When life gives you lemons...

When life gives you lemons, instead of making lemonade, I'd usually like to throw them at the wall. Perhaps I'm passive aggressive. Or just aggressive.

What do you do when "life gives you lemons"? What do you do when they give you lemons for years and years? It wears me down, I tell you. I try to remind myself that God has his reasons for everything, and sometimes, even in our most trying days, he is teaching us lessons.

I won't dive into the boring details of the past few years of my life. We've had a few surprises, or unexpected turns if you will. I've lost my way off the path and struggle to find it again. To sum up, we were at the forefront of this economic collapse of 2008. We were the first to get hit because we moved literally within a month of the "housing bubble burst," which of course lead to a huge economic downfall. In this house, we still haven't fully recovered. Anyone else stuck in the same boat, or sinking boat I should say? I feel like one of those people who were on the Titanic when it sank. I stood there in denial, "Nope. It'll be fine. It's unsinkable. Nothing bad has happened to me, why should it happen to me now?" Unsinkable my arse. Boy was I wrong. I'm sure you can guess that I was one of the dummies who didn't even bother looking for a lifeboat... because, after all... this ship is unsinkable! Now you can just picture me stuck in the ocean trying to swim my way to safety. Three years of swimming. I'm exhausted.

However, three years of swimming makes me think. It made me stronger (after all, wouldn't you be strong if you swam for your life every day?), it gives me lots of time of reflection. It's made me pretty humble. And, to be quite frank, I do sit here and as the waves are going by, and cursing the unsinkable ship... those are on my bad days. But that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right? This evening I had to remind myself of that. Going back to the Titanic imagery, I tell you, we weren't prepared for collapse. We were one of those type of people walking with our head in the sand thinking all will work out. Rough times makes you reevaluate life though. If it weren't for falling flat on my (ahem, you know), I would have never learned how to properly manage and budget money. I would have probably never learned how to live life without credit cards. I would have never really learned how to REALLY bargain shop. I'd still be there "keeping up with the Joneses." I thought about my day earlier and what I did. Nothing eventful, I just went to the store and picked up a few items and grocery items. I looked for the sales, I used my coupons, and I got some sweet scores.

I still curse the wind on some days. But then I remember... look how far I have come. Look how far we have come as a family. It sucks being stuck in the middle of the "financial collapse," don't get me wrong, but I recognize sometimes you need to start from scratch. Houses won't stand long on shoddy foundations... but if it is built on a solid foundation, it will stand.

I suppose we've just torn down our house and are rebuilding on a solid foundation.

I'm building up those muscles swimming for life.

I'm shaking my fist at that stupid Titanic.

I "just keep swimming, just keep swimming."

Onward!

Goal Update, day 2:

Goal 1: Fly Lady Baby Steps

"Get Dressed to Lace Up Shoes"

My apologies for looking so serious. It's hard to concentrate on taking a photo from your camera phone!

(By the way, Fly Lady, I don't do lace up shoes unless it matches the outfit. Sorry, just ain't happenin'!)

Oh, and I got new glasses. Me likey likey!

Goal 2: Wii Fit

37 minutes!

I was totally going to take a picture of the screen. I forgot. So sue me! ;)

Goal 1: CHECK

Goal2: CHECK