DIY Toy Storage - Upcycled Diaper Boxes

Christmas has left us with an abundance of toys and a shortage on storage space. We have a small house that quickly feels claustrophobic with clutter. And I like things to be tidy and organized. I went to Walmart yesterday to see if they had any baskets or totes that would work. The cheapest one was $20 and didn't look so great. So it was off to the interwebs to see if a more frugal solution could be found.

I found several tutorials for making canvas bins out of diaper boxes. Perfect! We have a million diaper boxes hanging out in the garage, and I actually had a canvas drop cloth out there too. I waited for DD to take a nap and then I got started. I read through several tutorials to get an idea of the process, and then changed things a bit. Mainly because I didn't want to get out the sewing machine to sew a basket liner. So my baskets are completely canvas covered.

No-Sew Canvas Bins

Materials:
Diaper boxes
Hot glue
Canvas drop cloth - or another sturdy fabric, approx 1 yard.
Tape measure
Scissors
Box knife
Iron

I started out with an empty box. Using the box knife I carefully cut off the top flaps and set them aside to use later.

Next I glued the short flaps inside the bottom to cover the gaps. One piece had to be trimmed to fit on my box.

Note: At this point I thought I might decoupage the outside of the box so I first covered it in white copy paper. Then I got impatient and decided to cover it with the canvas instead. So from this point on my boxes are covered in white paper but its a completely unnecessary step!

Now its time to measure the fabric. Here's where my tutorial starts to differ from the others. I didn't want to sew a fabric liner so I needed to have the fabric cover the outside and the inside. I thought the easiest way to do this would be to have two large strips - one to run length-wise (approx 11' x 52 '') and one to run width-wise (approx 18'' x 44'').

I set my box down on the canvas and measured allowing .5'' room on the sides to overlap. Once my strips were cut I ironed them smooth.

Then I began to wrap the box, starting length-wise. I turned the box over and started on the bottom. Centering the fabric, I began on one side and glued down the fabric, stretching it tight and pressing firmly into the glue.

 

I glued the bottom first, then each of the sides on the outside. Lastly I finished up by tucking the fabric inside and gluing it down. Don't worry about making it meet the bottom edge exactly. You want a bit of fabric left on the bottom of the box. It will be covered in the end.

Then I went back and glued down the sides, being careful to cut and tuck the corners to get them as smooth as possible.

For the next piece, I folded over the edges to get a nice, smooth seam and ironed it to keep the strip straight and uniform.

Again starting on the bottom in the middle, I began gluing down the fabric. Run the glue all the way to the edge and press firmly for a nice, tight seam.

Glue the bottom, outside walls, and then the inside. 

Almost there! This is what the box should look like once it's fully wrapped

 For the bottom, I used the two long flaps to make an insert. You could tape them together, but I was too impatient to go find the tape. It works fine without taping. Measure a piece of fabric to cover the flaps.

Glue down the fabric, stretching tight to get a smooth finish.

Now tuck the insert into the bottom of the box. It should be a snug fit. Press down well in all corners to secure it.

And that's it! This would work with almost any kind of fabric. A great way to reuse those diaper boxes (or paper boxes, or any other kind of box you may run across). DD has a bookshelf in her room that is just waiting to get some new bins! For now, I am thrilled to have the toys contained in the living room :)

2013: Steps to the Goal

$24,500

That's the amount we need to pay off this next year. WOW! Its more than double the amount that we managed to pay off in 2012, and about ten times the amount we paid in 2011.

That comes down to $2042 per month. So how are we going to get there?

1. Regular monthly payments account for $644-650 (depending on interest).
2. DH is bringing home a pretty steady income now. That will account for at least $1,000 per month.
3. The remaining $400 is going to have to come from extra wiggle room in our budget or extra cases from DH.

Precious posted today about her grocery budget. Ooooo, that is one area we are notoriously bad about. I hate to cook and DH loves to go out to eat, so most of the time we end up going to grab something or we order in. If I do go shopping I usually don't have much of a plan so we end up with random bits and wasted food.

Last year I bought an eMeals subscription. There was a Groupon or Living Social deal to get the whole year for $29. I tried it for a couple of months but then got lazy :( Now that I have the plans, I am going to recycle them for this year :) Each week contains a menu with 7 meals and a shopping list organized by section of the grocery store. The meals are quick and easy to cook and DH loves them (which is saying a lot since he's pretty picky). Not only do we need to save money, we need to eat healthier and start eating together at the table as a family now that DD is getting older.

The sad thing is, I think we could make up most of that $400 just by cooking healthy meals at home and avoiding takeout. It costs us around $20 for fast food and $40 for a sit-down restaurant. I can make a meal for us for about $8.

2012 Looking Back and 2013 Looking Ahead

Just like every year before it, 2012 has been full of ups and downs. But overall I am thrilled with where we ended up :)

Job: I got a promotion in July, still working on the same team I joined last year. I love it! We will be moving office locations soon so my commute will increase, but overall no complaints.

House: We got bad news from the realtor earlier this year so for now we are staying put. But our cozy little place is working well for us now. We've not had any more scary incidents around here lately so that's nice.

DD: Wow, has she changed this year. She turned 1 in July. It seems like every day she's turning into more of a little person with her own likes, dislikes, and opinions (boy, is she opinionated!). Now she's starting to pretend play with her dolls. So funny to watch her act out things like changing diapers, getting a bath, or getting ready to leave the house. Hopefully its good "Big Sister" practice :) She is in love with Minnie Mouse and will talk to the TV when Minnie is on (and generally ignores the TV any other time). She loves to wear her cowgirl boots but won't let me keep barrettes or hair ties in her hair. Consequently, she usually has dirty bangs.

DH: We had a rough start to the year, but we worked through things and our relationship is solid. DH is kicking butt at work and finally starting to make some real money. I am so proud of him :)

Debt: this year was a big one. We ended up with a payoff of $11,547.06. Considering 2011's total paydown was $2,374.15, I would say we did a great job. Most of the payoff was due to DH bringing in big checks. I am hopeful that 2013 will see even more progress.

For 2013 we really just have two goals. But they are LOFTY goals!

1. Have another kid

2. Pay off remaining credit card debt. $24,500

The first goal we really have no control over. It could happen right away or we could be in for a long journey. Who knows. But we did get the all-clear from the Dr. and we are doing things to help boost our chances.

