A New Old Car

I mentioned before how awful last week was here on Birch St., but I must say it's a huge blessing to know and trust that everything is going to work out. We put God in control of our lives (which is a hard thing to do, really) and it's been proven time and time again how faithful He is to us in our times of trouble (even in blessing).

We've been having a headache with the finance company for our van. When we bought the van, we made much more money than we do now. "Life happened" and we can no longer afford the car payments. We've fallen behind and struggled often to catch up. We've been pleading with this company for a few months now to help us out and allow us to keep this van that we've invested so much into already by lowering our payment - but they won't. No matter how much we pay them, they always tell us that we can't afford this and threaten to pick up the van. It's true - we can't afford it on our current income. But they won't adjust what we pay every month. And this is coming from the company who recently decided to give all of their hourly employees a $5,000 bonus.

It was getting pretty awful last week dealing with them. I don't think I could talk to someone else they way they talk to us and be okay with myself at the end of the day. Ya know? Last week, they actually showed up at my inlaw's house looking for the van to repo. Thankfully we no longer live with them, but it was only a matter of time before they found out where we do live. We are really trying to do the right thing with them, but they aren't so helpful on their end. So we had to think fast and pray God gave us answers quickly.

We finally decided to make the sacrifice and give up the van no matter what. If they want to pick it up, that's fine. If we need to drive it to a dealership and surrender it, that's fine. We tried trading it in, but our credit score is too low now (thanks to this finance company) that they won't let us trade for something cheaper.

Then, we found this great used car dealership in Tulsa and told them our story. They specialize in helping people like us who have/had problems and/or bad credit get into a vehicle and rebuild credit - but don't rip you off with a humongous car payment. Since we are surrendering our van, they decided they would finance us for something new (used). We had a few issues getting into the new vehicle, but God worked it out. We feel like we're doing the right thing because we kept seeing what we call "little God blessings" through this process.

First, we got approved. Second, we found a great vehicle at an incredible price. We managed to have payments we could afford for at least $100 less than our minivan. We put down part of our tax return which helped a lot. We later found out that the vehicle we chose has a brand new engine and 4 new tires plus a full size spare. It also comes with 18 months or 18,000 mile warranty on the engine, transmission, and other main parts - but not bumper to bumper. The left tail light was broken but the bulb still worked. They had ordered a part for that and will install that when it comes in.

Then the "little God blessings" came through.

Just before we went in to sign the paperwork, we realized the radiator was leaking. So we had to put our down payment as hold money in their layaway program so they wouldn't sell the car to anyone else. We didn't drive home with our new vehicle, but they were putting in a new radiator for us on their dime. Where is the blessing in that - you ask?

Come Monday, our dealer called us with some good news. He said because we didn't finalize the deal, we could take advantage of their new promotion. There was a $100 coupon online that we could print and bring in for $100 off our vehicle. Then, they just started a new promotion that matches our down payment up to $1,000. So instead of putting down $1,500... it was like putting down $2,600. That lowered our payments even more in addition to getting an already amazing deal on the vehicle.

We are now paying over $150 less on our car payments than we were on the van. We have a new engine, tires, and radiator with a tail light on order. We will have just over a year before our vehicle is PAID OFF! And the best part is no matter what happens with the van - they can't touch this one!

Oh, but the blessings didn't stop there. We're significantly saving on our car insurance now too!

^"The Lord will keep you from all harm - he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore."

Psalm 121:7-8 NIV

An Inspiring Week

It's 9:45pm and I should be cleaning the house like crazy because my in laws are in town and want to come over tomorrow to see our new place. It's such a wreck in here. This is a lot more fun though, so here I am. :)

I don't know if it's the weather or the stress in my life but I'm finding it harder and harder to find inspiration in things. Maybe all of you should suggest some new blogs or websites that you think I might enjoy. In the meantime, here's what I've discovered that was worthy to share with you.

These cityscape stamps are lovely. I do not "stamp" for a hobby, but I am starting to really enjoy it and could see myself getting deeper and deeper into creating more things using stamps. I received a set of alphabet stamps for my birthday and I am loving them. It's so much fun to create little homemade cards or stamp names on things - like my daughter's valentines to her classmates. I could have so much more fun adding these to some cards or artwork.

