New Year's, err, March 1st Resolutions

So I got to thinking about what I wrote the other day, (see, I'm already sticking to it, go me!) I've decided to make some other resolutions for myself and what I bring/offer to Mr C, my family and friends.

I know that I don't have a huge following.....Hello you three ;) But I think that by seeing my hopes and goals, I'll be able to motivate myself more. And you guys know that I love my lists and being able to cross things off of them.

Mr C was laughing at me because after talking about our debt payoff goals, I made a spread sheet for every month from now to 10 years out(yes 10 years) showing what each of the balances every month. (Yeah I was a little overboard) But it was so nice to see a light at the end of the tunnel. and just to clarify so that no one starts thinking we're crazy, the 10 years is for every single dollar that we owe including our trucks and mortgage! Yes we can have our house paid off in 10 years without spending more than we are right now. It was so motivating to see that.

So without further ado and in no specific order, here is my list of goals and wants, (yes, I added wants in my list also because I view them as goals also. My rule for any of the wants though is that we have to be able to pay cash for it without affecting our 10 year plan.)

Personal:

Loose weight: 30-40 pounds and just generally get in better shape.

Can you spot what is missing if this were really my salad? Yup, no gobs of ranch. Going along with the above goal, I'm going to try to eat healthier. Not that I eat terrible now, but I know there is room for improvement. Mr C and I both feel so much better after eating smaller, lighter meals that it will be a good thing for both of us. Do you like how I just included him in my goals, and he doesn't know yet.

I've gotten really lax with doing my hair and makeup. I tell myself that there isn't anywhere to get dressed up to go, but in reality I should do it for Mr. C and myself. Who cares if I'm "spending hours getting all dressed up, just to go to Shoney's on a Wednesday night" Bonus points for you if you can tell me what song that's from

Being on time. This goes without saying........maybe next year I'll actually do new resolutions during New Years instead of 3 months later...wouldn't that be something.

Household/Decorating:

New washer/dryer. One that won't move itself across the laundry room if it spins off balance.



Love, love, love this mirror from PB. It would be perfect for our living room.

This table to go directly under the mirror that I just posted.

This whole set. Wrap it up and I'll take it. I love how classic and yet how modern the chairs make it look, and they look so comfy, our family dinners always involve lots of laughing, teasing, and wine, and those chairs look like they could manage that.

Organize the sun room better. We use it for a craft room/home gym. Maybe that's why I'm less motivated to work out, it's just not fun to be in there right now. I definitely need to change that

Redo the pantry like I posted way back when. No I haven't forgotten, but Mr.C isn't gone anymore and he's not quite as for that idea.

Build an out door patio/fireplace where the pool was.

Add on/remodel deck to wrap around back of house.

Put french doors in Dining room opening out onto said deck.

Add a shade arbor to the portion of the deck directly off of the dining room.

Landscape the yard. This is a hard one because our yard is so big, and one of the lovely benefits of new construction is the complete lack of landscaping. It's just so overwhelming.

I know I'll add things to this list, but hopefully I'll be able to start crossing some things off before that. I can't add too much more to it, we'll be running out of room in our house for things.

Wow I suck at this......

I'm going to make a late New Year's (more like a random Saturday night) resolution and try to blog at least once a week. So hopefully no more 2 1/2 month spans of no blogging. I'm hoping that having a new toy (whooo hooo, yup we got a new laptop today) will help with that.

I know that so much has changed since the last time that I blogged, Mr. C and I decided that over-the road trucking wasn't for us so we turned in the trailer that we had leased after just one trip. We were very lucky and grateful for being able to change our minds on the lease. While we still have the semi, we decided that for our situation, that he's only going to run the truck in the spring/summer time for the gravel/oil hauling. Its all fairly local so he'll be home every night and it will pick up the slack for when he's slower with the swingarm business.



Speaking of the swingarms, we have been sooooo blessed with tons of orders here in the last month or so. It's such a relief when the phone rings with orders, it makes everything else seem so much more bearable.



Not that Mr. C has been slow even without the orders, since he is still working on the truck for his client. And then since we have so much free time (and free space) we bought another cab for a second truck that he'll build after this one. Maybe this will be one that we can keep for ourselves.

I've done another party since the last post but I unfortunately don't have many pictures to show yet. I was so busy during the party that we took a couple and that was about it. But I thought it turned out very cute. I'm hoping that the next purchase that we do will be for a new camera, since our current one doesn't take the best of pictures.

Speaking of (well not really, but kind of) Mr. C and I have been taking a long look at our current finances and our goals for the future. We are tossing around the idea of moving back to Cali, but we know that we want to go back with plenty of debt paid off. We know that we don't have alot, but the debt that we do will be paid off in under 2 years(aside from our mortgage) and that can be completely paid off in 10 years.

We started applying the snowball method to our bills and have been so encouraged with the results. Its so gratifying to see major changes each time we pay the bills each month.

