2019 - Day 4

Good day, blog readers! I hope everyone had a safe and Happy New Year! It's 2019! Andrew and I have big goals for this year, as you saw from my last blog post, and I'm very excited to continue on this journey. Updates as far as the beginning of the month:

Debt Paid off as of 1.4.19:   $257.65

Total Debt with the House: $128,722.71
Total Debt without House:  $77,077.35

BOOM. One card paid off just like that. So, our snowball amount was bigger than that, so the remainder of the snowball will go to the next smallest debt. Then, that $257.65 will be added in to next month's snowball amount. This is why the debt snowball is SO powerful. To see debt get paid off quickly at the beginning (the smaller amounts) makes the momentum and motivation of the journey seem not as daunting. Now, when we get to my student loan it will be hard. Until that point though, it's going to be EPIC paying off the smaller debts that I was dumb enough to get. Not Andrew. None of this was Andrew's doing. It was all me. I'm thankful to have a husband that is understanding and forgiving. He knows that I am better than I used to be, but still have some bad habits that creep in. He's my motivation and driving force most days. I don't know what I would do without him.
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Other Life Things:

We've been busy the last few days. We started off 2019 with a funeral. She was basically family, but not blood relation to me. She was my cousin's grandmother and I loved her like my own grandmother. We spent MANY days at her house growing up and she treated us like her own. Grandma Nonie was a beautiful, loving, sweet woman that will be truly missed. I adore my family. I hate that I only get to see them at weddings and funerals, but travel isn't exactly in the budget right now. My 5 wonderful cousins happened to all be in Iowa for the funeral and seeing them filled my heart so full.

L to R: Mat, Nate, Me, Danielle, Sarah

L to R: Aaron, Isaac, Dean, Me, Mat, Nate
Front: Sarah, Danielle

L to R: Photobomb by Dean-o, Me, Danielle, Sarah, Carson's head

My mom does a great job getting candid photos. She knows just what to say to make us all laugh or look around. Those are the best photos. I spent a lot of time with my cousins when I was younger. My uncle David and Aunt Mary (my mom's sister), would drive all 5 kids up from Missouri either in the summer or at Christmas and it was mass chaos. I.Loved.Every.Minute.Of.It. Not only that... with Mary's kids and us there were 8 kids. Throw in Kim, Scott, Pam, Richard, and Josh.... there were 13 of us running around. Again.... it was bliss. I love having a big family. Please keep in mind, that this is only on my mom's side. I won't even get into the cousins on my dad's side since he's 1 of 7 kids in a catholic family. I have cousins I haven't even met on his side.

Even though traveling is exhausting, I got to see my family and even got to spend a little time with my friend Valerie! Man do I miss her. Valerie has been a friend of mine since Jr. High School. Every time I'm in the Quad Cities I make it a mission to see her. If my best friend, Sydney, hadn't moved away to Des Moines, I'd make it a mission to see her too. 

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The Boys:

My kids are doing wonderfully. Dean is saying more and more words every day. The tubes are helping!! So is his behavioral and speech therapy, too. I met with Carson's lead clinician yesterday and he's DOUBLED his score from when he first started! The first thing I ever say to people when they ask me what Carson is like is "Smart." He is SO SMART. Stubborn.... but smart. They are going to move him into the next level of ABA which is a school preparedness program and I couldn't be happier. He's completing all of his goals and everything they're teaching is carrying over at home. I am so thankful for Hope, The Autism Clinic, and couldn't imagine where he'd be without them.

Dean is still a turd/human tornado, though. Some nights Andrew and I just sit on the couch and stare at each other like "where did this kid come from?!".

Carson & Dean in the church nursery. They didn't want to be quiet during the service. 

BLIPPI! 

We downsized to our previous TV (much smaller than the one we traded with my brother), and got rid of our surround sound system. Traded that out for a Bose Sound Bar with Christmas money. Best decision EVER. It feels like we have so much more room at the front of the house now. The Bose is AMAZING.

We were watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Andrew got the Blu-Ray box set of the Harry Potter movies and we've been watching them at night. I need to try and sell Andrew's surround sound now. There's nothing wrong with it, it just took up WAY too much space and Dean wouldn't stop stuffing toys in the sub-woofer. Hopefully I'll get a decent amount of money out of that. I'm also doing a Focus on Finance Challenge from Fun, Cheap, or Free and she is having us try to sell a certain amount of things in our house. Challenge Accepted.