Money is like a carpenter's saw

"Money is like a carpenter’s saw. It can build you the most beautiful financial castle or it can cut you up in a thousand financial pieces. You must learn to use it wisely in order to benefit from it." -Steve Albrecht

This is a great analogy for money. I have a love/hate relationship with money. Or rather instead of love I'd say its more of an appreciation for.  I appreciate it because I see the good it can bring ie. food, clothing, a house, church buildings, entertainment. Also I have seen the bad it can bring, ie, selfishness, wickedness, pride, fear. So how do we keep on the good side of money? The answer is right above, use it wisely.  If a man or woman doesn't know how to manage money properly they can destroy their family. Sounds pretty serious, I know. But it's true. Many divorces can be attributed to fights over money. Poor money management can cause fear, anxiety, hurt feelings and low self esteem in any individual. So how do we avoid the pitfalls of bad money management? Simply follow the counsel given to us by church leaders, business practices, and many personal experiences of others. I have done some research and complied a list of advice given by others. You can take this advice to heart because its not mine. Trust me I wouldn't listen to a 23 year old who has never had more than $2000 saved up at a time either. haha. But someday I hope to be more financially savvy and stable and I have hope that will happen because I am going to follow the advice I am now relaying to you.

1. Pay an honest tithe- This is a commandment that if we obey, we are promised that we will “prosper in the land.” This prosperity might not always or ever be in the money department but we will receive blessings from it. I personally know this to be true. I have never by any means been rich but I have always been able to provide for my needs. Also learning to diligently pay our tithing will teach us to sacrifice, be better planners and make us accountable for our money. 

2. Live on less than you earn- This speaks for itself. If you spend more than you make you end up with negative money. 

3. Learn to distinguish between needs and wants- This is a hard one because it has to do with… dun dun dun.. Self-discipline. Ok maybe you all might not have a hard time with this one but I admit it is one of my weaknesses. Sean is great with this. He could be a hermit if he needed to. This is mostly due to the fact that he doesn’t have very many wants. He is pretty content with his needs being met, mainly food, clothing (that he doesn’t even care too much about), shelter and itunes. Ok itunes isn’t a need but it is the one want that he consistently asks for haha. I however have a gray area when it comes between need and want. Realistically I know the difference but I do a lot of justification so that my wants seem more like needs so I feel ok about buying it. This is something I am currently working on. It becomes easy to think that you must have every convenience available. 

4. Develop and live with in a budget- There are three types of budgets everyone should have in place: Monthly, Yearly, Long- Term. The long term is for major purchases like buying a home, car, education etc. The short term monthly and yearly budgets are for everyday spending. Make sure that within your budget you are setting aside money for emergency funds (in case you are ever out of work), and regular savings.

5. Stay away from dept- Self-explanatory. Un needed dept only cause headaches and trouble. It has been said by many wise men that for things like education, modest home and a modest car dept is ok.

6. Teach Family Members the Importance of Work and Managing Money- Children are rarely educated on money management. Children need to understand the financial pressures on a family. They need to know why they can’t have everything they want. They should also be taught the importance of saving money and where it comes from. I remember as a young child believe money just came from the bank and you could go get it whenever you wanted. My dad squashed that belief early on though and I am happy about that knowledge he gave me. I saw that he was a hard worker and that is where the money came from. Also I saw the work my mom did to ensure that we saved for the things we needed. 

 So there you have it. Lessons on money management complied together by Deana Howell. I don't take credit for thinking of these tips only looking them up and putting them together. Sean and I both came from modest upbringings. That's the polite, politically correct way of saying, poor. We both saw the work it took for our parents to provide us with what we had. I think for me I am just now realizing how much work it really was. Being the second youngest I thought for many years that I just got what I wanted because my wants weren't asking much. Looking back now I do realize that the reason I got what I wanted was because my parents sacrificed greatly so that I could have those things. I never had a cell phone or went on expensive trips or had expensive clothing but I did have many things most people in other parts of the world only dream of. Sean and I were both blessed with good parents that couldn't give us everything in the world materially but they did give us greater things. They taught us through their words and actions that though money is desirable there are things more important.

