School

Time for a school update: 25 credits down 30 to go before I can apply for the nursing program. This is taking forever! I've only been able to take one class at a time since Luke was born and took the summer off to help with Tracy's wedding and spend time with my family. Plus most of my classes are labs that are part of a sequence (so no doubling up). These next few lab classes are very important to my nursing application. The program is SUPER competitive and they only admit 36 students per quarter. Currently I'm taking Anatomy and almost half of my class already have degrees and are changing careers, another quarter of them already work in some type of patient-care related job (CNA, LPN etc). Needless to say, even with excellent grades I'm feeling the pressure. What if after all this work and sacrifice I don't get in? I will seriously loose it!

I'm trying to focus on one class at a time. I'm also looking into other nursing programs nearby. They are all competitive and have slightly different requirements but I want to keep my options open. After this quarter, I'm switching to day classes. These night classes are killing me and I never get to hang out with Alan. The down side will be childcare costs but I think it's worth it. I have always been a goal oriented person... always looking to the future, and sometimes I forget to enjoy the "now". My life isn't going to happen 4 years from now, it is here.

To lighten the mood, here are a few stinkin' cute pictures of Luke falling asleep on Lucy.

So sleepy

Alan was at home with Luke when it suddenly got very quiet. Then he found him passed out.

Luke loves his furry older sister ;)

Round 2: California pictures

In Justin's backyard in Oxnard. Lots of open area to explore :)

Russ putting Luke in a head-lock, I mean, hugging Luke. Those two were pretty funny. They are only 1 1/2 years apart in age but, this is the first time they've been able to play with each other. Russ mostly followed Luke around and told on him when he was doing something he wasn't suppose to. I think Russ enjoyed being the older one (wink wink Justin and Naomi!).

Luke and Russ picking leaves off of the bush.... in other words being destructive.

We went to Chase Palm Park in Santa Barabra. It's a gorgeous park right across the street from the beach. And it followed my two criteria for activities:kid friendly and free.

The park had ducks

Turtles

Koi fish

And a Carousel!

Running in the sand. The park had a HUGE playground with a pirate ship

Luke and Al playing with the sprinkler fish.

Sliding, or rather, falling down the slide

Luke and Grandpa Stetson. Luke was pretty tired and out of his element by that last day. But he perked up to chase their cat around the house. Poor kitty :(

Thanks to my dad, Justin and Naomi, and the Stetsons for hosting us! We had a great time seeing everyone.

Couponing Ninja

In an effort to save money anywhere we can, I've been couponing. And not the normal Sunday paper coupon clipping type... I mean the hard-core, have a copy of every stores policy, save 75%, have several copies of each Sunday paper- type of couponing. And it has paid off big time. One of the basic ideas around this type of couponing (notice coupon is now a verb!) is that you match your coupons with store sales and stock up when prices are really low. The goal is to never buy something off sale or without a coupon. This does take some time and discipline but I get lots of help with a few of the many websites/blogs dedicated to matching coupons with sales. Here are a couple of my favorites:

http://krazycouponlady.blogspot.com/

http://frugallivingnw.com/

http://making-dough.blogspot.com/

All of these are based in the NW, so if your not in the area you'll want to find some local blogs as sales differ in each region.

Family Visit and California Trip #4

The Newlyweds aka Chris and Erin at the 1st Starbucks

Alan's brother and wife (Chris and Erin) came to visit us last week. They wanted to check out the area as a possible place to relocate if things in CA get too expensive and, of coarse, to hang out with us. It was a short trip but we packed it in... Pike Place market, Redhook brewery, The Pink Door (my favorite restaurant), Mukilteo waterfront to watch the ferries and get some fresh fish & chips, and tour some of the hip neighborhoods. After all that we all took the same flight to CA.

Luke at the market, rubbing the golden pig for good luck.

Erin tickling Luke

Luke at the Mukilteo waterfront. He was throwing rocks into the water and eventually fell in. He was soaking wet!

I know I was just complaining about spending money on traveling (and hence vowing to be a better saver), however this trip has been planned for a while. We came down for my dad's 50th birthday! He's a young 50 (if there is such a thing). There were many joke gifts such as depends, hemorrhoid cream, and ensure.

Everyone (minus Al, he's taking the picture)

Russ being adorable

Luke is crying because he wanted me to pick him up.

Marie and Justin, she's looking so grown-up!

The grand kids bought this gift for grandpa. At one point we decided to name it, but I can't remember what we came up with (Seymour?). My dad had fun finding flies to feed it.

Dad opening is presents... a polo shirt (an everyday staple for him)

Luke and Marie eating birthday cake. Ashley made a German chocolate cake for my dad (his favorite). It was yummy!

Luke hitting Russ. He was super jealous whenever I got near him. Juggling two kids is hard!

