Tie It All Together

Have you noticed that I like to drop little bombs of information without much explanation and then come back and do a separate post about it? Because I just noticed that I do that and I had no idea. I just write and then when I re-read to edit I'm like, "oh, you mentioned purchases you are saving for and how you'd like to have get new seating for the living room. You should post about it!"

And yes, I did use the examples that I wrote about yesterday and am going to explain to you today and Monday. Because then, it becomes a full circle. I know you are just sitting on the edge of your seat thinking, "Oh, is she going to tell us about what she wants to save money for?" Because it's edge of the seat information! ...Okay, okay. Maybe not. But it is good to put it out there to try to hold yourself accountable. Which doesn't always work for me. (Like with my weekly goals.) 

The few major things that I want to purchase this year are the following:

1. A New Kitchen

2. Living Room Furniture

3. A Like-New Black Fridge

4. An Equipped Office For The Hubs

5. Bryan's Truck

6. Painting the House

A New Kitchen -

Bryan probably does not read this blog but if he is reading it now I assure you he is laughing at me. And shaking his head, thinking "Ain't gonna happen." I want to completely gut and redo our kitchen more than Lindsay Lohan needs to stay sober. Poor girl. I've been thinking and dreaming about what I want to do for the kitchen and I've been staying away from the Home Depot/Lowe's credit cards because if I have to, I'll use their 10% off and no interest for my kitchen and then make HUGE PAYMENTS (like we did on my wedding ring) to pay it off before the interest kicks in. Which is what I call "making the credit companies work for you instead of you working for them" I'm working on getting a shorter title. Regardless, it's the truth. Credit can be a good tool for people that utilize it the right way. Before we charge anything, Bryan and I think about what the monthly payment will be and how fast we can pay it off. We just refuse to be enslaved in credit. It's not worth it. 

Getting a new kitchen in 2011 is a pipe dream because if I invest in my kitchen, I'm not going to settle or go cheap. I'm going to be reasonable, but I'm also going to get an awesome kitchen that will be used as a major resell tool in ten years. I may have to wait until 2012, which is alright with me. 

Living Room Furniture -

Here is the deal. My sister, Alison and her husband Mark got married in 2003. Shortly after that (I honestly have no idea when) they purchased living room furniture, and had it until they moved to San Diego in like... 2007 or somewhere near there. I have a horrible memory. Then, they gave it to my sister Kari and her husband Adam in 2008 or 2009. Again, memory! Jeez. Well then Kari and Adam gave it to Bryan and I in 2009. It's been love, love loved. But, its old. And the pillows are starting to tear, and its a white couch and boy does it look dirty. DIRTAAAAY. (Which reminds me, I need to call that guy about cleaning it. Or do it myself since I don't, at the moment, have $150 bones to drop...) It's also just a couch and a chair, and with our really large living room, it doesn't "fit." All the Christmas cash I got is going to this purchase. This will be the next thing I buy. Unless I find a new-to-me black fridge first.

A Like-New Black Fridge -

Let's call a spade, a spade. If I can find a brand spanking new fridge at a good deal, I will snatch it up. The likelihood of that happening, however is slim to none. I want to spend no more than $350 on a fridge. And I really don't want anything fancy. I'd really just like either a normal refrigerator with an ice maker in the freezer or one of those spiffy nifty upside down fridges with the freezer on the bottom, but it still needs to have an ice maker. Obviously, if I'm able to purchase my kitchen, I'll buy a new fridge through that, but if not, I am so down with the respectfully used appliances. 

A Fully-Equipped Office for the Hubs -

You may be thinking that I want this for him. Let's remember that I am human and selfish and honestly, I need to hear some new music. I want Bryan to put out a new CD with some NEW SONGS so that I can groove to them. In order to do that though, he needs to have a working office where he can shut himself away for hours on end writing material and recording. Hours-on-end. Just enough time for me to get in some cheesey reality TV in. Love me some Kendra. Although I do like Hank more than Kendra. Hank is sweet and hot. She scored on that one. You like how I stay on point, huh? Bryan needs to get cracking on his music and I want him to have the tools to do so. This is a MUST this year. 

