I'm an aunt again!

Cooper Tyndall was born on Sunday, Dec. 28th. He was 8 lbs, 5 oz and 20 1/2 inches long. Lori (sis) says he just has peach fuzz on his head. Troy (BIL) has posted pics on his blog and I'm too lazy to transfer them to here :)

I'm so sad because I won't get to meet this little guy for forever. Lori and Troy live in Hawaii, and sadly, I don't have the money to go visit. So I have to wait for Lori to head back to the states and bring Cooper with her...she'd better anyway!! Last I heard, she has a visit planned for SEPTEMBER 2009....that's so far away!

Welcome to the world, Cooper! We love you!

25

I've been tagged by an person I went to high school with.

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 2 people to be tagged.

1. I so want to leave my current job. I'm fed up with my doctor being a (almost) deadbeat.

2. I love the "2 Dorks" in the Quad Cities! I really missed them when I moved away to DM.

3. I'm doing the Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover, and what a relief it is!

4. I just called to order appointment cards for the office.

5. I'm loving all the treats and goodies that my patients have been bringing in!

6. I have 11 pictures of Scooter in my office, and only one of me with him. And only one of Sam-also with Scooter.

7. I love Mountain Dew.

8. I don't text. Don't really have a desire to. That disappoints my sister, and some of my friends, I'm sure.

9. I miss my sister like crazy!! (She lives in Hawaii...we're in Iowa)

10. I keep a toothbrush and toothpaste at work...just in case I go out to eat something stinky for lunch. Olive Garden, anyone?

11. My work desk is just a counter mounted to the wall...it also has the copier sitting on it. So my work area is about 3 1/2 feet by 2 feet. Not much, considering that the keyboard, mouse pad and monitor are also sitting in that same space.

12. I am dreading the storm that's supposed to come this afternoon. Nicknamed "Death Storm 2008" by the 2 Dorks mentioned above.

13. Dr. S keeps talking to me about marketing-type stuff that he wants me to do in the New Year. I just want to tell him to shove it up his ass, because hopefully I won't be here!

14. I miss the old BHB. NBBC sucks- no thread memory, only what? 5 threads on a page?

15. We rescued a boxer puppy during the flood over the summer. Her name is Laila.

16. I think that there will be an assassination attempt on Barack Obama within the first year. Not that I wish that, but I think there will be.

17. We're taking Scooter to the firestation in Ely on Friday night to see Santa.

18. Sam doesn't know about #17 yet.


19. I looooove the smell of coffee, but can't bring myself to drink it.


20. McDonald's sweet tea. Enough said!


21. I don't know what the issue is, but for some reason I don't like to be on a different floor than Sam and Scooter if they are asleep. In the house we just moved out of, the bedrooms were upstairs and the living room was on the main floor. I HATED being downstairs if they were up in bed- watching TV, reading...pretty much anything. Call me weird, I know.

22. I get obsessed with stuff pretty easily. If I find a new book series, I cannot read them fast enough. If I find something I like to eat (hello- super soft and sweet doughy pretzels at Sam's club), I will either A) go back and get them all the time, or B) buy a ton of them to eat at home. Hence the big ass box of SIXTY pretzels in my deep freeze at home.

23. I really wish that Grandpa Wally could have been alive long enough to meet Scooter, and to go hunting with him. The next generation of duck hunters...

24. I love finding new blogs to read. I've found some...interesting...ones lately! Hello- Adventures of Jake and Colin! **Steamy!!**

25. I had a job interview yesterday afternoon. I REALLY hope I get it.

I'm tagging
Holleigh at Multi-Slacking Mamalicious
and
Michelle at The Mommy Behind the Badge

Kick ass! I won something!!

I actually won a bloggy giveaway! First one, and boy, will it be YUMMMMY! Abby over at Me and My Boys! was giving away a Starbucks gift card and a package of White Fudge Covered Oreos. Sooooo good!

Thanks Abby!

The Three Wisemen

Last night was Scooter's Christmas program. The little kids were so cute. They sang a bunch of songs. Some of them were their preschool songs- "Rise and Shine," "Happy Birthday" (to Jesus), "Now It's Time to Say Goodbye", and the others were Christmas ones- "Jingle Bells," "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" (that my child was THE loudest and could hear him over everyone else, LOL).

