Money Matters Monday

So here I am at the end of my journey. Or is it?

The fact of the matter is, I did win a financial makeover a year ago and have been heavily
involved in a financial overhaul ever since, yet I still feel like my feet are tucked firmly into the starting blocks at the beginning of a race. It is a race that I have started several times in my life. I have pushed off of those same blocks before, but never got to full speed and certainly never came close to finishing. In fact, more often than not, I tripped, fell and got completely trampled by others who, like me, were running this financial race of life. Some fell alongside me and still others ran on ahead, strong and confident. And they run on. Grumpily, I'd sit up, scratch my head and ask, "How do they do it"?

I was tired of falling, being munched into the asphalt, losing hope that I would ever be strong
enough to rise and finish the race. So, I asked for help. In turn, I was given the amazing opportunity for a financial makeover through Imagine a Happier You, and subsequently, I was given a coach. Her name is Cristie Richards. My coach adequately gave me the training and the tools that I needed to not only finish this race, but win it!

Cristie's coaching tools included, but were not limited to, tracking my finances, making a
working budget, using a cash-only envelope system and saving like crazy. These are the tangible tools, yet there is one tool that she consistently encouraged me to use, though it was not something she could easily give me. The tool? Discipline. She couldn't be the imaginary angel on my shoulder every minute, telling me what to buy or not to buy. Discipline is something I had to practice on my own.

Sometimes there will be hurdles thrown in my path. They will come in the form of having a sick
child being life-lighted to Primary Children's Hospital for six days or a washing machine breaking down or car repair; really, the list is limitless. Now, however, I am armed with the tools necessary to hopefully sail over those hurdles, prepped for the future.

That doesn't mean I won't fall. In fact, here I am after a full year of coaching, still struggling every day to make sure the budget is balanced, that we have enough money for violin lessons and that darn watermelon we were asked to bring to the next family BBQ. My money problems haven't magically disappeared over the course of the year. I am still trying to grab hold of our slippery budget. Slippery because as kids grow and needs arise, it is ever changing. I haven't mastered it yet. What I have mastered is the discipline. And that has made all the difference.

Money is one of those things that if you don't master it, it will indefinitely master you. I want to
send a call out to anyone who has ever struggled to stay above water, financially. The call is one of encouragement, from someone who knows and has been there, and is many senses, is still there. Don't give up! Don't be the one who stumbles and refuses to pick herself back up, laying motionless, waiting for someone to rescue you by saying you've won the next Publisher's Clearing House. Realize that there is strength still left in your legs, then rise up, pat the dust off your pant legs and walk back to those starting blocks. Discouraging? You bet! Hopeless? Not on your life!

The starting blocks are put in place and it is time to take my position. My coach gathers her
things, wishes me luck and heads for the exit. My mind is focused, my muscles conditioned. Fear has been replaced with confidence. It is time to do this on my own. And I can. This race will not have a finish line. In fact, I plan on running every day that I have breath. I hope that with more practice, I will gain momentum, feeling comfortable in my stride and perhaps enjoying a few lovely vistas along the way. Won't you join me? After all, I could use a few running partners.

On your mark . . .

Realizations from my week

Realization #1: After shopping for jeans, I realized that there are two types of people in this world--those who can wear skinny jeans and those who can't. Though I am perfectly content with my body weight, I happen to fall in the latter category. And I'm okay with that. This Moody Booty doesn't do tighty-tight.

Realization #2: I will never be calm and collective with a news crew shoving a camera in my face. My brain goes to mush and my mouth seizes up. Ugh. On Tuesday I had to go to KSL studios to be interviewed, wrapping up my year with Imagine a Happier You. It will be shown at Wednesday's Smart Women, Smart Money Conference.

Realization #3: Our Colby is destined to be a pro-golfer. If he doesn't want to eat his dinner, he will ask, "If I eat this, will it help me hit the golf ball really far?" If we say yes, he will eat. This week he was putting together a puzzle of the U.S. A few minutes later he said, "Mom, I want to go to Panama. Because there is golfing in Panama. So, can I go there someday?" How about we start at the Cedar Hills Golf Course?

