A Time to Cut Back: More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About Our Finances

Patrick and I have really buckled down on our finances.  Our house mania a couple of months ago (which, by the way, has since subsided) forced us to take a really close look at our cash flow.  See, we thought we were managing our money well, but when we actually sat down and crunched numbers, we were surprised to see a much larger margin between our income and necessary outgo than we expected.  At first, in the midst of our I-want-a-bigger-better-house-and-I-want-it-now mentality, that was an exciting find.  It meant we could afford a larger monthly payment, right?  WRONG. 

We realized that we had been just blowing through our margin each month, not decreasing debt or increasing savings AT ALL.  Then, after much time spent in denial, followed by about a week of non-verbalized but simultaneous doubt about whether we should move forward in our plans to "move up" in housing right now, we finally admitted to each other that we need to get our finances in order before committing ourselves to a larger monthly payment.

Since that time, we've (finally) paid off the hospital where Madison was born and started saving to pay off our last old, bad debt.  And when I say "bad", I mean "don't drive through Wichita Falls or you'll go to jail" kind of bad.  It turns out that it's not a good idea to throw away your traffic ticket and forget about it; eventually, they'll remind you, probably right around the time you renew your license.  Oops.  So, yeah, we're about two months out from being debt free(excluding our mortgage).

Our basic blueprint for our finances is Dave Ramsey's Baby Step Program.  If you've never heard of Dave Ramsey, well, crawl out from under the rock you've been living under for the last seven years and go check him out.  He is, admittedly, extreme in his financial views, and for good reason.  He became a millionaire in his twenties, lost it all and some(largely because of the risks he took with credit), then started over, building more wealth than ever, without using debt.  He is a firm believer that "the borrower is slave to the lender", and now so are we.

By our estimate, it will take us until the end of the year to finish Baby Step 3 (fully funding our three month emergency fund).  Until then, we are operating on an extremely limited budget.  There is a little wiggle room; Patrick and I each get $2.50 discretionary spending for each paycheck.  I've got my eye on a pretty sweet bookmark, and if I can talk them down a little, it just might fit in the budget!  I'll be sure to share the deets with you as soon as I close on the deal.

But seriously, you can expect to see some posts on saving money pretty soon.  A few areas of concern right now:

• Home decor
• Madison's Birthday Party
• Groceries
• Madison's Birthday Party
• Clothing
• Madison's Birthday Party

I feel like I'm leaving something out.  Oh yeah, Madison's first birthday party!  Pinterest, here I come.

So you're all caught up on the goings on over here at the Philpot abode.  What have you been up to lately?
-Kelli

(A Very Late) Weekend in Review, Part Two

Our weekend was so busy that even after breaking it down into two parts, this will be a long post.  Unless your name is Grandma or Nana, I give you permission to stop reading here.  If your name is Grandma or Nana, you don't have to read the whole thing, but you should probably scroll through the pictures. :)

After Pat woke up, it was time to head to the pumpkin patch!  We chose this patch because we didn't want to go very far, and this is the only one we knew about within a fifteen minute drive.  A local Methodist church runs this one.  It's not very big, but they have a few cute little photo op vignettes.  Or whatever you call them.  The problem with those little set ups was that they were in full sun!  Not good for my little pasty-faced baby.  We clung tightly to the shade of the only tree in sight.  Unfortunately, this tree was in the parking lot.  I think we'll try again this weekend, but this time we'll go earlier in the morning or later in the evening.

I'll always think of this one as the picture that could have been.  Patrick hates when I put big bows on her, so to compromise, we took half the pics without her bow.  If she had her bow on and the image wasn't so dang fuzzy, I would totally frame this one.  Dadgummit.  (Whoa, when you type dadgummit, spell check highlights it.  The suggested alternative is not a very nice word!)

 We, by pure dumb luck, were at the pumpkin patch at the same time as some sweet friends from our Sunday School class.  They were kind enough to take a family picture for us.  Unfortunately, I hadn't planned to be in front of the camera.  Oh, well.  That's life!