On the second goal, most of this will have to be accomplished by DH. When he gets paid on large cases, the goal is to start hammering away at this debt. Then, if we have time, we will start savings for maternity leave and insurance deductibles. Whenever we find out for sure that a baby is on the way the savings will get bumped up in priority.

Here we go! Good luck to everyone for a great 2013 :)

TWW

Its been soooooooooooooooo long.

Torturous.

And only one freaking day into it.



I am so not going to make it!




Good thing we have the holidays to distract me. I picked up 5 pregnancy tests at the Dollar Tree tonight for my POAS habit. The girl behind me looked at me like I was a nut. Probably because I am.

I like control. I like to know exactly when things are going to happen. And TTC takes all of that away from me. There's nothing I can do to make things happen any faster than they are going to. I am employing the use of every old wives tale that I can find just to make myself feel better but I know the reality is that I have no control over it. And that freaks me out.

Thanks, Murphy.

I got the new Galaxy S3 for my Christmas present. We got the $50 Black Friday deal :) My phone came in two weeks ago and DH let me activate it early. I love it! Last night I was helping DH wrap some presents for his friends. I left my phone on the couch and DD was trying to be helpful and bring it to me (she loves it when she finds my phone somewhere - she knows she is not supposed to touch it, but she can't get in trouble for playing with the phone if she is bringing it to me, right? Smart little bugger). As she was bringing me the phone she tripped and fell on our hardwood floors. Thankfully DD is ok - but my phone is not. The screen is slightly cracked and the display will not work. DH took the phone to the Sprint store last night and they confirmed that it is beyond repair. Thankfully I had purchased the insurance on the phone, so for a mere* $150 they will be sending me a new one.

There goes any savings from getting it at the Black Friday sale! I am thankful that we didn't get it at full price to begin with. I went ahead and spent the extra $20 for an Otterbox to put the new phone in.

Last week I went to the dentist for my semi-annual check-up. Somehow I have managed to crack one of my back teeth :( I have to get a filling, and if that does not hold, I will have to get a crown. Insurance will pay for almost half of it but I have to pay the other half on Tuesday.

Nothing like spending an extra $300. I am just thankful that this year we have it to spend. And very thankful for insurance!

*Is it just me, or have those deductibles gone WAY up? I swear it used to only be $50! 

*ETA - My dentist ROCKS! From the time I left my office to the time my butt was back at my desk was 30 minutes. Granted, the office is just two buildings over, but still. She did a great job, did it fast, I had no pain at all, and it looks like this filling will be enough to prevent me from having to get a crown. YAY!

Crawling to the finish line

Friday is payday. After this there's only one more payday for the year. I can not believe 2012 is almost over!!!
 
I just updated our numbers. We went backwards quite a bit here at the end. I knew we would  The good news is that we still have paid off almost five times as much this year as we did last year. Great progress! I am excited to see what 2013 will bring. DH has some big cases that have been submitted and we are just waiting to see how long it will take for them to process. So the checks are coming soon, we just don't know if they will come at the end of Dec or the beginning of Jan.
 
The focus for 2013 will first be to open up cash-flow. There are two debts we have that are just over $9,000 together but represent $450 in monthly payments. The goal is to knock those out as soon as possible and use the cash to snowball on to the 0% balance transfers. If all goes according to plan, we could retire all CC debt in 2013. This part of the journey could finally be over, six years after it started!
 
From there our focus will shift to saving up for a new house. We still have a car payment & student loans, but the interest rates are really low on those and we want to be in a new house as soon as possible. Tenantive timeline is spring 2014 unless something works out sooner.

New Year, Big Decisions

We have almost made it through 2012. Not going to lie - our checking accounts are a mess right now and the CCs went up a smidge. Its no where near the mess that 2011 was, though, and plans are solidly in place for 2013. We will make it!

DH surprised me last night with a conversation about goals for next year. I have been ready to start trying for another kid for a few months now, and I keep asking him to talk to me about it. DH never really wants to talk through what he's thinking about, he just keeps telling me that he's not ready to entertain the idea and he does not know when he will be. So I had given up on it being an option for 2013. Kind of made me sad since I wanted our kids to be 2 yrs apart (especially since we both want 4-6 kids, having come from large families ourselves). I will be 30 next year and I don't want to push things off too far. Last night DH said he would be ready to TTC in January!!!! Um....ok.

Now that he's given it the green-light, I am starting to panic a bit. We have to figure out a new daycare configuration since MIL is not up for watching an infant and a toddler. With that comes an increased cost for daycare (adding in the new kid + paying more for DD). We also have diapers, possible formula, and other misc baby costs. If we have a girl we can reuse most of our things, but if we have a boy we will need to buy or borrow a new wardrobe. DD is still sleeping in the crib, so we would need a new toddler bed or a new crib for baby (or baby can sleep in the PnP for awhile). We will also have increased insurance costs, utilities (although slight), food, etc. We will have to save up for maternity leave and insurance deductibles.

We had set out a plan last week that would pay off ALL of our CC debt in 2013. All $24,000 of it. A kid is going to easily add on $10,000 more to save up.

And then there are the what-ifs: what if I get pregnant with twins? What if we have a baby with special needs? While both are rare occurrences statistically speaking, we could not financially handle either option at this moment.

So while I am excited that DH has given it the green-light, and I am anxious to give DD a sibling, I now have more goals to knock out before I feel comfortable moving ahead. I want to see where we are in March and then we can go ahead. Unfortunately, that puts us on the Dec/Jan line for delivery which could mean paying OOP max for two years instead of one for insurance purposes.



Dang it. Why can't this decision just be easy?

Heartbroken :(

Last week my heart hurt. This week its broken :(

A friend from HS has an adorable little family. A boy (4) and a girl (2). Last year she found out she was pregnant with twins, but lost them in the first trimester. She found out she was expecting again this spring and everyone was so happy for her! She has a scheduled delivery in five days, she had just ordered an embroidered stocking for the baby, and had just received the crib bedding. Pictures went up on Facebook of cute profile shots (from the ultrasound) where baby quickly got the nickname "Baby Button-nose". They were keeping the gender a secret until the delivery.

Yesterday she went in for her last appointment before the scheduled delivery. Instead, her world came crashing down. They received the devastating news that their baby had passed away, just days before she should have been born.

Today my friend goes in to deliver her daughter. They've named her for her maternal grandmother (who just passed this year).

I stayed up most of the night crying and praying for my friend and her family. I can't even begin to imagine the pain they are going through.

