Budgets, gardening, reading, and progress!

So, I'm actually making progress on my 101 in 1001!  I have sat down and began to formulate a budgeting system for our expenses.  Currently, it's a work-in-progress, but at least it's something, which is more than I can say about before.  Also, I paid off my student loan, which is great because now I don't have to throw money at that thing anymore. Just need to pay off the cars, and we're set!

I sat down with the Little Diva today to decide on what we wanted to plant in our "garden."  After doing some serious searching to find out what we could and should grow in our backyard pots, we made some big decisions.  We will officially be attempting to grow carrots, strawberries, tomatoes, potatoes, and (for my choice) chives, cilantro, mint, and basil.  I'm actually just as excited as she is to see how this turns out!  I've been saving eggshells to make our starter plants, like this:  http://buildmakecraftbake.com/2009/04/eggshell-planters.html.  We are going out to buy all of our seeds and supplies next week, and I will keep everyone updated on how that goes :o)

Currently, I'm working on finishing this month's photography book, Beyond Portraiture by Bryan Peterson .   This has been a fantastic book (as are all B. Peterson books that I have read so far), and I have actually almost finished reading it in just over 3 sit-downs!  I love all of the ideas he has in this book for how to approach strangers and rarely have them say no to a photo op.  He goes through so many things including setting scenes, backgrounds, how to "see" what a photo could be.  Loving it so far and can't wait to finish!

Potty-training of the little Munky is in progress, but we'll see how that goes.  Currently, she just thinks it's hilarious to continually say "poopoo" and strip her pull-up off, have a seat on the potty for about 2 milliseconds, and then proceed to jump off and chase the dog around the living room butt-naked. We have our good days and bad days, but I'm letting her do it her own way since trying to do it my way with the little Diva took me almost 5 months.  So, we don't push, just leave the potty out, and she goes when she feels the need to. So far, it seems she's progressing because now she no longer will leave on a dirty diaper longer than the time it takes her to tell me it's wet.  By the time that I get back with a new one, she's already stripped herself down and having a seat on her little Ikea potty.  I highly recommend those by the way, Ikea potties.  I have three of them placed stratigically all over the house, and it has been amazing how much she attempts to use them!!