Mid December

 

We had quite a snow on Saturday, and then the temps dropped. Right now it is Monday morning and seven degrees, up from close to 0 last night. BRRRRR!

We had two kids working on Saturday and both had to drive home through a snowstorm. One was Angela, who is a very new driver. She made it just fine, and I am so thankful!

Big news! Isaac has accepted an offer for an engineering job!  We are very excited and happy for him. The job is about an hour away from us, so he will need to find an apartment. The start date is late January so he has about a month to get organized and moved.

Joseph is also apartment hunting but his job is close to us so he needs an apartment nearby. The boys were considering living together but with Isaac's new job, that won't be happening, which is totally fine. Both boys will be making enough that they can comfortably live alone.

Neither big boy has any debts. We were able to pay for Isaac's college without needing debt either for him or us. I have opinions about college loan debt. First, yes, it is necessary sometimes. Second, universities have been jacking up tuition prices crazily for decades and I think the ready influx of money through student loans is part of the problem. Universities haven't had any reason to be careful with money when loans are so readily available. And then the poor students, who were young and financially stupid in their late teens and early twenties, find themselves having to pay back huge loans, which is really hard on them.

There has been this big fuss about nursing degrees being shifted away from "professional" to something else... nurses have been screaming about how the Trump admin is evil for saying nursing isn't a profession.

Of course nursing is a profession. Everyone knows that. Everyone I know admires nursing as a profession. Very hard job! The question is weather a nurse should be able to borrow over 100K to get a nursing degree. Nurses often make good money but wow, 150K is so much!

Social work is also admirable and doesn't pay well, and young people with social work degrees should REALLY think about loans and how they will affect them in the future.

It will be very odd having the big boys out of our house, but it is also a good step in their journey toward full adulthood. There are so many things we are taking care of that they don't have to think about -- soon they will have to determine what to cook and when to grocery shop and all that stuff.

A few comments on health problems of my own: my plantar fasciitis has popped up again and I am wearing my boot at night. My foot is better than it was a week ago, so that is good. Still hurts some.

Mostly I am in fine shape for a 56 year old, but there is a little of this and a little of that bugging me. I am grateful for padded boots and doctors.

Driving test and other stuff

 

Our sweet Angela passed her driving test!  Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!

Now we have six legal drivers. It is so amazing.

We have so much going on, or at least it seems like it. Angela and Joseph and Isaac are all job hunting. It is not a super easy time to find a job, truthfully. We are praying for God's guidance and direction. The government has a hiring freeze and that means most contractors are affected too. Angela is working at Wendys for now and the big boys may have to take some kind of job like that while they look for a permanent position. We will see!

Joseph was laid off along with five other people in his IT group. The group went from ten to 4 people!  Miriam was not laid off and is probably going to be way busier now for obvious reasons.

Yeah, just seems like a lot is going on. I was a little sick the last few days. I think it was a cold. My breathing was a little wonky but not bad which is the biggest thing I worried about. So yeah, I am mostly fine now.

I have been entertaining myself by watching Caleb Hammer, a financial guru who works with singles and couples about financial stuff. Dave Ramsey is a Christian financial guy who does similar things. Dave is calm and gentle, though sometimes stern. Caleb has many of the same ideas as Dave Ramsey, but he is way more dramatic. He yells a lot, and swears a lot (though that is bleeped out) and carries on in a most entertaining way. Also, his guests are always train wrecks financially. 

It is a little like slowing down to stare at a car crash, but I also find it interesting because I was BORN a saver and just don't understand people who get into a tons of debt through dumb stuff like eating out every day or worse yet, Door Dashing every day of the week while debts are piling up. I just don't get the mentality. And yet, I have nine children, all of whom are different than me, so understanding how different people look at money is fascinating and maybe useful?

I think a common theme is the desire for instant gratification.

Also, sometimes there are parents enabling the guest. Like one situation was a couple living with the husband's parents, and they were in tons of debt, and not paying rent all the time, and yet the wife (who worked from home) was Door dashing doughnuts from Dunkin' Donut five days a week. Like WHAT!

There was a lot of yelling in that episode, but I am inclined to blame the parents of the husband, because they shouldn't be putting up with that. Oh, and the husband also randomly bought an $1800 necklace one month instead of paying rent to his parents. 

Just unbelievable. But then again, as a mom of kids whom I love, I do get it. But I wouldn't put up with that if it happened (it has not) because it is so bad for EVERYONE involved. Caleb kept saying "you two are like CHILDREN" which is true.

