Mid Febuary Check In

I was looking at my goals and I must say I have not kept two out of the three financial goals I set for myself so far. I haven't done too bad but I've done bad just the same.
This entire week I've been eating out for breakfast and lunch at work which has cost me quite a bit of cash. And I have not done my tithes and offerings. This is a classic example of setting goals but not setting up a plan to meet these goals.
Knitting has been just ok. Nothing major has been done.....the little guy in my life has been sick for almost a week now and I haven't been able to stay with him at home (thank goodness for my mom!) because we are short at work. When I am home I have no creative energy left for knitting. Vegging out on the couch or reading a story to the kids is just about all I have energy for. Then I find myself waking up at 3 or 4 inthe morning and not being able to go back to sleep until a few hours later....hence this post at 5:30 am.
I gave my notice at work that I will be leaving but that won't take into effect for anther few months. I figured that giving my boss a heads up in advance would make finding a replacement easier. I would still like to work there but the hours are too long and the environment is not the best. Most of all I miss being home with all my heart!!!!
The one thing that would make coming home for me possible is re-financing our home to include our big bills. By doing this we'll be able to free up alot of cash to help pay my credit cards off sooner. Once that is done I'll be able to take my kids out of school and start homeschooling again.
One thing is for sure I am not going to allow one week of not meeting my goals to discourage me and keep me from trying. Well I am finally getting sleepy again. Until next time my bloggy friends!

Fabulous February

My goals for January were a bust. Well, not a total bust because I did make some headway on them. For February my financial goals are as follows:

#1 Lunch from home......I will give myself a $5 budget FOR THE WHOLE WEEK for little things like gum or an occasional soda. Otherwise my lunch will be brought from home and whether or not I like the left overs I am going to eat them. So much food wasted it's disgusting!

#2 My stashalong goals were fulfilled in that I did not spend one penny on yarn I did however purchase a $5 knitting book on clearence which I regret because it was quite crappy. It's almost like I needed a fix or something. But as far as needles and yarn are concerned I held out. Each time I felt the urge I went ahead and spent some time with my stash and plugged away at my current projects. My goals for February are the same except that I do need a set of good wooden double pointed needles. I split my #2's. Any suggestions on some hard needles that hold up to much abuse?

#3 Use my paycheck after paying my tithes, offerings, gas and groceries entirely to payoff credit cards.


Now for my knitting goals.....

#1 Finish my husband's socks for Valentine's day.

#2 Finish the Master Knitter program and send it out b4 the 20th

#3 Start the hourglass sweater in cotton ease

Spiritual Goals.....

#1 Read my Bible every morning

#2 Study what the Bible has to say about marriage and family

#3 Be faithful to my tithes and offerings

These goals are relatively simple but the way my life is right now I must keep them so in order to be able to simplify it more.

Until next time my bloggy friends.....

Belated Post....Goals

I was working on this post last week when I got distracted and then totally forgot about postin it. Wanna see it? here it go.........

Two posts in one day.....who'd a thunk it. I need to get down in writing New Me resolutions.....these are basically some of the previous resolutions that I had made last year with some new resolutions thrown in for this year.



#1 Before the opening of the next school year (Sept) I will be home ready to homeschool the kids myself



#2 I will be wiping out my credit card debt before then by at least 75%



#3 I will not use credit to make any purchases (no cash...no purchase)



#4 I will be the cheerful, loving, consistent christian mother and wife that God wants me to be



#5 I will be a better steward of the money that I am responsible for and I will not burden my husband with anything extravagant and/or unneccesary.



I strongly believe that I will get it right this time. The reasons for my having to return to work had alot to do with not doing #'s 2-5 the way I knew I should have been doing. I enjoy the work that I do but there sure is an ache in my heart for the work I want to do at home with my family.

thoughts......

I was just thinking about money. People many times misquote 1 Timothey 6:10 by saying that the money is the root of all evil. However if you look at the KJV translation it says very specifically "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."

Now money in and of itself is neither good nor evil, nor more than a hamper, a rock or a table is good or evil. It is a neccesity of life. That verse talks about what people who love money and lust after riches do in order to get these things. When we put our love, focus and energy above the Lord we are blinded by that wich we are focusing our energy on.

If however we put our love, focus and energy on the Lord then we find ourselves within His will. Because God loves us as well as those he puts in our lives He will make us want to serve those around us on his behalf. Money and material possesions are selfish and require much if not all your attention to maintain leaving you willing to sacrifice more important things in order to maintain or increase. God, on the other hand tells us in the Bible in Proverbs 16:5 "Commit thy works unto the Lord and He shall establish your thoughts". But how does he establish our thoughts? Philipians 4:8 urges us to "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." The Bible tells us what God wants us to know. It is His love letter to us.

This post has strayed from the topic I originally had in mind which was to talk about how I am going to work on being a better steward of my money.

