My niece Kjersten in "her" pink bathroom. In Medora, ND

New Kitty

Matchbox 20 concert

The house. I need to take new pics though.

ok so were did i leave off...

So whats be going on since I posted last?

We have been working on buying our house and now that's almost done we just have to sit back and wait! Our closing date is August 4th.

We are still working on our debt snow ball and we have paid off two more loans!!!!! so that adds about 500.00 to our total.

We are pausing our debt snow ball till after we buy the house (about two months) but then we will pick up right were we left off after that.

We just got our kitty today so that will be something new.

I went to three really good concerts: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Spill Canvas, and my all time favorite MATCHBOX 20!!!!

and for right now I think that's about it.
If I think of anything else I'll try to put it in.
I'll see you later!

Good Job Josh!!

This is Josh's latest bumper and being the supportive wife I am I just thought I would post it to show the awesome work he does and to show how proud of him I am.

STOP complaining if you didn't VOTE

Hey we voted so don't blame it on us!!!!!!

I makes me (and others I'm sure) so angry to hear people complaining about the government and politics and so on and then at the end of their rant to here them say "well I just don't vote because it's all rigged anyway."

I think if you don't vote you have absolutely NO room to say ANYTHING negative about the president, vp, and/or congress! Period end of sentence.

AND THREE MONTHS AFTER CLASS...

So you wanna know they results of taking the Dave Ramsey class?

here goes...
we started with oh about 80,000.00 in debt.
this included: Business, Personal debt, Hospital bills, Stupid tax, and 4 credit cards.
the first thing we paid off was a credit card as were the next two debts. that total came to:
about $690.00

next a DHL shipping bill that started out at over $5,000.00 and got paid off in early march.
Sub total $5,690.00

then an over draft was paid off that was $320.00
sub total $6,010.00

Josh was so enthusiastic about thins he ended up selling his dirt bike, that paid off $2,900.00.
sub total $8,910.00

He also sold an engine of his, that sold for $ 4,200.00
sub total $13,110.00

We paid off a medical bill for a total of $645.00
sub total $13,760.00

He sold a 4-wheeler that sold for $2,000.00
sub total $15,760

we have also paid down our loans and that adds up to about $5,100.00 (Our total loan payment each month is about $1,700.00 each month. this includes business loans.)
sub total $20,860.00


GRAND TOTAL
$20,2860.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WOW I DIDN'T EVEN REALIZE THAT IT WAS THAT MUCH. THIS WAS SO WORTH THE $100.00 AND 13 WEEKS OF CLASS!!!!!!

That is the basic breakdown of what I can remember and one of the best things is that we haven't accrued any NEW debt!! GO US!!!

where does the time go anyway?

So the last few months have just been hectic!!
Not only has home life been super busy work has also been off the wall busy.
so just to list a few thing we have had...

• Kids moving



• Mom hitting an elk



• lots of trips for work



• Weddings (plural)



• Baby showers (plural)



• Friends having babies



• An engagement



• Flooding issues



• more trips for work



• A computer crashing from a virus



• trips to Costco (which I know are not a big deal but they are new to us)



• Multiple fishing days with friends



• Two phones breaking



• Paying off credit cards and loans!!!! I could do that one all day long!

And the list goes on but if you wanna know you will just have to call ME!!

Saturday was a busy day!

So on Saturday evening I picked up Braeden and Maddy from the dance studio and took them to my house.

Then about an hour later mom got there with Taylor and Kjersten. So when all the kids got there they went outside to play tag. Not 10 min after that, this happened...

So we loaded up all they kids and rushed to the ER. My mom didn't even know how to get there but Josh has a running tab there so I got her headed in the right direction. Josh met us there and picked up the other kids and took them to Chucky Cheeses.

Maddy had stopped crying in the car on the way there so she was doing fine. Then we got settled down and we were just sitting there waiting and Maddy fell asleep so there must not have been alot of pain for her to be sleeping. Finally the nurse came and got us and Maddy got to pick out a Hanna Montana sticker she was very happy about that.

