To Billy or not to Billy:

If you know me at all, you know that I love, Love, LOVE Billy Joel.

(Love him.)

He's coming to Phoenix with Elton John on March 26, 2009, for their Face-To-Face tour. I saw this show in Las Vegas (with Thelissa and Holly) in 1995 and loved it. Watching them together on stage was incredible, especially when they were sitting at their pianos - man I LOVE the way they play their pianos. I do remember thinking there was too much Elton, not enough Billy, but I'm certain a lot of that was because I love Billy so much.


I've been in a quandary since I saw this ad. Tickets go on sale this Saturday the 13th. I've never missed a Billy concert since I "discovered" how much I loved him (late 80s, early 90s).

Getting out of debt doesn't really allow for non-important things such as concert tickets. I've been incredibly good at avoiding presents for myself for the most part, and find myself talking me out of things I would normally absolutely buy all in the name of "but I'm being so good."

Just today, several people have told me I should get a ticket for myself for Christmas. I deserved it and would truly enjoy/appreciate it. And I really would. Man, I REALLY would.

But I'm still in debt. I got myself into this mess because for my entire adult life, I've always had the attitude of, "But I deserve it because [insert excuse here]." I don't deserve it. Not this time.

Sigh. Bye bye Billy.

Black Friday Confession...

I bought...

NOTHING!

You'd be so proud! I went shopping with all of my sisters and the only thing I bought was breakfast at Mimi's that morning. That's it. I even carried around a shirt I wanted to get and I asked my sister to tell me to not purchase it. She did. I put it back. No regrets (though it was a really cute shirt).

Can you believe it?!? I'm quite pleased if I do say so myself.

Now I gotta share with you some picture memories of Thanksgiving 2008:

(This is the first time I've seen my nephew Jackson [16] in a while. He gives the BEST hugs and I've really missed him.)

(I have the extreme privilege of living near Andrea and her family. She's always saying I'm her kids' second mom - which I absolutely love hearing. Because of this, I asked to get a picture with them and here it is. [Kymber is front and center, then from left to right is Porter, me, Taralee, and Ellie with Abby standing behind Ellie, then the back row is Bryndee and Torie.])

(Here are the original LaRues: Mom and Dad [Sharon and Allan], with from left to right Andrea [4th], Leslie [1st], Tara [3rd], Stacey [2nd], and Cassie [5th].)

(And finally the entire LaRue clan [minus oldest nephew James who lives in Virginia with his wife/child and couldn't make the trip, as well we Jake who is on a mission to the West Indies]: front row is Sydney; 2nd row is Torie and Raegan; 3rd row is Ellie, Jackson, Porter, Mom holding Taralee, Dad holding Max, Andrew, Tyler and Dylan; 4th row is Bryndee, Jonni, Abby, Kymber, Tara, Cassie, Kalli, and Travis; 5th row is Andrea, Ron, Leslie, Jason, Chad, Stacey, and Kirk.)

WHAT A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY! Happy Thanksgiving and now Christmas to you all!

The ugly, almost naked guy

I have a neighbor that works out in his yard, all day and night long, in only his underwear. Not sure why he thinks this is okay, but he does it and it brings all sorts of giggles and chuckling by anyone who either lives near him or has heard about him.

My friend/neighbor who has the privilege of living across the street from him got some pictures a while ago and posted them on her blog.

Take a look.

I'm all about saving money, so here's your free entertainment!

Needs vs. Wants

I've written in the past about need vs. want.

I just read a blog post by Seth Godin that I thoroughly enjoyed that brings that point to home a bit more. He writes for small businesses/entrepreneurs, but I think his words can be applied to all of us personally as well. Take a look: HUNGRY

A tip from me to you:

Are you one of those people who gets email after email about safety issues, ways to gas your car up properly, what to watch out for, etc.?

I get those kinds of emails ALL THE TIME. I usually don't read them (sorry if you are one of the ones that send me those kinds of things).

But I did end up reading one that gave suggestions on how to get better gas mileage for your car. For whatever reason, it "stuck" in my brain and the suggestions seemed good and made sense.

It says to fill your car up in the morning when it's still cool outside and to not put the "lock" on the highest setting - you know, the thing you set on the gas pump that makes it so you don't have to hold it the entire time. It tells you to put it on the slowest setting instead of the highest setting.

