My Little Book Reader and Her New Dresser

First...here is my little Eden reading...something she LOVES. She loves to "read" on her own as well as have to read book after book after book to her. Its so funny when she's reading out loud to herself and she quotes parts of the book or starts it by saying the names of the author.

I know I wrote this on the Edenisms already...but for those who don't read it...I've now heard her say "P.D. Eastman", "Dr. Seuss", "Marc Brown", and "Eileen Christelow". Apparently those are a few of her favorites. (The book she is holding in the picture is Arthur's Eyes by Marc Brown.)

Now a story of my own...

Eden's New Dresser
(otherwise known as Paying Tithing Pays Off)

By Bethany Finlinson

Once upon a time there was a little family with a husband in med school racking up debt (Tyson), a wife who was a stay-at-home mom (Bethany), and their little girl (Eden).

They were a happy little family of three and soon found out that they were soon to be a happy family of FOUR. It was an exciting time for them. But they were still poor as ever.

Soon Bethany and Tyson realized that while they were totally pumped about this new addition to their family...they didn't have much space in their little town home. They were in need of a few items, which they narrowed down to 1. a new dresser 2. storage organizer 3. closet organizer. Their budget...slim to none.

One Sunday Tyson came home from Priesthood meeting where they told everyone to donate an extra 30 dollars a month to the temple fund for 2 months. Like good little church members, Tyson and Bethany re-budgeted and gave up the extra 30 (plus their normal monthly tithes and offerings) that could have gone towards many, many other things.

Bethany was hard at work searching for help getting organized on a low, low budget. Craigslist, online stores, clearance sections, antique stores, discount stores....anything. She soon found that a dresser was expensive unless you wanted something sadly unsturdy, tiny, and ugly. She sighed *sigh*.

The one day, while her husband was DILIGENTLY studying, Bethany went to the JC Penney outlet store to find this:
On clearance, in good condition, and a LITTLE above what she WANTED to spend for a dresser at $121. But after so many searches she realized that this was DEFINITELY a good purchase and worth it to have a study and nice looking dresser with a good amount of drawer space. She just decided "Perhaps we'll just have to skip out or go cheaper on some of the organizers if we have to".

Without thinking or realizing...Bethany also signed up for a JC Penney credit card. Oops. She tried immediately to pay it off right then...attempt was unsuccessful. "Another day" she thought to herself "Another day".

Another day came and Tyson and Bethany went back to JC Penney to pay off their little, evil, plastic card. To the counter they went. The lady up front ran the receipt..."zero balance" the lady said. "Zero Balance?" The conversation continued as they insisted that we owed nothing, it had been paid for.

So, Tyson and Bethany went home to check their bank account. Nothing showed. They waited a few more days....nothing showed. A few more days....nothing.

The blessings of paying your tithes and offerings. Trust me, it pays off.

And Eden loves the dresser.

The End

*Granted this isn't REALLY the end. We are still going to continue checking our account and also go back to JC Penney sometime and make sure its still paid off. But even if we end up paying it...it was the best quality dresser BY FAR that we could get for that price. I thank Heavenly Father that we were able to find that dresser and it fit our budget in the first place. Eden loves her dresser.

Results Are In...

Old wives' tales say "BOY".

Superstitions say "BOY".

My little blog poll says "BOY".

But the doctor says....

Talk about a shocker for me and Tyson. We weren't prepared for that curve ball....but we're excited! Now to start thinking of girl names...

A New Addition to Our Family

Nope....didn't have the baby yet (thank goodness).

But here's a look at Tyson's new "baby".

His name is Randall.

Yes, we thought it over and decided to get a treadmill. Tyson worked over Christmas break and so with our money we've been spending. There are a few things that we desperately needed (such as a dresser for the new baby and a printer) and then we bought the treadmill because we decided that we struggle getting out of the house to exercise and waiting 10-15 years when Tyson is out of school and out of debt isn't the best of options.

And where do you stash a "new addition" in such a small house? Randall lives in our bedroom.