While it's not really not something I can be creative with, this dress does make me want to cut loose from everything going on in my life and get all dolled up and have a night out on the town for no reason at all. I'm certainly not as spontaneous as I used to be, and at this price, I don't think I'll be planning that night out on the town any time soon. Still, it's gorgeous and I am coming up with so many ideas in my head of places I'd love to wear it. So I guess it really does inspire some creativity.

I'm still on the search for a way to make my bathroom completely perfect to my vintage tastes. I'm always on the lookout for the perfect (affordable) mirror and I may have found it thanks to this fabulous tutorial on creating your own "antique" mirror. What do you think?

before

after

And while I'm at it, I think this tutorial would be fabulous for creating some cheap but beautiful wall art. Wall art can be SO expensive, but finding the right frame at the thrift store, maybe a couple of coats of paint, and the right vintage or cheap fabric can bring you something beautiful for so much less than store bought wall art.

And umm... that's about it for this week. It's been a long week here on Birch Street but I have definitely been inspired to get out this week and see what catches my eye.



What inspired you this week?

Wishful Living

Ahhh... Wishful Living - my favorite time of the week to post. I love finding great living spaces that inspire. In our home, the room that needs the most inspiration is our bathroom. I just haven't figured out what to do with it. I mean, how exactly can you make such a dirty room look like something fabulous?

Of course, my bathroom isn't designed like this at all, but I love how cute this is! I love the bright colors and funky textures of the bathroom furniture. That mirror would probably be the only thing that would work in my current bathroom, but I love this whole room. One of these days years decades, I may have a bathroom designed like this, but for now... there's always wishful living!

Here's a pretty song to go with such a pretty room.

A Bad Week

You may have noticed that I haven't blogged since last Friday. This has to be one of the worst weeks on Birch St. It's inevitable that when things start going so well, that the Devil will come along and try to mess it all up. Past mistakes in our life are coming back to haunt us and is leaving us completely stressed out this week trying to deal with it. On top of that, it's getting in the way of something incredibly important we're trying to do which is stressful enough on it's own. There's also all the little annoyances like locking ourselves out of the house on a cold day, neighbors driving through and tearing up our front lawn, and our first mouse situation in years. All in one week!

Side note: I am TERRIFIED of mice. It's my #2 all time fear. My first fear is too personal and weird to talk about. My #3 is drowning/head underwater. But back to the mouse... I'm terrified! I go into a full on panic attack when I see them. It's pretty serious and uncontrollable. People have tried telling me that they are more scared of me than I am of them, but that's just not true. I've had them run over my feet/legs before while cleaning out a closet. I've had them actually on my bed pillow while I was sleeping, eating my hair! So don't tell me they're more scared of me or they wouldn't come so close. Trust me. My fear instinct is to get as far away from it as possible. Them? Not so much.

I think the thing I dislike most about weeks like this is that it's hard to control my feelings around others. I can't even count how many times hubs and I have snapped at each other this week even though we both know it's better to stick together to work this out than fight for no reason. It's hard to not yell at the girls when they're so happy and I'm so upset. So you know how annoying the sounds of a squealing girl is when you're on the verge of tears? Sometimes I am so upset and involved in my problem that I can't even be "mom". I can't even be a very good friend. I feel like I get sucked into my problems and I don't even know what's happening with my friends. I don't always let my friends in on our problems. That's also tough to do. There's nothing they can do really and I try to only ask things of my friends when I know there is something they could do. I'm also very forgetful and I'm not there for people like I should be or when I should be. I'm completely living in the land of sulk and fear.

I suppose the hardest part about weeks like this is prayer. What? Yes. Prayer. I want things to work out but I don't always know what God's answer will be. His vision may not be ours. And I don't want to pray for something and have it not work out that way to the point that I don't understand why and then explain to everyone why God didn't work out what we've been praying for. It's hard to be a Christian and even harder when God doesn't have the same plan you do after you've prayed for something specific. I suddenly don't have "the answers" for anyone.

On the bright side, I do completely trust God to take care of us. He always has and I believe He always will.  It may not be our way, but everything will work out one way or another.

Know this: God, your God, is God indeed, a God you can depend upon. He keeps his covenant of loyal love with those who love him and observe his commandments for a thousand generations. 

