i resolve to be intentional in 2011

Do you ever feel like you're doing too much "stuff" and not getting done what (1) needs to be done and (2) what you really want to get done?  I feel like I've been in this rut for the past year.  I hate to complain too much about it because I'm doing fun things with my time, but these fun things aren't necessarily what is most important to me.  Curious?  Well...I play on a tennis team.  If you have ever played team tennis you know that it's fun AND it's competitive.  AND....it can be a bit more expensive than what one would like.  I enjoy tennis, but I've gotten to the point where it's taking up too much of my thought process.  I plan my week around lessons and matches.  If one of those days gets rained out then they have to get rescheduled.  So...something that I wanted to do (like go to the gym, go to lunch with a friend, take a walk, try out a new Farmers Market, etc.) all of a sudden gets bumped due to tennis.    You can see why I've not complained too much about this...it seems a bit petty.

Here are some things that I've neglected this past year and I'm taking a stand in 2011 to do my best to make some changes.

#1 - Our Finances - We continue to be debt-free (except for the house), which I'm very happy about.  But...we lost some momentum in saving money in 2010.  We were able to get several things accomplished (like getting our wills completed and getting the correct amount of life insurance for me and my husband), but we didn't save near as much money as what we would have liked.

So - after years of wanting to do this, I'm finally taking the Financial Peace University classes at our church.  Classes start this Sunday!  I think starting off the year with this class and having people to hold ourselves accountable to, will really help get us back on track.

#2 - My health.  I have struggled with this for the past couple of years.  My health is okay, but my weight is higher than what it should be. I need to lose 15 pounds.  We purchased an elliptical and home-gym and my goal is to exercise.  Note that I didn't say "exercise more", as I'm not really exercising at all now.  (I don't count tennis as exercise...)

I've also started going back to my Tuesday Weight Watcher meetings, and my husband and I have agreed that we need to eat more "clean foods" and drink less wine during the week.

#3 - Things that bring me peace - Often times I feel selfish doing things that clear my mind.  Whether it's taking a walk through the woods, scrapbooking, or sitting on the back deck and reading a good book.  Since I'm not being productive while doing these things, I rarely take the time to do what really makes me happy.  This year I'm changing this.  I realize that I can't do these things 100% of the time (or even most of the time) because our laundry would never be clean, the house would be a wreck and my children wouldn't ever be fed.  But still...I REALLY like to scrapbook and when I'm wanting a "break", wouldn't my time be better spent scrapbooking than playing Internet Spades on the computer?

This is enough for now.  I'll be playing less tennis in 2011, and focusing on what is truly important to me in my family.  As a result, I expect to be much more INTENTIONAL with my time.  And with that said, I'm now going to get on the elliptical for 30 minutes, as tennis was rained out today.

project 365

I have been spending some time dusting the cobwebs out of my mind and really think about the priorities in my life.  I'll be pack to posting...soon!  In the meantime, I've started a 365 project.  Many bloggers have them and I have been envying those who do, as I LOVE to take pictures and do so almost every day.

If you're interested, check it out steady plodding 365!

so what have we been up to?

This has been a year of "getting things taken care of".  In February 2009 we became debt-free, minus the mortgage.  In February 2010 we had our Emergency Fund fully funded.  We'd halted saving for retirement for 2 years as we paid off debt and saved for emergencies.  This year we started saving again for retirement.  Just 6% going to retirement...I'd like to get it to 15%.

So, what did we work on this year?  Planning for our deaths.  NOT a fun topic.  We worked on our Wills and Life Insurance policies all summer long.  It was really a downer, but something that truly needed to get done.  I really didn't know ahead of time how depressing it would be to plan these things.  For our Life Insurance policies, we're assuming that DH gets hit by a bus today and is gone.  How much is needed for us to continue as we are now?  Well, more than we realized since our children are still young.  It's always been important for us to have me be at home with the kids...this would still be important to us if DH was no longer living.  We have a wonderful advisor who really helped us come to an agreement on the size policy that we needed.

The Wills were tough too, but not quite as depressing.  It's awful to think about me and DH passing at the same time and trying to decide who would take care of our boys.  After quite a bit of praying and thinking, I think we made an absolute wonderful decision.  I pray that we never had to use our named guardian, but I certainly will feel better next time DH and I travel together without the kids.