After all her vitals were taken and another 20 min wait the doctor came in and put some numbing stuff on a cotton ball then on Maddy's forehead and taped it down. Then 30 min after that they came in and stitched her up! She only cried like 4 times throughout the hole process.

And this was the after picture.

Then we headed out and Joined the rest of the kids at Chucky Cheeses.

The Pupps Turned 1

OK so I know its not as exciting for everyone else as it was for me but the girls turned ONE on Saturday, March 22.

The cup cakes that spell out Happy B-Day Roxy & Minnie

Roxy with the cup cakes!

Minnie with the cake

They each got their half (they didn't get frosting though).

ok where am I?

So where Have I been that last few weeks?
Well I have been working and trying to keep up with whats going on with the business and, a few other things.

The last class I remember is on...? Um now I don't remember.
Oh ya, it was on your income it basically talked about how most of the time the problem is not with the out-go its with the income.

And the class before that was about saving, investing and, college savings for your kids.

FPU... oooh i dont remember what week we are on.

Anyway, Sorry about not posting I usually do it in my down time at work but this month I had almost no downtime until now. And now i have almost two weeks of nothing to do.

last weeks title was : That's Not Good Enough!.

I loved this lesson! In our family Josh is sooo very good at getting deals and I more like "If I want it I should be willing to pay the price." And much like Dave's wife I don't like the conflicted feeling that comes with haggling.

So this lesson really helped me to understand why Josh always ask fro "The Deal of The Day"
Josh even got a deal on reissuing his business license and that a government price tag!!!!


So here are some facts and figures on getting a good bargain.

• Always Tell The TRUTH.
• The more you SHUT-UP the more the sales person will offer you incentives.
• The key is to have PATIENTS and lots of it.

Places to find good deals.

1. Individuals
2. Estate sales
3. Public auctions
4. Couponing
5. Garage sales
6. Repo lots
7. Flea markets
8. Refunding
9. Forecloses
10. Pawn shops
11. Online auctions
12. Classified adds
13. Consignment sales
14. Conventions

Well that was pretty much the lesson it was short but sweet. And we are now exactly half way through the book!!!!!!

Josh turned 24 years old

That's 288 months and 1152 weeks.

we had a great day just driving around looking at junk cars and campers for his friend Tanner. Then we came back to the house and fried a turkey. We also made Dirt Cake. Ooh its SO Yummy! its got pudding and Oreos, then we topped it with Tonka trucks and sparking candles.

He was asleep by 9:30 though.

It was a good day and he had lots of fun, and some of his buddies came over and they played with their race cars out back. Its more like having a 4 year old not a 24 year old.

week 5 credit SHARKS

So this week was CREDIT SHARKS IN SUITS, it was also very good like every other class so here are some the highlights from that.

• Myth: You need to take out a loan to get a credit card to bring up your credit score.
• Truth: The FICO score is an "I Love Debt" score and is not a measure of "wining" financially.
• DO NOT WORSHIP AT THE ALTER OF THE GREAT FICO!!!!
• A collector is taught to evoke strong emotions.they want to make you feel afraid and angry.
• If you have bad credit they cant make it much worse.
• NO CREDITOR OR COLLECTOR MAY TAKE A BANK ACCOUNT OR GARNISH WAGES!
• They can only call you between the hours of 8am and 9pm.

week 4 extras/ One more reason NOT to get a credit card!

• the total American consumer debt is more that $2.7 TRILLION!!!


• There are over 1.3 BILLION credit card offers in circulation in America.


• 45% of Americans only make the minimum payments on there consumer debt.


• It would take 13 years to pay off the average credit card balance if only making the minimum payments of 4% at an average interest rate of 15%.


• A first time offense late fee can raise your interest rate as high as 34%.


• The credit card industry takes in $43 BILLION per year in additional fees.i.e. late fees, over-the limit fees, and balance transfer fees.


• Late fees bring in more that $11 BILLION of the $43 BILLION.

week 4 FPU

Ok, so I missed last weeks blog on FPU it wasn't too exciting for me so I can't realy think of anything to post about it.

