Money Stress

These days as it winds down to me getting closer and closer to being done working I am slowing feeling the stress of money creep up. Marc and I have planned out the next 6 months of finances and are prepared for me not to be working but I can't help to feel like money is all I'm seeing in this transition and how it's going to be an added stress.

Money is already a topic in our relationship that I tend to focus on more then my husband. I think that's usually how it goes, one person stresses while the other doesn't see the importance of it. I have had to tell myself numerous times that money is just an object that only has the value we give it. In my eyes I see that if we have money then we have more then most and are truly blessed with what we have but I also see that if we lose it or run out of it then all the comforts we enjoy have to go out the window. We've already done some major cutting back to save money, for example we have NO cable and watch t.v. from an antenna and we watch any of the shows we miss on hulu for free. We hardly ever go to the movies instead we just wait for it to go to the red box and rent it for a dollar. I love red box!!!

Do you ever feel though that when making these major life changes that's when money issues are thrown at you? I sure do! I feel that once we've made this decision for me to leave work we've just had one thing come up after the next. I know that's just the big waves before the calm and I'm grateful that I have a peace of mind knowing that this is the right choice...but I can't help but be scared and nervous.

I hate how money has this hold on me. Does anyone else feel the same way?


I feel like this zebra somedays. Not sure what's going on...only thing I can think of happening is stress.

Making My Own Baby Food!

So yesterday I attempted at making my very first squash! I've never even made squash for myself. A friend of mine gave me some of her squash from her garden so I figured this is the perfect season to experiment with making my own baby food! Since everyone I run into that has done it or is doing says it's so easy I figured what the hell I want to change my life and become health might as well start Scout off in the right direction.

First I peeled the squash, I wasn't sure about the skin so I figured better safe then sorry. AFter peeling the skin I cut it up into large cubes. I figured this would help steam it better and blend better.




Once I had it completely peeled I put it all into my parents steamer they let me borrow for this experiment. I also put in a large carrot that we had, I didn't want it to go bad. So I put the timer on for 20 mins and took the opportunity to finish tiding up the house during that time.



After the steamer was finished and I could easily fit my fork through the carrot I separated the two veggies and put all the squash into the blender.



I did make one mistake that I definitely would've changed. Since this is my first time dealing with squash I had no idea that they were similar to pumpkins and that they needed to be seeded. Thankfully all the seeds blended up into very fine particals but next time I'm definitely going to take out the seeds BEFORE I steam the squash. In order for me to get the carrot all blended since I only had one I added in about a 1/8 cup of water...if that just to help it blend up a little bit better. Once I felt that each of the veggies where blended up well enough that there would be zero chunks I went ahead and used an ice tray to poor the servings into.



I put one serving into a baby food container so I could give this to him today for his lunch and the rest I put in the ice tray covered with seran wrap and put it in the freezer. Once it's frozen I'm going to put 2 cubes into freezer friendly ziploc bags so when I'm ready to use it all I have to do is mic it a little bit and mix it up and serve to my little guy.

I gave him the squash today and it was a huge success! He loved it and I loved it knowing I was giving him healthy food!

Learning a Lesson from Bad Experiences

I know I should be thinking on the positive side of this but I am so ready to be done working this week is already lasting too long. I'm beyond excited to leave a work enviornment where I don't feel like I can truly relax and be myself because who knows if I'll get in trouble for it one day and the next have it treated like nothing. I swear, somedays I feel like the corporate end of this company is full of indecisive idiots who all think they know what's best for this company. The worst part is they don't communicate with each other and just assume that everyone has heard or just knows about the changes...it ridiculous!

My dad shared some great advice for me on Saturday as I was expressing some of my frustration. He told me that a long time ago someone told him,

"You can learn something from each manager, wether it is something that you learn NOT to do or something you'd like to do. Either way what you learn you will take and turn it into your own unique managing style."

This was just what I needed to hear because I truly was frustrated and kept focusing on her negative traits I realized I needed to focus more on the positive of what I could learn. I also got help with this issue after being in a meeting Friday learning about how to encourage positive work environments and what a leader is. I realized that my manager has the skills to push the paperwork and to meet with students and so forth but she does not have the skills to manage people (there's a big difference). This has opened my eyes and has given me a chance to step into her feet and see it from her point of view. Which is difficult for me because I am the complete opposite. I have the skills to manage people but I don't put pushing paperwork as a top priority. Now that I have this new perspective on the situation I now know that I can take her dedication to her job and how she deals with the paperwork with me as a positive manager trait instead of focusing all on the negative. I've also learned key actions for me not to do if I want to incorporate delegation and following-up with requests. I feel that despite my "know it all" attitude (which definitely can hinder me at times)I'm glad that I'm able to leave this job on good terms and to leave with a great learning experience to help improve my management skills.

I just have to remember :

"In order to change my life in a positive manner, I need to start by changing my perspective and thinking more positive."

One More Week...

That's right! One more week until I get to become a stay at home mom! I am looking forward to looking frazzeled and taking on this wonderful adventure. I know this is going to be one of the most challenging jobs that I have ever had but also the most rewarding job as well. Even putting in my notice has made a huge difference for my mentality. I feel like I am finally free to work on all my small projects I want to do but I just never had the time.

This next part is not to talk bad on my husband because he does help out more then I could imagine but I just hope that my husband won't take this as a vacation on helping out around the house. I know he'll be busy with school but that is no excuse not to help clean the house or just simply clean up after yourself. I've noticed that he's already been slacking quit a bit and it has gotten so frustrating! I'm not the greatest at communication when it comes to something that is driving me nuts!!! I usually end up putting my foot in my mouth on numerous occassions. So now I just have to come up with a way to talk to him about this and set up some guidelines that we both are ok with.

I wonder if those couples who are both "at home" one being the student and the other being the stay at home parent...I wonder if they have more issues or if they get along better. I think that this is going to be one of the bigger challenges for me. It'll be interesting to see what this does to my marriage.