Leaving on a jet plane

I have spent this week preparing for our week long visit back to Oklahoma and Texas. I normally start packing a day or 2 early but for this trip I started packing extra early- like a week early. Not only am I a type A, list making, anxiety ridden, nut job-  I'm also a people-pleaser.

Because of this I am sure that our normally quiet child will scream from the time we arrive at the airport until the plane lands in Dallas, and angry passengers will throw peanuts at us and give us the stink-eye (and maybe the finger). 1 of 2 things will happen, I'll either be forced to get over the anxiety/people-pleasingness OR I'll be traumatized for life and will become a hermit and never travel by air again.

I didn't realize how much crap babies need! As I mentioned before I'm a list maker. A detailed list maker. I make lists for EVERYTHING. When I travel I make a list of every single thing I'm bringing and not just 7 shirts 3 pants kind of list, it's a brown gap sweater, cream tank top, dark skinny jeans list. Yep, specific articles of clothing. So naturally I did the same while writing Brooklyn's packing list. Luckily both sets of parents have cribs, so we don't have to worry about bringing a pack n' play. We decided for our 1st time flying (not to mention visiting both grandparents 4 hours apart) with a little one we wanted to make it as stress free as possible. That includes a non-stop flight so we don't have to lug a kid and and all of her parts through multiple airports (and so we only annoy 1 plane full of people instead of  2 ha ha!), and renting a car so we don't have to take out and install the car seat and base in 80 different cars over the 2 state, 7 day trip.

I snapped a pic with my cell of my list & the beginnings of my OCD packing process on Monday...it has since grown :)

I've got my and BK's travel day outfits planned for maximum "security passing through-ing" efficiency, diaper changing speed, feeding non-awkwardness and of course comfort and a little fashion too! Any moms who've flown with their infants that want to toss any tips out there - I'm all ears!

Wish us luck!

Earth to Adrienne

The entire month of May has literally just flashed by.

Work has been nutso - which is good because when I get bored I get in trouble. We're already planning homecoming...in October...bigger and better than last year is my goal. I suggested this year's theme be "Dance in Your Underpants." The committee was underwhelmed.

We had our Athletic auction and raised tens of thousands of dollars for our student athletes who by the way are some seriously awesome kids. Not only do they have class, practice, and games to focus on, most of them are involved in several different clubs and groups on campus, many work jobs on and off campus aaaaand several of our athletes play more than one sport.

I got to go home for a long weekend which you'll hear about one of these days.

We had our President's Club Dinner honoring our President's Club donors who support the university and I am so proud to say that we got to go this year as members of PC! (We can't be asking people to give us money if we don't do it ourselves, right?)

Daniel got to watch our baseball team play in the NCAA Div II Regional in San Diego after clenching their 10th consecutive conference title.

I'm wearing capri pants for the 1st time ever since moving to Oregon. I might even wear a *gasp* dress to work this week. Methinks I'm finally adjusting to the weather. (Well partially, I am still the weirdo who wears a coat on a sunny day in May over my capri pants hehe!)

And, thanks to the OKC Thunder being in the playoffs, have gotten to see my in-laws (courtesy of TNT and ESPN cameras) more this month than we have the whole year! :)

I also ordered "stuff" today to start yet another hair-brained project!

What have you been up to?

The Challenge results.....

Drum roll please................

We saved 1 billion dollars!!

Just kidding.

We saved a lot though.

More than I thought we were capable of.

I am proud to announce that we only ate out once and it was because we were waiting to get something installed on Daniel's car (a Christmas gift we finally got around to doing) and it took longer than expected so our total eating out money spent for the month of March = $5! Yea for Subway! On average (yes we know our average expenses on everything because we are crazy excel junkies),we drop around $300 a month eating out  so we saved $295 bucks!!

Shocker alert....I didn't buy a single item of clothing, or jewelry so that budget went down 100% this month! Go me!

We did treat ourselves to a few Redbox rentals so instead of the $22.50 ($90 for the month) we usually spend at the Sunday matinee it was $6 in rentals plus a $5.00 for oreos for the whole month! :) That's $79 bucks in the house savings piggy bank!

I figured with eating out less we'd surely run out of our "envelope money" for groceries like halfway through the month, but surprisingly we didn't! We used what we had and I was more conscious about what I purchased at the store. I have a tendency to buy lots of fruits and veggies each trip and with only 2 of us, I end up throwing a bunch away because we can't eat it all fast enough. So much less food wasted this month - saving cash and our planet! (can you tell I'm turning into an Oregonian? haha!)