I think that is about it. It is warmer this week than last. Pool is still a decent temperature. I plan to swim this afternoon.

New Car

 

We bought a new car this week. That is unusual as we generally buy used cars, but this one was not a lot more expensive than used cars of this model, and new is nice. It cost a substantial amount of money, of  course, but we decided it made sense to buy a new car right now.

It is obviously yellow. Yellow is fun and eye catching.

It is a hybrid Prius. We bought an older Prius a few weeks ago which Angela will use to learn to drive on.

Many years ago, when hybrids became more common, Kevin and I agreed that hybrids were a bit dubious because you have two systems -- batteries and gasoline -- in the same car so it seemed likely there would be more problems with hybrids.

Priuses are not like that. They are very reliable. They have amazing gas mileage too, like 50 mpg.

We toyed with the idea of an all electric car but the nice thing about a gasoline engine is that you can just buy gas easily. Electric cars are nice for buzzing around nearby but it is challenging to find charging stations when on longer trips, plus charging takes a long time compared to pumping gas.

I am well aware of the absurdity of our family. We have 11 people total in the family, and we now have 8 cars total and seven legal drivers. BUT Angela will soon have her license and she needed a car which we wouldn't mind being bashed up a bit. Our new drivers usually run into something at least once, though they have never hit another car. They hit trees and stumps and mailboxes.

Kevin will be driving the new car. It is very fancy with lots of new tech. It has some wonderful safety features like it will nudge the car back into the middle of a lane. I am kind of a luddite in that I don't like new tech because I have to learn it.  :-)

So all that is exciting.

Also, the kids seem to finally be over their stomach bug so that is good.

Rocks

 Kevin and I went to a "rock show" yesterday; basically a giant room filled with a multitude of neat rocks of various kinds.

We are both materials engineers and love rocks. So it was so much fun. We actually spent quite a bit of money; more on that later.

When we got home, we cleared a few shelves from our IKEA cabinet to set up the new rocks plus some others we have obtained through the years.

And voila.

The last pic is of a big piece of petrified wood. SO GORGEOUS.

Kevin decided to go back to the show today with three of the girls (the kids who wanted to go) and they are there now. Probably will come back with a few more treasures.

Now I am a saver by nature. Like, I was born a saver. Add that to having nine children to care for, and I tend not to want to spend money on non-necessities. I do, of course, spend money, lots of money, on food and shelter and electricity and clothing...

But we are used to being careful financially and it is frankly hard sometimes to spend frivolously.

Not that rocks are exactly frivolous!

Wait, they are frivolous. They serve no practical purpose. We just like them. A lot.

They are also educational :-).

Anyway, I am really happy about our new rocks and reminding myself that money is a tool, and that just storing up money for no particular reason is silly.

In the early days of our parenting, when we were living on a smaller income with a bunch of little kids, we had to be very careful.

Now it is fun to buy rocks! And it is financially just fine.

Early December

 

I hang banners for various exciting days throughout the year. We have a Birthday Banner, and a Christmas Banner, and  New Year's banner, and a Thanksgiving banner, and so on and so forth. Rose decided to get into the action this year by making a "Black Friday" banner, which is adorable.

Random picture of all our desserts for Thanksgiving.

Sarah painted this. Yes, my girls are amazing artists.

We have this cute little spot out the back door which is usually quite a bit warmer than elsewhere when it is sunny; the wind is blocked by walls, and the sunlight reflects and it is cozy. Also, the cats like Isaac.

Our sun room has writing all over it from our days with small people who wrote on walls. Joseph is heroically working on cleaning it.

Sarah got a diamond painting craft for her birthday. 

Sarah is tall.

In other news, we published another book. Yes, that is crazy but... I finished Elizabeth Bennet's Inheritance in early October and immediately settled down to write a Christmas story which, as I said in my last post, I finished last week. We published two days ago. It is shorter than my usual books but doing well so far.

In other interesting news, Joseph is now a monetized youtuber. Youtube pays people if they have more than 1000 subscribers and over 4000 (I think) watching hours of the channel. He does these incredibly complex mods (modifications) of a game called Terraria. He has taught himself how to code and change things like how the villains interact and so on. He has been doing this for several years, and last week a particular video went viral among the Terraria community. He quickly soared above the requisiste 1000 subscribers and is now over 2000 subscribers!

It is exciting and will provide a little bit of income for him. Not enough for him to quit his day job -- not that he has one now, as he is studying for IT certification, but still, very fun!

We have some minor illness moving through the house. I am very tired and have been having peculiar dreams. Other than that, mostly Ok thankfully.

