Why Pay Your Bills on Time?

As we all know paying your bills on time is key, especially for your credit score’s sake. However, I wanted to share a little experience that I had. Our family is a paycheck to paycheck family. Often times I am a little short or waiting for money to come in when a bill is due. At first I sacrificed everything for the bill to be there on the due date, but in the end I usually would pay many overdraft fees on my other transactions just to get the bill paid. Please do not think I am advocating not to pay your bills on time, but if you find yourself between a rock and a hard place these things in mind:

1. Most of the time the late fee on a particular bill is less than the sum of overdraft fees you would be charged from the bank for additional transactions coming in. For example, most late fees are a small percentage (2-5%) of the bill, while overdraft fees are usually $25-$35 per transaction.
2. Late payments are usually only reported to the credit bureau if they are 30 days overdue. So you are probably OK if you are only looking at only a few days late.
3. Put your family first. If you are like us and have no credit cards, I have made the choice that my family and the food and necessities we need come first. I always try to pay all my bills on time, but if I have to choose paying a bill on the due date and getting some food for the table; I put food on the table. In our case most of the time the money we need to pay the bill is usually 1-3 days out, because my husband is a contractor and gets paid sporadically.

I want to reiterate that I am NOT advocating for not paying your bills on time. I just wanted to share that being 1-5 days late on your bill is not the end of the world, as I once thought it was, and making sure that your family has what it needs is really key.

Do any of you experience this financial juggling? How do you handle it?

As a side note, I am SO excited about continuing my posts on Walt Disney World. Tomorrow I will feature Animal Kingdom! Have a great day!

Work/Kids Out of Balance

The title says it ALL the balance between work and my family is out of whack, and last night topped it off for me. We had our business partner in town for a meeting. They had brought people from all over the globe in for this meeting. As is common for the business world, at the end of the day we all went out for dinner. Since I get to set the schedule, we set dinner start time for 5:30 pm in hopes we would be done early. Well I was WRONG! We didn't leave the restaurant until after 8:00 pm!!! By the time I got home my daughter was in bed asleep.

That is when it really hit me. I did not get to talk about her day. I wasn't there to help with homework. I wasn't there to read with her. I just WASN'T THERE PERIOD!!! This really upset me, but I can't see a way to change. I have to work and since I'm in sales and marketing, these dinners and the travel are part of my job description.

I guess I am just feeling like I'm missing out on a big part of my kids lives because I have to make money and I wish that I could have both and not have to choose.

And now that I have posted this in the back of my mind there is a voice saying, “OK enough whoa is me. My kids are healthy and really you can't ask for more than that. And life isn't fair, no one said it was. So I just need to dust myself off and be thankful for what I have!” So I’ve just that and I continue to battle the world of mom versus working woman.

I hope everyone is having a good week. Stay tuned for tomorrow's Why Wednesday featuring "Why Pay Those Bills on Time?"

EPCOT (Walt Disney World)

I must admit that EPCOT is my FAVORITE park. I love learning about all the cultures, eating the food and seeing the performers. That being said here are my suggestions in regards to the EPCOT.

When we went last December, we had my daughter who was 5 at the time. If you have a little girl, then the lunch with the princesses is a MUST. You have to make reservations for this and even though we called 5 months in advance, there was only one time remaining on the day we were going to EPCOT. Before you are seated you get to meet a princess, get their autograph, and have a picture taken. For our visit this princess was Belle. We had purchased a princess autograph book for our daughter and a princess pen. She LOVED it and got all the princesses autographs throughout the lunch and during on entire visit at Walt Disney World. While you are eating four different princesses visit your table and pose for pictures. Our princesses were Jasmine, Sleeping Beauty, Alice, and Cinderella. Here is a link about the dining with the princesses.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/epcot/dining/akershus/

EPCOT is divided into two sections: The World Showcase and Future World. Because the World Showcase is open later and there are really not any lines to get in, we focused the start of our day on Future World.

Future World is broken up into several Pavilions.
The Seas Pavilion
The Land Pavilion
The Imagination Pavilion
The Energy Pavilion
The Space Pavilion
Test Track Pavilion

We decided to tackle Future World counter clockwise, but we did send my husband and father-in-law off once again to get Fast Passes for Test Track, while we rode The Seas with Nemo and Friends in the Seas Pavilion. This was a nice starter ride as there was NO line. From here we went to Turtle Talk with Crush. This is a GREAT min-show. The kids sit down front and Crush takes questions. My daughter was mesmerized by the "movie magic". This is definitely a MUST!