We did three cities in three days! A little too much, but we wanted to see as many friends and family as possible. Day one: LA for dad's birthday party. Day two: Oxnard and playing at the beach. Day three: Santa Barabra, walked state street/saw more family and friends. We did pretty good with money. We didn't stay in any hotels and only bought 3 meals (all under $20 each). I'd say the whole trip cost under $600, much less than we normally spend :)

I'm not sure it's because traveling is harder with Luke but I don't seem to miss California as much. I do feel very relaxed when I'm in my home town but Washington feels that way too. We'll see how I feel come February when the sun doesn't come out until 8:30am and it's dark by 4pm.

An ugly ford letter word... DEBT

I realize that many people consider it in poor taste to discuss one's financial situation but this is something that has been eating away at me. Plus if I shed some light on it perhaps it will shame me into fixing it (always a fantastic motivator). We, like most people, have a lot of debt. Now, Alan and I are responsible people. We work hard, pay our bills on time and budget but we have always had a hard time saving. This gets us in trouble time and time again. I can't begin to recall the times we were caught off guard with a vet bill or car repair that went on the credit card. Our other weak spot... travel. When you live several states away from most of your family it is very hard to not rack up costs. Between airfare, hotel, car rental, parking, dog sitter, loss of wages (my part-time job gives me no vacation), and spending money we easily spend $1000 every time we visit someone. And normally we do set aside some money but never enough to cover all of the expenses. It's pretty easy to justify it when your spending quality time with you family.

If I'm going to be really honest, I need to admit to our previous bad spending habits. When I was with starbucks and making an actual decent salary, Alan's and my combined income should have covered all our expenses with plently to put into savings. But we blew SO much money on eating out and just as much on groceries. I could just kick myself when I think about it. It wasn't until I left Starbucks to go back to school and work part-time that we realized how tight things were going to be, all of this with a baby on the way (gulp!). We had to take a serious look at were our money was going. We made cuts by canceling our phone (we only used our cell phones anyways), cheaper tv, driving less, canceling magazines and satelite radio subcriptions, eating out less (if at all), and cutting our grocery cost in half. This was a good dent but all it has done is make so we can live... still no savings. We need to take it to the next level. We need to save something or this cycle will continue.

Our goal is to save $2000. This should cover any basic emergencies but not the loss of a job (knock on wood). After that we will really focus on the credit cards starting with the one with the highest interest and working our way down. We also have some medical bills from when Luke was born and a car to pay off but, those will be our second priorities. Someday, when our combined incomes is much higher, we will amass a true nest egg. By the way, to all of our generous family members reading this post, this is not a cry for help, just a way to motivate and focus on our goal. We got ourselves in this mess we can get ourselves out of it!

Blackberries

During the month of September the blackberries up here go crazy. They grow wild everywhere. We have a bush in our backyard that puts off a ton of berries. I can barely keep up. So today Luke and I picked some berries. When I say Luke and I, I mean: I picked them while Luke ate them. You can always tell when he's been eating them when you see his face covered in purple juice.

Alan has a photography gig this weekend and rented a special lens for the event. I took the opportunity to try it out on Luke. It took some great shots. Lately, Alan is working on a very cool website for his photography, I'll post the link as soon as he's done. It's kind of nice that he's making a little money off of his hobby :)

Close-up of the blackberries

He was super excited when I handed him the entire bowl.

Yum!

Squishing them

He stuffed at least 6 of them in his mouth. Messy face!

The Fair

I love the fair. What could be better than carnival rides, crazy deep fried food, and barn yard animals? This is Luke's second fair experience. He went last year when he was only 8 weeks old. That was a bad idea for a panicky new mom in a gerb-infested place! But this year was much better. Luke was very interested in all the animals but he mostly wanted to wander in various directions. It's always a wonderful end to the summer.

As I have mentioned before, wood carving is serious business up here. There is even an entire area dedicated to it at the fair. In addition to this, there is a lumber-jack contest that is always a crowd pleaser.

Various wood carved bears

Scottish Bear

Luke liked the doggie carving, he's sitting on it just like he does to Lucy.

Ugly Pug carving

And of Course the patriotic carvings.

Pretty Daliha

Luke staring at a HUGE pig named Paprika. Luke kept pointing and saying "Dog-gy". He called every animal at the fair Doggy, except for the rabbits.... they were "kitties".

Kitties (aka rabbits)

Luke feeding the sheep.

Man singing on a horse, only at the fair!

I know I'm getting older when just looking at a carnival ride makes me feel a little queasy. This one went looped-loop around a track while the track itself spun!

Luke with a puppy paw painted on his face. He was flirting with a 9-year-old girl and she gave him a piece of cotton candy.

The Merry-Go-Round. There weren't any rides that Luke could go on since he isn't 32 inches tall yet, he missed it by an 1 1/2 inches. Next year.

Interesting angle of the Zipper

Family shot