Life on the Lake

For a week this summer we were able to pretend like we had a "house on the lake". A cabin. A retreat. Our own wooded sanctuary. We rented a house via vacation rental by owner (vrbo.com). Highly recommend it. Way more relaxing than a resort- everything was right there and we had the whole place to ourselves!  The kids had a great time, caught lots of fish, tubed, swam and roasted more marshmallows than any one person should probably eat in a year. But, it was vacation and it was just what we needed!

On "Being Lucky"

Since the decision to become a one-income family about 6 years ago, I have been called "lucky" more times than I can recall. Mostly because Chris is home with the kids and we are "lucky" to have someone there for the kids and "lucky" to not have to worry about missing work because of sick kids and "lucky" to have no daycare fees or hassles. In almost all respects, I agree. But, it wasn't "luck" necessarily. It was a conscious decision to raise our children a certain way with one parent home and no day care. It just happened to be me that had (has) the better paying, more stable employment and thus that left Chris to stay home with the kids. However, along with this concscious choice came other, harder, decisions. For the most part, we live a very comfortable life. Our kids have everything they need and lots of things they want. We are able to go out on occasion and we are able to take the occassional (infrequent) low budget vacation. We have food on the table and gas in the car. We allow our kids to play sports and participate in other (expensive) recreational activities. But, overall, financial decisions are much harder when there is only one income to rely on. It takes a lot longer to build up a savings account and seems to diminish that much quicker when things come up. In all reality, money is tight. We live on a budget and we are forced to stick to that. It isn't always fun and it doesn't always feel "lucky". Recently, our beloved dog Jazz got into a bit of a medical predicament. He ate a bone (whole). This caused him to be unable to keep any food (and eventually water) down as it was lodged in his stomach- too big to come out either way. Sitting in the vet's office, staring at the x-ray, we were faced with one of the hardest decisions we have ever had to make. Surgery would fix this problem, but that would cost between $700 (if it came out easily) and up to $1500 or more depending on the damage that the bone may have caused. The vet did not feel that doing nothing was a viable option and said that if we did nothing it would likely get caught in his intestines and rip a hole causing him to have extreme pain and likely go into shock. In that moment, we had to decide if we were going to spend an undetermined amount in order to save him or if we were going to stick to the budget. And, we chose the financially responsible, mortgage paying, grocery buying, school supply shopping route. And it sucked. It still sucks. The kids are crushed, our house is quiet and there is a hole in all of our hearts. I know that most people probably don't understand this decision and there are some who will call us mean and callous. I understand that because it felt mean. It was not a decision that was taken lightly. It wasn't done in order to be mean or selfish (although believe me it felt that way). It was just one of the unfortunate side effects of our decision to have a one-income household. And so, being "lucky" isn't always what it's cracked up to be. Sorry Jazz- you were a good boy and we will all miss you!

The "monster" turns 3!

For the record (Sarah, when you are reading this when you are older)- YOU picked out this crazy cake. I asked to have the monsters pink and purple to look a bit "girlier" but the order got messed up. In the end, it didn't matter because the crazy, messy cake fit your own monster attitude just perfect :)