Single Lady?! and Budgets...

The other night I was on the phone with one of my oldest and best friends when we started talking about careers. This gal is awesome in that she has always pursued what she wants to do and really seeks out something that she's passionate about. Currently she's a head coach at one of the community college's swim programs down in California, and I've always talked the talk about teaching at the JC level one day but never followed through with pursuing it.

Somewhere after college life starts happening and that newly graduated feeling of "I can do anything I want if I just put my mind to it" starts slipping away. All you college students out there (sis- I'm talking to you!)-- don't forget what it feels like to know you have the world at your finger tips and really can do anything you want.

"Why don't you call one of the AD's at a local JC and just see if they'll talk to you about what you can do to be a successful candidate for something in the future?" she asked me. "It can't hurt and they are always looking for qualified people. You have nothing to lose!". While I really love my job now and have no plans on leaving, one day if I'm (Lord willing!!!) a stay at home mom I know I won't be in the corporate environment any more. My job will be COO Lillard. Operating officer of our home and family! I will have other little people to be responsible for and that will be my full time job. It's funny, because that time of life is still a couple years away but I need to mentally prepare for it now LOL. I'm somewhat of a planner, and somewhat not, but for major life things I like to think them through in my mind and plan for the ideal scenario. Some people would call that dangerous, putting all these expectations into something unknown... I just call it fun. I know my heavenly father ultimately is CEO LilLORD (haha!!!) and he will direct and lead us as long as we are seeking him and including him in our decisions; putting him first. I just like to plan so I'm ready for the future. So her advice got me thinking. I have nothing to lose, start looking into what it takes to teach at a JC- I have my master's degree so at least that part is covered!

"You're right," I told her. "I am at a point in my life where it's the perfect time. I already have work that I enjoy, and I have very little responsibilities at home. I might as well start looking into what it would take now, while I'm young and single."

Young and SINGLE?!

David was making jello and he promptly turned around with a huge grin on his face and mouthed the words "single?" while his brow raised and his smile grew even bigger.  My mouth dropped way open and I said "did I just say single?!  I meant young and... Young and... I don't know!  You know what I mean!"  Michelle laughed and said she did know but it was funny and I should just talk to someone at a local community college to get the ball moving and get things started.  We laughed and chatted a bit more and then hung up.

"So you're a single lady now," David said as he came up to me and drew me into an embrace.  I laughed and told him I didn't know why I said that.  I was so embarrassed!  "It's okay, now I know how you feel," he joked, "I am away a lot!" 

This has now been the running joke in the Lillard house for the past few days.  David thinks it's hilarious, and I am like, well, trying to rummage through my subconcious as to why that would have come out of my mouth.  The only thing I can come up with is the fact that I'm a field traveler's wife. =)  Cheers to all my other "single lady" field traveler wives out there!

That very same night David and I were snuggled on the couch watching Criminal Minds, my very favorite show (other than The Biggest Loser!).  On this particular occasion David pulled out the laptop and during commercials began clicking away.

 "What are you doing?" I asked him, half asleep with blankets all around me.

"Creating a budget," he replied.  Tick tick click tick click.

I was suddenly awake.  "A budget?!"  We'd talked about creating a budget last year, and did one and then deleted it. :)  David's CFO Lillard, and does all of our banking and bills.  He's always been extremely savvy when it comes to finances and he keeps all these numbers in his head regarding our financial situation, and knows what's coming in and out like you wouldn't believe.  But we've never actually had a real life budget where we allocate money to certain categories or anything.  I perked up and looked at the screen.

Click clack tick tick click.  "I think this shows us where we spend our money," David said to me.  "And if we stick to this, we can put more money towards one of our mortgages.  That would help for when we have kids one day."  I couldn't believe my ears.  David was thinking about when we would have kids one day?!  Has he lost his mind?  He gets nauseated whenever I bring it up!  I looked at him and smiled.  "Okay!  I'm in!  What's it gonna take?!"

He proceeded to plug in numbers, and at the end of his analysis we now have a Lillard family budget.  This is totally new to us, and I'm so excited!  It feels like a challenge.  I won't bore you with the details, but one thing I will share is our grocery budget.  We decided to allocate $250/month on groceries.  I feel like this should be WAY doable since I am a "single lady", right?! :)  I am going to do the same thing my mom did when I was a kid, put that $250 in cash form into an envelope, and use it when I go to the store.  When it's gone it's gone.

We're probably the last family to get on board with a budget but I'm glad and excited we're taking on this challenge.  If you have any suggestions or tips, I welcome any and all advice!