That will have to wait for another time. By the way, this is a knitting blog so here are some new project to post pictures of....the beginnings of a baby mitered square blanket I'm using left over bits of sugar-n-cream....yes I know it's heavy but it's super keeeeute.

Here I am making a crochet version of the modern log cabin blanket in shades of grey using Reynold's Lopi. (The nights are super cold around here so it will be much appreciated next winter.) I'm using a giant hook so I look forward to getting it done quickly.....well, kind of.

Last but not least are my hubby's socks that little by little are getting to be more sock like in fashion.

It's Been A While

Don't you just love posts that begin like that? Says so much like, "I've been negligent", "Lot's have gone on and I don't know if I'll ever fit it all in", or maybe even "Lot's have gone on but I just don't feel like blogging about it"....I digress

Last month I broke the news to my boss that I would be stepping down as manager if he allowed it to concentrate more on refractions within the practice. At that point I felt that I was no longer being an effective manager (too many reasons to list) and I actually was a surprised that he was actively looking for a refractionist when he had one in his midst. So I offered myself up as his refractionist, he offered the position of manager to a girl within the office that seems to really have her act together and all is well......for now.

I've been feeling the past few months that maybe I shouldn't be there. That I really need to be home with the kids again. But how would that be possible financial circumstances being what they are? The culture of the office is one that I truly do not fit into my values being at times very different from the others. I say nothing and just don't participate in certain discussions without seeming to be unfriendly but I sometimes wonder if I seem "holier than thou" to them. So I've been trying to do my work as hard and as good as I can to be a good example in that case if I can't be in anything else.

For months I've been wanting to witness to this girl in the office and I have scared out of my mind. (You know, the whole rejection issue) Well, I'm happy to say that this Friday I had the opportunity and she listened and seemed open. It was a wonderful experience. I don't expect any change within the office culture because of this but I told her the message now it's all in the Holy Spirit's hands to take it from there.

I don't know what the Lord has in store for me within this job but I pray that He'll lead me and my family now that we are so spread out.

I leave you with a picture of me and Mikey when he was just a few months old

I've been MIA in many areas. Blogging being one of them. There has been plenty of knitting going on but temptation is a major issue with. I haven't been to my LYS much lately because of the annoying habit my credit card and pretty yarn has. The pretty yarn calls and out comes my credit card to bail it out of LYS jail.....sigh....I get more yarn that way than any other. One new thing I have discovered is the swapping available on ravelry. I LOVE IT! It's like purchasing new yarn without the purchase (do you hear the angels singing?)Anyway, I have an enormous amount of Paton's Classic Wool in just about every color.I plan to use it for the month of January. My goals for January are as follows:

1)Finish the TKGA master knitter level 1 program by January 30th

2)Knit my hubby some house socks

3)Knit a skirt (I haven't decided whether to do the Trumpet Skirt from KLS or the Kayla Skirt from Knitscene Spring 2008 (my first design published)

4)Start the aran sweater from Knitter's Almanac.I'll be posting pictures really soon

Luanda

Un Slumping

Is that a word? Oh well, if it is great! If it's not maybe I should call Webster's. Anyway, things are progressing. Of course not at my pace but at God's pace. I'm coming to terms with the changes going on in my family. Don't get me wrong.... school does have it's advantages but I had my heart set on homeschooling until the kids were ready. Well, ready or not here they go! I think that they will do fine. I worked really hard on getting a strong biblical and moral foundation set for them so now that they will be in school is the time to test it. As much as I humanly can I will be all up in those schools checking their work and activities.

All I know is that the more involved they are the less opportunities for trouble there are.

My girls will be in middle school aren't they so beautiful? Or is that the momma in me talking?

Just wish one would smile more....cranky cranky

My oldest son will be going to the local grammar school where he was once before so at least he'll know some people.

They are growing up so fast

On to knitting news. I have finally finished the first mitten. The one I was so worried about all the lump and bumps and uglies. Well, much like God has done in my life, I was able to take something that looked like a hot mess and make it beautiful. Of course God's ways are always best because when we believe in Him and His Son all struggle and strife are but momentary because He is forever!

I finished a special project I called the p-town scarf. Pattern to come. I used nature wool that I found in my stash which for the life of me I cannot remember the colorway. But the golds and greens remind me of Garret Mountain in the fall so I called it the P-town scarf in honor of the city I grew up in Paterson, Nj. Now Paterson has a well deserved rep for being a little ghetto...ok alot of ghetto but in even these places there is beauty to be found, in the friends you grew up with, in your family who lived around you, in the changes of the season, the first snow, the little violet and white flowers growing all over a pile of rubble turning it into a thing of beauty, the loyalty developed in time of adversity. Proverbs 17:17. That is the Paterson I remember. So P-town, although I no longer live there, I honor you with a scarf designed for your beauty.

Pattern isn't written officially yet. Once I figure it out properly I'll post.