 When we brought our pumpkin to the little tent they had set up for the volunteers, those sweet friends tried to run us off!  They were in the process of buying our pumpkin for us.  Then the man-friend (Joe, actually, but I think man-friend sounds funnier) proceeded to grab the pumpkin from me and carry it to our car.  Some people are just too nice.

We got home around two in the afternoon, which meant we needed to leave right away for our niece's princess themed birthday party.  Of course, "right away" doesn't happen very often with a four-month-old.

Since all the girls at the party were going to be dressed as princesses, I wanted Madison to do the same.  I picked out one of her "fancy" dresses.  She looked like a little flower girl!  An hour later, as we were finally walking out the door, Pat asked me one last time: "Are you sure she should wear that dress all the way there?"  I replied, for probably the sixth time in five minutes, that she would be just fine.  Not so much.  Before we turned off of our street, she screamed.  I bet they heard her at the party (which had been under way for five minutes at this point)!

 I pulled over, raced to get to the backseat, and ripped the little red faced cotton ball out of her car seat.  With Pat's help, I (still on the side of the road) pulled off her dress and changed her into a onesie.  Patrick threw the dress so far into the back of the car that when I opened the back hatch the next day, it fell out.  He was gracious enough not to say "I told you so".  Thanks for that, honey!

We only stayed at the party for about thirty minutes, but it was long enough for Madison to:

Say "Hello" to Princess Jenna,

stop and smell the roses unidentified but pretty yellow flowers,

watch the big kids play on the blow up obstacle course,

and plot her escape from Cinderella.

 We got home with just enough time to clean our house before a few friends came over to help Pat belatedly celebrate his birthday.  I baked that yellow cake, which wasn't cooled, iced, and ready to slice until about an hour and a half after everyone got there.  Instead of frosting from a can, I decided to whip up some butter cream.  I used the recipe from the same blog that gave me the chocolate butter cream recipe.  And something was WAAAAYYYY off.  The recipe called for 3 or 4 cups of powdered sugar.  We ended up using about ten (we lost count), and it was still too loose.  We only stopped at ten because we ran out of powdered sugar!

Runny icing aside, the cake was delicious.  It was gone before the last guest left (meaning at least three people had two slices!)  Having friends over at night is so nice.  With Madison down for the night, Pat and I are free to just have fun and relax.

To cap off the weekend, the Texans demolished the Oilers Titans!

Good times.
-Kelli

How Many Paper Towels Does it Take?

 As I mentioned in yesterday's post, tomorrow will be Pat's 27th birthday.  And yes, I did just now have to add it up again to be sure.  Too bad I can't blame it on my pregnancy anymore.  I can't even blame lack of sleep; Madison was down for over 13 hours last night!

In honor of his impending birthday, I made him his (almost) traditional birthday cake on Sunday.  Every year growing up, his mom made him chocolate cake with chocolate icing and candy pumpkins on top.  So on the years that I've remembered/been brave enough to try baking, I've tried to do the same.  All the other times I just picked the most appealing Betty Crocker mix, but thanks to my new housewife status, I figured now was as good a time as any to try making it from scratch.

I had gained a little confidence after baking this yellow cake last month, so I went to my standard destination for new recipes, Allrecipes.com.  Side note:  I know I plug them a lot.  I get nothing from it, I just like that they have a bazillion recipes with tons of reviews and they're free!  Anyway, that's where I found a recipe I was super excited about: Black Magic Cake!

The Black Magic Cake called for:

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup strong brewed coffee
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Two notes: First, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I do not measure the smaller quantities.  I just kind of guesstimate.  (Is anyone more surprised than me that spell check didn't flag "guesstimate"?)  Second, when I don't have an ingredient that's called for and I don't feel like packing up the hundred pounds of baby gear required for a fifteen minute expedition to the store, I just use the item in my pantry that most closely resembles the needed ingredient.  In this case, I used olive oil instead of vegetable oil.  It's better for you, anyway!

I combined the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt:

I made a well in the center:

 Then added the eggs, coffee, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla.

