I did a lot of organizing and cleaning this weekend.  I feel really good about what I got accomplished, and my house looks a whole lot better too!  Now we just need to tie up some loose ends and we’ll be even more ahead! Here are some great posts from the blogosphere this week: Ashley from Wide Open Wallet makes baked potato soup. This sounds so yummy! Miss M at M is for Money has already hit one of her New Year’s Goals of paying off a student loan. Congrats, Miss M! Almost Frugal shares frugal gifts for new parents and babies. Great ideas! Tricia @ Blogging Away Debt spends her Saturday making a grocery price book. I’ll admit, this is one thing I am not the best at! Karen at Living Well on Less talks about how maybe she was a little too frugal. I think we’ve all been there! Have a great week, all!

Like pretty much every other person that makes New Years resolutions, one of my personal resolutions is to lose weight and get in better shape.  While my health is my number one reason for wanting to do so, I also want to feel better about looking at myself in the mirror.  No shame, no game, right?  I’ve decided I’m going to lose weight and get in shape by running.  I’ve always wanted to be a runner, and now is the time.  I’m working on eating healthy, and when I eat healthy I want to exercise! Unfortunately, living in the Midwest means rain, snow, sleet, hail, ice, sun, and pretty much every other weather you can think of.  I love being outside and running in our neighborhood, but sometimes it’s just not feasible.  Take tomorrow, for instance.  I’m off work and want to run but I won’t be able to because it’s going to rain.  Boo. I decided I was going to invest in a treadmill recently.  That will give me the ability to exercise no matter what the weather is [...]

Our Christmas tree is still up in our living room.  I had good intentions on taking it down yesterday, but Mr. Money was off and wanted to spend time together.  I also had good intentions of taking it down today when I got home from work, but the rainy, gloomy weather nixed that idea and I ended up sitting here at the computer instead.  It really made me stop and think though.  When times get tough, and it seems like you’ve got all these huge dreams and not getting ahead, it is so easy to just take a break or want to give up completely. Even though you think you don’t have the energy to do it, you’ve got to “keep on keeping on”.  When it looks like there’s a large possibility you may lose your job, your car breaks down, your dishwasher breaks, your health is scary, and the news makes it feel like the world is ending, you’ve got to keep trucking ahead. Crawling up in the fetal position and crying your eyes out is not very effective. [...]