It is that time of the year again - Photo season! Every year sometimes starting as early as Halloween, our mailbox starts filling with holiday photo greeting cards of friends and family. And honestly it always makes me a little depressed. Well, maybe depressed isn't really the right word for it. It is more like jealousy if I am being honest! For the past two years I have wanted to have a beautiful card to send to friends and family but it just doesn't seem like something I can get accomplished. I have generally three factors working against me. 1) Money 2) Time 3) Cooperative subjects!
My first issue is money because I feel like in order to get a really good photo of three kids, ages 8 and 2 (twins) it requires a professional photographer which I am not! Now, I have some ability and can pull a great picture out of my hat every now and then, but it never fails that about the time I get everyone dressed, in a somewhat pose and then get my camera ready they have scattered! But alas, we just can't afford to pay someone to take the pictures for us - so it is left to me and my pathetic attempts.
My second issue is time. There just never seems like there is time to even take a picture. Something is always going on and then one the day that we don't have anything happening, it is raining or gale force winds which just will not work for a cute photo.
My third issue is the actual subjects of the picture itself! One of the most stressful things in life is trying to get two two-year-olds to sit still for three seconds to have their picture taken. The minute I get them set the pop right back up. Then to top it off, my eight-year-old is just as bad. He refuses to sit still, smile and be the good example. And most of the time by about 10 minutes in someone has a meltdown and the whole thing is shot.
But I refuse to give up, one day, and my kids may all be in their 20s before it happens, but I am determined to someday get that ellusive holiday picture!
Friday, November 18, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Financial Pressure
I will turn 30-years-old in a couple of months and until a few weeks ago, my name might as well have been Scarlet O'Hara! My attitude was I will worry and start saving tomorrow.
Now I don't want to come across as some credit card weilding, spend like crazy, don't think twice shopaholic, because I am not. In fact I am quite the opposite! But while I may not of gone about spending like crazy and getting into deep deep debt, I also didn't really think about putting anything away for a rainy day! If the money was there, I spent it. My husband and I went into our marriage with virtually no savings. Both earning but neither thinking about tomorrow.
We bought a house and then one short year later my husband was miserable in his job so, we made the decision to move to another town. And then as our luck would have it, the economy crashed and along with it the housing market. Selling our house was not going to happen but thankfully we were lucky enough to get it rented out, but not for an amount that would cover the total mortgage payment. So every month for the past two years we have had to shell out an extra $300 on our rent house and into the financial hole we went!
It was hurting but we both had decent jobs and we were managing. Then we decided to have a child. The pregnancy we planned...the twins we did not! Also financially scary...two of everything at the same time! But still we felt it would be possible! But then just to make things really interesting, I went into pre-term labor and delivered the twins at 29 weeks gestation! Since I don't want to make anyone physically ill (most importantly myself!), I will refrain from putting into print the grand total of my two weeks stay in the hospital combined with the twins six week stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit! Let's just say our total medical bills were more than my husband and I made in a year!
Even after insurance paid their part our portion of the medical bills were still pretty astronomical. And yes, we could pay $10 or $20 on each, the situation was made worse when we realized that to put 3 children in daycare would cost us more monthly than I made! So, rather than working just to loose money, we made the decision that I would stay at home.
We have been able to survive for a year...and I mean just barely scrape by each month and most of the time we are delequent in payments. I have felt an enormous growing pressure this whole time just waiting for the bottom to drop out. So I have decided to take action and rather just sit around and worry about when it will happen, I am starting to get serious about saving and cutting back. This will be a challange because I would prefer to be gazelle intense, but I can not get my husband to jump on the back of that gazelle!
So how will it work with only one of us being committed? Honestly, I don't know but I am at least going to try and try to maintain a happy healthy marriage at the same time. Will it work? Only time will tell!
Now I don't want to come across as some credit card weilding, spend like crazy, don't think twice shopaholic, because I am not. In fact I am quite the opposite! But while I may not of gone about spending like crazy and getting into deep deep debt, I also didn't really think about putting anything away for a rainy day! If the money was there, I spent it. My husband and I went into our marriage with virtually no savings. Both earning but neither thinking about tomorrow.
We bought a house and then one short year later my husband was miserable in his job so, we made the decision to move to another town. And then as our luck would have it, the economy crashed and along with it the housing market. Selling our house was not going to happen but thankfully we were lucky enough to get it rented out, but not for an amount that would cover the total mortgage payment. So every month for the past two years we have had to shell out an extra $300 on our rent house and into the financial hole we went!
