Friday Favorites

Favorite Color(s): Blush & Bashful ;)

Favorite Book: The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Favorite Season: Spring

Favorite Activity: Relaxing with a book in the sun

Favorite Movie: Grease

Favorite Memory: When Nathan finally worked up the nerve to kiss me :)

Favorite Shoes: Wedge flip-flops from AE that apparently aren't coming out again this year

Favorite Jewelry: Wedding Ring & my special Lisa Leonard necklaces

Favorite beauty product: Avon Glimmersticks. Seriously.

Favorite Male Celebrity: Peyton Manning. Duh.

Favorite Female Celebrity: Right now, Bethany Joy Lenz

Favorite Splurge: massage

Favorite song: How He Loves by David Crowder Band...but this is just the first one of many to come to mind

Favorite nail color: Sally Hansen Complete Manicure in Barracuda

Favorite Ice Cream flavor: Cookie Dough or Neapolitan

So, what are your favorites?

Roth IRA Movement

This is a post I've thought a lot about since my last semester of grad school, but I've just never gotten it written out. A few weeks ago I found out about the Roth IRA Movement that Jeff Rose (husband of my blog friend Mandy) is doing and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity.

As I sat in my SIXTH year of business classes, in what had to be at least my twelfth finance class, I learned about how important Roth IRA's are for the first time. I was immediately in awe and frustrated. Frustrated because I felt I had wasted so many important years of investing, and in awe that so many people really know nothing about the greatness that is the Roth IRA.

So, I was going to show you the illustration that my professor gave us, but I cannot find my notebook from my class, and Jeff already typed up a better diagram anyway.

source

So, as you can see, Roth IRAs are awesome because the timing is the most important factor...not the amount you actually invest. Another cool thing about Roth IRAs is that they are non-taxable in the United States.

The most important thing I'd like to point out about Roth IRAs is this- there is no time like the present to start investing. I know that when most kids are in high school or college retirement seems so far off that it's hard to fathom the importance of early investments. I also know a good portion of my friends who are just graduating college would say that they can't afford to invest because they have student loans or they are just starting their career and will make more money in the future. Yada yada, blah, blah, blah. I will tell you this. Nathan and I have been married seven years. We have had good times and bad times financially. It hasn't just gotten easier and easier as time goes on. For a long time I thought that if we could just make it through college we'd have more money, but now I laugh at my former self. Kids cost money. Houses cost money. Cars, vacations, dental work etc. all cost money. It's up to you to decide to prioritize retirement saving and for us, it is a priority. Doesn't it break your heart when you see an elderly man working at the grocery store stocking shelves or pushing carts? It breaks mine. I don't want that to be my husband, and I don't want that to be me. That's why I'm investing in a Roth IRA.

For more information on Roth IRAs please visit Jeff's blog Good Financial Cents.

Winner, Winner!

Hey everyone! I finally got around to drawing the winner for the Thirty-One Mini Utility Bin!

Congratulations Erica! I'll get in touch with you. If any of you are interested, you can get a Mini Utility Bin for only $8 when you spend $31 through the end of this week! My thirty-one website is www.mythirtyone.com/kodi :)

Day of Trains

Last Tuesday the boys and I had the opportunity to go to Kansas City with some of our MOPS group for a "Day of Trains". We started the morning by heading to Fritz's Railroad Restaurant for lunch. We had such a good time and both of the boys loved it. You place your order over a little phone at your table, and then a train delivers your lunch to your table. Manning is obsessed with trains right now, and this was his little dream come true. I kind of wish we would've placed multiple orders so he could have it come to our table more than once. Next time we go, I'll try to remember that.

such a poser

After our lunch we headed over to Union Station to look at the Model Train displays. Manning loved looking at all of the model trains zoom around the tracks. When I showed him an Army train and said, "There's an Army train, you know like Daddy is in the Army?" he spent the rest of the time we were there saying "Dada, Army, Train!" Eventually I got him to look at another model train that was small and pink and he immediately said, "Mama train!" haha! The boy knows his mama likes pink. After we were done at Union Station we headed back over to Crown Center to play on the Animal Tales and Trails exhibit. To be honest, this stressed me out. There were bigger kids running everywhere and there were several places where I couldn't see Manning, so I wouldn't recommend it as highly as the other two activities we did. All in all it was a great day and a really fun outing. 

