all a blur until about 7:00 when they put their jammies on, brush their teeth, and head to bed at about 7:30.

Right.  No photos.  Whoops!

Once the kids are in bed I settle in with the laptop for a couple hours, intending to go to bed myself by 9:30 or so.  I’m a slow learner, and the clock ticks away until the next thing I know, my husband walks in the door at nearly 10:00.  Me?  I’m still on the computer browsing Azure and doing “research”.  Uh-huh.  That’s it.  Geez. 

After chatting about the game and what he missed here, I head in for my bath and then to bed an hour later than I should.

Nothing exciting, and true to form I lost much of my productivity mojo in the afternoon and evening, but that’s my day!

~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m linking up with Rebekah’s A Day in the Life of… where I’m certain that I didn’t follow the rules.   You should join us!

A Day in the Life – February 2 is a post from: The Finer Things in Life

Thank you for subscribing to The Finer Things in Life! Click here to get your New Year's Time Capsule Survey for Kids

• pork loin, cavatini, corn, mozzarella bread
• veggie tray
• 7-layer dip tex-mex dip
• Ro*Tel dip
• bacon-wrapped jalapenos
• monster cookies
• football brownies

This week we’ve got two home ballgame nights, and for at least one of them, I’m packing an easy sandwich supper to go.  I’ve got a whole chicken ready to cook tomorrow, so we’ll be enjoying soups with that, as well.

Weekday Breakfast Options

• lazy granola
• oatmeal with raisins or apples
• eggs (fried or scrambled) with toast or white chocolate cranberry muffins

Weekday Lunch Options ~ hard boiled eggs, veggies and dip, fresh fruit, popcorn, leftovers, quesadillas, apples and peanut butter

Weekday Suppers

• sandwiches, chips, and fruit packed for the ballgame
• chicken fajita soup with tortilla chips, apple crisp
• chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans
• smothered beans and rice burritos, salad, corn
• broccoli cheddar soup, easy french bread

Out of ideas?  Hundreds of menu plans are lined up at OrgJunkie!

Menu Plan, Week of February 5 is a post from: The Finer Things in Life

Thank you for subscribing to The Finer Things in Life! Click here to get your New Year's Time Capsule Survey for Kids

What helps me walk with Jesus daily?  ~ How would you answer?

“Imagine how much stronger marriages would be if we all decided to assume positive intent.” ~ Believing in His Goodness

Finding Cupid ~ Free Valentine’s Day e-book and Printables

Words Will Never Hurt Me?! ~ Who are the people you’ve spoken most hatefully to?

Weekend Wanderings is a post from: The Finer Things in Life

Thank you for subscribing to The Finer Things in Life! Click here to get your New Year's Time Capsule Survey for Kids

I don’t remember the last time we had a puddle anywhere.

It’s been raining for more than 12 hours.  The kids already had today off of school because we had conferences earlier in the week.  We all slept in and awoke to the quenching sound of raindrops.

It’s dark.  It’s dreary.  It’s perfect.

What Finer Things are you celebrating this week?  Link up and let us know!

Puddles {Finer Things Friday} is a post from: The Finer Things in Life

Thank you for subscribing to The Finer Things in Life! Click here to get your New Year's Time Capsule Survey for Kids

The rut of the day to day is there for survival.  It’s not a bad thing to have the security of knowing what comes next, and who’s in charge.  It’s perfectly fine to do the same thing over and over if it’s working well for you!

If it’s not working for you, though?  Or even if it is, but you’d like to inject a little spontaneous fun into your fine marriage, there are simple things you can do to spice up that delightful routine.

Every schedule and situation is different.  I’m in the unique position of living pretty much across the street from where my husband works, and being home most every day.  With his schedule and day to day location, what works for us may or may not work for you.  Use these ideas (some of which I do, and some of which I should!) as a springboard for your own creativity.

Oh, and ladies.  I know some of you out there are thinking “What in the world?  Amy thinks I should do all this when my husband won’t notice, won’t care, and won’t reciprocate?”  Well, I can’t help you there.  I do know, though, that with my own marriage, regardless of what my husband’s doing, if I put in 100%, he always ups the ante. 

The Morning Rut

• Sneak out of bed while he’s in the shower and warm up a towel for him in the dryer.  Better yet, sneak out of bed and join him!  “Water Conservation” (Did I just say that?!)
• Enjoy breakfast together before waking the children.
• Slip a love note into his briefcase or pants pocket.
• Pucker up for that goodbye peck.  Linger a little!
• Smile.  Get your day started without the grump.

The Daytime Rut

• Send a quick email, just because.  I love these one-liners!
• Surprise him during the day with a cold drink.  (My favorite is to walk to school with a homemade Frappé during lunch break.  Makes his students jealous.  Makes him smile.)
• Hold off on the litany of “what went wrong today” when he walks in the door.  That’s no way to be greeted.

