It was the summer of 2000… I had graduated high school, and was excited to continue on working in a fabulous office for who knows how long. My resume had been built up, money was great, and then it happened… Credit cards starting arriving in the mail! I must have received a total of five credit cards without even applying for them. Visa, MasterCard, Fashion Bug, you name it! The card would arrive, and instead of cutting it up, as I would do these days, I used them all. At age 18 I maxed out five credit cards and after losing my office job for other reasons, I was in a position where I needed to get out of credit card debt.
I sat on that credit card debt for about three years while it destroyed my credit rating and made it near impossible for me to have a normal, good, credit adult life. Finally, after getting a decent tax refund one year, I decided to look into debt help companies. After reviewing contract after contract, and trying to determine if utilizing a debt consolidation service was appropriate for my financial freedom, I finally was able to locate a company that I thought worked well for my situation.
My decision to work with a debt consolidation company was determined through detailed reviews of how the contracts worked, which company had a great rate to work with, and if my total debt was considerable enough to work with a debt consolidation company. I wanted to be able to pay off bills faster than I would have been able to living paycheck to paycheck. The end result when using the debt consolidation company was that I paid off my credit card debt at a financial rate that worked for my specific needs at that time in my life. The contract I had was open enough so that I was able to cancel the contract, should my need for the service no longer be valid. However, I stuck by the contract, and paid off all of my credit card debt within just a few short years.
Merging my credit card debt into one consolidation plan really helped me to move forward in my adult life in a positive financial way.
I always had a way with words, written down on paper, yet to speak to another human being as if they are a human being with feelings has not always been my strong point when I am upset or annoyed. It is all too easy at times to throw the blame at someone else, specifically your partner in life, when something has not been done or maybe wasn’t done to your liking. One of the promises I made to myself for this New Year is to start being more open about my feelings, both negative and positive alike.
Working on communicating, truly speaking with someone back and forth in a real conversation about a topic that is important, is extremely difficult for me with a specific person. I find it’s easier for me to keep reminding myself of how it used to be, of things that have happened before, essentially I resort to the non-trust mode and therefore shut down completely. Shutting down isn’t going to solve any problems nor is it going to resolve the problem at hand. I realize my fault with the difficulty in communication and have resolved to work harder at letting go of the negative things I do during a conversation.
For instance, I have decided to truly let go of things people have done to hurt me in the past. I found out I was putting someone on a higher level than my own self and expecting them to live up to it. Why I was doing this, I have no clue, because I often feel I have been held to higher standards within some of my family members minds and it’s hurtful to me. I can’t believe I was doing the same thing to another person.
From now on when a problem arises or something doesn’t get done, I no longer lay blame and I no longer lash out in words or write some long email or letter to the person. I am certain to take time to cool off and once my thoughts have been collected, sit down and discuss my feelings in the best way I know how. I also take time to apologize for maybe not using the right words or the right tone in how I am speaking. I calmly address my concern, issue, problem with the other person and we attempt to have a discussion about it.
This communication gig is a work in progress but it has certainly started to make me feel more relaxed and positive about life in general and relationships. I believe everyone should take the time to communicate effectively, efficiently and politely whenever an issue comes to light. Remember, practice makes perfect or close to it
I recently watched Real Steel with my family and since then we have seen it a few more times. The kids love this movie so much that it has become my bribe to be good, clean up your mess or so forth around here. I have raved about this movie to all of my family and friends, as well as created a YouTube video the other night because I could not get it out of my head.
Real Steel releases today, January 24th, 2012 as a DVD, Blu-Ray disc or combo pack and you can see the available options on Amazon.com if you are looking to buy this fabulous family movie! Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly and Dakota Goyo really did a fabulous job in this film.
Hugh Jackman is very nice on my eyes but he does a good job at ticking me off occasionally in this film with how he deals with his long lost son. The father and son duo working together to have an ending I can not share with you all, is well worth the suspense found within this movie.
Meet Atom – My personal fave robot in the movie –
More of my thoughts about Real Steel will come later in a blog post, but I had to write today to share my quick thoughts as well as a way to save money on the 3-disc Combo Pack of Real Steel —
For a limited time, Dreamworks is offering $5 OFF the purchase of the Real Steel 3-disc Combo Pack. Those interested should visit http://www.steelgetsreal.com/, and click on the offer in the upper right corner of the page. Offer ends 1/29/12.
Disclosure: I received Real Steel in DVD/Blu-Ray Combo Pack form in order to fully evaluate my thoughts and opinions on this film. All opinions and thoughts are that of my own.