So today I pray for them. I pray for a safe delivery for my friend. I pray for comfort and clear minds as they spend a few, very very precious hours with their daughter. I pray they will be able to remember how she looks, how she feels, and hold and cuddle their baby and let her know how much she is really loved. I am thankful for professionals trained to help in times like this - helping the family to capture these moments with pictures and mementos.

And I mostly pray for them as they have to hand their daughter over and leave the hospital, knowing they will never again get to hold her in their arms. I pray for strength as they return to their home without her, as they guide their other children through this time of sorrow.

--------

My Heart Hurts :(

Today we went to a funeral for one of DH's co-workers. A nice young man with a daughter the same age as our own. Funerals are never fun, but they are especially difficult when it is someone who still had so much of life ahead of him. At the service his daughter noticed the slideshow of pictures they were playing. She got a HUGE smile, pointed to her daddy, and said "Dada!!" I just lost it :(

This song has been playing in my head since I heard it on the way home:

Even if the healing doesn't come...when life falls apart...and dreams are still undone...God is still good.

DH and I talked about why bad things like this happen. I truly believe its a natural consequence of the world we live in. People get hurt, people get sick, and people die. I don't think God desires for us to experience this kind of pain. But its part of who we are - we are fragile, human beings that live in a dangerous world. Sometimes miraculous healing happens, sometimes it doesn't. But God is still faithful even if things don't go our way.

My head knows this. But tonight, my heart hurts.

Darn you, 4th Quarter!

So much for my prediction to pay off $15,000 this year. We will be lucky to end with $12,500 paid. There are still 3 more pay periods and 1.5 months of payoffs to count.  Still, when I look back to 2011 and see that we only paid off $2,374 in an ENTIRE YEAR, $12,500 seems like amazing progress! Because it is. Our total payoff over the last five years has been $25,891.93. ALMOST HALF JUST THIS YEAR!! WOW!

After the shuffles, we are down to nine TOTAL accounts (including student loans & car). When we started this, we had more than that in just credit card accounts! I am hoping first quarter of 2013 brings two more zeros to that list but we will have to wait and see. Although we didn't completely pay off the four debts we focused on for 2012, I am changing focus for 2013 to our three balance transfers (since they are 0% for 18 months). Here's the current list:

BT #1 - $1,418.23
BT #2 - $4.944.00
BT #3 - $7,210.00

We will attack these in the order listed, from smallest to largest. The second BT is at the same bank as our main checking. I plan to snowflake any extras straight to that account. I think that will really help us clear the debt quickly.

Doing the shuffle

DH and I are getting soooooooooooo close to the end on these credit cards. We are down to four from an original 9. Lately I received some great 18m 0% BT offers so we are doing some juggling around to take advantage of them. It will be nice to just have three cards left! Here's what it looks like:

Offer #1:
$4,800 (taken from Disc) + fee = $4944
Remaining $738.80

Offer #2:
$7,000 (taken from Citi) + fee = $7210
Remaining = $621.00


Offer #3:
Remaining balances from Disc and Citi = $1451.06

The goal is to tackle these in order of their balances. I am very hopeful that we can make some decent progress on these cards since the interest will be 0% for awhile. Its going to save us $100 in interest each month!

After five and a half years of working this down, its nice to see the end in sight. We should be able to make some good progress once the first of the year hits - bonuses and quarterly payments, plus any tax refunds, will help knock this out in no time I hope :)

Time to Hunker Down

Here we go, again. Sad that we have to go through four more years of this, and completely disillusioned with our two-party system.

As to how it relates to our family: insurance premiums are climbing while the actual coverage is declining. I am not sure when we will actually be able to have another baby - but hey, at least the birth control is "free" LOL! We are also preparing for our taxes to go way up next year. Which means more deductions and less take-home pay. But hey - maybe we will finally be eligible for principle reductions ;) I wonder if Obama will keep pushing DeMarco to do that, or replace him altogether, or if he forgets all about it and goes on to something else. That's my bet.

While I am disappointed, its not like the world is ending just yet. We will get there - our goals and dreams are just going to have to get pushed back, again. Its really frustrating to keep working so hard and feeling like we are going no where. But now its time to hunker down, keep paying debt, socking away money, and getting ready as best as we can to ride out this next financial collapse.

And the universe laughs at me

Of course, as soon as I posted my goals some big bills have come up, DH hasn't gotten paid yet (coming though!), and we went out and spent some money on fall clothes and decorations. The last part was not necessary, but after bleeding money with the bills I just didn't care anymore.

Temporary setbacks, right? I still have another week to go until payday. The good thing is that I already have money pulled out for the babysitter and house cleaner. And I have some cash to cover incidentals. The cars have gas and we have groceries. Just minor hiccups :) It makes me glad that this is not the norm anymore though. I don't like remembering how stressful it is to be this close to the "edge".

Discover is going up because I am paying our car insurance on it. And then paying it off with the $$ saved in the bill-pay account. Maybe we will earn some rewards off it (probably $5). We are getting close to another $50 credit though so that will be nice. It always seems like a nice little bonus on that month's paydown.

Oh well. I 'fessed up, so its time to get back on track.

Fourth Quarter Goals

Yesterday was my first payday of the Fourth Quarter. There are six paydays total for me, and at least two for DH. This quarter is also when several of our big seasonal bills are due (property taxes, car insurance, life insurance). Its also the big gift-giving season and holiday season. I am not expecting huge paydowns this month but I do want to keep pace with the momentum we have started so far and not go backwards.

I started saving in January for the big expenses. We have had a couple things come up through-out the year that could have derailed us, but overall we are still in good shape! We may be $200 shy if we can't squeeze it out of DH's paychecks, which just means our snowball will be a bit smaller.

As of payday yesterday:

Overall starting debt: $88,086.37
Overall total: $61,716.26

2012 starting debt: $73,847.19
Total paid in 2012: $12,130.93

The goals for this quarter are:

1. Be below $60,000 (aiming for end of November)
2. Pay off $15,000 total for this year
3. Don't take on more debt for year-end expenses

Bit by bit, we are getting there. One of these days our hard work will pay off :) (Right????)

Payday is coming!

I am so excited to kick off the last quarter of this year! We have made such great progress already and I am hoping to finish out 2012 with some serious debt-destruction. In the next month DH is getting paid on his projects. There will be enough to pay the normal year-end bills (taxes and insurances), cover Christmas, and hopefully cover the rest of daycare for DD for this year. Anything extra could go towards debt!

