I'm a big kid now...

It's been quite a long minute since I've written. Work is long, the commute/traffic is even longer, and life has gone on without a hitch.

One thing that has changed is my debt. I have rid myself of unnecessary credit card debt, and I'm putting a good dent in what I refer to as "good debt." On my new Droid phone, I downloaded an application called "Financial Calculators." You input all the debt information, how many months you want to pay it off in and bam you are instantly given an amount to pay. Stick with that amount for that time period and watch the balance dwindle away.

Then dance on the final billing statement that reads "Balance: $0" out in your front yard while singing "I paid you off, na na na boo boo."

Okay, you don't have to do that. But it sure does make good conversation for old Mrs. Kravitz next door.

Anyways, here's my break down for what I consider bad and good debt. You might not agree with my reasoning, but it's how I look at things.

Bad debt= the credit card debt that started with that laptop that I bought back in 2007. I was a dumb, stupid college kid.

Good debt= The credit line I had to take out for a necessary root canal performed by an Endodontist. That lady knew exactly what she was doing, and she did it right the first time, as opposed to the rest of the procedures done on that tooth by my general dentist. I have a mapped out plan to pay this off by October by paying close to 3 times the normal monthly payment. Just because I call it good debt doesn't mean I like it.

Also good debt= My student loans. A college degree will take me much further than a life without a college degree and its a fixed rate loan so that economy can go ahead and ride the roller coaster. This is the one monthly payment that I'm paying the minimum on right now.

Another huge step in my life: I keep a checkbook register religiously. Amazing how that keeps you from overdrawing your account, huh? Not to mention, I'm flabbergasted by how much I spend frivolously. It's that debit card, I tell ya. Which brings me to my next phase:

THE ENVELOPE SYSTEM.

This will be implemented along side my paycheck on Friday, so I will update on that new transition when it gets underway.

I know I'm not saying anything that's a new thought or idea, but it's changing my life right now. If I could go back in time and smack myself for even thinking of using that credit card, I would. I don't understand why people continue to ignore their debt but I know its human nature to want what you can't have. I'm learning to get over this, one big kid step at a time.

The miles to Thanksgiving...

I love Thanksgiving. Love love love it. It's one of the simplest holidays of the year, yet it holds probably the most meaning for Americans, especially those of us who are descendants of those pioneers that landed in Virginia. We can join together as family, not worrying who is blood related or just adopted in, and we can celebrate all the ways we have been blessed.

One hitch though: When family dinners overlap. This situation can get a little sticky, especially when parents are divorced. Mom is asking me to be at her family's dinner in Carthage (an hour drive from the Boro), and my Dad wants me to be at his sister's house. Really and truly, I want to join my boyfriend at his Aunt Judy's home in Hendersonville (another hour-long drive).

Who do I say yes to?

Who do I say no to?

Why can't someone have their dinner on Friday?! I'm free on Friday!!!

I guess I'll just have to start driving on Thursday and figure out how far I want to drive...

I voted....

I voted because I've been granted the privilege to much like these lovely Iraqi ladies.

Don't worry, I did my homework and voted for the candidates that held values closest to mine, maybe not the values that are popular but that matter to me and my family. You'd be amazed at how many people don't hold true to that thought.

Here's to the next term for our House of Representatives and Senate!

Unsolicited advice and how I'm fighting the urge to rebuke

We all know those people. The nosy ones, the ones with the "helpful hints," and then the just plain rude ones. I've dealt with them my whole life after being blessed with a big family consisting of a bunch of aunts.

At 11 it was "Why are you taking taekwondo? Why not take cheerleading instead?"

At 14 it was "Here's some makeup, with your hair and eye lash color you should wear some."

At 18 it was "Why do you want to go to that college, you should go to _____ instead."

Now at 23 we're starting the really big questions: "So when are you going to get married/ buy a house/ have a baby/ start a retirement fund/ insert another life step."

I'm totally down with steering a child in the way it should go. I credit my upbringing to two parents who gave me the tools to grow successfully and take every advantage that life throws at me. If something wasn't beneficial to my life, they let me know QUICK. They let me fall but didn't let me smack the floor too hard. Their opinions on my life will always be considered.

I love my extended family. Really. They're all great in their own individual ways. So when they hand me their criticisms, excuse me, "helpful hints" on my life, I tend to take it with a HUGE grain of salt. Why? Because I know what my everyday life is like. I know what I have to work with. They see me for a very short amount of time and everything else they know about me is through the veritable "grape vine" that comes with being part of a big family. But when a snarky family member who isn't doing so hot with their own personal endeavors tries to give me their unsolicited advice, it takes every bit of me to not say:
"Well if I were you I would consider losing weight/ quit smoking/ stop using credit cards/ *insert another bad lifestyle habit.* Ain't so cool when you're on the receiving end of unwarranted advice, is it?"

So here it goes with my decisions. They will inevitably change with life, but here's my game plan:

1) I will get married when he proposes. Shocker right? We're happy how we are right now, and if he wants to take that next step, I doubt he'll be shy in letting me know.

2) Babies? BABIES?! I just started working for a great company, and I love what I do. Babies take time, yo! Don't get me wrong, I'm not the type that wants to wait til I'm 30, but I have a couple of years to think about it. You don't want this girl doing something like rearing a child before the time is right. (If only more people took that last line to heart.)

