it's funny (or ironic, you could say) that the biggest challenges come up when you're trying your best. for instance, you don't get invited to mexican food for lunch until you consciously decide to go on a diet.

this month, we're seeing this in our finances. at the end of june, i was super motivated to help us get our finances in-line. i updated our budget, created a spreadsheet for tracking our spending, and we sat down together to talk about trying to stick to our budget for the entire month of july. we decided to test two aspects of our financial life: 1. is our budget realistic? 2. are we spending realistically?

right away, we were thrown a curveball, and it seems to me, they're just continuing. it's like a board game:

matt gets pulled over for expired tabs (which we haven't renewed simply due to laziness) - $200.
renew matt's tabs - $60.
renew my car's tabs - $213 (good ol' monorail project...)
matt drops his bottle of insulin on the tile floor at work, and insurance won't pay for a replacement - $70.
kate oversleeps and has to drive to work, but is so distracted by running late that she forgets to pay for parking at the lot, and gets a ticket - $25.

sure, none of these fees seems insurmountable individually, but add them up and factor in our mini-vacation to eastern washington next month, and we've decimated our recently-created savings, AND put more on a credit card than i ever wanted to have to add to our previously-existing mole hill of debt.

on a different, but similar, note: my travel-photo scrapbooking class is coming up this weekend, and i'm nervous, but mostly prepared. whenever anyone in our family has been looking for a new job, my dad and step-mom ask us how much of a salary we *need*, and then help us by praying for that specific amount. matt and i have taken this very good advice and put a spin on it: we're praying for how many students i need at this class. i get paid 50% of the tuition that the school brings in, plus a $10/head to cover supplies, so in order to break even for the time i've put into it, i figure i need at least 10 students.

Lord, i'd like to ammend my previous prayers. could we make that 20?