Beyond the Candy Corn

I've been super busy (in mostly good ways) this month with meetings, and projects (not listed on this blog b/c they are way too boring!). I can't believe that looking forward, I can see November! This week I even sat down and made my list for Christmas dinner. This is not unusual...I love to make it early so that I can buy it over time, and it doesn't 'hurt' quite as bad ;o), but it's about 'that time.' I also made budget number #2 for my Dave Ramsey class. So far, so good. Responsible spending sure makes life a little less exciting, but I'm pretty sure that's not a good thing (the economically strained 'exciting' life). It's like the instant, fictional, gratification of sin, and the long term effects of the guilt. I know this is better for me, and I can't say enough about how much I am getting out of the classes. We have five more weeks to go! I'm sure it's a class I'll even considering taking again in a few years when I'm at a different place financially! I'm learning to live with a budget that I can adapt to things that are important to me. The idea is to live very moderately now so that you have a lot less stress in the future, BUT I also realize there are only so many trips around this sun, and so I don't want to have regrets in ten years from now, so I'm just reprioritizing what is important....buying fewer gadgets, and skipping the sparkle tulle (I'm still bitter about letting that one go)...but....vacations are still on--->and speaking of, I just booked spring break! Yay! I'm headed to Florida to visit Maurine and Derek's baby (coming to a nursery (not so) near me-January 2009), AND Mom and I found a great deal on a cruise to the Bahamas. It's a four day journey, and we've been planning on 'some' beach vacation since she finished up her surgeries last year to celebrate. We found a price we liked, but by the time we called, it had moved up a little bit in price, I pulled out a little Dave Ramsey, and asked for the original price, and low and behold, it worked! It's a much longer story than that, but.....I'm so excited about the vacation, and about the baby holding. And thus completes the section of my blog titled: Something other than crafting, and cooking.