We Are Credit Card Debt-Free!

Hey everyone, I just had to make sure and tell you that as of this moment...

WE ARE CREDIT CARD DEBT-FREE!

Elliott has been working very hard the last couple of years to pay down our cards and work with companies where we got behind on payments.  But as of May 1, 2012...

WE ARE CREDIT CARD DEBT-FREE!

(Did I say that already?) 
We started our journey with almost $50,000 in credit card debt.  One card alone had over $25,000 and another was maxed out at $10,000.  In the end, after working with credit card agencies we paid $20,000 over the last two years, including an increased tax bill this year.

AND NOW WE ARE CREDIT CARD DEBT-FREE!

We are not quite ready to call into the Dave Ramsey show, but we are getting awfully close.  We still have our van loan (though we are in a good place because we could sell it today for more than we owe), student loans (combined Elliott and I have alot) and a small 401K loan (which we took out to cover the tax bill). 

We are now excited to be looking to the future.  We intend to have the van paid off this fall while paying off the 401K loan through an automatic deduction each paycheck.  And saving, saving, SAVING.

Although we are not in a hurry to buy, that does seem like the next horizon.  Since we short sold our house in Las Vegas, we are not eligible to rebuy until we are two years out, which for us is this August.  But that is only with 20% down and we don't have that.  So if we wait for another year we only need 3% down, which will be much more doable.  This is if we even want to buy at that time.

We have decided that we want our next home to be our "forever" home.  Of course life can change and we may end up having to leave it due to job change or something, but we don't want to buy thinking we will leave in 3 years.  We got burned on our condo in Boston, we got burned on our house in Las Vegas.  Obviously the market has not been in our favor in our home buying adventures.  So we don't want to have to factor the market into our decision.  If we buy with the intent of never selling, it doesn't really matter if housing prices go up or down - because we aren't selling.

So that's the game plan. Save, save, SAVE.  It's so freeing to see how much progress Elliott and I made by working together and keeping each other accountable.  And it's so freeing to know that the future is set for at least another year and a half, allowing us to enjoy the peacefulness for a little while.

BECAUSE WE ARE CREDIT CARD DEBT-FREE!

{Pinterest} Recipes

One thing I have learned during my time using the Pinterest website – I am a visual person.  Duh!  OK, so I already knew that, but one of my favorite boards is my Recipes board.  Just having pictures only a glance away makes trying new recipes easy-peasy.  Here’s a few news ones that I have tried – and liked – recently.

Chipotle Chicken Taco Salad

The creaminess of the dressing was uber-yummy (sour cream makes everything yummy, doesn’t it?) and I do love a good dinner salad.  (Kinda like a good sandwich for dinner.)  I used the prescribed amount of chipotle pepper (just a bit) but the dressing definitely had a kick; I wouldn’t serve it to people or kids who are spice sensitive.  I think this would be really good tossed with the Café Rio dressing too.   

Man-Pleasing Chicken

Well, I think this pleased my man, ha ha ha!  The combination of Dijon mustard and maple syrup was fabulous (I also love rosemary), and finding another way to cook chicken pieces (which seem to be universally on sale) was awesome.  I can never have too many of those.    

Mongolian Beef

I made this for dinner one night, accompanied by scallion pancakes and it was to die for.  Seriously, it was so tasty I licked my bowl (I really did!)  And the recipe couldn’t be easier to make.  I used a cut of beef tenderloin because that’s what I had on hand, but I think it would be good with just about any type of beef you had on hand.  Definitely a keeper!

Enchilada Sauce

One night I wanted to throw some enchiladas together, but didn’t have any enchilada sauce on hand.  In this day and age of finding anything I need on the Internet, I just hopped on and started digging around.  I ended up with this recipe, which I threw together and used with stuffed tortillas that night.  It worked beautifully.  No need to buy canned enchilada sauce anymore!

Schooling

Lily and Ava are still rockin’ it in preschool.  Piper can’t wait to go next year – and tells Mrs. Lockwood anytime she sees her.

