My Man, Josh

Well, actually, this is partly about Josh partly about me. My man, Josh, has his 7^th birthday today. He is 28 years old. Now, how weird is that? I’ve never in my life met a leap year baby before, and it’s, frankly, blowing my mind a bit. I thought about getting him a toy appropriate for other people on their 7^th birthday, but, as I thought more about it, I decided to get him nothing. Well, nothing but a blog post. So, Happy 7^th Birthday, Josh! I hope it’s a great one.

Okay, now for the part about me. It relates to Josh. I have the privilege of working with Josh on a daily basis, and he’s one of the greatest guys you could hope to work with - knowledgeable, easy-going, friendly to co-workers and clients, a pit bull against folks standing in the way of him helping his clients. And, against such an adversary he has been pitted this week. We have a new client whose previous IT dude is giving them a hard time in terms of giving up information needed to transition from him to us. In email interactions, this person has made it clear that he’s going to be difficult, and has insulted Josh over and over again, copying the client and Josh’s supervisors at work on the emails. This infuriated me, and I’ve been VERY tempted to respond harshly to this fellow. In fact, I wasted a lot of time last night (when I should have been going to sleep) playing over in my mind things I’d like to say. And then, still angry this morning, I opened my laptop with the intention of spending a few minutes reading the bible online to try and calm down. I remembered seeing on Angela’s blog that she had a Bible verse-of-the-day on the right-hand side, and I was going to see what site it comes from. I read the verse, and it was like God was speaking to me, right out of the Bible: Ephesians 4:31 “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.” That’s from the New King James Version, and I firmly believe God is telling me, “It’s all right. Let it go. Don’t give this guy power by letting him consume your thoughts.” And I do feel more peaceful, knowing that God cares enough to influence the eBible verse of the day, just so he can tell me he knows what I’m going through, and that it’s going to be all right. Now my only lack of peace is knowing that I’m about to be late for work! Bye!

Budgeting for Beginners

Tonight we've been trying to think of chores to give the kids for earning commissions. We are getting them (Daniel, especially) interested in "Financial Peace, Jr." and handling money responsibly. The goal is to teach them financial principles at an early age so that they can grow in them and be comfortable with giving, saving, and spending responsibly before they are old enough to get hit with credit card offers. We've come up with things like plowing the side 40, building us a new deck out back, and of course, milking the chickens. Upon reflection, however, some of these seemed a bit impractical, and so we adjusted a bit to things like gathering up trash and putting dishes in the dishwasher, ideally after they've been emptied. If anybody reads this and has a more realistic job for young children, please feel free to comment. The job boards go up Sunday night, so act now. Operators are standing by. Actually, operators are heading for bed, but the blog is up 24/7, so feel free to respond whenever. Thanks!

You say either, I say either

In case you are confused by the title of this blog post the two eithers are pronounced differently. One is pronounced E'ther and the other is pronounced I'ther. I use the latter of the two on a more frequent basis. For example: I'ther you try a bite of your dinner or you will be excused from the table without any dessert. Much to Davis' chagrin, our precious children have taken up saying I'ther as well. These are the sorts of things that just don't come up in pre-marital counseling. You really embark on a journey of faith when you enter the marriage covenant, because you have no idea what sort of irksome things your spouse will teach your offspring to say. I got a hearty laugh today when I overheard Maggie call Daniel "chief" because she had just heard Davis call his co-worker that. You just never know what might come out of your children's mouths next. As for me, I can be found to say nIther in addition to I'ther.

Update to Word of Caution

Apparently the previous post was from a story originally aired this past fall. Since then they've had four follow-up stories, and last night was the final installment. Crisis averted!

A Word of Caution

Never stay in a hotel in Atlanta.

(credit to Ren Buckland for pointing this out)

We've Been Found Out!

