This past week we were blessed with near sixty degree weather. It was very nice and then it got cold again. The cold was ushered in by, get this, a cold front. There were servere thunderstorm warnings for all over the area. We had some wind and about three flahes of lightening. Bummer. I LOVE thunderstorms.
A few years ago, a dear friend of mine, Rick, passed away at the young age of 40. Rick worked as a researcher at the Byrd Polar Institute at Ohio State University. For a few weeks each spring, he went storm chasing. Yes, just like you see on television. We were supposed to go storm chasing sometime, but he died before we could get a chance. (And no, he did not die chasing storms.) Now, whenever we have svr wx, I think of him and have a great urge to go storm chasing.
It was nice to take the kids out with just a light jacket on. So much easier to get out of the house. Speaking of getting out of the house, Johsua jumped the Mitsubishi and it runs again. Praise God that a dead battery is all the problem was. So now we don’t have to share a car. It wasn’t that big of a deal, except on Sundays when he would have to stay after mass to teach Confirmation Class and I needed to pick him up just an hour and a half after getting home. For some reason, that was just hard to do. Now today, he will drive himself home! Also, it saves wear and tear on the van. For some reason, because it is new to us, I don’t want to put a bunch of miles on it.
I think this is probably going to be long blog post.
Joshua turns 30 tomorrow. He doesn’t like to have a big deal made about his birthday, so we aren’t going to do much. I will create some yummy meal from food we have in the kitchen and go from there. I might make a cake, but I don’t know. I have bananas that need to be used up, so I just might make banana bread.
We are hoping to buy a house soon, so I am starting to box up things we don’t use much (like dishes and bathroom items). Last night I boxed up our wine glasses, so we need to buy a house soon!
I have discovered NCIS. Last weekend when J was in NYC, I was bored and found NCIS on cbs.com, so I started watching it. I really liked it. So now I watch season six on line then we borrow season one from the library. The library charges $1 per DVD for certain DVDs, and in our desire to save money, that dollar is a lot of money. I guess it is a good thing that they only have season one.
Something else I have been interested in is the economy lately. I have become fascinated with how this all came about. We try our best to live debt free and for the most part do pretty well. We don’t make much money. (We actually make so little that our government pays us, really) However, we try our best to live within our means. We have internet, yes, because of Joshua’s business. We don’t have cable though. We have a newer car, but that was because the little green car needed some major fixing. We shopped for the best deal around and got it. We eat well, but don’t go out to eat often, if ever. For grocery shopping, I go to Aldi for our canned goods and at Kroger, I buy mostly manager special things. (I only buy meat if it is on sale or manager special). With that being said, we get by just fine. Our kids have clothes and are nicely dressed. Our bills are paid on time each month.
I don’t understand how it is that people who make twice as much as we do or even more, have a hard time paying their bills. If you can’t afford something, don’t buy it. New cars aren’t a necessity. Television is not a necessity. Going out to eat, while nice once in a while, is not a necessity. Buying a house? Buy what you can afford! Really.
Off my soapbox now!
Have a great Sunday!