December is frankly a little stressful for me; we have three birthdays to celebrate, and Christmas too. But times they are changing. The children can do a lot of the work (like putting up the Christmas tree) and Kevin has graciously taken care of the purchasing of the presents. So I can just enjoy myself, and I intend to!

Oh, one last thing! The biggest concern for both Kevin and me about him quitting his job was finding health insurance. Thanks to Obamacare, we are signed up for a Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance plan starting in January which will be very managable, and which includes dental and vision. We will have to change dental offices unfortunately, but it is still awesome to have that sorted out.

Cultures Get Squirrely Sometimes

 So this is something I think about a LOT!

Cultures get squirrely.

What do I mean by that?  I mean that sometimes most people in a culture heartily embrace something as sensible and wise and good and healthy when we can see, from our current perspective, that it is not.

Here is a very obvious example: foot binding.

In China, for many generations I believe, baby girls from wealthier families had their feet bound to prevent them from growing large.  Having tiny feet was considered beautiful.  Naturally, it hurt a lot for these girls to have their feet bound so tightly that their body couldn't grow normally. When they grew up, they were partially crippled and had to be assisted to do everything.

But it was normalized totally. It was accepted as good!  In fact, when the Chinese government forbade foot binding, there was a lot of pushback from families to the point that parents would try to hide their girls from the "foot police" so that they could continue binding their girls' feet. It was SO entrenched in the culture that they couldn't see how bad it was!

I would say corsets are similar; seriously, what kind of insanity is it when girls have their waists pinched so tightly they can't breathe well?

A bunch of our children are in orthodontia.  It is expensive.  Frankly, it is painful at times.  Angela had a major adjustment last week and for several days, her mouth and teeth were really sore.

And I found myself thinking -- Ok, we are spending a lot of money to straighten her teeth, which hurts.  Are we so different from parents who bound the feet of their girls?

The answer is, I think, a strong yes.  The reason she has orthodontia is because she inherited the genetics of some members of my family; narrow face, big overbite.  The result is that IF she didn't have orthodontia, her teeth would probably wear away over time and she would have tooth problems in middle age.  Also, her jaw might get messed up from the teeth not meeting properly.

However, it is also true that in American culture, straight teeth are considered attractive.  Even without the medical issues, there might be a strong argument for having orthodontia because it is easier to get jobs and even spouses if one has even, straight teeth.

But really, that kind of sucks.  I mean, if one's teeth WORK fine, and are a crooked, should it matter?

Should we spend tons of money to straighten teeth for merely cosmetic reasons?  Should we hurt our children for cosmetic reasons?

I find myself having a little more sympathy for crazy parents who encouraged corsets and foot binding. I still think it was bad, but when an entire culture embraces something it is hard to swim against the flow.  One worries, as a parent, that their children will have trouble if they don't act.

In our case, the decisions have been easier because there is a medical issue involved.  

By the way, I saw our orthodontist today and he said when he was done caring for Kendigs, he would retire.  It was a joke, but seriously, we have been very, very lucrative for him!

So far, we have had four children in orthodontia, and Miriam is starting soon, and Sarah will need it, and probably Rose as well.

We have vague hopes that Daniel will not. We will see!

Wow.

Hot Tub

 Kevin loves hot tubs.

I like hot tubs.

Over the years, we've thought about acquiring a hot tub. But truthfully, the thought of dealing with it was stressful, PLUS we had little kids for so many years. I didn't really want a hot tub when we had kids who could not swim.

Also, they are expensive.

So now we have more money because we are old and crusty (kind of.)

Also, all our children swim.  Also, Sam's had a small hot tub that was "only" $2200.  So we ordered one in September.  We were informed that it would take 2 months to get it.

A week or two after the order, we rescued the kittens.  We were unsure what to do with the hot tub because they would need to share a space in the sun room, but we figured we had time to sort it out.

Wednesday we got an early phone call informing us that the hot tub was 15 minutes from our house. No prior warning.

Ha!  So much for plenty of time to think about where to put the hot tub!

We put it in the sun room as planned, and created a barrier with tables.  For now, that is keeping the kittens away from the hot tub.  They are still pretty small.

So far it is a huge hit. It is also, not surprisingly, work because the chemicals need to be balanced properly.

Middle of July

 Groan, the summer is flying by on me!  It always does! How can it be the middle of July already??