the best I could get of both boys

Updates

I feel like it's been awhile since I did a post filling you in on what's going on in our family these days, so here goes:

• A lot of people ask me if we know anything else about Nathan's future. He's been told by his Doctors that he will most likely (pretty certain) be medically retired from the Army. What this means is that he will receive basically an "early retirement" package. The % of his retirement he will receive is up in the air, but based on two things- his time already served (a little over eleven years) and the severity of his illness (fairly severe because he is non-deployable, and it's a life-long diagnosis). We're anticipating anywhere between 40-60% retirement pay. I'm praying it's closer to 60%. :)
• We still don't know where we will be going once he's discharged. Our home is still on the market, but we're in agreement that we neither one want to live here, and our house payment is really small, so we could probably afford it if we're both working and we need to rent or buy somewhere else. I also think our house would be a great rental house, so we could go that route.
• As far as Nathan's health, he's doing better. He's managing his diabetes really well. Just last week he got an insulin pump, and he is pumped (ha!) about it. He has an omni-pod, which is an amazing little pump that he wears 24/7. He punches in how many units of insulin he needs prior to eating any meal, and it's released through the pod. I believe he changes out the location and dressings every 3 days or so. He told me he's now part man, part machine. I told him he's 100% bada**. I figure being part machine is pretty cool as long as I don't see any decepticon logo on him. (If you don't get that reference, I feel sorry for you.) ((It's from Transformers)) (((This is what happens when you marry a nerd. They turn you into a nerd too.))) ((((Is this the proper way to use parentheses? No? Oh well.)))) 
• Deacon has started walking more and more, but still prefers to crawl, especially anytime I try to video him walking for his dad. ;) He has been taking a few steps at a time for months, but Sunday he walked all the way across the church nursery by himself...probably about 35 steps. He still only says a few words and blabbers infrequently, but I'm really not too worried about his hearing or speech because since his tubes, he hasn't had any ear infections, and he passed his hearing tests with flying colors. Unfortunately, I do think his reflux is peaking again, and I'm hoping he'll start his medicine for it again after a Dr. appt. tomorrow. 
• Manning just talks all the time. He speaks in full sentences and I feel like he understands almost everything I tell him. He's a very typical two-year-old with emotional highs and lows, but he's a very good boy. Today we were at an event with a lot of other kids, and seeing how my boys played together, independently and shared without being asked to made me so happy. There were kids that were a few years older than Manning that didn't seem to know how to share yet. I guess that's one benefit of having a brother so close in age. Thankfully (luckily?) none of the naughty kids were with our group. 
• As for me, I'm still keeping very busy taking care of the house (kind of), the boys, and thirty-one. I could've never anticipated how much I'd love being a part of the thirty-one family, nor could I have anticipated how important it would be for me- sanity-wise and financially. I lost my camera battery charger, so I haven't taken any good new pics of the boys since Deacon's birthday- almost a month. Thank goodness for my iPhone camera. The only other thing I've been up to is applying for jobs like a crazy person. We'd really like to move to a bigger city when Nathan is discharged, so that's been a priority- for me to find employment. Unfortunately for me, I feel like in business- specifically management or marketing positions, it's very, very hard to find a job when you don't have an "in". So, I'm open for suggestions or ideas that you might have. Ideally I'd like to work in education, non-profit or retail management. I know that's kind of a random combination, but nobody ever accused me of being orderly. 

So, that about sums it up. Anything I missed? Feel free to leave any questions in the comments. :)

Pinspired- St. Pat's Nails

I saw this pin on Trina's nail board.

Source: nailsmag.com via Trina on Pinterest

I didn't have enough colors to duplicate it, but it inspired me to do green nails with gold glitter for St. Pat's Day. No one will be pinching me! :)

Stop and Smell the So What Giveaway!?

