Posted on August 30th, 2008 @ 10:14 pm
Our lunch today was outstanding! We had Beef BBQ Sandwiches that were out of this world! The flavor was so amazing! We both wanted more, but we’re saving the other two for lunch tomorrow (we’ll see how they taste left over). The recipe was easy to make, but having to have the meat cook for 1 to 1.5 hours took forever (especially when you’re hungry). If you make this meal, keep the timing in mind and start early so you can eat when it’s actually lunch time. I will definitely make this again (heck, it might even become a Saturday lunch every week for us…..yes, it’s that good!). I burned the bun tops, so disregard them in the photo.
The Roasted Sweet Potato Fries were incredible too. I actually like sweet potato fries far more than regular french fries. They’re SO good! The cooking directions were great, but when the recipe was followed, the fries turned out more like baked potato fries (not crisp at all, but still good). I turned on the Broiler and crisped them up a bit and they were perfect! I will also make these again.
What a great side for the BBQ Beef Sandwich. This meal was definitely a winner for both of us!
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Posted on August 30th, 2008 @ 9:52 pm
Oh my gosh!!! I received the most amazing package in the mail today! Seriously….it’s unbelievable how amazing it is! My friend Rachel does a lot of volunteering and has volunteered at several fashion events in New York. She gets a ton of freebies and they’re all SO amazing! She often gives me a taste of what she’s received (the photo to the right is just a sample of what was in the latest package from her).
I keep telling her that if I were her, I would be hoarding this stuff all to myself. A couple of months ago, she even gave me some amazing shampoo and conditioner. The shampoo alone costs $40 and the conditioner was $50. She received it free for volunteering at a fashion show. Heck, I would have at least sold it on eBay to make a little income, but she’s not like that. Rachel has the biggest giving heart. Would I still love her if I didn’t get all these goodies from her? Of course! She’s just an amazing person to begin with.
How long have we been friends? Since March 2007. I had her as a partner in a swap on Swap-Bot and we’ve been talking ever since. We’ve never met, but have struck up quite a friendship through writing back and forth.
She always adds fun personal goodies to her packages too. She knows me well and knows my favorite color is green, I love post-it notes and mechanical pencils, not to mention lip balm, lip gloss, and frogs. She always thinks of everything and pampers me non-stop. Thanks Rachel!!!
Posted on August 25th, 2008 @ 5:29 pm
This past weekend, my husband and I drove to Charleston, SC to see the Total Money Makeover Live Event with Dave Ramsey. Who is Dave Ramsey? Are you kidding me? You don’t know? I’m just kidding. I had no clue who he was until a year ago when my Dad gave me his book. I hate to read (I get distracted easily), so I bought the book on CD and started listening to it in the car. I liked what Dave had to say, but put it on the back burner. I then read another blog who mentioned Dave, so it sparked the interest again, so I checked out Dave’s website and found his radio show and now listen to that daily.
Listening to his radio program has gotten me really excited about what he has to teach about finances. I found that he was speaking in Charleston, SC and my husband and I have wanted to go there since we moved to NC almost 8 years ago, so it was perfect! We saw him this past weekend and loved the conference. Dave is so funny and makes money interesting. We learned so much about how to save and to get out of debt fast, by really making the effort to do so. Our current debt is one car ( which will be paid off this year) and our house, which most people have. We want to try to pay that off early (instead of just making the normal payments for 30 years). :) We’d love to have no debt and then really be able to save, save, save for the future.
Dave also teaches about not having a car payment. I always thought that was normal (to have a car payment). Dave talks about buying a “beater” car that’s reliable. Pay $2,000 to $5,000 (in cash) for it, run it to the ground and do the same thing until you have all your debts paid off. This leaves for no car payments ever, which means you’re not paying interest on a car loan either. Then, when you’re debt-free, you can buy the car you want (still buying with cash, of course). It’s an interesting principle and not everyone is going to want to catch on.
I find it all fascinating and would love to move forward with Dave’s plan. It makes sense to us. For instance, our other car has been paid off for over 9 years. It could die any day now (it’s so old). We had already been planning to buy a new Honda Accord or Civic when it dies. My only rule is that we don’t have two car payments at once (which we wouldn’t since the other car is almost paid off as well). Now, after hearing Dave, I think we’d go for a used Honda (up to $5,000) and pay cash for it so we have zero car payments (that would be a first for us). We could then take that car payment and put it into a mutual fund and let it grow. Watch this video. It makes sense to me. :) Ok, I could ramble on and on about Dave forever, but don’t want to bore you, especially if this stuff doesn’t excite you, but real quick, here are his “baby steps” that he teaches in his Total Money Makeover book (a quick overview):
- $1,000 to start an “Emergency Fund”
- Pay off all debt using the “Debt Snowball”
- 3-6 months of expenses in savings
- Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRA’s and pre-tax retirement
- College Funding
- Pay off home early
- Build Wealth and Give!
If you have any questions about the “baby steps”, please just ask. I’m happy to fill in the details for you.
Posted on August 25th, 2008 @ 4:59 pm
Against my better judgment, I jumped on the scale this morning……and gained 4 pounds! Yep, you read correctly…..4 pounds. I’m not concerned though and I’m not going to let it get me down. This is where I wish I could use another “no weigh-in” pass, but if I start throwing that out there each week, I’ll never weigh-in and then find that when I do step on the scale, it’ll read a gain of more pounds than I’m willing to think of. I can’t rely on the scale to determine how healthy I am.
I did eat well last week and did work out 4 times (weights and cardio). This definitely had to make a difference, which makes me wonder if I should have weighed in Friday morning. I was feeling great going into the weekend, but we went away this past weekend and we ate out a lot! I have no willpower when going to a restaurant. I can’t just order a salad or a side veggie plate. I can’t even begin to describe some of the greasy concoctions I ate. It all tasted amazing, but hardly any of it settled well. Our hotel had a made-to-order breakfast and we ate dessert after almost every meal.
The big thing for me is jumping right back on track after a food fest like that. I’m already determined I’m going to, so the motivation isn’t lost. Here’s to a better week.