This week was very cool!! Both Josh and I were stuned by the statistics and I will be posting some of those this weekend.
The lesson was on DUMPING DEBT!!! Perfect, I was so glad we went. We are not to bad off on credit card debt but it was very enlightining and it convinced us that we will NEVER get another credit card!! And we will encourage the people around us to stay away from them!!!

I will spend some more time this week posting but im going to go home for the night now but just thought I would let it be known that I will post soon.

Funny things from the DR show

Written by our own Chris Russell, courtesy of My Total Money Makeover.com.
I still have money in my "restaurant" envelope ... can I buy you dinner?
Would you like to dance? I'd love to show you my Baby Steps.
Why am I nervous about talking to you? Because you're better than I deserve.
Allow me to introduce myself ... I am "borrower", and you must be "lender".
Good thing I got just term life insurance ... because I saw you and my heart stopped!
You can't spell Financial Peace University without U and I.
I've already kicked Sallie Mae out. Want to take her place?
I just bought a bass boat with cash ... and it's a good thing, because you're quite a catch!
I'm not mortgage interest baby ... don't write me off.
The good news? I'm debt free. The better news? I'm also date free.
What would you say if I asked you out? (response: no). That's not good enough
Courtesy of one of Dave's listeners On a scale of 350-850, I'm a Zero!

To the Women

Why Women Cry...
A little boy asked his mother, "Why are you crying?"
"Because I'm a woman," she told him.
"I don't understand," he said.
His Mom just hugged him and said, "And you never will."
Later the little boy asked his father,
"Why does mother seem to cry for no reason?"
"All women cry for no reason," was all his dad could say.
The little boy grew up and became a man, still wondering why women cry. Finally he put prayed to God who would surely know the answer. When God responded he asked,
"God, why do women cry so easily?"
God said:
"When I made the woman she had to be to be made special. I made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the world, yet gentle enough to give comfort. I gave her an inner strength to endure childbirth and the rejection that many times comes from her children. I gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going when everyone else gives up, and take care of her family through sickness and fatigue without complaining. I gave her the sensitivity to love her children under any and all circumstances, even when her child has hurt her very badly. I gave her strength to carry her husband through his faults and fashioned her from his rib to protect his heart. I gave her wisdom to know that a good husband never hurts his wife, but sometimes tests her strengths and her resolve to stand beside him unfalteringly. And lastly, I gave her a tear to shed. This is hers and only hers exclusively to use whenever she needs it. She needs no reason, no explanation, its hers."
"You see my son," said God,
"the beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair.The beauty of a woman must be seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart -
the place where love resides."

hi evryone

So I am Getting very very tired of the snow. My tires on the car are going bald and it makes many more "car noises" when its cold and that bothers me because I cant afford to fix it right now. Plus our front yard is still under about 8 inches of snow andthat makes it very hard to get to my car and the mail box. And when I'm out doing visits all day my toes freeze and my car never gets a chance to warm up befor i have to shut it off again.

I am very much a summer person! Thats is I just had to vent for a bit.

I was just looking at pictures online and found this one and loved it so I put it on as my summer picture.

FPU week 1

So we had the first of 13 lessons with our PFU class. Josh wasn't able to make it because he was hard at work, I'll let it slide this time.
The class started with a 1 hour video with Dave, this week was Super Savings! I enjoy watching the videos Dave makes them funny and very eye-opening. The part that wants to make me scream at him is while he is up on stage talking he is carrying a hand full of 100 dollar bills and I wanna just scream and tell him to put them away! "We know your rich, your kit coast $100, put the cash away!"
Then when I got home I got online to look at the web site and, Josh and I watched a clip on how to buy a car for free! And you bet we are going to save up to do that. It takes awhile but the basic gist is that you put money in a money market account and pay for the car with the interest from that. Over all it was very fun and I cant wait to take Josh next week.

P.S. I even figured out how to get a picture on my blogs that are not from my camera. So thats progress in my blogging abilites!

Sunday!

