Catch Up!

Is it really Tuesday?  Have I really missed many days of blogging in a row?

Such is my life.

Busy.

But it is a really good life these days.

We celebrated a belated Thanksgiving with my family this weekend.  My sister and brother-in-law live out of town and couldn't make it until now.  It was a really  nice day that began with family photos at a lovely park.  BBQ'd hamburgers for lunch.  A long nap for me and Sawyer during the afternoon.  A huge turkey dinner and a board game finished off the day.

We've also been enjoying some really quality social time with friends lately and it's been enriching.  With the disjointedness of summer and being busy as we entered fall activities we stepped back a bit for awhile and it's good to connect again.

I've been thinking about money lately.  Well, okay, I think about it a lot because it is so dang vital!  I don't obsess or worry all that much but I make sure I'm aware of where we are at so we don't end up in deep waters. 

I finally feel like our finances are not spiraling out of control.  Not that we were in trouble at any point but with our choice of me working as minimally as I do it means that our spending needs to be fairly strict.  For the last number of months  I'd calculate everything out in advance and double check it and it all would add up satisfactorily.  Then this expense would come up, and that would come up and all of sudden it was a jumble of numbers that totaled past my initial sums.  An ideas of saving money flew out the window month after month.

 As I looked over our finance spreadsheet the other day I saw that last month was good, and this month is shaping up to be good.  I'm scared a huge error is going to rear its ugly head and my savings will fly away again but for now I'll enjoy the mostly-secure feeling.  Of course this doesn't mean we can relax and spend willy-nilly but the line is straight right now.

With Christmas coming up I am already planning and thinking about how we are affording it.  That's how we have to be with major things like that - prepare in advance.   I have some ideas brewing and hopefully can follow through with them.  I love Christmas and I love giving and receiving gifts.  I know it's not about the gifts but it sure is a major part for me.

Next week I could be singing a different tune and feeling the need to get three more jobs but for now...we are good.