![1173785_10201870404062193_1015594757_n[1]](http://www.coffeefreakdesigns.com/teenstotsandeverythinginbetween/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/1173785_10201870404062193_1015594757_n1.jpg)
Wordless Wednesday Flash Back!
Reply
Monthly Archives: April 2014
April in Review
This has been a very expensive and busy month. But I am really pleased with the continued progress we are making toward our goals.
1. Pay off credit card debit by June. Goal MET!
2. Emergency Fund to $2000. none added this month- FAIL
. 3. Groceries: Spend $600 a month- $553.47 for the month. But no meat trip so I expect for the next couple of month to remain around this number. Goal Met
4. Gas: Spend $400 a month with any remaining to be move to Auto fund for repairs. Goal met!.
Blogging: Goal: 15 per month Wordless Wednesday will be 15! Goal met!
Weight: Goal to exercise 3x a week and to be down to 150 by December 2014. Back on track with some extra help from my doctor. Currently down 16 pounds for the year!! Goad met
May is one of the busiest and most expensive month this year so hopefully I can stay on track!
Budget Update for April
I will be posting an overall update for my goals tomorrow but this is a much nicer way for me to keep up with these goals.
Monthly Goals:
1. Pay off credit card debit by June. Reduced amount paid toward this debt this month but still planning to met the goal.
2. Emergency Fund to $2000. No progress this month due to other necessary spending.
. 3. Groceries: Spend $600 a month- I am glad I did not reduce this amount because we have spent $553.00 which did include all the plants for our square foot garden and lots of fresh veggies and fruits!
4. Gas: Spend $400 a month with any remaining to be move to Auto fund for repairs. Matt will need to fill up the van so that will leave around $40 for the month. Next month will include inspection and tags so I am going to roll this $40 forward for the moment.
Short term goals:
These need to be met in April. New Goals for May in Italics
1. Pay the additional $300 for my crown. Currently I have $100 saved and will use my Medflex to cover the remaining after my $400. The dentist has been paid and my mouth is complete for the time being.
2. $220 to cover a business expense for Matt.
3. $100 in our Emergency Fund to stay on track for the year. Now this will include May savings as well for a total of $200
4. $100 for ten bags of rubber mulch for the playground.
I am so glad to see result to these goals! 4/5 met!!!!! I know that next month is looking to be even more expensive than this one but Matt has a new website so that should help balance out some of the expenses.
1. $400 pool dues- moved from long term to needed this month.
2. $200 for music/piano lessons for the girls this summer These will not start till mid June so if can be moved to June if needed.
3. $46 Kids dentist bill
4. $200 for the remainder of our car insurance for 6 months.
5. $ 50 initial registration fee for both girls in Cheerleading.
Long Term Goals: These are for the next 6 months
1. $2000 to repair our septic system- I have no clue of the cost for this but this is a save range. I will be counting our Emergency Fund in this amount for the time being because if it cost less than anything left will stay in this fund. No progress
2. $1000 to replace the floor in our Living room. No progress
Weight Loss 4/27/2014
Check out the 128 calorie salad I made for myself yesterday!
I have been struggling/ignoring/struggling with my weight for my entire life. I will be the first to say that I was never “small”. After each of the kids were born, I would gain 20 to 30 #. However I realized over a year ago that I now weight more than I ever have in my life and that was above the 200 pound mark. I struggled most of last year attempting to diet and even began exercising on an semi regular basis. It was just not working or life happened and I stopped for whatever reason. One of the goals that I have set for this year is to reduce my weight at least to an level that is not considered obese based on BMI scales. I was able to lose weight in both January and February by counting carbs. In March I sort of staled out again.
I recently had a appointment for my yearly physical which in my case is about once every 2-3 years! We discussed my weight and I discovered that I had also achieved the exact same weight loss last year by July but managed to gain it all back. After some discussion I was given Phebtermine HCL 37.5mg. I was also given some pretty specific instruction including this is a short term one time application, I have to report biweekly weight, diet of 1200 calories a day and am to monitor my blood pressure EVERY day. I did some research and I am encountering some of the side effects however I have lost two pounds in the evening! I am excited!! One of the ways that I am currently tracking most of the nutritional information, exercise and water consumption is the :My Fitness Pal app on my phone. I know this will not be easy and I plan to achieve the maximal benefit from this drug so I mostly definitely need to be down in the 100s prior to three months.