I usually start school up at the beginning of August, and we spend that first month easing into a full schedule.  Joseph, who struggles with math, has been doing math all summer.  I have also been working with Rose on reading. She is 7 and doesn't read well at all yet.  If she was my first child, I would be freaking out, but she is my 9th and thus I am experienced enough to know she is fine.  Rose is extremely active and not inclined to sit for a long time, plus she is #9 and Mom is busy.  She is making steady progress, but she isn't fluent.

Isaac has been toiling away on Calculus 2 for several weeks, and Joseph is taking a one credit class at Clark State.  Neither has been bored this summer :-).

Actually, there isn't much boredom going on around here. With so built in playmates, people can usually find someone to hang out with and play board games or chat or swim.

Kevin found this stag beetle and captured it and took pictures of it before letting it go.

Miriam found a giant dandelion!

Rose is proud that she was climbing trees and asked me to take pictures. I hung out on the porch and encouraged her not to fall off, but I am pretty mellow about kids climbing trees.  I sometimes joke that they shouldn't break their arms because that would mean an ER trip and that is annoying, but I want them to run around and stay active.  I don't let them climb on the house though, as it is 30 feet high at its peak, with far fewer handholds!

Kevin and I published my latest book this week.  It is called The Golden Daffodil and is about a secret society of (mostly) women running around England doing good.  It is another Pride and Prejudice variation; all of my books have been.  Now I capable of writing something outside P and P and maybe I will, but so far people have loved my books and it is easier writing about established characters and locales.  I still am very busy with the kids, and they are my priority.

Isaac is taking his driving test this coming week and we are praying he passes.  He has two classes on site at Wright State this fall and I really don't want to have to drive him there. On the other hand, I am nervous about turning him loose because I always am.  Now that our older girls have been driving for years, I am much calmer.  Experience is helpful.  Isaac is pretty good; he is not reckless, which is great.

I keep praying for wisdom from God about how I spend my time. I am blessed to have time to spend; there are plenty of people on this planet who are toiling away for daily food.  Since it is a gift to have "free time", I want to be responsible with it.  I have fun, don't get me wrong, but I also want to balance my own hobbies and mindless TV watching with God's plan for me.  

The writing career has been a definite surprise.  My books are quite successful and now a significant money maker.  Kevin makes a lot as an engineer, which is a huge blessing because ... nine kids!  I joke that if he made far less, it would be easier for him to retire. As it is, it doesn't make sense for him to retire yet, especially because our health insurance is superb.  It is hard sometimes to decide how much time I spend writing; obviously, the faster I write, the faster I finish books and the faster I can publish.  BUT of course the family is more important than money.  So yes, it is a balance.

Having said all that, it is Saturday morning, which is special in our house because kids are allowed to play computer games until 10 a.m., and I am going to write!  

I Quit! :-)

 My job on base, that is.

I have worked for a contractor on the Air Force base for 18 years or so now, and it has mostly been a fabulous job. I worked very very part time for all those years, taking frequent breaks for babies and illnesses.  My employers treated me beautifully and I am grateful for the opportunity to keep one little toe in the science arena.

However, ever since COVID hit, my work has been really hit or miss. For months, I wasn't permitted to go on base at all. Then it was the occasional hour here or there.  Now I am allowed in on Wednesday and Wednesdays alone.

With my publishing "career" taking off, with the kids getting older and requiring more driving around, with sheer AGE, I am realizing the need to simplify my life.  Yes, my job is only a few hours a week, but I have to work that around everything else and I sometimes feel like chocolate pudding scraped over too much ham.  (A Lord of the Beans reference, which is a Veggietales parody of the Lord of the Rings. The LOTR quote is "butter scraped over too much bread" I believe.)

So my last day is in three weeks or so. It is a little sad to have the end of an era in this way, but mostly I just feel happy that one small load will fall off my shoulders.

I remember when I was younger and more stupid, I imagined working with great vim and vigor into my late 60's. This was before marriage and 9 kids.  One thing I am noting is that my body IS aging. I am only 51 but I do get tired, I do get achy, etc.

Partly that is, again, nine kids. I sailed through 9 births (including 6 C sections) really well, but still, that did do some wear and tear on the old body. Not that I regret it in the least. I am so blessed by the kids, and truly in awe that I was able to have nine darling children!

But I also need to respect my own limitations. Even Jesus my Lord had to take naps at times! 

I love naps.

So yes, I quit.

Busy

 

I think this is adorable.  Oldest and youngest children playing Minecraft.

Angela has braces!  She got them on Monday.

I gave Rose and Sarah a ball of yarn and this happened.  Obstacle course.

We got a LITTLE snow.  Rose and Daniel approved!