Ok so this post was completely random and rambling, but I promise(or at least will try really, really hard) to have more interesting posts from now on. But look at the bright side, your pretty well caught up on the goings on in our lives. Don't you feel special

2 Weeks Vacation-ish

I was granted with 2 weeks "vacation" time (but I had to have something cut out of me to get it, so it wasn't the vacation of a lifetime by any means) but I was able to keep myself busy with my second party planning. I got to do a Circus party for a 2 year old little girl. I was so excited about this one because of how fun all of the decor could be. I loved it!! Here's a couple pictures:
Mr. C bought me an early Christmas presant. My very own Cricut. I love it!!!!! Its so much fun and so easy to use. You can see that I used it for tons of things for this party.

Super Sunday

Super busy that is..... but it felt good to get so many things done.

Friday I was able to get out of work early so I ran a few errands and then met up with Mr. C for a date night. Now this date night was probably very different than what you're picturing. But he swept me off my feet by taking me to look at our newest purchase....... a 53' Reefer trailer. Oh, yes just what every girl wants right? Yes, our newest change in our lives is that Mr. C is going to be starting over the road hauling as soon as that baby is released from the lot. I'm not sure quite how I'm going to handle him being gone, but hopefully I'll occupy myself with plenty of crafts that I can then post here for you to enjoy.

We capped of the evening with an exhilarating lesson on IFTA or as Mr. C calls it the International Take Your Money Association. Yes, now I can positively say that I know how to calculate how much money we have to send to each state that we haul in. Joy.

Saturday morning, Mr. C's client came by to take a look at the rat rod truck that Mr. C is building for him. Lets just say that he was more than pleased with the results that he saw.

Then Mr. C and I set about changing the school bus yellow on the sleeper into a more neutral color..... we'll apparently Mr. C was the one doing the changing, I was taking all the pictures to document the transformation

I decided after a while that I had had enough shop time so I decided to organize a room that was desperate need.......our pantry.

Let me 1st say that what you are about to see was at its absolute worst, but unfortunately completely real:

And now I can proudly show you the after:

I would love to change those shelves for something more substantial like this:

Hmmmm I think I'll add that to my list of things to do while Mr. C is gone.......

Diamonds in the Rough

So now that I have shown the dirty side of the C House, I'll show you some of the pretty things that I have been working on.

My favorite part of the decor for my mom's birthday that I threw her. Pottery Barn made their Celest chandelier for hanging boa's off of it!



Quick shot of the food for a baby shower I did.







I'm really slacking on getting my Halloween/Fall decorations out, so this is all that I have done. I had better hurry or I'll miss Halloween altogether.



I'm just starting to work on invitations for my next party that I have booked. I'm super excited about that one since it is for a little 2 year old girl. I'm going to do the whole party in a circus theme, complete with a gold fish game and ring toss! Wait till you see the pictures from that!!

"Sounds like life to me"

I heard this song on the way home and it always makes me smile.....

Sarah’s old car’s about to fall apart

And the washer quit last week

We had to put momma in the nursing home
And the baby’s cutting teeth
I didn’t get much work this week

And I got bills to pay

I said I know this ain’t what you wanna hear

But it’s what I’m gonna say

(Chorus)

Sounds like life to me it ain’t no fantasy

It’s just a common case of everyday reality
Man I know it’s tough but you gotta suck it up
To hear you talk you’re caught up in some tragedy
It sounds like life to me

Every word of that song is so true. We can't focus on how busy you are, how many bills are coming in or anything else. It's just life. It'll get better and it'll probably get worse, but complaining and focusing on the bad isn't going to help anything.

Sometimes I feel like Mr. C and I are so busy with so many different things that the only time that we get to see each other is when we go to bed (and that's sometimes even rare if one of us has a different schedule) But then I try to remind myself of how proud I am when I see what he accomplishes with the Peterbilt, the custom hot rod for a client, model A, or anything else that he touches.

King Midas may have turned anything he touched into gold, but Mr. C can turn anything into a work of art.

Here's a little tast of some of the pre Mr. C projects that are currently all taking place at the C House. (Stay tuned for some of the after pics, trust me the truck looks much bettter now!)

Oh by the way, here's the song/video that started this whole post. Enjoy!

Welcome!

So I have given in to the pressures of starting a blog. Not to say that they had to twist my arm very hard, but I guess you could say that they nudged me in this direction.

So here it is in all its wonderfully conflicting glory. Yes this blog will show the most delicate little beauties out there that I can find, right beside some of the greasiest and dirtiest.

See thats my life. I'm a girl that loves her diamond rings, but isn't afraid to pull on those dirty boots to help out in the shop (with gloves of course, I don't want to have to spend all my free time getting the grease off my diamonds) I try to DIY most things, usually with the idea that its going to be cheaper although it doesn't always work out that way(shhhh don't tell Mr. C.) I love to cook, try to sew, and fail at dieting.

So in the midst of all of that I'm going to hopefully share with you some of the great and not so great ideas and plans that I have for life.

But lets not pretend that this is going to be the world's greatest (or most updated) blog, but I hope to keep at least one person entertained......even if that one person is only me (although it would be better if it was you)

ENJOY!