~Tax Time!~

Call me crazy but I love tax season! We always get a return because of our crazy moving schedule, LOL! I know it really doesn't pay off but there is that little anal part of me that loves finding how to squeeze the last penny of tax deduction that we can get! I'm pretty much done our taxes, I am just waiting on our T-4's from Northern Property and debating on throwing some money into RRSP's before filing. I've got a couple of days to decide on the RRSP and if I can corner Randy for a conversation about it then it will happen faster! He is of course playing his game and I can't get a word in edgewise... Anyhow, so far I've got a refund of about $2500 coming to us. It will be nice to put that down on some debt!!!

I also took the time to evaluate our financial picture today...I pulled our credit reports and checked them over, called Mastercard and got rid of some frivolous charges, figured out how to not double pay our medical premiums for both BC and AB...it feels good to clean the financial house! I've also decided to up our donations for this year and am evaluating where we will be sending it. I'm sure it will be Autism Canada and The Canadian Cancer Society but I will talk it over with Randy first in case he has other plans.

I'm so ready to decorate the baby's room...oh wait! I need to have one first, LOL! But I'm feeling like a bad mommy because I have nothing yet other then some clothes and toys! Boy would I be screwed if baby decided to arrive early! By the way, I LOVE the message on my ticker this week! My baby definately has more brains then Paris and Nicky combined, LOL!

Well I'm off to pay some bills and have a shower and a cup of tea. I played hooky from work today so I have to go in tomorrow so I'd better get to bed at a decent hour. I am tired but I miss being a night owl and being able to stay up as late as I like!!! Guess I'd better get used to that! Anyhow, hope you all have a fantastic week!

~Brrr Cold WInter Update!~

This has been the coldest week I have been through in years! This has been how it has been here for the last 5 days every morning, this is a view from our Patio. The temps have been hovering in the -40C mark, we thankfully only had one day with wind and it was ridiculously cold that day, somewhere around -60C! We did have this beautiful ice fog that covered the town every day making driving nearly impossible. In the second picture there is actually a truck, with its headlights on the road right in front of our house, you can hardly see it!

We are having a much needed relaxing weekend around here. We watched movies all day yesterday at home, then went for dinner and a movie last night. We saw the new National Treasure Movie (I know, it's been released everywhere else forever but we just got it here!) it was really good! Our dinner sucked though, we went for Chinese to a new place that just opened up and it was awful! Randy didn't even eat his combo plate, just ate the appetizers. I had War Wonton Soup for supper and it was okay but we won't be returning there, the service was terrible and it was so cold in there I had to wear my coat the whole meal!

So today we are having another fun day. Randy is playing his game now and going to make some French Toast and coffee for us for lunch. Then this afternoon he is going over to Brents for one last time to watch the Super Bowl. They all leave tomorrow. As for me, I'm blogging and playing online and this afternoon I'm headed into my new scrapping room to play! I FINALLY got my scrapping stuff moved over here!!! There are a couple of things still there that I need to pick up but I have the essential items here. So once it's unpacked and set up how I like it again I'm hoping to finish my 'Word' layout that I have been working on for my word for this year of Achieve. I'm using my Feb scrapbook kit that I get from Sweet Pea Scraps and so far it is turning into one of my favorite LO's ever!!! So once I finish it I will post it on here.

Since this is now the first weekend on Feb it is time to do and update on how we are doing in terms of our goals for 2008.

Short Term Goals

1. Have a Healthy Pregnancy: So far so good. I am at the 25th week and so far no problems with my blood pressure at all. I've been monitoring it at home and it has been staying really constant. Suprising given all the stress I've been under! I've been having TERRIBLE heartburn that is keeping me up all night. Last night was the worst night as I woke myself up coughing up acid that I had aspirated. Not good. So I'm going to re-evaluate my diet and make some necessary changes to help prevent the acid, more so then I already have! Baby is kicking up a storm and letting us know she/he is there, I'm enjoying it so much right now and am just getting the hang of talking to the baby throughout the day and it feeling natural. Randy still hasn't been able to feel the baby kick despite his patient waiting with his hand on my tummy! They are getting stronger so I don't think it will be long. All in all, things are going well and I'm starting to definitely show now as you can see!!!

2. Enjoy our Hobbies: Well so far Randy has been enjoying his more then I have because my scrapping stuff hasn't been here. But I've been active at the library and have read more this month then I have in years!!! I just wish that my requested books would be turned in so I can read them! I'm still unsure how I want to go about doing my recipe collection book so I haven't even started yet...It will be a HUGE undertaking as I have recipes written down everywhere!!! We have called to get cable connected so that we have another thing to do. It is only costing us $20 more to have it because they bundle it with our internet and we get some savings. I just hope they come soon because we aren't here for that much longer and it's almost pointless!