We then walked over to the Land Pavilion in Future World where we got fast passes for Soarin'. If you want to ride Soarin' I would highly suggest a Fast Pass and you must get one early. I believe we were in the Lands at around 10am and we ended up with Fast Passes for 8pm that night! Wait time for the ride was also around 90 minutes. (As a side note: When we got back to the ride that night with our fast passes, the wait time for the ride was 190 minutes!) We didn't end up doing any other rides in this section as it was time for our Fast Passes at Test Track and we just ran out of time.

Test Track is a MUST for your visit. It is A LOT of fun! You get to experience what a "test dummy" goes through while testing a car. Again this is another ride I would STRONGLY recommend a Fast Pass.

After Test Track, we headed to the Imagination Pavilion, because we want to ride Journey into Imagination with Figment. This is a VERY fun ride for kids, and even adults. Once you complete the ride you go into a room with all kinds of hands-on activities brought to you by Kodak. You could easily spend 30 minutes to an hour in here taking in all the activities.

After this point we decided to head into the World Showcase. We did this for 2 reasons. First, we had lunch with the princesses at 2pm and we were getting close to that time and second, we had decided to forgo the other big ride in Future World, Mission Space as we had read that this is the ONLY ride in the entire Disney park that provided barf bags. I don't know about you, but I get motion sickness VERY easily and I was not interested in "yawning in Technicolor" while at the park. So we skipped it.

We also missed the Energy Pavilion which has a show called Ellen's Energy Adventure. This looked very interesting and is something we would have like to see had we had time. We also missed "Honey I Shrunk the Audience", which also looked very interesting

To keep the information grouped together I will tell you about the Spaceship Earth ride now, even though we waited until evening to ride this one. This is the ride in the "BIG ball" which is the signature piece of EPCOT. This is a seated ride that goes through the entire ball and talks you through a walk through time from the early dawning to the future. A great ride for all ages, with a special interactive bit at the end!

So now I'll move on to the World Showcase which contains:
Mexico
Norway (location of the princess lunch)
China
Germany
Italy
USA
Japan
Morocco
France
United Kingdom
Canada

There is a TON to see and do in these lands. I'll highlight a few.

In Mexico there is a boat ride that talks about Mexico and features the Three Caballeros. It is a lot of fun for everyone and provides some interesting information. In the area where you wait in line there is a small open market with a variety of Mexican made goods. This is a fun place to look around.

In Norway there is another boat ride, this one is focused on the Vikings and includes a minor exciting "drop". Again, some very interesting information to be gathered here.
In China there are some nice shops and a good restaurant. We got our daughter a Chinese umbrella with her name written in Chinese on the outside.

When you go to Germany you MUST go to the glass shop. They have FANTASTIC glasses and beer steins. You can have your purchased engraved with a name. We found these to be VERY reasonable gifts that had a lot of meaning.

In USA is the American Adventure. We missed out on this attraction as it was closed during our visit. It is listed as a "thrill to an epic theatrical event with authentic historical characters, magnificent music and extraordinary effects on stage and screen." There is also an amphitheatre where live performances happen periodically throughout the day. If you want to see one of these performances, send a family member WAY before showtime (I believe they were recommending 1 hour) to stand in line for seating. The line fills up fast and as seats are fist come first serve, the closer you are to the front of the line the better seats you'll get.

A MUST MUST stop is the bakery in France. The pastries are WONDERFUL! Sit down and enjoy a little piece of France! You won't regret it!

The remaining lands have interesting sites and shops and food stations. If you have a particular ancestry, be sure to stop by that land for acts, special items, and delicious native food. It is important to note that Disney brings in people from that particular country to work in the shops and restaurants. Be sure to look at their name tags to see exactly where they are from!

Finally, you must stay until the park closes, as they put on a FANTASTIC laser and fireworks display at the end of the day. We watched the show from the United Kingdom and had a nice view. Although I think they recommend viewing it in USA. People begin congregating along the fence which surrounds a big lake, which is the centerpiece of World Showcase about 30 minutes before the show. Please note that the pretty much turn all the lights out in the park during the show, so it is best to find a spot and remain there until it is over.

EPCOT is simply fantastic. In order to really experience it I would recommend 2 days. One day devoted to Future World, and another day devoted to World Showcase.

