The Latest Escapade With Daniel

I am my father's daughter, so naturally, he has instilled in me an inherent sense of a good and bad price for something. As you heard, my sewing machine broke down in the depths of an important (to me) project, so I was quite intrigued by a call from Mrs. T. that she was at an estate sale, and had seen a machine. Somewhat assured that it was in good condition, Mama persuaded Daniel to take me down to the sale, and inspect it. Before we left, her parting admonition was: "Offer 30 dollars!" (they asked for 50 originally)
Those of you who know me, will realize that I am quite shy around strangers. We first stopped at a house with a "garage sale" sign in the yard. After knocking on the front and side doors, we determined that it was, indeed, the wrong house! *blush* This unnerved me a bit. We drove further down the road, and found the estate sale. After getting out of the van, we were met at the door by a meek, pale, elderly man with a small moustache. He held the door open, and his wife met us indoors. Daniel, thankfully, did the talking for me: "My sister was looking for a sewing machine?" The woman ushered us into a cluttered room, where a vintage sewing machine sat upon a table amongst a motley array of other items. She was not a seamstress herself, but I sat down, and tried the machine. It sewed in a strange fashion, so I checked, and discovered it to be threaded entirely incorrectly. That being remedied, we soon determined it was a suitable machine for my needs. The only thing now was to offer the thirty dollars. My bashfulness was heightened by the sensibility of this being the pale, meek, elderly man's late mother's sewing machine. I did not want to haggle with them! A desperate plan entered my head. "Daniel!" I hissed, beckoning to him. He returned to my side. "You pay for this! Offer thirty dollars! I'll be out in the car!" and with that, I prepared to flee. But Sarah hemmed me in while my good brother, who will not allow me to slip out of things said, "You must pay."
"But how?!? Please Daniel!" (Obviously my face was neither endearing nor pitiful enough to sway him) "No Rachel, you must just ask them if they are firm on the price!"
I gathered my courage. On the way over, I had played the whole scene out in my head, being a shrewd enough haggler: I would offer 30 dollars, but expect to pay 40, and haggle up to that.
The woman came back into the room. "Well?" she said with a tiny hint of impatience.
"Are...are you all firm on the price?" I asked, sounding to my ears dreadfully cold. She glanced at the machine. "I could maybe give it to you for 40."
Rejoicing, I snapped up the price without haggling. There is where I left behind Dad's teaching. I followed the woman out of the room, trying not to squirm as she whispered the diminished price to the meek, pale, elderly gentleman with the very small moustache. I felt, somewhere behind me, the rolling over of the dearly departed in her grave. ;) I blushingly paid the price, and fled to the car with a polite, "Thank you!"
When I got home, I announced the price to Dad, and told him the story. He merely smiled. "If they offered to decrease it to 40 right off the bat, you surely could have gotten it for 25 dollars!" and he shook his head sagely. But all's well that ends well! I still have much to learn from Dad, but I've now got a working machine! :D -Rachel

Dinner Out As A Family

Hello Ladies and Gents! How are you all this morning? We are well. Last night we went out as a family to dinner at Pizza-Hut! I can't tell you the last time we did something like that! Actually, I think it was about 10 months ago when we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast, but even then we had Grandma June with us! It is rather amusing to see our family out to eat! We have been well-trained by Dad to be clever with our money. So during the trip to Cracker Barrel, once we were seated, we all waited to hear the ever faithful "Waters all around!" from Dad. Then, when handed our menus, we dutifully ignored them (or we looked at the pictures of dessert! ;) while Dad and Mama discussed the best way to feed 11 people. I think we ended up by ordering a basketful of biscuits, two side-orders of hash browns, and some ham biscuits. That was divided up between the howling masses. ;) Then Grandma June ordered her meal: a huge breakfast platter. It was so very funny to see her, (who barely eats enough to keep a bird alive) delving into this massive plate of food while the rest of us stared longingly at the empty basket of biscuits. (Cracker Barrel, we found out the hard way that day, doesn't refill your basket. Cheap skates! :) Anyway, last night was different. We went to Pizza Hut, and Dad bought us 4 medium pizzas that were five dollars apiece, and each of us got a trip to the salad bar. (He also bought Pepsi) It made me laugh to see the younger ones who barely knew what to do in a restaurant. They blushed like peonies when the waitress talked to them, kept staring at various things, and Gracie, (who is temporarily, slightly deaf due to fluid in her ears) popped the little button things on the soda-cup lids and crowed loudly and delightedly each time, or else threw a balled up napkin into Sarah's lap and squealed far too loudly. (That only happened once! :) She is usually nicely behaved! :)
I am proud of Dad and the way he has trained us to be thrifty! We hardly ever go out to eat, and last night was all the more special because of it! Thanks Dad! :) -Rachel