Dating after Marriage

Remember those days before you got married (or if you aren't married yet remember those days like last week) when you had a date with a new guy/girl and you were so excited and nervous about how it would go. And how elated you were when you walked up to the door to pick her up or waited on the other side of the door waiting for him to knock. I sometimes think back to when Sean and I first started dating and how I would get ready for the date and I just felt the jitters the whole time, anxious for him to get there already so our splendid time together could start. Then those moments, or rather hours, it took to say goodbye at the end of the night because you just couldn't stand the thought of leaving each other. As soon as you close the door wishing it was the next day already so you could be together again. Remember all the time you put into planning and deciding what to do on the date. Dating was thrilling, exciting, scary even,because you didn't know what was or could happen next, it was new. These feelings can still carry on into dating after marriage. Well not the scared part because luckily you are fortunate to already know whats going to happen: You get to spend forever with that person! yay! So one thing that causes difficulty in dating after marriage is you have to make time for it. With all the other things going on its easy to forget to date your spouse. Courtship shouldn't end after you capture your true love. President David O. McKay said "I should like to urge continued courtship, and apply this to grown people. Too many couples have come to the altar of marriage looking upon the marriage ceremony as the end of courtship instead of the beginning of an eternal courtship." But I admit Sean and I occasionally to forget to date. We see each other everyday and spend the night with each other but that doesn't count as a date. Websters Dictionary defines a date as:

a : an appointment to meet at a specified time; especially : a social engagement between two persons that often has a romantic character b : a person with whom one has a usually romantic date

See clearly it takes a bit more thought than just spending time together. A date however does not need to cost a lot of mula $$ in fact a date doesn't need to cost anything. As the song goes "my love don't cost a thing" haha I had to put that. So here is a list of dates that cost $0 to a little bit. Of course if you have the money to spend then feel free to take a helicopter ride, go to a fancy dinner, Broadway play etc. For those of you that are .... well lets say, financially challenged pick one of these lovely dates.

Awesomely Cheap Dates for the Financially Challenged Couple:

• Ping Pong or Pool at a local institute building
• Put a large puzzle together.
• Stay fit together- Go work out, Go on a walk or run
• Do a service project for someone. Help with yard work, clean the house of a new mother (they are super busy and dont have time for such things sometimes)
• Make a delicious dinner at home
• Go to the AZ Science Center on the 1st Friday of every month, its free!
• Play Frisbee
• Take a trip to the library and read love poems to each other (cheesy I know but it sounds so sweet too, you know it does)
• Go to a sporting event (This one could be cheap or expensive, depends on what time of event it is. High School, Church, College, Professional)
• Have a night with each others family
• Play a board game, or two or three! I love board games
• Fly a kite *Disclaimer- Wind is needed for this activity
• Be a kid, Get some crayons and some coloring books and Color!
• Take pictures of anything and everything. Then make a collage of art
• Have a Scavenger hunt. May need more people for this, or not, you decide
• Have a bonfire.
• Find a pool and go swimming
• Baby sit for someone
• Gather up a bunch of magazines, Make a story complete with captions with the pictures
• Watch the Spanish channel and make your own dialogue
• Check out Astronomy books from the library, Find constellations and planets
• Cut out Pictures of houses. Now play cut and paste to create your Dream Home
• Go on a walk down Main Street, stop at each statue and make up a story
• Go to a local school play or performance
• Go to Open Houses and pretend you have money to buy it, just to have a look around
• Get a movie, get a lap top, pack snacks, go to the desert, lay out a blanket (or sit in the back of a truck bed) and watch the movie in the beautiful outdoors
• Look at childhood pictures and tell stories of how you grew up, memories, anything that comes to mind
• Go to garage sales and find treasures
• Go to hobby lobby (or a store similar) get some model cars, put them together
• Have a mini road trip. Drive out to the desert, find a neat restaurant, eat, drive back home
• Go to see a play. Broadway Palms is pretty inexpensive and serves dinner
• Throw your own Prom
• Invite friends to come over dressed up fancy in big dresses, tux or nice suit, and have a fancy pot luck dinner.
• Be a hero and Save lives! Donate blood together, then go replenish yourself with dinner
• As you wish- paint your own pottery store
• Go to a park, play music, finger paint
• On a hot summer day, wash the car together, with the intent of splashing each other with water
• Make a movie. Be creative. Use puppets, paper dolls, really dolls, figurines, what ever you have around the house.
• Watch youtube video's and critique them. 
• Create mad libs, write poems, or a short story
• Take a free tour of a local factory. Available tours range from candy factories to a motorcycle manufacturing plant. To find free tours in your area Click Here
• Have a candlelight picnic in the back yard
• Who said date night can only last one night? Go on a camp out