Here are some links for EPCOT:

http://www.kingdommagictravel.com/disneyworld/theme_parks/epcot.htm
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/epcot/
http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/guides/epcot/ep-overview.htm

As usual, if you have questions I'd love to here them! Have a great weekend!

Why?

Today for Why Wednesday, I'd like to post a poem I wrote called "Why?". My family is going through some struggles right now. Although these struggles are not serious, i.e. health, they are putting a strain on my family and although I know it will all work itself out in the wash, it is not making things any easier right now. I hope you enjoy my poem and that maybe it can help you through tough times as it has me.

There are times in life we question why,
A loving God makes us cry.

In these times the road of life,
Is filled with turmoil and strife.

And even though the times are hard,
We must remember it is in the cards.

The good times and the bad,
The happy and the sad.

Always in our times of grief,
The Lord is providing relief.

So when the times are more than you can bear,
Look up to heaven and know He is there.

Waiting for a simple prayer,
To ask Him for His loving and precious care.

-S. Canfield
Copyright 2007

Black Magic's Story

I promised on my first blog to tell you the story of how I got my horse Black Magic. I can't find a better day than today to do that. From the paper work I have on her she was sold at an auction as a 2-year old with a puffy knee. The couple who bought her put her in a pasture with another horse. Some series of unfortunate events occurred with the couple and the man was removed from the location with the horses. It was my understanding that he did most of the work with the horses. The woman was no very familiar with horses and it turns out the Magic did not like her at all. Magic would chase the woman around the field biting and kicking at her. In the end the woman could not take it anymore and put Magic in the paper. The ad said "Free to anyone who can catch her." Thankfully this ad was read by the founder and president of Denkai Animal Sanctuary Floss Blackburn. Floss and her team went to the property and spent an entire day trying to get Magic loaded. They finally did and took her to the sanctuary.

I am not sure how long she was at the sanctuary before I came along, but I don't think it was very long. So here is how I got involved. I wanted to get involved with horses and began looking for some place in Northern Colorado that had this capability. I stumbled across Denkai on the internet and saw that you could sponsor horses. Well of course I was all over that! I looked through the list of available horses to sponsor and found Magic. I loved her just from her picture and contacted Floss about being her sponsor.

To begin with I would go out on my lunch break and as often as possible to just be near her. She would not let me too close at first and so I'd just stand and talk to her. Then one evening I went out to see her and she had a cut over her eye. Floss was not there, but I had her cell phone number and called her. By the time Floss got back it was dark and we had to work by the "light of the moon". One of the people who help Floss at the sanctuary is Darrin. He is VERY experienced with all types of horses. (He is also a VERY patient and wonderful farrier. His contact info can be found at the bottom of this post if you need a new farrier or horse trainier.) He had a rope halter that we need to get on Magic so we could treat her cut. Well she didn't want any of that. I was the only one who could get close enough to her, so Darrin gave me the rope halter. I had NEVER haltered a horse before. I understood the concept, but didn't know exactly what I needed to do. Magic let me put the halter over her face and then Darrin instructed me on how to tie it so it wouldn't come off. We treated her cut and she was on the mend.

I continued my visits and then Floss was forced to move the sanctuary, which meant haltering Magic and loading her into a trailer. Well we got her into a round pin and it took me ALL day to get her haltered. She was one of the last animals to be moved that day. Once Magic was haltered she was fine in the trailer and rode along quietly.

At the new location, I tried to work on getting her to halter easier, but it was quite a distance from my house and I wasn't getting out as often as I wanted. So I talked to Floss about adopting her and she thought that would be great idea. So in October of 2006 I moved her to a boarding facility near my home.

I have continued to work with Magic, although her training is not as far along as I'd like. But I love her and just spending time with her makes me happy!

So that's it. That's the story of how I came to have my wonderful horse Black Magic!

Darrin’s Contact Info
Darrin Hill
970-776-6816
Moondog66@gmail.com

Magic Kingdom (Walt Disney World)

First let me apologize for not getting this post up yesterday. Unfortunately I was sick (back to school germs makin' their way through our household). But I'm healed and ready to talk about travelin' to the Magic Kingdom!

This is a HUGE park with SO much to do. We were there from park opening to park closing and just barely got everything we wanted to do in. I would really recommend 2 or 3 days for this park! Here are a few tips for navigating Magic Kingdom:

1. Because the park is so large, do your best not to criss cross the park. Try to ride all the rides in one land before going to the next land.