This month one of our CC/loans will cross over from the 2,000 range to the 1,000 range. Its slated to be gone by next July, but I am hoping to knock it out before the end of the year. KMFX!!

Five days to go. I hope I get enough time this week to sit down and play with our spreadsheet. I know I will update it on Friday, but its so fun to run numbers and scenarios beforehand just to see what *could* happen. Seeing where we should land with just the normal payments gives me that extra incentive to scrape up what we need to hit the next milestone or rounding point.

**ETA**
$116.28 more will get us to $12,000 paid off so far this year. I need to put some $$ towards the car anyway, and my SL still needs to post. I think I am going to set $12,250 as my goal for this pay period, and $12,900 as my goal for the next one. We WILL hit $15,000 before the end of the year!! And if I have my way, we will squeeze out the extra pennies needed to make it to an even $30,000 paid off overall :) 

3rd Quarter Progress

The numbers for the month are in. We are just a few dollars shy of having paid off $11,500 total so far this year (not including the mortgage). WOW! If this pace continues, we should be able to pay off $15,000 this year. It will be a bit of a stretch with all of the year-end bills, but I really think we can do it.

Here are the numbers:

2012 Start: $73,847.19
Current :     $62,368.95
Total Paid:  $11,478.24

DH has been traveling quite a bit lately. Hopefully some of these projects start to pay off soon and we will have more funds available to hack away at this monster.

I am also dusting off the scissors and jumping back into some Extreme Couponing. The TLC show and all of the crazies had ruined the fun for me for awhile. But now that our stash is running out its time to hunt out the deals to replenish it.

December 2016

Our current debt total (well, excluding the mortgage) is $63,144.22. Using Vertex42's snowball calculator I discovered that we will be debt-free by December 2016 just on the minimum payments we are making!! Anything else we can scrape up will help us reach that goal even sooner.

After trying to pay off debt for the last 5 years, I can not believe the end is finally in sight. It has taken us three years to get to the point where we were not digging in deeper, but instead we are now paying off debts at a pretty good clip. We have been able to pay off just over $1,000 in principle each month this year, and almost $25,000 in debt over all.

We just might make it after all :)

Frugal Shower Cleaner Refils

We got a Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic shower cleaner years ago with the hot coupon deals at Walgreens (I think they came out to $3 each after coupons and rewards - score!!).  I've been working through my stash of refils but finally ran out.I have tried in the past to refil my own bottles, but it always ended up a mess. Since we were out, I had put the shower cleaner away and just cleaned the shower the old fashioned way once a week (er, um, ok, more like once every six weeks....). Now that DD is old enough to take baths in the big tub I wanted a better way to keep it clean for her.

We tried the daily spray-cleaners, but I kept forgetting to do it. I really missed my automatic cleaner - just push the button and keep going (when you are getting ready with a toddler in the morning, every second counts!). So I figured I would grab another refil on my next trip to Target. Last time I went they were about $4 each. Not great, but worth the convenience for me. When I actually got to the store, I stopped to glance at the price while grabbing the bottle to put in my cart. They have gone up to $7 each!!!  Seriously - 34oz of daily shower cleaner for $7!!!  Even the Tilex daily shower cleaner was $4.  And the Scrubbing Bubbles ones don't even have a trigger spray. I couldn't let myself buy it for $7 so I picked up the $.99 bottle of off-brand daily cleaner and resolved to just spray it myself every day.

When I came home, I decided to ask Mr. Google if anyone had figured out how to successfully refil the automatic cleaner bottles. I figured I could just dump my $.99 bottle of cleaner into the refil bottle if I could get it open. Of course, I found a super easy tutorial. The lid did screw off with some twisting, and I was able to pour the new bottle right in. When putting the lid back on - it is REALLY important to make sure the foam seal stays in place on the cap.

Staying on track

DH and I have been doing really well with staying on-track and paying down debt.  Here are the current numbers:

Total debt: $63,990.00

Total paid this year: $9,857.19

Whoo hooo!!  Still plugging along, but its really encouraging to see things moving in the right direction.  I can not believe that we have almost paid off $10,000 this year.  Especially when that's more than the past three years combined.

We have nine more paydays left this year.  Nine more chances to see this debt go down further :)  And if DH clears some good paychecks, we will be able to meet some savings goals and possibly even pay off more of this debt.

Stocking the freezer :)

Its time to cash in on some of those NBPR rebates (I had several expiring soon).  I spent $96.73 at Aldi tonight and got:

• 20 hamburgers (UTOF) - packaged into 2 packs & put in the freezer for quick dinners
• 12 pork chops
• 3 pork tenderloin roasts
• 1 large pork loin roast
• 4 bags tortilla chips & 2 large tubs of salsa
• Almonds
• Pita chips
• Misc groceries (milk, creamer, salad mix, dressings, pasta)

I split it up into seven transactions and will submit the receipts for my rebates.  I should get back $55, meaning my total cost for today will be $41.73.  Not too shabby!  Having all this meat in the freezer means we can go several weeks with only buying produce to make dinners & lunches.

I try to keep my purchases within my normal grocery budget as much as possible.  Its not really saving money if I spend a lot extra just to get the rebates.  Although I went a bit over the weekly $80 budget, the next several weeks should more than make up for it since we will just need produce to round out the meals.  When the rebates come in, I treat them as "found" money and send them straight to debt payoff :)

DAMN IT!

We knew what the realtor would tell us, but DH and I were holding out hope that maybe we were wrong.  Nope.  We nailed it.  There is no way we can sell right now.  We are about $20,000 upside down on the house.  Its dropped about 40% in value since I bought it!


So now the options are:
1. Walk away.  Yeah, not really an option.  Fun to think about though. 
2. Short-sale.  (see above)
3. Rent.  Not really an option because we can't absorb the risk of getting a bad renter that trashes the place.  If we could do that, we would just pay to leave.
4. List now, and hope that we could come up with the money/pay off enough debt/borrow enough to come to closing with when/if we get an offer.
5. Sit tight and wait.  For who knows how long.  It would take us 2 years to save up $20,000 if we socked away every spare penny.  By that time our house would probably have dropped another 40% and we would be screwed again.

I just want to cry.  Or scream.  Or cry :(

*ETA - Yeah, apparently I really suck at math when I am pissed.  Because its $40,000 that we would have to bring to closing.  We are sooooooooooooooooooo screwed. 