Long Term Goals

1. Pay off $30,000 in debt this year: Well this will not likely be happening given that we are going to be moving from here at the end of March and will be paying rent and housing costs again. We are concerned about having the ability to go out and do things in GP, like eat out, go to movies, shop, etc. We just don't have that option here. But we have started on some good habits that we are committed to keeping and I think we will experience a minor bump in the road when we first get there because we will be able to do alot of things but I think we will right ourselves back onto our path. We have been very good since the beginning of the year and have put most of our money towards debt and have lived pretty frugally. We have not made a single credit card purchase that was not pre-paid with cash for the last two months. That is something that we can be proud of!!!

2. Save $14,000 this year: Again, may not happen to this degree. But we have got a nice emergency fund set up that makes life less stressful and we are adding to it monthly. We are still doing our tax savings though because we know that it is inevitable that Randy will have a tax bill next year. Also, we have enough stashed in our baby savings to make all the initial purchases that we will need for baby! I love that!!!

As for our other goals, they are not something that we are working on yet as they are far away and require some thing to be done first before we can go at them. But they are still goals and we are doing small things to move forward on them.

So upon review of January I really feel that I am giving my all to my word of the year 'Achieve' as we have achieved success on our path to goals! How are YOU doing with your goals for this year???

Well I'm sitting here on December 31, 2007 and thinking back on the year we've had... WOW big changes again in the Rogers/Grounds house! I love this magazine cover I whipped up, it really helped me think about what I want to talk about in my last post for the year. Not to mention it's kind of cute!!! So this will be a long one, but I want to be able to look back on my memories as they years go by via this blog so here goes....

Places we Visited

2007 started out with very little travel as we were still paying for our house in Grande Prairie plus rent in Calgary. Our budget was very tight and required Randy to work his full time job as well as deliver pizzas five nights a week. We passed each other in the hall those days, we were both working so much. Thankfully in March the house sold and we were even able to make a little profit off it to pay down some bills. Life slowed down a bit and we started planning our summer vacation to Salt Lake City to visit (and for me to FINALLY meet) Randy's family that lives there. We did some fun things in the months leading up to our trip including a picnic at Prince's Island Park, a couple of trips to Kananaskis, a visit with my college friend Mike, tour the zoo, Greek Festival, and some walking tours around Calgary. It was one of the funnest summers we've had in years. In August we loaded up the SUV and took off for Salt Lake City, you can find the post on it by clicking on the label for Vacation on the side. It was a great time and has created a relationship that I know Randy and I will cherish forever.

Baby Making 101

Well a boy and a girl meet and fall in love, then they...nah I'll spare you the details. Suffice to say, Randy and I did not have any problems. We went on vacation, I took my pack of pills, got there, opened it and....oops it was empty! So one thing led to another and a mere month of being off birth control and I'm pregnant! We were planning on starting to try in about 6 months so it didn't matter to us one way or another. We are just so happy to be welcoming our little one in May!

Jobs, What is the Right Fit?

Well again this year Randy changed jobs. It seems that it has happened so often in the last few years but when you don't have an education or a trade to fall back on it does two things...a) can make it hard to decide what to do but at the same time it b) leaves many doors open to try new things. Well Randy has dabbled in carpentry off and on over the years and quite enjoys the work. After trying the management field yet again he finally decided that he wanted to go into finishing carpentry as a career. He had a great offer from an old friend and pursued it. That is so like Randy though, just go after something wholeheartedly and put his all into it. So far he is totally in his groove. He started out doing tiling of bathtub walls and backsplashes on countertops and got to learn how to do that well. Now he's in the shop building cabinets and countertops and learning how to do millwork. He is in his heaven! He comes home happy every night and is learning so much. I'm really happy for him!

As for me, I left a GREAT job at Reitmans to follow Randy to the great frosty north where we now live. I'm working until baby is here as a leasing agent, renting apartments out. It's easy work and the money is decent. I'm on the fence as to if it is something I would do forever though...this company is not it for me! I like that I have administrative work to do but that I still get to interact with people. It's a nice mix. I do plan on staying home with our baby though and stopping work likely in end of March. We would like to have me at home until baby starts school, we'll have to see if our circumstances allow that. We have some BIG goals for 2008 that I'll share that will help us to accomplish that.

GOALS for 2008

Randy and I have no room in our life for resolutions. We set goals and work towards them so that they are achieved. I know that to some people they are one and the same but I don't like the word resolution. It sounds like you are made to do it, last resort kind of thing. I look at our goals as CHOICES that we make based on our VALUES. So for 2008 we have some big ones to work on. I'll be sharing some personal information that I feel that I can trust with you as our friends and family. If I feel that trust is violated then I will take it off of here.

Short Term Goals

1. Have a healthy pregnancy - I am working hard to ensure that I eat properly, drink enough water, obviously avoid alcohol and smoking, and make it to my Dr for all my appointments.

