Major accomplishments

I haven't taken many pictures lately, but we have been busy checking things off our to-do list!

• Alan finished his office. Well, all except putting in a threshhold, but that's no big deal. He also got all his furniture moved in and it's fully functional! Yay! He just needs to add blinds and organize some things and it will be all done. Now our main living area in the basement looks SOOO much bigger with his monstrosity of an L-shaped desk out of there. We're talking about buying a treadmill to go in the office and hanging a flat screen TV from the wall.

• I cleaned out our bedroom and closet. Our closet wasn't so bad, just a bunch of shoes and hangers that had accumulated on the floor so you couldn't really walk into it. Our bedroom, however, had become a collecting place for everything. Whenever someone comes over, I would just throw our latest junk pile into a box or basket and put it in there. I think this started (or became a problem) around the time last year when we started our business. I am going to do a better job of not letting the business take over my life and house. People can wait on their things and it won't be the end of the world! I still have a few more things to put in their places in the bedroom, but it was a major task and I'm so excited to have that done!

• I started the South Beach diet last week (today is my 7th day) and have already lost 8-10 pounds and am down a size. I wore an outfit today that I haven't worn since before Charlie. Yay! It's all about mindset, and my mind is set! Maybe I'll be in some sort of decent shape by the end of the summer for our 10th anniversary. Along those lines, I've started going to Kimberly's aerobics classes, which are twice a week. I just need to add something another 3-4 days per week and I'll be doing okay :)

• I also went to the doctor today to establish a relationship with a primary care doctor. This feels important to me because I don't think I've had a primary care physician since I was young and went to a pediatrician. Is that weird? I've been going to the doc in the box too long... I was so impressed and barely waited at all - it was such a great process, and she was SOOO nice and thorough. It felt just like talking to a friend. Anyway, she ran a blood panel and took 6 vials of blood to test me for just about everything, including vitamin deficiencies, thyroid issues and celiac disease. I feel like it's just another major thing I can check off my list - Get a doctor: check!

• We started doing a cash envelope system and splitting all our budget money out into actual cash. We established a budget soon after we first got married, when we participated in a financial management class at our church. It was a huge task, going through all our finances from the previous year (EVERY receipt, bill, etc) and classifying everything until we could establish our pattern and make a budget from that. We have adjusted over the years, but that gave us the basic framework that we still go by. Well, on paper, I have no checks and balances - I ignore the computer program when it tells me (or Alan) that we've gone over in a category, and there are really no consequences. We haven't budgeted all our money to go somewhere, so we always have extra to use - I think that is always in the back of my mind, so I blow off the budget. Well, we started using the cash system in April and I was SOOO surprised at how much extra (above normal) we had at the end of the month in our bank account. Do I really blow that much money on a monthly basis??!! Having cash only, and separated in the categories we have, really makes me stop and think about making certain purchases, and I've also started couponing a little - definitely not a pro, but every little bit helps!

• Nana came over for Carter's t-ball game Saturday and while she was here, she cleaned our basement, patio and screened porch. These are areas I've been ignoring. Thank you so much, Nana! The Spring season for our business has just about kicked my tail - I hope to not ignore my house in the future of our business, or else the business might have to go!

• Speaking of the business, Pandi and I finished all our Spring orders (finally) a couple of weeks ago. Now, we're just working on odds and ends - add-on orders, fixing a couple of mistakes, etc. We will be starting on our samples for Fall very, very soon! Maybe eventually we will be ahead of the curve in our schedule - ha!