Selasa, 01 Februari 2011

Well, it’s official. We’re WEIRD.

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You know that guy Dave Ramsey I keep talking about? You know how he says people who don’t have debt are WEIRD?

Well, if you don’t know him…that’s what he says.

“Debt is normal…be weird.”

Well.

As of this morning, we are officially,

completely,

gloriously,

totally,

happily

WEIRD.

WE’RE


DEBT


FREE!!!

(Except the house.)

Whoo, people!! WHOO!!!!

It still hasn’t hit us. Surreal is an understatement. I haven’t cried yet. But I will. Buckets. :)

It’s major. Like, $125,000 in just about three and a half years, MAJOR. (Yes, there were three zeros.)

I told you about our debt story here, (I way underestimated how much we had already paid off at that point) and for the past three years or so, we’ve been fighting, scratching, clawing at it -- taking our finances BACK. And it’s truly been a fight.

We had flooring debt, school debt, hot tub debt, medical debt, clothing debt, I-have-no-clue-what-we-bought debt – you name it, we had it.

We were so tired of it. It was a monkey on our backs. A large, 125,000 pound monkey. And it was exhausting carrying him around. ;)

Getting rid of that monkey – exhilarating.

I thought it was impossible to live without a car payment.

I thought I would be paying off my student loan till I was 45.

I thought I couldn’t pay for a piece of furniture unless we charged it.

I was wrong.

We decided to live like no one else. So now we can live like no one else.

And it is rockin’ our worlds.

We can live without credit cards. We can save for something and pay for it when we have the money. We can save for our future and change our children’s lives.

It makes me so emotional when I think about how we are completely changing their futures. We will leave them security, not a financial mess. That makes every minute of this process worth it.

Yes, we could have done this without Dave Ramsey. It’s not rocket science. It’s making a budget every month and sticking to it – and telling our money where to go. That was a biggie for me. We were never telling it where to go, we were just floating along. La dee da, la dee da.

But Dave Ramsey inspired us. His conviction and enthusiasm is absolutely contagious. You want to attack your debt like a raging BEAR after you listen to him for five minutes.

And today, I clicked the button that sent the payment to my student loan – our very last debt. It’s all gone – forever and ever and EVER.

It’s the first time in our adult lives we’ve been debt free. We’ve both had debt since we were 18 years old. I have never been an adult and NOT had debt.

Till today. I feel like I could float away, it feels so good.

We are SO WEIRD!!!!

And if being weird is wrong, I don’t want to be right.

I wanted to take a minute and thank you so much for sharing this journey with us! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your comments and emails about our story. It absolutely makes me smile every time.

One thing I know for sure – if we can do it, YOU CAN DO IT. It may take you longer, it may take you less. I know you will be so proud of yourself.

It made us more mature, it bonded us, it changed our marriage, in a really great way. It is one of the best things we have done in entire lives.

And I’ll say it again – WHOOOOOO!!!!  :)

**And yes…we will be calling in to the radio show to scream. But now we want to take a trip down to Nashville and scream it in his lobby. It’s a big deal, and we want to celebrate it.  :)

***I’m quite sure my Google ads will go crazy with credit companies after this post – I don’t personally endorse any of them. Just sayin’.

Senin, 31 Januari 2011

There was no line dancing…

opryland hotel

But there was beauty, everywhere you looked:

The Opryland Hotel is seriously one of the most magnificent places I have ever stayed. Absolutely gorgeous. And just like last year, I didn’t have nearly enough time to look around!

I only got night shots, and they’re still amazing:

There was plenty of goofing off:

I’m trying to bring Traci to the dark side…that would be giving up the sweet nectar that is soda. It’s not happening. But that’s why I love her! :)

We even fit in some thrifting:

Kate and Chris’s faces are the BEST. (We weren’t too sure about those chairs.) And no, that is not a beer in my hand, it’s a root beer. ;)

I got to meet the man who inspired us to change our lives, and our family tree:

Financial Peace Plaza

Thanks SO MUCH to Jen for having me along!! (More on that soon!)