There you go. You have a huge list to chose from. Now you have no excuses. And if you aren't married these are still wonderful ideas. So go out and have fun. Court your spouse, fall in love again, and again and again. If you aren't married then go out, date, court, and fall in love for the first time. Then when you get married continue to do so.

Saturday of Awesomeness

Pretty much Saturday was a wonderful day. I've decided to just post pictures to show the wonderfulness that took place.

Kirby and Justin and I went to the library. The books to the left are Kirby's, Mine are in the middle, Justin's are to the right.

 After the library we lounged around the house for a couple hours. Andrea partook of the lounging as well. We heard the ice cream man music and Andrea jumped up like a daisy in the spring time and ran out to the street to stop the guy. We were so very excited to get some ice cream. We all felt like little kids again. As I was buying an ice cream for Sean to eat when he got home he came driving down our street. He got off early!!!! This made my day :)

Our ice cream.

Justin reading his book. One of the few moments he was quite. haha. It was actually fun hanging out with him all day.

Tim consulting with Kirby about what he thinks Kirby should order for dinner. He was very serious.

Our dinner party at Denny's. Tim and Adriana joined us for our day of awesomeness. It was great hanging out with them.

Feast!!! This was all the food I ordered. Just kidding, The toast was for everyone else to share. Or maybe not. Maybe I just had the sample platter and the salad. But I wish I had eaten everything else on the table because it looks delicious.

Action Packed Friday!

Yesterday was full of up's and down's and very busy. No it has nothing to do with the Royal Wedding. Which p.s. my wedding was much more pretty and so was my dress. Also my prince was much more handsome :) Just sayin'. So anyhow on to the news of our day. I was camera happy so I took pictures of like everything! First after I got off work Sean and I went to Burger King for a delicious hamburger. I crave hamburgers and veggies all the time lately. Then we made our way out to the farmers market. Let me tell you a secret: I AM IN LOVE WITH THE FARMERS MARKET! Its true. Every time we go there I am amazed at all we get for such a low price. This time as we walked out of the store to our car I said "Man I feel like we just stole all of this!" That's how cheap everything was. (Random note you should all know, Noah loves blogging. How can I tell? He is doing flips in my belly right now haha)We got all this stuff below for only..... wait for it...... $19.01

This is our amazing steal of a buy. Banana's, Strawberries, Carrots, Oranges, Apples, Grapes, Brocclii, Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, and Snow Peas.

 Then after the market we were going to go to Fry's for our other grocery shopping needs but my Mom called and invited us to her ward party that was starting in the next couple of minutes. Free food and family! Of course we accepted. She also told me that Gpa Roland, her daddy, is in the hospital again. He was admitted that morning for pneumonia. That is the third time in two months. Sean decided to cut his hair before going to the party so he could look all man pretty. Lol those are naturally my words not his. I even got to help get the back of his head for him which was a first for me. I've always been afraid to cut a guys hair because I didn't want to mess it up. This cut was quite easy though. He basically shaved all of his hair off, which isn't that much to begin with haha.

