Tortoise meets Hare

First of all, before I get into it, may I please have the support of every woman who thinks this is completely disgusting?

MacGyver says it is the only place he can charge his razor, full of little stubbly bits. He says it's the only place that's convenient. He says he needs it to be there when he gets up at 5 am and heads to work for a full day of tireless grinding effort to put food on the table and clothes on our backs...

Okay, that was my imaginative version of what he said. But still. Am I insane to be a little weirded out by a razor charging on my stove?

Thank you for your support.

That being said, I promised MacGyver when I asked if I could write about us today that I would be fair. And so I shall.

The idea occurred to me a few days ago when a friend mentioned that an injury had made her husband a little crabby. I was in shock, because I've never seen her husband without a huge smile on his face. Then I got to wondering - how many people think MacGyver and I always smile and have complete harmony in our home?

Then I laughed. Really, really laughed. MacGyver is laughing too as he reads this, I can see it. Actually he's probably just shaking his head. Love you, Honey.

Here's the real story. Fourteen and a half years ago God thought it would be HILARIOUS to introduce the Tortoise to the Hare. Then he decided to let Hare in on a little secret. "Tortoise is for you. But you're going to have to wait a VERY long time."

I honestly sighed a little when I shook hands with MacGyver the first time and realized that I wasn't going to be getting married and having a family anytime soon. But I cheered up pretty quickly when I realized he was worth it.

All through high school, I dreamed about what my husband would be like. I thought maybe I'd found him a few times. I knew he would have to have the ingenuity of MacGyver, the boyish innocence and morality of the Kid, the depth of Mulder, and the manliness of Sully, because those were my heroes at the time.

And he did. He had every last one of those qualities that I was hoping for. Trouble is, I didn't realize that my man would come with a few of their negative qualities as well. One of them being, as I have mentioned... he's slow.

Not slow of mind. Quite the contrary, he's a genius. He's never met a broken thing he can't put back in working order. Hence his nickname. He has an answer for every scientific, mathematical quandary Eldest can come up with. When she asks me, I just raise my eyebrow and say "Ask your Dad" as my mind spins out of control with the horridness that is scientific math.

No, no, MacGyver is what we shall call... "careful." He's a double triple checker. He's a "let's not rush into anything" sort of guy. He's a "let's get all the facts out on the table and analyze them to death" sort of guy.

Then there's me. I'm a "if it feels right, jump in with both feet and let what happens happen" kind of girl. When we got married and MacGyver realized this, he was horrified. We spent almost every day of our first year of marriage fighting the fight of justice. His cause was "caution" and my cause was "seize the day."

Well, here we are almost ten years later, and we've both changed. We've come to some sort of treaty. In fact, we've come to see the other's major points and embraced them. I can see how it's good to be careful sometimes. He can see that life will pass you by if you wait too long. We know we need the other one to help us be more than we could be by ourselves. So after all, God had a good plan.

But that's not to say that there aren't still occasional battles at Tortoise and Hare's home. That's not to say that sometimes Hare doesn't leave Tortoise in the dust getting tired of waiting for him to catch up. That's not to say that Tortoise doesn't sometimes go slower just to get Hare's dander up...

Yes. We have days. Now we have a referee. Eldest lets us know when we're out of line. Sometimes we purposefully wait until she's sound asleep to argue because she's so good at guilt. And she isn't sound asleep till the wee hours of the morning.

But all this to say is that I'm glad God gave me a Tortoise. Being married to another Hare would not be a fun life. I suppose he could have given me someone more in the middle, but I probably would have found that boring. As much as I hate the drama... I like it a little. Please don't tell MacGyver. Oh wait... he reads this.

The day I married MacGyver I wasn't completely sure that he really wanted to be married to me. Ten years later, I'm amazed at how far we've come. Even in more recent months, I can honestly say that I know he loves me, and that for whatever reason, he's glad he's married to me. And even though it's hard for me to express sometimes, I love him more each day. I'm really really hard on him, I know, but I look up to him for his relentlessness, his courage, his thoughtfulness and his commitment to excellence. He inspires me, helps me be what I'm supposed to be, and he teaches me that it's okay to be a work in progress, because that's what God specializes in.

Thanks for the last ten years, MacGyver. Just think of the possibilities for the next ten.

Maybe you'll even stop charging your razor on the stove.

Can We Afford All These Kids?

It's time to be quite honest. More honest that I'm really comfortable being. That's the sticky part of being a writer.