I tried this the other day and would you believe I got 75 more miles out of this tank of gas? Granted, because the gas pump was set on the slowest setting, it was REALLY slow (I was able to go into the convenience store, fill up a soda, wait in line to pay for it, pay for it, then walk back outside and it still wasn't finished) - but it didn't produce any vapors as a result and it filled my tank up completely. I have just a dumb little Ford sedan, so 75 miles is actually quite a bit more for this car.

Maybe the cars with bigger tanks will get even better gas mileage than I did if you try it. Let me know how it goes for you. Seriously - I wanna hear about it!

Book Recommendation

Anything by Shannon Hale is always great. I just read her book The Princess Academy and was completely satisfied with it.



Run to your library (don't buy it - save money and get it from the library) and check it out. It's fantastic!

Chad and Cassie on Rachael Ray

Most of you know my little sister spent some time on Rachael Ray as a guest tagged as the "Most embarrassing family in America!"



I don't know how to embed a video here (someone will have to show me some time), but here's the link to watch their segment. It's only about 5 minutes long but kinda fun to see them on National TV: Chad and Cassie on Rachael.

It's free entertainment, which is why I'm posting. I'm all about free everything these days.

Love to you all...

Don't forget to vote!

It's vitally important that each and every one of you vote. Please be sure to get out there and do it. The lines will be long and the wait will seem like forever, but it will be worth it (and next time consider the early mail-in ballot - it's awesome).

Make your votes COUNT!

To Bryndee, Porter, and Torie:

I am very sorry I swore in an earlier post. It highly offended you and for that I apologize. I will try to be better in the future.

Thank you for keeping me on the straight and narrow...

Mesa High Jackrabbits, Class of 1988

Yesterday I went to a picnic that was part of the Mesa High School Class of 1988 reunion weekend. It consisted of many of my classmates and their families. THANK YOU to Wende and Mindy and any and everyone else who helped to make this happen.

It was a blast to see so many good, old friends: Mistie, Heidi, Kim, Darce, Sean, Nick, JoNeal, Doug, Kenny, Kristie, Nikki, Mindy, and Wende, just to name a few. I missed seeing Cindy, Alice, Cory, Brian, Liselle, Candace, Brad, Brooks, Dennis, Damon, Bill, Stacy, Rowan and many others who couldn't make it this go round. I hope to catch you at the next one, maybe even before!

What a wonderful day yesterday was. I'm so grateful to have gone to Mesa High, to be able to make such fantastic friends, and to be able to still stay in touch with so many of them today.

Obviously this has nothing to do with getting out of debt, but it does have to do with blessings and I feel this is a good place as any to list my blessings publicly. Mesa High Class of 1988 was definitely a blessing in my life!

Happy One-year Anniversary!

My roommate reminded me the other day that it was exactly a year ago that I started this getting-out-of-debt mission. As I looked at my first post she was right - I wrote it on October 29, 2007. She suggested I do a year update and I always try to do what Jennifer says (wink and smile goes here).

Anyway, it's a good idea so here goes:

I started out at over $50,000 in debt (to type that number still sends pangs in my stomach) last year. Here is where I am today:

Bank of America LOC (still really HATE them): $33,031.51
Mastercard: $1,988.07
Car loan: $6,343.67
Dental loan: $1,777.50

GRAND TOTAL: $43,140.75

It hasn't gone down much, but as several of you have said it took a really long time to amass this amount of debt and OF COURSE it's going to take a long time to get out of it and I just need to be patient.

So my constant thoughts are, "Be patient Tara. Be patient. Be patient. BE PATIENT (dammit)!" If you know me at all, this is NOT a strong virtue of mine and swear words usually are associated with it.

Anyway, thanks to all of you for your constant kind words and thoughts and even prayers. This has been quite the year for me and my family and the support my family and I have felt from all of you has been completely amazing and beyond words.

Thank you. Off to year #2!

Tender Mercies

Dad's surgery went really well today. They got 85% of the tumor (more than they thought they were going to get) and had to use only two units of blood (a lot less than what they thought they were going to have to use - I guess tumors use up a LOT of blood and with this tumor being over 11 centimeters long, well, you do the math). They plan on doing radiation in two weeks, chemotherapy in four weeks, and they get him using his hip tomorrow when they take him for a walk.

My sister Stacey said the doctor was rather pleased with the surgery and was very positive with the prognosis.