Sunday was amazing to say the least. The weather finally cleared up and we were able to finally go out side with out being swept away by the wind and snow. I convinced Josh to go for a walk with me and the dogs. Josh has been feeling the effects of winter depression and going out side for awhile to soak up some sun did wonders.
So we took the three dogs Roxy, Minnie and the ring leader, Meg ( ya shes a lill' smokey). We were out for about an hour and at one point I actually wanted to take off my coat it was so warm. The dogs were a little rusty on walking on a leash but by the end of the walk Minnie was doing great, Roxy was doing better and, well Meg is just stubborn and doesn't listen (Meg is also not a 40lb dog so it wasn't such a big deal that she wasn't listening).
Later that night Josh was still feeling better from the walk, so we sat down and worked on our quickie budget for FPU. It was great to have him wanting to take a part in the finances and not just looking the other way at them. It took us about two hours to sort through things and get every thing settled but we now have this week organized and my check for next month is split up to were it needs to go. And we were even able to set aside quite a bit for savings. So all in all we had a very good, productive, active, joyful Sunday which is just the way it should be.

Finacial Peace University w/ Dave Ramsey. intro week 1

Well the Prindles (Josh and I ) started the class, Financial Peace University, taught by Dave Ramsey (via DVD) last night. We didn't really start it but we had the intro class. Josh was not able to make it, so it was just Karen "dragging" me into it, although I would have gone voluntarily.
The class is once a week for 13 weeks. I think that's pretty manageable but Josh is kind of throwing a tissie fit about it. Oh well he will get over it I know he will. I am really excited to be doing this, all the stories from other people are sound so encouraging and they are all so excited to have us there and to be sharing their experiences with us. I have been doing really well on paying bills on time now I just have to focus on Joshs' bills and getting his in order.
Well I will keep you posted on the rest of the classes and how they change our bad spending habits!

Neat freak

our clean bed with a clean dog (minnie just got a bath that night)

I don't know who I'M turning into??

You know how as you get older the more you start to realize how much like your mother you really are. No matter what you do or how you try to hide it it sneaks up on you, in the middle of the night while your laying wide a wake and cant figure out why your not asleep. Then you remember its from your mother, who would go to sleep for three hours and then about 1:30 am you would here her up in the sewing room sewing away. Well, 7 years (or so ) later what do I do? I do my laundry at night because I know will be up through out the night and I can do it then because I don't have time during the day.

Then the other day as i was doing laundry I wondered "Humm what would my sheets feel like if I ironed them??" and if any of you don't know me I DON'T iron. So I ironed them and put them on the bed and WOW I don't know if it was all in my head or what but for some reason I just enjoyed them so much more. And last night I couldn't go to sleep until I had picked up our room and taken the dirty close down and put all the clean ones a way. Josh kept trying to get me to lay down but all I could think was "nope I got to get this done or it wont ever get done."
Then I remember reading in the book FOR WOMEN ONLY as it talked about the many different windows women constantly have open and I realized that cleaning up was becoming one of those windows that will not close until I have completed it.
In some ways I am very thankful for this new neat freak deformity, but in other ways I hope I don't turn into one of those women who have there house so clean you can't even walk in the door with out taking of your shoes and putting on special booties.
I call it a deformity for this reason, relating back to the story of my mother, neither one of my parents are neat tidy people. My dad likes to have things clean but if there not its no worry to him and my mom is no where near being a overly tidy person. So where do I get it from????

Money and time

OK so for the last few weeks Josh and I have been very busy! He is totally swamped with work (which is a good thing) and I have been busy trying to clean up after him and make sure he is staying on task.
So as for the Total Money Makeover we have not finished it yet but, I am paying more attention to the things we waste our money on (i.e. late fees ! finance charges, overdrafts) and I have tyred to get my self set up on a budget (It doesn't have to last the whole month cause we kinda use my money at the beginning of the month and his toward the end). But I am more just trying to not go in the whole.
And good news from the front I have finally paid my cell phone bill of to a 0.00 balance for the first time in a year and a half!! And Josh has paid of his Snap-On account for the first time since he was 17!!!
New subject:
Over the weekend Josh, my dad, and I laid new flooring in his parents house as a surprise Christmas present. I looks soooo good the old flooring was about 25 years old and was in good condition but needed to go! And of course his parents LOVE it. The dogs are a little scared to walk on it but they will be fine. I will try and post some pictures later this week.