So, while we were not as aggressive with our savings this year as I would have liked to have been, we did get some very important things taken care of.  I'm very glad that these things are done and behind us now.  And with that, I can sleep much better at night.

plans for today

I have a little one home sick today so I'll be tackling some of my things to do that are here in the house....such as:

*Working on 2011 budget
*Hemming a pair of khaki pants (this has been needing to be done since April!!!)
*Tidy up craft room
*Clean off desk
*Get out stuff to scrapbook my oldest's past school year (needing to be done since May!)
*Wrapping a couple of Christmas gifts
*One load of laundry!

What's on your to-do list for today?

christmas cards

For the past two years I've spent way too much money on Christmas cards.  Even though we were working to become debt free and to build up our Emergency Fund, spending money on Christmas cards was one area where I splurged!   I normally purchased a designer brand 5x7 Christmas card where I could add my own picture to the front.  On the inside of the card, I had our names pre-printed and then would have a collage made up of our favorite pictures from the year and attach that to the inside of the card.  All said and done, our cards would be about $3-$4 each.  And that didn't include postage.  With 125 or so friends and family who we send cards to, that really was adding up.

After last year, we decided to scale back on how much we were spending on our cards.  I thought about not sending cards at all.  I thought about sending only 50 cards.  But...I have been spending some time working on projects at Shutterfly (that I'll share in a minute) and saw that they have some really cute cards that are very affordable!  After seeing what a great selection that they have this year, and seeing how much money we'll save by switching card companies, we've decided to order Christmas cards through Shutterfly.

I'm not sure which family picture we'll use, but here are some of my favorite designs.

What do you think?

Now I mentioned that I was working on some other Shutterfly projects too.  If you remember, we went on a award trip to the Dominican Republic this summer with my husband's company.  One of the awards given to the winners of the trip was a digital camera.  Everyone took pictures while they were on the trip and then the pictures were eventually shared with everyone.  But that was it.   They didn't go into frames and they certainly didn't go into an album.  Now...we usually give Christmas gifts to my husband's boss and another executive that works with DH.  I decided this year for Christmas to make and give these two families (both were on the trip) a photo book from our vacation.  It turned out great and was easy to do!  In fact, I think that each year I'm going to make and give them a photo book of our annual awards trip.

My other project that I have been working on is a 2011 calendar for each set of grandparents.   I've given them calendars for many years, but didn't realize how much they enjoyed these until I didn't give one to my father-in-law last year.  The day after Christmas, he asked me if I had made any and if I had extras because he'd like one.  He said it was his favorite gift each year.  So...I made sure I made one for him this year!

I was excited to get so much of my gift giving taken care of at Shutterfly.  Now, I just need to decide which Christmas card I want to order and which family picture I want to use.  As much as I already love Shutterfly, they sweetened the deal by giving me 50 free cards for this post. And since our Christmas card list has more than 50 people on it, I will be ordering even more cards from Shutterfly. Are you a blogger? Would you like to get some free holiday cards or invitations? Just go here.

i'm still here...

...just been reading more than posting!  But...it's November now and time to wind down the year and start thinking about goals for the New Year.  I've been busy with "busy work" and haven't been making a priority of  more important things.  I've spent the last several weeks clearing out the clutter and cobwebs and am ready (after 4 months...) to get back on track and taking care of more important things!  Stay tuned!

home sweet home

Home from vacation!!!

We had back to back vacations this year.  One week in Punta Cana without the kiddos and then one week on North Captiva Island WITH the kids.  Needless to say, we had a GREAT time and came back with some brown skin.  It's been 4 years since we've had a long vacation with the kids (where it was JUST the 4 of us) and we had the best time.  Lots of fishing, shelling and island hopping.  And...a little bit of relaxing.

Now we've been back for a solid week and the laundry is caught up and we've made it through the long 4th of July weekend.

One thing that I wanted to do this summer and that we just started working on last week is eating FRESH and LOCAL food.  We're lucky in the fact that we're kinda in the country so finding roadside farm stands is pretty easy.  We're on the search for the best farm stand this summer.  We stopped at 6 last week alone...we had a "tomato tasting" between 3 of the stands!  Anyway, it was a great week back and we had fun shopping on the "outer aisles" and farm stands and getting some really good, local fruits and vegetables. I'll post some of our menus and recipes another day.

Another thing that we're focusing on this summer is driving less.  We live in a golf cart community and are able to get anywhere within the city limits on a golf cart.  Since Memorial Day, we've had 20 days where we've only driven the golf cart.  I'm hoping that we can get the number to 40 by Labor Day!

