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Panang and Petroleum

Although people who know me might laugh, I often think that flexibility is a key part of being content. So many times, we get worked-up about things that are outside our control, when we could have had the peace and joy that God intends.

Personally, I really hate disappointment, and so I often manage my expectations so that being disappointed is unlikely or even impossible. But I am not always successful in this. As a life choice, it definitely has its down side, since I have limited my ability to enjoy things when they do not disappoint. But I digress.

With Joshua and Kelsie here, we wanted to go out to eat at our favorite Thai restaurant, but we had a hard time finding an evening that would work with their whirlwind schedule. Finally, we settled on Wednesday night, after AWANA. Then we found out we needed to watch some kids for a mom in our church, and that we’d be bring her kids home with us, after AWANA, so the dinner plans were off. Then we found out we weren’t needed, and the plans were back on again.

Three girls at Chili Thai.  If only we had Rachel, then we'd be complete!

Three girls at Chili Thai. If only we had Rachel, then we’d be complete!

When we arrived at the restaurant, we discovered that they closed in a few minutes. Kathy cleverly ordered our entire banquet as take-out, but it was funny for seven of us to arrive in separate cars, only to drive both cars the 20 minutes back home. Happily, we were all feeling very flexible, and gleefully tucked into our Thai food around our own dinner table. It is easy to be flexible when you still get your beef panang curry.

Similarly, gas prices are another thing that you just have to take in stride. Tonight, I filled up Kathy’s van for $32.00, something that hasn’t happened in many a year. Although I remember (as a third-grader) gas selling for $0.33/gallon, the cheapest I ever bought it for was $0.69/gallon. Here in Washington, we’ve seen the prices exceed $4/gallon, especially in the city, where I work. I think I remember filling Kathy’s van for $64.00 or more — talk about ‘pain at the pump’!

$1.93 for a gallon of gas.  Mmmmm.   Thanks, Costco!

$1.93 for a gallon of gas. Mmmmm. Thanks, Costco!

It is so nice to see the prices at reasonable levels again, but I’m not holding my breath. I’m sure that prices will rise again; when they do, I plan to be flexible.

Project 365, Day 29
Tim

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They Gave Each Other a Pledge?

Sadly, it is time to face reality.

I gained a lot of weight over the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons, and have now officially returned to my pre-appendicitis and pre-cancer-surgery weight, which is very unfortunate.

So yesterday, Sarah and I made a pact. We made a pledge. We swore an oath. We are going to stick to a rigorous diet and not-very-rigorous exercise regimen until both of us reach our weight-loss goals.

This is our official 'before' picture.

This is our official ‘before’ picture.

We’ll keep you posted. So far, I’m up half a pound. But, as is often the case, I already feel much skinnier after only two days ‘on the plan’.

Please pray for us, that we would stick to it and be faithful to encourage and hold each other accountable.

Project 365, Day 27
Tim

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Indian Spring

In western Washington, we are generally blessed by a very mild climate. Our winters are warm, and our summers are cool. It rarely drops much below freezing or above 85 degrees, Fahrenheit. I wear the same light rain-resistant jacket pretty much year-round. Having spent five winters in Detroit, I am often thankful that in Washington, we keep snow on the mountains, where it belongs.

But I must admit that Novembers and Januaries are a little bleak. It is not unusual for the rain to settle in for weeks at a time in those months, and some people (like my beautiful Kathy) get a little depressed because of the gloom. (They actually have a name for it — Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD.) At such times, we spend hours looking at pictures of Turks and Caicos, and trying to remember what the sun looks like. Unless, of course, there is an Indian Spring.

Today we had a respite from our usual January weather — the sun came out, and pretty much everyone and their uncle went out for a walk. It reminds me of the first thaw in Michigan (usually in March) when the temperatures would rise above freezing for the first time. People would be out in shorts and t-shirts, in 35-degree weather, because it felt so warm, compared to 15 degrees.

The trees don't have any buds on them yet, but there is hope of Spring in the air.

The trees don’t seem to have any serious buds on them yet, but there is hope of Spring in the air.

