I'm quite proud of myself this week. I managed to get a number of things done that I would have otherwise procrastinated. Some of the many things: I've gotten my doctor's appointments in order and had my blood work done. I've taken my car in to get the cruise control checked(it's not working because of an unrelated problem that's too expensive to bother fixing). I've gotten my new mask for my CPAP machine(hurray!). I also scheduled a vet appointment for my cat this month.

Among all that I've gotten a tighter control over my money. This is going to be the fourth month of working out my budget(the three previous were failures), and I think its going to work this time. If I can keep tight control over my spending it should work out. I'm going to work it out on an excel sheet and tailor it to my needs. My previous budgets were based on a template I picked up but I need something that works specifically for me.

Last week I did complete my financial class and just in time too. I saved the audio classes as well as the forms and Dave Ramsey encouraged me to share them if I wish. If anyone wants a copy, just ask. I've learned a great deal and I'm taking it to heart. I'm confident I can get control of my spending, and manage it. It'll take some work but I can do it.

One of the lessons, in fact the final lesson, talked about something very important, something I'm still grappling with right now. The lesson said that my earnings aren't really mine after all, but really they belong to God. I'm just a manager, or steward, of what I hold. I could become the millionaire I want to be but if I don't give, if I hold it back for myself then I miss the point. I manage this little plot of existence for God...

...

I wish understanding this would make it easier for me to consider tithing. OISH. It's hard to let go, isn't it?

In other news, I did manage to get my new computer up and running. It's fast, sleek, and most of all it is light on the wallet. In all this hullabaloo I found out my external hard drive also died and is no longer working. I cannot get access at all. In an attempt to recover some of the files that was on it, I took to my mp3 player and found a way to copy files back to my hard drive off of it. Halfway through that process, the mp3 player died too! So now I'm out of a bunch of files, including a lot of my trance music. It is a sad sad day for hard drives.