My Sexy Husband Man

Me doing his neckline

All the hair that used to be on his head

Right before Sean finished with his new hair cut mom called again and informed us of more bad news. She said that dad had been in a car accident and was being brought to the hospital. She was already at the party and dad told her to stay there and he would call her if he needed her to come to him. He was all the way out in Phoenix. Mom said she really needed someone to be with her right now so Sean and I rushed to her. We got there and comforted her. Soon the rest of the family showed up as well. Amanda, Corey, Cortney, Andrea. Justin was already there with mom. Mom said that she thinks dad was ok and that he said to just stay at the party and have fun. We could all tell that she was still worried. We all stayed and enjoyed ourselves. Dad ended up coming towards the end of the party. He was shook up and has swollen wrist which might be broken or sprained. He truck is totaled. Here is how the accident happened: He was going straight and the light has just turned yellow as he was in the intersection and another car made a left turn right into his truck. He air bag deployed and hit his right hand.

Here are some pictures of the party

Myrna & Will one of our favorite married couple friends

Sitting and watching the show

Dad showed up and first thing he wanted was to hold Cortney girl

Amanda helping Cortney to learn to dance like a Tongan

After the party mom took Corey and Sean to the hospital to give Gpa a blessing. We all went back to my parents house. Then when they got home Corey and Sean have dad a blessing. I think this may be a recurring theme but let me just say again how much I love the priesthood. Our family has been having a lot of trials come at us and I know the only way we make it through it all is the love of family and our Heavenly Father and his wonderful power on earth, the Priesthood.
Our next adventure for the night was the rest of the grocery shopping. Andrea Sean and I went to Walmart and got the rest of the food for the month. We originally wanted to go to Fry's but by the time we had a chance to go it was already closed. I just wanted to get the shopping out of the way plus we really needed milk so we had to go that night. It was a complete success and we got more than what was on our list and even better news we stayed within our budget!! I feel so blessed lately. I know Heavenly Father is always eager to bless us but it seems this past month I have recognized it more in my life.  We are by no means rich with money but we are rich with blessings. We have been able to some how pay our bills and have money left over for savings and lots of fun things. Plus even with all the crazyness with Cortney going to the hospital, gpa going in and out of the hospital, dad's accident, Andrea's car dying I know that it will all work out for the best. We will pull together as a family and get through it.

Today our plans consist of: Sean being at work til 3pm or 7pm, just depends on when they let him leave. I'm going to clean the house, go to the library with Justin and Kirby. We are going to make it a regular activity every other Saturday. It will be a good time for Justin and I to bond more and help him get back into the hobby of reading. Then I have a massage at 4pm (I know I said no more massages til Noah is born but this is for a client/friend I've been massaging for 2 years now and he is moving to LA in a couple weeks) and then when Sean gets off work we will go to Target to buy a pantry hutch so we can organize our food storage we will be starting soon. Then who knows what the rest of the evening will bring us. Til next time. Have a great day!  :)

Controlling or Highly Productive? I'm going to go with the latter

So I have this thing, lets call it a cute quirk, where I have to be in control of something or planning something to feel at ease. Some may say its controlling but my loving husband says its a trait of mine he loves because I get things done and put order in his life. I like his perspective best. Sweetest husband ever? Yes I agree. Well I just wanted to have a "yay for me" moment. Everyone is entitled to have these moments every once in a while. (Its good for ones self esteem)
Here are my accomplishments as of yesterday:

1) My sister Andrea, she lives with Sean and I, has been using my old bunk bed I bought from a friend. She wanted just a regular bed. I found her a gently used free bed and it was exactly the one she wanted from Ikea.

2) I sold the old bunk bed within 24 hours of getting the new bed.
3) Andrea's car died yesterday, I found a place to buy her car from her for $310 which is great considering it doesn't run anymore and she paid $500 for it 2 years ago.
4) My house is clean! (this is one of my favorite things because I hate clutter and mess)
5) I prepared a delicious meal for Sean, Me, Andrea, Britt L and Kirby last night. Spaghetti, Salad, Garlic bread. My favorite meal because it is Simple, Classic, and Delectable!