Deuteronomy 7:9 (The Message Bible)

Wishful Living

I fell off the web earlier this week when our heater decided to stop working despite the -15 degree weather outside (and no, that's not wind chill). It was awful. We've had a family friend come take a look at it and our landlords sent a heater guy out twice to try and fix it. I'm honestly not even sure that what we decided the problem was, is really the problem. If it is true, it's an awful truth and I don't understand why we even have a heater like this if it's probably going to freeze up and not work when we really need it to. That's quite a long story I'm too exhausted to tell.

The good news is that I'm back for another dose of Wishful Living. It couldn't have come at a better time. Don't get me wrong, I love our little old house. However, it was/is definitely the last place I want to be when the heater stops working. So here we go......



Today was the wedding anniversary for my pastor and his wife. They have done SO much for my family that I raised my hand more quickly and eagerly than a teacher's pet when they asked if anyone could watch their tween/teen kids this afternoon so they could go to a movie. It's not often we find great opportunities where we can give back to others in need - but this we could do. I'm so glad he let them come over despite the age difference of our children. My girls adore his kids so much. His kids are 4th grade, 6th grade, and 7th graders. It was good to hang with them and get to know them better. My girls just adore my pastor's kids. They really look up to them, which is cool to see them have great role models.

That being said, we're trying to get better connected with tweens/teens. There's a generation there who will be leading my children through their lives. It's a generation I don't know a lot about.

So this week, I'm wishfully living in this teen/tween room in an attempt to better understand them. I think this is something my girls would love (minus the Barbie logo on the beds - which I think they'll outgrow by then).

And this is probably close to the carefree joy of what living in their room would sound like....

The Jones Family

Truth: I'm having a really hard time remembering I no longer live next to the Jones family. Surely you've heard the phrase "keeping up with the Jones'"... and that's what I'm talking about.

We used to have to have everything that everyone else had... and then some. We managed our money horribly. One year for father's day, I took hubs on a surprise trip to an outlet mall a few hours away from our South Texas residence and we stayed in a hotel and spent a lot of money. The girls even came with us. One thing he wanted to buy was a Dave Ramsey book. We started reading it as soon as we got back to the hotel. Our lives changed that night. We counted up what our income was and compared it to how much we were spending on crap. It hurt to see how much we could have been saving had we just not cared about having things. It was a hard habit to break. We chanted the Dave's phrase "Live today like no one else, so later you can live like no one else." It basically means that we should save more and spend less so we'll be financially secure in our future. Others won't because we're all trying to keep up with what our neighbor has - and even out do them at times.

Fast forward to today. Life took a strange turn and we no longer make the kind of money we used to. Sure, we can live without a lot of things and kind of pride ourselves on doing so. In fact, it annoys me to see others throw away so much of their own money on things like we used to - especially when they have a couple of jobs just to support their spending habits. It's certainly a hard life living on so little, but it's how it is right now. And we do okay.

This time of year is really hard. We come out of Christmas where we may have received things that we've drooled over but wouldn't dare spend our own money on. Then, through January, we spend the gift cards - still allowing us to have things we wouldn't normally have. February comes around and I have a birthday where I may or may not be able to squeeze one more thing I want out of someone. Then, there's tax returns.

And that's where we are now (since I received my birthday present early from mom and dad). We just filed our taxes and were able to find out what our tax return is going to look like. We certainly have our fair share of bills to catch up on. But there's going to be some extra money there once those things are taken care of. My husband and I are both having a hard time not mentally spending that money already on things others have. I want a better cell phone. He wants a better computer. We want a bigger/more modern television (we have a 13 inch box tv). We want lots of stuff that we don't have - but aren't currently struggling without.

My brain is reminding me that every time we start spending like this, one month later, we're in trouble again. So of course, I'm thinking we should save it. It will be sweet to not have to worry about bills in a few months when something goes wrong (like getting snowed in and not being able to work). It will be nice to have an emergency fund for the first time in our lives. We also need new tires on the van (our only vehicle).

We need to save this money. We just need to. But it's so hard right now to see extra money for the first time in a long time and not go back to spending it on stuff we've been missing out on. We're praying we'll do the right thing.

An Inspiring Week

I've been completely out of sorts this week. You'd think being snowed in for a week, I would have found tons of things online that inspire me. But that's not the case. I actually struggled to find inspiration this week. What I did find, I think is really great, but wish there was a little more to share with you.