As for our REAL baby....doing great. We have the "find out the gender" appointment tomorrow at 6:00...so expect a blog.

Here's me at 20 weeks and 5 days (I think).

By the looks of it...Eden might be farther along than I am...
As for an update on how I'm doing "revamping my life"....well, GENERALLY I've been doing pretty well...but let's not take a look at my kitchen's CURRENT status.

I'm obviously rebelling tonight....not only is my kitchen not so good and I haven't read my book today...I'm sitting on my bed next to a large stash of sweets such as marshmallows, red vines, and candy bars. I've been craving sweets like CRAZY the past few days...

Yep, Its January...

Fact: Even when I don't plan to sit down in January and make "New Years Resolutions"....I end up trying to revamp my life and basically make "New Years Resolutions".

Tyson and I sat down a few days ago and decided to change our lives for the better and we pulled out two sources to help us along our journey. (I honestly think we did a good job thinking this through.)

Source 1: Preach My Gospel
After consulting we decided to do a few things when making our goals....

1. Pray about it and pray for help.
2. Write them down and consult with our "companion".
3. Take accountability for our actions.
   

Source #2: The Power of Less

1. Simplify our lives to make room for our goals.
2. Work on one goal at a time.
3. Write three "most important tasks" to put my time and effort towards daily. One helping to achieve my one ultimate goal. After those are done, then work on others.
4. Expect setbacks and don't let them discourage you from your goal.
   

Let me define "Simply our lives" because I view this as important. Another way of putting this is "Getting rid of the unnecessary". In my life, this is what I'm ridding of:

• Only spend 10 minutes a day on the computer (email, blogging, facebook, twitter, etc.) except for the occasional "writing a blog post" AFTER my other "most important tasks" are finished.
• I'm only able to watch movies or TV when with my husband at night when baby's asleep.
• I'm only allowing myself 8 hours of sleep a night, no more.
  

My One Goal: Read and FINISH "The Infinite Atonement". This may not seem like it should be on my "Most important goal to be working on" list...but trust me, I believe it is. I haven't read it but started and it has already changed me spiritually. I have a HORRIBLE habit of starting books and never finishing them because I lack patience, lack concentration, and lack reading comprehension skills. I believe this goal will help me in all three areas.

Other Changes:
Other ways Tyson and I are changing our lives. These aren't really "goals" but they either are to help us out and be conscience of. Although, some may become goals after finishing my first.

Fact: A slight bit of OCD is good to have in one's life.

Disagree? I've been inspired by 2 people: My sister Becca and my best friend Rachel. Both openly admit that they have a problem with OCD...and both have a very clean house.

My Project: The Kitchen

My sister never uses her dishwasher because she can't stand to have dishes dirty for that length of time. I've seldom been to her house where I've seen a crumb on the counter, a dish uncleaned, and the floor swept. If I have seen these happen, I had promise by the end of my stay they will be gone.

I've decided to get rid of my fear of hand washing dishes.

I still use my dishwasher. Let's not be unrealistic here. But I have made a list of "rules" that seemed reasonable to follow. Such rules include "rinse and put any dirty dishes in dishwasher right after use", "if dishwasher is full, hand wash", "if dishwasher is clean, unload it asap", "if I eat anywhere besides the kitchen, take my dish back to the kitchen", "wipe counters and tables after preparation and meals", and "clean any unfortunately mishaps asap because they WILL become harder to clean later".

I've been doing this for a few weeks now and I've learned 2 things:

1. Becoming OCD has been quite a chore....but honestly has become much easier as time passes.
2. I've in turn become a much happier person because my husband will tell you that if my kitchen isn't clean then I am much more prone to be unhappy.

Fact: When you use cash and take away the little plastic cards, you can't spend more than your budget.

Tyson and I used to budget using "cash only", went astray, and are now back to "cash only". We never owned a credit card but our debit cards are being packed away. I can't spend what I don't have. Period.

Fact: I feel better when I look better.

This is a sensitive subject for me.