Lily is doing very well writing her name and her letters.  Here is her latest homework, the letter Z:

Ava’s homework has been so much more difficult than I would give her – but she’s doing it!  I always ask Elliott “can you believe she knows that?”.  Here’s a few examples of her latest schoolwork:

She knows that “-ion” sound and the “-eigh” sound.  Tons of sight words and vocabulary rules are now filed away in that little brain of hers.

At preschool they don’t do much math work, so I bought her a preschool math workbook for Christmas.  It was so easy for her, so I upped it by looking at the math for Kindergarteners – which was also too easy.  So I printed out some first grade math worksheets for her to work on.  This one was a fill in the blank with numbers 1-100 (plus a lot of doodling along the way).  She did it all!  She would get tired and I would say to just take a break since it’s supposed to be fun.  She would, but then would always come back.  (She does still write a lot of her numbers backwards, but Mrs. Lockwood says that’s pretty standard for all preschoolers.)

Can you believe this book she brought home from preschool with her on Tuesday?  I couldn’t!  I was even more blown away when we sat down and she read it to me (with very limited help).  Any words that she got stuck up on I would remind her of the vowel rule which applied or remind her it was a sight word.  Other than that, she did almost all of it herself.  I can’t even express how impressed I am.  Since she’s not even in Kindergarten!
On that note, last night Elliott and made the official decision to homeschool Ava next year.  Mrs. Lockwood is very supportive and a great resource, along with neighbors and friends that have also homeschooled.  I have a good idea what type of curriculum I will be following, but am looking forward to the Utah Home Educators Association annual conference in Provo in June to hear and learn even more.  Aside from everything else, I feel like this is truly a Holy Spirit led exercise for me and that I too will grow tremendously by devoting myself more wholly to my calling as a mother and nurturer, dying to self each day.

Feels Like Summertime

The weather around here these past few days has been in the 80’s.  It is set to get a bit colder in the upcoming days, so we are soaking it up while we can.

The girls have been having free reign of the front yard and have been taking full advantage of it for sidewalk chalk and riding their bikes/scooters. Last year they were just a little too little to be out there by themselves, but this year they all stay where they are supposed to (for the most part, though Lily went rogue twice yesterday and has lost her bike privilege for today).  Elliott even came home the other day to find me sitting in the front yard with Emma, just hangin' with all my girls in the lovely twilight cool.

They have been making friends with all the little girls their age and have been asking to go to their houses (Is this when this line of questioning starts? Oy vey!) which I usually decline, though last Saturday all three spent the majority of the afternoon at the neighbor’s.

Sunday Emma decided she can sit by herself now, and has had no problem ever since.  Although she finds the feel of the grass a bit unnerving, she likes to sit and watch and be part of the action.

Gardening here starts a bit later, but due to the unprecedented warmth alot of people have started theirs already. We put in our seeds last night but will wait a few weeks for the tomato plants. Our lettuce is already up (I planted some in February) and the strawberries we planted last year from Elliott’s parents’ starts look great. Lots of little flowers there, so hopefully a nice harvest. Even the berry bushes on the side of the house and the rhubarb are lookin' good.

Year #33

Sunday April 22 I turned 33.  Supposedly this will be the best year of my life.  I don’t know, they have all been pretty amazing lately!

Elliott and I celebrated with a night out the Friday before.  His sister Rachel watched all four girls (!) for us, part of her Christmas present to us last year (one free night of babysitting).  I wanted to go to The Cheesecake Factory at the new City Creek Center in downtown Salt Lake City, but by the time we got on the road I knew that between traffic, parking, and popularity/newness combo of the restaurant we would be looking at a long long time until we ate.  So we decided to pop into the location closer to our house.  I figured it would still be a wait, but at least we could shave some commute time off. 

