Oh. Let me tell you! I’m am good with almost anything, but procrastinating is not one. When something is said to be done, to me that means right then and now. Not weeks and weeks later.
I’m the person that wants things to be done as soon as possible. However, my husband does his best work under pressure. So if something has to be done by the 30th; it gets done by the 28th. Ahhhhhhhh! I was dying inside. He told me he had to get paper work done by the 30th, on the 18th….so do it the 18th; or at the latest the 19th. Not the 28th.
Or
Husband: “I really want to do this project,” ( not anything specific).
Me: “okay let’s do this!” I start brainstorming ideas. Clean up the area. Get the babies happy.
Three weeks later…we start.
It’s not that my husband does it on purpose. He’s just super busy; and when he finally has a day off he wants to relax and recoup. Understandable.
I just wish I wasn’t told until days before we were going to start the project. But the husband uses me as a pin board, he tells me so I can remind him of the things he said he wants to get done…eventually. I can understand, however (I like that word.) I can only take so much.
And sometimes I explode!! Especially when it’s something I want done. My limit of waiting is about a week. And by week two I’m annoyed and murmuring under my breath. By week three I’m fed up and attempt to do it myself, and fail miserably. And if I manage to make it to week four, I explode! Not a great look for me. But I last way longer than I used to.
And my husband knows that now. That he only has three weeks until scary lady comes out. But again my husband likes pressure, so he waits until two weeks and 5 days before he gets going.
Ha! This is great. As I’m writing about complaining about procrastination I’m getting annoyed about procrastinating. It’s pretty hilarious.
The plan. It will happen. If I or really we won the lottery, it would just kick start the plan. But the plan will be completed with or without winning the lottery.
First my husband could quit his job. We wouldn’t have to wait to sell our house; he could just be done.
We would pay off debts because that’s normal. Since we won’t be winning the lottery, we will do this once we sell our house. Our fresh start will be just that. Fresh.
We would pack up all our stuff and start our next chapter. He wants to flip houses. Start a business with his dad. I would help with the design side of it all. I’ve always wanted to design and style houses; to me it a new way of art. This is the start of the plan.
With winning the lottery, we could buy our property and start building our end home. But since that’s not realistic we will wait until we can afford it. We will live small. Smaller than we have been; which seems crazy! But we can do if for a bit. We can live small and cheap until we can afford to buy a small house somewhere. It would be a fixer upper; that we would eventually rent or sell.
We would continue to flip. Until we could buy our big property and build our house with cash. We are not going to be doing the debt thing. Because once you start debt it just grows and grows like mold.
Once my husband believes we have made enough and invested money correctly we will be done. We will enjoy life. We won’t be going crazy with money. We will just live. If we want to flip houses it will just be a teaching moment for our kids, or if there is something shiny my husband wants to buy. Haha!
We will build or buy a house for my mom. So she doesn’t have to worry about anything. She won’t have to work. She could just live. And then my kiddos can grow up going to Grandma’s house. Which is a dream! We hope my husband’s parents live closer so they can also visit Nana and Pop Pop’s house.
Nothing special. The plan is just to invest our time and money in the beginning while we are still young, and correctly make the future we hope for possible.
I stopped saying what we would do if we won the lottery, because it’s not going to happen. We don’t play the lottery. Because as I said. We will do this plan with or without winning.
And lately I’ve been thinking, I’ve already won the lottery. I have an amazing husband. He has done so much for us to get to this point. That it’s not been easy for either of us, but we are still going strong. I have amazing kids! Even though they drive me crazy!! They are still amazing. I have the coolest mama ever! She is my best friend; still to this day. ❤️ I have great siblings and new extended family members. Family is the most important thing to me. Which is why it’s sad to live so far away from them. But with the plan, we hope to visit more often.
So really, I’ve already won the lottery. The best one to win.
Write about your first name: its meaning, significance, etymology, etc.
The meaning of Emily is rival or striving. Which makes sense with my personality. I’ve always put in great efforts for everything in my life. My art, my schooling, my family, my husband, my kiddos, etc. everything was hard work for me. Strangely enough my mom named me right!
Because my name is not a family name. My mom just liked the name Emily. When I was younger I was a little bummed I was not given a family name. But as I grew up I fell in love with my name. Now I cannot have another name. It’s my name. And now I have a daughter that I gave her a name that I have loved since I was little. But it’s not a family name either. So in a way she’s just like me.
