Spring Break & Giant Cupcakes

Spring Break is here! I am so excited ... no getting up early, no lunches to make, no clothes to fight about and no homework. We're going to relax this week, enjoy the Heritage Festival and have some down time. Cleaned out my pantry this afternoon and I threw out pudding packages and jello that expired in '05. I cannot believe I kept it this long. It was at the very back of the cabinet in a rubbermaid plastic container so I ended up throwing away everything that was in there, including gravy mixes and a lot of different microwave popcorn. I'm really bad about buying stuff and forgetting where I put it ... I forgot I had that box in the back anyway. Brent and the boys were outside all day because it was so beautiful and he's working on helping them pitch. Ian's coach told us he'd be pitching and how well he was at it and I was shocked ... it looks pretty bad to me ... I'd be afraid if I was the other kid on the other end of his pitches but whatever ... I guess they know more than I do. Liam is doing really well and his two coaches are really astonished at the fact that he's never played. He still says it's pretty boring because it's slow-paced compared to soccer, but he's adjusting. He said he cannot wait until soccer starts in August. Although Ian loves baseball, he's still more interested in riding dirt bikes, go-carts and four-wheelers than anything else. Brent and Liam practiced baseball for about three hours today and Ian rode on the back track the entire time. I was like "At $3.11 a gallon, he needs a new hobby!" I think that's when Brent realized it and said he never thought about it that way. I was just kidding but that kid can go through a tank of gas in no time and was wanting to cut the grass on the tractor when it got dark and he couldn't ride anymore. Little stinker!

Daylight Savings Time .... OK, what the hell is that all about? Why is it so early this year ... I think it's stupid. I like that it gets dark early and we get everything done and Ian's in bed by 8:30 -- I look forward to the evening ending without a fight to stay out longer because it's still daylight!!! Why are they always fucking with everything??

Read in the paper that gas is going to be pushing $5 a gallon. That is incredibly ridiculous. Whatever ... we'll just be home doing our own activities and swimming all summer. We were going to plan a trip to Disney for June but now that we're on our debt free plan we postponed it. I told Brent that if we don't stick to our guns then we'll be paying for cars and houses forever and I want to be done with all of that. We wanted to go to England but since everyone is coming in September for the wedding, I told him I'd rather wait and go later. That gives me a goal (besides being debt free) that we'll get to enjoy without feeling guilty. He's been working a lot of overtime so we opened another account for all the "extra" money like the overtime, income tax, automatic savings deductions, my business and things that come up like that, so that as we accrue the extra income, we'll be earning interest on that amount. We decided that if we don't put it away as soon as we get it, then we'd spend it if it was just sitting in the checking account. So now I'm glad he did, but it's really nice knowing that he is taking care of everything now and is showing an interest in our future.

The couple who is conducting our class said they did the same thing and were out of debt in a little over a year and they also paid off $32,000, not including their house. They are still working on it. We don't have half of that to pay off and so far it's been relatively easy, except for not buying up Target every time I go in there. I left the other day with only $91 worth of crap, whereas before it was always $150-$170 so Brent was proud of me.

Tricia's ring from the James Avery store: Isn't it adorable?

Speaking of Target, Tricia's coming over tomorrow and in the morning we're going to make her a giant cupcake cake for her birthday. I bought it at Target the other day and it is so freakin cute. The pan is the top and bottom of the cupcake and each part makes a whole cake mix, so it's like two cakes in one, then you use icing to get the top of the cupcake to stick to the bottom. So we're going to make it for her and surprise her. I took her out on Tuesday for her birthday to lunch and then we went to the new James Avery store. They have the neatest jewelry and crosses for your home. I was really good and didn't buy anything although I did pick out two cross necklaces for the boys for Easter. I really like them but I'm going to keep looking for a crucifix and chain for them. Tricia got the cutest butterfly ring for her birthday at James Avery and the wings on the butterfly stand up off of the ring. It is really cute and dainty on her hand but she wears a size 4 so it is pretty dainty anyway. We had fun. We laughed the entire time and I splurged and bought a new cookbook and some things for the boys' Easter baskets. You know, gotta keep that theme going. The baseball soap that I bought for them was seen in the car so now that's not going in their baskets -- I guess I'm weird but I don't even want Liam to expect certain things even though he doesn't believe in the Easter Bunny. And I want Ian to keep his imagination regarding the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy as long as possible -- there's sooo many years in the future to be disinterested, disheartened and discouraged -- I'd like for their childhoods to be just that ... a childhood. With that said I'm going to watch a movie with all my boys. Wishing safe flights and voyages for all my friends flying off to Disney, sailing off to Jamaica and Cozumel and driving to Florida for the spring break.