When we got there it was really busy (always is); in fact, there was a line to put your name on the waiting list!  I scanned the bar for open seating and snagged two seats (one of the side effects of the “bar scene” in Utah: the fact that there isn’t one).  Score!  I am pretty sure I had my appetizer order in before I would’ve even been able to get my name on the waiting list.

I had my normal – calamari to start and Chicken Madeira for dinner.  Elliott doesn’t really have a “normal” but went back to a favorite, the Factory Nachos.  Of course we finished it off with cheesecake – Red Velvet for me (cake and cheesecake combo, delish!) and Peanut Butter for Elliott. 

Now that we were thoroughly satiated, we headed on up to City Creek.  Can I just say that the first thing I noticed when we pulled in to the parking garage was how clean it was.  The second was that it still smelled new!  Ha ha ! When have you ever smelled (or seen) a clean parking garage?  The place is still so new (less than a month old I think) it hasn’t had time to get dirty yet.

Elliott and wandered through the open air shopping center, pausing in a few stores and watching the fountains (same people who created the Bellagio fountains created the City Creek fountains).  The mall shut down at 9pm, so we headed back home to relieve Rachel and call it a night.


On my actual birthday I got up early with the girls (I was already up, so I didn’t kick Elliott out of bed as I had threatened to do) and relaxed around the house during Emma’s morning nap, even going out to tie up some berries branches.  When Emma got up at 12:30 we went to Golden Corral for their brunch buffet.  Except apparently it’s only a breakfast buffet from 8-11am and we missed it.  I was so disappointed I could have cried (I did a little).  But I felt bad for being a baby, so we stayed for lunch anyway and I mustered up what breakfast foods I could find (biscuits and gravy, sausage, and donuts – healthy eh?).  Everyone else had a fine time and the girls loved having donuts at lunchtime.

After lunch we hit a few stores (Target and Old Navy) since I was trying to find some t-shirts for the summer, but had no luck and the kids were still burning off their sugar high despite a 40-minute trip down to Provo.  After shopping we went to a park near MommaKay’s house that had a large swingset and pond with ducks.   Perfect, except the swings were occupied, the ducks were apparently full and not interested in the bread we brought, and the weather was ridiculously hot!  What the heck!  I was pretty grumpy by this point and just wanted to go sit in the coolness of grandma and grandpa’s house and drink ice water.  So that’s what we did.

That night we had a family BBQ to celebrate my birthday and Sarianna’s birthday (hers was April 18).  We grilled out and the weather (by this time) was gorgeous.  Momma Kay even made me a Red Velvet cake, my favorite.  Sitting outside in the cool breeze made my take a breath and relax and realize how blessed I am.  I think it will be a darn good year!

10 Things You Might Not Know About Me

Every time I read an US Weekly (yes, it’s my guilty pleasure) I always read the piece where celebrities tell “Things You Don’t Know About Me.”  I have always thought “how do they just come up with these things?”  I am sure I have odd quirks but when put on the spot to come up with them, I blank.  So, in honor of my birthday and just for the fun of it, I started writing them down to see how many funny things I could come up with.  Some of you may know them, some of you may not.  Enjoy!

1. I simply can’t put more than one stick of butter in a recipe. It just seems like too much fat otherwise. Although I have no problem eating food with more than one stick of butter.
2. I hate when people spell words with a “K” rather than how they are supposed to be spelled with a “C”.  Examples: kreative, krazy, skool.
3. I like to get the mail first and I get really annoyed if anyone else reads my mail first, like flipping through my magazines.
4. I sleep with earplugs.  I used to have to sleep with a fan on, so I think this is an improvement.  I also can hear the first cry from children even through the earplugs.  Elliott, who doesn’t sleep with them, won’t wake up until after 20 minutes of crying.
5. I have to make the bed before I can get into it.  If it’s midnight, I will still make it – and then get into bed.  Nice smooth sheets.  Ahhhhh!
6. My least favorite chore is cleaning the high chair tray.
7. My favorite chores are folding laundry and snapping green beans; they can both be done sitting on the couch, watching TV.
8. Although I read all types of books, I prefer to read non-fiction books.  My most recent favorite are Unbroken and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.
9. Given a choice of candy, I will always choose the gummy candy.  Sour gummy worms?  Yes please.
10. I can play the piano by sight reading music, but not by ear.  (Elliott can play by ear though, so we make a good pair.)