Realization #4: Perhaps I talk on the phone too much? (See Andrew's drawing) The picture depicts the incident according to Andrew. After standing on the table, Ty fell off. Apparently I was obliviously on the phone in the office.

Realization #5: Organic apples really do taste better.

Realization #6: No matter how tall or old Kendra gets, I still want to baby her when she gets sick. She had a headache for a few days (sure hope she doesn't inherit my migraines!) and a fever last night. She was the last thought of my night and the first thought this morning. She woke up feeling much better. Side note: While walking down the streets in CA this summer, often I'd be pleasantly surprised when she'd slip her hand in mine and, unembarrassed, walk hand-in-hand with me for several minutes. I know moments like that are fleeting as she gets older, but I'll take them whenever they arise.


Realization #7: I like mountain biking! I tried this for the first time this week with some friends. After falling end-over-end down a hill onto some rocks, and taking home some gnarly scrapes and bruises, I think I shall do this again and soon.

Realization #8: After taking 3 kids to the BYU football game, Todd realized that the kids go with him for one reason and one reason only: treats. Oh, and he also realized once again that BYU offense stinks.

Realization #9: I am ever-amazed at the goodness of people. After an overwhelming response to our fund-raising neighborhood yard sale, we raised $10,300! (Back story: When planned long ago in ward counsel, one of the members of the bishopric, by inspiration, gave this $10,000 goal. Everyone else laughed. It was amazing to see just how close to the mark we came--not a coincidence in my opinion. Amazing also how Father works and speaks to men. After this report in sacrament today, there were many wet eyes.) Being on the committee and in charge of the bake sale, I watched as people contributed hundreds of homemade chocolates, cookies, breads, pies, muffins, you name it. I loved seeing into the hearts of these great people around me. It was a magical moment where they were completely connecting to the God-like qualities given them at birth, the elements of the soul that need to be exposed more often. And I'm committed to trying to get in touch with that divine part of myself more frequently.(I totally stole this picture from a neighbor's FB post--thanks Bro. Lawrence! This pic only shows about a third of what was there. It was an amazing sight to see for sure!)

Goodbye Summer

What better way to celebrate Fall than to remember our summer?
This is long overdue, but it is what it is.
This summer we went to southern CA, staying mostly in Oceanside.
I tried to narrow our pictures down
ended up with over 300.
So this video pretty much flies through 300 pictures.
But we just can't stop watching it.
At least you get a glimpse of the fun we had.
And it was.
In fact, we want to go back.
Very, very soon.

Summer 2011 from Melody Hillam on Vimeo.

And the tension builds. . . .

Who's as excited as I am to watch this tomorrow?
Should be a great game
as usual.

Go Cougars!!!

Whew! What a Weekend!

Last Thursday Todd and I took the girls to the Broadway Mary Poppins at the Capitol Theater. Sitting about 8 rows back, this was the closest we had ever been at a show and to me it made a difference! It easily moved to the top of my list of favorite plays. Bert was straight from playing Bert in NYC and the voices on every single actor was amazing! "Step in Time" was my favorite scene. There was as much magic as the movie. I wish I could see it again before it leaves SLC!

This weekend was our annual weekend girls' getaway to Midway and Swiss Days. We stayed at a friend's cabin front-door welcome late Friday afternoon by a nest of mice. Ack! Everyone, aside from animal-living Kilee, about flew through the roof. Okay not everyone--mostly me and Nicole. Everyone else stayed quite calm. We made Kilee catch the four baby mice, who looked like they had been poisoned and were on their way out of this life anyway. She got them in a paper cup and pulled an older brother prank by chasing bladder-filled Nicole around with them (see picture).

