Yesterday my mother's family had their Christmas get together. The food is always good and the house is always lively with all of the great grandchildren running or crawling around.
This year we did something different with gift giving. Those who wanted to participate, which turned out to be everyone, brought a wrapped gift to put into a pile. Everyone then picked a number and took turns picking gifts from the pile. When it was your turn you could take a gift from a person who chose before you or you could pick a new gift. It was hilarious and the gifts ranged from a refurbished fire extinguisher to books, candy, gift cards and "Miss Fish".
Miss Fish is a soap dish that has been passed around our family at different events for over 20 years. She has been given as a gift for weddings, baby showers, birthdays, anniversaries and last year I received her from by grandmother at Christmas. This year, I nestled her in a bed of tootsie rolls and wrapped her up. My unsuspecting Aunt picked her and it was hilarious to see her reaction because she is the reason we have Miss Fish. She received her as a gift many years ago. Miss Fish was a yard sale find from a neighbor lady my aunt knew many years ago and this lady gave the fish to my aunt one Christmas. But the neighbor lady never bothered cleaning Miss Fish because when she gave my aunt the soap dish it still had caked on soap scum on the dish. That Fish has provided my family with many laughs ever since.
The day was alot of fun and my poor daughter cried when it was time to go home. It is such a wonderful time of year!!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
Planning for 2009 and beyond - Part 1
2009 is just around the corner and it is time for me and hubby to sit down and discuss our plans for the year. When the two of us actually sit down and make a plan we tend to get things done, but when we become complacent and procrastinate things really start to fall through the cracks.
Crashing and burning...
We learned how important it is to stay connected three years ago after the birth of our first daughter at the end of 2005. My husband and I are self-employed business owners. He actively runs the business day to day and I manage the books and help with other administrative duties. Prior to the birth of our daughter I was working in his office full time and had a very hands on role in the office. But after her birth we made a commitment for me to stay at home and I would help out on a part-time basis from home. Even though we hired someone to take over my duties in the office, I was having a hard time juggling my responsibilities at home and at the office. By the end of 2006 it seemed like everything around us was crashing. An employee decided to leave, our business turned soft and we had a personal health crisis in our family. It was a very scary time for us. We were not bringing in enough money to cover our office and our home expenses. Thank goodness we had some personal savings, but we quickly depleted it.
Choo Choo...
One Friday evening in early 2007 we had a heart to heart discussion and we spent the rest of the weekend analyzing our numbers and plotting a strategy to save our business. We simply could not continue to live this way. We realized that we were riding on the train not driving the train. 2005 was our best year ever and we stopped micromanaging our business. We didn't do so intentionally, but I think we thought business would just continue along and grow like it had been. Unfortunately that wasn't the case at all. We took our eye off the ball...shame on us. That weekend we made a commitment to never let this happen again. We were going to meet regularly to discuss our business and our home life. We agreed to make specific dates on our calendars to meet and it wasn't always easy. With a plan on paper and a strong work ethic we were able to turn the business around by the end of 2007.
2008 is on track to be our best year but we hit another wall in November. Whether it is because of the economy or we took our eye of the ball again we feel more confident this time that we will turn it around once again. We need to sit down to plan our strategy.
December 19th...
We set the date. My parents will watch the kids and we will get some take out and camp out in our office. To be honest we look forward to these discussions. Our problem is just making the time to do so. We will be working on our 2009 marketing plan and our business and household budgets. We also need discuss business, family, financial and personal goals for 2009 and beyond.
Stay tuned...
I will post our 2009 goals after the meeting. I am confident we will get through this and professionally and personally 2009 will be our best year ever!
Crashing and burning...
We learned how important it is to stay connected three years ago after the birth of our first daughter at the end of 2005. My husband and I are self-employed business owners. He actively runs the business day to day and I manage the books and help with other administrative duties. Prior to the birth of our daughter I was working in his office full time and had a very hands on role in the office. But after her birth we made a commitment for me to stay at home and I would help out on a part-time basis from home. Even though we hired someone to take over my duties in the office, I was having a hard time juggling my responsibilities at home and at the office. By the end of 2006 it seemed like everything around us was crashing. An employee decided to leave, our business turned soft and we had a personal health crisis in our family. It was a very scary time for us. We were not bringing in enough money to cover our office and our home expenses. Thank goodness we had some personal savings, but we quickly depleted it.
Choo Choo...
One Friday evening in early 2007 we had a heart to heart discussion and we spent the rest of the weekend analyzing our numbers and plotting a strategy to save our business. We simply could not continue to live this way. We realized that we were riding on the train not driving the train. 2005 was our best year ever and we stopped micromanaging our business. We didn't do so intentionally, but I think we thought business would just continue along and grow like it had been. Unfortunately that wasn't the case at all. We took our eye off the ball...shame on us. That weekend we made a commitment to never let this happen again. We were going to meet regularly to discuss our business and our home life. We agreed to make specific dates on our calendars to meet and it wasn't always easy. With a plan on paper and a strong work ethic we were able to turn the business around by the end of 2007.
2008 is on track to be our best year but we hit another wall in November. Whether it is because of the economy or we took our eye of the ball again we feel more confident this time that we will turn it around once again. We need to sit down to plan our strategy.
December 19th...
We set the date. My parents will watch the kids and we will get some take out and camp out in our office. To be honest we look forward to these discussions. Our problem is just making the time to do so. We will be working on our 2009 marketing plan and our business and household budgets. We also need discuss business, family, financial and personal goals for 2009 and beyond.