Life in Pictures

Wanna see what Elliott and I eat every weekend?  Ha ha!  Homemade hamburgers with our own local beef (we bought 1/2 cow last year) on local hamburger buns with Chipotle Sweet Potato Fries.  (This particular night I also made sauteed mushrooms per Cook’s Illustrated – to die for results.)  Better than ANY restaurant ANYWHERE.


I picked up this extra tall stool at IKEA recently and I love it.  Now Piper can reach the sink with no trouble.  Before, the little stepstool we had still didn’t get her head much above the counter.


After a rough night last week I put Lily to bed at 6:25 and plopped Ava and Piper in front of Discovery Channel’s Frozen Planet while I put Emma to bed (Elliott was working late.)   When I came out both girls were still watching.  15 minutes later this is how I found Piper – sleeping sitting up, snoring.  Easiest put-to-bed that week!


Flat Stanley came to visit us for a week; he especially enjoyed his time playing with Emma at the mall.


Emma also found a boyfriend at the mall.  He was so cute and wanted to keep giving her kisses.


During Lily’s sleepover last Friday the rest of us went to IHOP for dinner.  The Balloon Lady was there and we splurged on a treat for Ava and Piper on the way out.  Both were in love but Piper especially was ecstatic.


One of the girls’ favorite hobbies is borrowing the camera (with permission) and taking photos of things in their world.  Most of the pictures are pretty blurry, but these shots Ava took of her sisters really turned out:


Sisters playing together:


Inspired by my friend Holly and how she bathed her baby (duh Sarah, why have I never thought of this?!) I put Emma in the big bathtub this week:



Ava loves to write stories these days.  And her spelling is hilarious!  But she uses phonics just like she was taught, and because I that I can usually read what she is trying to say.  Here's a small example:

Once upon a time __ wolf named Ella.  Ella planted a seed and the seed grew and grew.


Can you read it too?  She wrote a whole story, with several additional pages about how the seed grew into a tree and the whole wolf family lived underneath.  The end.

Happenings

:: Tuesday Piper ran around the house shaking her fist toward heaven, hollering like an 80’s TV evangelist “Praise the LORD”.  It was hilarious!  I thought about stopping her, but knew she wasn’t doing it to be flippant so I let it ride.

::  Wednesday, after Bible Study, Lily melted down on the ride home.  By the time we got home she was a mess.  She threw a fit when Ava (as I asked her to) tried to unbuckle her.  I finally unbuckled her myself but couldn’t coax her from the car amidst her tears.  She said she was tired of walking.  I reminded her she hadn’t walked anywhere yet.  When she finally decided to exit the van, she threw herself from a seated position on the edge of the doorway to the floor of the garage, like a paraplegic would fall from a wheelchair.  I couldn’t believe it!  Then (of course) she cried cause she hurt herself.  But then she proceeded to “flop” around the garage, crying and saying she couldn’t stand up.  I didn’t even know you could throw you legs out from under you, but I am here to tell you – apparently Lily can.  I watched it and tried so hard not to laugh.  And amazingly when I started a countdown to lunch disappearing she was able to suddenly find her legs and walk inside by the count of ten.

::  We went and hung out at IKEA again last Friday.  I have figured out the system and I love it.  After I dropped of the girls for 90 minutes, I picked up my free coffee and plugged in my laptop to edit my blog book from last year.  I am gonna get so much done this way!