Come on...let's sell this place already!

Time for realtor #2.  It just wasn't working out with the first one.  The sign was in the yard for two months, but no showings and only a handful of calls.  I know they won't make a lot off our house, but seriously.  They only get paid if they get it sold!

So I've been running around like a crazy lady cleaning up the house again.  I had gotten lazy about keeping it spotless since there was no interest in it.  A couple hours of scrubbing & putting things away, and it looks almost show-ready again.  We've already cleared out a bunch of things, and stored things at my parents house that we won't need again for awhile (like all of the newborn baby stuff, sniff sniff :'(  ).  I bet the new realtor still tells us to get rid of a bunch of things.  Well, I at least hope that she does.  I am so much happier when there's less clutter around.

I am excited to see how things go with this new realtor.  DH got a referral to her from one of his networking buddies.  She's one of the top agents in the city.  I guess she works on marketing the houses & has a team of 3-4 people that do the showings for her.  Within an hour of calling her, she had sent DH the lists of comps & recent sales in our area, and had gotten a pic of the front of the house to start the listing!

Movin' on up!

Oh my goodness, I can't believe I forgot to put this out here.  You know, for the five nice people that still read this :) 

I got a promotion!!!  And a raise!!!

Still in the same department, and still doing the same job.  I got promoted up to a "Senior" title (like I had before in my previous job).  With the promotion came a small raise.  Less than 10%, but definitely enough to help out :)

And to top it off, DH has had his best month, EVER.  YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't wait to post this month's financial update after next week!!!

How to get the beer company to buy your groceries :)

Seriously.

I've been doing NBPR (no beer purchase required) rebates for awhile now.  The liquor companies frequently put out rebates good for money back on your grocery purchase when also purchasing certain liquors or beers.  But in MO, they can't legally require the alcohol purchase in order to qualify for the rebate.  That means if I can find a rebate that is valid in MO, I can submit my grocery receipts and get money back!

Right now there are several great rebates available: 

• $20/$70 grocery purchase
• $25/$100 grocery purchase
• $5/$5.01 beef purchase
• $5/$5.01 chips & salsa
• $10/$10.01 poultry
• $10/$15 meat and seafood

I purchase the rebate forms on eBay.  As you can guess, since the alcohol purchase is not required in MO, the rebate forms are a bit hard to find here.  I could cross the state line over into KS and stalk the liquor aisles, but to me its easier to spend 10 minutes on eBay and have them sent to me.  (It is important to note - you do not buy the FORMS on eBay.  You pay for someone's time to locate the forms & ship them to you.)

Tonight I purchased the rebates listed above.  For $12 initial investment, I will get back $75 from our normal grocery purchases.  YAY!!

This is an excellent way to save on your groceries no matter where you shop.    

Who's ready for a party??

Can you believe Alyvia will be one in just a few short weeks?  This year has FLOWN by!

Last week DH and I took her out to the park to get some pictures for her invitations.  DH also built a prop and we set up a photo shoot in her room to get some more pics.  Most of the pics are on FB, but I just had to share this one:

So now we are getting ready for an "Aly in 'One'-derland" tea party (a Mad Hatter's Tea Party, to be exact).  I've been perusing Pinterest looking for fun and frugal ideas.  Only 2.5 weeks away....crazy!

Just when you think you have this frugal thing down...

Its easy to think you've reached the point where you can't be any more frugal than you are already (at least, without sacrificing the level of comfort that you are willing to have).  We had reached this point and had been maintaining it for a few months.

And then I decided to take another good, long look at our cell phone bill.

I will preface this by saying DH legitimately needs a smart phone for his business.  And since he's self-employed and pays the bill himself, it's too easy to tack on my line and add in a smart phone too (after-all - its only $10 more for my phone).  We also had my mom on our family plan.  For all three smart phones, data plans, and high-minute package, the monthly cost was $180.  Only it kept creeping up.  To $185.  Then $190.  Last month it was $205!!!  The taxes, surcharges, etc just kept adding up.  So I dug in to see what we could cut.

The first thing was the insurance policy on our phones.  At this point we have had each of our phones for more than a year.  While we could not get a new phone under an upgrade if something should happen, the cost to buy a replacement phone off Craigslist or eBay is about the same as our $50 deductible.  And at $8/month/line, that was $24 we could lop right off the top.  So I cancelled all the insurance policies and let everyone know to be careful! 

But what I found is that this saved us much more than the initial $24.  With the taxes, surcharges, etc, it saved us almost $50!!!!!  SERIOUSLY.  Our bill this month was only $152 for all three lines.  WOW!  So for 10 minutes worth of reading and logging into my account, I saved us $50/month. 

Mid-Year Financial Review

Oh my goodness.  Taking a step back to look at the numbers, and for once, I am not wanting to cry at how far backwards we went.  This is the first time in a LONG time that we have consistently paid off debt and not gone further back! 

Debt Paid YTD: $8,070.62
Debt Paid since 2007 beginning: $22,309.80

We have officially paid off 25% of our highest debt level, and we are now at our lowest all-time debt since starting this journey.  Its been a roller coaster full of ups & downs, but I feel like we are finally, FINALLY making some traction.  When this first started, we had 17 individual debts.  Now we have 9. 

To stay focused, we have pulled out four debts specifically to target this year.  We have paid off 25% of the total balance since December and completely eliminated one whole debt (the line of credit).  I know that one more debt will be gone by the end of the year, and I am pushing hard to see two more gone and to see us well below 50%.

In December we had our "come to Jesus" moment and decided we never ever wanted to be in that rough of a financial spot again if we could help it.  So in addition to these four debts we have also been planning, saving, and budgeting like fools.  I've been meal planning and shopping, freezer cooking, and looking for other ways to be frugal. On the other hand, we are also increasing our incomes.  DH has finally started to catch a break, and has made almost tripled his pay from last year - and its only June!  I will be getting a promotion that comes with a small raise as well. 

How's it hangin'??