However…I know I did a school assignment that was based on your name. And Emily meant something different back then. I probably have the school assignment somewhere packed away. But I wonder…
In a sense you should be proud of yourself. Your pride should be there because you take pride in the type of leader you are. Prideful leaders are always around. But you want the right kind of prideful leaders. Not ones that are proud to be in charge. But ones that are proud to be a role model in their place of leadership. That’s always a hard thing for people in power. Sometimes the power goes to their heads.
When I was on the swim team I was consider the leader for a small amount. But I always tried to be fair, honest, strong, and be someone that I myself would follow.
I struggled with being non biased and confidence. I would sometimes choose winning over wanting to include everyone. I’ve always struggled with confidence. Not when it was about just myself, but when I had to decided for other teammates. I would sometimes question myself. Being the leader is hard. But knowing what you struggle with, is the first step.
Being the swim coach was less stressful. In a strange way. I had more confidence in my decisions because I knew what my swimmers were capable of. Also being non biased was easier as a coach. Because winning races were part of being a team. So I had to put swimmers in races that could win first. But then also spread out the swimmers so we could place in multiple races. So I had to be diligent in my decisions. To win, but get as many swimmers in each race for points.
But these are just my experiences with being the leader. Others have didn’t ideas of what a good leader should be. Everyone is allowed their own idea.
Another is in our household. I am the leader of my kiddos unless daddy is home. And then he is the big leader. As my daughter says, “Daddy is the big boss, Mommy is the medium boss, I am the small boss, and brother is the Tiny boss. Sister is just a cute ball of love for now.” So I’m the medium boss; which I prefer. Now that I have so many different responsibilities; I prefer to know I don’t have to make the big decisions. My husband still discusses them with me, but ultimately it’s his decision.
Medium boss now must figure out dinner…maybe I’ll make my husband decide. I really dislike choosing. He does too, but he is the big boss, so Mwahahahahaha!!
My love of elephants has never faded. I had a book called Emily Elephant; and it was my favorite book. I still have it; and I read it to my daughter.
But strangely enough my love of elephants never extended outwards. I didn’t have elephant stuffed animals or elephant on my clothes. But I did truly love them.
When we would go to the zoo I loved to watch the elephants.
Whenever there was a cute picture of baby elephants and mama elephants on Facebook I would take a screenshot. I had several elephant pictures.
I wonder if that’s why I was never a huge fan of the Elephant’s Child audio book. We would listen to books as kids at bedtime. And we either listened to Peter and the wolf, which was terrifying, or Elephant’s Child. The elephant was so annoying and there was a crocodile. I really dislike crocodiles. But I wonder if that’s why…?
When I was a teenager, I drew out my family as animals. I can’t remember what everyone was. My younger brother was a snake. One of my sisters was an owl. My mom was a happy fluffy mama bear. But I know I was a baby elephant. I could even draw that elephant right now, as if it was yesterday.
Something like this. I am holding a sleeping 3 week old at the moment.
But elephants are so happy. Baby elephants follow their mamas. Mama elephants protect their babies. I love them still. So much so that both of my daughter’s baby showers were both pink elephants themed. My eldest daughter likes elephants; so I’ll have to see if I passed on the love for elephants to my newest daughter.
So easiest daily prompt for me, favorite animal….Elephants!!
Photo from Facebook 2018Screenshot from Facebook 2017
Not thinking recently. Like back in my childhood. I have trouble remembering the driving part of trips. I remember the destination, but not the driving bit. I’m sure my mom remembers. Haha!
But I can’t remember where we were going. I think to a beach. But we would always get to a part of the drive and have to hand crank our windows up as fast as possible or the smelly duck farm smell would waft into the car and never go away.
There was another time that we were I think going to a different beach and we had to drive by a tall tower. Now I know it was a Catholic Church bell tower, but back then I asked my big sister what that was…thinking she would give me a normal answer. Instead she tells me that it’s a place where they burn dead people. That as you drive you have to roll up your windows quickly or the car would be filled with dead bodies particles. So of course more than half of my life I believed her and would roll up my windows quickly to avoid the dead particles. Haha!
