To Spend or Not to Spend....

I'm going to start by giving you a little bit of background....

I grew up at a very young age. When I think back on my childhood and growing up, I can tell you that I remember worrying about important issues more than going out and having fun. Money was always a concern in my family growing up. I remember my mom basically balancing the checkbook down to zero. There were times when we had no idea how we were going to eat or how we were going to fix our car, or even if our car was going to work another day. I learned to make do with what I had and I too took on my mother’s concerns of our well being and financial issues.

Growing up that way had its advantages. I learned to not take things for granted. I also learned how to save and shop sales and deals and that if I didn’t have the money for something that I wanted, that wasn’t a necessity, that I needed to work for it and save until I could buy it. I also learned to know the things I should pay full price for and of course, everything you want will eventually go on sale. My sister is not one to shop sales. At least she wasn’t before she had her little one. There was a sweatshirt that Jen and I both wanted. She bought it right away and paid $40 for it (it was a Gap hooded zip up). I waited a few weeks and paid $10. :)

In addition to its advantages, it also has disadvantages. I’ve learned to be pretty frugal. I’m more of a saver than a spender. I do love to spend and when we have the money, I love spending it, but I prefer to save. Saving is a safety net for me. Having that money there as a back up literally makes me feel safe. I would rather put money into savings or additional on to a loan to pay it down faster...to better my situation. Because of this...I've never really truly had fun. It's hard for me to spend drop a lot of money all at once. I spend it little by little, eventually equaling up to the same amount that I would spend at once, but that seems safer to me.

So, here is my predicament....our tax return. Every year we put it towards our bills and savings. We never spend it on anything fun. The problem is, we really need to play it safe, but we are getting tired of not living life....me especially. So, should we spend it on something fun, or should we play it safe like normal and hopefully, some day, get to the point where we can live a little...???

I'm Back...

So, I'm back in the blogging world. I have realized what my problem is....I'm very rarely on the computer when I'm at home. So, here I am, making a promise to myself to log on at least long enough to tell about my day or life happenings. I'm not saying I'm going to be on here every day, but I'm going to push myself to blog at least once a week. Cross your fingers..... :)

Let's play some catch up:

I've been trying to think of big events in my life since my last full blog....and it has been hard to pick them out. It has been a year since my last post and I'm sad to say that nothing really exciting has happened. We have moved into a house, a rental, but at least it's not an apartment. Having a back yard and a neighborhood to take walks in is awesome. The house is super cute and perfect size for us. 1442 square feet of fabulous living. :) Hailey has a room that is twice the size of what she was in before and Michael and I have a room that we can actually move around in AFTER putting a king sized bed in it. The only downfall of the house is that the neighborhood is in the middle of a construction project that's been going on for quite some time and will continue until November. At one point, every way we could possibly go from our house to town we'd hit construction. Luckily some of the other construction is done, or put on hold, so we have some way to get to where we need to go without it taking twice as long as it should. It is annoying though.

Hailey is enjoying preschool as are Michael and I. We still think it's the best move we've done for her. She's learning a lot and has made some great friends. Michael works for Les Schwab downtown. He enjoys it, for the most part. I think he mostly enjoys the people. He has always been a people person...so this job fits him.

Michael and I just celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary. I can't believe it has been 5 years. It's amazing how fast time goes by. The weird thing is, when I think back on the day of our wedding, it seems like forever ago, however, when I think about it being 5 years of marriage, it doesn't seem that long at all. Michael and I spent the weekend in Woodinville, WA. I know, not that exciting, but it was nice and relaxing. We went to the Chateau St Michelle winery and did their free tour and tasting. It was a lot of fun. They have my favorite Riesling. We planned on going to a few more wineries, but by the time we were done with the tasting at Chateau St Michelle's, I was done. Hahaha! I'm a lightweight for sure, cheap date. It was a great weekend.

It's such a beautiful day out...so we are going to head outside for a bit. Chat soon!

Coming Soon.....

I'm going to attempt to blog again. We'll see how it goes. So.....expect something soon!

=tasty tuesday=

Beef Stew

Prep: 5-10 minutes
Cook: 45 minutes

1 lb stew meat
2 small beef bouillon cubes (or 1 big one)
1/4 tablespoon oil
2 cups water
flour
salt
pepper
1 small sweet yellow onion
1 small bag of baby carrots
1 can diced tomatoes, italian style, undrained
1 can corn, drained
1 can green beans, drained.

