Sunday, November 23, 2008

Dave Ramsey. . .

I went to the meeting the other night. It was great! I learned a lot. I also learned I had missed some really useful things in the classes prior to this one. So, I am trying to find another session going on so maybe I could get in on the start.

This really got me thinking about my families financial welfare. I know it is not about money but I do want my kids to be able to go to school and not worry about student loans. I found a book at the Drug store not long after I had been to this class with Beth and it was a Woman's point of view on finances. She also takes the Christian approach like Dave does. She talks about how there are no dumb questions when talking about your money. That made me feel better. I feel I ask dumb questions sometimes but even Dave said if you don't understand ask. I am going to get Dave's book to read next. These are not the kind of books you can read at the pool or beach side either. I have been carrying around my calculator and note pad the entire time I have been reading this other one.

I sat down and totaled up our spending for one month and gee whiz, we have a lot of work to do. It is not anything we can't do though, we just have to set our minds to it. Now, naturally Christmas is not the time to be trying to do this. But, we have to start somewhere and as the saying goes, "there's no time like the present."

I like that both Dave and Ms. Castleberry approach saving with a Christian perspective. Because when people start trying to save or if the economy is bad they cut out their charitable giving. If you don't believe me look at our food banks today. They are begging for food to be donated. But Dave's plan has a place to build your wealth and still give to your Church and other Charities that are in desperate need today.

I am going to pull on your heart strings a little today. Don't forget to donate to your local charities, they are in desperate need for all those that are less fortunate than we are.

This is my public service announcement for the week.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Who Knew???

Who knew my Husband was in vogue? I don't mean the magazine either. I did a brunch show last week with great success. All of the ladies were talking about Dave Ramsey. In case you do not know him, he talks about saving money, getting out of debt and doing it all from a Christian stand point. One of the big things is not to have a credit card and not to use one if you have one. This is where Mark comes in.

When I first met Mark 17 years ago he was loaded. HA HA!! No, not really but he had more money then than he has now. He blames that on me of course. He was single living in a one bedroom apartment no payments of any sort except regular monthly things. He also did not have a credit card. If it was up to him he would not have one now either. His philosophy was if you did not have the cash in hand you didn't need it. I came from a different philosophy, this is not my parents way but it was the young 20 somethings way. If I wanted it I got it and I had credit card debt from when I was in college and not working because of it. Mark hated credit cards and refused to have one. He was very tight and still is to a point. When he changed jobs he had to get a credit card for his work. This was a tragedy to him. We dated and of course married within a year and I worked two jobs to pay off my credit card debt. I worked in a lab third shift and then worked the lunch shift in a local restaurant as a hostess. Nobody laugh!

I am interested in hearing more about Dave Ramsey. I hope there will be a class near by to attend in the future. I did some research on him on the net and he has a solid plan to get out of debt. Marks' sister has his book and I hope she will let me borrow it. She said it is really good and a lot of it is common sense.

Who knew my tight wad husband was in vogue. HA HA!!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

30 minute Chicken...

Pampered Chef has a 30 minute chicken recipe for the microwave. I have been reluctant to try it because chicken in the microwave just does not sound good. I never had the nerve to try it. Well, last week we had our meeting and that was one of the recipes our group had prepared. It was wonderful. It was so moist and tasty. I decided I would give it a try. I went to our local meat market, which by the way is the best, I picked up a chicken. I asked the gentleman behind the counter if it had the guts in it like the turkeys do. He said he thought they did. So I decided if it was only going to take 30 minutes that I would wait on Mark and let him take the guts out. HA HA!! I don't like messing with raw meat at all. So when Mark got home I asked him to get the guts out. He peered in the chicken and said, "there is nothing in there." I said oh, ok then. I rinsed the bird and placed it in my PC deep covered baker. I rubbed it down with olive oil and mixed a seasoning together of paprika and some other things I cannot remember right now. It said you were supposed to tie the legs down. Well, if any of you have read my blog or know me you know that I don't always follow the directions in the recipes and I did not tie the legs down.

I put the bird in the microwave on high for 30 minutes. When it came out I checked the temp. to make sure it was done, the juices were clear. When I took it out the little legs were standing in the "It's a hold up" position. That was funny. So I guess I should have tied the legs down. The bird was done and looked pretty good too.

We all sat down and Mark carved the bird. It was really juicy. I loved it. Mark even liked it and he was skeptical.

If you would like this recipe go to the PC website and look under recipes or email me and I will send it to ya.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Poor Thomas. . .

On Thursday at 4:25 (of course) Thomas comes running in the house screaming his head off. I just assumed it was the typical screaming of the day. When I rounded the corner he was covered in blood. He was screaming and crying so that I could not understand what he was saying and he was covered in blood and I could not tell what was bleeding or where he was hurt. He was obviously hurt. After getting some of the blood cleaned off of him I finally realized he was bleeding from his mouth. Ok, I can handle that. Why is it that mouth and head wounds always bleed as if they have severed an artery? I guess the blood vessels are so close to the surface. Of course with mouth injuries you add the saliva and that makes it look worse.

Once we all had calmed down I found out he got hit in the mouth with a stick. He had a bad spot on the upper part of his gum and a small hole between the gum and lip. I was somewhat concerned about the hole so I called the doctors' office. I told them what had happened and asked it they might need to see him. They said to bring him on. So off we go at 4:45 to the doctors' office. Don't you know they love frantic mothers at 4:45 in the evening.

Thomas was all to pieces. He does not like the doctor especially when he thinks it might involve a needle of some sort. He calmed down on the way to the office but, once we got out and started across the parking lot he went to pieces again. This did get him plenty of sympathy from the office though. The nurses just ohed and poor thinged him as we went to the exam room. The doctor came in and asked how he was and again he went to pieces. Thomas did not want to let the doctor look in his mouth. Finally after some quick talking the doctor was able to access the situation. He said, "you could argue it needed a stitch, but I am not going to do it."

So Thomas and I both sighed with relief and the doctor told us what we needed to do for the next two days. He said mouth wounds heal quickly. Thomas could not have anything crumbly for two days. He could only eat soft things like yogurt, pudding, and ice cream. He could have eaten mashed potatoes and mac & cheese but Thomas won't eat that on a good day. He had to rinse his mouth after every meal too.

He still has a little hole up there but he is eating solid food. It is healing though, thank goodness.

We made it through Halloween without incident. Thomas went as the black spiderman and Jack was a crazed doctor with his inerds hanging out. They looked pretty cool.