Rose made a cute little house for herself in the sun room.

Rose and Sarah enjoyed painting.

In other news, Kevin is back to work finally.  I mean, he has been working from home for months and months, but is now going into work.  It is easier for him to concentrate there.  Who would have known??

We had a tragedy yesterday.  One of our older cats, maybe THE oldest cat, was hit by a car.  We have been really fortunate about cats and cars.  Our house is set back from the road and it is not a busy road, but Lloyd was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  The kids were very sad, of course.  I am sad too.

I finished a book this week.  I have always been a goal oriented person and when I am near the end of a project, I just want to get it done. So I have been writing like a crazy person the last few weeks.  Now it is all in the publishing team's hands -- namely Kevin, Naomi, and Lydia.  

We have been making a surprising amount of money writing.  I mean, I am shocked.  At least $4000 a month, which is CRAZY.  But I am also pushing books out very frequently.  The last book was published in early November and before that, I was managing a new book every 7 weeks. Since COVID interfered, this one took longer.  Very few new authors do this well but then I do write fast, PLUS I had a built in fan base from fan fiction writing PLUS I am writing in a niche genre (Pride and Prejudice) with a lot of built in enthusiasts.  So yeah.  And if I don't keep publishing new books, the royalties drop quickly.  For a good three weeks in late November, early December, I was making like $200+  a day on royalties, which is crazy.  Lately my royalties have hovered around $100-$130.

Kevin has been doing a lot of marketing stuff too.  I am incredibly blessed to have a husband who just loves this kind of thing. He is very smart, obviously, and has learned a ton about how to market successfully.

So yes, I am a good writer, but I also have a bunch of really competent people in the family who can help in this whole enterprise.

I am kind of frazzled right now, I admit it, because I have been writing a lot and life has been busy with doctor and orthodontic appointments and the cat died and Kevin has been back to work...

But what a blessing that I CAN write well. What a blessing that we can afford to take our kiddos to an orthodontist.  What a blessing that I can get a shingles vaccination except I didn't, because I sat in the parking lot yesterday for half an hour having to pee but they were way backed up so I called and cancelled.

Oh well.

Busy Week

 I was looking over the calendar for a few months ago and April was frankly amazing.  Just day after day with nothing scheduled thanks to the coronavirus lockdown.  I know a great many people found the whole experience depressing but I loved it. I am an introvert by nature but of course with 10 other people around all the time, I never get lonely.  

I really do not like having to dash around a lot outside the home.  It stresses me out.  So those weeks of peacefully getting up every day without having to go anywhere was very freeing.

Of course, that was delaying the inevitable; we still had to deal with dental appointments and eye appointments and the like, so the blank days of April and May have given way to busier weeks than usual.   That has definitely been part of my anxiety though I am happy to report that I am doing better. I think starting up school stressed me more than usual  this year and now that we are in the groove, I am calmer.  Isaac is doing great in college, which is to say he is just doing his thing.  He is a self starter and just toils away to figure things out. He is even managing his chemistry lab class with aplomb, which I find most impressive since we never did much formally in the way of labs.

We are dealing with CAT PROBLEMS :-). As many of you may remember, we adopted 5 kittens found in the woodpile of some friends around the corner.  They are charming and adorable and in every way wonderful. They are also mixed gender; namely, 3 boys and 2 girls.

We arranged to have a low cost spay/neuter facility get them fixed 11 days ago.  The morning we were supposed to bring them in, I got a cancellation call because someone tested positive for coronavirus at the facility.  ARRGHGHHH!

They are 6 months old so at the age when breeding is just barely possible so we separated them by putting the girls in the barn and the boys stayed in our sunroom.

I made phone calls and scurried around and managed to find other places to get them taken care of, though not until later in October.

Then we got a call from the original place and they were able to work the two girls in so they were spayed this week.  Hooray!  No baby cats!!  The boys are being neutered at the end of the week. So all that is good.  It is involving more driving around than is desirable but that is life. Far better to cope with coronavirus interruptions than actually have coronavirus so, yeah.  No whining!

What else, hmmmmmm....

Oh, my next book is being released this coming week. It is called A Fortuitous Fall.  It is funnier than my last books thanks to one rather oddball character.

I made over $5000 last month on writing!  That is CRAZY.  However, the Banished Uncle (my last book) is falling steadily in the Amazon charts so if I were not launching another book, this month would be way lower no doubt.