Summer electric rates are in effect.  Not only does it cost about $.50 to run the dryer, there is the additional cost of having the AC work harder to expel the excess heat in the house.  As a rough guess, I would say it costs $1-$1.50/load to dry clothes in the summer.  Being frugal, and working for the utility company, I just can't let myself "waste" that money when the sunshine provides the drying for free :)

The two large drying racks I have been using to dry our clothes in the summer time have finally bit the dust.  They were awesome over-sized wooden racks from Organized Living ($40 each, but I had picked them up at garage sales for $5).  I forgot to bring them in last winter - oops!  I was not willing to spend $80 to replace them right now, so I needed a frugal alternative.  After searching the interwebs for ideas, I came up with this:

I used a 100ft cotton clothesline and six eye-hooks.  Total cost was $12 at the local hardware store.  I ran the line through the hooks, pulled taut, and tied it off.  Then, for stability, I ran it back through again to give each line more support.  Also, clothes can be tucked between the double lines to eliminate the need for clothes pins. And I now have 50 ft of drying space - just slightly less than the two drying racks.  Towels and sheets can still get hung over the deck rails as I did before. 

And, if we ever get the call to show the house, the whole thing can be untied and taken down in just a couple minutes :)

Time for a shower :)

My little brother is getting married in about six weeks.  He & his fiancee have never lived on their own, so not only are they getting married, but they are moving out of their parents' houses & into their first home.  The ladies from her church threw her a kitchen shower to get all the pots, pans, dishes, and utensils they would need, along with plenty of cookbooks.  Our church is throwing a linens shower next weekend for their sheets, towels, and other necessities.

Most of the big items that they will need have been covered by the two showers.  I wanted to get them something that would be practical, but also get something that others might not think of.   After talking with my mom and sister, we came up with the idea of getting them an "Apartment Starter Kit".  The kit will contain all of the things that you need when you move into a new place, but might not realize at first.  Hopefully this will be a practical/useful gift, and allow them to save their money & gift-cards to purchase some of the fun things they want (and not have to spend it on a toilet brush, LOL!). 

Here are the things we are including - let me know if you have more ideas!

General
2 large plastic totes
2 small plastic totes (shoe-box sized)
Cleaning products - all purpose cleaner, dusters, air fresheners
Swiffer mop and cleaner (plus refil pads)
Batteries
Extension cords
Power strips
Pens & notepads
Kleenex
Lightbulbs
Picture hangers

Laundry
2 laundry baskets
Dryer sheets
Detergent (pods, since they have to schlep to the apartment laundry)
Hangers
Roll of quarters

Bathroom
Shower curtain liner
Curtain hooks
Bathroom trash can & bags
Toilet paper
Plunger
Toilet brush
Cleaning products - for shower, toilet, and sink

Kitchen
Large trash can & bags
Broom
Dishwashing detergent (they will have a dishwasher in the apartment)
Dish soap
Scrub brush
Cleaning products
Ziplocs & foil
Spices: salt, pepper, garlic, etc
Condiments: ketchup, mustard, relish, dressings
Giftcard to local grocery store

We are going to pack everything in the large plastic totes and wrap them with a large bow to give her at the shower.  I am also typing up a contents list so they can quickly see what they have and what they still may need to get.  While it won't cover everything, hopefully this gives them a good start.   They might think the present is a bit odd until they start to move in....and then I think we will be considered geniuses ;)

My love

Time is flying by WAY too fast!

BOOOM!!

Goddamn gunshots.

I jump out of my skin.  EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

Keeping my fingers crossed that this house sells soon.  I don't want to stay here any longer than I have to.

But no one has come to see the house yet. So for now, I will daydream of neighborhoods where my daughter can play outside.  Places where there are parks, and sidewalks, and other young families around.  Where there are block parties, parents gathering by a grill or fire pit while kids play hide-and-seek between the yards and catch fireflies.  A place where I can put my daughter in her stroller, put the dog on a leash, and take a walk in a neighborhood that does not look like it has chicken-pox when you look it up on the registered sex offender's site (seriously - more than 20 on the route I used to walk my dog on.  20!!!). 

I guess on the upside I can now tell you the difference between a handgun and a larger gun, and I can judge with pretty good accuracy what direction it came from.  The rush of flashing lights & sirens almost always confirms my suspicions.  And hey, who the heck needs nightlights when you can get police helicopter spotlights checking out your backyard???

Finding my new niche...

Before DD, my hobbies were couponing & crochet.  While I still do both sometimes, they don't really bring me the joy that they once did.  Couponing was dealt some major blows after the fall-out from the Extreme Couponing show.  While I can still get deals for my family to cover our essentials for pennies or less, there's not an abundance and it takes a LOT more work.  Crochet might come back at some point, but with DD crawling/walking all over and getting into everything, the last thing I want to do is set out a basket of yarn :P

I need to find my new niche - the thing that I really enjoy doing that I can pull out when I have a free moment.  I have brought out the sewing machine to play around a bit, but I definitely need more practice.  DH got me a wonderful camera for our anniversary and I have practiced taking pics as well.  With both of those things, I feel like what I make is less than perfect (someone can always do it better), so I get frustrated and discouraged. 

Meanwhile, I keep working on the house and getting it in shape/keeping it cleaned up and ready to show.  I keep hoping that we will be homeless by the end of the summer.  A few people have asked about it, but so far no one has come to see it (the one person that had an appointment cancelled). 

I need ideas!!

DH's birthday is coming up, and so is Father's Day.  He says he does not care much about either, but I really want to get him something.  The problem is, the only things he wants are things that cost several hundred dollars each (recliner, tablet, jawbone jambox, guitar).  Anything that's $50 or less he just goes & buys for himself after deciding on what he wants. 

I made him a picture, and I was going to get him a new bottle of his favorite cologne since he's almost out.  But that does not really seem like much of a present.  He always gets the most awesome gifts for me and I feel like I fall short every time its my turn to return the favor :(  And last year his birthday party was a big mess.  I've already told him that he can get the things he wants as soon as we have the money for it.  Just does not make it seem like he's getting something special for these special days though. 

Oh baby ?!?

Whew - not just yet.  But DH and I are talking about when to have baby #2.  We had discussed having our kids around two years apart before we got pregnant with DD.  That pregnancy seemed to last FOREVER, but now that she's here, the time has been flying.  I can't believe we are already making plans for baby #2.  It seems so soon!

There are some things we need to take care of before we can have another child.  First of all, our insurance has changed drastically.  It is going to cost us $5,000-10,000 to have another child.  Ideally I would want to have that amount in an HSA before we conceived. 

Another big issue is our current home.  While we could probably fit two kids into the space we have now, it would be TIGHT.  The house right now is a 2br 1,000 sq ft place that's the size of most apartments.  We also want to be in a more family-friendly neighborhood than our current one is.  This is not a place where DD can go play outside due to the busy street we live on. 

