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Hopefully, we all were prudent and we'll be left without post-Christmas "Buyers' Remorse" for some goofy gift that we regret giving or for bills yet unpaid. There's not much we can do about that reindeer sweater with the light-up antlers we gave to our boss, thinking incorrectly that he would "appreciate" the joke. But we can make a vow about whittling away at unpaid debts and saving more in 2009.

Readers of this blog may recall a post from the fall, wherein I shared the shocking news that the difference between saving or spending $10,000 a year comes down to what we do with $27.40 cents a day. $27.40 a day!

Now that sum can either make us quake if we confess that we breeze through that much on a daily Wal-Mart run, or it can empower us into recognize that small changes really do add up. A small adjustment on our phone package may not seem like it will add much to our family net worth, but keep in mind that that savings will compute twelve times. Add to that small shaves off the cable bill, designate a "soup" night of the week, rent a video instead of seeing the movie first-run at a theater, etc. etc. and you can see how quickly you can plop $27.40 cents away. And if not every day, then aim for every other day and stash $5,000 away this year in your rainy day fund.

I've thought about making a chart and writing down every money-saving thing I do to track my progress. Seeing the dollars add up may make the taste of off-brand mayo more palatable if it saves me a buck a jar!

Also, I'm rethinking my warehouse shopping trends as well. After filling my cart and noticing how many impulse buys I make, (like that massive jar of chocolate-coverd raisins I would never buy during a normal grovery-shopping trip), I'm convinced that I can save more money by watching sales and then buying multiples of certain items at my local grocer and/or by buying certain items at the dollar store. I'm going to address some of these topics more fully over the next few days.

Here's one of my best tips. It's a site called "WalletPop" It's a great, practical site with good, common sense money-savings tips backed up by research that frankly, most of us don't have time to conduct on our own. Some of the tips may fit your lifestyle more than others, but it's a great one-stop place to get answers.

Likewise, let me know if you've got some great money-saving sites and tips as well, and together we'll try to skim the fat and save some Benjamins this year!
Posted by Laurie LC Lewis at 7:39 AM No comments: Links to this post by Laurie Lewis, 2001

"Things don't have to be fancy to be beautiful?"

"Maybe love will help you, Mommy."

Marta smiled, envisioning the simple garments her hands could yet fashion. "I believe it already has, Connor."
Posted by Laurie LC Lewis at 8:55 AM No comments: Links to this post Despite my best intentions, things came up and I couldn't find time to type the old stories up and post. Remembering that people are more important than things or tasks, I offer this story, inspired by current events in my life. Thanks for understanding!

The Perfect Ending
Laurie LC Lewis

December in New England had indeed proven to be as enchanting as the old Currier and Ives print hanging over his father workbench had implied all those years ago. Seth Perry remembered standing on tiptoes, glancing at the old calendar page, watching his father mend broken appliances, things other people were throwing out, so they’d be ready when someone else needed them. Seth idolized his dad, and though he thought he was the smartest man alive, he remembered listening as the good man would go on and on, bragging about how his bright boy would someday leave their little home on the outskirts of Pittsburgh to attend college at a fine school in such a town, and become more than his “old man” had ever been.

That dream of college had indeed been realized. And as the freshman drove his old Jeep through Dartmouth’s entrance on his way home for Christmas, his smile remained undimmed as he glanced with but momentary longing at the clusters of foreign imports parked in the fraternities lots, many of which were owned by students whose surnames matched the names of campus buildings and Founders of both the school and the nation.

Seth twisted his hands around the steering wheel of his old, restored Jeep and smiled. “So what-dya-think, Allie?” he asked the old SUV rhetorically. “Do you suppose things like unemployment and gas prices ever touch them in their world?” Offering a wry smile, he checked the gas gauge knowing that regardless of the semester spent hob-knobbing with the young heirs of “old money”, he was simply a Perry, and Perrys did have to worry about fundamental issues like gas and money. Pleased that the fuel level in his tank was sufficient for a while, he headed west for his first leg of the journey home to Pittsburgh.

Yes, Perrys worried about a lot of things . . . and a lot of people, because as Seth had grown to discover, the Perry’s tended to adopt other people’s disasters. Take the Jeep, for example. Seth didn’t know exactly how the old Jeep had come to be his. All he knew was that one Christmas Day his father owned an old Chrysler sedan, and the next day he didn’t. Instead, in its place sat a rear-ended Jeep. “We’ll fix it up! It’ll be perfect for you, someday!” his father had assured him when he was barely able to peer over the workbench. And it was, as it turned out. But Seth wondered what sad story had been the catalyst in the deal that had netted him the old Jeep his father had lovingly nicknamed “Allie”. There had to have been one. After all, with a nurse for a mother, and a volunteer fireman for a dad, every person’s tragedy somehow landed at the Perry’s front door.