So the key to making money writing is, not surprisingly, to keep writing.  I write quickly and I have about ten million ideas so yeah, I can keep doing this but of course I also have a busy life with kids and husband.  So I keep praying for wisdom about balancing my responsibilities.  I will say this, though -- writing clears my brain and helps me stay sane so there is that.

But I will also say this, God and Kevin and the kids are my main priority so I will keep working to keep my life in balance.  

Finances

 I was born a cheapskate. Seriously.  Or frugal, if you prefer that word.  I truly believe people are born with money personalities and mine is, save save save.

Of course, if you look at my pictures, you will see that we spend plenty.  We have a lot of stuff and we take exotic vacations once a year to St. Croix.  And then there are the nine kids, who of course require a lot of money so we can care for them well.

 

 But Kevin and I both are fairly cautious with spending.

These last years have been easier financially for a variety of reason. Kevin keeps getting raises. Hooray!  We paid off our house, which was so fun.  Interestingly, as soon as we paid off our house, we found ourselves saving rapidly to replace three cars. We had been running them into the ground and it was time to replace them.

Now I am making real money writing.  No idea how long this will last or even whether it will, but we do have extra money right now.  

Oh, I actually got paid by Amazon for the first time. There is a 2 month delay in sending royalties, so it wasn't until the end of August that I got paid for June.

I have worked a little for many years, but very little. So I am making more right now.  I do feel more mellow about spending money.

I have been recently analyzing my new spending habits.

I am spending more on the children.  I am buying them throw away toys more often to encourage them to do various tasks.  I am tired, what can I say?

I am buying more books that the kids want.

I am buying more clothing from Amazon. A responsible mother who wanted to save money would go to Once Upon a Child (which is an awesome place) BUT 6 of the kids are too big for Once Upon a Child. Also, if I can stay home, I want to. So yes, I have been buying a bunch of clothes for the children on Amazon.  It is nice.

And I am buying clothes for ME from Amazon too. Also nice.  I don't buy many clothes for myself, not really because I am cheap (though that is a factor) but because I hate, with a deep and abiding loathing, going to clothing stores and trying things on. It is so boring.  So so so so boring.

Yes, I am whining.  I am such a turkey, really.  All these nice stores with all these nice clothes and I am whiny about trying things on.

But yeah for Amazon. Just a few clicks from the comfort of my home and I can order things!

I am definitely relaxing in my purchasing.  It feels freeing to not be as concerned about mortgage payments and food and clothing and all those vital needs.  We have never been poor at all, but we have been aware of the great responsibility of caring for the offspring, of planning for the future.  

Here is a funny and/or pathetic thing. When I was younger, I had a pretty arrogant view about retirement.  My thought was that as Christians, we should be willing to work as long as is necessary and therefore retirement shouldn't really be a priority.  (Thankfully for both of us, Kevin never had that view.)

So I will say that a Christian should never retire from being a Christian. Clearly we all need to serve the Lord as He directs us until the end of our days.

BUT, one does not need to work a paying job in order to work for God, clearly.  In fact, once a Christian has retired, he/she will probably have more time for ministry.

Also, and this is really really really important, our bodies wear out with time!

Obviously some incredible people with good health and/or incredible wills work very very long.  Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who just passed away, was 87 years old and still serving as a Supreme Court Justice. And not a healthy one!!  She was battling cancer for YEARS.  

But normal people just get worn out.  Some jobs require a great deal of physical strength and with time, the body just isn't having it. Even a white collar job requires energy to come and go, to attend meetings and type lots of reports and emails.  Eventually, if a man or woman lives long enough, he or she will not be able to work.

So yes, saving for retirement is a wise thing, definitely.  

Hmmm, I got off track.

So yes, more money is rolling in because at the moment, my books are selling.  We don't know how long this will last.  I would need to keep writing new books to keep making a lot of money.  Book sales go down with time based on three months of data from my own books.

So I am more relaxed about money, but still not a spender.  Our house is full of stuff and I find it a little obnoxious so I only want to buy things that I really want, not add things that are not of much interest.

I have never been huge into experiences and quail with horror at paying, say, $100 to go to a fancy dinner with Kevin.  (We have done it once in our lifetime, on our honeymoon, but only once.)

So I am still cheap. But I'm spending more than I was.  I hope it is a reasonable and healthy shift toward enjoying money but not being wasteful.

I Am Jael is published!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089GC8PMF/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=i+am+jael&qid=1591048690&sr=8-1


I paid Lydia to get the manuscript put online and she did it in a few days. So I am now officially a published author. I have even sold, last time I checked, 7 copies of the e book!

