I haven't written for several months and there has been some highlights. My husband and I went on our first ever getaway since our marriage. It was just a short weekend in Bryson, NC, but it was WONDERFUL. We so needed that time alone and away. It was an anniversary present for my husband, from me, and I planned it full of stuff I thought he would enjoy doing. The one thing he always wanted to do was ziplining. I am dreadfully scared of heights so it always gave me a not so pleasant feeling in the pit of my stomach to think about zipping through the treetops tethered only by a small metal clip and a piece of string. I read and researched and read reviews and after several hours of this talked myself into buying us two tickets for ziplining. He was thrilled, but right up until we zipped the first time, I felt slightly nauseous. Guess what? Fat women can fly!!!! More amazingly, it was FUN. The only problem for me was that whenever I would get going too fast I would take a little mini panic attack and grab hold of the line (you are NOT supposed to do that, you are supposed to just lay the flat of your hand on the line to slow yourself down). When you grab the line, you stop jarringly, painfully, and suddenly and THIS happens:
Yep, that is my butt! In all it's glory. flipped upside down by my panicked grabbing of the line on
a 637 foot zipline. Still, I did it. I enjoyed it, and the only fear I felt was actually when we were
standing on the platforms in between zips. They were high up and looking down gave me that feeling like my body was against its will leaning towards the vast empty spaces below me. So I started landing on the platforms and immediately hugging the tree in the middle of the platform and not looking down. Yes, I became a tree hugger. Literally.
The thing that makes me so proud is that this is probably the first time I've ever VOLUNTARILY faced
down one of my fears and overcame it. I've been forced to face my fears before, but it isn't the same thing. I DECIDED to face this one, for my husband, because I loved him and wanted him to do something he'd always wanted to do. Because I didn't want to hold him back. And it wasn't
that big of a deal. Infact, it was fun and I'd love to do it again! I think I'll make that picture this years Christmas card.
Another highlight since I last wrote. I finally really figured out this budget thing. I don't do it the way most people might, but I've found a system that works for me. It isn't pefect, but I generally know how much is in the bank, how much we have for any given budget item and what we will be able to do about things we need coming up. I've got a tiny bit going into savings on a regular basis and I'm getting most of the bills paid. I say most because we still have some medical bills from Josh's surgery we are trying to pay off that are above and beyond our monthly budget. I'm even starting to make slow progress on those. I have to say no a lot. No Honey, we can't afford new wood for your lathe, No kids, you can't have that, No kids, we have no money to eat out, No Tanya, you can't go to the craft store. No, No, No. But at least I'm not saying "No, electricity bill, you can't be paid". That's what matters. That's a personal victory, because I've been trying and failing at budgets for 20 years.
Thank you Lord for the creator of the "box budget" spreadsheet. For me, with Josh getting paid each week, it's the only thing that has helped me keep track. I'm a complicated girl, with the need for an uncomplicated budget. I'm proud I've figured something out. I'm actually now at the point where I can PLAN AHEAD FINANCIALLY. I've never been able to do that.
Speaking of planning ahead financially, there is big exciting news around the Cockrell House! We are taking a family vacation!!! When, you may ask? Well, whenever we save up enough money! But we are going! It occurred to me one day that if we didn't actively plan and save to take a family vacation we would never go before the kids were grown. You just don't "happen" to end up with enough extra money to take six people on vacation! Ever. My kids (after next month) will be 8,8,10, and 14. The next year or two is, to me, the perfect time to take them on a family vacation when they will be young enough to still be filled with wonder and not be "too cool for school" about the places we go. So
I talked to the kids about where they wanted to go most, and thought to myself about what would make a family vacation for them and us just the best ever, and did a bunch of online research to figure out how much a vacation such as that might cost. (a LOT!!). I then printed out many pictures of all the places (most notably, the wizarding world of Harry Potter/Universal Studios and Discovery Cove Florida) that we wanted to go (also seaworld and busch gardens) and laminated them and made a giant poster with all the pictures surrounding a large (about three feet tall) thermometer. Each line on the
thermometer represents 500 dollars towards our goal. I don't know how long it is going to take, but hopefully within the next 12-18 months we can make really good progress and take the longed after family vacation. It is probably the only one the kids will get until they are grown, the only big one anyway, so I want to make it good. I want to make it memorable. The kids are super excited about having this to look forward to. Any friend who comes in the house is immediately shown the thermometer and told of our plans. The 3 smaller kids have been crushing pop cans for ...has to be... at least a year now. They crush the cans and we put them in big black garbage bags. They've got two big black bags. The idea was, they crush all the pop cans and when we take them in for recycling they get to split the money between the three of them. Well, they've decided they want to put that money in the family vacation fund and see the thermometer go up by that much. I was impressed with this sacrifice and told the kids that whenever they sacrificed something of theirs for the common cause of a family vacation, I would find a place to sacrifice in the budget to match their contribution. So that their sacrifice would double. So if they get 30 dollars for their cans, 60 dollars will end up in the fund. They love this. I have set an automatic savings plan to come out of the paycheck each week. 10 dollars into the vacation fund. It's a tiny amount I know, but we're also saving for an emergency fund and most of the money has to go to that until it's reached a reasonable level since we have no credit cards anymore to fall back on in an emergency. But I just want the kids to see the thermometer going up, no matter how slow, so that they can see we ARE making progress towards our goal. I think it's cool. It gives me and the kids something to look forward to, and gives the family another thing to work towards together. I'm all for everything and anything that makes the family more of a team.
Well, I just wanted to post and say "I'm back" and I'm still fighting. Some things have gotten better since I stopped writing seven months ago, some have gotten worse, but life goes on and God is good! I'm glad to be back.