2. The following rides typically gather LONG lines. Try to either get to them early in the day or get a Fast Pass to come back later:

• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Splash Mountain
• Big Mountain Thunder Railroad
• Space Mountain
• Peter Pan' Flight
• Small World
• Ariel’s Grotto

Note: Small World, Ariel’s Grotto, and Pirates of the Caribbean don't have Fast Pass.

3. Don't be afraid to send someone for a Fast Pass. My husband and father-in-law were not interested in riding Peter Pan's Flight, so they headed to Tomorrowland to get Fast Passes for Space Mountain and Stitches' Great Escape. This worked out well. By the time they got back we were all able to move right over and ride Small World together.
Note: You can only get a Fast Pass every so many minutes (as I recall it was every 20- 30 minutes). So you may have to choose which ride you want a Fast Pass for first.

4. As I said before find out what everyone wants to see most and move those things to the top of your list. This way everyone will have a GREAT day at the park.

5. Use baby swap on those rides that have height restrictions. Baby swap enables one of you to hold the child while the other rides and then as soon as one of you gets back, the other one can get right on the ride!

6. There are several parades and shows throughout the day. If you want to see these, make sure to make time in your schedule and find you spot to sit early as good places to view the parade from fill up fast.

7. In Tomorrowland there is an attraction called Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor. Before the show you can text a joke and they may use it for the show (instructions are on monitors). I put in a joke using my daughter's name and she got a HUGE kick out of it when they said her name and the joke, making the trip it a really special experience.

8. If your family has no preference I would start in Tomorrowland, and then work counter clockwise through the park.

9. The Tiki Room is a great attraction with lots of music and fun for all! As a bonus it is INSIDE! So if you are there on a hot day, you can at least get out of the sun!

Below are a couple of direct links about the Magic Kingdom with some additional advice about navigating the park.

http://www.kingdommagictravel.com/disneyworld/theme_parks/magic_kingdom.htm

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/magic-kingdom/calendar/

http://www.wdwinfo.com/maps/MK.htm

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/parks/maps/mappopupid=MagicKingdomMapPage&bhcp=1

Have questions? I'd be happy to answer any! Have a great holiday weekend!

Next Thursday I'll cover EPCOT!

Why Wait to Have Children

I often hear newly married couples being either bugged to have children or they are anxious to start having kids. I am a firm believer in waiting to have children, because children totally change your life and your relationship with your spouse. It is a wonderful thing, but it can be quite stressful and if you have not taken the time as a couple to build a good foundation, you could find yourselves struggling to make it all work.

If you are newly married, my advice is it to take a couple of years to enjoy each other. Get out there and do all kinds of stuff. Develop new hobbies together. Take trips (even if they are just day trips). Laugh together, be spontaneous! Learn about each other and how each of you is wired. Not only are you building a foundation for your marriage, but then when you have kids you can talk about some of the stuff you used to do before kids, and have something to look forward to when they leave. ;)

I think a coworker of mine described it best. He and his wife used to go camping all the time. They would just decide spur of the moment and take off. They recently had their first child, and what really changed for them is the time it takes to prepare to go somewhere with a baby. It takes several hours and many bags and gadgets and toys to take a baby or child with you.

On a personal level, what changed most for my husband and I was the inability to participate in our passion, drag racing. BC (before children) my husband and I were either at the track racing or working on our cars EVERY weekend. We loved it and had a great time doing it. When I became pregnant with my daughter, I stopped. And then once she was born because of finances and time, my husband also quit driving. I can tell you there is not a day that goes by that we would not love to be drag racing again. It was a source of stress relief for us and just A LOT of FUN!

Please don’t get me wrong, I would not change having my kids for the world. They are lights of joy when the road seems so dark, but they also require all of my attention. I often it tough to give my husband the attention he needs, because (and maybe it is because I'm the mom) but I put my kids first. Right or wrong I know that at times my husband needs more from me that I am not able to give because of kids, job and (truthfully) my animals. I am thankful that I have a wonderful husband and we have a strong foundation, so he understands. I feel that if we had not had those years of “just the two of us” that we may either be wondering why we are in this relationship or even possibly thinking about leaving.

So this is the advice I give to all couples, be a couple first and then become a family.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic! Please put your comments below! Have a WONDERFUL Wednesday!