I can relate...

I just read this post on The Simple Dollar blog.

I say I can relate due to many reasons:

#1 I've been under a ton of debt before and it sucks the life out of you.
#2 I've felt aimless and goal-less at times.
#3 I've thought about goals and not moved in any direction to obtain them.
#4 I've sought out joy in joyless tasks.

Lately though, I've realized that I am finally feeling more positive, more calm.

#1 We're making progress toward our (attainable) goal of eliminating debt.
#2 I feel that I'm closer to identifying my true goals and I'm taking steps (even small ones count) toward those goals; writing on the blog more, exercising, etc.
#3 I'm able to include happy tasks into my life; walking the dogs, cooking a meal, etc. and enjoy them instead of viewing them as chores.

I think the point of Trent's post is to show that if you aimlessly muddle through life then nothing you want will ever get done, nothing will be meaningful and you'll just wonder why. However, if you CHOSE to make a change then you can change your life. One small change may be all that it takes.

We had a class in college called Managerial Readings, and in that class we covered a book called The Success Principles by Jack Canfield. One of the most personally empowering things I learned from that book was to simply ASK for what you want. You can't assume that people will step up and give you what you need. How do they even know? Are they psychic? I can personally attest that this simple tool worked for me. I simply asked for something at work and it happened with minimal effort, cajoling, etc.

I CHOSE to ASK. That, quite simply, made all the difference. Just one small change in the way I approached the situation was all that it took.

What change can you make today?

Senioritis...

I was talking to our friend Kurtis about how angry we've been lately. Angry that is, when it comes to going to evening classes for our Business Management degree, or studying, or working on projects. Fits of anger overtake us and spill into other areas of our life. We wake up grumpy, shout at the other drivers on the way to work each morning, get snippy with people at work, and generally become unpleasant to be around. Kurtis enlightened us, saying "It's probably been awhile for you too, but it sounds like you have a classic case of Senioritis!" But of course! Thanks to Kurtis for putting a name to our disorder!

This week we are finishing a term that, for me, included the two 8-week classes from CMU plus a 16-week accounting class from ECC. I have only two classes to go and L-Too has three. We'll be done May 8th!

Graduation is not formally until August '08. We are still not sure whether we are going to participate in it. I hear you have to pay the $75 grad fee either way, so maybe we should just do it. L-Too just wants to go so they have to build a ramp! Ha!

Then again, it would be a reason to have a little get together with family and friends, plus L-Too's b-day is around the same time! Happy Birthday Graduation Party, anyone!?!

Hermits? or Lazy? or just plain Busy?

So, how sad is it that we have not posted to this blog since September 30th?!?! We suck! I could rattles off the usual list of excuses:
"No time!"
"We have 3 nights of school a week..."
"Nothing exciting has happened!"
"The dog threw up!"
"I had to take photos for the Sunday Afternoon Group!"
"I had to bake a cheesecake!"
"I got drunk!"
"I had to watch Shakespeare for class!"
"Blogger was down"
"I'm studying for my mid-term"
"We went out with friends!"

The bottom line is...we just haven't made this a priority! So in prep for the new year I make no promises but I will try to post at least once a week! I will also probably be posting some backdated entries, so keep an eye out!