:: Flat Stanley came to visit us last week.  Truth be told, I didn’t really interact with him too much for the most part but during our outings on Friday we brought him along.  After IKEA we ran some errands (cheap Easter candy at Target) before going to play some more at the University Mall in Orem.  Afterwards we dropped Lily off for her first sleepover at Grandma’s house (you have to be 4) and headed home.  Man, it is crazy how much quieter and easier it seems with just one less child!  I felt the same way when Ava had her sleepovers.  Anyway, we took the rest of the family to IHOP for dinner (kids eat free after 4pm).

:: Lily was so jazzed for her sleepover at Grandma’s.  I realized after I dropped her off I forgot to give her a big hug when I left, but as soon as the car pulled into the driveway, she was out and inside, pulling out toys to play with.  She did manage to break away long enough to wave goodbye to us though.  Grandma reported that she was a sweet girl and Lily told us all the fun things she did – painted her nails, rode the big swing at the park, ate waffles for breakfast, went to Costco and got to try samples then ate a hotdog for lunch.  I’m sure there were also lots and lots of cuddles, hugs and kisses in there too.

::  Saturday we were to collect Lily, so we decided to meet halfway at Cabela’s in Lehi.  We had never been before, but Momma Kay said they had an aquarium and lots of stuffed animals.  She was right!  And the girls loved it!  What a fun time.

{Pinterest} Parenting Edition

I don’t have any sort of “Parenting” board or anything on Pinterest, but I usually “like” a pin to bookmark it, and then I will go back and read it when I have time.  Here are a few things I have been reading, in case you are interested:

Chapter Books For Younger Children 
  

This is a wonderful list, full of great chapter books that are appropriate for me to read to my girls.  As I perused the list I felt very humbled.  I think I have read one (that’s right, ONE) series – The Little House on the Prairie.  Man, I have some catching up to do!

Favorite Books for Girls

Yet another list of wonderful books that I am woefully behind on introducing my girls to.  (We did read a couple from the 3-year old list, so maybe I’m not as behind as I thought.)

Chore Ideas for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Not only did this blogger’s post have a great write-up, I got so many other wonderful ideas from reading other mommy comments (as well as solicited advice via my friend on Facebook).
I am actually going to use the bulk of ideas not for everyday use, but for special “extra work”/punishment-type activities.  I wrote out the chores on large popsicle sticks and if one of the girls needs a punishment, I have them draw a stick.

A Better Bedtime

This author’s idea – to let the children decide their own bedtime – was a shocking idea to me at first glance, but as I read the article I realized that it is in essence what I already do with the two older girls, with a few tweaks.  It has some good ideas and I might try and start doing them with Piper (because she comes out of her room all of the time after we put her to bed.  We’ll see…

31 Biblical Virtues to Pray For Your Children

I came across this pin via my Bible Study friend Stephanie.  I love it!   I have been wanting to keep some sort of framed printable on Emma’s nightstand, so that at night, as I am nursing and rocking Emma to sleep I can focus my quiet time with the Lord.  I think this will be a big help (along with several of Stormie O’Martin’s references.)

March Updates {Life Via Facebook}

March 2
Emma's gag reflex kicked in BIG TIME with the broccoli I just tried to feed her. Needless to say, she's not a fan. She digs asparagus though, go figure.

March 3
Trying to figure out the opposite sex - Lily: "Do boys like longnecks?" Ava: "Some of the boys in my class have dinosaur t-shirts, so I think so..."

March 4
My almost-Leap-Day baby Lily is four years old today! She is most excited to reach the milestone where she can now go to sleepovers at Grandma's house. That and her favorite waffles I have planned for lunch. But wait til she sees her cake tonight!

March 5
"You already ate your dinner Ava, you're doing awesome." I'm doing better than awesome actually. "Oh you are? What's better than awesome?" Amazing. (Okey dokey then!)

March 8
I had thought about asking for the new Lady Antebellum CD for Christmas; I didn't. So I thought about asking for it for my birthday. Well HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY to me - the album download is only $.25 today on Amazon. Yeah baby!