1st Pregnancy: I cried several times because I felt "fat"...I know, pregnancy is different than fat.
2nd Pregnancy: I've cried at least once because I've seen how fat and ugly I got the first time and don't want it to happen again.

1st Pregnancy: I didn't know how to use make up...not really.
2nd Pregnancy: I now wear make up and make sure I do it.

1st Pregnancy: I hardly owned any pregnancy clothes...those I wore were borrowed.
2nd Pregnancy: I asked for all new pregnancy clothes for Christmas. I wear them.

1st Pregnancy: I had a large family picture session while pregnant. While I was there someone hurt my feelings saying something like "Wow, talk about wearing something that makes you look big!"
2nd Pregnancy: I have an upcoming wedding to attend....meaning, pictures. I shall do my utmost to look good, be happy, and not take offense at others.

1st Pregnancy: I never exercised. I felt sick. I felt tired. I don't like exercise.
2nd Pregnancy: I'm exercising, not always consistently but I am exercising. When I exercise I don't feel as sick. I don't feel as tired. I feel better about myself. I start enjoying it.

1st Pregnancy: I avoided the camera like the plague.
2nd Pregnancy: I will not stuff my camera away for 9 months because I fear myself.

I've decided that I'm getting rid of my fear of the ugliness of pregnancy.

Well, there you have it. So let it be written, so let it be done. And for the few of you who actually read through this post, bless you.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

When girls are THIS cute.....who would want a boy?

P.S. This is the dress that I *cough my mother cough* made for Eden out of my mom's old sweater she was getting rid of. Its not the cutest picture...but the dress is adorable.

Correction...

Curious as it seems...there are SEVERAL different Chinese Birth Charts online. The picture I cut and pasted on my last post ACTUALLY says a BOY....unlike the original Chinese Birth Chart I originally found online.

So, if you go with this....looks like according to SUPERSTITION....almost all things are leading to a BOY.

My Thoughts
Tyson and I have always thought it was going to be a boy...just the feeling.

My Secret
I kind of wish I were getting a girl.

Guess we'll find out later...

Superstitious...

Tyson will mock me on occasion saying that I'm "superstitious".

OK, POSSIBLY true but not OVERLY true.

But I admit I do enjoy thinking about the superstitions of gender prediction....not that I believe them...at least not ALL of them...

So, let's play a game of:

"According to Superstition....".

Shall we begin?

1. "The Necklace Test"

Alright, the necklace test is a tale where you take a necklace (or some say your wedding ring on a chain) and you hold it still over the palm of your hand or over your belly (often have someone else do it to make the hand steadier).

The necklace, on its own, should then either move in a circular motion or in a line. A circle means girl and the line means boy.

Supposedly...over the belly will tell you the gender of the baby inside. Over the palm of your hand (you don't even have to be pregnant at the time) will tell you how many kids you will have, in what order, and what genders they will be.

Mine says "Girl, Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl" (So, this next one SHOULD be a BOY.)

2. "Morning Sickness"

This superstition is that you get much more morning sickness if you are having a girl and much less morning sickness if you are having a boy.

I was a lot more morning sick with Eden than with this one. Stating, once again that this one SHOULD be a BOY.

3. "How I'm Carrying the Baby"

Basically this says if I'm carrying HIGHER its a girl and if I'm carrying LOWER its a boy.

I would say I'm HIGHER than LOWER...but not positive. So, if I'm HIGHER then it would be a GIRL.

4. "The Chinese Birth Chart"

The Chinese Birth Chart apparently was created long, long ago and was dug up many years later. This takes the age you were at the time of conception and the month of conception. The blue means boy and the pink means girl.

Mine states GIRL.

5. "The Baby's Heartbeat"

This superstition is that when you listen to the baby's heartbeat in the womb then you can tell the gender. A slower heartbeat means boy and a faster heartbeat means girl.

1st pregnancy I CLEARLY remember Eden's heartbeat being SUPER fast. This time, not NEARLY as fast....rather slow in fact. So, I'm gonna say BOY for this one.

So, now with all that in mind....take my poll and vote BOY or GIRL.