Hey, thanks for visiting my blog! My name is Kimberly and I live in the lovely, flat land of Central Illinois. My husband and I have one child named Jasper. I get the lucky job of a stay-at-home mom and own a photography business.
I love photography, a clean house, meeting new people, coffee, paper, my fireplace in the winter, dance parties in my pajamas, all things Christmas, almost every kind of music, my hot husband and amazing kid. I hate squirrels, road trips, not having my cell phone on me, and dead batteries.
|
| www.flickr.com |
Over the weekend I was in the Target checkout lane with my boys. Jasper was determined to throw something out of the cart and Josh disappeared for a few minutes. The man in front of me was buying only a box of donuts and used a gift card. I glanced up as the checkout girl told him the card was 34 cents short. Picking up the book Jasper just tossed on the floor, I looked again to see the man apologize and push the donuts back on the counter. He left without purchasing anything. I was so confused by what happened so quickly that I didn’t have time to react. Of course I had 34 cents in my wallet that I could have given that man. After we checked out I looked around outside for him but he was nowhere to be seen. Ugh, I kicked myself all day for missing that opportunity.
I’ve been thinking a lot about how I can help other people, especially in my area. It’s funny because we are so tight on money right now and yet I’m more aware of how much we still have. That man could not afford to buy donuts for under three dollars. We still splurge on Starbucks occasionally. I feel very lucky to live in a nice house and we’re able to get groceries when we need to. Sure, there have been times lately where we have close to no money in the checking but I know payday will eventually come. I know that months down the road we’ll somehow be back on our feet again. How long will it take that man to get on his feet?
Patience is the companion of wisdom. -Saint Augustine
Patience is the greatest of all virtues. -Cato the Elder
A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains. -Dutch Proverb
He that can have patience can have what he will. -Benjamin Franklin
Occasionally when I am overwhelmed with adult decisions, responsibilities, and problems…I think wouldn’t it be great to be a kid again? To run around not caring about anything but that moment. Hair flying in the wind, not afraid of falling onto the grass, giggling at the silliness of it all…
“Spring is when life’s alive in everything.” -Christina Rossetti
The Cadbury Creme Egg is a wonderful, quick way to get an extra 150 calories.
“So many of our dreams at first seem impossible,
then they seem improbable,
and then when we summon the will,
they soon become inevitable“.
-Christopher Reeve
“Summer is the time when one sheds one’s tensions with one’s clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit. A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all’s right with the world.” -Ada Louise Huxtable
“As long as anyone believes that his ideal and purpose is outside him, that it is above the clouds, in the past or in the future, he will go outside himself and seek fulfillment where it cannot be found. He will look for solutions and answers at every point except where they can be found–in himself.” -Erich Frohm
“If you have two coats, give one away,” he said. “Do the same with your food.” -Luke 3:11 (The Message)
I recently came across this photoset on Flickr. This young couple and their daughter sold their affordable house to move into an apartment. They went from 1667 square feet to 382, simply to pay off their student loans. It made me think that maybe Josh and I could stay in our apartment for a little longer to try to pay off our student loans more quickly. It’s hard because I’m so ready to have a place of our own but I love the idea of having the loans paid off.
I’ve just been thinking a lot about our spending habits. I think we do pretty well. I mean, we don’t spend money we don’t have (usually) and we don’t go on huge shopping sprees. I do know that we could save more than we do. Sometimes I feel like we just spend money on stupid things. It’s especially hard because we’re trying to figure out how to swing buying a Nikon D200 which would be a good investment for Knight Light. What’s considered a good investment for Knight Light can be hard on the checkbook for Josh and Kimberly… It’s really hard to find a balance and it’s even more difficult when you’re starting a business and need a lot of things in the beginning.
Josh and I are having a garage sale in May at my parent’s. I really am excited about purging and maybe making a little bit of cash. We’ve been through our closets a few times but I’m definitely going to go through them again. Sometimes I feel like we have so much STUFF. Things that we don’t really need but we keep “just in case”. Maybe it’s time to go through things, live simply, figure out how to pay off our student loans sooner…change.
Sometimes I feel trapped and there’s not a thing I can do about it. I could try to jump over the gate trapping me in but I can’t jump that high. I could try to convince someone else to let me out but others can’t do that for me. So I’m trapped…and instead of enjoying what room I do have, I sit at the gate trying to get out. I worry so much about getting out that I forget to live in the present.
