Good morning! I’m back and feeling particularly motivated for a Monday morning. How has everyone been? I’ve been here, behind the scenes, keeping as busy as ever. I’ve avoided the blog, I know, but I am back to catch up on my month so far. Let’s see if I can keep this short.
The cherry blossoms have no doubt come and gone since I was last over here. The sore calves and ankles from that 6 mile hike have worn away, and we’ve moved on to other adventures. One of which was Florida. We spent the weekend over in Ft. Walton Beach last week and it was a wonderful little break from the recent everyday.
It was the boy’s trip, somewhat work related, but Stephen and I tagged along. We left at midnight last Friday morning and by breakfast we were at the beach. It’s been years since we’ve driven an all-nighter, and normally I don’t like to drive overnight, but we – ahem Stephen – managed to get about five hours of sleep before we left so he was good to go. I only dozed a few times, and the boy, he was out before we even left the state.
So the three day weekend at the beach was fun. Ethan did his thing, and we did ours. And ours was to walk to the pier, sit under beach umbrellas, and enjoy good food and drinks all the while having the roaring sea as our soundtrack. We had a nice room also with a beach side balcony so while the boy was out looking for night creatures in the sand, we enjoyed the time together out in the fresh sea air. Over all, a great weekend!
The things that have filled the in between haven’t been that exciting. My main daily duties are keeping the house clean, and grading all the papers as they come in. We are starting week 6 today of 9, and my school teaching life is about to change significantly. Also, graduation is fast approaching and all the details that will be going with that. I’ve got a slide show to make, and awards to order, plus school pictures will be soon, and then all the little things that have to still be done that go with that. I have to say, this time of the year is probably my least favorite. End of the school year stuff always gives me stress and I’m trying my absolute best to stay on top of everything to make the month of May go the smoothest it possibly can. I’d like to have all that is required of me done by the first week of May. We shall see. There’s also been weekly checks of what is going on over in the vineyard.
Now, for the debt free part. As of last Friday we are debt free! This is very exciting for us. It’s something we have wanted for about ten years, but never completely took the leap towards it. We were never ever upside down with anything, financially speaking, but we were in a position that we shouldn’t have really been in debt to begin with. It’s just way too easy to use credit cards, and before you know it minimum payments are all you are doing. And again let me say, it was nothing out of hand, just over spending was a bad habit that we wanted to quit. Last October when we decided we wanted to pay everything off, we had a couple of credit cards and Stephen’s car. We quit using the credit cards, and started paying attention to where every dollar was going. My estimation was that we’d have everything, and the car paid off, by the end of April, and I was right. It wasn’t hard and we didn’t have to deprive ourselves of anything. We’ve always kept a budget, but when we both started paying attention to the little things, our finances took a turn for the better and we couldn’t be happier about that. Being debt free, it’s a great feeling!
And that’s the 411 of life around here. I’ve got posts lined up to go, but need to edit pictures for them, and soon I should be a little less busy so that I can spend more time goofing off over here. Until then, have a great Monday!
Rejoice for the Day 