Well there you have it. My "yay for me" Now your turn. Go ahead, you know you want to do it. It feels good to give yourself a pat on the back and recognize your own awesomeness.

Also in other news. Sean and I have been doing considerably better with having Family Home Evenings. I am quite happy about that because I know we will be blessed from it and I already see the blessings taking part in our life. It brings the family together and we learn a lot. Also its good to know we are following council given to us from the Lord through his Prophets to have regular FHE. Our lesson last week was on goals. We read some scriptures related to the subject and then had a discussion on it, then the best part. We made lists! I love lists! I make on average 2 or 3 lists a day. So I quite enjoyed this part and Sean liked it as well. We each wrote down a couple long term and short term goals. Then we talked about how we would accomplished said goals and how we would support and help out the other with their goals. It was a very lovely lesson. We are happy to have things to work for. It will feel really good when we have them accomplished and can make new ones. Then we put the lists on our dresser so we would see them everyday and be reminded of them. Some of our goals were: Sean - Work out 3 times a week, pass my classes, get the car paid off, do home teaching, get accepted into med school and some others I can't remember right now. Deana- Go on long walk 2 times a week, get food storage set up, start a veggie garden in back yard, have emergency money fund in place, finish my Bradley method book, read scriptures every day and read bible front to cover.

A great quote to end this post is in order. It kind of is related to the subject. Mostly I just like it.
"Never forget that you came to earth as a child of the divine Father, with something of divinity in your very makeup. The Lord did not send you here to fail. He did not give you life to waste it. He bestowed upon you the gift of mortality that you might gain experience—positive, wonderful, purposeful experience—that will lead to life eternal." -Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley

Noah loves his Daddy

I was reading online about the development of Noah in my belly and how things are going with the little guy. I read a paragraph about how his senses are getting stronger and he can hear more clearly now. Also that he has recognition of what those noise are, like voices and who they belong to. I told Sean that I really wanted Noah to already know him when he was born. Noah is of course going to recognise my voice. I talk all day anyway and I spend a lot of time just talking to my belly when I'm home. Sean agreed that he wanted Noah to know daddy so he has recently began talking to my belly more often. He had done so a handful of times before but now he is making a point to do it every day. Last night Brittney Haynes was over and she wanted to feel Mr Noah kick but he was asleep or something because there was absolutely no movement going on. Sean came and laid his head on my belly and started talking to Noah and immediately the wiggling began :) It excited Brittney to feel him move (this was the first time she felt him) and it excited me because that meant he was recognizing his daddy! Sean was super excited for the reaction as well. I love the moments listening to Sean talk to our little baby man. He is just so sweet and cute and funny with Noah. He asks him if he is having fun swimming in mommy's belly, asks him if he enjoyed the food mommy supplies for him, tells him how much he loves him, tells him of all the plans we have for him when he comes, how happy and anxious we all are to finally meet him. Its just precious time I will always cherish. I know Sean will be such a loving and wonderful daddy. He already is <3

Daddy talks :)

I'll be 26 weeks in 2 days. Its going by so fast. I can't wait to have little Noah here.

Me in my ratty pj's showing my growing belly

Babies and Drugs don't mix!

It has been far too long since we have posted something on here. We have been preoccupied with a lot of things going on. Last night was a nice break. It was a lovely night filled with lazyness. We went to dinner and then just laid in bed watching netfilx. We quite enjoyed it though so I don't feel bad for the unproductiveness. So an update on what has been happening with the Howell's. We finally filled and sent our taxes in. It only took trying 3 times electronically and having it rejected and then just resorting to sending it via regular mail. We should get our refund in the next 2 weeks. I am of course incredibly  impatient and can not wait for it to come. We have a list of exactly what the money is going towards. We will have some put in savings, some to make an extra car payment, and the rest we are using to finish up Noah's room and baby proof the house.

