Fred has a home.............................

As I stated in the past, I AM NOT keeping Fred the cat. One of our resident's has agreed to adopt him instead.

A few nights back, I was sitting in the living room, and (my) Mister wanders in, glances out the window and says, "Hey! There is a cat that looks JUST LIKE FRED, over at the neighbors." It took me a couple of seconds to "hear" what he said then, "What do you mean a cat that looks just like Fred? Is it Fred?" By this time the cat was gone, and Fred was not in the house. We were certain of this because a shake or two from the kitty treat can and all cats within hearing distance are at ones foot within thirty seconds.

Being the smart man that he is, (my) Mister took the can to the streets. He shook it at the end of the driveway and Fred came a runnin from four houses down. Nutty cat...

So, being the nice lady that I am, I took Fred for a check-up on my resident's behalf. My truck is still waiting for transmission work, my youngest was still at work (which was why I had to take Fred in the first place) so that left (my) Mister's truck. Every since the thingy broke off to move the seat forward I drive it as little as possible. This day when I got in, the door wouldn't shut. (my) Mister instructed me to role down the window. The knob on the end of the window crack is broke off and jagged, but I managed. Next, "as you are shutting the door you have to pull up on the door through the open window. Be careful NOT to catch your fingers in the door!" With certain moves my left (post fractured) wrist is still a bit weak, but with a little assistance I got the door shut (opting to worry about how to shut it after the vet visit later) to the parting words of, "better lock it just to be safe." I go to back out and there is no rear view mirror. The passengers side mirror is there, but dangling by a couple of wires. (my) Mister says, "Ya! just lean over a bit and it works just fine."

As I am backing down the driveway I hear in the distance, "Be careful with my baby," and he wasn't talking about Fred.

But you know what? His truck runs great! The ride was smooth, no engine knocks, grinds, or lurches. So what if it has over two hundred thirty thousand miles on it. When I shared with (my) Mister how well I thought the truck ran, his comment was, "I know. It IS a little noisy on the freeway though." Do you think this might be because the door doesn't shut all the way???

There have been some times (especially of late) that we easily could have talked ourselves into taking out a loan or two. Refusing to cross that line not only gives me GREAT blog material (as in the above funny story), it has proven time and again how blessed and taken care of we are. We have all the things we need and then some. The money ALWAYS arrives when we need it for necessities. That truck, with all of it's cosmetic flaws (I prefer the term old-age wrinkles) makes the one-way hour trip to and from work five days a week. It allows me to run my errands while we save up to get the other vehicle fixed. Heck, it even doubles as storage as (my) Mister has the back end filled with crap that was suppose to have found it's way to the junk yard but hasn't as of yet.

Each month we get closer to having our credit card debt paid off and never having to deal with those crooks again. In many ways I feel like I have been sentenced, learned my lesson, and am about to be freed from bondage. Except for our house payment, all the money we earn will FINALLY be ours to spend ANYWAY WE CHOOSE. Most of my adult life, my paychecks were already spent before I received them. The future we are guaranteed to have now (a fab retirement, with money in the back), is definitely worth all the things we have put off having until we had the cash in hand. And I am doubly blessed to have a husband and child that feels the same way as I do and has been willing to sacrifice right along side of me. Money is NOT everything, LOVE IS!