The Evening Rut

• Take over one of his responsibilities, so he can “veg out” a while.
• Get off the blasted computer!  (Totally talking to myself here.)  Put the smart phone away!  Even one or two nights a week is better than nothing.
• Take turns giving massages during your favorite tv shows.
• Attempt to go to bed before your eyes glaze over in front of the tv and you pass out on the couch.
• Be the instigator.  Of good things. 

While The Rut is fine and good and necessary, spicing up the routine every once in a while may take your marriage from fine to fabulous! 

What rut-busting ideas work for your marriage?

In a Rut? Spice It Up. is a post from: The Finer Things in Life

Thank you for subscribing to The Finer Things in Life! Click here to get your New Year's Time Capsule Survey for Kids

Valentine’s Day Fruit Kabobs is a post from: The Finer Things in Life

Thank you for subscribing to The Finer Things in Life! Click here to get your New Year's Time Capsule Survey for Kids

“Where do we want to be financially five years from now?” 

That is the question.  In Chapter 1 of The Money Saving Mom’s Budget Crystal gets down to business and challenges us all to set big goals, and then shares the “whys” and motivation for getting the job done.

Following the step-by-step process outlined in the book, my husband and I sat down last night for our very first (that I can remember) goal-setting meeting.  I’m not gonna lie to you; it wasn’t easy, and even felt a little silly and frustrating at times.

We are overly practical, and incredibly conservative with our money.  Part of that is first-born (both of us!) personality.  Another part is a survival skill.  (How else would we remain debt free, pay off our mortgage, and get a decent start on our retirement fund mostly on a teacher’s salary?)  The other part is plain and simple stubbornness.  Patting myself on the back?  Nope.  Quite the opposite.  Throughout our goal planning, we each had moments of “Why don’t we/can’t we ever do anything fun?!” 

In the initial brainstorming part of the exercise, we decided that five years from now we’d like to remain debt free, fund home improvements (landscaping, new heating/air, new hot water heater, remodel the kitchen ~ ha!), purchase new-to-us vehicles, buy a nice(er) swing set for the kids (ours is so old it’s not even safe — but it was free 8 years ago!) go on an Alaskan cruise (oooh, now that’s fun!), add a master bathroom to the house (dreaming here), take a few short vacations with the kids, and double the size of our living space by digging a full-sized basement under our home.

Well now, how’s that for brainstorming?!  And yes, I realize that for a brainstorming session, that’s a pretty short, conservative list.  That’s just how we roll.

The next step outlined in the book is to pick 3 of our goals and write them down:

• One that is possible in the next 6 months to a year:  We’re going to be bold and go with two.  1)  Landscaping for the front yard (seriously, except for random toys and whatnot it looks like no one lives here), and 2) Take the kids to Great Wolf Lodge before July.
• One that could happen in the next few years if we really work at it: Remain debt-free while we Expect the Expected (newer vehicles, braces for our second child, heating and air, all that inevitable stuff)  Oh, what the heck, let’s throw the swing set in there, too.  It could happen!
• One that seems like a pipe dream:  Hello, Mr. Basement

That Alaskan cruise dream?  The money has been set aside for about 8 years now.  Our goal is to not touch it until we can find the right time to use it!

After writing our goals and feeling both sucker-punched and like we have a giant mountain to climb, our next task was to break our goals into bite-sized, measurable pieces.  I think Crystal wrote this step with me in mind.  I’m the Queen of Good Intentions, but the day to day of changing diapers, folding laundry, and attending school functions sometimes always gets in the way of the long-term projects.  It was not easy, but once we broke down the goals into monthly and even weekly “to-dos”, it all felt a little more doable.

Baby Steps to Big Goals

Landscaping and a trip to Great Wolf Lodge ~ The truth?  We have the funds to cover these goals, but those funds are set aside for emergencies and needs, neither of which these represent.  (Told you we’re boring!)  I do have a plan, though.  You see, I believe in the depths of my (unfinished, for laundry and storage only) basement is money just waiting to be found, mostly in the form of a long-forgotten Creative Memories scrapbooking business.  My plan is twofold.  Clear the clutter and sell the stuff!  Our goal is to fully fund both the landscaping and the Great Wolf Lodge with “found money.” 

Because of our schedules, we’re thinking the best time to surprise the kids with a trip is either over spring break or right after school is out.  Yowza!  Knowing that, I’ve got some work to do, and I need to do it quickly!  We researched and set an amount, took our time frame into consideration, and set up a clutter/selling schedule for me.  Time to get hoppin’.

Our plan for remaining debt-free through all the ifs and whens of the next few years (vehicles, home maintenance, braces, etc.) is a little harder to put into concrete baby steps.  Here’s what we came up with.

