Money Saving!

This is my excited face. Why? I’m down another pound this week!!! Yay!! And I’m kind of proud of why.
If you’ve ever spent much time with Josh and I, you’ll know that we love to eat out. And in Greenville, where there are more restaurants than people, there’s almost no end of options. This wasn’t too much of a problem when we were both working but lately it’s been affecting our budget (and our waistlines). Every month we’d sit down to make the budget and say things like “we’ll eat at home more” or “we’ll eat out less” and then we’d get paid and blow through the restaurants budget in the first two weeks and struggle through the last two. This month we finally, FINALLY did something different. We decided what meals could be out meals and set a price limit for them. For us, that’s Tuesday lunch, Friday night pizza and one meal on Sunday (typically lunch).I looked at our budget app today and it’s the most”on track”it’s been in a long time! Not to mention we’re eating far fewer French fries this way which means more weight lost. 

Three times a week probably still seems like a lot to some, but considering there were weeks where we ate out 6 or 7 times (sometimes more) I’d say we’ve done a pretty good job cutting it in half. 

In other news, we’ve not done much this summer. May and June are always busy months with birthdays, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and various anniversaries in our family so it’s been nice to not really have any plans. We’ve been trying to keep cool because it is HOT in the south in July. All spring I sing North Carolina’s praises and am so glad I moved. Then July hits and it’s 90°with 85% humidity at 5:30 this morning and I think I’ve accidentally moved to Vietnam in my sleep. Judah has taken awhile but I think has finally warmed up to swimming in the pool. I put off getting him a puddle jumper in the hopes that we would be moving but I finally caved and used a gift card I had leftover from my birthday. In that vein, Dick’s wanted to charge me 26.99 for the same one that Target charged 18.99. I asked if they price matched and they do! So it never hurts to check.

It’s also consignment sale time and I was able to get a great deal on a train table for Judah (only $15!) at a sale in Raleigh this week. I learned something there though. Thomas is the sovereign emperor of toddler world. Seriously. The amount of money the Thomas brand costs is astronomical, even used! And I’m all for throwing in an off brand that’s a third the price but Judah really does appreciate the difference.

Judah’s reaction to the IKEA train set: “vroom. Vroom.” Walks away

Reaction to anything Thomas: “Choo Choo! Choo Choo!” Plays for hours.

Whatever corporate America, you’ve bought my child.

$10 for USED Thomas. Judah got Toby. Poor Toby was only $5

In August we’ve got Josh’s cousin’s wedding which we are very excited about. Almost as much as we are about the Harry Potter book release party at B&N this weekend. Almost. 😊

A Conversation I Really Need to Have

With the recent murders of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, I find myself burdened and confused. There are two cops in my family, more in my circle of friends, and even more wives of cops that I know. My instinct when police brutality stories break is to sympathize with the police, to question what other circumstances led to the violence. I know this is because I am a white, middle class, woman who has never had reason or occasion to question those in authority.  In thinking through this post, I realized that I don’t have any friends of color, or even close acquaintances.

Hmm.

So scrolling through Facebook this afternoon I found myself getting angry. Angry at my friends who, like me previously, negate the injustice wreaked disproportionately against black people in this country by saying things like:

“I was taught to treat cops with respect”

“Why was he resisting arrest?”

“I got pulled over yesterday and nothing happened to me because I didn’t feel the need to video the stop.”

 

These statements imply that it was somehow the victim’s fault for being shot. As I mentioned, I know more cops than people of color. I understand that their job is incredibly difficult. I even understand that part of that difficulty is remaining compassionate and caring when daily you are confronted with the worst parts of society. This discussion often turns into a “cops vs. ‘criminals'” debate where nobody wins.

There’s my burden, here’s my confusion: what do I do? As a Christian, I feel called to stand up against injustice but I don’t know what that means. I feel like a hypocrite for tweeting #blacklivesmatter and yet I don’t want to stand on the sidelines and pretend that it isn’t a thing.