Thanks, Dave!

I was a little distressed last week to find out that credit card machines in about 70 Michael’s stores around the U.S. had been compromised, including 2 in Utah. Yes, I shopped at one of the locations a few months ago, unfortunately, so my debit card was cancelled and a new one reissued as a safety precaution.

I hadn’t noticed any unusual activity in my account, but I’m still grateful the bank took the route of cancelling my card just in case. The ironic thing is that my card expires this month and I’d just barely gotten my new card and activated it the night before it was cancelled. Oh well!

It’s now been a week, and I still don’t have my new card. Normally it would be cause for distress to be without my debit card for an entire week, but this time it’s not so bad . . . thanks to Dave Ramsey!

Since I’m now following Financial Peace University, the program he created, one of the key components is to use the envelope system where you get cash for each budgeted item and then you can spend it until it’s gone. I’ve been using this system for about seven months now, and it’s been working very well for me. And this week it’s seriously saving my bacon!

Without having my spending money in cash, I would’ve either been forced to use my credit card a LOT or to be stuck with using the archaic checks, which many places won’t even take anymore.

All I can say is that I’m extremely grateful to Dave Ramsey and Financial Peace University for making what could’ve been a difficult week a whole lot easier.

Running for a cause

Today I signed up for a 5K . . . that takes place on Saturday. Am I ready for it? Probably not, but I chose to do it anyway, and here’s why.

I’ve already been thinking about this 5K for awhile and was planning to do it way back when (since March to be exact). However, I’ve had a crazy schedule for the last few months, and my evenings keep getting filled with other things, so my training has been extremely limited. And then my computer was unsafe so I couldn’t sign up for the race. . . yeah you’re getting the picture.

Then I got an email from my dear aunt yesterday that changed everything, so now I’m officially participating in the Running with Angels 5K next Saturday, ready or not. But I believe in running for a good cause, and this one is most definitely fits that requirement.

It’s a race put on by Pam Hansen in honor of her book, Running with Angels. It’s a longer story than I’m going to tell here, but basically Pam was able to use running as a means to fight her obesity and to deal with the deaths of two of her children and the illnesses of two more of her children. I haven’t read the book myself, but it sounds like a great story, and I’ll be adding it to my list.

Proceeds from this race will be donated to the Angel Watch program that’s designed to support families who discover life-threatening illnesses or conditions with their unborn children. Having been through something like this, I feel strongly about supporting an organization like this. Originally I thought the race was to raise money for Primary Children’s, but, it is not. However, I still feel this race is a worthy cause.

Here’s the part that really makes it personal to me: I’m running this race in honor of my beautiful niece, Ashley Marie Winn, who died a little over a year ago. I still miss her dearly and many of the positive lifestyle changes I’ve made in the last year (including taking up running, something I NEVER thought I would or could do) have been in her honor. So I’m going to run this race for her. See that beautiful smile? I would love for all kids to be able to smile like that.

If you’re interested in learning more about the race or in donating to the Angel Watch Program, here’s a link to the page they automatically created for me when I signed up. I didn’t make a goal on fundraising or anything, especially since I signed up so late, but if you’d like to support me in this, please feel free to visit the page: http://RunningWithAngels.kintera.org/tammyspage.

Wish me luck as I prepare to run for a great cause on Saturday!

Just a Saturday evening party

Happy Sunday everyone, and what a beautiful day it is outside!! I’m seriously loving this spring weather that’s FINALLY arrived! Sorry about my two-week hiatus in writing in my blog. My computer was having some issues that I thought meant it had been hijacked so I’ve been using it on a very limited basis, but now we’re up and running again. So one of my first orders of business is to update my poor neglected blog.

Just a couple weeks ago someone I work closely with got married. The wedding itself was a quiet affair and then she left for a week and a half honeymoon in Puerto Rico. She’s fairly well-known in the community, as is her new husband, so they decided to have an open house celebration to commemorate their marriage. I felt humbled to be one of the people chosen to attend. But now I have a serious problem.

The open house was going to be held at one of the nicest restaurants in downtown, and I had absolutely nothing in my closet that I felt was appropriate to wear. So, I had to go on a little shopping excursion to figure out what I should wear. Well, here are the results of my thousands of steps through many stores. And the best part is, I got a steal on this dress!

Here are a few images from the party. One of my good friends agreed to go with me, which I really appreciated. He helped make it much more of a comfortable evening for me and blended seamlessly into the crowd too. Thanks be to great friends!

Here’s me with my colleague (doesn’t she look fabulous?) and three of us Zions ladies.

I was nervous when it got time to leave for the actual party because I’ve never really done anything like this before, but I thought the evening turned out very well. I was grateful I had the chance to attend.