Anyway  -  this is a short post.  We're on our way to the swimming pool (in the golf cart...) and the kiddos are waiting.  Just wanted to check in and say that I'm still here (or that I'm back from vacationing...) and am looking forward to sitting down and catching up on all of my favorite bloggers posts!

suntanned toes...

...tickling the sand. 

Cold drink chilling in my right hand...

We're headed to the Dominican Republic this week for our "work vacation".  I call it a "work vacation" because it's an awards trip paid for by my husband's company.  Be back in 5 days! And did I mention we're kidless this week?  Woo Hoo!!

Nothing to do but breath all day until the big moon rises and it's time to play...

a letter from mr. president

For my Grandmother's 92nd birthday I requested and received a Happy Birthday note from President Obama.  I didn't know that you could request a congratulatory note from the President for special occasions until 2001 when I was pregnant with my youngest son.  I requested a note after his birth and received one from President and Mrs. Bush.  My second request for a special note was this spring when I requested the letter above for my grandmother.  I sent my request in February for her April 12th birthday.  The note didn't arrive on time, BUT it did arrive during her birthday month.  I was very excited!!!  Two requests...two notes!  Not a bad record.

So, how do you get a VIP note for special occasions?

Here's the info...

The White House will send greetings to U.S. citizens only for special occasions, as outlined below.

• 
  
  Advance notice required.  Your request must be received four weeks in advance of the event date.  Every effort is made to honor every request, but there is no guarantee of a greeting if this guideline is not met.  (Greetings generally are not send after the event date, except for wedding congratulations and newborn acknowledgments.)
• 
  
  Anniversary greetings are extended only to those couples who are celebrating their 50th (and subsequent) wedding anniversary.
• 
  
  Birthday greeting cards will be sent only to individuals 80 years of age or older.  A special card is sent for those who reach 100 years of age.
• 
  
  Other greetings: A limited number of special occasions other than birthdays and anniversaries exist for which the Greetings Office will send appropriate recognition to U.S. citizens.  These include:

1. 
   
   Wedding (send your request after the event; include couple's married names)
2. 
   
   Baby's birth.  Send request only after baby's birth, include baby's date of birth, and full names and address of baby and parents
3. 
   
   Eagle Scout Award
4. 
   
   Girl Scout Gold Award
5. 
   
   Bar/Bat Mitzvah or equivalent occasion

The following information much be included in your request:

1. Name and home address of honoree(s)
2. Form of address (Mr., Ms., Mrs., Dr., etc.)
3. Exact date of occasion (month/day/year)
4. Age (birthdays) or number of years of marriage
5. Your (requestor's) name and daytime phone number
6. Any specific mailing instructions if other than to honoree's address

Send your request to:

The White House Greetings Office

Room 39, Eisenhower Executive Office Building

Washington, DC 20502

When should you expect your greeting?  "In most cases, greetings will be mailed from the White House approximately 10 days prior to the event.  If you have made a special delivery request, every effort is made to honor that request."  (Note...It took 4 1/2 months to receive my note after my son was born, and then I received my grandmother's note the month of her birthday)

So - next time you need to send a unique gift to someone consider requesting a letter from the President.  I think it makes a great memento (regardless of your political affiliations)!  The notes are free and if you wanted, you could frame for the honoree to hang on his/her wall! 

grocery game update

$447 worth of groceries!

...and I paid $210!

I've posted before about the Grocery Game and how much I love it!  This past week there were some great sales that I fully took advantage of.  Take a look!  Probably the one thing that will stand out most is how much processed food I bought.  Yes...there is a lot.  I stocked up on crackers, Fiber One bars and cookies for our vacation.  We're spending a week at a beach house and are taking almost all the food that we'll need.  At least half of what was purchased is for the beach.  Some of the snacks are for my kids for when they fly to see Grandma at the end of this week.  They're flying by themselves and I want them to have a few snacks for the airplane ride.   

And, I guess the post wouldn't be complete without a picture of how I'm able to save the money.  Coupons!  I always wait and get the Sunday paper on Sunday night or Monday when the store has combined 2 papers for a lesser price.  I'm able to get 2 papers for $3 instead of 1 paper for $2.  When the coupons are exceptionally good, I'll purchase 4 papers for $6.