Don’t get me wrong. I love my son, Reid. He’s the greatest three-year-old I’ve ever met. But, I wouldn’t spend 30k on his birthday party, even if I had that much to spend.
Why? Because there’s no need to.
Maybe I’m just too cheap, but I think it’s entirely possible to have an amazing party for less than $100. Maybe even less than $50. Throwing a lavish party doesn’t necessarily mean everyone will have a great time. Often, the pressure to have a great time at an expensive party outweighs the possibly of even having fun at all.
With that being said, I’m planning a cost-effective, but exciting party for my son’s birthday next month. Check out these tips for ways to throw an awesome party without having to open a new credit card in the process.
1) Visit Family: If you have family nearby, paying them a visit to celebrate your little one’s birthday is a great idea. Reid has a few cousins that he loves playing with, but doesn’t get to see much! Taking your birthday boy or girl to visit the cousins is always a great way to spend a birthday. Even better, as I was checking Chicago hotels in the area, my sister-in-law called and offered us her guest bedroom! Visiting family means that you’ll likely get to stay with them as well, saving you money on lodging and possibly food! Be sure to chip in your fair share, whether that means cooking everyone a meal, bringing groceries or doing the dishes afterwards. Do your research about the location, find coupons, ask family what they enjoy and plan an outing or two while you’re there. We’re taking the kids to the Shedd Aquarium and the Museum of Science and Industry!
2) Create a To-Do Wish List: You know how your kids are always asking you to do things? Things you don’t have time to do like taking them to the park, walking the dog together, riding bikes, going to McDonald’s or having a sleepover? Use your child’s birthday as an opportunity to let them pack their day full of everything they’ve been asking to do! Sit down a few days or weeks before and make a list of all those little things they’ve been asking for! Set a schedule, invite a few friends and get revved up for the big day!
3) “Potluck”: Kids always seem to want the most random food combinations for meals. Reid recently asked me if he could have yogurt and cheese cubes for dinner. Being a fitness and nutrition expert, I’m pretty strict about sweets and fast food, but special treats are a great way to celebrate a birthday just once a year! While I would never let Reid choose his own ‘creative’ meals everyday, I use his birthday as a chance to let him eat whatever he wants. Plan a potluck-style lunch or dinner and let your child choose the menu. Be clear that they will not have this privilege everyday, and set a number of foods they can choose. I usually let Reid choose three items, one of which is typically a sweet like birthday cake or cookies. They’ll get a lot of gratification from their special meal!
See? Planning a party on a budget is entirely possible! You can also buy decorations and games beforehand, so you won’t have to spend quite so much when the time draws nearer. Start early, give yourself time to make plans and be prepared to tell friends and family how you threw a great party for cheap!
I often wonder if marriage lasted longer with those who waited to have sexual relations until after they were wed? Who knows exactly what it is that keeps two people together in a marriage while the other couple is siting in divorce court ready to point fingers, lay blame and argue their way through an ugly divorce that ends up hurting all involved, including themselves.
I recently found an article shared by a friend on a Facebook titled You never Marry the Right Person and I just had to read this. I am always intrigued by people’s opinions on marriage, because after all I often wonder about my own decision to marry and then later on to get divorced. I still live with the hope that my family will get this thing figured out and we will continue on being strong together as a united family, but it’s difficult to fight with my own internal feelings of “is this person right for me”.
In all honesty, my ex husband who I often slip up and still call my husband from time to time or when introducing him to someone else, is a very supportive man. Although this man has flaws that annoy the hell out of me, as I am sure I do with him, we are two people on a similar quest with a very aligned future. J and I both have similar, if not the same, hopes and dreams in family life, for our children, retirement and business. Can not two people come together to make a marriage or relationship work based on common goals and dreams? I think they can.
The problem is that I did not wait to have a sexual life until after marriage, I started having sex at the age of 14 and looking back it was to feel loved, wanted and desired. I was looking to have sexual relations fulfill something missing deep inside of me, an emotional void so to speak. Of course having sexual relations did nothing for me, no gap in my emotional character was filled, I wasn’t satisfied ever and no one ever lived up to the whole package I had in my head for a healthy, desirable relationship.
After reading You never Marry the Right Person I realized that maybe, just maybe, my standards were set too high for anyone to ever fit into.
When I went from a sexually active teen and young adult to a thirty year old mother it seems my mind has changed on what is important, what one should truly value in a life long partner. This idea that my mind has changed on what a real relationship or marriage should be has changed me for the better and I can only hope that my children will be able to see that waiting for sexual relations is vitally important. I hope that I can teach my children the true meaning behind loving another person so that they do not fall into the trap of placing their wants/needs/desires so high that no one will ever fit into the mold.
