Good things to come... I hope.

This will be a short post. Hopefully there is SOMEONE still following me, although I'm not counting on it. I would be interested to know how many people actually read this post, so please comment below!

We're two-thirds of the way through the year and what a year it has been. I haven't been sticking to my resolutions hardly at all and our money situation tanked a couple of months ago. We did get some good news last month though: unknown to anyone, my dad had life insurance and quite a bit. If ever to have a plan as to what to do if you got a windfall of money, now is the time. Thankfully, we agreed on a plan very quickly.

We've paid off the credit cards, one car, financed a better one for me for not much more money, paid off medical debt, lawsuits, past-due property taxes (long story), and several other things. We've only had the money for 3 weeks now but have been paying things off so quickly that the bank account has dropped significantly. It's an uneasy feeling to see it drop that much that fast but I know that it's for good reasons.

The even better thing is we are able to pay off A LOT of stuff AND have 4-6 months worth of expenses in savings! This was a situation that we had a goal of but never though would happen this quickly. So in the next few days I will be updating all of the progress bars.

So I have a question: do you have a plan for a windfall?

The half-way mark!

This year has sucked. Totally. Since my last post, almost 2 months ago, my grandfather has also passed away. He became very ill suddenly and had passed within the week. We will miss him but at least he is not suffering anymore. He had been on dialysis for 13 years, had several tumors on his bladder, heart problems, and several other ailments the last 10 years.

I'm doing horribly at my New Year's resolutions. So an update:

1. Storage space: Since my dad's passing we've had to keep it because I acquired so much stuff. 
2. Working out: I haven't worked out except for twice this year. Next week (or maybe this week) I'm going to start going to Zumba!
3. Alarm: Still not getting this but I'm not hitting snooze for an hour either. 
4. Sleeping late on the weekends: I'm doing really well here. Aside from being sick I haven't slept in past 9am at least one day each weekend.
5. Encouragement: JD is doing okay here. This weekend he's going to do something with a friend. Sword fighting!
6. Buffer: We were well on our way but then stuff happened and JD didn't get a bonus this month and last month's bonus was not what is usually is. We're back to the starting point again. 
7. Credit Cards: We're using them and then paying them down normally within 30-60 days; I'm okay with that.
8. YNAB: I haven't gotten into YNAB in several month. I know, bad me. 
9. Learn something new: I've learned how to build a website based on WordPress.org!
10. Plant a garden: We've done a lot of yard work the last 2 months and it's looking pretty good. We have 3 raised beds in our backyard and have a total of 47 food-items either in the ground or going in. We're so excited. We already have some tomatoes forming!
11. Monthly house project: Due to the lack of funds we haven't really been doing this. I will be having a garage sale the first weekend in June and I will count that. 

I'll update my bars later this week.

No creative juices

I have been in such a funk lately. I have not had any desire to write, blog or even read. The past couple of weeks have been boring to say the least. As of a couple of days ago, I have decided that I'm going to do anything I can to get out of my current job. My mom sold real estate for almost 15 years and I was always right alongside her and loved every minute of it. Ultimately that is what I want to do.

I would also like to really get my consulting business going. JD and I both do marketing and web consulting but not independently. I want to do it independently but JD doesn't really except for maybe a couple of side jobs every once in a while.

I think at some point I'm just going to have to quit my job because until then, I have the security and comfort of knowing that it's not a big deal if I don't get something else going.

Have you just jumped into something without a solid plan before? Did it work out? Why or why not?

Google Reader, continued.

Two weeks and 3 days ago, I posted about being really behind on my daily blog-reading. The 289 that day seems like a far off wish as of today. Today I'm at 653. With everything that's happened the last couple of weeks I have not been keeping up with my normal routine. 

How am I tackling it? Instead of reading in order I'm reading by blog. And yes, I will read ever post that have missed. The blogs that I follow are there for a reason. They are supportive, informative, and/or funny. I need them. They give me mental and sometimes emotional fuel to keep going. 

Check out my blog list at the bottom of the page. Who knows, you might find just what you've been looking for...

Finer Things Friday: Memories

"Don't cry because it's over, be happy because it happened."

This is my new motto, for now at least. I found this last night and it fits my current situation perfectly. I am sad over the loss of my father, my mom, my grammy and my poppy; all of whom I have lost in the last 6 years. 

My grandmother was first, then my grandfather (both my mom's parents, but they were divorced). I spent most of my childhood at my grammy's house because both of my parents worked 40-60 hour weeks. I was very close to her and I have many, many wonderful memories. When she made me practice piano I would adjust the timer so I had less time, thinking that she wouldn't realize it; she never said anything. Now that I am a parent I laugh at and appreciate her humor in the situation. 

My poppy came and went during my childhood. He was a loner and traveled a lot. He never had much money, if any at all and at 2 points during my childhood came to live with us for about 2 years each time. He finally settled down in Idaho several years ago (we live in Oklahoma) and only called every month or so. Finally his landlord called my mom and told her that he was doing very badly so we convinced him to come "visit" and the plan was to just move him here. His landlord agreed to ship us his stuff after he got here. She was very nice. 

So what is my finer thing today? That I have a lot of wonderful memories of my parents and grandparents. That my children are old enough to have at least some memories of my parents but young enough to not remember how much it hurt when they were gone. That I have a wonderful, supportive family including all of JD's family. 

I made a vow on the day of my dad's funeral which was also my mom's birthday, to keep in touch with all of the family friends. I don't want the loss of my parents to be the reason that I don't see or talk with any of them for the next 5 years. There are friends of my dad's the he has known since elementary school. They all live here and they are all very supportive but until 3 weeks ago, I couldn't have remembered what name went with  what face if my life depended on it.