My husband and I share 1 car, a 2001 Toyota Corolla. It’s small, has 2 wheel drive, gets good gas mileage, and my husband can squeeze his 6’4″ frame into the drivers seat. I like to consider our household “car-lite” which is better for the environment.  However, it is mostly just economical. Since I don’t go into work everyday, I drive the car one day a week, in order to get errands done around town. In the warmer seasons I’m happy to ride my bike, which is a great bonus of living in a city. However, in the winter a car is more necessary. Today was my turn to use the car and this made for a long day. It was also a day that a snow storm decided to blow into town. Being a California girl from the central coast I never really drove in the snow, but having lived in Idaho for the last 6 years, I’m beginning to get used to it.

Running all my errands forced me to consider our current income and how it is changing now that I am not earning a paycheck. With two incomes and no children yet, I could be pretty loose with my budget, but that’s all changing. I now have to consider every purchase I make, and am beginning to understand coupon clippers and bargain shoppers. While it may seem naive, I’m going to have to learn to budget anew and find pleasure in the art of the deal. Money is not what will make me happy, although I would be lying if I denied the sense of pleasure I get when spending it on all manner of goodies. Real happiness can be found in my list of tiny tender treasures from today:

• Getting my tires rotated makes me feel responsible. Best part it’s totally FREE!
• Leisurely enjoying a latte
• Coming home to a warm house
• Snowflakes
• Figuring out how to decorate my pregnant belly casting
• Watching my husband, focusing with eyes closed, listen to our baby’s heartbeat through a fetoscope

                     Tender Memory: Visiting Mont Sainte Michael on our honeymoon to France