I'm so giddily relieved I don't know what to do with myself...

I am so grateful for tender mercies.

Another update:

Here is a quick update on what is going on with my dad and his cancer. Last week he had what is called a PET Scan and a Scope. The Scan is really the last test they can do on him to try and figure out what type of Cancer he has.

Yesterday (Monday) the doctors were able to show them the scan over the computer. It goes through his entire body, major organs and glands. The result of that was nothing that we don't already know. It is in his hip, lung and a few glands, but his Heart, Liver, Pancreas, Stomach and Kidneys all are clean and apparently they look great!

They still cannot figure out where the source of the cancer is. So right now his condition is labeled "Cancer of the Unknown Primary" which is only about 5% of all cancers - very rare.

They admit him today at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital to start his prep for his surgery on Wednesday. Today they are doing an Embolism which is where the doctors cut off all blood supply to his tumor in his hip (about a 2 1/2 hour procedure). Then on Wednesday he will be getting a full hip replacement and a removal of that yucky tumor. That procedure will be about 6 hours. Then he will have a recovery in the hospital anywhere from 5-10 days. His healing at home will be about 4 weeks.

After the 4 weeks then the doctors will discuss what type of Chemo he will be on. They only have two to choose from. They will try one type for about 2-3 months and then x-ray to see if the cancer is shrinking. If that doesn't work than they have one more to try.

We still have a long road of waiting. If you feel so inclined, please keep him in your prayers, especially on Wednesday.

Thanks everyone. My entire family and I have felt your prayers and are amazed at the love and kindness we've been shown. Love to you all...

I really can do it, right?

I am REALLY struggling. Seriously so. I am not seeing any progress and even though I recently got a raise, I feel like I'm as strapped as I've ever been.

Then I see this video and my will gets renewed:

She's really debt free!

15 months to get $30k out of debt. Hmm, methinks it might take a bit longer than than, but I really can do it, right?

Dad Update

Okay okay okay - time to update. Sorry - this has been so overwhelming and though we've gotten a lot of answers, more and more questions get generated, which has made me not want to post until I knew everything that's going on with my Dad. I've been asked to tell anyway, so here goes.

Dad had some major hip pain going on and while he was on his mission in NY, and he also got pneumonia. When they did a scan of his lungs to determine if it was pneumonia, they saw some spots on them. They told him to get them checked out when he got home.

He saw a doctor shortly after he got home from his mission and the doctor wanted to wait a few months and take another scan to contrast and compare.

Dad got another scan several weeks ago and it showed the spots were bigger, so he was then scheduled to get a lung biopsy. He got that and they determined it was cancer but it wasn’t lung cancer, that the cancer was being generated in another location

In the meantime, he got a bone scan on his hip to find out why it was so sore and there was an 11-centimeter cancer tumor on his pelvic bone. They then thought that was where the cancer was being generated from and decided to do a biopsy of that tumor to figure out a course of treatment.

The biopsy was done about a week or so ago and when Mom and Dad met with the doctor on Monday, he said Dad’s hip looks like termites got to it – that the cancer has eaten through his bone and joints and he has to have a full hip replacement, including his socket. This will take place on October 15.

BUT – they still don’t know where the cancer is being generated from, because the tissue samples they took showed it was being generated somewhere other than the hip, around the abdomen region.

He now has an appointment with a gut doctor on Monday to have a scope go down through his throat and see if they can’t find the source that way (they’ve already done an MRI on his abdomen and it came up clean).

Every time he has a doctor's appointment and we get an answer, another question gets generated – kind of like two steps forward three steps back. It’s incredibly frustrating.

Anyway, so many of you have told me you've prayed for both me and my dad/family and you've put his/our names on the temple roll and are keep him in your constant thoughts and prayers. Thank you thank you THANK YOU for that. It's these prayers that get me through the day.

We grow up thinking our parents are invincible, and even though as an adult I know that is not the case, I've still been caught completely unprepared to really deal with this. Knowing that there are people who don't know my dad at all yet are praying for him brings incredible strength.

Thank you.

Your Prayers Please.

I have been bound and determined to make this blog more about finances and less about my personal life and family (unless it had to do specifically with my finances).  But I have to do a post here because I need your prayers.  No, my dad needs your prayers.

