36 weeks Update!

Justin's scary pumpkin carving face

My update from this past weekend,  Friday I had a lovely "happy hour" w/my soon-to-be mommy friend, Mindy, at Jovita's on 1st street.  It was so good, and I definitely recommend that place.  Great food, music and it was very Austin-y.  And it's right by Freddie's...which is a place we go to a lot.  

Mindy's little girl is due this January!  So these days are very exciting for us!  Tho, of course she's not as big as I am! I'm as big as a house ;)

That night we had our friends over Amanda and Warren to carve pumpkins, eat dinner (including a wonderful pumpkin pie!) and play Apples to Apples.  I just love them, they are one of the sweetest couples I know. And we also watched the Rangers lose... :(

Saturday Justin and I spend the afternoon watching COLLEGE football.  (The absolute best!) And luckily my Longhorns redeemed themselves!  -As did the Rangers.-  They looked like they team I know and love!  Then we went to a hole-in-the-wall mexican restaurant that's conveniently close to us for dinner, Mama Maria's.   

Later we had our friends Shon and Nicholette come by for some dessert (more pumpkin pie) and a little Wii.  And the boys played pool while us ladies sat on the couch and chit chatted.  Of course these days I'm not doing TOO much besides a lot of sitting, eating and the occasional walking.

Sunday, we went to Sunday school, church service and then our sweet Sunday school teachers, Penney and Jerry took us out for lunch at Pokejo's!  Our favorite BBQ place.  It was nice getting to sit down with them outside of our class to get to know one another better.  And it's so nice to have that love and support from such a great Christian couple.  It was a real blessing and we appreciated their time spent with us.

Oh and we also went to my favorite store, COSTO, to get our Christmas tree!  Yes, it's early.  But at Costco, things go quick!  And we have been scouting trees at a few places and this tree was great, 1000 pre-lit bulbs, 7.5 feet tall and a great price!  

I love Costco!  I could probably stay in there all day!  

Lastly,  I've been reading Dave Ramsey--and whoa am I inspired.  Justin and I have been so very smart since we've been married and pregnant to be careful with our finances.  I have been loving the challenge of living on a budget and cutting coupons!  I also have an itch to sell somethings and maybe have a small garage sale. BUT, I also gotta remember I'm about to have a baby any day now.  Basically we are doing fine besides a credit card or two that we could do without.  I am all for selling things to get to that point of getting rid of the cards.  All we need to sale is something semi big.  We have a few extra cars, definitely lots of car parts (motors and such!)  and we could easily pay off the cards and be done with credit cards forever.  That's really the gist of his book.  He wants you to eliminate credit cards and go on cash.  Luckily we always use cash for the things we want and need.  Justin's credit cards were used to finance very expensive tools he needs for his independent body shop.  He doesn't really have a shop, but he does a lot of independent work outside of Land Rover and the man can literally do ANYTHING because he has everything a shop has, plus some.  So of course these tools are investments that also help us make our living.  Anyway,  I had two credit cards I payed off recently and vow to never open another one!  Justin also 'pays' me every Monday to get groceries or whatever we need around the house.  Me, being the savvy saver and learning all these great tips from Dave, has me so excited about my budget.  

I've been thinking of ways to stretch my dollar, so by the end of the week I still have money left over to save.  I told Justin I'd give him back the money, but he told me to keep it.  So, I decided I'm making another emergency savings for us.  We do have savings, but this will be an additional savings.  And my birthday/Christmas present to him and to me is this savings.  Basically I want Justin to be able to feel like he can CUT his cards and be assured he doesn't need cards because no matter what we do, we have a few thousand in cash for those emergencies.  

Anyway, Dave Ramsey has CHANGED the way I look at things and money.  I use to be all about buying the cute nic-nacks to decorate around the house or having something new to wear, or new expensive makeup.  But, now with a baby nearly here I'm so ready to alleviate any stress from my husband's life.  And the less stress of money will definitely make life easier and happier for him.  He has already seen the change in me and I can tell it brings him a lot of joy realizing I'm not the wife or woman that needs a lot of things to make her happy.  Like I said before, we won't be taking it with us to heaven. 

So yes, we are off to a good start.  No student loans to pay off, no rent to own, no leasing, no CAR payments (thank you Lord!) Justin is smart about that, car payments are some of the hardest things that prevent you from being debt free!  So we just need to work on the two credit cards.  

I'm going to warn Justin he may come home to find a missing Barcelona chair or a missing extra wakeboard because I may of sold it.  Kidding!

I do recommend reading his book! He is also a Christian and he has a lot of great verses that back up the reasons why God doesn't want you in debt either!  God is so good, He even cares about our finances!

Alright, enough babbling. Just read his book and you'll see why I'm so darn excited about saving!

And leaving you a few pictures!

Justin's scary pumpkin

My confused pumpkin

Me and my TWO pumpkins :)

Why so serious!?

Lots of Love from Me and our Pumpkin!

-HK-