After we got engaged, I was reading an article on saving money. One thing in the article talked about $5 bills. The principle was basic. Anytime you get a $5 bill back, you can not spend it. Now, if we are at a bar, the rule was once we left the place, any $5 bills in your wallet can not be spent.
We thought this would be a great way to say for the honeymoon. We called it the Honeymoon fund.
This trick actually works really really well. We saved over $1,000 the 12-15 months between when we started it and our honeymoon. After we got back from vacation, since it worked so well, we decided to keep doing this but call it our vacation fund.
We were never as good at keeping to the rule as we were for the honeymoon but we always ended up with around $1,000 per year playing this game.
Yes, we are still saving $5 bills and we still have the fund. However, very recently we decided to call use this fund for something else...baby sitter. Now the fund is called the babysitter fund!
Now, when we want to go out without Samantha, the cost of the night does not seem as bad.
So those of you at home keeping track, the evolution goes honeymoon to vacation to babysitter!
I think it will be the babysitter fund for a while...
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Three days as a single parent...
A couple weeks ago Michelle went to Atlanta for work. That made me a single parent for three full days. Lets just say that anytime Michelle is gone for a couple days, it makes me appreciate the single parents of the world.
Nothing terrible happened like the prior time Michelle was gone but Samantha definitely was missing her mother. Usually, if Samantha cries in the middle of the night, Michelle goes into her room and I am the one that usually gets up with her in the morning. The first night Samantha was crying a little, so I went in and rocked her. I tried to put her back down but she cried out, so I took her into the bed with me. The rest of the night was fine. The second night did not go as well.
She woke up around 2 in the morning and did not want to go back to sleep. I tried EVERYTHING! We rocked in her room. She did not want to be in her bed, our bed or the couch. She would sit with me on the couch. I finally got her to do that. Around 4:30 in the morning, we finally both fell asleep on the couch until 6 am.
To say work was a struggle would be an understatement. I was just glad to see Michelle walk back in the door before night three started for many reasons.
Of course, Samantha slept right through the night. Figures...
Nothing terrible happened like the prior time Michelle was gone but Samantha definitely was missing her mother. Usually, if Samantha cries in the middle of the night, Michelle goes into her room and I am the one that usually gets up with her in the morning. The first night Samantha was crying a little, so I went in and rocked her. I tried to put her back down but she cried out, so I took her into the bed with me. The rest of the night was fine. The second night did not go as well.
She woke up around 2 in the morning and did not want to go back to sleep. I tried EVERYTHING! We rocked in her room. She did not want to be in her bed, our bed or the couch. She would sit with me on the couch. I finally got her to do that. Around 4:30 in the morning, we finally both fell asleep on the couch until 6 am.
To say work was a struggle would be an understatement. I was just glad to see Michelle walk back in the door before night three started for many reasons.
Of course, Samantha slept right through the night. Figures...
RIP Jack LaLanne
Recently, Jack LaLanne passed away. His TV show was off the air before I even started watching tv but his inventions and gyms are what made him the godfather of fitness in my eyes.
Have you ever heard of Bally's? Well, Lalanne had over 200 gyms in his name before he eventually licensed all his health clubs to the Bally company, now known as Bally Total Fitness. A lot of those machines in there...his inventions. That is pretty impressive if you ask me.
He never stopped working out or eating right even into his 90s. I have a hard time going a month eating right or working out consistently. He did it for over 70 years!
When he had heart surgery at 95 years old, he said "I can't die. It will hurt my reputation". Lets make one thing clear, nothing could hurt this guy's reputation as the godfather of fitness.
RIP Jack LaLanne.
Have you ever heard of Bally's? Well, Lalanne had over 200 gyms in his name before he eventually licensed all his health clubs to the Bally company, now known as Bally Total Fitness. A lot of those machines in there...his inventions. That is pretty impressive if you ask me.
He never stopped working out or eating right even into his 90s. I have a hard time going a month eating right or working out consistently. He did it for over 70 years!
When he had heart surgery at 95 years old, he said "I can't die. It will hurt my reputation". Lets make one thing clear, nothing could hurt this guy's reputation as the godfather of fitness.
RIP Jack LaLanne.
Wrapped Around
Let me set the scene. It was a couple weeks ago during the 2nd round of the NFL playoffs. It was a Saturday night and on top of the Green Bay-Atlanta game, the Bulls were playing the Heat.
Fedea was a bachelor for the night and decided to spend some of the night at our house watching the games. Well, with our new TV we can not split the screen (insert joke here Ploth). I decided to pull out the tv from our bedroom so we could watch both games at once.
After the games, I was not diligent on putting the bedroom tv back. On Sunday, I still had both TVs functioning. Well, the Bears-Seahawks game was on in the middle of the day (also when Samantha was up and at it). Can you guess which TV Samantha had priority of and which I did?
I am not sure which finger she has me wrapped around but it is one of them!
Fedea was a bachelor for the night and decided to spend some of the night at our house watching the games. Well, with our new TV we can not split the screen (insert joke here Ploth). I decided to pull out the tv from our bedroom so we could watch both games at once.
After the games, I was not diligent on putting the bedroom tv back. On Sunday, I still had both TVs functioning. Well, the Bears-Seahawks game was on in the middle of the day (also when Samantha was up and at it). Can you guess which TV Samantha had priority of and which I did?
I am not sure which finger she has me wrapped around but it is one of them!
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