 Then, according to the recipe, I was supposed to beat it using a soft paddle attachment on medium speed for two minutes.  Instead, I beat (beated? bate?) it by hand for probably five minutes.  It was very thin, so it wasn't too tiring.

I believe this was the point at which, after eating a few spoonfuls, I suggested that it might be a good idea to pour it over ice cream.  What I really wanted to do was just eat it like soup, but I was too ashamed to admit that in front of my husband.  In person, anyway.  I guess he'll know now.

Then I baked (half of) it in a 9" cake pan at 350 degrees for 24 minutes.  The recipe called for 30-40; my oven is a beast.  After baking the other half (I only have one cake pan, I'm waiting to see if I like this whole baking thing before buying any supplies), my mom invited us for some chicken gumbo leftovers.  We were starving and desperately wanted to go.  One problem:  we have sugar ants.  I didn't want to leave the cakes out unattended for any period of time.

Patrick, who, surprise, surprise, was being sarcastic (see what I did there?), suggested that I surround the cakes in dish soap to keep any ants from getting to them.  Then he stared at me in shock as I poured green apple dish soap onto the counter.  That stuff smells good!  Which got me to thinking:  what if this wonderful smell soaks into the cake?  So after covering one layer with foil and the other with a lid, we headed over to my mom's for some delicious gumbo.  Mmmm.  Mom, if you're reading this and you have any leftovers left over (ha ha), send them my way!

 Thus ends part one of this gripping tale.  Tune in next time for the jaw-dropping conclusion!

Do you have to use your fingers to remember your (or your spouse's) age?  Have you ever regretted the loss of that universally acceptable excuse, "It's just because I'm pregnant"?  Is beat really the past tense of beat?  How many paper towels do you think it took me to get the dish soap off the counter? 

-Kelli

What a Difference One Year Can Make!

Every October, for at least as long as I've been with Patrick (nine years now, for those counting), the Philpot family has thrown one big birthday party for the whole family.  As the next generation of Philpots (and Moshers) has come along, each year has gotten more fun, so I was really excited to bring Madison to her first big birthday bash.

Pat and I actually found out we were pregnant  just a few days before last year's party.  We had decided to try to wait three months to tell anyone, first to be sure everything was okay, but mostly just to give ourselves time to adjust and have answers to the inevitable questions.  Here's the thing: Pat and I are terrible liars, which pretty much equates to being terrible secret-keepers, too. 

Patrick was soooo overprotective.  He hovered over me the ENTIRE party, asking me every fifteen minutes if I would like some more water.  When someone offered me a Dr. Pepper, he practically jumped over himself so he could make eye contact with me and remind me why I shouldn't have one.  As if I could forget!  Side note: yes, we did know that it's perfectly okay to have a moderate level of caffeine.  Unfortunately, as I was am a caffeine addict, we knew that "moderate consumption" wasn't a realistic expectation.  Therefore I gave it up cold turkey.  Yay for withdrawal headaches on top of morning (and afternoon, and evening) sickness.  When it was time for the main attraction, the tire swing, Pat almost had an aneurism when I climbed on.  He insisted on being the only one to push me, and I think I moved about a foot and a half in either direction.  Here's a shot from last year:

It's amazing how much can change in a year's time.  Of course, Pat was still a little overprotective of Madison, (as if I wasn't, too) but it seemed like everything else was different. 

For starters, we brought so much stuff that if we had added one more toy or apparatus, we would have needed to rent a trailer.  I should have taken a picture of the Explorer loaded down.  Ridiculous! 

Also, I actually brought something that I baked this year!  By myself!  Without the help of Betty Crocker (confession: we were always too cheap for Betty Crocker.  It would have been Great Value or nothing!)  I'll post later this week about my new favorite chocolate cookies. 

Finally, I took pictures!  Before Madison came along, I never understood all the fuss about taking pictures all of the time; I figured you could enjoy the moment more if there wasn't a camera in your face.  As a matter of fact, I stole that first picture of me and Pat from my sister-in-law's facebook page.  Thanks, Becky!  Now, I get panicky when I think I'm going to miss that Kodak (or Olympus, as the case may be) moment.

