Who Needs to Reinvent the Wheel

Um...I sat down and attempted to write a Foodie Friday blog; till I found this...

http://behindthestonewall.blogspot.com/2011/06/helpful-how-to-amazingly-cheap-and.html

My sister's amazing how-to blog that just says it so much more perfect than I ever could.

I promise, next week, I'll be better. 

My Favorite Place in the Whole Wide World

I have zero motivation today.  I just don’t want to be at work.

I want to be here.

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Yesterday, I made the comment that Mr. DDA & I weren’t poor, we were broke. 

Well, I grew up POOR.   

Not like 3^rd world country poor, but poverty level poor. 

I never knew it. 

Not till I became an adult, did I really realize how tough my parents had it.

But if my dad had sold enough wood, and my mom had saved every penny from painting Greek letters, we got to go on vacation. 

And we usually went here

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The most magical place on earth to us.

Daytona Beach Shores

You drive to Daytona Beach and you go over the bay bridge and THERE IT IS – the Atlantic Ocean, glistening in the morning sun.  (I can say that because we always drove overnight.)  You can smell the salt air and it just feels perfect. 

It is hands down, still to this day, my favorite place on earth. 

It helps that it’s-no-secret my favorite great aunt spends her summers there.  (Literally, her name is was the 2^nd word I ever spoke.  When I was about 6, I ran away from home – to her house.  I didn’t make it, but that’s where I was headed.  And you know what, it’s no secret, she kinda likes me too!)

She would graciously, and still does, let our family use her condo.  And while most people spend every vacation night wining & dining - not us.  We ate in.  We had Mexican night, Italian night, and lunches were sandwiches and ramen.  But it was vacation.  And it was awesome!

Once we got lucky and the family staying next to us had Disney/Sea World connection and we got to go to both parks FOR FREE!! 

It is where I spent part of my honeymoon. 

It is where my mom taught me how to make “witches’ castles.”  If you don’t know what a witches’ castle is, it where you make walls and towers with wet dripping sand. 

And in six weeks, I will be there.  Or more specifically here.

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My Breaking Point

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With all this talk about shopping, marriage, the Royals, and shoes, I wanted to take a time out and kinda refocus on what we (or maybe just me) are here for.

Getting and STAYING out of debt.

As I pulled out our swim diapers for the first swim of the season, I had a flashback.  It was the single moment I decided to get out of debt.  I had forgotten about it but I wanted to share it.

I had a 11 month old little boy.  And had just found out we were expecting baby #2.  We were super excited but deep down I was terribly nervous.  We were barely making it each month with one kid.  Owed $40,000 on our cars, another $40,000 on some land, and at least $10,000 on a credit card.  (For all those things we didn’t plan on for baby #1.)

We weren’t poor.  We were broke.  We spent every dollar we had before we even had it.

It was a Friday night and I had just put the last diaper in our possession on my son.  We were out of money.  Out.  Like maybe $2 in our account.  But I got paid the next day and we had to make it till the next day.  It was risky, but I thought we could do it.

Murphy (really, Murphy Jr.) came to visit.  Let’s just say that diaper was obliterated.

The only thing I had in the entire house was a couple of swim diapers left from the summer. 

Swim diapers barely hold anything!  Their main purpose is to keep anything from floating away if you know what I mean.

But Saturday morning, I put a swim diaper on my son and headed to Walmart.  I live 1 mile from Walmart.  Literally.  One mile.

By the time we got there he was soaked.  I ran in, bought diapers (and a change of clothes for the poor boy) and there in the Walmart bathroom had a mini melt down.  What kind of mom couldn’t afford diapers?  He had to wear a swim diaper for crying out loud.  I was soooo tired of being broke.

And that’s the day I decided it had to change.  We took FPU that fall.  Began our baby steps.  Sold a ton of stuff.  And little by little changed our life.

And a little over two years later, we were debt free.  I heard Dave Ramsey say this week, “It’s not a straight line, it’s kinda wavy.  With ups and downs.”  And it was.  We had ups on our journey and downs.  For us it was two steps forward, one step back.  But by the grace of God, we did it.

If for no other reason than that I do not ever want to relive the agony of being the mother who can’t afford to keep my kids in diapers.  Or anything else for that matter. 

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Working from Home is Breaking the Bank

I love being able to work from home.

Roll out of bed at 7:25.  At the desk by 7:30.

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It's amazing.

But working from home has it's drawbacks.

I need noise.  Not like blast the side of the mountain (ahem!  Arsenal! Could you warn us first?)  Just background noise.  Like the TV.

But I've discovered, there is nothing on during the day.

Never watched Soap Operas - well, except for one year in high school.  But they're extinct anyhow.

Don't care for game shows.

Besides, I'm working.  I don't need to "watch" anything.

Just listen.

Perfect solution for me is QVC. 

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Yes, I'm a closet QVC shopper.  I wouldn't consider my fanatic.  But considering I only wear certain type of mineral makeup that's not cheap, you can get a heck-of-deal on QVC.  And that was IT.  Nothing else.

But I've caught myself buying more and more lately.

Sunless tanner.  (That I need for a pale yellow bridesmaids dress.)

Eyeliner (Because they swear it stays on FOREVER and I'm tired of mine being on my eyebrow by 11 am.)

Even hamburgers.  (Because we're on a low carb diet till next Friday.)

I justify it all.  Tip to Mr. DDA: Block the QVC channel.  Next thing you know, I'll be wearing Birkies, headbands, and buy pill bottle magnifiers.  (And yes, you can get all of those on QVC.)  Lol. 

Actually, don't you dare.  Christmas in July is coming up!

Working from home is getting expensive.   I need a better idea for background noise.