Didn't your mother teach you anything????

Apparently, not!  I must say that I whole-heartedly believe that people should have to be tested prior to having children.  I will personally administer each test and vaccinate each individual who fails, to ensure that my future children will not be intermingling with these animals!


I grew up in a household in which my brother and I, feared my parents.  And, no, not in the sense of a "Mommy Dearest" reenactment, but we knew if we misbehaved that we were going to be in trouble.  Where is that fear in the children these days?!  Children know that their parents will not do a thing if they misbehave.  "Little Suzie is just expressing herself"!  Bull.  Little Suzie knows that her parents will just smile and pop an antidepressant and move on.


I am so irritated with going out in public, to see these little gremlins running around like mental patients.  WHERE ARE THE PARENTS?!  It seems as though, parenting has become less about developing your kids into well-rounded, positive members of society and more about being best friends.  All I wish, was that parents would step up and discipline their children.  It is not the children's' fault that they misbehave.  Why wouldn't they?!  No one is ever there to tell them "no".


For example, the other day I was at work while a mother and her children where in the fitness center.  One of the kids comes barreling out of the fitness center, down the hall, and into our kitchen.  I walk into the kitchen for another cup of coffee, just to see her digging though our refrigerator and taking my food!  Then she takes the food into the clubhouse and her mom didn't even come to me to apologize for the stolen goods!


So to all the parents out there, who do not want to make me have my tubes tied, thank you!  Thank you for taking the time to teach your children right from wrong and how to be cute little kids.  For the rest of you, thank you for setting the standard low, as I now know that there is no way my kids will be worse than yours!

Fate...

I am one who is a large believer in fate.  I believe whole-heartedly that things happen to us for certain purposes.  Whether it is for us to learn and grow or to push us down to make us appreciate what we have.  With this said, I believe that certain people enter your life to help you open your eyes and grow into a better person.  I, for instance, have been blessed to have a certain person in my life for nearly 20 years.  This person and I have been through many ups and downs over our almost double decade relationship.  We have shared countless laughs and countless tears.  We shared some of our darkest secrets with one and other.  Because of this relationship, I feel as though I have a sister.


This person is one of the strongest individuals that I have seen.  I completely admire this persons ability to be positive and upbeat in situations in which many would crumble.  I have never looked up to someone more than I do to this person.  She is a wonderfully kind soul and deserves nothing but the best that life can provide.


It breaks my heart to see her go through life's challenges, but I know that if anyone can handle a tough time it is her.  I believe that I am looking forward to seeing the next chapter of her life unfold, just as much as she is.  


Many of you know who I am speaking of and that is likely because if you have met her, then you know you've seen something special.  


I am completely blessed to have her in my life and I think that she has been apart of it to keep me sane, while helping me act insane!!


I hope that everyone has a person like this in their life.  And if you don't you are missing something truly amazing!


I love you!

2011: The Year of Controlled Expenditures

Within the last few months, Ryan and I have been working very hard on assessing our spending habits and to work towards building up our savings account.  Ultimately, we are hoping to save up a hearty amount of money to put towards the down payment of our future home.  

We have purchased Quicken to help us map out where exactly our money is going.  Although we are recently married and the vast amount of our extra money over the past year has went towards our wedding and then towards our honeymoon in January, it is still shocking to us to log into our Quicken software and to see where exactly we have been spending our money.

After we picked ourselves off the floor after seeing our first Quicken pie-chart of our categorized spending, we decided that 2011 was to be the year of Controlled Expenditures.  Meaning, we were to minimize the amount of wasteful spending and try to do certain things ourselves.  We both made sacrifices, such as, I gave up tanning while Ryan has cut back on his Fantasy teams.  And by cutting back I mean, I will tan at work (where it is free) and Ryan will limit his Fantasy teams to under 10 per sport!  We are also limiting the amount of eating out that we do, as that is our biggest bad habit!  Home cooked meals might be half as good, but they are also half the price! :o)

Buying a home is something that we have both been dreaming of for many years.  We are in the ideal scenario for saving a lot of money and there is no reason why we cannot have a large down payment in a few years.  Basically, our living expenses are zero as much of our rent is paid for by my work and the only utilities we have is our gas/electric bill.  Obviously, we still have other expenses that are uncontrollable such as our car payments, student loans and cell phone bills.  But knowing those amounts each month make it easier to save!

Each Sunday we spend the morning watching the Iowa Home Show and seeing the houses that are for sale in the Des Moines Metro Area.  This gives us a little extra motivation to know that the small amount of sacrifices that we are making, are worth it!  And although, many people say that "now is the time to buy" we are confident that in three years or so we will be glad that we waited and know that it is worth it to have the home that we want for the monthly price that we want!

It does take quite a bit of self control to monitor our savings and to make sure that our money is being spent the way that we want, and in no way do we want to live like hermits just to have our home.  But with Ryan's recent promotion, we are getting very eager to see what will unfold in the upcoming years!!

Hopefully, we are able to meet our goal in the next few years and everyone can come to our housewarming party!!!!!!