Now that I've bored you to tears, let me make up for it by sharing some pictures of Madison and friends. 

Enjoying some quality time with Grandma!

I always knew she was a rock star!

Madison's sweet cousin, Hannah

This picture made me look twice.  She's held securely, I promise!

Lila is Madison's ten month old cousin.  She was so much fun to watch on Saturday!  And isn't she beautiful?

The look on her face:  "What is Grandma doing on that old tire?"

My best picture of Grandma with the kiddos.  Becky, Christie, I hope you got one where everyone is looking up?

Ditto with Grandpa.  Notice that Madison found a new chew toy. 

This was way too much excitement for one day!

Ha ha ha ha...Matt: "What do I do with my hands?"

Madison's favorite new trick: "Hoo-ing" like an owl.  I love it!

What has changed for you in the last year?  Do you have a new baby, house, spouse, or job?  (hopefully not in that order :P )

-Kelli

Piece of Cake!

I'm one step closer to one of my goals!   Remember that trip to Walmart we took Friday?  Well, I wasn't really just going for milk and spray paint, I just didn't want to spoil the big surprise:  I baked a cake!  (Almost) From scratch!  And it was edible really good!

First, I hopped on over to Allrecipes.com , which is also where I found my red beans and rice recipe, to look for an easy-looking recipe.  I scanned a few of them, but there were too many ingredients and steps!  Color me intimidated.  Finally, I searched for "basic yellow cake", and picked the first recipe on the list, "Scottley's Basic Yellow Cake."

I read over the ingredients list: pretty basic stuff.

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 2/3 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups sifted cake flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/3 cups milk

Here's the part where I realized how little we actually use our kitchen:  out of the eight ingredients, we only had two on hand (vanilla and salt), and one of those (salt) was purchased just a week before.  Of course, we do typically have milk, but I had drained the last of it into my raisin bran that morning.

After googling a few things (like how to soften butter, cream butter and sugar, and what exactly "just until incorporated" looks like) and buying my ingredients (along with a cake pan and sifter), I was ready to get started!

I started by leaving the butter margarine (I know, I'm terrible) out for a little while to soften.  After about twenty minutes, I mashed it around a little:

 And saw that we were ready to go!  I added my sugar and creamed them together until they looked sort of like my mom's mashed potatoes:

 After tasting (and promptly spitting out) a bite, I beat in the eggs:

 Then I sifted together the flour, salt, and baking powder (top right) and measured out the milk (bottom, duh):

 Side note: is sifting flour supposed to make your wrists sore for two days, am I a sissy, or did I buy a too cheap sifter? 

Anyway, here is the batter all mixed and ready to go:

 Remember how I said I bought "a cake pan"?  That's exactly what I meant.  I bought one cake pan, even though I knew I planned to make two layers.  Why waste $2.50, right?  So I poured out the first half and stuck it in the oven, then covered the rest of the batter:

 After baking both layers for about thirty minutes at 350 degrees, then letting them cool, I brought out my secret ingredient:

 Mmmmm, butter cream.  Sadly, I had to use the whole can on the cake.  There was none left over for mindless gnoshing in front of the tv. :-(

After letting Madison decorate the top with colored sugar (okay, it was me, they were supposed to be leaves, move on already!), I was done!

I'll admit it doesn't look all that great, but it tasted pretty heavenly.  As a matter of fact, as of about noon-thirty yesterday, it's GONE!

I'm pretty excited; my first attempt turned out pretty well!  Pat even asked me to make this instead of his typical (box) chocolate on chocolate cake for his birthday!  We'll see about that...I kind of hate to break tradition.

Have you done any baking lately?  Am I the only female over twenty that had no idea how to soften butter?  Do you blame your kids when your attempts at cake bedazzling go awry?

-Kelli

Ready for a Good Laugh?

I hope you are, because I decided to share with you guys how I'm doing with my goals.  And it ain't pretty. 