3) I do actually want to own property within the next 3 years, but I'll have to see what my personal life is doing at that time.

I'm not trying to play it off like all my life decisions will be successful. It's almost guaranteed something will go awry. But it's my life. I've kept on the straight and narrow (with a few small curves) my whole life and I plan to stay that way. So until I ask how you did something, keep the opinions to yourself.

Phew... Glad to get that off my chest.

3 days til...

3 days til I turn 23. I feel like I'm turning 32. Comes with the territory of dating a 33 year old I guess. Much like it always does around my birthday, the crispy fall air blew in from the north this morning, and I broke out my pull-over and ever so slightly turned up the heat in my car. Before long, I will be buying a box of instant apple cider packets for my desk at work. I might even hang fall decorations in the good ole cubicle...

We leave on Wednesday for Chicago on our fall vacation, and I cannot wait to get on that plane and leave Tennessee for a while. Don't get me wrong, love the place, but it starts to lose its wonder when you don't leave for over a year. It will be nice to go back to the first big city I ever visited, and for once show Ben some things he's never seen. Hopefully I will come back with even better pictures than my last visit.

I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week!

Channeling the inner Helen Gilbert

Those of you who knew my beloved Grannie Gilbert knew that the woman could cook. It was a big part of her job as a housewife bearing four kids and then baby-sitter to a few grandchildren (including this one.) She was not a gourmet chef but instead a master of comfort foods. You could call her when confronted with the hard question of "I have a recipe that calls for this spice but I can't find it anywhere, what can I use as a substitution?" I only heard her admit to not mastering one thing: meringue. It is the trickiest of the pie toppings, after all. She took every meal she made seriously, and always had the perfect complimentary side dishes and bread to every entree. Any holiday or celebration could be met with a breakfast, dinner, or at least a "Hoo-rah" pie. Heck, if you just said you had a craving for a fudge pie, you could bet that you would have a fudge pie waiting for you to pick up the next day.

I have already endured one birthday without my annual birthday meal. As I was planning my dinners for this week, I suddenly wrote down what I remembered going in Grannie Gilbert's birthday meatloaf. If Grannie is no longer around to make the meal, I will take over the tradition. Since I was just cooking for me and my Sweetie, I downsized it to fit our bellies plus a left-over meal to make my co-workers jealous. The recipe I came up with last night looked something like this:

1 lb. ground beef
A little less than half- 1 green bell pepper
Half of red onion
1 1/2 tablespoons- oatmeal
1/3 cup of ketchup
salt and pepper
1/2 can of tomato sauce

Mix all together in bowl, bake in small loaf pan at 400 degrees until brown throughout and grease has risen to the top. Release the meat loaf from the pan, draining grease. Reduce heat of oven to 315 degrees (I just left the door open to cool off while preparing the rest) Transfer to a small casserole dish and cover with tomato sauce, return to oven. Bake for 10 minutes.

I made mashed potatoes to go with. Historically, the full birthday dinner also consisted of pinto beans, cole slaw, and cornbread.

We made a "big deal" out of the meal and ate at the table. As I took in my first morsel of meat loaf, I was overcome with delight. I had somehow channeled Helen Gilbert while making the meal and made the exact same recipe that she always made. When the meal came to a close, I sat there and had a silent conversation with my Grandmother, and then with God, thanking him for blessing me with this wonderful woman who taught me to make wholesome meals to make for my future family. I will never fail in giving credit for those meals to my Grannie who took great care of me as a child and taught me the ways of cooking. I can only hope that these recipes will be passed on to my children and grandchildren.

What have you learned to cook from your Grandmother?

Words on married life. By Mrs. Lillian Miller

After retrieving some fried apple pies that needed a new home from my grandmothers today, she showed me her latest writing assignment. A young couple from her church have recently been married, and the groom's mother decided to compile a diary of women discussing the early part of their marriages. My grandmother was chosen as one of the participants.

I have to preface this by saying my grandmother is the most precious thing in my life. She has been the best mother, grandmother, and friend. To have her in your life is a blessing beyond words. Her words are simple yet should not be taken lightly. She knows the meaning of a life of faithful devotion to one man, no matter what may have stood in the way.

"It is so good to have a happy married life. We married so young and did not have anything except our clothes to wear. We didn’t think anything about it. My husband had just gotten out of service, World War II, and he came home and put out a crop that year. He said we couldn’t move out until he got his wheat crop out. When he was in the fields working, I was busy at the house setting his mothers old setting hens. In the fall of the year there was a little two room house down the road that became empty so we got that to move into. It was a mansion to us. His dad gave him a cow and calf and I had about 30 little chickens and his mother gave me the old mother hen and said I had about starved her to death. I set her 2 times to get all my little chickens. I was busy making him cakes and candy to eat all the time. You know, we need to do things to make each other happy. He would say “This is good,”but he would go to the door and throw it out. But he told me later on in our years he threw it out to the old dog and he wouldn’t even eat it.

We lived together 62 years and raised 5 children and they said they never knew that we were poor. We stayed too busy. The Lord called him home July 5th, 2007 after staying in the hospital about 24 hours."

Lillian Miller is the proud matriarch of a family of 5 children, 12 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren. I am the next to youngest grandchild and have enjoyed every single second I have spent with my "Grannie." I intend to raise a family according to her standards of how a family should be ran.