Quote for Today

I love quotes. I love how one or two sentences can say so much. I thought I’d share a quote that was included in an email I received from a friend today.

"I believe that our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become."

Growing up and I guess even now, I get frustrated with people who blame their parents or their family life for how they turned out or why they act a certain way. Every one goes through hard times but I think it’s up to each individual to decide what path they want to follow. I realize some people are stronger than others but I also believe that you are who you want to be and if you don’t like who you are then only you can take the steps to become the person you want to be.

Taking Risks...

Risk - exposure to the chance of injury or loss; a hazard or dangerous chance

I was recently told I don’t take risks. Actually the conversation was more like, “You don’t let me take any risks!” After thinking about it, it's true. I don’t take risks. I’m a planner. I like to be organized and know what’s going on. This is especially true when it comes to money. I log on to our checking and savings accounts everyday or every other day to make sure everything is accounted for. I have a breakdown of where every paycheck or bonus check is going for the next 6 months, how much credit card debt we should have at the end of the 6 months and how much we should have in savings. Yes, I have to adjust this monthly but at least I have a plan of what should happen.

So, what happens when one of us wants to take a risk that might affect us financially? The idea of not knowing exactly how much income is going to come in monthly scares me. Although I know that we’ll be fine, I hate the idea of not knowing - Not knowing if the risk will be worth it, not knowing how much of our savings we will have to use, just simply not knowing…. I have so many what if scenarios that play out in my mind.

So again, what happens when one of us wants to take a risk that might affect us financially? I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and well, I guess it depends. If the risk involves taking money to Vegas with hopes of winning at the blackjack or poker table then you laugh and say NO (unless it’s $ you saved for that reason). If it’s something that has to do with your husbands career, his passion, and his dream of being his own boss then you support him. You prepare as much as you can for the unknown and let him go for it. The last thing I would ever want is for him to look back 5 or 10 yrs from now and regret not taking the risk and I wouldn’t want to be the reason he didn’t take the risk or follow his dream.

I know we will get through whatever life throws at us. I might do a lot of praying along the way and he might have to calm me down every now and then but we’ll get through it and I’m sure the risk will be worth it in the end.

Recap of my week...

It’s been a busy week! Sunday, I finally felt like I had some energy back after being sick the previous week so I ventured out to my little neighbors football game. It was so cute to see these 9 and 10 year old boys playing football and to see how excited and proud the parents were of their children. There were also 4 little cheerleaders cheering them on, yelling their chants and doing little dances during the timeouts. I can’t wait until Brian and I have children. He can coach our little boy’s golf team (or girl’s team) and I can go to all the football games and cheer our little boy on as our daughter cheers. Anyway, Sunday night I decided to treat myself to a night in with the pups while Brian was at work. I watched a chick flick and took a nice hot bath. Monday night Brian and I had our first outing with the little girl we are mentoring. We took her to Dave and Busters for dinner and game playing. We had a blast. Brian won so many tickets that she was able to get 3 prizes to take home with her! She was elated. Tuesday – Thursday my days were filled with work. I decided to pick up a part-time job for several reasons and I had to work the past three nights. As for tonight, Brian and I are heading over to a friends house for dinner. Although I am looking forward to it, part of me just wants to stay home and sit down in front of the TV with the pups and Brian.

Looks like this weekend is going to be busy too! I have to work tomorrow from 9am–3pm. After work, I’m heading home to watch the game (OSU/Northwestern) I plan to relax for the night and maybe take the pups for a long walk. Sunday we are heading to our neighbors football game, then we are taking Hannah to a Blue Jackets game.

Have a good weekend!