Another Christmas and New Year's Eve come and gone. It all went quite smoothly. I think the kids were happy with the gifts they got. Jessica helped John in the kitchen with Christmas dinner which was a tremendous help to me since it meant I could visit with my MIL and our niece and her boyfriend. New Year's Eve we went to my sisters for fresh lobster (they made steak for John since he doesn't like lobster). We had a really good time. There was another couple (who we've met before but only briefly) there so we were six in all and it was really nice. As usual I was dreading both but also enjoyed both.
My only resolution is that I will sell at least one piece of art to someone other than family by the end of the year.
It was so nice to have John home for the whole month. We didn't get as much done around the house as I had hoped but I'm not terribly surprised by that. A little disappointed but I totally do not blame John since I could easily have gotten up and got started myself or pushed a little harder. It was nice to feel no pressure to do anything and I found that I'm a little more motivated now since I had so much "time off".
Since then I've been fairly busy. Working on some sewing and beading projects. I'll post pics of those once I have made some real progress. I've also been doing dishes, laundry, sweeping etc. Still not as much as I would like to, my house isn't by any stretch of the imagination clean but I am doing better.
I think I finally have John on board with creating and sticking to a budget and that is a huge relief. We are menu planning, cooking together, making grocery lists and keeping track of where we are spending money and on what. A Wal-Mart purchase of $200.00 includes clothing, pharmacy, groceries etc. so now we are splitting those up to see exactly where our money goes. We are also setting aside money each month to cover those one time large expenses like glasses, vet bills, dental so it won't kill us financially when the time comes. Our next big decision will be when our mortgage comes due. I think our interest rate will drop so do we lower our payments and pay longer or keep our payments the same and get the mortgage paid off sooner? I'm inclined to think that paying longer is better simply because not having a mortgage payment seems like an impossible dream so why not ease the pain in the meantime? I don't know. We'll be discussing that soon.
Max had some kind of foot injury on New Year's Eve day while out for a walk. We couldn't see anything, the vet couldn't see anything but my little boy was alternately limping and hopping on three legs. The vet suggest we go with short walks since consistent limping or hopping can damage the muscles and/or joints in the other back leg. Since we knew it was his paw and not his leg, knee or hip and the salt on the roads irritates his little feets anyway, John has been driving him to parks to get a little exercise in the fields. He (Max) is quite restless at home but we are concerned and don't want to let him walk too far. Yesterday and today he seems much better and tomorrow I will take him out for a short walk. I feel like I'm seizing up from not walking but I'll be damned if I'm going to go out for a walk and leave my baby at home. I'm looking forward to getting back into the routine of walking first thing.
My only resolution is that I will sell at least one piece of art to someone other than family by the end of the year.
It was so nice to have John home for the whole month. We didn't get as much done around the house as I had hoped but I'm not terribly surprised by that. A little disappointed but I totally do not blame John since I could easily have gotten up and got started myself or pushed a little harder. It was nice to feel no pressure to do anything and I found that I'm a little more motivated now since I had so much "time off".
Since then I've been fairly busy. Working on some sewing and beading projects. I'll post pics of those once I have made some real progress. I've also been doing dishes, laundry, sweeping etc. Still not as much as I would like to, my house isn't by any stretch of the imagination clean but I am doing better.
I think I finally have John on board with creating and sticking to a budget and that is a huge relief. We are menu planning, cooking together, making grocery lists and keeping track of where we are spending money and on what. A Wal-Mart purchase of $200.00 includes clothing, pharmacy, groceries etc. so now we are splitting those up to see exactly where our money goes. We are also setting aside money each month to cover those one time large expenses like glasses, vet bills, dental so it won't kill us financially when the time comes. Our next big decision will be when our mortgage comes due. I think our interest rate will drop so do we lower our payments and pay longer or keep our payments the same and get the mortgage paid off sooner? I'm inclined to think that paying longer is better simply because not having a mortgage payment seems like an impossible dream so why not ease the pain in the meantime? I don't know. We'll be discussing that soon.
Max had some kind of foot injury on New Year's Eve day while out for a walk. We couldn't see anything, the vet couldn't see anything but my little boy was alternately limping and hopping on three legs. The vet suggest we go with short walks since consistent limping or hopping can damage the muscles and/or joints in the other back leg. Since we knew it was his paw and not his leg, knee or hip and the salt on the roads irritates his little feets anyway, John has been driving him to parks to get a little exercise in the fields. He (Max) is quite restless at home but we are concerned and don't want to let him walk too far. Yesterday and today he seems much better and tomorrow I will take him out for a short walk. I feel like I'm seizing up from not walking but I'll be damned if I'm going to go out for a walk and leave my baby at home. I'm looking forward to getting back into the routine of walking first thing.
Nice to see you back and in fine literary form.
ReplyDeleteI round up my mortgage payment every month. Can't remember the exact amount, since taxes are figured in to our payments, but there's always an extra 40 or so applied to the principal. I've heard that adds up, although I haven't been doing it long enough to know for sure.
ReplyDeletenice to see you back and all... hope Max feels better and more like walking with you. :)