big pimpin' & humble pie

The agony and the irony. The weekend before Michael lost his job, we bought another car...ideally, we'd have liked to paid cash for one, but didn't have the savings built up yet. So he ended up getting an '04 Accord (that's not really our car in the photo); and, gritting our teeth, we incurred another car payment. We drove it around, getting used to the idea of this new (and tres chic!) car for two days (and feeling bigger in our britches than we should have) before Michael no longer had a job and then it was too late to give it back. Gotta love it when that happens. Tongues-in-cheeks, we've nicknamed the car Big Pimpin'. Pretty fly, for a white guy.

Anticipating some major budgetary changes, we also decided to act on another idea we'd been tossing around....we got rid of the Element. Oh how I liked that car for it's spunk and versatility! I was grumpy about it. But God sure does have a sense of humor, and it showed yesterday when Michael drove off with the Element (I won't lie, I ate a couple of donuts to console myself) and drove back in a 1993 Toyota Camry....almost the exact same car in color, model and trim level that he owned from 1999-2004. I had to laugh. Michael's Camry was impeccable....let's just say that this one has seen better days in its 14 years of existence. Don't let the picture fool you. It has little scratches all over it, a couple of chips on the hood, but other than that (hey! it's got a sunroof and 12-disc CD changer!), it makes a perfect grocery-getter. The best part? We were able to trade down, pay off what we owed on the Element and get the Camry free and clear. We'll even get a nice refund from the DMV when we go to license it.

What prompted the Element-dump? Besides needing to free up some space in the budget, we'd been reading The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey...and were challenged by his ideas on car buying (among other things). Check out his thoughts here. Fairly counter-cultural, but it seems to make sense to us. I was shocked (and disappointed in myself) at how much pride I had in driving that Element. Ridiculous! My car should not - will not - define me! But I had let it.

My mood is improving. I was bummed out yesterday, because the smart thing to do never seems like the fun thing. In the long run, though, I'll be happier. Should we run into dire straits, the bank can't take it away. It's reliable. It's like having an old friend back. And with a little Armor-All and a new-car-scented air freshener, ole Humble Pie is growing on me.

fill 'er up

I am hungry all the time now. Wish it was me going through a growth spurt, but alas. The baby is getting huge and kind of demanding about how much food I eat. Since I'm running out of room for a full stomach, I am eating smaller meals all the time to satisfy Little Man.


I was shopping the other day and was looking for another bar (I love my Lunas, but they're getting old) to throw in my purse for when I just have-to-have-something-now...and found these Fiber One bars. I mowed down on one the other night while watching 'Transformers' with Michael, read the ingredients as I swallowed that last chewy, oaty, chocolatey bite and almost threw up. There in the ingredient list, tucked between 'chickory root extract' and 'high fructose corn syrup' (what was i thinking?!), was ETHANOL and SHELLAC. Ahem. You read it right. Which lead me to think, should I really be ingesting the stuff my car runs on? (Unless your car runs on veggie oil, then by all means, eat up! And go visit the Live Lightly Tour link on the right-hand side of this page.) And, in the interest of full disclosure, with 35% of your daily fiber in that little bar you're sure to wolf down in 10 seconds flat, your system will treat it like ethanol, much to the chagrin/revulsion of your spouse. Trust me on this one. Sorry, babe.

So I found a better alternative. You have got to try THESE bars. They are soooo much better for you (low glycemic and truly delish)...Kashi's GoLean Rolls. I've tried 'em in Chocolate-Peanut and Caramel-Peanut. High in fiber and protein, too. YUM. My system thanks me for the switch. And so does Michael.

big-girl bed

A couple of weeks ago, we transitioned Reese to her 'new' room: a twin-sized bed and new furniture. She is loving it! She runs to hop in bed for naps (what parent doesn't love that?), and will play on the floor - BY HERSELF - with her toys or books. I got the desk from Freecycle over a year ago and cleaned it up for her little art desk. The top flips up to be an easel, too, but for now, just play-doh and crayons. Anyone who comes over gets the tour from Reese herself. Because in her two-year-old mind, isn't that why you came over in the first place?

29 weeks

only 11 more weeks to go! (pardon the ridiculous pose - i am trying to hold my pants up)

downer

"Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?...So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6: 27, 31-34

Michael lost his job on Monday afternoon. We kind of saw the handwriting on the wall (restructuring), but overall are pretty glad that he doesn't work for that company anymore. He's such a trooper - I would have taken the next day to throw the biggest pity party, but not Michael - he was out the door by 10 AM in a suit, making calls and setting up meetings with some contacts. Today he's brushing up his resume and going to explore more options. Who knows what the future holds for us, but we are confident that God will provide, and that a job change for Michael will be better for us in the long run. Kind of funny, though, how I thought subconsciously "that will never happen to us!" A blow to the pride, for sure, but what has our ego ever gained us?

I was browning some ground beef when he came home and told me that he was fired. I thought he was joking at first, and then reality set in: my husband no longer has a job. Just as things were finally settling down after a crazy year - selling our house in Des Moines, expecting our second child, moving, and now Michael was just done working in Des Moines after four months of us living (mostly without him) in Omaha. I didn't need any more drama! We shed a few tears in disbelief - with Reese looking at us like we had lost our minds. After dinner, she asked me, "Mama, you crying?" I told her no, I was all done crying. She said, "OK, Mama, I not cry too." Her adorable little way of comforting me! A timely reminder of what's important, job or not.

humans and food

I just watched with Reese (from the movie "Over the Hedge") - it's a great bit of social commentary:

he says the darndest things

It was a good morning for Michael, apparently. Driving out to run some errands, he exclaimed, "I feel AWESOME today!" It caught me off guard - he's usually not that positive in the morning, so I burst out laughing.

"Why?" I asked him.

"Well, you know. I got my family with me, I'm listening to some good music, it's still the morning, I got a coffee in my hand...and my hat's sitting just right on my head."

Ah. It's all about hat positioning.