First Things First

Money has been on my mind a lot lately.  Which makes sense, because our financial world changed over night.  I don't have a lot figured out, but I wanted to tell you some pretty exciting stuff:

First Things First
With Rob's first paycheck, we paid off his smallest remaining student loan.

Second Things Second
With Rob's second paycheck, we paid off the next-to-last student loan.

That means we only have 1 left.  We knocked out half our debt, equalling just over $100 a month in debt payments.  Also, we can afford Christmas like never before.  We're not spending a ton on ourselves, but we've been able to buy some killer gifts for loved ones, and that feels amazing.

Last Things Last
And everything else I can't figure out about money, it can just be ignored for now.  Which car should we buy in 2013?  Should we really just wait for the van to die or do we want to pre-emptively strike the car market?  Do we want to upgrade house in the next few years?  Does that mean a slightly bigger house, a bigger yard, or should we save up and build our own after saving for a few more years?  Do we want to re-do the basement on our current house?  Do we want to make our current house our forever house?  Do I want to take a trip to Hawaii or Peru?  If our current house becomes our forever house, could I afford a trip to both Hawaii AND Peru?


And now you see why I've been thinking about money a lot.  We've never had so many options. 

It's fun to dream.

Aphorisms, Who Needs 'Em?

You guys know what aphorisms are?  (Yes, my freakish English-loving friends, I know that YOU know what they are.  But all the normal people may not.) 

Here are some examples:
An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
When one door closes, another door opens.
Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.

They're like these quippy little phrases that are supposed to pass on some deep life lesson.  Except that most of them are uber-lame and ultra-sappy.

We had to go over a list of them in ASL class today.  (What does it mean?  How would you interpret it?)  This was a problem for 2 reasons:  1 - I'm SO mentally done with school right now, and 2 - I hate aphorisms.

I just don't feel like life can be tied up nicely in a little bow and made pretty with a quotable sentence that makes us feel better about challenges.


I've come up with my own aphorisms over the years.  Ones that I feel are less sappy, more accurate, and more helpful.  I would now like to share those with you:

Normal Version:  When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
Tamra's Version:  When life gives you lemons, that sucks!

Normal Version:  Anything worth doing is worth doing well.
Tamra's Version:  Anything worth doing is worth doing well enough.
Alternate Version:  Good enough is good enough.

And my own creation:  Family is Chaos.

You know what makes me feel better about challenges?  Knowing that I'm awesome and I can totally do it.  That's not a sentence.  It's a lifestyle.