• Separate our savings into different funds.  ??? Right now it’s all lumped into a “what if” fund.  That’s always worked for us, so we’re not sure about the hassle of separating it.  Still need to think on that one.  Thoughts?
• Continue our miserly simple living ways.  No cable, prepaid no-frills cell phones, etc.
• Set up a budget to see if there’s anywhere else we can cut.  (We’ll get to this in Chapter 3, but I’ll confess it now:  We’ve never set and followed a budget for any length of time.  We tried once or twice, but it never worked out.  Humph.  Ready to try again!)

Dear Mr. Basement, we are really really tempted to dig you right now and pay the piper later.  People do that all the time and live to tell about it, right?  We don’t have any other debt, right?  Ah, but for so many reasons that get our first-born, responsible selves tied up in stress knots, we’re gonna pass for now and try it our way.  (The next time we have two or more children with The Vomit at the same time vying at 3:00 in the morning for the same one toilet in the house, we may reconsider.  Again.)

We’ve decided to take a chunk of our savings and set it aside for The Basement Fund.  (Why don’t we just move?  1) We LOVE our location, and staying in this home is worth it just for that.  2) Digging and finishing a basement would cost us less than moving into a different home the same size as what our home would be with the basement.  3)  We live in a Tiny Town.  Our options are limited.)

We also decided that since we no longer have a mortgage payment (yipee!) we will deposit that same amount into The Basement Fund monthly.  If we do end up moving someday, well then we’ll have a good-sized deposit on a different home.  If nothing goes wrong, and our income doesn’t change for better or worse, we’ll have our basement funded in about 6 years.  Goodness I’m hoping that somehow our income will change for better!

Goal-Setting is Grueling

It’s likely because it was new to us, and we haven’t yet made it a habit, but that was a lot of work!  I’m glad we did it, though, to get a clearer picture of our dreams, our necessities, and the steps it’s going to take to fund it all.  And now for the follow-through!  I’ll try to report monthly, especially about my “found money”, to hold myself accountable, and I’d love to hear from you, too!

Did you follow the goal-setting steps in Chapter 1 this month?  How’d it go?  Encouraging?  Discouraging?  Frustrating?  Energizing?  Tell us about it!  If you have a blog and wrote about your financial goals, I’ve included a linky for your posts.  If you don’t, please tell us all about it in the comments.  We’ll also be chatting a bit about our goals this week on Facebook.

Big Goals and Baby Steps {MSM Book Club} is a post from: The Finer Things in Life

Thank you for subscribing to The Finer Things in Life! Click here to get your New Year's Time Capsule Survey for Kids

Here’s what the week might taste like.

Sunday, January 29

• cereal for kids before church
• bacon, fried eggs, homemade hashbrowns
• chicken and black bean quesadillas, milkshakes

Weekday Breakfast Options

• oatmeal with raisins
• lazy granola
• eggs (fried or scrambled) with applesauce muffins
• french toast

Weekday Lunch Options ~ cheese quesadillas, hard boiled eggs, fruit, veggies and dip, popcorn, leftovers

Weekday Suppers

• cornbread pancakes, Cupid’s Kabobs with fruit dip (recipe coming!)
• spinach oven omelet, oranges, cranberry apple scones with cinnamon glaze
• veggie beef soup, mom’s cinnamon rolls
• baked potatoes, smoothies
• lasagna, corn, easy french bread

Do your meals look a little different when the whole family’s not home to enjoy it?

Menu Plan, Week of January 29 is a post from: The Finer Things in Life

Thank you for subscribing to The Finer Things in Life! Click here to get your New Year's Time Capsule Survey for Kids

5 Ways to Build an Emergency Fund ~ This info comes in handy with the book club.

Gotta start somewhere.  ~ Saving Money on Healthier Foods

Love Your Neighbor Paper Heart Garland ~ Cute!

Time is ticking! ~ What a Parent Wants to Say Before a Child Leaves

What You Should (and Shouldn’t) Say to Someone Who Has Lost a Baby ~ It’s so hard to know what to say or do!

Weekend Wanderings is a post from: The Finer Things in Life

Thank you for subscribing to The Finer Things in Life! Click here to get your New Year's Time Capsule Survey for Kids

We’ve been married long enough now (13 years) to see the ugly divorce statistics catching up with some of our friends and acquaintances.  Many of you are fighting for your marriage right now, and some of you are running along keeping up with the busyness of life, confident that your marriage is just fine.  Well, fine is good, but where marriage is concerned, fabulous is where it’s at. 

For the next couple of weeks, I’ve teamed up with some other bloggers to give you ideas for Taking Your Marriage from Fine to Fabulous, just in time for Valentine’s Day!  I do hope you’ll join us.  Your marriage is worth it!  (and so is mine )

A fabulous marriage is a Finer Thing!  What Finer Things are you celebrating this week?  Link up and let us know!

Your Marriage is Worth It {Finer Things Friday} is a post from: The Finer Things in Life

Thank you for subscribing to The Finer Things in Life! Click here to get your New Year's Time Capsule Survey for Kids