Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Lazy or Content?

The other day I was working on our business bookwork.  After having paid what seemed like everybody and their brother during the month of April, I watched our bank account slowly drop, and drop and drop.  I remember thinking to myself....

"hmph, it looks as though we may not be able to pay ourselves in the month of May."

Did I also mention that our heat pump needs replacing and while it heats fine, it does not provide us cool air? 

Did I mention that to replace said heat pump that is almost 11 years old, will cost us about 6 grand? 

Yeah.

But, as I sat there, I realized that it doesn't bother me any where near as much as it would have if this happened a year ago.  I actually surprised myself.  I simply thought to myself, well, we've got savings to live on in May, and that will suck, because that money should go towards the heat pump, but I guess that's the way it will be.  I also thought, I wish we didn't have a house that requires a heat pump.

Have I become lazy?  Am I so lazy that the thoughts of my business not having a super strong month just floats along without a care in the world? 

I don't think so.

I really think that I've come to a place in my life that I'm just content.  People lived for years without this thing called "air conditioning"-- It will really be fine.  What we did do is buy a small window unit to use if needed out of our emergency fund. 

You're probably wondering why we don't just head on down to the bank and get a loan to replace that heat pump? 

We don't do debt.  We're done.  We'll be fine. 

It is nice to be in this new place of contentment.  Nothing seems so dire any longer and I attribute some of it to learning new skills so that if I did need to down grade a lifestyle (and I know how to do that!) I can go back to basics even farther. 

Keep Moving Forward.

Not even forward, just keep MOVING.

Until Next Time Friends.

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Blessed.






I feel as if a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. 

I just learned yesterday morning that my step-dad's lymph nodes are clear of any cancer.  I was so happy and relieved to hear it, that the enemy had been defeated that I cried and just hugged him.  I never got to hear those words when we lost my father in law, nor my mother in law. 

I tell ya, having a scare like that really brings you back to what is important.  In the depths of my fears when I did let myself imagine the worse, I realized how much I love him. 

Him being ok was the only option. 

I prayed. 

This time I received the answer I desperately needed.

I am so blessed.  I will never forget how blessed I am. 

No matter what you believe or don't believe, remember that life can throw you a hard ball at any moment so be appreciative of the ordinary things. 

Until Next Time Friends!

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

1950s, The Perfect Combination?

I did a YouTube on this question recently and thought that it was worth blogging about as well. 

I came across this thought while watching a video on wood stoves.  The maker of the video said that a lot of people have a romantic version in their heads about the life of using a wood stove.  "It's dirty and hard work!"  she said. 

I am guilty of this romantic version.

It got me thinking about how truly hard life was back in the days where most people had wood stoves to cook on and for heat.  With little medical advancement in those times and the hard lifestyle, people didn't live as long. 

On the other side of the coin, we now in this day and age have lots of medical advancement, but too much convenience in my opinion.  We can easily go through a fast food drive thru anytime and fill up on junk -- We have some choice over where our food comes from, but most of us just go down to the local food mart and pick up whatever is offered there.  We're so busy that we don't give it much thought. 

My thoughts are that the 40's 50's maybe early 60's may have been the sweet spot for medical advancement but also having healthier, more localized, unfooled around with foods. We were a bit more self sufficient getting exercise from these old fashioned habits.

Where will our current lifestyle take us? 

My son says that maybe we'll turn out like the people on Wall E  -- and I'm sad to say, he might be right.