I am quite excited!  I won't make a lot of money or anything, of course. It's just neat.

On a Lighter Note...

Amazon is no longer providing overnight deliveries for basic things. Maybe it is for more vital supplies?  I don't know.

Here is the thing.  When we order something, if we are willing to not have it shipped overnight, we can check a tab for delayed shipping and earn $1 of Kindle currency.

Usually.

Now, because ten million people are ordering a hundred million things from Amazon, they have bumped that up to $3 of Kindle currency.

So every time we order something, and are willing to wait for it, I get $3 of Kindle money to play with.

Be still my heart!

It is so exciting!!

I love Gerald Durrell, a (now deceased) man who was an animal nut and wrote many, many books about animals, his life, and his zoo in Jersey (off the coast of Britain.)

He. Writes. So. Well.  Like crazy well.  Like, wow.  He is amazing, and hilarious.

His books cost $10 on Kindle.

I just can't handle it.  That is so much.  I'm so cheap.  

But, Kindle currency is like free money, right?  So yes, I am acquiring Durrell books slowly as my delayed shipping money shows up in my Kindle account.

Joy.

Delight.

Ecstasy.

Thankful for Socks

I've been meaning to write a short blog post on being thankful for material possessions like socks.

Socks are quite boring unless one is truly excited about socks. I am not.  I like them comfy and without holes, but I'm no fashionista.

But because we live in the United States and because Kevin has a good job and because we live in the days of internet...

I can buy socks on Amazon any old time I want.  And we can afford it.

This. Is. A. Blessing.

I spent 3 years in a third world country as a child. I have seen true poverty. There are people in THIS country who struggle to buy socks.

So yes, I am thankful for Amazon, and money, and socks.

Orthodontia

Isaac has braces now!  He is our 4th child with orthodontia.  Our orthodontist is a very nice man, but I'm sure he had an avaricious gleam in his eye the day we first met him.

Not really, he's very nice.

Anyway, yep, orthodontia for Isaac. We have a genetic predilection for overbites.  We aren't as concerned with the cosmetic issues, but the overbite means that the kids in question might well have their teeth wear down prematurely and/or have jaw trouble.

A long, long time ago, Naomi was 7 years old and our dentist at the time recommended she see an orthodontist. We consulted with 2, including the practice we are using now.  This practice said no, wait. She doesn't have all her adult teeth in. Actually, at that point, she had NO adult teeth in. It made sense to wait.

The other orthodontist recommended immediate orthodontia.

We decided to wait.

A dental technician gave us kind of a hard time about it.  I pointed out it was expensive and we had 6 young children and she said we could pay in installments at most orthodontist offices.

Which is true.  We could have. But we didn't want to.  We had 6 kids at the time, now we have 9 children. We REALLY don't want to go into debt for orthodontia unless we felt it was a medical necessity, and it wasn't.  

We've saved up through the years and have been able to pay cash for all 4 kids, though in Isaac's case we delayed a year because we were saving up.

So all this is to say that while we obviously put a priority on getting our kids' teeth fixed, we also realize this is a "first world issue" to some degree.  We are blessed in many ways that we have access to good medical and dental care. We also need to be wise not to put ourselves into debt about something which is GOOD but not VITAL.  We would, of course, go into debt if a kid had an appendix out or some other problem that would kill the child if it wasn't addressed. Of course we would.  But for orthodontia, it made sense to wait.

Oh, as an added aside, it turns out Naomi is missing her wisdom teeth and 2 of her 12 year molars and none of that was obvious when she was 7 years old. It is very good we waited on treatment for her because her particular situation was complex and unexpected, and her current treatment takes into account her missing teeth.

Teens and Jobs

Oddly, I didn't work much in high school.  I was very shy and already a saver, so I didn't need a lot of money.

I babysat some, and helped our pastor and his wife with housecleaning and organizing their stuff, and for many years I worked 3 weeks or so in the corn fields, detasseling corn.

If you don't know what that is, its enough to say it was hot, miserable, hard work with relatively low pay. I hated it and it showed I'm definitely not someone who should work outside all the time.  I'm an indoor girl.

Anyway, as our children have grown, we've prayed for safe and useful opportunities for them to earn money.  Lydia and Naomi have both done some babysitting, though more Lydia than Naomi because Lydia loves little kids and is pursuing a possible career with small children.

A couple of months ago, Lydia was hired at Burger King where she worked from 4 to 10 hours a week. Not a lot, obviously, but it was a big step for her.  She also got a job babysitting the neighbor children 2 to 3 times a week.  So she's actually making quite a bit of money.

