Baby Steps

Many people assume that JAGs (Judge Advocate Generals or military lawyers) get their schooling paid for and receive bonus pay like pilots and doctors. NOT TRUE!
The military does not pay off student loans for attorneys.

However, they are allowed two continuation pay bonuses. After they serve as a JAG for four years, if they extend for another two, then they can get a small bonus. After those two years, if they agree to do another four years, then they can get a little more. (Which, of course, they take taxes out of so a person has to wait until next year's tax return to get the rest of the bonus.)

That's it.

Period.

Well, today Todd got one of those bonuses. We've been working on paying off debt for awhile and today we were able to completely pay off one student loan and a little extra on other debt. Yay!!

We were going to apply for a program where the government would pay off the remainder of a person's student loans if they work in some sort of government/public service for 10 years. While that would be wonderful (it would save us quite a bit), we hate having Todd's other student loan hanging around that long, so we're just going to bite the bullet and pay it off. So we could be debt free, except the house, in two more years, EXCEPT that Todd wants to pay off the 2nd mortgage first.

Now, I'm a Dave Ramsey girl. I think the way he tells people to do things makes sense and I like it. He has seven baby steps and they are:
1- $1,000 emergency fund
2- Debt Snowball (pay off debt except for house)
3- 3-6 months emergency fund
4- Invest 15% of income towards retirement
5- College funding for children
6- Pay off home early
7- Build wealth & give

As you can see, paying off the home early is #6, so I planned on paying off the 2nd mortgage AFTER we finished paying off all other debt, funding our emergency fund, etc. So tackling it now is hard for me because it means pushing back our 'debt free' date. Now I know that it's basically all in my head and paying it off now or later doesn't make us any less or more in overall debt, but it's that's just the way my brain works. But it's ok. Besides, Dave Ramsey does say that if your 2nd mortgage is less than 1/2 of your income to add it to babystep 2, and if it's more than 1/2 to stick it in babystep 6. Ours is less, so I guess we should do it this way anyway. Although it's still hard to be ok with it. It's like saying "I'm going to lose 20 lbs this year" and then changing it to "I'm going to lose 60 lbs in 3 years." The satisfaction of reaching your goal doesn't come as early.

So, now we have another four years (UGH!) before being debt free besides the house, although hopefully we'll sell the house by then and be COMPLETELY debt free. I can't wait! But for now, at least we're a little closer.

New Year's resolution

Yeah. This is why I've decided that my New Year's resolution is going to be to lose weight. I still have to figure out when I'm going to fit my exercise in, but it has to be done. (Plus, I just feel so much better when I'm running.)

Meatballs

I think this is another recipe we got while living in Germany. I don't know how many times I've been asked for this recipe. These meatballs are super simple and make a perfect potluck dish. (This is a double recipe, but if using for your own family, just cut it in half.) Again, this is one I always have memorized (it only has three ingredients), but it is a favorite.

2 pkg frozen meatballs (home style, original or any other flavor you'd like to try)
2 small bottles of BBQ sauce
1 large jar of grape jelly

Yes, you read that right--grape jelly. Sounds weird, but just try it.

Add all ingredients to a large crock pot, stir to mix, and cook on high for 3 hours.

That's it.

I'm sure you could also use homemade meatballs, but as I'm too lazy busy to try that, I use the frozen ones.

With the bags I use, (smaller size meatballs, not the large ones) it usually ends up making about 140 meatballs.

Broccoli & Cheese Soup

This is a recipe that I don't really need to write down since it's very easy to remember, but it is one of our family's favorites. We've been making this soup for the last 11 years. I got this from a Sister in our ward when we lived in Germany. It's not so much of a 'recipe' as it is just adding things to a soup mix to make it better and stretch it, but it is still very yummy.

I always double these amounts for my family.

1 pkg Bear Creek Broccoli & Cheese soup mix
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1 can Chicken
1 pkg frozen chopped Broccoli (cooked)
2 C Cheddar Cheese

Make the Bear Creek soup mix as directed on package. Add cream of chicken soup and whisk. Then add remaining ingredients. Cook & stir until cheese is melted. Serve. The regular soup mix makes 8 servings, but when you add the other items, it will make more than that.

You can also use other mixes besides Bear Creek. That's what I normally use, but sometimes I grab whatever soup mix is cheaper.

The nice thing about this is that you pretty much just stick in whatever you want.

My Favorite Recipes

(I know it's been a while since my last post, but hey, I'm here now. Don't judge me.) :)

I have family coming into town this weekend and I started thinking about the menu for when they come. I've kind of been in a rut and tend to make the same few things when guests come, but I usually don't have the same people returning very often, so I can get away with serving the same few things. Lame, I know, but there you have it. I wanted to make sure I didn't make the same things I did last time, so I've been looking at other recipes, searching for some online, etc. That led me to finally do something that I've talked about doing for years--organize my recipes.

I was telling my sisters over Christmas how I need to put together my own recipe book with just the recipes that MY family enjoys. I have plenty of recipe books, I'm sure you do, too. I have some family ones, some church ones, 'regular' ones from the store, but I hate having to track down the one or two recipes that I might like in each book . . . so I rarely do. Also, I have my recipe box and various emails with recipes that I like or think that some day I'll try.

While this isn't a book, I thought I could start keeping track of the recipes that I really like here on my blog. I'll have to find some way of keeping track and organizing them (I'm not used to tagging or anything fancy, so we'll see what I figure out), but at least I'll have them all in one place.

And if any of you have a REALLY good recipe that you would like to share, pass it on and it may make it on here. . . eventually. :)

**Disclaimer- For those of you who read this blog (all 2 of you), I make no claim that any of the food posted on this site is meant to be healthy. Some of it may be, much of it probably won't be. That is the risk you take if you decide to try one of the recipes.

**Disclaimer #2- The first disclaimer, and this one as well, could sound much more legal and official if Todd helped me come up with something, but I'm really not that motivated to make it sound really clever.