The final issue is our current level of debt.  We need to pay down the debt to free up enough money to pay for daycare if DH's income has not yet risen to the level where I can quit work or drop down to PT.  A good portion of that should be gone this year, but we need to continue to keep our eyes on our goal and not let ourselves adjust our spending upward as DH starts to bring in more income.

As a planner, I love talking these things through with my husband and setting up goals for our family.  It helps me to have a timeline and a specific goal to keep in mind so I can consciously make steps to bring us closer to that goal.

Ready, Set, Show!!

We have the first showing of the house next week.  WHAT?!?!?  I know I shouldn't get too excited, but I am trying to use this opportunity to get the house in tip-top shape and clean/purge things we are not using. 

I am realizing that in the last six years in this home, I have accumulated WAY too much junk.  Good thing its just a 1,000 sq ft home!  We are busting at the seams here and I honestly am not sure why.  As I go through the rooms and purge out what we don't need/pack away what we don't need right now, I am amazed at the items I keep hanging around "just in-case".  What if I need this random widget in a few years?  Its wasteful to throw away useful things, I tell myself.  But really, if I have not seen it in so long that I don't even remember that I own it (or remember what the heck it even is!!), then the reality is that I don't need it. 

So now my new philosophy is - if I can buy it again at the Dollar General/Walmart/Target for $5 or less, and its something I have not used in a year, out it goes.  Immediately.  No questions asked.  There is no sense in wasting space in my home on something that I don't NEED.  And I really don't want to take the time to pack, move, store, and move again things that are not important to me. 

So my stack of boxes to move is slowly growing out in the garage.  But the pile of things to donate/throw out is growing along side it.  And for some reason, that makes me really happy :)

Once A Month Cooking

Well, more like "Once A Month Meal Prep."  Yesterday I met up with four friends at church, and together we prepared sixty meals (twelve each).  It took us 4.5 hours to chop, bag, season, and stack.  We used the freezer cooking recipes from Mama and Baby Love.  These meals contain plenty of healthy veggies and meats, and are 600 calories or less per serving (average is about 400 calories).  My kind of convenience meal!

Here are some of the meals we prepared (this is half of them laid out before we traded):

Each person chose six recipes so we ended up with two meals from each recipe.  We kept half and traded the rest so that we went home with twelve different meals each. 

Each meal fits into a gallon-sized freezer bag.  When you are ready for the meal, pull it out of the freezer & plop it into the slow cooker for 3-8 hours.  This is going to save me so much time!!  The meals contain 3-4 adult servings per bag, which will give us dinner for DH, Baby Girl, and me and I can also take the leftovers for lunch the next day (or leave them for the babysitter). 

I was able to purchase most of my items at Aldi's.  I spent $120 total, but found an NBPR rebate that will get me $25 back :)  So that gives me 12 meals for $100, or around $8 per meal.  I am excited to see how well this works for us.  Working full time gives me only a few hours in the evening to spend with Baby Girl before she goes to bed.  I would love to find something that allows us to get a healthy meal on the table that does not require me to spend 30-60 minutes in the kitchen.  If this works well, I plan to stock up and prepare meals when the ingredients are on sale.

*Sam's Mental Notes*
- Cranberry Chicken - ok, would eat again.  Half the cranberries next time.
- Chicken Curry - delicious!
- Flank Steak Fajitas - YUM!!  DH would eat this every week if I made it :)
- Beef french dip sandwiches - YUM!!  Leftovers made great beef & noodles too.
- Goulash - um, I burned this one.  Oops!  Good thing I have another to try later.
- Barbeque Chicken - YUM!!  Another winner

Still here....

Nothing really happened with the house this week.  Well, not as far as showing it to a potential buyer, anyway.  But I have been keeping myself busy!!  So far I have:

1. Cleaned out baby girl's room.  Everything she's outgrown has been packed away and taken to my parents' house.  Room cleaned up & de-cluttered.  Looks pretty nice!
2. Re-caulked the tub.  And somehow managed to fix the leaky faucet while I was at it.  Yay!
3. Cleaned out our room.

Does not look like a long list, but it sure has felt like a lot of work.  I took an entire truckload of things to my parents' house.  They have one section of their storage room that has been dubbed "The Baby Closet."  My sister started it by keeping all of the stuff from her kids (high chair, exersaucer, bouncy seat, bumbo, etc).  She also kept most of the clothes, so they are sorted by size and gender.  The idea is that anyone in the family that needs it can borrow from the closet, and then clean & return when their kids outgrow it.  It all gets stored at my parents' since they have the room and a central location.  As things need replaced, we shop local consignment sales to get the best deals.  So far I have only had to buy a few bits & pieces of clothing to fill in the gaps (things in the wrong season or items that had been stained).  Its great! 

This week my goal is to start weeding through our room and the kitchen.  I want to get all the kitchen items pared down to the bare minimum.  That way I can straighten up the cabinets and make everything look nice and neat.  Luckily my parents have enough room for us to keep storing things at their house until we move into a new place of our own.  And pre-packing away the things we don't need for the next few months (or purging & donating those items) will really help when its time to move out completely.

Moving - I hope

The house is getting listed this weekend!!  I have so much to do to it - hopefully no one wants a showing tomorrow.  Although, I know my chances are good that someone will want to walk through if I leave a bunch of junk lying around.  Ha!  By next week we could be homeless (I can only hope). 

Tonight I went through baby girl's room to pack away everything we are done using until the next kiddo comes along, and everything we won't need for the next 6-12 months.  I completely cleared out her closet except for one plastic tub that holds her hand-me-downs from my niece.  The boxes are labeled and neatly stacked in the dining room, waiting for me to load them up tomorrow and head over to my parent's house. 

Keep your fingers crossed for a quick sale!!

Making forward progress!!

I can't believe it.  After two & a half years of going one step forward, three back (or so it seemed), it looks like we are finally making progress on paying off our debt.  YAY!  Here's how the numbers look:

2011 total payoff: $2,374.15 (amazing, considering how far we had back-tracked)
2012 payoff so far: $6,576.44! 

Feels like we are rocking & rolling now.  And we are almost back to our previous all-time low total.  Which is great considering what had been added on since that time.

We are down to nine debts total from a starting of seventeen.  That in itself is such a relief.  Only two of our nine debts are higher than $10,000 (student loan & truck).  The rest are all solidly four digits and dropping.  Two of them have recently gone below $3,000, which for us seems to be the point at which they rapidly pick up speed & disappear. 