Goals for 6.22.12 (Madison's first birthday)
-Have 15 meals that work for our family- We're at five.  That's two more than we had last month.  Last month we had ten months to add twelve meals.  We added two in a month, so we're ahead of schedule!!  Yay for me.
-Throw a birthday party for Madison at our house without crying the night before because I'm mortified for anyone to see the house as-is and feel proud to show what we have done with it.- In the last month, I've added a side table to Madi's room, finished painting the dining room table, hung some art on Madi's wall, and torn our bathroom and our front door trim (more on that later) apart.  At this rate, I'll never have it done in time.  It's time to get my bottom (I'm trying to make this word part of my vocabulary; I'm not a fan of Madison saying "butt" anytime soon) in gear!
-Get dressed every day(you just think I'm exaggerating)- Moving on...
-Look in the mirror EVERY time I leave the house and/or have company. (I figure if I'm gonna submit everyone else to the view, I ought to at least get a taste myself)- This one made me laugh out loud.  Here's a shot of the only mirror in our house.  It has been here for two weeks.  I could pass myself on the street and never know it.  You know, if I could be in two places at once.

Sad side note: this picture was taken two weeks ago.  Half of that laundry is still on the bed.  The other half only moved off of the bed because we used it!

 -Bake Madison's birthday (cup)cake(s)- No progress.  I should probably at least learn how to turn on the oven soon...
-DIY something fun to give friends & fam for Christmas...Being cheap shouldn't equal being a scrooge!- We actually are kind of excited about this one, but since friends & family (are the only ones who) read this mamma-jamma, I can't share anything with you until after the fact.  Sorry!
-Find a way to serve God while being a good wife and mother.  Whoa, I don't know if I've ever called myself a "mother" before.  Crazy! - My plan of attack on this one was to work on the "while being a good wife and mother" before adding in the serving God part.  Lately I've been thinking I should rethink my strategy; I'll probably fail at being a good wife and mother anytime I put that ahead of God's will for me.  Hmmm.
-Be a good friend.  Answer the phone.  Maybe even initiate conversations, sometimes!  Listen.  Help.- Ouch.  Some of you know how badly I'm doing with this one.  You know who you are.  Thank you for putting up with me! 
-To live by Philippians 4:8-"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."- I think I've done pretty well on this, only because Madison is #1 on my mind most of the time.  And she is pure, lovely, and excellent, if I do say so myself.  She also most definitely makes me think about how worthy of praise our God is.

Tell me what you think!  Are you working on any goals right now?  Have you ever gone two weeks without looking at yourself in a mirror (other than the one on the car visor)?  Do you feel like giving me some baking lessons?  For free?  Does your folded laundry ever hang out for weeks just because you hate that final step of putting it where it belongs?  What words (other than the ones that require asterisks to spell) are off limits for your kids?

-Kelli

House Tour: The Bathroom

G'day mates, en wilcum to th' thud instollmen' of ah ha'as tuh.  Yeah, I never was any good at accents.  Anyway, if you missed the first two rooms, you should go check out the living room and the kitchen.

This is our bathroom as it is today:

 Okay, so technically this was our bathroom yesterday morning.  Today the toilet paper roll is almost empty, there are toothpaste splatters on the faucet, Pat's dirty work clothes are on the floor, and my contact case, solution, and glasses case are out on the counter next to the without-a-lid toothpaste tube.  Maybe I should be cleaning the bathroom instead of writing a blog post about it.  Oh well.

Let's play a game...I'll show you some detail shots of the bathroom, and you can see if you can spot all the things we plan to change before Madison's first birthday party.  I'll start with some easy ones for you!

This is where they start getting a little tricky:

