No More Payments!!!

We pushed really hard in 2012 to pay off the car and my student loans. 

WE DID IT!!!

How did we do it? Ever hear of Dave Ramsey? Ever hear of Gazelle Intensity? Or perhaps The Total Money Makeover book? That's how. We are following Dave's plan to get out of debt, stay out of debt, and build wealth. It's been hard, and we went without doing a lot of things but this year we paid off the car 13 months early and my student loan 3 years early. Next we'll start working Adam's school loan. We are SO excited about it, I can't even tell you. 

Below is Anna and Zuki making that last payment of $577.92. 

Then for extra umph we printed out the payment receipt and burned it.

The next day we headed down to Folsom (we were in California) and had a wonderful lunch at FATs Asian Bistro to celebrate. (I could hardly hold my tongue, I wanted to tell all our servers why we were there.) I highly recommend the place but make reservations. I am told they are ALWAYS busy. We waited almost an hour for a seat. (Images found here.)

Just in case you decide to go: The food was delicious, and the building is directly off Highway 50. Anna chose Thai Seafood in a Fat Pot (shrimp, scallops etc. in a rich coconut red curry broth. It was enough food for about three meals.) Adam got Red Chili Tiger Prawn Noodles (tiger prawns marinated in chili, grilled and served on a bed of lo mein noodles with green beans and oven dried tomatoes in garlic sauce.)

And our fortunes couldn't have been more appropriate for the occasion.

I'm sure once Adam's payments are over, and we are completely debt free...we'll have an even bigger celebration!

Anna's New Year Mantra

Instead of setting multiple goals and ultimately NOT meeting them, I wanted this year to be different. Actually, I needed this year to be different. So I have adopted a mantra and I will recite it often.

You'll see it behind my eyes when I'm talking. It will seep through my grimacing teeth whenever I think of Texas. And you know I'll be screaming it when I'm exercising. THIS word is going to help me achieve all that is needful for an accomplished year.

(Adam is still working on his Mantra. I am sure it will be fabulous...)

How Our Christmas Mouse Came to Be

One evening Adam flipped the light on and started hollering at me from the kitchen. He'd seen a mouse!

I bought different kinds of traps and set them up in the kitchen. A few hours later we heard, “SQUEEK, SQUEEK!" We'd caught it.

Next I'm hearing Adam say, “Awww, Anna, it's so cute...is there any way we can get it off the sticky paper? Rescue it and let it go?" Poor Adam instantly felt bad for that little rodent, with its pink tail and big black eyes. You could say it had him at “squeak."

 “It's so scared, I feel bad, " he continued on. And there we sat on the floor with the mouse, trying to determine its quick and humane disposal. Could we put it in a bag and let it pass out? Should we run over it with the car? How about we put it outside for a cat? (Obviously that would cause all kinds of trouble with the sticky paper. So that was out.) Adam even called his MOTHER to explain our situation. She told us to smack it with a piece of wood.

In the end, we put the poor thing in a bag so we couldn't see it and Adam took it outside and dropped a brick on it. Twice. Just to make sure.

You may think us silly. And part of me thinks so too. But I love that Adam was worried about the mouse. I'm glad he has a good heart and wants to do things quickly and humanely. And in this case, I also think it's cute he called his mom.

Little did I know, his mom thought Adam's concern was endearing and a little humorous too. While the family was in Kansas for Thanksgiving she told everyone our mouse story and bought us this Christmas ornament in memoriam of our little mouse.

And that is how our new Christmas Mouse came to be.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting and Caramel Filling

I've made these about three times in the last two months. They are SOOO good—soft, moist. I have a skinny friend who ate TWO in one evening, so they MUST be good right? I took a batch to our Ward Christmas Party and watched as some people licked the frosting off, then commenced to suck and slurp out the filling with their tongue before finally devouring the cupcake. So I think I had better share the wealth. Click here.