2. Enjoy our hobbies - Randy LOVES playing World of Warcraft and I spend too much time picking on him about it so I'm going to give him his time to enjoy himself and take my own time to pursue my interests. I love to scrapbook, take pictures and read though I don't find myself taking time for them enough. So I'm setting aside time each week where that is exactly what I do. I'm going to go an get a library card this weekend and become active as a member. I may even volunteer there. I love to cook and collect recipes so I want to create a 'scrapbook' where I can keep them organized so I can use them easily. I want to have this time before we have baby so that we can savor the last few months of just being by ourselves...

Long Term Goals

1. Pay off $30,000 of debt this year - It sounds like a really ambitious goal and likely a little unreachable to some but I've crunched the numbers forwards, backwards and sideways and we can do it if we really work at it. We are living free right now, no household expenses yet bringing in a nice steady income. There is nothing to do here and no where to go. While sometimes that is a disadvantage in this situation it is an advantage. It will give us a way to accomplish goal #2 above as well as save money for this goal. We have our trailer loan coming due for renewal this year and we would like to just pay it down before refinancing it. Randy needs to buy a truck in the spring for work, he's using one of his bosses' for now but he can't do that forever he needs his own. So we are planning on buying a used truck and putting a huge downpayment on it. We want to cancel all but two credit cards by paying them off and paying off and cancelling one line of credit. The only major purchases we will be making this year are for baby and we are getting alot of that as hand-me-downs and only buying the necessities. Until baby is born we will likely have only one dining out night a month for a date night and after baby is born it will likely be pizza once a month. LOL. Another benefit of living in the middle of nowhere, no places to eat out!

2. Save $ 14, 000 this Year - Yes it is possible. Once again, I've crunched the numbers and it will work. I want to have five months of living expenses in a savings account that we can access at all times. We currently have around 2 months worth saved up that we can access so this will finish that off. We are creating a baby savings account that will be a part of that number and a portion of that money will be going into an RESP for education for him/her up to the governments match amount. Randy didn't go to school and I didn't get the education I wanted because we couldn't afford it and we want to be able to provide that for our kid(s). A part of the savings will go towards taxes because we know that Randy will have to pay taxes on his income. With this money saved we can alleviate the tax burden by being able to contribute to RRSP's once we know how much it will take.

3. Lose Weight from Baby - I'm not concerned about it happening overnight but I want to make it a goal from the get-go so that it's not lost amongst everything else we want to do. Ft Nelson is a small town so baby and I will be walking to alot of places come summer!

Long, Long Term Goal

1. Buy a house - I'm guessing we are a couple years off from this based on our current debt situation and goals for our savings. I'm hoping that 2009 can be the year that we save up a huge downpayment and find our dream house.

2. Get Married in the Dominican Republic - Well the plan was that we would have this done before baby but...that didn't happen. So in a year or so we want to sneak away and get it done. Whether baby comes with us our stays with an Auntie or Grandma I don't know. I think we'll tell our baby's Aunties and Grandmas to save their pennies and come with us so that someone can babysit and I won't have to leave my baby behind, LOL! This is our dream wedding and we won't compromise on it so we will leave it on the planning stage for let's say...2009. We will be close to ten years together then (Holey Moley, that long!?!?!?!?) so it has a nice ring to it!!!

Baby Names, Spelling etc.

As many of you are aware we have no plans to find out the sex of the baby. Therefore we are planning for either/or. I am not a fan of weird spelled names and cool names etc. We don't want our kid picked on because we had a complex about keeping up with the Joneses. Therefore we stuck to two-syallable, easily spelled names. So drumroll please!!!!

If it's a girl : Reese Melissa Grounds

If it's a boy: Ethan Thomas Grounds

First names are just names we like, middle names are for people. Melissa is for my best friend for the last 17 or so years. Thomas is a family name for the men in my family, my Dads middle name, his Dad's first name...

Christmas Travels

Well you can read about the fun we had just a few posts below this. Hardisty and Vegreville were where we went. (Say that fast 10 times)

What did Santa Bring Us?

Santa brought us a wonderful time with friends and family, lots of laughs and memories. Presents aren't a huge deal to us and we don't make a big deal out of them. However we did receive a few items that we love and would like to show on here. This isn't everything and doesn't meant that we don't appreciate everything we've been given!!!

This was a Baby/Christmas gift that my best friend Melissa gave us. I LOVE it and can't wait to put it in the baby's room!

This is a mini album that my sister Mary made out of a Starbucks coffee sleeve. I sent her a link to the idea, I found it online and wanted to make them but alas there is no Starbucks up here!!! So this is a couple of pics of the one that she made. She made on to go out with all her Christmas cards this year and also gave me a BOX of Starbucks coffee sleeves so I could make my own!

This is one of the gifts that Mom gave us this year. She gave us a bottle of wine with it that we had to leave at her house because we weren't sure it would make it home on the plane with the pressure and the cold and didn't want to risk it exploding. It is a really nice set that all matches and perfect for our collection of wine items.