No Spend Month

Inspired by the family that blogs at smallnotebook.org we have decided to embark upon a no spend month ourselves. We've decided to make August our no spend month this year (although if we continue next year it may become a July or September thing as it's tough to not take advantage of some type of celebration for your anniversary). It may also become a more than once yearly deal depending on how it goes, I have high hopes though.
So here's the plan: for the next 31 days we have a budget of $250 dollars to spend on ourselves and the things we 'need' for the month. This includes gas, food, personal and household stuff, and entertainment. Not included will be the necessary bills as I'm sure our mortgage holder and utility company wouldn't be so understanding if we just decided not to pay them this month, and reimbursable business expenses, gifts, and hopefully this won't apply but emerengcy health expences.
I'm tired of having tons of stuff and tons of bills and wondering where all of the money goes each month. We've been living month to month, the past year or two and it is really hard. I'd love to see us put more towards savings as well as become less consumed by this consumeristic society we live in.
I'm hoping that through this experience we can learn to save, conserve, be more creative and plan things out a little better. I really don't anticipate much changing except I'm sure that J will ride the motorcycle to work more often or take the bus, and I'll probably stay home a bit more, which with the heat like it is now I don't think I'll mind all that much. It's also going to teach me how to use cash again which is something that I have become unaccustomed to anymore. So into the 'storage cabinet' go the debit/credit cards for the month and the adventure begins.
I am a little nervous as I'm not sure we can do it with the gas prices being so high, and us living so far from town, but I looked through our spending of the last few months and came up with the $250 number as one that isn't unrealistic considering what we have been spending on those things. I'm going to have to make J go to the farmers market for me instead of making the trip myself if we want fresh veggies at all but that's alright. It's going to be hard, but things, including experiences aren't worth half as much if you don't have to work for them; it'll be worth it I'm sure.

We have a walker!

Tuesday was an exciting day for our little girl, at least in my eyes. Not only did she get to go on her first fishing trip with Grandpa, eat pine needles, and come back reeking of fish; she also started walking! She's been cruising for a long time, and I knew it was coming but I was still pretty surprised when she stood up from the middle of the floor and walked across the room to me. I guess I'm really in trouble now.

Please sign this

I know many of you may have differing opinions about the vaccinations topic. However, I also believe that people should be informed about the things they are 'supporting' with their purchases and that is not something that is happening with this company. I also believe people should be allowed to make their own decisions regarding their health and that of their families and not have things forced upon them. Because of this I signed the petition "BAN PAMPERS PRODUCTS". I'm asking you to sign this petition to help reach the goal of 10,000 signatures. I care deeply about this cause. I urge you to view this link, read the description of the petition, and if you are at all concerned about what the government is trying to do with regards to eliminating our choices for health, please sign the petition. Thank you!

If you've got time

This is worth watching if you've got 40 minutes to kill and have a high speed line to watch it. It's totally heartbreaking but eye opening for sure. It seems no matter how many times you see this sort of thing it always hurts. It's unbelievable to see how we as humans are capable of conducting ourselves but it's also amazing to see the transformation of an individual when shown the truth.
I still stand firm in being a carnivore, because it's next to impossible to get the nutrition I need for myself and Kaylee when we can't have soy, most nuts and she has issues with beans to frequently. We bought a cow last month from J's aunt and uncle who had raised him on grass. It was a little bit difficult saying good bye to him as we had gone to visit him many times the past year but he will feed us for at least the rest of the year and he lived a very good life. It's amazing to me every time I go out to the grocery store to see what people walk out of there with. I'm going to try next year to make trips to the store only once a month or so for our grains (and maybe fish - trout can get old), as that's all we ever get there anyway. As soon as we can afford to join a CFA we'll do that for veggies, so that will cut that part of the trip out and reduce the journeys to the farmers markets. I realize that I am just one person (actually, I guess we are three as J and Kaylee are with me on this journey) and the reduction of our part is minimal, but I choose to believe that it does make a small difference. And maybe through my actions I can be an influence to others, I guess we'll see.

Happy Birthday Kaylee

I know I'm a little late in getting this post up but it's been busy. We were in San Diego, CA for a friend's wedding during Kaylee's first birthday. But we did our best to still make our little girl feel special for her big day. I made her a Kaylee safe birthday cake and our amazing friends shared their wedding celebration by having every one there sing happy birthday. Here's a picture of Kaylee eating her birthday cake. We also got to take her to the beach on the trip, and see the water and people surfing. She enjoyed the water but isn't a big fan of the sand. I guess we don't have to worry about getting a sand box any time soon. Kaylee has grown so much and is doing amazing. She's starting to talk and has about 9 recognizable words now and 4 signs that she uses consistently. She's standing on her own very well and can walk across the room if she's holding on to something, but unaided can only go a step right now. It seems that her physical abilities change daily though, she's doing new things and climbing to new heights (literally) every day. She is also amazingly smart, identifying things in pictures when asked, stacking, sorting, using utensils and all kinds of other fun things. I'm just blown away at how many changes take place in such a short amount of time. It was not that long ago she was completely helpless. Now her independence is increasing and she is growing so much. It scares me a little, I'm don't really feel like I am ready for all of this yet.

Picture of Happiness

My FIL visited recently and he just sent some pictures from his visit, and I had to share this one. It was so cool and eye opening to me to see a picture of myself with my amazing family. I am happy in this stage of my life, in the roles that I currently fill; as I have never experienced at any other point in my life. I experienced such joy in seeing that it shows to other people as well. How amazing to be filled with love and to shine, as God created me. I'm getting there.

Expelled

We finally got a 'date night' thanks to an awesome friend who was willing to watch Kaylee for awhile. So on our date we got to go see Expelled, and since I mentioned it before I figured I'd give you my post movie reaction. I still think everyone should see this movie! The saddest thing was that there were only about a dozen people in our theater, granted it was 5:30 on a week night, but still. It was awesome, the cinematography was fantastic as was the editing. I think they did a fantastic job at presenting the subject matter without any slants and presenting both sides of the issue. I love Ben Stein, he's amazing to have taken on such an issue and presented it to the world with no fear whatsoever. Great movie... go see it before it's gone, just like our freedom.