It doesn’t often get this warm (or sunny) in January — usually we have to wait until the end of February for such weather. In any case, I am so thankful that we are allowed to live here. We have lived in this lovely house on a peaceful, double-ended cul-de-sac for more than ten years, now. At times like this, I am deeply grateful that God has made our world so beautiful, and that He has taken such good care of our family.

Our actual house.  Lots of life and happiness has been enjoyed under that roof.

Our actual house. Lots of happiness has been enjoyed under that roof.

Project 365, Day 25
Tim

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Wanda’s Honda

Ever since Daniel got his driver’s license, he’s been driving my honda civic much more than his ‘fair share’ making me consider My Car Insurance Quote sercvices. He refers to it as his own car in poetic justice for how I treated (and spoke of) my parents’ little gold Chevette as if it was mine.Car insurance is important for a number of reasons. Without car insurance you could get a ticket which is not cheap. If you do not have insurance on your car you could also end up paying a lot of money to fix your car if you are in an auto accident. If you hit someone else’s car and you do not have car insurance it will be up to you to pay to fix their car. If you do not pay to fix the other person’s car you could end up getting sued.
Car insurance is just as important as home insurance. You would insure your home so why not insure your car? Your home and your car are both very expensive to repair if you do not have insurance on them. You can get insurance for an affordable rate on your home and your car. The best way to get affordable insurance is to do research on the internet. There are several websites that you can go to that will give you multiple quotes so that you can find the cheapest plan available. These days everyone is looking for a way to save money whenever they can. There is no reason to pay a fortune on insurance when you can do research and get a great rate. The cheapest way to get insurance on your car is to just get liability. Liability may save you money but it only covers the other drivers car if you have an accident. You will still be left to pay to fix your own car. Full coverage is a little more expensive but it is worth it in the long run. To get more details about car or motorcycle insurance, pop over to this website . You can get several discounts on car insurance but the best way to do that is to call an insurance company and speak with an agent. The insurance agent should be able to help you find all the discounts that you qualify for. If you have a clean driving record with out any tickets or car wrecks then you should be able to get a discount for that. If you have taken a driving class you can also get a discount for that too. The type of car you drive will also make a difference in the price of your insurance premium. A sports car will cost you more to insure than a family car. You can also get discounts for insuring several cars with the same company.

Some companies will even give you a discount if you buy your car insurance, house insurance, and life insurance from the same insurance company. Saving money is important especially these days when everyone is struggling to make money. Just make sure that you ask your insurance agent about any discounts that their company offers. Your agent should be able to help you out with saving money on discounts. Without auto insurance you could end up having to pay a hefty fine if you get caught. Insurance is important to have on your car, home, life, and even health.

The silver car has been through some pretty rough treatment, over the years. My brother brought it to Kuwait with him when he was stationed there, and the heat of that country caused the rubber door and trunk seals to shrink somewhat. But it was otherwise in very good condition when he sold it to me, with less than 70,000 miles on it, back in 2006 or early 2007. My brother maintains his cars carefully, and I was glad to buy it from him at the very low price he offered.

Daniel and Sarah amuse themselves by making shadow puppets on our movie-watching screen.

Daniel and Sarah amuse themselves by making shadow puppets on our movie-watching screen.

After some eight years of my less-than-tender stewardship, the car has 184,625 miles on it, the engine leaks oil, the exhaust smells and is rather loud, and recently one of the kid’s friends put a worrisome dent near the gas tank — Make sure to check out Vintage VW spare parts importers and wholesale distributors of spare parts. Still, I had planned to sell the car to Daniel this Spring, so it could be his in reality, rather than fantasy.

Today, he told me, “I don’t think I want to buy your silver car anymore.” We were driving home from the doctor’s office, where we had him checked out for whiplash. (The doctor says he will be sore, but is otherwise probably OK).

Earlier today, Daniel was rear-ended by another student at his school, while he sat at a stoplight. The damage to the car was significant, although you can’t really tell from this photo. They say it will cost $4100 to repair luckily he found a place where their repair it at affordable prices in Auto Detailing jacksonville FL, which is more than twice the value of the car, so I’m guessing the insurance company will just cut their losses and total the car.

