Day at Dorney Park

Olivia spent the day with Jeff and his mom at Dorney Park on Wednesday. She loved it and had tons of fun!

Of course, Jeff is no blogger so even though I know he loves having photos of Olivia, he never seems to remember to take many.

I, on the other hand, take tons of photos all the time because I love to blog about things and have pictures to go with the posts.

He did take this photo, Olivia with Snoopy and Charlie brown. She had breakfast with them at the park that day! FUN!

Ahhh, Father's Day!

Before I did anything else, I called my dad to wish him a happy Father's Day and had the kids talk to him. Had Olivia call Jeff and then Jeff's step-father too.

As for around here, well, I made CJ 2 pumpkin pies. I know, it's nowhere near Autumn but they are his absolute favorite! I also bought him this caliper paint for his 2006 'legend lime' Mustang. The kids signed cards and Olivia drew him a picture, it's supposed to be her and CJ:

I told CJ no 'work' around the house today but he and Dave went to pick materials up for our newest project, remodeling the basement. So far we've spent $1,100 on supplies. Not too bad considering how HUGE our basement is! As soon as they get everything brought in they will be done for the day. Actual construction begins tomorrow.

We plan on grilling steaks and hot dogs tonight for dinner. Unfortunately CJ works tonight. We'll make the most of the day while we can.

DVC Dreams Shattered

Since our family loves going to Disney and have pretty much decided we want to make this destination a yearly vacation, we thought buying into the Disney Vacation Club was an awesome idea and we wanted to buy at Bay Lake Towers, Disney's newest DVC - so close to the Magic Kingdom, you can WALK there!

I am so heartbroken...as a family of 5, we need 2 vehicles since CJ works and I have to take the boys back and forth to pre-school. We've been put in a situation where we had to get a car, our truck just wasn't making it anymore. CJ drove it for years and well, it started having all kinds of problems, it was a 1996 with over 200,000 miles on it. It was paid off of course so now....yea, we have a car payment.

We bought a used car and CJ bought what he wanted because he didn't want to settle for a car he was going to hate driving every day. Used or not, it still forced a car payment upon us.

Between his job and my full time job working from home, we save a lot of money - no daycare, no expenses for me when it comes to clothing, driving every day, etc. However, when we decided to buy into DVC we were going to put $8-$10K down and then finance the remaining balance with the intent to pay it off in 2 years.

I know some people think financing a vacation home is dumb - but to me, it's just like having a car payment, people finance those all the time. I knew we'd have a $500/month payment (including saving $ for maintenance fees) but that was definitely doable. However, now, since we have a $300 car payment, this means I'd be looking to incur an extra $500 or so a month, leading to $800 or so a month I'd need to save.

So here I am - first of all, we found ourselves needing to finish out the basement and make it a nice area for the kids. Since I work from home I've been having a really tough time getting work done and an even tougher time talking to clients on the phone with my 3 kids running around the house acting crazy - I don't have an office, we have a fairly large living room so my desk is in a far corner of the room but nevertheless, they are in the same room with me - this has forced us to prioritize.

So, first basement work, which would take away from my down payment but I still knew I'd be able to afford a monthly payment and get it paid off early, since there's no early payoff penalty - but now with a car payment in the mix, well I'd be really stupid to put the family in such financial constraints.

This would mean we'd have a mortgage, 2 car payments (yes we're still paying on our Honda Pilot, the 'family car') and then the DVC - that's over $2,500 a month in 'extra' bills!

In today's severely unstable economy, I think that would be a very very bad move. Unless we can really comb through our bills and see what we can cut back on (groceries are our biggest expense - after the mortgage. We spend almost $800 a month for our family!) I don't know how we'll do it.

I keep thinking it's only for 2 years - I'll get the DVC paid off and then we'll have $ freed up again. Do it now while the kids are little and don't mind wearing the non brand clothes I buy, cause once they're older, they will get expensive!

I MIGHT be able to buy into DVC, next year but that screws up my plan

I'm so sad.

Work and Home Dilemma Solved!

Earlier this month I bitched blogged about how the kids always seem to need me when I'm busy working and it drives me batty! Well, we've come up with a solution - finish the basement and make a nice recreation area/laundry room/second bathroom area.

CJ has already started cleaning it out down there and I'll be helping him this weekend, so I guess I won't need to read all those diet pill reviews to find something to help me jump start weight loss, I'll be getting into some physical labor over the weekend. Maybe feeling that euphoria I feel after exercise will cone back and motivate me to start up with the treadmill again? Nah, probably not!

I am hoping that by July 1st I'll be well on my way to a peaceful and product month of work.

FREE Sunglasses!

Kaenon has some really nice designer sunglasses. I would LOVE a pair of their womens sunglasses but before I buy them I am going to take my chances on the special Father's Day Promotion they are running.

My boss actually has a pair of sunglasses from Kaenon and she LOVES them!

Basically, Kaenon is taking a gamble - if either of their guys win the US Open on Father’s Day – any sunglass orders bought using the special promo code will be free!

If you want a chance for a free pair of Kaenon sunglasses, just opt in here to receive the promo code:

Kaenon Father's Day Promotion

Ask for Directions? Who? Me?

Usually it's the guy who doesn't want to ask for directions, right? In this house, it's me, lol. I would much have one of those gps systems to direct me than have to stop and ask.

The reason I bring this up is because on our last trip to Disney, there was some confusion about how to get there - Mapquest kinda steered us wrong. CJ and I were just talking about this and we had a good laugh. Ahhh, our road trips are always fun!

Watch Your Temper, Honey!

Having 3 kids ages 6, 3 and 2 can be a bit, well, trying at times - especially when they all decide, at the same time, they just don't want to listen.

CJ and I both work from home for the same company - it's my full time job - he does it part time, mostly to pay for his guitar addiction and now, his (new/used) 2006 Mustang, but I digress...It is important that I have a decent work space. I don't have an 'office' - the desk I work at is in our living room, which sucks but at least we have a fairly large living room.

The other day CJ was writing an article for work and the kids were just out of control, running around screaming and acting nuts. After several attempts at telling them to please settle down, he decided to bang his fist on the desk, to get their attention. It got their attention and it got mine too because THIS was the result:

So, I've spent a good portion of this morning online looking for a place that sells office furniture - definitely something more sturdy is needed.

Plumbing Nightmare

I don't even know where to begin - we've had a plumbing issue involving our toilet for over a week now. The same plumber was here THREE times before we finally said screw it and had a different plumber come in.

I am in the process of going through photos so I can write up a detailed blog post about the debacle, which will be posted on my IndependentWorld4U blog.

Since I spent so much time in the bathroom because of all the drama - I did notice that I hate the sink. This is what we have now:

It's pretty cool looking BUT - the glass drives me batty. I am cleaning this thing constantly and it's a pain in the butt. I guess we weren't thinking about keeping it looking nice when we bought it.

I've been looking at these copper sinks to replace what we currently have:

Thoughts?

Aching Back

CJ's back started hurting him again and we both thought it had to be the bed. Now, our bed is only about 5 years old but it has one of those pillow top mattresses and so we thought maybe it's just too soft?

I mean, we were ready to by a new bed, we were even looking at a sleep number bed because they're so highly regarded.

Well, guess what? He started using the treadmill again and he's feeling better. It's only been about a week but still - that's proof that exercise really can help!