Post-Friday Monday Round-Up

I didn't get to the Five Friday round up thing this week because I had so many reviews due in last week. Whew! It was hectic trying to get all of those in, but I did it! So I am doing my Fast Friday Five now instead. Before you go today, please go to the bottom and look at the five pictures there. I had new head shots done last week and am trying to decide which to use. Give me your thoughts in the comments? Thanks, All, and have a great week!!

1. We have reached the point in the garage where we're doing the last few boxes of papers. Oh, loathsome papers! So I am determined to get them knocked out as fast as I can to get it over with. THEN I have to figure out what I'll do with those papers I have to keep. Yikes! Really. I have A Plan (insert echo here... PlanPlaPLP...) My grand plan is go through it all once and get out everything that can be thrown away or shredded. Then I'll have to go through again to figure out where to put the stuff that's left. I know - it's more time consuming this way. It would be better to "touch it once and then deal with it." But I'm more of a whittle it down sort, so I have to do this in stages. But at least we're nearly done.
   

   

   We took a break to go look at a Civil War
   display at the nearby library. It was a 3/4-
   mile walk each way but worth the time. The
   gun closest to Bruiser there is original and
   the barrel is longer than my arm! It was huge!

2. I LOVE that we're doing Dave Ramsey classes now. I have waited for quite a while to get started and though we're not perfect at it yet - our credit cards are CUT. UP. Never to be used again. And I'm SO excited by that! Really, we each view our successes with the house and the budget as parallel to one another. Somehow as we show diligence in one area, we are also diligent in other areas of life, so as the garage is nearly done, so are the final debts. 



Jeff is passing on many of the things he had in his room as
a teen. He is passing the torch so to speak. It is a big deal.

3. The problem with being so close to being debt free is that now we have four debts left, one is small, one is medium, two are rather large. The snowball is going to be slow-rolling for those big ones, or we're afraid it will be, but we're determined anyway. Here is our breakdown: $215 left on one Mastercard (to be cancelled soon), $6540 on a second Mastercard (to be cancelled soon!), $13480 on my student loan (the payment has been deferred up to now, but that ends in August so we'll be rolling our payments from the other two cards into that soon), and $4505 on our home equity loan for the house in Baltimore. That's the whopper. That HELOC. We did use it for house repairs, but I sort of regret having gotten it now. 



I saw this sign at a drive through at Wendy's.
I don't want their version, but I sure plan to
find a way to make my own! Yum!!





4. Chef came with me to my vendor event on Saturday. That kid isn't going to have his own business selling stuff, but he'll have make a great motivational speaker one day! He was all over the room, talking to people, asking questions, making trades, bartering... he was incredible. At the very beginning of the show, he was making an observation about the types of people who come to shows such as the one we were at. Eventually I'll figure out how to get the audio off my phone and put it on here. 



Chef by his part of the display on my table. He is selling
books written by his friend Mr. Greg from church.

5. Mr. Magoo's 2nd birthday is TOMORROW! Yikes! I'm not ready... but I am. He is such a pip, that one and we love him to pieces. It's time to figure out a new nickname for him. He's not so Mr. Magoo any more and now he's started getting his own personality in, so he deserves something more fitting. Come to think of it, Bruiser has started to mellow a bit too, so we'll reassign his name as well... lots of changes coming this year and I'm still so excited about it all! 

   

   At the playground on a recent warm day.

6. A bonus this week - We figured out this weekend that number 6 is on the way. We told the kids, told the Grands... reactions? 
1. Maestro: I kind of already figured it out...
2. Chef: WAHHOOOO!! ALRIGHT!!
3. Bruiser: Yeah! Now there will be someone else to do the chores!
4. Nana: happy talk about due dates (we don't know yet - end of November? End of December? There IS a two-week gap in our birthdays between Christmas and New Year. My bet is that this one will fill that gap, just for continuity sake.)
5. Grandpa Ed: Another one?? So, they have these things called the pill... or condoms... (hahaha, sorry, Dad - we're having a good time with our crew, so one more is a blessing. Dad's concern is that we'll have what we need to get by when Jeff retires in a couple of years.)
6. Grandma Jo and Grandpa Jeff: When is she going to the doctor? (with Bruiser, G. Jeff threatened to fly out to drag me to a doctor because I took so long. I don't like doctors for things like this and am really going back and forth on how to handle the whole birth thing. Hmmm....)
7. New announcements aside, I'm still going to Scotland with friends Spinster Beth and Slick from my Three Friends Fitness blog in July. I can't wait! I have had hesitation up to now, but I really am looking forward to a few days off, and I'm lucky enough to have a guy who is totally encouraging of that.

Off for now. Here are some pictures to hold over until next time. I have three more posts in the works so more to come soon!

OH!! I NEED YOUR HELP!! I had new head shots done last weekend and need help deciding which one looks best. Please put your opinions in the comments below. Here are five of the ones she sent me:

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5