As some of you know my parents returned home from their mission in New York in February of this year. Since they have been home my dad has had numerous health issues. A blood clot in his hip, constant coughing, and rapid weight loss just to name a few.

This past week his pulmonary doctor requested that he get a biopsy on his lungs to find out what was there. She had seen some unusual spots on his x-rays and wanted to check them out. After a biopsy of the lung (from what I understand this is an awful surgery) that kept him in the hospital for four days, the report is in and the spots are that horrible C-word: CANCER.

She said it isn't lung cancer but another form that is being generated from another source in his body.  Next week he will be undergoing some more x-rays as well as more testing to find the source of the cancer.  He's meeting with an oncologist from the Huntsman Institute - nothing but the best for my dad.

He is scared (incredibly brave but scared). I am scared (terrified is a better word).  My mom and sisters are scared. My dad has always been very healthy. He exercises, he eats right, he has never let anything "harmful" enter his body (except maybe an occasional deep fried chimichanga), and he has come from healthy stock. His mom just died earlier this year at the age of 96 and she was healthy. Her body just quit. His dad was 82 when he left us (went missing and was never found) and the only thing wrong with him was he was hard of hearing.

And he's my DAD.  He's the only male I grew up with and he managed to survive a house full of silly girls.

I HATE that he is going through this and I HATE that I can't be there to help (they live in Utah) and I HATE that it's him and not me going through this.  What I would do to take this from him...

My mom is so strong and is turning into quite the Nurse Nightingale. He has always taken care of my mom and his daughters and now it is her turn (and hopefully all of ours) to take care of him.

And now here is my plea:  Please pray for him.  Pray that he will be able to kick this cancer in the butt (excuse me) and that he will live to see his grandchildren get old and gray.  Or his one single daughter to get married (smile).  In other words at least 100 more years!

Either way, Allan LaRue needs to be here for many, many, MANY more years to come!

Once again, tagged.

SIX RANDOM THINGS

Jennifer tagged me on her blog. I've been tagged before about something different, and recently I've decided to be better at blogging about what I actually started this blog for (getting out of debt - duh!). But it's Jennifer and, well, I just need to do it. So, although I could very easily come up with six random things about me (random is what I'm best at), I've decided to tweak the rules a little and give you six random things having to do with debt (lucky all of you).

1. Read Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. It has changed my life (thanks Sam).

2. Avoid any and all expenses that has a monthly charge. These are what add up and they diminish (significantly) your spending cash. This includes Internet, cable, gym fees, water services, etc. Anything that, until you get out of debt completely, are not necessities, get ride of 'em.

3. Do NOT use Bank of America for anything. They are completely unreasonable.

4. Find a way to be accountable to someone or something. Don't do this alone. Get as much help and encouragement as you can get from those who love you.

5. Set up and stick to a budget. Seriously.

6. This pertains to #5 - know where every single penny of yours goes to, including Circle K sodas, eating out, etc. Mark it down and you'll know better where to cut expenses, even if it's only a dollar a day. Those dollars and cents add up quickly.

There you go. My six random getting-out-of-debt things. Those of you who play should do it differently, writing six random things about yourselves. I can't wait to see what you write!

Here are the rules:

1.Link the person who tagged you.
2.Post the rules on your blog.
3.Write 6 random things about yourself.
4.Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them.
5.Let the person know you tagged them on their blog.
6.Let the tagger know when you've posted.

I tag Deanna, Lori, Clint/Natalie, Shawna, Porter, and Tricia.

Christian/Stephanie Nielson

Many of you had probably heard about the horrible airplane accident that happened in St. Johns. I grew up two doors down from the Nielson family. I love this family and want to do anything and everything I can to help them out.

If you'd like to hear about the story, please go HERE to get the story and the updates.

This is why I have the donation button at the top of my blog. If you can, please help them out. Their medical bills will eventually land in the millions. Yeah. You read that right. MILLIONS.

Thanks for your kindness and consideration.

Funny Maxine for the weekend.

It's only funny because it's SO PAINFULLY TRUE...

Memories...

I got this from a couple of my sister's blogs. I thought this would be fun. I hope you will play along. Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

3. I'm adding one more: If I don't know you (and THANK YOU FOR COMING), please leave me a note saying hello and introducing yourself. I see visits from all over the country, including OUT of the country, and I'd love to know who's visiting my blog.

Here we go...