First up... is this recipe for Barbecue Chili with Corn. Why? Well other than the fact it sounds delicious, there are actually no bottles of BBQ sauce that go into this. The barbecue flavor is all in the ingredients. I'm sure there's some sauce in the can of beans, but not an entire bottle like I would have expected. It's also less than 500 calories per serving.

I've been making tons of these reuseable grocery bags from old tshirts and even some little purse/bags for my girls using their old shirts. It's kept me sane and hopefully I'll be able to sell some to make up for hubs not being able to work much this week due to the blizzard that rolled through and snowed us all in. How much would you pay?

This pillow is soooo adorable! One of these days I'll have great sewing skills like this... but for now I'm happy to have made my patchwork sewing machine cover. This pillow overwhelms me at the moment.

This Cow Bento would surely get my children to eat healthier, right? They do actually eat pretty healthy but there are days they get in these crazy moods and refuse all food and it makes me sad. This would cheer us all up for sure. I need a cow cookie cutter ASAP!

I'm pretty sure this patchwork chair from Urban Outfitters would be perfect for the little space we do have left for extra seating. I want extra seating in our living room so badly, but without putting the couch in front of the window (which I hate for so many reasons) there's just a little open corner for a chair. This would do the trick without sucking up floor space. And I love that it's patchwork which inspires me to sew more often. Alas, I do not have $250 to spend on it. It would be a splurge to spend $50.  I do have a birthday coming up and if anyone out there has an extra $250 to spend, I'll give you my address where you can have it shipped. :)

And um.... this is quite possibly the funniest commercial I've seen in a while. It brings me back to happy memories of my childhood. Even if it doesn't do that for you... it's soooooooooo stinkin' cute!







So let's hear it! What inspired you this week?

Wishful Living

This week's "Wishful Living" post is coming to you a day early. We have some family coming in this weekend and I wanted to make sure I get this posted.

As I mentioned earlier this week, we've been snowed in and our suburb has been literally shut down. So this week I'm wishfully living in my favorite place in the whole US - Albuquerque, NM.  I remember when HGTV had their 2010 dream home near there (in Sandia Park, NM). I wanted to win that house SO BADLY. We loooooooove Albuquerque and really want to live there. Really, the only thing that's stopping us right now is the fact that we're near family and wouldn't be if we moved there. But gah - one of these days.... Albuquerque will be ours!

This week I'm wishfully living in the 2010 HGTV dream home in NM to avoid all this snow.
Even if I were stuck indoors for days, I could deal with it in a home like this!

Feel free to come on over and enjoy it with me by viewing more pictures of it right here.

Here is what my life in that home sounds like....

WWJD?

WWJD?

I have seen this posted all over my Facebook and Twitter pages more times this week than I have in a whole year. I remember the bracelets being so popular in the 1990s. It might be making a comeback or I might have just fallen off the bandwagon for a couple of decades and not realized it never went out of style.

Whatever happened there, I am seeing it being overused and used in ridiculous situations.

I do love reading about Jesus and the life He lived on this Earth. I understand that we should live our lives as close to the way He lived His as possible.

"Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did." 1John 2:6

"And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the Day of Judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world." 1John 4:17

That being said, our world is so different now than it was the years Jesus walked the Earth that we can't possibly know what Jesus would really do in every life situation. We couldn't possibly know if Jesus would lay out in the snow in his bathing suit to have a good time. We couldn't possibly know if Jesus would prefer an iPhone or Android. There's no way to tell what television shows He would be interested in or if He would start each day with a cup of coffee. Would He agree that Starbucks is overpriced? 

 

Some things are just a little ridiculous to think about and I think we need to stop overusing the phrase so much. It's getting a little out of hand. Let's stick to what we know about the guy.

Wordless Wednesday

(sort of)

Snow Day Project

Our suburb literally shut down today. Our police department actually mentioned that snow plows were going to take care of major roadways but that they would only be open for emergency personel. Everyone else was to stay indoors. Many are stuck at work. Those who were stuck on the road were rescued and taken to the local community center where they will spend at least one night. There were no rides home. The rest of us are staying warm in our homes. We ended up with at least 21 inches of snow and between 3-5 foot snow drifts. Too much snow, however, for the kiddos to go play in.

So what did I do? I finished up my patchwork sewing machine cover (using my vintage fabric). I really love how it turned out. What do you think? I think my sewing machine will be happy staying warm this winter. :)