Preparation: Cut stew meat into bite sized pieces. Salt and pepper to taste then dredge in flour. Slice onion and cut baby carrots into 3rds.

Directions:

1. Heat oil in bottom of stew pot. Place meat in pot and brown.
2. Once meat is brown, pour in water until it is just barely covered (about 2 cups). Add carrots, onions, can of tomatoes and beef bouillon cubes. Cover and simmer for about 30-35 minutes.
3. Add can of corn and green beans, simmer for 5-10 more minutes.

We love this recipe! It is so easy and makes a large pot of food. The three of us can eat off of it for a few days...or we can feed a large group of about 5-6 people. LOVE IT!

=grumpy=

It's been hard for me to blog lately. Not really sure why though, but I haven't really been feeling it. I want to...and I get ideas about what to write about...then I just don't. I don't have access to this at work and that's when I tend to be on the computer. When I'm at home, I don't really do anything. The weekends, I rarely even check facebook. I just don't. I'm lame...

I don't have much to say other than I'm grumpy, Hailey is in bed, Michael is out with a friend and I have nothing to do. We only have a few channels now and I guarantee there's nothing on...so I think I'll get comfy, make some tea and either read a book or watch a movie. Not sure, but I'm kind of looking forward to my time to relax by myself. I don't get that very often. It's funny, when Michael worked UPS, he was never home and this is all I did....evenings were to myself and I hated it. Now, I long for it. Weird. Not all the time, just occasionally. Hmm...

Well, I'm off. That's it for now. I leave you with possibly one of the cutest pictures of Hailey taken this year...


My beautiful baby girl....she's so gorgeous!

Gavin

That’s right; my 3 year old has a “boyfriend” at preschool. His name is Gavin. I realized that they were really good friends several weeks ago when he would come running up to the door in the morning when I would drop Hailey off. He would come and say “you’re my friend right?” I come to find out that they are more than friends. Gavin’s mom said that he talks about Hailey ALL the time! Preschool had to tell them to save their hugs and kisses for family. Hahaha! I love it! Apparently Gavin hugs her so tight that she can’t get away and he plants a kiss wherever he can. I have asked her if she kisses him often and she said no, just Gavin. Lol…so I say, only on the cheek right? She said yes so I gave her the lecture of not kissing him on the mouth. J

The other day I got a phone call from preschool telling me that Hailey fell down during playground time and had a pretty good size bump on her knee. She was fine, so I let her stay and play. I ask her about it later that night. Here is our conversation:

Me: “your knee feeling better sweetheart?”

Hailey: “yeah”

Me: “how did you hurt your knee Hailey?”

Hailey: “I was running from Gavin.”

Me: “oh really?”

Hailey: “yeah, he kissed my ear.”

Hahahaha! I love kid romances! It makes me think back on my first “boyfriend”. I was 2 and he was in my Sunday school class with me…his name was Drew. I always used to say “he’s my boyfriend, but he doesn’t know it..

We better get our shot gun now....

=yummy chicken=

Happy New Year everyone! Hope 2010 is treating everyone well so far!

So, with the new year comes eating healthy for both Michael and I. I'm excited, I love healthy foods but never bought them much. But now I have an excuse. I have been receiving emails from Eat Better America for a long time but had not tried anything until tonight. Let me tell you, it was AWESOME! So I thought I'd share.

Honey-Glazed Chicken Breasts

6 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
1/2 cup Orange Juice
1/2 cup Honey
2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
1/4 teaspoon Salt

• Heat oven to 375 degrees, grease 13x9 inch pan with olive oil cooking spray. Place chicken in pan.
• Mix orange juice, honey, lemon juice and salt in a small bowl. Pour over chicken.
• Cover with foil; bake 20 minutes. Turn chicken; back uncovered 20-30 minutes longer or until the juice from the chicken runs clear.

I served this with rice and asparagus. YUMMY! Michael took a bite and said "oh my gosh!" When I asked Hailey if she liked it she said, "It tastes like candy." She's cute.

So, there you have it...a great, EASY chicken recipe that is only 260 calories per serving (40 from fat). Not too shabby.

I'll post again soon with a few pictures from Christmas and New Years Eve.

Off to bed! Night!