At lunch today, we found out that word may be leaking that the Hippi (that's plural for Hipps - a term coined by Bryan Reksten) have a blog. I've only told one person that we have a blog, and that is my best friend, Tanya Grisson. She has known me for as many years as Davis and she has learned to love me despite my quirkiness and lamedom. The reason we were keeping our blog covert is because I didn't want to be paralyzed by fear whenever I go to post something. I'm not sure that I can be funny, introspective, relevant or even interesting. Despite my squareness, God created me and has a purpose for me, but I'm not sure that includes writing poignant blog posts. So, if you have found this blog, mum's the word ;)

The Years the Locusts Have Eaten

We are taking a class called Financial Peace University which is pretty much a “get rich slow” scheme. It was created by Dave Ramsey, and it really is designed to take people from being in crushing debt to building actual wealth. Let me just say, the idea that it’s even possible for us to a) not be paying hundreds of dollar to credit card companies and b) be able to use that money to give where we want and save for our future is AWESOME!!! We read Dave’s book, The Total Money Makeover, several months ago and have already tried to start implementing the steps he outlines there. I might also mention that about 7 years ago we started getting worried about our financial situation and looked into trying to pay down our debt. We didn’t really stick to a written budget at that point, so I’m not sure how true this is, but it often feels like we’ve been living with only necessities for over 5 years. And, looking strictly at the numbers, it’s still going to be a while before we’re completely debt-free. But what I love about Dave Ramsey is that he gives you a plan that is workable, and gets you excited about reaching the end of that plan. And, really, we’ve come a LONG way, and I’m excited about the class as a way to re-energize us about our progress. We’ll let you know when we’re completely out of debt and on our way to being wealthy.  Thanks, Dave.

Happy Valentine's Day

I'm not the biggest fan of celebrating Valentine's Day considering we never seem to have the money to celebrate it properly (i.e. flowers, chocolates, dinner at an expensive restaurant). But it also puts monumental pressure on men to be "romantic." It's hard not to find ourselves disappointed that we aren't swept off our feet just like in the movies that we force our dates to see on Valentine's. At any rate, we all have someone who loves us passionately. The lover of our souls who persues us in the great romance.

For God so loVed the world,

That He gAve          

His onLy      

BegottEn       

SoN    

                         That whosoever

Believes In him    

    Should Not Perish,

       But have Everlasting life.

So, Happy Valentines Day!

I Skyped

I just finished skyping with my friend, Kim. Boy is that crazy. I don't know if I can handle the fast lane chatting. I was trying to compose my first response and Kim hit me with three posts back to back. So I'm still trying to finish my first response and now I have to respond to all the new stuff that Kim just said/asked. None the less, it was still pretty cool.

Cooking is an Art

Angie is Rembrandt. I'm just trying to match the color with the number. (burned 1 bag of popcorn outright. second bag was a mix of burnt, just right, and completely unpopped with the first and last category vastly outnumbering the middle.)

Refinancing

I hope it's worth the paperwork. The application process alone is forcing us to get out all the old paperwork from the original purchase plus current loan payments plus tax information of various kinds. I'm so glad Angie is organized!

On Your Taxes, Don't Forget to Include...

Ok, so I was working through our taxes, and I was looking at the various types of "other income" (reportable on IRS Form 1040, line 21, if you need to know). True items of "other income" listed in Publication 525, Taxable and Non-Taxable Income (if you want to check my sources):

Bribes: If you receive a bribe, include it in your income.
Found property: If you find and keep property that does not belong to you that has been lost or abandoned (treasure-trove), it is taxable to you at its fair market value in the first year it is your undisputed possession.
Illegal income: Illegal income, such as money from dealing illegal drugs, must be included in your income on Form 1040, line 21, or on Schedule C or Schedule C-EZ (Form 1040) if from your self-employment activity.
Kickbacks:You must include kickbacks, side commissions, push money, or similar payments you receive in your income on Form 1040, line 21, or on Schedule C or Schedule C-EZ (Form 1040) if from your self-employment activity. Example: You sell cars and help arrange car insurance for buyers. Insurance brokers pay back part of their commissions to you for referring customers to them. You must include the kickbacks in your income.
Stolen property: If you steal property, you must report its fair market value in your income in the year you steal it unless in the same year, you return it to its rightful owner.