So what if I'm linking up with Mandy again from House of Roses for Stop and Smell the Roses.

So what if I realized after filming the vlog that I'm wearing the same shirt I wore the time before last when I vlogged. I promise, I have many more shirts, and I don't wear this one that often. It's a weird coincidence.

So what if I also decided to link-up with Shannon from Life After I Dew on the SAME post?!

So what if I talked about thirty-one again in my video? I seriously LOVE thirty-one and the opportunities it's affording my family.








And finally, SO WHAT if I decided that this post would ALSO contain a giveaway?!?!

All you have to do is leave one comment to be entered. An additional entry for following my blog. An additional entry for tweeting about my giveaway. Leave a comment for each, please! :)

If you're interested in checking out more about what products thirty-one has to offer, my website is here! Or, if you're interested in knowing more about selling thirty-one, please e-mail me anytime at abrighteryellowblog@gmail.com

The Other Shoe

I might have written a post like this already, but I just need to blog it out. Did you know blogging is free and therapy isn't? ;) Anyway, here goes.

I'm tired of waiting for the other shoe to drop. I am so frustrated that Nathan and I are coming up on our seventh wedding anniversary, and things aren't any easier than the day we got married. I know that we've been blessed with two great kids, and I know that things could be so much worse (actually I fear that things are going to get worse before they get better), but I am so frustrated. I feel like we've done nothing but work so, so hard to try and be successful, and we are failing.

Nathan and I overcame a lot of odds just by finishing our Bachelor's degrees, and then I went on to get my Master's degree, and I really thought that these battles would be the hardest fought, but now it feels like we're drowning. I know I'm smart and well-educated, and you'll never meet someone more loyal or hard-working, but I cannot catch a break. WE cannot catch a break. Nathan has sacrificed time and again to support our family, only for this random disease to come out of nowhere and derail all of his hard work. He has given ELEVEN years to a future that isn't going to pan out like he'd hoped and prayed.

It is so, so hard for me to log onto facebook and see other people I graduated with posting pictures of their beautiful four bedroom homes that they bought right after finishing their degree that their parents paid for. It's hard that I see people from high school getting accepted into law school, or getting amazing positions at companies, and I can't find a job.

I have so, so much faith in God. I really do. I trust that this is all for his greater purpose, but that doesn't stop me from crying about it daily. It doesn't take away the doubts that I have that I've made poor decisions by going further into debt to pay for school that isn't even leading to a career.

I honestly don't even know what to do to help myself. I spend almost every night after the boys go to bed e-mailing out resume after resume for any job. I'm "over-qualified" for most, and "under-qualified" for a few, but mostly I'm just wanting to find a job that meets two criteria. I want to help people, and I want to get paid. Not a lot, just a paycheck that contributes enough that my family can pay our bills and have our needs met. I'd like to be able to afford to adopt sooner rather than later. I'd like to be able to buy Christmas and birthday gifts for our siblings and parents.

I know that the other shoe will drop, and I know and trust God's timing, but tonight, I'm just tired.

Please, please, PLEASE do not leave comments telling me about how you know what I'm going through because your husband went one month without a job, or that you know what it's like when you live in a huge (compared to mine) house and your husband is at home. Please, just don't. 

Pinspired--- St. Pat's Edition

I guess this is kind of a cop out because I haven't technically made this yet, but I'm planning on making this adorable St. Patrick's Day treat for a party I'm going to Friday night. I think Sarah is so creative, and this is such a simple and fun way to celebrate St. Pat's!

Source: lifesweetlifeblog.com via Kodi on Pinterest

Make sure to click through to Sarah's blog for details if you want to make this treat for a teacher, friend or party!

Link up below:

Stop & Smell the Roses Week 2

Hey Everyone!

Linking up with Mandy again this week. :)

Family Pictures

While Nathan was home for the weekend of Deacon's birthday party we also had a family photo session. I had really high hopes after seeing our photographer's website, but I am seriously blown away with our photos. I love them so, so much. I was a little stressed while we were getting them taken because Deacon was fussy and Manning was just really uncooperative. When we left I told Nathan I just hoped we got one good family picture. ha!

