Friday, February 4, 2011

Hello Again

So what a shocker. Life went and got stressful on me. Funny how that works out. And being that I'm a neurotic, emotionally charged woman (read: crazy lady) I've bottled it, hid it, shook it up in my head, ran around looking for a place to bury it, and then took the cap off and let it's carbonated insanity spew all over my sweet family. God love me, because some days it's a wonder that anyone else can. LOL.

Times are hard for everyone, and we're no exception to that rule. We weren't as careful as we should have been with our finances. Scratch that. I'm the financial manager for the family, so we'll go ahead and say that I wasn't careful. I let my inner child get the best of me, and I spoiled my little family when money was good. I wasn't a good steward with our savings or our credit cards. So I did what any SHE (FlyLady speak - from now on, all fly terms will be in purple text) would do, I went out and got a better job. BB had me working 35 hours a week for part time pay and part time benefits. PS took me on as part time, with the promise of full time to come in Oct 2010. Not necessarily more hours than I had, but slightly better pay, and much better benefits. Plus, the shorter commute would make the pay better due to the lack of gas needed to get too and from work. I love working at PS. I enjoy the company of my coworkers, I love working with the animals, and when people aren't dumb and actually have the best interest of their pets at heart, I love working with the owners. But full time never came. I'm down to 25 hours a week average, making an already tight budget shrink in some extremely uncomfortable ways. And the final blow came in finding out that we actually owe on our taxes this year. There was a mixup with hubby's paperwork at his job, and he didn't have enough withheld throughout the year. So now, I find myself needing put away what feels like massive amounts of money. Don't let my doom and gloom fool you. It's actually not that bad. We have family to help us out and we'll be alright in the end of things. But I trust enough of you have been there to know that in the thick of things, it can seem so much worse than it is.

So I've been in talks with my manager to try to get my promise of full time fulfilled. Hopefully that will come through at some point. Although I have considered taking on a second part time job to give the budget some breathing room. Only time will tell the eventual outcome there. In the meantime, I'm sticking with the coupons to save when and where I can and desperately looking for more expenditures that can be cut. Namely the "addictions", soda, snacks, cigarettes, etc.

On top of all that, I've gotten frustrated with my house and my wardrobe/appearance, and my child. I never could pick just one thing to worry to death at a time. I still love my FlyLady routines, and I still use them as much as I'm able. But I fell into FlyLady at a time when I was able to quit work and stay home with Little Man. It was much easier to adapt the routines to my day when they didn't have to change all the time. I've struggled with it as a working FlyBaby. Most days I get my routines done, but some days I don't. Most weeks I get my Weekly Home Blessing done, but there are weeks that I don't. I average about half my missions a week, but my detailed cleaning is seriously lacking compared to what it was before. Don't get me wrong, the beauty of FlyLady is being able to adapt it to whatever your circumstance is, and I know in the end I'll get it figured out. But part of being a SHE is being a perfectionist, and I don't want to take time to figure it out, I want to have it figured out now (says the inner child).

Little Man is doing good overall. There's been some behavior issues lately. But I'm sure I'm blowing it all out of proportion. He's 5. There are people 10 times his age that haven't figured out how to manage their anger, and I'm expecting him to do a good job of it. Really? When I actually do manage to put it in perspective, I know he's just a 5 year old little boy. But most days I don't manage that perspective.

On the personal front, I bit the bullet in December and chopped all my hair off. I loved my new short hair and determined to keep it trimmed and well taken care of. Well cue our personal financial collapse. So there's been no trims, and it looks like the short hair will meet an early end. Perhaps one day I'll go there again. But I was always happy with my long hair. I just never took the time to do anything with it. I'll be happy again once I get through the weird, not long not short phase of growing it back out. Tying together the personal and financial side of things, I was reading a blog that I follow and the woman that writes it apparently never buys new clothes at full prices. She buys all her clothes at thrift shops and garage sells or occasionally end of season clearance racks. And as she includes pictures, I can say she looks great doing it. I thought about challenging myself to do the same. I let the idea stew in my head for a while, and then while reading through one of my FlyLady emails, I was reminded of her friend, Missus Smarty Pants. MSP takes your body type and coloring and gives you suggestions on the best cuts, colors, styles etc for your. It seems she actually started out as a personal shopper. I figure if I'm going to shift to buying thrift store finds, I can squeeze in subscription fee for her site and make sure that I'm actually going to like the things that I buy (on that magic day that we actually have money for non-necessities again). Who knows, maybe before I'm 30, I'll have actually graduated from the cotton tee, jeans, and tennis shoes ensemble.

So that's where I'm at - stressed out and feeling compelled to overhaul, well, everything. But for now, I'm at home on a rainy after noon, sharing all my insanity with you. My sink is shiny, my laundry is done, my Hot Spots are still on fire. I'm still in my yoga pants and t-shirt from this morning, but I do have on my lace up shoes. Little Man is at school with a sleepover at Nana's tonight. And I have to start getting ready for work soon. In the coming weeks/months this blog is going to be shifting from being focused on my etsy site, to being focused on matters of faith, finances, family, FlyWashing, and fashion. If you're interested at all, you're welcome to join me for the ride.

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