It's A New Year: New Goals, New Plans

I always say that I won't do resolutions because truly it's just setting myself up for failure.  I mean, how embarrassing is it to jump on the whole bandwagon of eating healthier, losing weight, blah, blah, blah....only to get fat again in March.  Really.  Cause that's how I roll.  That being said....I'm doing it anyway. 

I'm not just doing it because it's resolution time or anything...and technically, with it being after New Years, they are more goals than resolutions.  Right?

I didn't even stay up till midnight.  I pretended that I was on east coast time and crashed at 11:01 after Dick Clark told me good night.  Call me old, or whatever.  I'm so okay with that. 

Our very good friends were in town for the holiday and Bethany and I decided to hit the town on Friday night.  We had a blast....which in turn made it easier to stay in on Saturday.  We vegged in our jammies with our babies all day.

It was such a great visit...even if our two-year olds made us a tad crazy with the "mine!" and the "not oors!" comments that were flying out of their mouths.  They are definitely in the selfish phase and oh boy....
Luckily, there were times when they were getting along and being best friends like usual.

This picture is totally over flashed, but I love it anyway.

Kinley has been running a fever of 101+ since Friday and I am so worried about her.  I am pretty sure that it's teething related but you just never know...and so off to the pediatrician we'll go if there is no improvement in the morning.

We sat down to do our budget today.  Or what I would consider a very rough draft of our budget.  Until I receive my first paycheck on the 27th, I won't really know what to budget for...but I do have a rough guess.  But our decision of whether to stay or go is due by the end of January.  Are we extending this lease or moving somewhere else!? 

You know how badly I want out of here.  You know how much I want to buy a house and get Kinley in a permanent home.  But....I know how important it is to make smart decisions for me and my family.  And, after seeing our budget, I see how staying put for six months may greatly improve our situation.  We could walk away from renting with zero debt and a clean slate to buy (and possibly) with a good down payment.  Big picture...the answer is clear.  My impatient self....doesn't want to wait!

The bigger issue, I guess, is the fact that we live an hour from my work.  So that's two hours a day that I'm in the car when I could be with my daughter or being productive with lesson planning.  Also, I spend about $240 a week on gas.  And, I just realized today that I spend $60 a month paying tolls driving to and from work.  Those little tolls really add up.  I mean, really!?  $60 a MONTH?!

Those are the reasons that I feel that we should be looking elsewhere.  So with advice from some of our family and friends, we thought about looking for a house rental more central to both his work and mine.  So, I guess that is an option...but is it truly worth the hassle of moving?

With all of that said, I guess you can figure that one of my biggest "resolutions" or goals for 2012 is to get our finances straightened out in order to buy our dream home-our long term home-by 2013.  We also still own a home where we used to live...and currently rent it out. We really need to just sell it and not have to mess with it anymore. And that could take months.... 

And, of course it's a goal to lose weight, eat healthier and feel better about myself.  Student teaching was not kind in that department and I put on a good 8 pounds through the semester.  While I won't go crazy and join the gym again, I will be more aware of what I put into my mouth.  Get your minds out of the gutter!

Let's just throw in a happier relationship, becoming a better more patient mommy, cooking at home for my family, better at keeping life organized, being excellent at my job and just being a happier person. 

No short order.  But I think I can handle it.