After putting our bags in the cabin and throwing away another bloated dead mouse, we headed to Park City where we rode the newer Alpine Slide at the Olympic Oval. It was a lot of fun, though I wish it would have gone faster! I even saw a deer standing near the track. After our adventure, we headed to Flying Sumo where we stuffed ourselves silly with sushi (so yummy!). After dinner, we went to Whole Foods (I love this store) where we shopped around for a long while and tried to find Nicole some late-night, low-carb protein (she settled on cheese sticks and we teased her about the possibility of mice being attracted to her open sleeping mouth). We even Googled mice-repellant and bought some peppermint oil. We stopped at The Store in town to pick up a flashlight and still more mice repellant.

The cabin was old, but beautiful and on some beautiful property. When we drove up, we noticed it was very, very dark. Since Mom had bought the half-working flashlight, we felt like we would be able to find our way in okay. Upon arrival, we noticed the sliding glass door curtain was wide open and a light inside was on (neither which we had remembered leaving that way). Kilee and I thought we heard something in the bushes, so we grabbed the flashlight, while others were gathering things from the car, and noticed that it was only some bugs. Immediately after we shined the flashlight toward the cabin, the light inside turned off. We made everyone jump back in the car and explained what happened. Pretty soon we were all convinced that someone was in the house and had turned the light out when he heard us arrive. I called the owners to see if they had a sensor light that may have been tripped by a mouse (they didn't) while Kilee called the police. Since we didn't know the address, we waited for a unit to meet us at a gas station and then he followed us out to the cabin.

Upon arrival, Kilee and I explained to Officer Ray further what had happened and after seeing how dark the property was, he seemed a little freaked out and called for backup. Two additional units came, one a K-9. We stayed in our car, literally shivering with fear, while the three men headed to the cabin. I'm not sure who it was who suggested we pray, but we needed the Lord's comfort. As Mom was praying, we heard a lot of yelling from the policemen and the dog barking like crazy. Our hearts stopped and Kilee unrolled the window (whilst Mom is still praying) and we heard him yell, "STAND DOWN, STAND DOWN!!!" followed by more crazy barking. This sealed it; surely they had found someone inside. But after we saw the officers calmly checking the outside property, we realized it must have been protocol upon entering a property.

After a few minutes, they came back and explained to the 5 wide-eyed, white-with-fear women that the property was clear, bags had been untouched and there was no sign of forced entry. Just as they were explaining this, Mom gave a fearful gasp (you know the one), and pointing back at the house said, "The light upstairs just came on! Why did the light come on?" I think at this point that the three men were thoroughly convinced we were all crazy. One chuckled and said, "Maybe it was ghosts?!" but then they all reluctantly offered to go back in and check a second time, since the first time apparently wasn't good enough. We started to feel a bit sheepish and headed to the cabin. The officers discovered that the upstairs light had only one old florescent bulb, which seemed to dim and brighten randomly, thus the on and off of lights. After they declined our offer for a slice Kilee's homemade peach pie, and after we apologized, the officers left. One even said this was a better call than the one they had come from (a drunk man beating up his wife) because it got them out of more paperwork.

Sigh. Way too much excitement for one night.

As the adrenaline levels came down, we ate peach pie, played games, watched for scurrying mice and laughed at ourselves. Ironically, Mom had brought a copy of an article for each of us entitled "Confessions of a Recovering Worrywart" so we read that together. Everyone else seemed to sleep on the five mattresses in the loft just fine (Lacey's snoring and Kilee's and Mom's talking in their sleep is proof) but I didn't. In the morning after Lacey had gone downstairs to the bathroom, she whispered to Mom, "I found another mouse." You should have seen how quickly the rest of the "sleeping" room shot up to the sitting position, quizzically listening for details. It was only after we were up for the morning that Kilee was able to shoo it out of an open door (thanks Ki! You're our hero!). We had scrambled eggs and green smoothies for breakfast. It was delicious.

We found a great little thrift store in Heber and spent some time there. Then we went to Swiss Days where we shopped. At lunchtime, I once again sat watching everyone else eat their brats and sauerkraut (eww). We really had a great time. One with many, many laughs and lasting memories. Thanks ladies!