Happy New Year!

In the hopes of not turning this into a self-help blog I haven't been posting much lately. As many of you may (or may not) know I am trying to make changes in my life. They all seemed to come to a head in the month of December, and pretty much everything I had to talk about had to do with them... so I spared you all the boring details. I decided that I blog for me and not for the benefit of anyone reading it (something I have known all along)and this is New Years Day, so here are all the boring details I spared you of.

The areas I am trying to change are:
House
Decluttering- It seems I have been "decluttering" for all of my damn adult life. I swear to god a box leaves my house for Goodwill at least once a week. (Where does it all come from????)I was about to give up when my SIL mentioned that she has really noticed a difference. I realized exactly where it came from. Short version- My dad died when I was 16. A year later, I moved out, into an apartment with Marty. My mom gave us everything she had, because she wanted to get rid of anything that reminded her of my dad. Add that to the fact that my dad was a huge, hugepack rat (stemmed from growing up dirt poor), crap my grandma gave us, Marty's family gave us... well, it was a lot of stuff. All dumped on me. We are almost done with it. Seriously. If our house were *normal* size and not so darn small, our house wouldn't be cluttered at all.

Health
I don't take care of myself at all. Not even remotely. I almost died because I was too stupid to go to the hospital when I had severe stomach cramps. Ended up having emergency surgery less than 24 hours later.
I have recently found out that there is a 99.9% chance I have a pretty crappy "thing" to deal with. It won't kill me, but will make my life crap if I don't control my diet and get into shape. That is why I try so hard to do the McDougall thing. Not because I don't like meat and dairy (believe me... I could live off of it) but because meat and dairy tear me up inside. Makes me feel like I would be better off dead. I haven't had any meat and very little dairy in 7 days and feel 95% better.
Since moving to Michigan I have gained 50 or so lbs. I was probably about 40lbs overweight to begin with, so you can imaging what I am facing. My goal is to lose 100 lbs. I don't care how long it takes... I have to do it.

Finances
Marty and I have been coasting through life financially ignorant. If we have it, we spend it. I really think it stems from years of not having any extra money. There were many, many months of his pay check being just enough to cover the mortgage, and thank god I worked or we wouldn't have food and utilities. Been there, done that, bought the shirt, and never going back.
I opened a checking account, have a "baby emergency fund," and will be starting a debt snowball with Marty's next pay check. We will be debt free in either July or December (depending on whether or not we decide to buy a newer van. We will pay cash for it.) We will then begin saving our larger emergency fund (3-6 months living expenses) and then for a house. We plan to buy using the 100% down plan.
We have a zero based budget, have started a will and are looking into life insurance above and beyond what Marty gets through work.

School
Not really much different there, other than we are now a guilt-free homeschool.
I have always put myself through a guilt trip if we take time off of school. (I have even been known to take school work on vacation with us.) I know there are people out there who think we do nothing all day (believe me... I have been told by a few people some of the things that have been said about me) and that my kids are not taught at all. To that all I have to say is... Well, I won't say. All I will say is that I have stopped caring what other people think of me. The people that I care what they think know who they are (at least they should!) and that's all that matters, right?

NO MORE GUILT!!! I tested Christian using a couple of different tests (some online, some not) and he tested right where he should be. Some things he was higher, some a little lower (science) but over all, right where he should be.
We have always schooled from January to December... we pulled them out of government school in October, took until January to deschool and have just always stuck with that schedule. So far what we are using with Alex and Ethan is working great, so no real changes there. I realized that I am not expecting enough from Christian, so we are changing a few things. Here is what his curriculum list looks like. The things in the horribly bright green that probably makes you want to gouge your eyes out are things we are currently using that we won't change.

English
Resources to have on hand

Strunk & White's The Elements of Style
The Merriam Webster Dictionary
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of Synonyms & Antonyms
The American Heritage College Dictionary
Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary

Literature

Stink Alley By: Jamie Gilson
Stout-Hearted Seven By: Neta Lohnes Frazier
Wait for Me, Watch for Me, Eula Bee By: Patricia Beatty
Amos Fortune, Free Man By: Elizabeth Yates
Patty Reed's Doll- The Story of the Donner Party By: Rachel K. Laurgaard
Indian Captive- The Story of Mary Jemison- By: Lois Lenski
A Gathering of Days- By: Joan W. Blos
The Landing of the Pilgrims By: James Daugherty

Spelling

Sequential Spelling

Grammar and Composition

Elements of Language

Vocabulary

Jensen’s Vocabulary

Math

Basic College Mathematics (Lial)

History

A History of Us
Critical Thinking in US History Book 1
Critical Thinking in US History Book 2

Health

ABeka

Art

Artistic Pursuits Junior High Book 1

Science

Apologia- General Science

Latin

Artes Latinae

Physical Education

????? Haven't decided. Maybe a class somewhere? Right now we just do exercise programs that are on "On Demand."

Typing

JumpStart Typing

Logic

The Fallacy Detective
Critical Thinking Book 1

Well, there is my self help blog. Here is my resolution for a complaint-free (or at least complaint-light) Blog for the new year! We will now return to our regularly scheduled blogging.