Author Archives: tracye1

About tracye1

A wee bit about me, Tracy. Married to my high school sweetie for a looooong time. Mama of 4 beautiful kiddos, now ADULTS!!!! This blog is a potpourri of posts. Some wax on about my Catholic faith, others family, some are just a “diary” of life updates. Life is a journey, taken one day at a time (sometimes one step at a time) and my blog is about my personal trek through life. Peace!

Goals. Part 1: Those pesky finances

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In a recent post of mine, I outlined a set of ~~resolutions~~ goals that I want to focus on for this coming year. After reading my friend’s post on GOALS, I loved that term and along with the original blog I read HERE on how to successfully manage and keep ~~resolutions~~ goals, I have begun to attack them.

Having had the house purse strings in my total control for 7+ years I am happy to hand them back to my hubby. And I am reluctant. As we navigated those dark and murky waters of change several years ago and I went from a happy-go-lucky, stay-at-home mama to a night shift, full-time worker balancing family, sleep and work (in that order) I also had to have a quick lesson on family finances. ICK! Despising the checkbook and the whole organizing of bills, it was a chore I was thrilled to have nothing to do with for most of our marriage, happily acquiescing to my hubby all financial decisions–it’s his strong point, not mine. However, once it was necessary, I realized how foolish I was to have kept my head in the sand for so long. What a burden for one person to carry alone. It was a conversation we never had with small children running around, one I never found important nor interesting. Stupid girl. Until it was important. It occurred to me how many friends I had/have in this situation and it was one I vow to not find myself in again. It’s crucial to running a household and marriage, to be on the same page; balancing the budget sucks, however, to live within one’s means it’s imperative to know what’s coming in and what goes out. In these past years of economic downturn, I am sure many, many people have learned this lesson the hard way. Like me. The left hand MUST know what the right hand is doing.

I did an OK job for the first 5 years of hubby’s incarceration. We were with my parents and I was able to keep debt to a minimum or nil. After buying our house a couple of years ago, expenses began to creep up and in and while nothing was ever late or unpaid, the debt grew. Extravagance wasn’t an issue, just 4 kiddos and LIFE. It is what it is. And now it’s time to dig out.

Fast forward to 2012, and after having hubby home for 6 months and working, we are both in a good spiritual and mental place to discuss finances. Lay it all open. Full disclosure. I looked forward to it as much as pulling off a band-aid. But it is necessary to be united in this area. Finances are widely known to be a MAJOR factor in marital discord and we’ve had enough of that for a long while, thank you. Time to address the elephant in the room:

Luke 8:17 For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.

So we laid it out, put it on an Excel sheet (TypeA hubby), and have the beginnings of our “plan” to start chipping away. It won’t be overnight. It’s going to take some discipline. I’ll tell you what though, it is an enormous weight off my shoulders to have faced that beast and shared that burden. I know everyone has their own system and you do what works. For us though, we share it all: income and expense. For us, that’s what works. And we march forward. How about you? Head in the sand or fully aware? It’s a difficult topic and generally finances are off-limits as a discussion. Unfortunately, I think that’s one of the reasons our economy got to be where it is, no one discusses finances.

Now onto tackling the remainder of the ~~resolutions~~ goals. Quiet time in prayer and Health. To be continued…..

Dessert. It always comes with a price, somehow…..

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After Christmas and before New Year’s the planets were in perfect alignment and I was able to spend an evening with my very dear friend, A and her 6 children (and my 2 girls). Short version: my hubby was working. my boys were with my sister and her family and I was on my way to get them. A’s hubby was at the beach with his parents for a vacation (a few days ahead of her while she took care of some stuff–I think she got the better end of the deal!). So for a few short hours our kids played hard, ate pizza, watched movies and she and I were able to catch up (mostly uninterrupted with life’s usual interjections), drink wine, eat pizza and THEN. she made dessert. Not just any dessert. Simply the easiest dessert to make. However, don’t let its simplicity distract you from its deliciousness, which is what our kids refer to it as. I call it “The Devil”. And I won’t be making it any time soon as it completely contradicts my weight loss goal for 2012. boo hiss.

