Normally this time of year...

I made a self-promise (we know how those go) to start blogging at least once a week, on Tuesdays, my day off.


Normally this time of year I am freaking out getting the religious education year off to a start... but 6 years in.  I finally have a little bit of a grip on how this goes now.  I haven't lost sleep over it yet.  Good sign.


Normally this time of year I hate my job, hate life, and pretty much just want to run away.  This year I'm rather content with life, would prefer a new job but I can't complain, as I am blessed to have one that I can do, do well, and at least laugh about!


Normally this time of year I am making new resolutions to better manage my time, work out, and lose weight.  I am happy to report I have taken charge of my time by creating a day off, found a new place to work out that I LOVE, and we've radically changed out diet (and not just for our health, but for the environment and cost too)


Normally this time of year I have no free time and no friends to even spend that time with.  Fortunately, Eric and I have made some really great friends and rekindled old friendships - we go out once or twice a week and make it a point to kick back and relax.  We've also learned how to say no when we need to so we can stay caught up on our home and our own relationship.


Normally this time of year I complain that I am still in debt and need to get better about managing money.  God knew what he was doing when he paired me with Eric (Nerds and free spirits unite. Thank you Dave Ramsey)  Eric is brilliant at money management, and is patient with my free spirit!  We have our spending under control and our debt is melting away.   We've paid off $23,000 of debt in 17 months...AND paid cash for a semester of grad school, new tires, a car accident and all that life brings at you.  Our goal is to be completely debt free and have our 3 months spending saved in another year.  (I hate talking money, and don't mean to brag or to wallow, but we've worked hard at this and I'm really excited at how far we've come!)


Normally this time of year I'm ready for summer to be over and fall to be year.  And, well, that holds true this year too!  Looking forward to shooting the hooch this weekend, boating at the lake, going to the cabin, and enjoying the last "real" weekend of "summer".