Stay tuned...
I will post our 2009 goals after the meeting. I am confident we will get through this and professionally and personally 2009 will be our best year ever!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
I cashed in my gold and made a fast $150
Back in November I posted about a local jewelry store that advertised "Holiday Cash-Fast!". They were holding a special gold buying event just in time for the holidays. I never made it to the store back in November, but when they ran the ad again in yesterday's paper I decided to head over and check it out. I
I loaded the kids in the car, dialed the address in the GPS and set out for some fast cash. I really didn't have alot of jewelry: two broken 14kt herringbone necklaces, a matching 14kt necklace and bracelet set, a couple of pairs of 14kt earrings, a 14kt charm and a 10kt necklace. As I was driving over to the store I thought to myself that if I walked out of the store with $40 in my hand I would be happy. I didn't have anything to base that amount on it was just a number that I pulled out of the air. My jewelry has been sitting unworn in my dresser since the early - mid 90's. I was excited to cash in on my clutter.
When I arrived at the store it was empty so the owner was able to help me right away. As she was looking over my stuff a camera crew from a local station walked into the store. I noticed that the reporter was holding a copy of the ad in her hands and the first thing that came to my mind was, "Thank goodness I showered and put a little make-up on this morning", LOL!! The reporter asked if she could ask me a few questions while the owner went to weigh my loot. Since I looked somewhat presentable, I was happy to oblige. She asked me how I heard about cashing in on gold. I told her about the ad that I saw and the pile of jewelry sitting in my bedroom for over 13 years and I figured "why not, it was worth a try". The owner came back to me with a big smile on her face. She said that she would give me $150 for the jewelry. Honestly I about fell over. That was beyond what I expected. It turns out those broken chains came in handy. I was very excited, because this really was Fast Cash!!
If you are thinking about cashing in on your gold, look for a reputable jeweler. The owner of this store has been in the business for over 30 years and has a good reputation in the area. I guess I could have tried to sell the unbroken pieces online, but this was definitely instant gratification.
It was a fun morning for me and my girls and my oldest daughter got a kick out of seeing us on local evening news.
Thanks for reading FamilyBalanceSheet. If you don't already receive FBS free updates, please click here to sign up.
I loaded the kids in the car, dialed the address in the GPS and set out for some fast cash. I really didn't have alot of jewelry: two broken 14kt herringbone necklaces, a matching 14kt necklace and bracelet set, a couple of pairs of 14kt earrings, a 14kt charm and a 10kt necklace. As I was driving over to the store I thought to myself that if I walked out of the store with $40 in my hand I would be happy. I didn't have anything to base that amount on it was just a number that I pulled out of the air. My jewelry has been sitting unworn in my dresser since the early - mid 90's. I was excited to cash in on my clutter.
When I arrived at the store it was empty so the owner was able to help me right away. As she was looking over my stuff a camera crew from a local station walked into the store. I noticed that the reporter was holding a copy of the ad in her hands and the first thing that came to my mind was, "Thank goodness I showered and put a little make-up on this morning", LOL!! The reporter asked if she could ask me a few questions while the owner went to weigh my loot. Since I looked somewhat presentable, I was happy to oblige. She asked me how I heard about cashing in on gold. I told her about the ad that I saw and the pile of jewelry sitting in my bedroom for over 13 years and I figured "why not, it was worth a try". The owner came back to me with a big smile on her face. She said that she would give me $150 for the jewelry. Honestly I about fell over. That was beyond what I expected. It turns out those broken chains came in handy. I was very excited, because this really was Fast Cash!!
If you are thinking about cashing in on your gold, look for a reputable jeweler. The owner of this store has been in the business for over 30 years and has a good reputation in the area. I guess I could have tried to sell the unbroken pieces online, but this was definitely instant gratification.
It was a fun morning for me and my girls and my oldest daughter got a kick out of seeing us on local evening news.
Thanks for reading FamilyBalanceSheet. If you don't already receive FBS free updates, please click here to sign up.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
This Week's menu - a little late...
It is Thursday and I have not been able to get online. My menu plans are really helping me stay on track with my grocery budget and they are making my life much easier at dinner time.
Monday - Turkey potpie with our delicious turkey day leftovers
Tuesday - Turkey, StoveTop, veggie casserole with the last of our turkey leftovers
Wednesday - Sloppie Joes, yukon gold oven fries, steamed broccoli
Thursday - Take out - with a coupon
Friday - Black bean, sweet potato quesadillas
Saturday - Leftovers
I roasted a turkey on Black Friday and it was delicious and provided us with 3 dinners and 3 lunches. I also slow-cooked the bones for some Turkey stock that I put in the freezer for future use.
On a sad note, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving was the final pick up of our weekly organic veggies from the local organic farm. It starts up again next May so until then I'll have to buy more of our veggies at the grocery store.
Monday - Turkey potpie with our delicious turkey day leftovers
Tuesday - Turkey, StoveTop, veggie casserole with the last of our turkey leftovers
Wednesday - Sloppie Joes, yukon gold oven fries, steamed broccoli
Thursday - Take out - with a coupon
Friday - Black bean, sweet potato quesadillas
Saturday - Leftovers
I roasted a turkey on Black Friday and it was delicious and provided us with 3 dinners and 3 lunches. I also slow-cooked the bones for some Turkey stock that I put in the freezer for future use.
On a sad note, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving was the final pick up of our weekly organic veggies from the local organic farm. It starts up again next May so until then I'll have to buy more of our veggies at the grocery store.
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