Naomi is a computer geek and we really were praying for a good opportunity for her as well. Kevin got her set up with a high school student program on base.  Maybe.  These kind of programs always involve hoops, many hoops, which she loyally jumped through in the spring with lots of help from Kevin.  I think without her father's help, she wouldn't have figured it out because it was not easy to understand the process.

  For weeks we heard nothing.  I assumed that meant she didn't get the job but Kevin was all too confident it was just a usual government delay.

And he was right. This week she got a job offer. A tentative one. Which required yet more paperwork and a transcript from Clark State which they needed in 3 days and we had a hold on Naomi's account which we had to sort out...

Anyway, Kevin plans to run the transcript to the correct office today, which is the deadline.  Of course, SHE can't do it because she's on base and doesn't have an ID.

If all goes well, Naomi, will have a well paying internship for the rest of the summer. Which is like 2 months.

We'll see. May God's will be done.

Also, working for the government is awesome, but it is slow and the paperwork can be quite monumental.

5th Wheel!

We are buying a 5th wheel and a truck to pull it!

I know my loyal readers mostly find this coming out of nowhere, because it kind of is.

So for as long as I can remember, I have liked the concept of a "tiny house" -- a little place which is super efficient.

But we got married and had 9 children, so a tiny house isn't practical for us.  AND they are expensive.

A couple of months ago, Kevin commented that we could probably buy a travel trailer or 5th wheel for a reasonable amount of money.  We started looking around.  A local family (not someone we know) has a 5th wheel in great shape for not too much.  So after prayer, we've decided to buy it.  AND he is selling a 2001 diesel truck to haul it, also for not too much money.

We do have to take out a loan and I hate debt but this is a really nice setup.  We did look around thoroughly at other travel trailer and 5th wheel options  and decided this is a good fit. It has a bunk room in the back and will sleep 9 people without too much trouble.

So what is the plan? The initial plan is to park the 5th wheel near our barn while we figure out all the details of caring for it. The most complex is the plumbing. There are issues involving the bathroom that are still entirely confusing to us.  Kevin is a brilliant guy regarding such things, but it'll still take awhile to get that all sorted out satisfactorily.

He already put in the requisite electrical connection so we can plug in the 5th wheel.

Our idea is that it will be a retreat. Kevin and I can get away from the kids occasionally, leaving the older ones in charge.  

Our kids can get away from the noise occasionally, or they can go into the 5th wheel and MAKE noise, leaving the house a little quieter.

So all this should happen in the next couple of weeks. As a SORT of amusing aside, the truck got hit by a falling branch during a windstorm last week, the day after we agreed to buy it.  We hadn't yet, so the owners knocked off some money.

I'm excited!

Newly Minted Driver!

And this lovely young lady is now a licensed driver!  She passed her test last Friday.  It is exciting for all of us. Yesterday she drove herself to her college class and it went great.  Congratulations to Lydia!

Most mornings now, Rose sits on my lap for 10 minutes or so drinking her milk.  This is new and special.  The child rarely sits still for long so these moments when she just cuddles without frantically wiggling are a lot of fun.  She has also started sitting still for me to read her books.

This is the first time in my parenting life that I've had a 3 and a half year old youngest child.  It really is different. I don't have a baby or a toddler now.  Rose, though she is still very active, is calmer than she was a year ago.  It'll be interesting when she is 5 years old. 

It's a BRAND NEW MINIVAN

  Last week, I told Kevin that I wanted a new car.

  Yesterday, we picked one up from the dealership.

  Of course (I hope it is 'of course') there is more to the story than a demanding  and spendthrift wife!

  Seriously, we've been thinking about replacing our old minivan for at least a year.  It has served us well, SO well, but it is over 17 years old.

  We've been looking around and thinking and praying about the proper replacement. After much cogitation, we settled on the new Chrysler Pacifica.

 Now we're enthusiastic about used cars.  You can usually get a good deal on a car that is a year or two old.

 BUT the Pacifica is new as of 2017.  There are a few out there on the market that are used, but they aren't substantially cheaper than a new one.

  We love the blind spot monitoring, the additional safety features. Kevin is excited about the ability to fold the middle seats into the FLOOR. So much easier on his back than hauling out the seats as needed.

 It has 8 seats.

  We can't quite pay for it outright so we took out a  loan which we plan to pay off soon.

 So Kevin had been in contact with a dealer for a couple of weeks and we made the decision a few days ago. Yesterday, we went over there and picked it up and I drove it home.  It's a sweet ride.