If we can keep up this pace through the rest of the year, we will be able to pay off almost $20,000!  I forsee two, if not three, more debts being reduced to $0.  Our main focus this year is to stay on top of savings (for all of those things that had tripped us up in the past), and to keep reigning in the spending now that it feels we have a bit of breathing room.

Put A Pin In It

Yeah, I have to be the last person in the world to get on the Pinterest bandwagon.  I do my best to not spend much time on there, but its a good way to suddenly waste several hours clicking on pins.  There are a million great ideas out there!

One thing I found that I really want to try out are the Crockpot Freezer Meals recipes I found.  It seems simple enough - you buy a TON of ingredients, do the prep work all at one time, bundle up in gallon sized bags, and stick in the freezer.  Then, on your way out the door to work, just dump a bag in your crockpot, turn it on, and come home to a nice dinner :)  I could go for that!  I was talking with a few other new moms at church, and I think we are going to get together in a couple of weeks and make these up together.  We will use the church kitchen (LOTS of room), and we can each go home with 10 meals or so to stock the freezer with :)

We have also been using eMeals since September.  I LOVE it!  There have been very few meals that we don't like (I can think of 2 in the past 8 months).  I love that we have the shopping list, organized by sections of the store, so that I can get everything I need in one quick trip.  We are using the Walmart low-fat plan since we are trying to eat better.  All meals are about 400-600 calories each and they taste GREAT!  Even my picky husband happily eats whatever we have.  I take the list to Aldi first, and if I need anything else, then I hit up Price Chopper.  This is helping us stick to a grocery budget of about $400/month max (which also includes all food for baby & the nanny that comes twice a week too (she gets cookies & all kinds of "fun" foods - but sometimes they don't stick around until she comes, LOL!)).  Since our total food spending pre-baby was $800-900/month, this is totally worth it!  *And yes, I know that is a ungodly amount to spend on food in a month.  Even including eating out 3-4 times per week.

 

Wishing and dreaming

I ran in the Trolley Run today.  Invigorating 4 mile run in the rain :)  My time was 41:35, which is a bit disappointing.  Next year I am going to be in the 30-36 min heat if it kills me!

As we ran through the city, I was taking note of houses for sale along the route (obviously I was not pushing myself hard enough if I had time to take note of signs and streets, lol!).  I saw this beauty:

And noticed that they had an open house today. So I made a note of the address, and we went back this afternoon.  It was gorgeous!  We walked through the house, commenting on all of the features that we liked.  Then we ran across the info sheet in the kitchen.  Yeah.  There's a reason why we liked it.  Because its WAY out of our price range!  Only $500,000.  Actually a great price for the area, but outside of our reach.  I wonder if they would consider half of that?  :P

As we drove around the neighborhood, we did find some houses that were more within our price range.  Each had something a bit weird about it (one bathroom, horrible decor, no garage, etc).  But this little beauty could be a viable option:

I can't wait until our house sells so that we can actually start looking for real.  For now, I will just spend time on Zillow and drive through the neighborhoods on the weekends :)

Where we are at in regards to the $$

Hmmm, well, last time I posted about finances, things were a mess.  Not that they are exactly stellar now, but its improved considerably :)  Last year, even with all of our ups & downs, we ended up the year with $2,375 less in debt that we started the year with.  I say that counts as a win!  And this year, we are already almost down $6,000!!

We didn't list the house last year, but its looking like this spring will be a much better time anyway.  Zillow upped the estimate on our house by $30k in the last year, and local sales have backed that up.  Really, its due to the rush of foreclosures falling off and the private sales starting to pick up again.  Since we dont need to move, we can wait until an offer comes that will get us out of the house without owing anything.

DH is FINALLY bringing home a consistent salary.  He no longer has to pay to work and he is bringing home money :)  If things keep going like this, he may match my salary this year!!  That will be a HUGE change from the past three years when his income was actually negative once everything was accounted for.  I really feel like we finally turned the corner.

My new job is going really well.  I LOVE my new team, and the job is a great fit for me too.

Take Your Kids To Work Day

Every year I get to help out with the kids that come to work.  Its fun, but boy do they wear me out!  I think there's a reason why most people get one kid at a time (no offense to my SIL).  Several kids all the same age are exhausting!  I remember why I never finished getting that teaching license...

But I was thinking today, only 8 more years until Aly is eligible to come to work with me.  It sounds like forever right now, but looking at how fast time has gone, I bet it will seem like I blinked and it all went by. 

So to catch up on Aly, she's grown considerably since the last pic I posted!   Here's her Halloween costume (she went as a sock monkey with her cousins):

Merry Christmas!

And we found out that she does NOT like avocados:

But she does LOVE sweet potatoes!

She's busy and happy and getting into EVERYTHING

And my heart absolutely melts every morning when I am greeted with this gummy smile:

Where has the time gone?

It seems like FOREVER since I have posted here.  I am betting most people that used to read no longer do.  That's ok.  Maybe I can find a new audience (or maybe my old friends will find me again).

DD is now 9 months old.  Nine months.  It seems completely unreal.  Nine months ago was my due date.  I was HUGE and preggo, and feeling like I was going to be that way forever.  And I wanted to punch everyone that said she would come "soon" or "in her own time".  Seriously.  Never say those things to the pregnant lady.  But she did come, one day later :)

Now she's cruising and pulling up, and trying to walk!!  She's so busy.  And into everything.  And she's changed my world in ways I never thought possible.  I can't even describe how in love I am with the little girl that calls me "Mama!!" and comes crawling with a HUGE smile on her face as soon as I get home from work every day.  Or the sweet little girl that happily babbles for "Daddy" and looks at him like he is the most special person in the universe.  And how she will cry for "MamaDaddyNana!!" when she gets put into bed, but she feels that she is far too busy playing to consider falling asleep just yet.

And I love how she's the weirdo that coughs instead of laughing.  And how she thinks the pertussis PSA is just a baby that is cracking up (so she crawls to the TV, laughs, and dances along until its over).  She crawls with her bum straight up in the air.  And she has to sleep with her two baby dolls (one for each hand). 

I LOVE this little person, and I am really enjoying getting to know her.  I am really thankful that God has blessed my husband and I with the opportunity to know and raise this person.  (And I will be honest and admit - I am enjoying these days more than the newborn days.  While sweet, those were some dark & trying days for me.  Life is much more freeing and happy now.)