I'm Not Just Talking About Pumpkin Spice Lattes

Okay, so you know how I have this little thing for Fox News. I watch it and read it all the time. I just can't miss a thing. I have to know what's going on in the big world.

In this, you can basically guess that in real life I'm freaking out a bit (aren't you?) about the state of our economy and all the presidential (and vice presidential) stuff. I'm into it. I know what's going on. Even though I don't talk about it a lot over here, cuz I like to keep it all light and fluffy, I do have all that real life stuff in my real life, ever swirling in my head and threatening hives at any moment.

I try not to live in la-la land (my blog) all day long. It's tempting though. Very tempting, cuz the stuff out there in real life is pretty Scary Larry. I see a connection though of how it all fits in quite nicely with the Dave Ramsey class, Financial Peace University, we're taking. The class is about going back to the basics (a term I've heard a lot of the last couple of days). Basically no credit. You actually save up for stuff you want. All the while building up your savings (and emergency fund) and getting rid of that (dreadful) debt.

This change of lifestyle and thought has been extremely good for us. And hard. It's so sad saying goodbye to my friend, MasterCard. We've been through so, so much. Vacations. Concerts. On-line Christmas shopping, and many, many other important things. I scratch it's back, MasterCard scratches mine. Already, this class (along with what's happening in the economy) has been a huge reality check for us of how much money we actually don't have (this is the part I warned you about where I come on here all huffing and puffing and whining...don't let me get away with it). It's depressing and I just want to bury my head in the couch cushions and pretend like we don't need to do this. I mean Starbucks has their Pumpkin Spice Lattes out now and they are one of my very, very favorites (stomp, stomp, stomp). I look forward to them (but I look fooooorward to theeeeem). There might even be a countdown involved. I'm not saying I'm giving up the Pumpkin Spice goodness entirely, but do I really need to have one every day (as a celebration of Fall)? No. I know, it seems I'm making light of all of this. I'm not. Of course I'm not just talking about Pumpkin Spice Lattes. I just have to make it funny, or I really will cry, cuz this is haaaard. It's so hard to say goodbye.

It does feels like we're being smarter about the money now though. As much as it hurt to say "no" to TWO invites to the beach this past weekend, it felt pretty good afterwards (after the weeping), knowing we did what we were supposed to do. The Right Thing. We would not have given it a second thought three weeks ago (pre-class). Now we give it about ten thoughts. And then talk it up and down and around and around and then still say "no". Such a grown up thing to do, isn't it? (please say it is) We are going back, to the back, to the back to basics. It made me feel good to hear, today on the radio (the news), that Dave Ramsey had an opinion about the economy and what to do (what to do, what.to.do.). I know (of) him. I love how that all works together. I notice those things.

So to get my mind temporarily off the economy and Pumpkin Spice Lattes, I've started volunteering at my girls' school. I love seeing the world at knee-high level. So, yesterday I was reading a Junie B. Jones book to this little girl. She's listening very intently and seems to be really enjoying and comprehending the whole story. Just following along.



Out of the blue, she politely interrupts me and asks, "Did you just have a bath?" (that totally cracked me up in my head) I smile at her and say, "Why do I smell good?" She nods her head and smiles. WHEW! Cuz that totally could have gone another way.

So back to Junie B. for about another paragraph and she politely interrupts me again and states, "You're sweaty." Okay, so I totally had to laugh out loud, cuz I totally was sweating (it was a 90 degree day and it was sweltering inside the school), which is why that bath comment could have totally gone another way. She touched my nose and said, "shiny." Ha ha...you just have to laugh, right? Shiny. At least my shiny smells good. And, that laugh was completely free.