I won’t try to enforce no sex before marriage, but I will do my best to teach my children that no sexual relation will fill them the way an intellectual connection between two flawed people will.
Killington just hosted the East Coast stop for the Dew Tour this weekend and the radio coverage was amazing. Sure wish I had been there to experience this Dew Tour, if you went I would love to hear about it!
My children have expressed an interest in learning how to ski but after sliding down a hill the last time I attempted to ski and getting my back all scratched up by the ice on a mountain, I refuse to go again. I hibernate as much as possible in the Winter but luckily for my kids their dad/Step Dad has an interest in skiing and will gladly take them some day.
You can save up to 20% on rentals when you book in advance.
As of January 22, 2012 there are 106 open trails and 13 open lifts.
Killington offers kids lessons, adult lessons and even private lessons so the whole family is sure to have a fun filled time learning how to ski.
Killington offers snowblind deals where you can save even more money.
Killington’s website has an insiders blog where you can keep up to date with the latest.
ENTER TO WIN – One person will randomly be selected to win a Family 4 pack of tickets to Killington Resort for one day.
Note: Tickets are good for one day inside the Killington resort. They can be used any day before the season ends in April 2012. Tickets will be placed on hold for pick up at Killington, so please be sure to know a possible date for use of this prize should you win.
I know the talk of head lice makes my own skin crawl so I am sure it’s not the most fun topic to discuss, but when you have children that are in school, anything is possible. For me, it was two different times that head lice happened upon my house due to my first born and it was rough. When my daughter was 2 years old she ended up with head lice, I have no clue how nor where & recall being thankful I used a lot of hair junk back then because I never got head lice even though I shared a bed with her.
I went through all of the chemicals that they have out there, I followed every single possible step one would think of and should do when head lice falls upon their household child(ren), but it would not go away. After missing nearly two weeks of work {I worked outside of the home back then} because my daughter wasn’t’ able to go to daycare until the head lice was completely gone, I finally was told to try mayonnaise.
I was reminded of this story when I happened to read a blog post recently discussing mayonnaise as a hair treatment method for dry, cracked, dead hair. The messed up thing was that mayonnaise actually worked to remove head lice from my daughter’s hair, this was of course after I spent crazy amounts of money on all of the chemicals and house treatments one could think of and had missed tons of time at the office which meant spending money I wasn’t’ earning due to work hours lost. Need I mention I was a single mom back then? Yeah, it sucked all around.
Years later when my daughter came home on the last day of school with head lice, I freaked out! Seriously, these buggers give me chills and I was so thankful that she didn’t get it all year that coming home on the last day of school with it upset me to my core and upset her too. My daughter has LONG hair so it took hours upon hours to comb through her hair and using mayonnaise worked this time but you still have to comb out the eggs or what not. It took so long to get the lice out of her head this time around and it made the first part of her Summer vacation suck. I remember getting so frustrated at her father, because she would still do all of her visits with him & I would worry that he wasn’t cleaning up his house in the most thorough way. Life stops when your child has head lice, I don’t’ care what anyone else says, the life I know stopped. Beds were cleaned out, sprayed, pillows replaced, stuffed animals locked up in air tight plastic bags, the whole nine yards. I even treated my hair with her, even though no lice were found in my head just to make her feel less alone in the fight against head lice.
I don’t recall how long it took to get rid of the lice and all the eggs in her hair this time around but I do know that putting mayonnaise on her hair with saran wrap over it tight for a night really killed the live lice almost 100% in one time treatment. Another thing I found out during this time of her having head lice was that if you put vinegar on your hair, like using a spray bottle – the lice go nuts. I use this vinegar in a spray bottle on my hair and my daughter’s hair anytime our heads feel itchy because the lice go running. Knock on wood we haven’t had a lice outbreak in a long time and I am so not ready to have it again.
The joys of childhood, note that I went to the same elementary school my kids go to and back then head lice was bad in the school too, apparently my sister and I got it all of the time, that’s according to my parents, but I don’t remember my elementary years much.
Here we are again, heading into another week. Monday is just around the corner and to assist you in gaining more inspiration, energy and happiness I have some of own hand picked quotes to share with you all….
What we think, we become. All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts, we make the world. – The Buddha
If you cry because the sun has gone out of your life, your tears will prevent you from seeing the stars. – Rabindranath Tagore
Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think. – La Bruyere
We make our fortunes, and we call them fate. – Earl of Beaconsfield
Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood. -
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Get out there, stand tall and proud. Keep your head held high and remember that life is exactly what you make of it. What will you make of your life today?