So, you start with these, and generous side walls to contain the next ingredients:

Which are these: a good cup of butter and cup of brown sugar, always a scrumptious couple!! Pour it on the crackers and bake it in the oven a few minutes until bubbly:

Then add these (which I had NO idea came in such a monstrous size–obviously I don’t shop @ Costco!!!) when the pan is hot out of the oven and spread all over until melted and covered up. Chill for a bit in the freezer. Break it up and voila! So amazing.

You end up with this and good luck taking a picture before anyone gets to it. Vultures I tell you. Vultures.

**as a side note: if perhaps your pizza spilled over into the oven and you forgot to clean it up before preheating the oven, this might go off and after about 10 minutes of searching for breakers and on/off switches, you may be driven to climbing a ladder and using whatever tape is available and dishrags to muffle the noise until the husbands can be located for guidance. always good for a huge belly laugh. good times, good times. gotta love girlfriends. and their kids. and their dessert!!! Happy New Year to you and yours!!!

Winding down and gearing up…

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As we wind down Christmas and our tree accelerates the dropping of the needles daily as ornaments desperately cling to crunchy branches, my mind turns to the coming of the new year. While I’m not big on making/keeping “Resolutions”, I DO always seem to become reflective on things I’d like to improve upon in the coming year. The New Year is always full of promise and hope, like new school supplies….unsharpened pencils, reams of paper, crisp folders; ready, willing and able to be molded to our choices.

Even though I am quick to claim I don’t make “Resolutions”, the truth is, of COURSE I do. I just realize that I am only good at keeping them for a couple of weeks. Since the gym is generally crowed until about February, I also know I have a lot of company in short-lived resolutions. However, in the blissful, wide-eyed moments of promise and hope to come in the New Year, I feel propelled and motivated, especially after reading “5 Keys to Making and Keeping Your New Year Resolutions” @ The Hill House.

My course of action for 2012 includes a few things:

Eating more healthy and exercising. Quite the popular one. Of course I’d like to lose weight, but the reality is that I’m not getting any younger and as my patients tell me daily, “It’s a B**** getting old!” I want to be in a good place to face those physical challenges getting older brings. I want to run and bike and play with my kids and BEAT THEM in their games–yes, sometimes I AM competitive! Therefore, in keeping with “defining the win”, my workouts will primarily occur at lunchtime, 3X a week and my eating will consist primarily of clean-er eating and learning how to ditch the processed stuff AND incorporate that into my family’s diet as well. A HUGE task for sure, but some truly astounding payoffs as well.

Just as the story of Daniel (Daniel 1:8-15) shows how eating clean makes for stronger, better, faster, it’s also indicative of the fact that everything we need to be properly nourished and strengthened is provided by nature, not Publix.

More focused “Quiet time” in prayer and seeking time with Christ. While my morning routine begins with The Daily Readings, it often ends there as well. Since I am trying to cram EVERYTHING into my mornings (Quiet time, Exercise, Writing….) there is no singular focus on any one of them. My quiet time has long sustained me, given me strength, peace, clarity and guidance; it’s time to return, focused and un-hurried to that precious time. When I begin my day in prayer and focused on His will for me, everything else seems to fall in place.

Matthew 6:33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Reintroducing hubby to the finance side of the family and tightening up. As we can finally begin to dig out of debt with his job adding to the household income, his TypeA personality will be crucial to my tendency to slide…..it’s a team effort for certain and certain to experience growing pains, but we will be able to balance each other as well as the budget along with becoming better stewards of all that God sees fit to bless us with, and bless us He has. Abundantly.

Luke 6:38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

In reaching for my main goals this coming year, my writing may or may not blossom. Time will tell. However, as this has always been more about keeping in touch and therapy for my heart, I’m sure I can always find time to bang out a post now and then; it’s just not a huge priority. Yet.