Then they did the Nativity story where they all dressed up and walked down the aisle and sat around the manger. Scoots kept telling us that he was going to be "Jophus", so that's what we were expecting. Well, he was one of the Three Wisemen.

Or, as he told his daycare teacher, one of the "Three WiseGUYS."

How appropriate.

Pay It Forward Friday

Pay It Forward Friday is here! It's a day to visit other bloggers!

From my blogroll, I closed my eyes and selected....Multi-Slacking Mamalicious! She's too funny, I swear.

From there, I clicked randomly to Migraine Mom.

And then on to Ashley's Closet.

Strangely enough...two of these bloggers are on the message boards that I visit all the time. I don't think Migraine Mom is part of the BHB though...I may be wrong!

Hop on over to An Iowa Mom and check out the rest of the Pay It Forwards!

Doing surveys, trading DVDs = extra money to put to debt!

I've been doing Pinecone surveys for a few years now. They sometimes send out household questionnaires, wanting to know about your buying habits. Other times, they send out concept studies...for these, they pay $3. I get about 1 or 2 a month. They deposit it into my PayPal account a few days after the study is completed.

I've also got a ton of DVD's listed on SwapADVD, and don't usually ask for any in return. So I've got 28 credits right now from trading DVDs, and decided to sell them off today. I sold a bunch over the fall, but used that money to catch up on bills. Now, we're caught up and extra money goes straight to our debt snowball! I just sold 5 of the credits...easy $20. Hopefully I'll have some bites on the remaining ones and sell those off.

But I just checked my PayPal account, and saw a decent balance in there- $47.72! So if I take that, plus the additional $90 or so that I'll get from selling the rest of my credits on SwapADVD, that'll be $137.72 to put towards my smallest bill, making it almost paid off!! That's so awesome!

Feels so good

We started doing Dave, and working on paying off our debt. We've got baby step 1 done, which is a baby emergency fund of $1000. We're on step 2 now, the debt snowball. We've got one bill gone, another one should be gone this weekend, and two more will follow in short order, as we'll be getting money from Gma for Xmas (which we're doing early this year- Dec 7th).

Then on to the bigger ones (over $1500). It feels good. I need to do the debt snowball worksheet on the Dave website and figure when our ending date is, so I have that to look forward to! It's such a relief to have a plan...even if we do stray from it. We're working on it, and that's what matters. I've got 5 of our CC's on payment plans and closed- I did the plastectomy a weekend or two ago and MAN, IT FELT GOOD!!

Not to mention...we paid all CASH for Xmas presents this year! NOTHING went on credit cards (well, the ones that are still open anyway). All cash...or at least on the debit card which is just about as good as cash since it takes it straight from our checking account. No debt for Christmas this year- YIPPEE!!!

I just wanted to thank Jody SOOOOO much for helping me get into this.

Send a card to the troops for Christmas

Why not give our troops a thank you for Christmas? I did this a few minutes ago and sent three cards. Hopefully they will make a soldier's day!!

Xerox has set up a website, http://www.letssaythanks.com/ , where you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq . You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services. How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!!

It is FREE and it only takes a second.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you are for or against the war, our soldiers over there need to know we are behind them. This takes just 10 seconds and it's a wonderful way to say thank you. Please take the time and please take the time to pass it on for others to do. We can never say enough thank you's.

The wisdom of hot chocolate

I had a yummy cup of hot chocolate last night while I waited for Sam to get home from work. It was so good, and I heaped handful after handful of mini marshmallows in it to get all melty and good.

Interestingly enough, I got this email in my inbox this morning and thought, "wow, that's quite an insight." So I thought I'd share...

The Wisdom in Hot Chocolate

A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired. During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives.

Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortmentof cups - porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate.

When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said:
‘Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases, even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups. And then you began eyeing each other’s cups.

Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate God has provided us. God makes the hot chocolate, man chooses the cups.
The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have.

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. And enjoy your hot chocolate!!