The Hunting Widows

I'm finding myself melancholy tonight. I don't know if it's from too little sleep or from a conversation I had with my husband; perhaps it's a combination of them both. All this wonderful stuff is happening with Hunting Widow, which I am forever thankful for, but I have some huge obstacles in front of me. Mostly keeping within budget, which reverts back to the conversation my husband and I had earlier on tonight. There are just so many things I want to do and offer women through HW, and unfortunately it might be a case of the champagne taste on a beer budget. I'm going to have to learn how to keep track of things better, or else I might be an EX-Hunting Widow!

Thinking of financial budgets leads me to time budgets. Do you and your significant other find yourself arguing---or discussing---these two topics? I know that I've put Tim through the ringer on the time budgets. For some reason in my twisted little mind, there is never enough of his time placed on ME. I need more of his time, he needs to do more for me, why can't he stay home so I can leave and do something, yada yada yada. And a lot of his complaints revolve around the other budget. Although I will say to his credit, he knows he's handling a 'delicate flower' and is very conscientious of the words he uses... :). I don't know why I'm so defensive about the financial budget. I think it's gotten to the point where I handle all of the details, which I am really not good at, and I know I'm doing a less-than-perfect job. But, it also feels like I'm the only one using the budget. So the monthly budget meetings have gone by the wayside, because it's MY job to instigate them, and our monthly budget sheets haven't been done for months, and I am not using my envelope system like I should be. This is one girl that Dave Ramsey would not be proud of!!!

Perhaps we should come up with an 'envelope system' for time budgets. A certain percentage of your time goes to sleeping. This % goes to work. This goes to eating. There are certain average percentages that go to vacuuming, cleaning, laundry --- household chores. THEN, you start working in the family time, one on one time with each kid and adult in the immediate family. Social time with friends cannot be forgotten, but must not exceed the family time. Mix in some alone time, essential for everyone (this being reading, watching tv, relaxing, hunting... oh wait, that would have to come FIRST in the mens' envelope system! hahaha *grin*). AFTER all of that has been integrated into the software, it'll print out a sample day plan for you. Tada, no more thinking for ourselves what we should be doing next---it's outlined in 15-minute intervals right there for you to see! Then when there is a disagreement over what should be taking place the next hour, the next day, the next weekend, all you have to do is refer to the outline and voila! No arguments. OK, there are many holes in this theory, but I really think I'm onto something :-)!!!

I'm definitely going to add more to my sleeping percentage tonight and tomorrow to make up for a super-fun weekend with our friends. We had a Christmas party at Tim's work Friday night. We loaded up Saturday morning and drove over to some friends' cabin in the mountains. Good food, good friends, and too little sleep. I was able to get some crocheting done, too, which I'm really behind on this Christmas season. "What did the big tomato say to the little tomato? Ketchup!" Yup, you got it: I'm the little tomato this week. Here's to a week of catching up! :)