There was another memorable one. By a different beach. One of my first times driving my friends to the beach, I went around my very first roundabout. And yes, I went around it a few times. Four times to be exact! Haha!
Funny how the different things I remember was when we were going to the beach. We went several different places. But I guess we went to beaches the most. Makes sense. You pay to park and then the day is free.
I’m going to try and remember the drive not just the destination.
Name the most expensive personal item you’ve ever purchased (not your home or car).
Haha! I was going to say house or car. But since that’s not an option, then…a dress.
It was around the time I was coaching high school swimming. Turned out they needed more chaperones for prom night. I jumped at the opportunity!
I was homeschooled; so I had to be asked by someone who went to a public school to experience prom. I was. My friend’s brother at the time. The getting ready was the best part of prom. But then once there, I was left at a table where I ended up playing Jin rummy all night long with another guy that was left at the table. It was still fun, but I afterwards felt that I never got to experience prom.
So when I heard they needed help at prom, In a heartbeat, jumped at the opportunity. I was told to dress up so that I would blend into the students. So I got to experience everything again!!
I went out to buy a new dress. New prom, new dress. Made sense in my brain. The theme of the prom was Great Gatsby. So of course, sparkly or beaded.
Safe to say I wasn’t paying attention to the price of the dress. I tried it on, and it fit like a glove!
Yeah….it was $300.00! I was shocked. So I had to call my mom first.
“Mom. I found the perfect dress. But it’s $300. Is that too much?”
“That’s a bit much, but if you believe you will wear it more than once the quality of the dress will be worth the amount. It’s your decision. I’m excited to see whatever you decide when you get home.”
‘Neither yes, or no. Had to be my decision. Learning lesson’ “Okay thanks mom.”
I course told myself I would wear it more than once! So they rang me up and my card was denied. ‘What!!’ I knew I had more than enough money to buy the dress. I was currently working two jobs and I was still at home. So I again had to call my mom. Turned out I had a limit on my card of $50 as a precaution. So you can see that I rarely used my card. So as soon as I figured everything out the dress was mine.
Prom was just as exciting. I got to walk around the museum. Look at all the exhibits. I saw some of my swimmers dancing. They were surprised I was in dress. Normally I wore pants or shorts to coach. Some of my swimmers didn’t know who I was until someone called out “Coach!”
But all around it was a fun night. And it made up for my previous prom.
And I did. I wore it once more. So two wears for $300 is more like two dresses for $150, right? That sounds better.
And I took care of the dress. Proper cleaning and storing. But either I’ll wear it again. Or my daughters will have a dress ready and waiting for them when they need one. But my true goal is to shrink back down and fit into it again. My husband will have to take me somewhere if that happens.
$300. That was my big splurge on one personal item. After that I stayed in my safe price range for dresses. $50-$100 a dress. $100 had to be something I was going to wear several times. But usually I stuck to the $50 range. Where I felt more comfortable. Or I would shop in the clearance section. Saving money gives me an energy.
Which is probably why I’m still that way, but also not. I make do. If I want something, I really dwell on if we really need it or not. For weeks. And usually I decide I don’t NEED it. But sometimes I get the urge to shop. And the urge won’t go away. But luckily we have a great thrift store in town. $1 for each item. So I go in there and spend $10-$20. And I get some things for me, for my kids, for the kitchen, for school, for storage. Usually I only spend $10. That’s enough.
That is enough to suffice my urge to spend money. My husband is okay with me spending $10 once every couple months. However, I really can’t wait until we have an allowance again!! Because I also get an energy from saving actual money. If I have a jar and actual hard cash in my hand it goes into the jar. I once saved up $500 and that was $40 twice a month. Needless to say I get competitive with myself. “One more day! One more day!”
Usually I don’t even spend the money on me. I spend it on my husband, my kiddos, my mom. It makes me happy to buy things for others. But this time around I’m going to try and think about spending some on me. Like set aside at the end of saving about $200. That I have to spend on myself. Because when we go on trips or to different places I occasionally find something I want to buy and I’ve spent my allowances already. So I’m going to try; and believe me it’s going to be difficult. Or maybe I won’t, and I’ll save up until Christmas and buy everyone presents. I like the sound of that plan!
So yeah. I’ve changed. I was once someone who would go to Ross, on a Saturday, and spend $300-$500 dollars on a whole new wardrobe. To now, someone who gets a drive from saving money or spends $10 every two months when I need to buy something.
