Hello: My name is Lexie. On Thursday My teacher gave everyone an Assignment. It is homework, You had to write 60 to 100 “belief statements” by the next day Friday. Most people told me they can’t get 60 to 100 statements done. About 2 years ago, one person set a record for 1,102. I was so determined to beat the record of 1,102. When I got home, I started writing right away. Here are some of the Belief Statements I wrote:
I believe in world peace, because I hate wars.
I believe bathrooms should be cleaner in public schools.
I believe they will find a cure for every type of cancer.
I believe there will be a way to communicate with pets in the future.
I believe Miss Barnards is the most awesomest teacher.
I believe Cats and Dogs will one day always get along.
We met at Urgent Care!! He ignored me and I ended up yelling at him. It was definitely NOT love at first sight!! It’s fun to tell the story to people because we continue to roll our eyes and shake our heads at each other, even today… about 6 years later.
Dating was fun. Larry was an old single guy and I was an old single gal. Our lives were running about the same speed. Both on cruise control, too. It had been a long time since Larry had been in a relationship. It was my very first experience with “sharing” my life with anyone. Boy, were we in for a surprise when we married. I don’t think either of us was brave enough to ask about each other’s financial situation. When we did realize we had to “get naked”, and reveal our debt and unpaid bills and financial credit scores, we recognized that it was no longer “fun to tell the story”. This was the beginning of the Brown House.
I go to Larry, Jr’s football games and Lexie’s soccer games and I wait for the other parents to comment on the calls before I say a word!!! I’m learning… but I still have that fear of embarrassment in me.
Football has hand offs and T Formations. Soccer has dribbling and heading and juggling and a passing wall. They sound goofy to me. Why are they so important? Isn’t the whole idea to get the ball down there as fast as possible? I think if they played by my rules I would understand the game a whole lot better. But I doubt the game would be as interesting. I bet it might be downright boring. Not much excitement in the way I play.
I (Juli) get alarmed a lot. Not the way you may think. It’s just a beep and it’s to remind me of certain times of the day, like lunch and dinner. And if I give myself insulin, an alarm reminds me to check my sugar 2 hours later. I wear an insulin pump. It’s annoying sometimes it’s a life saver other times. If I happen to be standing next to someone and I beep, they look at me a bit funny. (Especially if it happens to be in the middle of a job interview.) HOWEVER… We (my Dr. and I) have determined that this is the best way for me to keep up with taking care of things… otherwise I could go through a whole day without thinking about the fact that my body needs insulin. Yep, that is the extent of my attention span when it comes to everyday life things.
It doesn’t seem possible that the mind numbing destruction and fear and chaos of 9/11 was that long ago. Has it really been ten years?
We were talking at the soccer game on Saturday about a couple of the military husbands having to be on “alert” this Sunday just in case terrorists wanted to try and mess with the U. S. again. Someone thought that it might not be a good idea for the world to think that we are “Expecting” something on this 10th Anniversary. But then we decided, with true soccer mom attitude, No… it doesn’t matter WHO knows. America is ready to handle whatever anyone wants to try. We have come through 9/11, with all of its tragedy and unbelievable devastation, to the other side. And on that other side we are honoring the lives that were lost and we are celebrating the hero’s who gave all they had.
No need to let fear stop us from remembering the past. No need to let fear stop us from changing and making ourselves stronger and more prepared and ready for what lies ahead.
It’s a good example to live by, even in our Project Money Competition. No need to stay hidden away and afraid of any new ways to use your money to the fullest.
OK. We are hanging on here. We looked at the stats of our accomplishments so far and we see that we must be doing a few things correctly. BUT… there are other techniques that can be used to boost our power.
Lexie tells us about a soccer position that she gets to play sometimes. It’s not being the Forward or the Midfielder or Defense… its being the Animal. Yes, that’s right. The Animal. You see an animal is everywhere, all over the field and can pretty much do anything anytime (as long as they obey soccer rules). If the Animal sees that there needs to be assistance somewhere. She gives assistance. If the Animal sees that she can make a play somewhere. She does it. The Animal always has something to do, because they are told to “play the whole field”, not just one certain area like other field positions. Seems like it would be a fun, but tiring position. You really have to know what is going on everywhere on the field. You really have to be ready to answer to the coach at the end of the game. The coach sent you out there to be The Animal. Did you do it?
Seems like we never got a break and neither did our bank account. It’s back to school, so that means back to spending immense amounts of money. The kids are being very helpful, however. (You’ll see that in a video for next week!) They decided that they don’t need to get new EVERYTHING. Just a few things need to be replaced. And, of course, a few clothing items need to be “updated” (SKINNY JEANS and FLAT BRIMMED HATS!!)
We had our meeting with Mike last Monday, and we decided that a few things have fallen through the cracks… #1 GAS MONEY and #2 GROCERY MONEY.
We deliver the Wisconsin State Journal as a part-time job and drive more than 600 miles each week between all three of our jobs. Gas is a BIG DEAL. But if we keep close track of it, and always have it planned ahead, it doesn’t need to be the crisis at the end of the week. We decided that just using our debit card for gas IS NOT A GOOD IDEA. If we do that, it is easy to ignore the balance of our checking account… especially when you are filling up your gas tank at 3 AM. It’s much better for us to use cash for gas (Even if you have to put up with the odd guys at Kwik Trip!!)
After the TIGHT SQUEEZE at the end of last month we knew there were some other changes that needed to be made in our budget.
Convenience is pricey sometimes.
We used to pick up our Sunday Wisconsin State Journal papers at a small store front on the way to deliver them. In 20 degrees below zero it was AWEFUL!!! The kids hated sitting in the cars while we loaded the papers into the cars. It’s quite a process to unbundle and unwrap 420+ sections of the newspaper and then reload them into a vehicle … all while keeping a teenager from getting too cold or too wet, or too upset about life in general.
Larry jumped as we ran towards him with the cake!! Yep. He’s officially gotten older today. August 6th. Not quite a half a century… but getting very close.
We are having a “little bit” of a celebration and taking it easy as we celebrate. We have never been much of a party family, but we do like to celebrate people when the need arises. Celebration is fun when it is well earned.
As a matter of fact, we are looking forward to celebrating how well we have done with Project Money these past few months. It does seem as we go back each month, however, there is always more to learn. This past month there was the reminder of watching what came out of our “end of the month” spending. It always seems to catch us by surprise. We wonder if there will ever be a real resolve to that part of our financial “woes”. Something in the bottom of our hearts says … “Keep going” (paying off the debt) and eventually things will loosen up at the end of the month. We are hoping that will be so.
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