After a discussion with Matt, I have purchased several addition things this month including a food scale and lots of green veggies and even some fruit. So I will say that the cost involved is starting to add up so that I am under even more pressure to make this work. But I know long term these cost are necessary! Anyone want to join me?
Saturday April 26…Kendall’s Day of Firsts
We have had an exciting day over here. This morning, Kendall and I attended one of her classmates birthday party. It was held at the local skating rink. Kendall has never skated before and she really did a great job only falling about 10 times during the hour and half that she skated. Enjoy the pictures but don’t miss the big news at the bottom…
This afternoon while eating an apple this happened…
Square Foot Garden
The weather has final decide to allow Spring for at least a few days! So we have spent several hours a couple of evening planting our square foot garden. This year we have added two additional pieces. The middle one that does not have a grid is for sweet potatoes, I forgot to save one to start with this year and have searching at several stories, I discovered that these plants will not be available until May. We are hoping to double our crop from last year! Otherwise we are using a combination of starting from seeds and purchasing plants this year. Hopefully this will be the last year that I have to purchase soil to use in the garden. I don’t plant to add any additional boxes but instead we are looking at eatable landscape.
We have a separate bed for our cantaloupe and watermelon on the back side of the house where there is no shade at all. I was able to start the canto loupe from seed this year so I am really excited to see what we get.
Upfront we have tomatoes (started from seeds pear and beefsteak, cheery tomato plants were brought), squash, cucumbers, cabbage, broccoli (started from seed only one surviving), green peepers, a spicy peeper, dill, cilantro, chives, basil (all herbs from seeds).
We have spent a total of $300 on soil and $60 on plants. This is around $100 more than if we joined a coop but the cost next year will be significantly lower. In addition to cost saving the kids really enjoy this activity.
Finally a couple of pictures….
Wordless Wednesday
Ready for Easter Service!
Cooking Day
The weather here in NC has been less than pleasant in my opinion. I still have several things that I want to get done outside but with the temperature close to 50 and pouring rain, I decided to go a different direction on Saturday. Cooking.
The picture above is one of the 3 pans of pull apart rolls that I made yesterday. After taking a bread making class a couple of weeks ago and realizing just how much of the bread we buy gets wasted, I decided to take the plunge an attempt to make my own bread. I have decided to try this for one month to see if it will work in our life. I do have a Sour Dough starter that I am feeding and making weekly but I also wanted something extra to pull out if needed. These rolls turned out awesome. The plan was to have with our Easter lunch instead the kids all asked for “party sandwiches for dinner” So we ended up using over have for dinner. At least the other 2 pans are in the freezer for now.
In addition to the bread, I was able to make 2 dozen muffins that will work as both snacks and breakfasts with the kids out of school. 5 real meals have been frozen to be heated up during the next several weeks as the end of the school year brings a flurry of activities and things that seem to add to our days. I also made 2 casseroles for Easter Dinner/ Lunch.
After all the cooking today, my plan is to spend a total relaxing day for Easter with little to no cooking involved!
Wordless Wednesday-Landscaping
pretty side of yard bed
New front flower bed
Random Thoughts Tuesday
Hold on tight this weeks seems crazier than normal for me…
-We completed some much-needed landscaping on Saturday in the gorgeous 70s weather, total cost for our front flower bed? $30
– I am still using the ECB I earned at CVS several weeks ago this week, I spent $0.73 and earned another $1.49ECB for 4 2L Diet Cokes, a tube of toothpaste and a box of antacids.
-Our paypal account was hacked into yesterday, I am so lucky to have State Employees Credit Union, because they saw something fishy, I did not lose any money. We had at least 11 different transactions attempted on both our debt cards. The really annoying part is that we cancelled both our debit cards so have very limited access to money at this point.
-The weather over the weekend was awesome, in fact we have used neither heat nor air for over a week now. Tonight the temperature is supposed to drop below freezing…I am hoping this is the last time!
-I am going to miss Lily awards day on Thursday and her class presentation due to a computer training that is required at work! Double YUCK!
I NEED a vacation!!!!!!