Bryan's Truck -

I can honestly say that Bryan and I have absolutely no other debt other than our house, his truck and my car. Actually, I'm lying, Bryan has a student loan but that loan was used to get the skills he has in Photoshop and those skills landed him his full time gig at a local credit union. So, it's the good kind of debt. Back to the bad debt we have, I don't want the bank to own our house and cars. And you have to start somewhere, right? I want to own his truck. By December 2011 I will have the pretty pink title in my hand and we'll be down to a car and a house. 2012, I will add to my pink pile with my car's title. I want to OWN our vehicles. Not the credit union. So it shall be. Just watch. :)

Painting Our House -

I have no recollection of posting about the horror we went through with this dude we hired and he jacked us over. But it happened. We paid him $1000 and all we got was an almost finished wood floor and some second-rate tools. Oh, and a really tall ladder. Which is handy for us short people... When we really wanted our house painted. Freaking jerk. Oh well. We were gracious and he'll have to answer for his decisions someday just like I will, and I'm going to take the high road. Now, Bryan and I still need to get the house painted and I'm hoping that Bryan will change his mind and he'll say that we should just do it. We have enough Vickers boys that can come over and help. We'll bribe them with pizza and beer. (Stop shaking your head "no" Bryan! It'll be cheaper!) Right now, our house is yellow, with white trim and red shutters. Except for the parts that we painted white because of our appraisal for the loan. Basically the house looks janky. And we're shooting to paint it in the early spring-time.

So, those are the big-money items I want to invest in this year. Obviously, lots of things can happen between now and then, but hopefully 2011 is a smooth year and we're able to knock all of this out! What a blessing that would be! 

Filtered Resolutions

Every year, you hear the obligatory new year resolutions from people that want to start the year off right. More often than not, I refuse to make a resolution because the few years I have, it lasted about a month. What I usually say is that I'm going to try to be better. A better person, worker, friend, wife, blogger, etc. Just better in general. There is always room to be better and simple decisions can get you there.

Bryan and I have been talking about our life and lifestyle a lot lately. I've deemed 2011 as "My Year." This is my year to get healthy. To lose weight. To stop mindlessly stuffing my face. But I want to go further. I want to make an entire lifestyle change that will live on PAST 2011. I want my husband to think I am cute. And honestly, more importantly, I want to think I am cute.

Lately, I've moaned and complained about taking pictures with my family. I don't want any snapshots of myself. I have little confidence and recently, I've been going so far as to think "Why even do my hair/make-up? What is the point?" Ew. That disgusts me more than this weight gain. Every time I think that I go straight into the bathroom and I do my hair and make-up and I revel in it. I remind myself that I am not defined by my weight or my clothes. My choices define me. The decisions that I make help to define me. I can say, until I am blue in the face, that I want to lose weight. But until I make the decision to go for it, it's all lip-service.

I've mentioned before that I read Young House Love. The other day I was going through some old posts trying to find something and in one post, Sherry writes that in order to keep herself from being paralyzed with indecision in decorating, she just does something. She puts a frame on the wall or just moves an item around. And then she realizes one of two things. Either she likes it, and keeps it. Or she doesn't, and she gets a better idea. Remember how I wrote about my decorating funk? I'm still in it, for the most part. But I am hanging frames anyways. I am decorating my house anyways. And it's working. I'll realize I don't like something and I'll grab it and put it somewhere else. It's slow going, but it's GOING. Which is the point.

This year is brand-spanking new. I can mold my days how I see fit. I can take control of my life instead of just coasting on by. When the hubs and I started talking about this, I thought a lot about it in private. When I would start thing about all the tens of thousands of things I want to change this year (and for the rest of my life) I got really overwhelmed. I kind of suck so, I have a lot to change. Instead of going overboard, I'm going to break it down to simplify it.

