Hire Power

Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening 

when you'd have preferred to talk. 

Doug Larson

Since the kids left home there have been a few holidays when we weren't with them.  Mindy spent one three day weekend alone in Laramie working on her house.  That was great for a couple of days, but after that it was miserable.  Phone calls back and forth didn't replace physically being together.  The boys have spent some holidays alone and/or working, as well.  It did not take above average intelligence to realize that was a mistake and made us more careful about how we spend our holidays.  And more aware of people who are alone for the holidays.  

Each of us are responsible for our situation.  If we don't like it, I think we should think about solutions.  The serenity prayer always comes in to play.  Remember?  God give me grace to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.  I would hesitate to suggest that what works for me is the same thing some one else needs, but if all else fails, we can always work on our attitude.

Maybe some don't really enjoy being with their family or for whatever reason, they are lacking the resources to make it possible.   But this is my story, and it means a lot to me to spend the day with  my kids, and to include any "strays" that are interested in gathering around our table!  My kids seem to agree.  It is time to get together.  Today we are traveling about 13 hours.  We hope to pick up two of our kids after about 10 hours and travel together the rest of the way, to the home of the oldest, and see our grandson by tomorrow.  

Several years ago we drove to Arizona, a 26 hour trip with three drivers.  We are only planning half that distance this year.  It should be a breeze, except for me, the princess, having to ride in less than a smooth ride, like instead of a coach made from a pumpkin, this great big bouncy, crew cab truck.   But that's just my sensitive spot and I will deal with it. For my kids.

Saving money for the holidays is one thing.  Getting my husband to be willing to spend it is another.  This little challenge has occupied most of our marriage, a struggle that shows no sign of ending.  Any little leeway I manage to get is a loophole he immediately finds a way to sabotage.  I think it must be like a government conspiracy, which of course, he immediately denies.  I may be a skeptic, but I have noticed that he's more likely to remark that he wanted to take me out to dinner after the delicious odors are permeating the atmosphere of my kitchen.  I have tried all the tricks, including begging and pleading, to get my own way.  The only thing that works even part of the time is having the money set aside, with it's little special label:  THIS IS CHRISTMAS SPENDING MONEY.  If I'm lucky it works part of the time, and only if he doesn't know ahead of time what I have planned.

I know that shopping is good for women.  It actually contributes to mental health and apparently there is research to prove it.  I'm not kidding.  Do you think this argument is effective with Jerry?  Not even a little.   I have managed to save my sanity with creative projects and a ton of yard-sales.  That little saying about necessity being the mother of invention?  I can avouch to the truth of that!  Like I said last week, I don't enjoy being miserable and as they say, there's more than one way to skin a cat. I have always wondered, however, why anyone would want to skin a cat, but never mind that.  Where do you think Pinterest came from?

So we always come back to not spending money, and to saving more money.  This is kind of like the jokes you see around the holidays: sharing a Thanksgiving table with the loquacious person who doesn't share your political views, the crazy out-law who drives everyone up the wall laughing at his own crude jokes, the incessant complainer, and/or the couple who criticize everything, including their kids, until you want to throttle them.  So if you don't want to be alone, you find ways to make things work, idiosyncrasies and all.  At holiday time, it comes down to loving one another and counting our blessings, the same as every other day of the year.  I am thankful.  

Not spending money you don't have turns out to be a real blessing.  Actually it is even better to not spend money you actually do have.  It totally blows the minds of loan officers when you don't buy as much house as you could afford.  Seriously, who does that? Talk about walking away feeling smug in the money management department.  I rarely have to worry about credit card debt.  It's the same with our cars.  We buy older vehicles, put down as much cash as possible to keep our payments low, don't lose much depreciation driving off the lot and save on insurance.  Sometimes the cars don't get much further than the lot, but that's another story.  We plan on owning them at least 10 years, if we can keep them running, until the repairs are more than a car payment would be.  Maybe longer.  One car we kept until the plastic piping around the seats had split in the cold weather and would pinch the kids legs when they changed into their suits on the way to swimming lessons.  That turned out to be the main reason to trade it in, other than the fact it was a two door.  We got a Ford Taurus wagon and drove it, guess what, 10 years.  One such car inconveniently failed in a thunderstorm that opened the heavens and poured wrath upon us while we, five hours from home in Middle Montana, replaced a Very Important Part, but that was the fault of the previous owner's less than full disclosure. Win a few, lose some.  

We see people running around with new four-wheel drive vehicles every year or so, who also seem to be able to afford the latest fashions, who can go out to dinner often.  We wonder how can they afford it.  For one thing maybe they don't just give away their old stuff for almost nothing.  I don't know, maybe their paycheck goes to different places than mine does, or maybe it's just plain bigger, maybe it is a gift from parents or grandparents.  Maybe they are over their heads in debt.  We aren't. We could be, but I, the spender, have chosen to live with him, the saver, in peace.  Most of the time.

Worry - a God, invisible but omnipotent. It steals the bloom from the cheek and lightness from the pulse; it takes away the appetite, and turns the hair gray. 

Benjamin Disraeli 

                                                                                                           

People try to live within their income so they can afford to pay taxes to a government that can't live within its income. 

Robert Half 

If a writer knows enough about what he is writing about, he may omit things that he knows. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one ninth of it being above water. 

Ernest Hemingway

The duty of government is to leave commerce to its own capital and credit as well as all other branches of business, protecting all in their legal pursuits, granting exclusive privileges to none. 

Andrew Jackson

Teamwork is so important that it is virtually impossible for you to reach the heights of your capabilities or make the money that you want without 

becoming very good at it. 

Brian Tracy 

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root. 

Henry David Thoreau

The work of the individual still remains the spark that moves mankind ahead

even more than teamwork. 

                                                                            Igor Sikorsky 

The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good. 

                                                                                                                       George Washington