Influenza

Nothing strikes fear into my heart quite like that word.

And Josh just tested positive.

Suck.

Looking up, and looking forward

The times, they are a-changing.

Big things afoot. No, not bigfoot. Just big things.

I ran more than a mile last night! And walked another mile! I'm going to totally kick this 5K's behind.

Guy is teething with a vengeance. He's hungry, but won't eat anything.

Josh was up most of last night with an awful fever, the shakes, and lots of pain. So nobody slept so great in this household last night.

But today I'm feeling really grateful. I look around me, and I am so blessed. I live in this awesome apartment, in a great community, with people who know and love me. Our car is back, and working, and we even have the money to cover all the repairs.

There is lots of good food in my fridge, money in a bank account, and I have a husband who works his tail off getting a great education. Life is good.

*yawn* even if I'm really tired today.

Boo

I have good things happening in my life. And things that make me ridiculously depressed.

Examples:

Guy took a two-hour nap today!
My upstairs neighbors let me use their dishwasher, saving me roughly an hour's worth of dish-washing after Wednesday's elaborate dinner cooked for eight people.
Josh is done with midterms and is now back to his regularly scheduled stressful life.

And the depressing stuff?
I've gained four pounds in two weeks. Instead of losing four, as I had hoped.
The car is broken. The key literally will not move in the ignition. And it's stuck in park facing in, so I'm not terribly hopeful about getting it towed. And fixing things costs money, just as we're starting to get our savings built up again.

I still have plenty of dishes to wash. I made strawberry-pineapple bread, and it turned out weird. My house is a mess. I need to do laundry, and give Guy a bath, and Josh and I had wanted to go to the temple tonight.

You'll never guess how much I feel like doing laundry, dishes, and cooking dinner.

Quote of the day: "You're about as romantic as a dead fish."

And no, it's not from a movie, it's from my life. I debated sharing that, but I think that's one of the reasons I'm feeling blue. Apparently, romance isn't my strong point.

How to Save Money Every Day

Fantastic book, written by Ellie Kay. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about her life as a military wife and mom of five kids.

My favorite principle from the book? How to lengthen your career. You'll work better if you're happy. If you're not happy, change jobs. But--

"Before changing jobs, ask yourself [these] questions:
Do you respect your boss?
Do you watch your words?
Do you value people?
Do you know your limitations?
Do you do your best?"

The average person puts only 25% of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50% of their capacity, and stands on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100%. -Andrew Carnegie

My other favorite principle: she shops for the best bargains, fills her pantry and plans her meals around those, and shares the excess with food banks, needy church families, and anyone she thinks needs it.

A good day

The positive: I did a good job sticking to my grocery list, and got all of my errands done today. I rehearsed a few piano/violin duets with an awesome 6-year-old for church meetings. I played with my son, and visited with a friend. I wrote in my journal, showered, and went running today.

It was a good day.

But, I didn't do the dishes. And I desperately need to organize the paperwork that is coming out my ears!!! I'd like to hang up Vati's calendar somewhere central where I can refer to it easily.

So, for tomorrow, I need to do the dishes, and do laundry, and prepare dinner. If I have the energy, I might bake bread, too, as we're almost out and I like bread. I also need to finish a book that I'm reading so I can hand it over to a friend who wants to borrow it.

Sounds like a reasonable day. I think I can manage it. Especially if I get started early on the laundry. And dinner tonight is easy-peasy: taco salad. All I have to do is chop some onion, brown the beef, and grate some cheese. All the rest gets put in bowls and put on the table, and we're good to go. Woot. I love an easy and fantastic tasting meal.

Now, if only we had ranch dressing, huh?

Motivation? Hello?

I like the way I feel when I work hard. I hate getting started on working.

This is why I didn't shower until 5:15 p.m. yesterday. Only because I was meeting with my neighbors for dinner and didn't want to gross anybody out.

It's 9:15 a.m. and I still need to shower and get dressed. I did put the dishes away, and fed Guy, but it's time for me to eat and get ready for the day.

I figure I'll shower once he's down for a nap in about an hour, and then I'll try to take the time to get a little transcription done before Josh comes home. When he gets home we'll make lunch, eat, do the dishes, and then Guy and I will probably go grocery shopping.

I'm feeling good about that, though. Last night I started an expense tracker worksheet that I designed in Excel, and entered all of our receipts from this month. So I know that we're over-budget for groceries. Yeah, fun. I sat down and planned a menu based on what we've got in our pantry and fridge, and then a grocery list (it's really short! yay!) so hopefully my errands will be speedy today.

Other goals for today include doing the laundry. Um, and that's about it. :-)

What to Do, What to Do?

To Do, or not To Do.

Well, I could choose not to do anything, but I have a feeling that after yesterday's read-one-book-all-day-ignoring-housework-entirely, the hubs would be a little less than pleased with my not picking up the slack today.

So, I already did some dishes. And I baby-sat the neighbor's kids for a few minutes. And I'm caught up on the news and things I like to read on the internet. Now, it's time to get serious.

Lunch will be salad and leftovers, but I need to look at what's about to go bad in the fridge and what's on the menu and decide what to eat until errand day (Tuesday).

I need to figure out a better way to track our expenses, GnuCash is too confusing for me right now. Oh, and then I need to actually track them.

I need to clean up the house, including mopping the kitchen and vacuuming the living room.

Laundry would be nice, but given that it hasn't stopped snowing all morning, that might have to wait until tomorrow. I can't maneuver the stroller and the laundry when there's so much snow outside.

So, to recap:

Food! And a menu!
Dishes! And a clean house!
Finances! And a budget!

Sounds like more than enough for one day. Also, we're heading to the temple tonight but the couple we asked just backed out. I suppose we need to ask someone else!