Each morning I wake up, and I have a good forty-five minutes of silence. Bryan and I don't talk in the morning. It almost always ends badly. We say good morning, we get ready in silence and we say I love you, bye. That's it. It's rare if we exchange more than a few sentences in the morning. I'm going to start utilizing this time to think about the following:

• What do I need to accomplish today?
• Use the KISS! method. Keep it simple, stupid! Only list 5-7 things, depending on how tedious they are. 
• Put these items in priority order.
• Example, if one task is "cook dinner", do the dishes first so the kitchen is clean and ready for you.
• Do them.
• Find the time to do it. When you get home from work, take a 15 minute breather. Say hi to your pets, change into comfy clothes, drink some water and catch up on your texts. Then? Get busy. Set a time limit or create a pile. (Can't believe I just said that. My sister Alison used to create piles for me on Saturday mornings and I hated them. But if it works for you, do it.)

Every week, I'm going to do a quick side-bar listing what I need to get done by the week. Little projects around the house, chores and other items that are not a 'daily basis' item. 

Every month, when Bryan and I sit down to do our budget, we are going to set a monthly honey-do list. I'll have one and he'll will have one. 

This year, I have already decided to have a few general changes to implement into my life.(You'll see that post tomorrow.)

Here is the key ingredient to my plan. Grace. If I have a terrible day and I listed to scrub the shower and toilet? I'm not going to. I am going to give myself the grace and room to take each day as it comes. When tomorrow arrives, I'll start my list off with whatever few things I didn't do the day before. I am not going to beat myself up about missing a chore. I am going give myself the same courtesy I would want Bryan to give to me. When I have I bad day the last thing I want Bryan to do is knock me down a few more inches. I'm going to encourage myself to read a book or go for a walk to recollect myself. No berating myself!

Small ripples in a big pond? Maybe. But even small ripples can rock a boat. 

Happy 2011!

Expanding On A Thought

I've been thinking about yesterday's post quite a bit. If you have not read it you can scroll down because I'm too lazy to give you the link. But I love ya! :)

I believe that I am still in cranky-pants mode and I'd like to just blurb a few things.

• Skinny people? Hate you. Hate you and your gym-going self. What DISCIPLINE you have. Bite me.
• Naturally Skinny People? Do. Not. Even. EAT THAT OREO IN FRONT OF ME. Hate you and your figure too. And your genetics. Because the rest of us eat an Oreo and guess where it goes? IT GOES TO OUR ASSES. Yes. I just cursed. I should be allowed a quota per year. Quota is to be determined.
• People with blogs about houses that look like magazines. Hi. Tell me. How do you do it? You give us step-by-steps of how to hang a photo frame and how to effectively use "pops" of color. Here is what I want to know. How do you work a full-time job, take care of your husband who has a crazy-free spirit /animals that like to drool and leave hair every where, clean your house, cook dinner every night, write at least one blog post per day, shop for your cheap decor items, and still manage to have time to obsessively watch 30 Rock episodes streaming from Netflix? And solve world hunger? HOW? Enlighten me. Because I try to think about how my parents did it and now I realize why my room was always full of laundry and Saturday mornings/early afternoons were devoted to cleaning like banshees. Oh yes, and lets not forget how you handle your budget by clipping coupons and save money for your amazing kitchen. Because I? I want an amazing kitchen. Stat. 
• Those of you who get up early and go work out and read your bible and all that? Wish I was you. Would probably help my yet-to-be-determined cursing quota. 
• Target. I love you. And I hate you. And I hate that I love you. Why? Why is it that I visit you and I leave $100 poorer every time? And most of the time I don't have many cheap movies from your blissful cheap movie aisle. Most of the time its things like tampons and pads, and shampoo and conditioner and maybe even some face-wash. Why you gotta be so hard on my pocketbook? It hurts, Target. It hurts. 

Dang, an Oreo sounds pretty darn good right now. 

Argh!

