Friday, February 15, 2013

Waiting on Spring

BAM!!!  February 15th today.  And with being half way through this month already, I find myself in huge anticipation of an early Spring arrival this year!  It quite simply can't come fast enough for me.  I am dreading the winter months, and the cruddy weather.  I am longing for longer days, warmer days, sunny days.  I am really hoping that the darn groundhog is right this year!

And it feels like it's time for Spring around here now as well.  We have wrapped up basketball seasons for both kids.  Sierra did great, and had a lot of fun.  She learned a lot this year, and I suspect she will want to play again next season as well.  Evan's team made a huge come back the second half of the season, and went on all the way to win the championship game for their division!  And with basketball behind us now, we are already focusing in on Spring baseball season.  Evan will be trying out for the competitive 12U team in early March.  And Sierra has stated that she plans to play girls fast pitch softball this year also.  So, we are ready, and looking forward to a lot of outdoor fun in the months ahead.  Bring on the early Spring weather..... mostly sunshine please!!!

Another thing that makes it feel like Spring...... taxes!  I keep hoping that they will get easier each year, but it appears to be just the opposite.  Slowly, a little bit each day, I keep logging back in to Turbo Tax online, and making a wee bit more progress.  It isn't looking good so far, though, with us currently owing around $1200 still.  I really hope that will change by the time we get all the way through.

I have now been working my second job, at Westside Pizza, for 5 long months.  It hasn't gotten any better, and I do not like it any more than when I first started.  However, it has been helping greatly with our financial struggles, and with working towards paying off our debts, in an effort too become completely debt free, and to move ahead towards financial freedom.  On the bright side, it is working, and we are making progress with every pay period.  On the down side, it is a very slow process, and taking much more time that I had hoped on or planned on. 

Turns out, it can be a negative either way..... I can work less and make less, so it will take years longer to make progress and get the desired results, or I can work more and make more, but not ever be home with my family.  Already, I miss them so much and so often.  And already, I have lost control of my health, my fitness routine and my bicycling.  So, I am choosing to back off at Westside, and to now only work two days each week there.  It will still bring a bit of extra income to help pay down debt with the debt snowball program we are working.  And it will hopefully allow me more time to start trying to get my life back a little bit, and especially my overall health.  The negative effects of not being able to work out or to ride my bike have been overwhelming. 

So, the bright side is that we are still going at the Dave Ramsey approach to getting out of debt forever, and to becoming financially free for the future.  The not so bright side is that it is going to take us quite a bit longer than the average 18-24 months that seems to be the norm for most of Dave's examples that he uses to tell us about.  I am seeing that this may very well be a good 5 years for us.  And that means putting off early retirement for me..... a bummer for sure, but at least I started young enough to still be able to handle an additional 5 years with the fire department.  And thankfully, I absolutely LOVE that job, so it won't kill me to put in more time there.

We had a fun Sunday last weekend, celebrating Brad's 42nd birthday, with a big day of bowling, with our good friends, Kevin and Stephana Timmer.  We all had a great time, and I do believe we should do this sort of thing more often.  I know that the kids would agree with me here.

Grammy & Papa will be coming up at the end of this month to spend a week with us, as the kids have their mid-winter break from school.  Not sure what we will be doing, but I am sure we will have some fun.  For now, just trying to finish out this month, work on getting our taxes done, and work towards getting the kids ready for baseball and softball.

Anxiously awaiting Spring's arrival...... with much anticipation!!!  Have I mentioned just how much I dread the Winter months here in the PNW?!?!?!?!?!?  I really long to go somewhere, even for a week to get away.  Palm Springs, Arizona, Hawaii....... oh, how awesome would that be!!!

Good-bye February..... you will not be missed!!!  :-)

1 comment:

  1. We are really looking forward to seeing you guys soon. Love Ya, Papa

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