But more than anything, there was a lot of smiling:

(Chris and me)

TONS of hugging:

(Marian and me)

Bonding:

(Lorie and me)

A LOT of laughter:

(Myra, Chris, Richella, me, Traci and Rhoda)

Making new friends:

(Shauna and Ashley, new friends; me and Layla, an “old” friend)

And generally having an absolutely fantastic time!!:

I reconnected with the friends I’ve already met over the past year, and I finally got to meet so many bloggers I knew were friends but I had never met in real life. It never ceases to amaze me how I can meet someone for the first time, yet it’s as if I’ve known them for years and YEARS.

It’s instant friendship and love and understanding, and I am so fortunate to call all of these women friends and coworkers. It overwhelms me. What a blessing blogging is.

To say we had a blast would be an understatement. :)

Cheers to all of you – bloggers who were friends before we knew we were. :)

(If we met and I didn’t mention you, I mean YOU too!!)

A special shout out to my roomies – Chris, Rhoda and Beth:

IMG_0863

I already miss our late night talks!! :) You are a few of the loveliest, funniest, best women I know.

I got home from Nashville just in time for the storm of the century (echo, echo, echo)…ice, snow and wind for the next couple of days. This was our bedroom window one hour into it tonight:

That would be a sheet of ice. Thankyouverymuch.

We are warming up, hunkering down and planning on staying in for the next 24 hours, at least. I hope to get some projects started and a few finished since we’ll be stuck inside. Stay safe if you are facing the same!!

**Some photos borrowed from Beth and Kate! :)

Sabtu, 29 Januari 2011

Giveaway Weekend

Well hello! I am back from a FANTASTIC few days hanging with some amazing bloggy friends. I’ll tell you more about it soon, but I have a fabulous giveaway for you all first!

Amy from Amy Peters Studio makes some of the most adorable stamped jewelry around – I love her variety and the sweet messages on her pieces. And she’s been doing this since she was EIGHT years old – she’s a pro now, to say the least. ;)

Of course, I picked out a few of my faves to show you. And of course, I had 20 pictures saved and had to get a grip on  myself to whittle that down just a tad.

I know I should save the very best for last, but I couldn’t resist putting these first – TOO cute! Check out the itty bitty cutie patootie fortune cookie necklaces:

   

UGH. Are you dying? I. am. dying. There’s actually two sizes – the one on the left is a bit bigger. The one on the right is the teensy one. ADORABLE. :)

Like I mentioned, I love the messages on Amy’s pieces. This one has the “take the road less traveled” message:

Wouldn’t that be a great one for a teen in high school or going off to college? A reminder that they don’t always have to follow the crowd is definitely a good thing. ;)

I love that you can purchase the chain and charm, or just the charm for that one. I have plenty of necklaces, so being able to just buy the charm is brilliant!

This one is just plain sweet:

Too cute! If Stink Eye sis is nice, maybe I’ll get it for her. :) This piece is available as a necklace or a bracelet.

I’m also in love with Amy’s dainty, stackable rings. How adorable would this one be, stacked three or four high?:

I love, love, LOVE that little flower!

And the message on this one says “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey”:

Perfect for any woman in your life who is starting on a new phase – job, school, family, whatever.

And I couldn’t resist showing you this ring stand as well:

Ack! Stinkin’ cute!

Aren’t they so sweet? I just love them all. She has an amazing selection!

Here’s the best part -- one of you lovelies will get to spend $75 as you wish at Amy Peters Studio:

WHOO!! I love giving away stuff. This is so fun. :)

Here’s the drill – leave a comment here for your first entry. For your second entry, go to Amy’s site here and pick out one of your favorite pieces. Come back here to leave a second comment letting us know what that is. That’s it!

The giveaway will be open until Tuesday the 1st at noon Eastern time.

Have a GREAT weekend! I’m off to squish my son a few more times – missed him SO MUCH!!! :)