Happy Halloween

Wow, it's Halloween already?!  Seriously, where has the time gone?

I got a writing prompt in my email regarding a "memorable Halloween costume" and I thought it would be fun to share one of my favorites!

My husband dressed as the Wolverine and I was a (chunky) Phoenix... Well, my husband really looked the part, but I was just... well, I had fun anyway!  (please excuse the messy kitchen!)

As you can see, my hubby nailed it with his hair and the way he shaved his face!  The "Claws" are just toys, but they actually make metallic clanging sounds when you swing your hands to make the claws come out.  It was lots of fun.  Especially since this was before we were married, pregnant, etc... just the two of us and his teenage son (who's now a 21 year old young man!)

We both love Halloween and enjoy taking our two youngest trick or treating.

It was a very memorable Halloween for us.  Lots of fun!

Do you have any memorable Halloweens that really stand out?  Feel free to share!  I'd love to hear about them!

The Pursuit of Positive Posts

Well, I finally did it.  I finally lost a (Facebook and real life) friend due to posting an "offensive" meme.  It was bound to happen.  Honestly, I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner.

I posted a meme comparing a quote from Hitler to a quote from Hilary Clinton.  I'm sure most of you have seen it, but if you haven't, I apologize, but I'm not going to repost it again.  It's very negative and apparently very offensive to at least one person that I know.

I think the saddest part is the fact that he thinks his friendship didn't mean much to me just because we haven't seen each other in about 20 years.  What he fails to realize is that it did mean a lot.  He was one of the first people I met at college and I always admired him for many different reasons.

While I didn't realize that the meme that I shared would be that disastrous to any friendships that I have, it was a very negative post and that leads me to today's blog post.

While I think the whole thing got totally blown out of proportion and I think he took extremely drastic measures to not only unfriend me, but he also blocked me completely.  On top of that, he also made a post on his Facebook page specifically naming me (which most people have the courtesy to only give first names or no names at all, such as I'm doing, but I suppose he feels the need to do so) and showing a screenprint of part of the conversation.  Although at first, it upset me, upon further reflection, I realized that the whole event has made me think a lot about myself and my actions.  I would like to publicly apologize for any offense that I may have made against him, I certainly didn't share the meme with that goal in mind.  And I would like to thank him.  Without his drastic measures, I would not have taken stock in myself.

As I said, this was bound to happen... losing a friend, that is... considering that I'm a Christian, that, in and of itself is offensive to many people.  And I'm a Mormon (a member of The church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints... no, not the people on tv with the multiple wives.  Those people are not members of our church.) and being Mormon offends a whole bunch of other people.  I lost a lot of friends when I joined the church, but that's a whole other story.

But, as I said, this whole issue has made me really look at myself and the kind of person I want to be.  At first, I was upset that he posted (after blocking me and thinking that I wouldn't find out) his disgruntled response and posting my full name.  But then, I realized that I'd done the same thing to Hilary.  While she's a politician and is probably used to such demeaning memes and comments, that doesn't mean it was right for me to do.

I'm no politician, but I'm also used to derogatory and nasty statements, having received more than my fair share as a kid, but they hurt just as much now as they did when I was younger.  So, I also would like to apologize to Hilary.  No, I don't think she should be president and no I don't particularly like her nor her politics, but I certainly don't want to hurt her or anyone else for that matter.  Do I think she actually saw my post?  Ppffftthhh, no, of course not, but I don't need to keep the negativity going.  And if I'm a Christian, then why would it be ok for me to post such a nasty meme?  It's not.

Does that mean that I won't hurt anyone again?  No, I'm sure I'll do something at some point to offend someone again.  Like I said, I'm a Christian and a Mormon, so right off the bat, I'm offensive to thousands and thousands of people just for breathing.

But I have come to realize that I need to be more positive and stay away from as much negativity as I can. So I have decided to make a #PursuitOfPositivePosts Challenge.  For the next 30 days, I'm going to try to post, share, and make only positive posts on any and all social media that I get on.

So, it begins.... Positive Posts!  Who's with me?  Post a comment below and let me know if you're up for the challenge to bring positive posts to the world and have a better outlook on life.

Remember the hashtag!

#PursuitOfPositivePosts

The Alternative 52 Week Money Saving Challenge for 2015

So, I'm sure that most of you have seen the 52 Week Money Saving Challenges out there on the internet.  I've decided to use an alternative style.  I had come across this idea a few years ago, but for the life of me, I can't find it again, so I drew it up myself for this post.  It basically alternates from the low end of the savings to the high end and back again.  So on the first week (I'm starting on Jan 3rd) you put aside $1, then on the second week you put aside $52, on the third week, $2, on the fourth week, $51 and so on.  You get the idea.  Here's a visual for you.

Download Here

(This is my first time making a downloadable link, so please let me know if you're unable to download.  Thanks!)

I like having the amounts staggered rather than having all the large amounts together.  If we have an unexpected bill or something comes up, then it won't be so hard to save $52 one week and $2 the next, but saving $52 then $51 the next week is a little harder to do.  This alternating between the larger and smaller amounts just makes things a little easier.  Saving the larger amounts all at one time (either at the beginning or the end of the year) is tough when you're living paycheck to paycheck.  Doing it that way would be $202 in one month.  I don't know about you, but that's a little bit much when I have to buy groceries!

Also, having the bigger amounts toward the beginning of the year is easier (in my opinion) than having them at the end when Christmas is coming.  To me, it's harder to save around the holidays.  By then, I'm wishing I'd have been saving all year and with the holidays, my hubby gets time off, so the pay's not as big (not getting overtime makes a big difference) so it's a little harder on the wallet.

I think I'm going to start something with my 4 year old as well.  We're just starting to learn about money, so this might help him.

Download the Children's version Here

Of course he doesn't have a "job" but he's going to start "earning" this money by doing his chores.  We've been a little slack in the chore department.  He has them and does them, but we haven't been as consistent as we had planned to be.  Don't judge.  It's the least of my worries right now.  But hey, New Year, New Plans! Part of the New Year's Resolutions list.  (We might get the 2 year old in on it too, but that would be more for fun than teaching at this point.  He is so cute when he giggles and claps his hands at the "plunking" the money makes in his see-through bank that he got for Christmas!)

I suppose one of the biggest thing on my list (every year) is to be more organized and this money saving plan falls right into place with that particular resolution.  There are many subcategories to that resolution, but that's a whole other post!

So, who's with me on the challenge?  If you don't like my take on it, you don't have to use my particular schedule... or you can make your own.  Just Google "52 Week Money Saving Challenge" and you'll instantly become overwhelmed with spreadsheets of all kinds, shapes, colors, etc.

I'd love to know what you think of my plan(s) above.  Do you like it?  Hate it?  Want to give it a try?  What do you think of the children's version?  Let me know in the comments below.  Thanks and Happy New Year!