The rear bumper was pushed up and forward about two inches, with considerable damage to the side and frame.

The rear bumper was pushed up and forward about two inches, with considerable damage to the side and frame.

A few months back, I was feeling rather unhappy about Daniel’s relentless use of my car, so I want it to take my car to get some cash for cars in Melbourne but a the end I told him I didn’t feel well-thanked. After some consideration, I decided that if he was going to use my car, he needed to thank me each day in writing, in order to be eligible to use it the next day. If he doesn’t thank me, he doesn’t use my carthis transmission jack review from autonews center.

Some of this damage was actually done a few weeks ago by a friend.

Some of this damage was actually done a few weeks ago by a friend.

So, every day I get an email or a drawing or some other form of written thanks. Sometimes it is a poem or a limerick, other times just a simple sentence thanking me for some aspect of the car. He has really gotten creative on several days — it is fun to see him enter into the spirit of the thing and to put some effort into giving thanks.

Here was his first offering:

There once was a girl named Wanda,
who had a nice little Honda.
She drove through the town,
and married a clown,
and moved away to Uganda.

I was very moved by Wanda’s loyalty to her Ugandan clown, but I worry about shipping costs — Did her parents approve of her choice of the young clown? Or was there bad feeling, which precipitated the move? You can see that in some ways, this limerick raised more questions than it answered — but I was definitely gripped by the story line. Sadly, Wanda failed to appear in subsequent editions, so we’ll never know if Wanda was happy as a young bride in Uganda.

Now I am trying to persuade Kathy to lend her support to buying a new Corolla, a car I’ve always wanted to own.

When I was 17, a friend loaned me his stick-shift Corolla for two weeks, hoping that I would buy it from him. I could never raise the money, but ever since I’ve wanted to have (and drive) a sporty little car like that Corolla. Kathy says that a new car loses too much of its value, when you drive it off the lot, she mentioned how she even had to get a windshield replacement in cincinnati oh a few months after buying her brand new car. But I’m thinking that I really would like to have a car that I don’t need to worry about repairing, at least for a few years, I guess she wasn’t lucky enough.

I’ll keep you posted on my sales campaign against Kathy’s frugality. Feel free to comment on the relative merits of a new car over a used one, as long as you’re on my side. Comments arguing in favor of used cars can expect to be mysteriously deleted or unapproved.

Project 365, Day 23
Tim

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Coming Home

Kathy and I had the opportunity to attend a prayer conference for a few days in Oregon. Today, the conference ended and we headed home, somewhat dreading AWANA. It is always hard to muster the energy needed for AWANA, and even more-so when we’ve been traveling home from a conference.

Fortunately for me, my awesome assistant Beckie had everything in hand — she had printed all the scripts, and gathered the props, and generally took charge. Jared and I (Jared is my other assistant, who had also attended the prayer conference) were able to let her mostly just run things, which was lovely.

Sometimes, when we are away, Kathy dreads coming home, especially if the house wasn’t very tidy when we left. When we were about an hour from home, she got a text from Daniel.

Daniel made himself a milkshake, and then thoroughly enjoyed it.

Daniel really knows how to enjoy a milkshake.

“How long until you’re home,” he asked.

We spent several miles speculating about why he would ask this question.

“He’s probably thinking about hiding the evidence of the naughty things he did while we were gone,” I said, rather snidely.

“Or maybe there are some bodies that need to be disposed of,” Kathy rejoined. We laughed nervously.

As it turns out, he was cleaning the house, and wanted to know if he had time for a few last-minute touches. We walked into a house that was all tidied-up. He didn’t answer the door, when we first got home, because he was upstairs, vacuuming Sarah’s room.

Daniel has always been the best at cleaning the kitchen until it gleams.

Daniel has always been the best at cleaning the kitchen until it gleams.

I was very impressed, and Kathy was very thankful. It was so nice to be able to relax for an hour before heading off to AWANA. Thank you, Daniel!

Even the blankets and cushions on the couch were all put away carefully.

Even the blankets and cushions on the couch were all put away carefully.

Project 365, Day 21
Tim

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