Discipline and Budgeting...

Today begins week three of my journey to being a runner. This morning at 8:30 I began and was able to successfully run 5 minutes, walk 1, run 5, ... for thirty minutes... which means I ran 25 minutes and walked 5 total. That's something eh? December 6th I will reach my goal of running for 30 minutes straight. I'm pretty excited about this and can already feel the benefits... although I was also feeling side stiches and some shin pain this morning too! Going to the park earlier also meant that I was able to see more people exercising - there was a huge group of women (maybe 30) doing aerobic dance in the park and then another large group of women doing what seemed to be ballroom dance practice. It was so funny, especially when they pulled out their Chinese umbrellas. I really need to take the video camera into the park. I also watched a few people doing Tai Chi. I have always been told that exercising gives you energy. I don't know why then that from 1-3pm I always feel super sleepy - especially on days that I exercise. Hmmm?

Mondays are busy for me. I run, come back, eat breakfast, shower, review my meal plan, go to the grocery and then bring back all of the goods on the scooter. It's quite the adventure. Then I have some down time before making dinner, then cleaning up..a bit more down time and then.... it's off to work. Today we had French Bread and home made Broccoli Cheddar Soup. It's note quite Panera, and it probably didn't help that I used skim milk.... :) But it was good all the same. http://www.lynnskitchenadventures.com/search/label/Soups (scroll down for the recipe... I also want to try her Chicken Taco Soup).

Since I am hoping to hear back soon from the University of Missouri about whether or not I am accepted into their Masters of Education program, Nic and I are trying our best to save as much money as we can so that we can pay off my Master's degree without any debt. We have made a budget that we are working hard to stick to, and are using the "Envelope System" to help us stick to it. (You can read a little about the envelope system here: http://www.daveramsey.com/etc/cms/index.cfm?intContentID=3461 and http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/09/AR2007060900050.html) It's basic but keeps us from being tempted to dip into our savings. In a world where the economy is unpredictable and many newly weds start out trying to imitate the lifestyles that their parents have achieved after 20 years of hard work... Nic and I are doing our best to be smart, work hard, live simply and to think about the future!

I must admit that I am pretty excited about this coming weekend. We have a special birthday in the family, (Nic will be 28!) and we have saved our "recreation/ going out" cash for this event - so we should be able to really enjoy it! Dessert... here I come!

I am thankful for this time now when we are in a country where we don't have easy access to the conveniences of life so that we can learn to be wise with our earnings and to grow in self-discipline! So far, so good!