We've realized that there is a happy medium between the extreme saving like this month and the extreme free-for-all like previous months. Daniel is excited to get to eat lunches out again but recognizes that bringing lunch a few days a week goes a long way. I have learned that it's ok to spend money on good quality additions to my wardrobe but that I don't need to have something new every single week.

At this point in our lives, saving a little extra for a home and hopefully one of these days, a little one while staying as debt free as possible sounds way more fun than any designer bag, or fancy meal out I could ever imagine.

Now to just try not to go hog wild this month.....

P.S. The husband is back home in OKC for the weekend so you know what that means.....the garage is free for projects! Aaaaaaand I'm dog-sitting for a friend so I can all but guarantee you there will be a few posts next week about the pandemonium that is about to ensue. 

The Penny Jar

I am well aware that I'm almost 30 but I have a confession to make... I still have a penny jar. 

The penny jar is a step up from a piggy bank because when you're 30 you should be well past the piggy bank stage. I, my friends, am not past the piggy bank stage so I have a jar. It makes me feel more grown up. Don't tempt me...I'll go buy a piggy bank. It's actually one of the vases we used at our wedding with our monogram on it.

Since we rock the quasi- Dave Ramsey plan, we accumulate more loose change than folks who rely solely on plastic. If you are familiar with the Dave Ramsey plan, you know that each month we withdraw cash and put it in different envelopes. Gas money, grocery money, lunch money and "fun money". So that once that money's gone for the month from each envelope -that's it. It's supposed to make you think about what you are buying. (Sometimes when the cash runs out I whip out the debit card- that's why we call it the "quasi-Dave Ramsey plan." That's also why we are doing the saving challenge!)

At the end of each week I dig in the bottom of my purse and gather up all the change. Because that's where change goes, people. I have time to put bills in my wallet but nickels, quarters pshhh.... just toss 'em in the handbag! I get way more excited than a normal person should about digging for loose change in their purse. I try to guess how much I'll have, I count it (it's usually less than my guess. What can I say- I dream big?) and toss it into the penny jar.

I frequently ask my husband how much he thinks is in there, and he kindly obliges and usually guesses a number higher than could possibly be in the jar and always asks me what I'm going to do with all our my change. I usually answer in an English accent with "I'm going to buy diiiiiiiiamonds!" and we have a good laugh.

I have no clue (other than mental illness) why I geek out over change. I guess I just enjoy knowing that one day the jar will be full and we can use it for anything we want. It's not part of our designated savings or going to be used for bills or groceries... we can buy 10 gallons of ice cream, or spend it on tokens at Chuck-E-Cheese and play skee-ball all day, or go bonkers on iTunes! So until I cash that sucker in and see how much is actually in there, it sure is fun to imagine what we could get! 

**I've even been known to clean out Daniel's change holder in his car....much to his dismay (apparently he uses that change for vending machine money! haha! oops!) **

Love,
The Crazy Change Lady

Day 10: Fears

Day 10: Something you're afraid of

Uh.....what am I not afraid of??!?! I'm a big chicken baby. I panic when I pass a cop even though I'm obeying every law known to man. As you've already learned I get scared watching Scooby-doo. I didn't ride my 1st rollercoaster until 17 because I'm a frady cat. When I get in my car alone at night I always check the seat behind me in case there's someone waiting to strangle me. Being buried alive, snakes, clowns, etc.  I'm sure that's plenty of ammunition for you to mock me with for at least a week - so I'll get to the big daddy.... the scariest thing on the planet.

Hospitals. 

I get sick to my stomach just thinking about it. Sick people, pain, blood, needles....oh the horror!!! Oh, and let's not forget the lovely scent that can only be "Eau de Hospital". *gag* 

If you've been with me from the beginning of this blog you may be familiar with my insanely huge fear of hospitals from this post .

My co-worker and pal informed me the other day that epidurals are administered in your back with a needle the size of a pole vault pole. I'm pretty sure that put any thought of having a baby on hold at least for a decade or until they invent a way for me to be unconscious and have a baby. Adoption is sounding more like my calling every day. Thanks Melissa.

Now that everyone knows just how big of a weenie I am I say we move on to day 11.