March 9
For those following me on Pinterest, you can tell I've been investigating making my own version of Bum Genius cloth diapers. Well, just so happens JoAnn Fabrics now carries a whole line of special fabric for just that purpose. Guess I have no excuse now, huh?

OK, so I know I JUST got done making a sewing room downstairs, but I have been inspired by fellow bloggers (and encouraged by my hubby) to turn the empty front room into my sewing area. I will be able to take advantage of natural light and keep an eye on the kids better. Since I have a slew of sewing projects coming down the pipeline, why not?

March 12
To-do list today: register Ava for Kindergarten (where did the time go??), watch the new "Footloose" movie and go on a walk to collect little twigs for Elliott to use in his new fire pit so we can roast marhsmallows tonight.

March 14
Trying to remind myself hospitatity isn't about how clean the house is. I SWEAR it was SO clean yesterday afternoon. Then dinner happened, then sidewalk chalk happened, then bathtime happened....

March 15
Lily: Leprachauns are Amish, right mommy? Me: No, I don't think so. Lily: No, I mean the leprachauns TALK Amish. (Took me awhile to figure out she meant IRISH.)

March 17
So, I messed up and kept telling the girls St. Patrick's Day was Sunday. And now Ava is very glad to have one more day to perfect her leprauchan trap and Lily is glad she has an extra day to find her green baseball t-shirt. I intend to keep this ruse up ALL DAY. Do you think it will work??

Our new babysitter just called to see if she could bring Play-Doh for the girls. Um, YES! (We might have a keeper.)

March 18
My grandma would be so proud right now - Lily is enjoying "Lawrence Welk" right now, dancing around the room while Emma is getting such a kick out of watching Lily.

March 19
Making homemade gnocchi. YUM!

Emma was rockin' the beret at church on Sunday. (Picture courtesy of the teenage girl who was watching her in nursery, texted a pic of Emma to her mom while at church "because she's so cute" and I just had coffee with her mom - "was your daughter the one with the hat?" LOL)

March 20
Well, safety scissors are STILL scissors. Piper just took a chunk out of Ava's finger. Lovely...

Just spotted a can of refried beans in the pantry. I am gonna change up my whole menu for tonight just cause refried beans sound good. Ha ha!

March 21
I am working on a list of chores that the girls will get to choose when they do something naughty. Any suggestions from other mommys?

March 22
Poor Ava seems to be allergic to *something* that's blooming right now and it's making her entire body break out. I have no other answer (no new foods, places, or detergent). We've been doing oatmeal baths, Cortaid all over followed by hypoallergenic lotion and finally Benadryl, which kicks her butt and makes her pass right out. So the upside is bedtimes are alot easier right now.

March 24
Bought a 9 ft Christmas tree at a garage sale today. Now only if my ceilings were 9 ft tall. Hmmmm......

March 26
Was spontaneous today and took the girls to see the otters at the aquarium. Gosh darn it, are those little critters CAH-ute!

When Piper has to pick something: "Inny minny, inny moe."

I admit it - I am enjoying reading "The Hunger Games". Today Ava saw me with the book and said "hey mom, I saw a movie of The Hunger Games, I bet you would like it!" (Isn't she sweet?) Glad to have jumped on this bandwagon (Can you imagine if I hadn't read "The Help" before everyone else and then refused to jump on that bandwagon what I would've missed? That's a sad thought.)

March 27
Guess who's cut TWO teeth this week? And she's never been fussy! What a doll.

March 28
Reason for Food Storage #231: When you burn all the cookies for your preschooler's VIP Day tomorrow, at least you have a stockpile of fruit snacks.

March 29
WHAT, no breakfast buffets on Friday mornings? Las Vegas spoiled me.

March 31
Some more garage saling steals today, including to new gDiapers (what I use with Emma) for $1 each. Oh yeah! Also a whole bag of clothes for Ava for summer/fall for $12 and three pairs of summer sandals for me for $1 each.

Elliott's new Smartphone has me feeling a teensy bit jealous. And behind the times.