My First Rendezvous With 460 :}

Greeting Fair Followers. ( And you not-so following people who merely read this :) I feel quite glad to be alive tonight. We are packing for our trip, (day after tomorrow) we had a family over and made valentines, and I survived driving down 460 in the dark, and did not kill myself or anyone else. Up till now I had only driven on small country roads and at the fairgrounds in the day. Dad, tonight, had me drive on the biggest road out here, with eighteen-wheelers and all other manner of things, and in the dark. First time on a public road, first time in the dark, and I actually made it home in one piece! Dad said I almost got pulled over by a Sheriff at the fairgrounds. We must have looked suspicious doing figure eights and all in the parking lots! Dad said he was watching us for awhile. Glad I wasn't speeding! :) According to my driving instructor who has raised me since birth (Dad of course) I am doing well driving. I feel a terrible animosity toward our 15 passenger van. And with high winds tonight, all the stories of how easily those things tip flooded my mind. But I am thankful that Dad and I prayed before I started, because I had no real fear. Just ready "Blast this wind!" at the tip of my tongue! :)
Yes, time is dwindling for us leaving for NY!!! We are going to try to do a post up there! Yay! We are all hoping desperately that there will be snow on the ground. Uncle Lon and Aunt Heather say it is barren. What is the North without snow? Shocking! This is entirely off subject, but Anna's goat is most likely pregnant and will kid in about a week or two. I guess, (and this is so strange) but you can't tell truly if they are pregnant or not until a week or so till the baby is born, and then their udder fills up. It seems strangely inefficient, but I am not goat expert, and we have heard this from a reliabe source. Okay. Thanks everyone for your encouraging comments last post! This is a really weird question, but does anyone know how you make one of those quiz things? You know, where you answer questions, and then it tells you which character you are? I thought it would be fun to do one about my book. (And by the way, you who I asked to be test families will be getting your copy around the end of February. I will get right on it after my trip!) Well, this was sort of a post of no-account, but it caught you guys up on our life, and so, all that is left to say is Bon-Voyage! Or, shall I be that charming villain Willoughby, and say with an elaborate bow,
"Let us not say fare-well, but as the French say: `Au Revoir!'"

(I find that man so despicable. How could Marianne be fooled by his outright flattery? Yuck!)

Okay! While on the subject of goodbyes, who can tell me why some famous guy or another said, "Parting is such sweet sorrow!"? It makes no sense to me. Partings are rather bothersome. You are bound to cry yourself, or at least get teary when someone else does, and everyone scrubs at their eyes and makes feeble jokes which everyone else laughs far too heartily at, just because it relieves tension and.... I am beginning to rant so I'd best sign off here! -Rachel

Oh! Don't forget to read the Valentine greetings on the sidebar!

...And The Entreprenureal Spirit Lives On

Yesterday, instead of spending the entire day playing in the snow, Daniel and Sarah found a way to use it for their benefit. During the afternoon they went out to a neighborhood around here with shovels on their shoulders, and cleared people's driveways and walkways for money. It was hard work, but they were each rewarded with a nice chunk of money. Today Daniel and I are going back out, and we'll do more clean up. My only problem is that it froze super hard last night and everything is really crusty and icy! Dad has set a good example of a provider with this storm. As you would expect, winter is a pretty tough time for landscapers. Nothing grows, so no one needs our help! So Dad saw this storm as a good way to make extra money and leverage our income with his Kubota (sp?) tractor. He got 4 of 5 jobs to clear parking lots. (Blockbuster's, a vet place, two churches, etc.) He was pretty excited, but you can pray for several things: first, that the tractor will work correctly, second that Dad will be safe driving on these roads with a huge trailer and tractor behind, and third, that he will stay plenty warm! We are going to make the Wilson's chicken pie for him for dinner! Well, hope you all are staying warm and enjoying the snow! -Rachel
p.s. although I didn't get chance to go out with Daniel last night, I did wake up at 6 this morning and saw the most beautiful full moon shining on the snow. It was SO bright out there! I was half tempted to go right then in the dark and take a walk, but then I realized that 1) nobody knew where I was, 2) I could get hypothermia or something ;) maybe tonight!!!

Frugal or Frivolous?

I wanted to post something different-ish today. Okay. We have a customer who has two cars. One's license plate says "Froogal" the other, "Frivolous" (I can't remember how she abbreviates it.) Which one am I? I have often wondered if I am one of Dad's children who is good with their money like he always says we are. Sarah won't spend money unless she really has to. Does that mean I go on shopping sprees all the time? (no) But I like it when I get something new! Do I like spending money more than I like saving it? Alright, so I may not be Senorita Tight-Wad ;) but Dad has certainly trained me to be frugal. And I think I have learned the lesson well. The symptoms that we have listened to all Dad's lessons? When we say we need more clothes, we are excited about going to a thrift-store. You can get the best clothes for a pretty good price there! When someone says they got a new couch our first reaction is, "So who gave it to you?" or "Where did you find it?" When we (in our wildest dreams) think of getting a new 15 passenger, we immediately assume that Dad will find us a great deal on a used van. Another symptom- until I was 11 or so, I didn't know Taco-Bell sold anything but the 89 cent bean-burritoes or hard tacos. Now I know differently, but guess what? Those are still my favorite things to buy there! Yet another thing: when I decide that I'd like to keep my eye out for a particular item, I do not rush to the nearest store and buy that thing new. Dad has trained us to look in the Trading Post, on Craig's List, and places like that. I finally decided that I was pretty good with my money when last night I bought a 10 dollar Celtic folk-songs c.d. from Wal*Mart and spent nearly the whole drive home assuring myself that I could splurge 10 dollars on something I've wanted for awhile. So all this to say, thanks Dad for teaching us to think twice before taking out our wallets! -Rachel