Have a great day!!
The dress…kind of.
I realized it’s been over 10 years since I wore the dress. So I don’t have the original picture on my phone. But I had edited a photo of the dress and this is the best I could do. It was a steely blue. Completely beaded. Floor length. A classic. But heavy!! So even in 10-15 more years it will still be in style.
Your life without a computer: what does it look like?
I’ve always wanted to be at this point. Not have a smart phone, a computer for media, etc. but it’s too realistic in todays world. Because as much I would love to live simply; there are reasons I need a way to stay connected.
Like my family. We all live apart. FaceTime has been a game changer. My kids know their grandma, uncles, aunts, and cousins. We only see each other in person maybe once or twice a year. But my mom can still watch her grand babies grow up in real time. This one is hard to change. But I suppose I could go back to writing letters with pictures included.
Another is recipes. I use the internet most to find new recipes. Even though I’m constantly trying new things; we get to a point that feels like I’m just in a cycle of recipes. So I find a few more to add into my cycle. I’m constantly doing this. But this one I could switch over to getting cookbooks.
This blog. When I get a moment to write down something; it means I’m still using my creativity side of my brain. Just because I’m so busy, I don’t want to loose that side of me. This one, I could just switch to a journal. This blog is a digital journal.
Media. I really want to get to the point where our entertainment watching is just DVDs or Blu-ray’s. Because then I know what my kids are watching. And with all the things happening in the entertainment industry I’ve stopped watching new things. I have favorites and I just watch them over and over. I’ve never been someone to watch something new. I have to be in the mood. This one is easy to solve if you have unlimited money. Since everything is going digital, dvds and Blu-ray’s are getting to be more expensive. So I have to just slowly add movies to our collection.
Photos. This one is difficult. I don’t want my pictures digital, especially with AI becoming more and more meddling in our lives. I don’t want pictures of my kids to be used elsewhere… so I want to switch. But the convenience of capturing a moment on your phone in an instant is so…I can’t think of the word. But it’s hard to stop. Also I can receive photos of my nephews and nieces. I get to watch them grow up so conveniently. so again this one probably tied into the letter writing. Also scrap booking. Just think that takes time, that I barely have time for.
So I’m at war with this topic. I would love to ditch my digital world. But I don’t know if I will ever get to. Time will tell.
“Dare to go through the tunnel into a different way of life?“
Yes. There are two skills I would love to learn. One is unrealistic for me currently. But the other is possible.
The first one is be able to build anything I can think of. Carpentry skills. I have so many ideas that I would love to be able to just make them. But currently I’m pregnant. And I have so many other jobs to do when taking care of a family and household. That when I do magically have free time I don’t want to do anything productive. And that magical free time is going to dwindle away as the next baby comes.
But I’m so happy I’m married to a man who has over fifteen years of carpentry experience that he can bring my ideas to life. (If he had the time) but he can at least make them a reality.
The second skill is small, but I wish I knew how to spin the pizza dough in my hands like professionals do. I still use a rolling pin. But I would love to learn that skill. But I don’t want to waste the dough by trying. So unless some true master of pizza came to our house I’ll just stick with my way of making pizza.
The master would at least be impressed that now I make my pizza sauce from scratch. So I might impress them with my skills of making things from scratch.
This skill would be useful because my family seems wants to eat pizza at least once a week.
And I will say, even though I can’t build things. My husband says I’m a great helper when he is building. I’m good at helping. Helping is easier when I have no idea what’s going on. I just hold things when they need to be held, or give things when things are needed. So I am helping to build my ideas. The construction plan is him, but I’m helping with the inspiration and execution.
In case anyone is looking for a great pizza sauce recipe.
I don’t really know the answer to this question except like the simple answer of: my quiet time at bedtime.
But today I spent the early morning doing a puzzle with my daughter; and it was relaxing. I haven’t felt that way in a long time. It’s probably because we are on a vacation. So there’s no dishes, laundry, or cleaning.
So maybe vacations relax me; which is the purpose of a vacation. To relax.
So yeah, I don’t really have an answer…
Maybe playing solitaire. I’ve been playing solitaire at night to fall asleep. Because watching a movie or show keeps me awake.
emily2jane 