Happy New Year!

I spent my entire first day in 2010 working on my New Year's Resolution:  to make a budget and STICK TO IT!  I am pretty organized in most aspects of my life; not so much in the money department.  I'm not saying I'm irresponsible with money or anything; we always (usually) pay our bills on time (close to on time), we don't use credit cards (anymore), and we certainly have never been without things that we need (want). 

What has taken me so long to sit down and actually write out a budget?  For one, I hate math.  Anything with numbers makes me a little bit sick.  It overwhelms me and I have no idea where to even begin!  And to be honest, it's much more fun to spend money with reckless abandon (joking--kind of).

I have been reading about Dave Ramsey and his debt-free principles since around July.  I got really excited about following his steps back then, and then found it overwhelming and couldn't find the time to sit down and really work out a budget (since Chad was working super long hours in the summer, I was kind of a single mother at the time).  The other day I bought Dave's Total Money Makeover book and I can't wait to (find the time to) sit down, read it, and abide by the principles. 

I'm not going to bore you with the details of my budget, but I am excited because I feel like I *might be* on the right track here.  I hope I can stay motivated, and keep Chad motivated, to follow through with this.  Because if all goes as planned, we'll be rich by 2011!  (that was definitely a joke).

Anyway, I hope everyone had a Happy New Year!  We had a mellow(ish) night at home.  I made a nice dinner, and my sister and her boyfriend joined us for the meal and a few drinks.  Lyla got to show off another one of her beautiful Matilda Jane outfits, which is always fun (for me mostly). 

Poor little girl is still having SUCH a ROUGH time with her teething!  She woke up (what seemed to be) every hour last night; which was really fun, because mommy thought she could have a few glasses of wine for once, and sleep it off before having to wake up again.  That was definitely not the case.  I just keep praying that those suckers will pop through soon!  I really don't look forward to leaving her to go back to work on Monday!  I'm so thankful that I only work 2 and a half days, but that's 2 and a half days too many when your baby girl needs you.

I was just going to post some pictures from New Year's Eve, only to find that I don't have them uploaded to my computer yet.  I will leave you with this picture and tomorrow I will go back and add the pictures in.  (ETA:  I finally added New Year's pics in on Sunday morning)

Enjoy the New Year!