Design Flaws

When I was three, my parents bought the home that I would grow up in. It was a pretty nice house, bigger than the home we moved out of... and it had a pool. My Dad and his wife Delia still live in that house today. 

The entire thirteen years that my parents lived in that house, every wall was white. For a long time, it never occurred to me that I could paint the walls. When I got old enough, I remember asking once or twice to paint a wall or the room and the answer was always no. 

I vaguely remember my sister, Alison painting her room when I moved into Kari's room, and she got the privacy that she begged my parents for. I could be making that up. I definitely remember my mom working tirelessly to scrap the ugly wallpaper off the bathroom walls and painting that a lovely shade of.... (surprise!) white.

Years later, when Delia (because it was her idea, no doubt) painted the walls in that house, I was floored. It was so WEIRD. The house had always been white, and now there was a sage green color in the dining room, and a pretty tan color in the den. 

After my Mom and I moved out, we lived in an apartment which obviously we couldn't paint. Then, we moved back into the first house my Mom and Dad had purchased, and we didn't paint any color in there either. When I moved out, I lived in rentals that always had a no paint policy. 

Like how I get right down to the point?

I became OBSESSED with painting. When Denise and I were looking for an apartment in Fresno, she found one that let you paint one living room wall in one of their approved colors. HOT DOG! But when she went to visit, she explained that the freeway was right behind the building and it was loud. Alas, painted walls were not to be. 

When I moved in with my friend, Cisco, who owned the house, he said I could paint my room whatever I wanted. So I painted vertical stripes on one wall, which I now know is called a "focus" wall. How fancy. At that time, I was arrogant. How HARD can stripes really be? Honestly. I didn't know that there were tips and tricks and entire blogs dedicated to painting stripes. It turned out well enough, but no where near what it could have been had I researched. 

Bryan and I now own a home. We can change pretty much anything we want if we have the time, inclination, funds and know-how. 

And wouldn't you know that while I have myriad ideas but no actual inspiration to DO any of them? 

It doesn't help that my super supportive and inspiring husband likes to shut down every vision or idea that I have. 

I haven't had a whole lot of motivation to paint or unpack and decorate because 1. every time I talk about what I want to do Bryan looks at me like I have sprouted ten heads and am speaking in Russian and 2. because I look at these blogs of real people (read: women) just like myself that have beautiful homes and I want that NOW. I'd like to skip the whole awkward, figuring things out stage and just have a beautiful zone that does not have German shepherd hair and drool all over it. 

I want to wish away the blue tile and gray grout in the kitchen, and the cream and green tile in the master bathroom, along with weird ivy-laden light fixture. And don't even get me started on the black toilet that freaks all of our guests out in the front bathroom. (Note: If you are ever in Lowes or Home Depot, and you think to yourself, OH. We could put a chic, black toilet in the only guest bathroom in our house. LET ME TELL YOU, this is a bad idea. It freaks people out. I have lived in the house since September, have owned it since May 2010 and do you think that I have EVER peed in that bathroom? Creepy.)

So, not only am I in the hugest hair-do funk of my LIFE, but I also am in a decorating funk. 

Awesome.

Insomniac Sayings

I can't sleep. I've been up for the past hour or so just thinking and creating really awesome ringtones. So many in fact that now I have absolutely no idea which song I am going to chose to be the main ringtone. Now I have So Many Choices that I honestly can't pick one. I'm going to have a different ringtone for every hour in the day. Which would actually be kind of cool.

Moving on... I think I blame Anna. If I wasn't such a NICE person I would totally call her right now. She told me she's been having a hard time sleeping and she gave it to me. I can't sleep. My mind is going four thousand miles a minutes and it really isn't working out for me.

Unfortunately, none of what is passing through the brain tubes are things that I can blog about.

One thing though, I found out today that one of my Dad's friends and sponsors passed away. He was older and he died of cancer. Please pray for my Dad and the loved ones of this man. I'm sure they all need comfort.