Two weeks ago I went with my family to the zoo. Sadly Sean couldn't make it due to work. Lame! I know. The whole family went but we didn't get a picture with everyone. Its hard to get us all to stand still in one place for long, haha.

So the heading of the post has got to have you wondering....Well this is a very sad story to start out with but then it has a very happy ending so don't worry. On Wednesday the 20th I went to my mom's house to hang out while Sean went on a man date with Corey (my brother in law) to the hockey game. My mom was watching Cortney till Amanda got off work at 6:30pm. Mom and I decided to go to Costco and have Dad and Justin watch Cortney. While we were out Mom got the worst phone call. Dad told her to get home now and that Cortney had gotten to Justin's meds. Justin has Asperger’s Syndrome and has medication he has to take daily. We rushed home and saw a very scary scene. Amanda had rushed to the house and was in the middle of the street holding Cortney surrounded by the paramedics taking her vitals. Cortney was completely passed out. She was wide awake when Mom and I had left 20 min prior. Mom went into the house to count the pills in the pill box and see what was missing. Dad and Justin gave Cortney a priesthood blessing before putting her in the ambulance and going to the hospital. I stayed home with Justin to calm him down. The poor guy was beside himself saying it was his fault because it was his meds she got to. It was no ones fault. It was just something that happened that could have happened to anyone. It was a very scary next 2 days. We are very blessed and happy to say that Cortney is 100% better now and recovered. She got to leave the PICU Friday morning.  I had to let you know there was a happy ending first before just telling the story because when dealing with children and the possibility of death I like to get the good news out first.

Dad and Justin were in the living room and Cortney was going back and forth between the living room and the kitchen as she does every day. She tries to get into the dogs water and food and we say no she comes back in. It’s a cute little game for her. Well she didn’t come right back in like usual so dad told Justin to go get her. He found Cortney sitting on the floor with his med box beside her and the pills spread across the floor. He quickly grabbed out a pill that was still in her mouth and yelled for Dad. Then the other actions took place of calling mom and Amanda all of us coming home and rushing to the hospital. After counting the pills Mom discovered there were 5 pills missing. She had taken 2 Clonidine, 1 Zyprexa, and a vitamin E pill and Justin had grabbed out another Zyprexa. The vitamin E pill was nothing to worry about but the other two are very hard drugs. One is an anti-psychotic and the other is for ADD. We were told that common symptoms of overdose on those drugs were: Convulsions, Drowsiness, Coma, Decreased breathing, Cardiac Arrest, Loss of Life.  Cortney was admitted into Cardon’s Children Hospital in the PICU. She had a really low heartbeat, slow breathing and was unconscious for many hours. Then finally she started to wake up and would scream for a bit and then go back to sleep. This went on for the rest of that day. Thursday things started to look more positive. She pooped gross black stuff, (they gave her charcoal to bind everything up and prevent the drugs from absorbing anymore) , she woke up and stayed awake for an hour or two at a time, and she was eating and drinking. Her heartbeat got back up to normal and her breathing was normal too by the the end of the day. Needless to say it was a miracle and God watches over His little ones. Sean and I went to the hospital Thursday night and spent most of the night there with the family. Finally Friday morning Cortney was released from the hospital and got to go home. Amanda says that she is back to her normal smiling silly self. It was really tough for Amanda and Corey to see their little girl like that. Only 15 months old and going through all of that. Heavenly Father gave them the strength that they needed to get through. 

This is her the first day knocked out still. 

happy mama to have her baby girl finally wake up

Healthy, Happy and Home!

The lesson: No one can watch a baby at all times and things like this sometimes happen. We don’t like it and do everything we can to prevent tragic things from happening but even to the best of parents things happen. All we can do it be the best we can and have faith in God that when things happen He will take care of us. I am so grateful for the Priesthood and for the power it has. Also I am grateful for family and friends. We all came together when Amanda, Corey and Cortney needed us and we helped each other cope through it. I just love love <3