$237 saved.

an intentional summer

Yesterday I mentioned a blogger who wrote about having an Intentional Summer.  Here is a link to the posts by Rebecca at Turned Loose.  If you haven't already, take a look at it when you get time!

We're on Day 11 of our summer.  Here's what we've done so far intentionally...

Day 1 - Family Night.  Grilled hamburgers & hot dogs.  Played board games with the kids.
Day 2 - Watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off as a family. 
Day 3 - Drove into "the city" to get fishing stuff for our vacation.  Ate lunch at the kid's favorite drive-in.  My oldest son had a friend sleep over.
Day 4 - Went to a Memorial Day party/cookout at a friend's house.
Day 5 - Went on a Night Hike in our woods and caught lightening bugs.
Day 6 - Went swimming with friends
Day 7 - Went to a country Farm Stand and planned dinner based on what looked good at the stand.
Day 8 - Went to pool until it started raining.  Kids got to have pizza for dinner--hubby & I got to have sushi...everyone was happy! 
Day 9 - Went to see Cheap Trick in concert at our town's amphitheater.  So much fun!!!
Day 10 - Took boys fishing at the lake.
Day 11 - Football camp.  My oldest son rec'd his airsoft gun that he'd ordered (using his own money) & spent the day in the woods having target practice.
Day 12 - Repeat of Day 11 only adding some tennis in there for me!

We live in a golf cart community so we've been trying to have days where we're "golf cart only" and don't drive our car.  So far this summer we have 7 days of only driving the golf cart! 

So that's it so far! We're in prep-mode right now getting ready for our vacations. The kids leave Thursday for Grandmas. Hubby & I leave Monday for the DR. Then we all get back next Friday/Saturday and leave Sunday for our family vacation.  So the next couple of days our intent will be getting ready to go (for the most part -- I bet we can throw some fun in there too)!!!! 

m.i.a. --- school's out --- summer's here ---

Missing in action...that's been me!  I can't believe I haven't posted anything in almost 2 weeks!  We've been busy wrapping up the school year and beginning our summer.  School got out for us the Friday before Memorial Day.  So...that last week of school was jammed packed with fun things happening at the school.  It also was the start of football season in our neck of the woods!  Yes...football season!  Lucky for us our family LOVES football, so passing out pads and helmets and having football tryouts the last week of May sounded like a great idea to us!  :)  This week the boys are in football camp each morning!

We're into our second week of summer now and we've been having a great time.  Somewhere I read about a blogger who is having an Intentional Summer.  I'll have to go back and find the posts that I read, so that I can link it.  When I read the bloggers posts I thought it sounded like a great idea.  How many summers (or ANY breaks from school...) do we have a mental list of all the fun things that we want to do, only to the week before school starts to realize we've accomplished nothing on our mental list.  This is what I want and plan to avoid!

I asked my boys some of the things that they really wanted to do this summer.  The requests ranged from having a lemonade stand to going hiking up in the mountains.  All were fairly inexpensive outings that will make some wonderful memories.

So...we're having an Intentional Summer this year.  I'll find the blog/post so that I can link it, and I'll share with you what we've been doing so far!

tainted muffins

In order to get my kids to eat healthy, I sometimes have to be sneaky about it.  In fact, sometimes I flat out lie to them about what ingredients are in their food and why their food sometimes might look different.  And, you know what?  I have no problems lying about this. 

After reading over at Premeditated Leftovers about how ground flax seed could easily be substituted for eggs and/or vegetable oil, I decided to try it and see if I could sneak it into my kids diet.   I first tried Blueberry Muffins.  Well...these weren't a hit with my kids.  Not because they didn't like the way that they taste, BUT...because they didn't like the way that they taste.  Turns out that they just don't like Blueberry Muffins.  Well, my husband and I love Blueberry Muffins so we were happy to eat them.

I remembered that my kids LOVE Chocolate Chip Muffins. I made these next.  I turned these into a healthier version by substituting the 3 Tablespoons of oil with 6 Tablespoons of ground flax seeds.  My oldest son asked why they were darker than normal and I said that they are made with some whole grains.  (The flax will make the batter a little bit darker making it look wheat instead of white.) They LOVED these muffins!

So - In the future, I will continue to taint our muffins and will be branching out to cupcakes and cookies and anything else I think I might be able to sneak a spoonful of flax into!  Try it for yourself if you haven't already...you're in for a treat!