Did you get them all?  Let's compare:
- Put a faceplate on the switch- I'm sure you're thinking we're super lazy for not doing something that easy when we already have the plates laying around.  But here's the thing: we are actually going to have to cut the plate on the right side to fit next to the cabinet.  So it's not that easy.  But yes, that probably does still qualify us as lazy.
- Touch up paint- I really hope you didn't miss that one.  Even if you didn't miss it, don't pat yourself on the back too soon; there are two or three more things in the second pic that we'd like to change!
- Change shower rod- I'd like to get one of those curvy numbers that makes the shower feel bigger, but they're pricey!  Time for some bargain hunting...
- Get new shower curtain- We've had this curtain since we got married 5.5 6.5 years ago.  Oops!  I had to do math to figure out how long we have been married.  Don't feel too bad, Pat-I have to do the same thing with my age now.  Anyway, the shower curtain has served us well, but I think it might be time for an upgrade.  Especially when you consider that our lovely "professional" painters used it as a drop cloth(!!!) while we weren't looking.  More on them later.
-  Replace shower surround- This is not a huge priority.  It's in okay condition, and it's neutral, but it's just so cheap looking!  We'll see.
- Replace Nixon-era ceiling mounted space heater thingy- First of all, this is, in my opinion, a huge fire hazard.  Every once in a while the switch for this, which is kind of on top of the counter, accidentally gets flipped, resulting in a burnt dust odor.  Second of all, it's ugly, and it's got to go.
- Upgrade switch/plug to GFCI
- Repaint the ceiling- Remember those "professional" painters I mentioned earlier?  Well, take a look at the second picture from the bottom.  Do you see the bright white streak by the air conditioning vent?  That, my friends, is semi-gloss trim paint.  Apparently our not-too-bright painters couldn't tell the difference between our too-bright trim paint and our just-right ceiling paint.  You would think it would have helped that the ceiling paint started out purple when you applied it...shouldn't the lack of purple have been a red flag during their touch-up?
- Install towel bar-  That sounds kind of funny - is it towel rod? 
- Replace vanity light
- Rip out trim/shelf between the cabinets- at first I typed RIP, which also works.  
- Replace mirror
- Add accessories/art
- Install quarter round trim on the floorboards
- Replace toilet seat- Right now we've got an oval toilet seat with a round toilet.  Not pretty.
- Upgrade faucets
- Trim the wand for the blinds to fit the window

And that is all I can think of for now!  I'm curious, what else did you guys think of that we need to change?  What did you leave off?  Has anyone else had a horrible experience with "professional" painters?

Come on, throw me a bone, or better yet, a comment!

-Kelli

House Tour: The Kitchen

Sooo, this is by far the most unfinished room in the house.  I sat and stared at the monitor for like five minutes before I even knew where to begin with describing it.  I think my best bet is to just let the pictures speak for themselves:

!!!

 Now, remember, our goal is to have this done before Madison graduates from medical school before Madison's first birthday.  Phew!  That's a little overwhelming for this mama!  So here's what we've got on the list so far:

-Replace flooring- I know you're probably thinking we're crazy to want to change something that's already so beautiful, and in such good condition.  Okay, even I can't deal with sarcasm that thick.  I can't WAIT to get rid of it!!!
-Replace countertops/backsplash- This is another project that has been put off until Patrick and I can agree on the best way to attack it.  But don't worry, I can smell the victory...it won't be long!
-Repaint the stovetop- Yes, you read correctly.  I used "paint" and "stove" in the same sentence.  And yes, by using the prefix "re", I did indicate that we have tried and failed to accomplish said stove painting before.  Here's hoping I'm less crazy than I look sound.
-Paint (or replace?) vent hood- I'm keeping my eyes peeled (eww) for a CHEAP replacement.  But are we ready and willing to paint that old sucker if it comes right down to it?  Yessirree, Bob!
-Paint refrigerator
-Install island
-Buy/make barstools
-Paint base of table
-Build window seat- After de-kennel training Bella, that is!
-Install recessed light over sink
-Find shallow drawer pulls
-Finish painting trim (including column)
-Touch up paint
-Upgrade electrical switches and outlets to GFCI
-Find/DIY art for wall behind table
-Stencil or otherwise decorate the soffit.


What do you think?  Can you think of anything else we should add to the list?  Have you ever had the joy of removing a floor that was this ugly?  Do you have suggestions for how to paint a stovetop without it becoming toxic or having the paint peel?  Would you like to join us in flinging harsh (but true) insults at the floor and the people who actually paid money to put it in their house?

Share one and share all!
-Kelli

P.S. If you missed the living room tour, check it out here