So, you can imagine my surprise when I got an email from Atley saying that even though we'd only paid for a mini-session, we had so many good images that she just kept editing and was giving us all of them for the same price. And seriously, Atley was so awesome during the shoot. She was so relaxed, and it didn't phase her at all when Manning wouldn't listen to any of her directions.

Okay...enough of my rambling. Here are a few of my favorites. I'll share more later. :)

all photography by Atley Marks of Atley Fotographie

Made to Crave: Week 1

I had hoped to have this posted first thing this morning, but after church last night I was a little too emotionally drained to blog about this. I'll try to do better next week.

So, the introduction and Chapter 1 of Made to Crave really, really spoke to me. A few things that hit home:

• We crave what we eat- if you eat junk you'll crave junk. If you eat fruits & vegetables, you'll crave fruits and vegetables. 
• I don't eat to feel full. If that was the only problem, gastric bypass surgery would be 100% successful. As it stands, gastric bypass only works about 80% of the time for morbidly obese patients.
• The Bible shows multiple times how Satan uses food as a weapon- a few examples are when he tempts Jesus while Jesus was fasting for 40 days and the obvious, Eve and the apple. 
• Cravings are a way we try to get our physical desires met outside the will of God- therefore, it is a SIN to indulge these cravings. 
• "Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial" 1 Corinthians 10:23. Whoa. This one is powerful for me. I have a very logical way of thinking, and I can reason my way through anything. I can find reasons or excuses for every sin in my life, but this scripture really slaps that in the face.

There are some questions at the end of the chapters. I'm only going to write my answers, not the questions, because I don't want to steal content from the book. If this sounds like something you're interested in, please, please order this book. It's available on Kindle for just $9.99 or you can order a paperback copy for around $10 using this amazon link. 

Personal Reflections:

1. I think my cravings are more like hugs...when I indulge in what I'm craving I feel warm and fuzzy and I truly enjoy the feelings I get from the food. For example, I've always said I drink Dr. Pepper even though I know it's bad for me because it makes me happy...and it does. Some days the highlight of my day has been getting that Lg. DP at Sonic happy hour...I never really thought about the fact that using food to make myself happy is sin because I should find my delight in the Lord.

2. I absolutely agree that God created us to crave, and that most of us are "looking for love in all the wrong places" where this is concerned. A beneficial craving the Lord gave me was for a happy marriage, an education, and a family. I believe I've used all of these things for the better of myself and others. I distinguish these from a bad eating habit because they don't consume my mind and heart like food does. They don't pull me away from God...if anything my family and marriage bring me to God.

3. For one, I can quit beating myself up about my cravings. I can recognize what they are, and hopefully re-direct them towards a healthier outlet. 

4. Cravings: Absolutely, hands down, food is the biggest temptation for me of those listed. That statement alone shows me how big of a problem this really is in my life. 

Lust: I'd say that my desire for material things has shifted significantly in recent months. I actually browsed the clothing section at Target today and didn't buy anything. That's huge and different for me. I'm glad to say I've made improvement in this area. 

Boasting: This has been a big issue with me job searching. I want to have pride in my accomplishments, but job searching has taken away a lot of my self-worth to the point that I've sought affirmation from the wrong places. 

The most difficult for me to resist is absolutely cravings, and the easiest is boasting...but only because I'm very hard on myself. I also find myself falling into the trap of being jealous of other people's wealth or possessions (lust). 

5. I think the approach of using scripture is a great idea. I also thought about if I maybe sit the food down, walk away and say a prayer for clarity, maybe that will help me decide if I should be eating what I'm about to eat. I think this shows how important it is to know scripture. If I'd recalled that verse about everything being permissible, I could've helped myself sooner, but because I don't know the Bible as well as I should, I wasn't able to use that tool before now. 

Another good verse I found:

Source: flickr.com via Caitlin on Pinterest

Link up if you're blogging about Made to Crave also! Please feel free to leave any questions for me in the comments.