By the way, did you notice I moved the blog posts so you could see the bottle of glue? I felt that made more sense. And that little punch of orange on the page is so refreshing.

Anyway... oh yes, being honest. I'm actually starting with the easiest category. Money. Not that money is easy to figure out. I've never liked math. I got an A in geometry and still didn't understand how I'd come to the right answers. Figure that one out!

MacGyver and I have had our share of disagreements about money. In fact, we are just about as opposite as two can get in our views of money priorities. MacGyver knows that a penny saved is a penny earned. He understands that if you buy something for less you save the difference. He also gets a little nervous when our spending creeps right up there around where our income is.

It's not that I don't agree with him. I do. I am so incredibly relieved that I have a husband who saves and sacrifices and hates the very notion of having debt. I am also ecstatic that MacGyver can fix ANYTHING. While the rest of you hire your electricians and plumbers and handymen I have my very own who works for free. It's okay to be a little jealous. And I'm not exaggerating - he can fix just about anything with a chocolate bar and a paper clip.

Maybe I was exaggerating a little. But just a little. A tiny bit.

So here I sit and wonder - what exactly are our financial goals? We are already debt free (thanks to MacGyver, NOT me.) But I just have to be really honest and say having four children does get a bit expensive. All of them like to eat. I didn't get the picky little skinny child who won't touch his dinner and seems to survive all day on a few ounces of apple juice and a chicken nugget. All of my children eat as much as I do - if not more. Well, I guess I can't say all my children. Number 4 hasn't entered the world of solid foods yet. But his day is coming soon, and it's only going to make grocery shopping within our budget that much harder. And because we are committed to eating healthy - it's a challenge. It seems like the price of food and clothes just escalates every month. Add to that diapers and pullups and all of those accouterments... it certainly adds up.

So I'm just going to make one simple goal in the area of my financial responsibility for this next year. I'm going to attempt to stay within our budget. I'm always running to MacGyver bemoaning the fact that the world has just gotten to expensive for our budget to work anymore. But enough is enough. I'm going to make it work.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Because it Matters

Things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things turn out. - Sportscaster Jack Buck

A good blogger has all the answers. Right? If blogging is supposed to be done by brilliant philosophers who have figured everything out, I guess I should erase this attempt at a blog and keep dreaming. But if there's a chance someone with weeds in her lawn, messes in her closets and kids who didn't get their hair brushed today could offer anything of value, it can't hurt to give it a try.

The above quote intrigues me, because I want to know if it's really true. It sounds good, right? In fact, it's the way I've been trying to live for the past few years. It's easy to see the problems in a home, especially when you started out with such grand expectations of perfection. I would become the model wife - able to keep up with her looks even while giving birth to four children in six years, able to be a cheerful and happy spouse even while hormones swirl out of control within on a regular basis... yes, you get the picture. Probably because you've been there too. I'm sure I'm not the only less-than-perfect-looking, exceptionally hormonal wife and mother on the planet. But is there any way to improve every aspect of you and your family's life in a deliberate way? Can any family with so much to do and so many people and events to keep track of really make a positive change with lasting effects? Can I really make the best of it? Can you?

The Project begins. The categories of improvement will be finances, (you know, the never ending battle to decide what's more important - gas or food, vacation or charity, etc.) going green, (the what and why of things such as recycling, organics, and the almost insurmountable mountain of trying to live all-naturally... is it really worth it?) social lives, (all inclusive how can we improve every relationship in our life?) health, (is there any alternative to conventional medicine? is there any hope for true healthy living in this culture?) and finally, the spiritual. (Does it really make a difference to find faith and live it? Where does a family look for God? What does real faith look like and is it an impossible dream?)

I'll try to post once in each category a week for the next year. I shouldn't say try. As Jillian Michaels says "Trying is just planning to fail." Alright, Jillian, let me rephrase (she can't see my eyes rolling) (Please excuse my hostility as I started "30 Day Shred, Level 1" yesterday and I can't move without groaning in pain...) ... ANYWAY, I commit to post one time a week in each category for a total of 5 posts a week, and if I fail, if my hormones are swirling I may cry a little and then I will apologize and attempt to catch up despite the fact that I have FOUR CHILDREN...

Enough said. Now for your commitment. Become a follower, read my quandaries and decide what you'd like to try yourself. Let me know with your comments what you're working on and what you've found works great.

So don't make me feel like I'm the only one. Please post what you are thinking. Please let me know you're reading.

Back to a ridiculously busy life. We'll get started on those pesky economical problems tomorrow.