It was hurting but we both had decent jobs and we were managing. Then we decided to have a child. The pregnancy we planned...the twins we did not! Also financially scary...two of everything at the same time! But still we felt it would be possible! But then just to make things really interesting, I went into pre-term labor and delivered the twins at 29 weeks gestation! Since I don't want to make anyone physically ill (most importantly myself!), I will refrain from putting into print the grand total of my two weeks stay in the hospital combined with the twins six week stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit! Let's just say our total medical bills were more than my husband and I made in a year!
Even after insurance paid their part our portion of the medical bills were still pretty astronomical. And yes, we could pay $10 or $20 on each, the situation was made worse when we realized that to put 3 children in daycare would cost us more monthly than I made! So, rather than working just to loose money, we made the decision that I would stay at home.
We have been able to survive for a year...and I mean just barely scrape by each month and most of the time we are delequent in payments. I have felt an enormous growing pressure this whole time just waiting for the bottom to drop out. So I have decided to take action and rather just sit around and worry about when it will happen, I am starting to get serious about saving and cutting back. This will be a challange because I would prefer to be gazelle intense, but I can not get my husband to jump on the back of that gazelle!
So how will it work with only one of us being committed? Honestly, I don't know but I am at least going to try and try to maintain a happy healthy marriage at the same time. Will it work? Only time will tell!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Under Pressure
Yes, I am under pressure. Yes, my name is Gracie...well it is really Grace - but most people who have known me since I was little call my Gracie. So, yes, Gracie is Under Pressure but also, I have always tried to maintain and have Grace Under Pressure. Catch that double meaning thing I got going on? I feel the need to say "get it?" just in case my "clever radar" is WAY off and every one else is scratching their heads!
Let me start off by saying I am just your average stay at home mom. I don't have some extraordinary crafting gene, I can't come up with wildly inventive reciepes, DIY I can not, and I am afraid I fail miserably at keeping my house spotlessly clean. But I do try lots of crafts, love reciepes, daydream about doing DIY projects and attempt to make my house presentable on a daily basis! Here you will find my daily struggles of trying to raise an 8-year-old son, and twin 2-year-olds, plus survive this horrible economy on only one income and maintain that spark with my husband that we felt in those early days. I gotta admit - more often than not I feel like I fail miserably at all my goals!
Growing up I wanted to be Carrie Bradshaw (Sex and the City). I thought she had a fabulous life! Spending her days writing, shopping and living in New York. It looked like a dream come true. But as I got older I realized I was terrified of living in a big city, could never move to New York and be that far away from my family in Texas and oh, also I am a huge germ nut so there was no way I could even think about kissing that many men let alone actually sleeping with them! I had my first kiss as a young girl and then spent the next week terrified I was going to get Mono!
While on one hand my fear of things may have kept me from doing some really exciting and life changing things, it has also kept me out of alot of trouble throughout my life! And so- here I sit in Texas, at 1 p.m. writing my first blog while my twins systematically destroy their playroom and the lunch leftovers still sit on the kitchen table and the washing machine beeps letting me know another load of laundry is done. Yeah, I think it is safe to say - my lifestyle and Carrie Bradshaw's lifestyle could not be more different. But you know what - I would choose my life over hers any day of the week and twice on Sunday!
Let me start off by saying I am just your average stay at home mom. I don't have some extraordinary crafting gene, I can't come up with wildly inventive reciepes, DIY I can not, and I am afraid I fail miserably at keeping my house spotlessly clean. But I do try lots of crafts, love reciepes, daydream about doing DIY projects and attempt to make my house presentable on a daily basis! Here you will find my daily struggles of trying to raise an 8-year-old son, and twin 2-year-olds, plus survive this horrible economy on only one income and maintain that spark with my husband that we felt in those early days. I gotta admit - more often than not I feel like I fail miserably at all my goals!
Growing up I wanted to be Carrie Bradshaw (Sex and the City). I thought she had a fabulous life! Spending her days writing, shopping and living in New York. It looked like a dream come true. But as I got older I realized I was terrified of living in a big city, could never move to New York and be that far away from my family in Texas and oh, also I am a huge germ nut so there was no way I could even think about kissing that many men let alone actually sleeping with them! I had my first kiss as a young girl and then spent the next week terrified I was going to get Mono!
While on one hand my fear of things may have kept me from doing some really exciting and life changing things, it has also kept me out of alot of trouble throughout my life! And so- here I sit in Texas, at 1 p.m. writing my first blog while my twins systematically destroy their playroom and the lunch leftovers still sit on the kitchen table and the washing machine beeps letting me know another load of laundry is done. Yeah, I think it is safe to say - my lifestyle and Carrie Bradshaw's lifestyle could not be more different. But you know what - I would choose my life over hers any day of the week and twice on Sunday!
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