Friday, January 27, 2012

Is it Friday?

Why yes, yes it is!  I don't keep up with the days all that well other than to know when my oldest has school.  Since I don't work, I don't really keep any kind of special hours other than to accommodate other people -- aka, my kiddos and hubby.  Which all in all, is a good deal!  Well, for me.  I know a lot of people who wouldn't like this life, but for me, I dig it.  Really, it helps that with my hubby, for the most part, we have a very balanced relationship.  Many consider it 'old school' but it works for us.  You see, he's the breadwinner in the family and I'm the happy homemaker.  I use to work.  I managed a hair salon for a year or so and before that, I was JUST getting training to be a Dept. Head at Target.  So, we've both done the working thing.  And for us, it doesn't work.  After we had our first, we quickly adapted our budget to live on one income.  We don't make a lot of money, but so far, we've managed to make it work.  Being at home has been beneficial for us all.  I have been able to really find ways to save money and make smarter choices that have really helped.  And the truth is, our relationship is better.  When I was working (and many times, I worked longer hours than the hubbs) we fought.  A LOT.  I was too tired to cook at night and the house would go days without anything being done.  Then on weekends when we were off (if we were both off) we'd end up spending the majority of the weekend catching up on housework, bills, and errands.  It really started to damage our relationship.  And even when we tried setting it up to where each of us did certain things on certain days so that we didn't get so behind, it ate at our relationship.

By the time we had our oldest, I was pretty well done.  I didn't want to work.  I wanted to be at home.  I wanted to STOP worrying so much about things never being done and our relationship falling apart.  So, we made the decision to adapt our budget and live on less so I could be home.  And it worked.  And is working.  We may not go out to eat as much or we may not go shopping all the time, but when we do get time together its better.  We can work on projects we want to or just spend time together because the majority of the HAVE TO items are done.  I keep up on the laundry and dishes and housework so when the hubbs is off, he's off.  We're not making up for DAYS of nothing being done.  Although, does seem like we do a lot of remodeling!  LOL  Or projects.  But it's good.  And we make a good team.  I just feel like we are really balanced!  And that's coming over into our diets and lifestyles, too.  I'm getting better about supporting hubby's low carb and he's getting better about my low cal.  There for a while, I was making stuff for me and the kids and then he wouldn't have much to eat so I made a conscious effort to make him an extra veggie or something.  And he's finally getting better about adding up his lower carb fare to make sure it fits into my lower cals.  It really is coming down to a good balance.  I never really thought about how much a good partner in this journey would be.  But I have to ask, if you don't have a partner who is supportive and helps you to balance out just your food, diet, and lifestyle, then really, is that partner being beneficial to you or are you there for the wrong reasons?

Eh, not sure what got me off on that.... just something on my mind.  Ok, onwards and upwards!  My weight this AM was 192.5 again.  After that 194 yesterday, I was glad to see that but then I think man, I'm not going to have a loss this week!  I guess the 2lbs. last week was too much to ask for two weeks in a row!  LOL  But I'd say a large part of it has been I've been busy and then had bum issues.  But that seems to be straight now thank goodness!  I just hope it doesn't happen again.  It was ANNOYING to say the least.  And I'm somewhat taking it easy today since my parents will be here tomorrow and then we have date night.  And since I've run around so much the last few days, I don't want to wear myself out too much today.  I am going to do a bit of housework, but other than that, I am going to have a somewhat easy day.  OH!  And I DID workout yesterday!  That's 2 days this week!  And I am thinking I may do it again here in just a bit.  :)  I figure I might as well.  It's not like it's over the top hard or anything.  But I'll tell you, my chest and abs are feeling it today!  I think I may up the leg work since I'm not feeling much of anything on those except maybe the last two reps.  Just feels too easy.  Still struggling with the ab work but right where I should be on upper body.  So, some tweaks and we'll see how it goes today and the next few workouts.  What's weird is my thighs already look a bit different... it may be in my head, but that's fine!  It's just that looking at them last night, they seemed a bit smoother.  Which could be an illusion from swelling from getting back to working out.  But oh well... makes me feel good for now!  Oh, and I added in some stretching.

Diet wise, I feel like I'm doing ok.  We have a lot of leftovers in the house right now that need to be eaten or they are going to go bad.  I think I will eat some for lunch and we may even do the same for dinner.  I know the hubbs won't be happy with that, but I hate to waste food.  We were going to last night, but he said he just wasn't in the mood.  I'm sure he won't be today, either, but I am not going to waste perfectly good food if I can help it.  I don't mind to throw away a bit of food here and there, but only if it wasn't something we could use.  Most things I can find a use for!  So, we will see how that goes.  I may take part of it and make the dogs a fresh dinner.  They haven't had that in a while, so I think they would really enjoy that.  And since it's some leftover lean meat and veggies... yeah... healthy for them, too!

Well, it's getting on in the day so I need to bring this to an end and get to it.  I need to do a couple of things and then workout.  Plus, I hear youngest banging around so I need to go check on him and see what he is doing.  Busy busy.  Hope everyone has a great weekend starting..... NOW!  :D

4 comments:

  1. If my husband and I had kids,and it were financially viable,I would totally be a homemaker,ever since I was a kid that's really all I wanted to be. However,I highly doubt when we have kids,that we would financially be able to swing it. It will be hard enough if I was on mat leave. Since in Canada you get a year off but only get paid for 50-60% of your earnings. It will probably be a little rough that year,if we ever have a child. We're working on it! Haha I think stay at home moms are fabulous. My mom was a stay at home mom,I think that is why we are relatively well adjusted kids!

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  2. LOL What's funny is my Mom was a working Mom. She worked crazy hours and still managed to keep everything together. Which is part of the reason why I think now she has no desire to do anything. Now that she CAN be lazy, she takes advantage! It can be hard at times on one income, but the trick for us was to pay off every debt and then not take on any new we didn't have to. We sorta broke that rule getting a new car, but in my mind, we were coming to a crossroads with our old one where upkeep and maintenance were more than the car was worth. I hated to do it, but we did and so far, so good. We had saved up money and kept some money we'd gotten for other things so that helped. And then every week we put a little away for emergencies. Sounds so easy, huh? But its not! But we just kept at it and so far, so good. I wouldn't care to go back to work if I had to, but I sure hope I don't have to!

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  3. Yea I understand that! Right now were looking for a house. We rent right now which we HATE our landlord is moving into the basement next month and he's a drug dealer.... So we're looking hard to get outta there! I don't really want to be implicated if something goes down with his drug deals one day! Not my idea of feeling safe and secure lol we're pretty good with our money. Maybe by the time we have kids the husband will be making more money. He's also getting a company vehicle which will save us about 500$ a month. So we will probably put that money aside into savings if we're smart. Lol

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  4. I think different things work for different families, and you two seem to have found what works for you. Having more money isn't worth it if your relationship is strained and you feel unhappy. Heck with that!
    I know that when I have kids I will want to work out of my home, and keep the hours lower. I don't want a messy stressy house; I want a happy home!

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