Each Christmas, his father loaded him up in his truck and carted him about to deliver turkeys and fruit baskets to every local family who had suffered a tragedy over the year. It was not unknown for a few of those families, relative strangers, to actually show up at the Perry’s dinner table at Christmas as well. The discomfort was further increased as the treasured leftovers were packed and sent to home with the guests, but he was always reminded that he had never gone hungry. Even now he recognized that though some did have more of life’s goods than he, he had plenty, and more than most.

With three hours left on his journey, Seth heard the Jeep’s engine sputter and then fail and the gas gauge register “E”. Guiding the car to the shoulder, he used his cell phone to call his road service, and after waiting for nearly an hour, a tow truck finally appeared. The operator added a gallon of gas to the Jeep’s tank but the car still wouldn’t start. Frustrated beyond belief, Seth watched sullenly as the tow truck operator rigged the Jeep for towing.

The man kept eyeing Seth as he walked around the car, examining every detail. Finally he said, “She looks good. Real good for a Jeep her age.”

Shoving his hands in his pockets, Seth replied, “My dad can fix anything.”

The man smiled and nodded. “That he can. People as well as things. And I’m sure he could replace this busted fuel line, but let me tow you back to my shop and take care of that for you.”

Seth eyed the man quizzically. “Do you know my father?”

Again the man smiled. “You don’t remember me, do you, Seth? Of course you wouldn’t. It was so long ago. Yep, I know your dad. Your mom too. And I know she’s one fine cook.”

“You’ve been to my house?”

The man pursed his lips and paused in thought. “My little girl’s thirteen now, so it would have been that long ago. My wife has a heart condition. It was discovered in the middle of her pregnancy. We were on our way to Pittsburgh, to Mercy Hospital to see a doctor who specialized in High Risk deliveries when we were involved in a multiple car crash on the Turnpike in mid December.”

“Wow,” said Seth, noting the feeling of helplessness the memory still conjured for the man.

“It wasn’t your dad’s company that rescued us at the scene, but he heard about us somehow, and understood what a fix we were in . . . a sick, expectant mother, a young father without insurance, both of us far from home and family at Christmas time. We were just strangers . . . kids really, but he and your mom cared about us and came by the hospital to see us every day. And when our baby was born, early and small, and unable to be discharged, they invited us to your home for Christmas supper . . . even gave us presents for the baby and loaned us the use of their sedan. Two days later, when our baby girl was released, your dad insisted we swap vehicles so I could get my family home.”

“The Jeep!”

“Yep. It was great for a single fella, but it was a terrible car for a married man with a baby on the way. Your dad knew it. I fought him on it at first, but he wouldn’t hear of it. He said things had worked out perfectly. I knew they did for me. They changed me in fact. I wanted to be a man like your dad after that, and as the years went by and we kept exchanging Christmas cards and letters, I could see that God had blessed your family in return.”

Seth felt a lump grow in his throat. “Tell me something. Did you name your little girl Allie?”

The man met Seth’s eyes and they both nodded. Things had worked out perfectly. (Bruegel's "The Adoration of the King"


The woodworker started his day like every other day. He stopped by his son’s house to walk his adored eight year-old grandson to school, and after dropping him, off he headed on to his little Main Street work shop. There in the shop, by the large bay window, stood a homemade table covered by a recently completed jigsaw puzzle. He loved puzzles. In fact, a day never passed where the table wasn’t covered with a puzzle in some stage of completion. He worked on them throughout the day, a minute here, a minute there, whenever he took a break from his labors. Sometimes he would pop a piece into place as he passed by, but generally he would set aside a block of time in the lull of his work to sit at the table while he stared at the intricately cut pieces, trying to visualize each part’s place. His favorite puzzles were the kind he could only buy at the hobby store, those whose pieces recreated the works of the great masters: Da Vinci, Matisse, Rembrandt, Rubens, and today he needed a new project to begin.

It was the third of December and the hobby store shelves had been thoroughly picked over by the holiday early birds. The only puzzle remaining had been opened and re-packaged without a photo of the completed image. It was the reason no one else had bothered with the toy, but the man found the dilemma intriguing and carried it to the shop to give it his best effort. After hours of work he still had no idea what the finished project would disclose but he continued to move the pieces around the old oak table. There were shapes colored in hues of scarlet and a few blues but the bulk were in tones of beige and brown, none of which were descriptive enough to give the man a ready clue as to what great work his completed project would imitate. He smiled. The difficulty of the work didn’t dissuade him. He knew that time and patience would reveal the image’s secret.

He was mulling over some blue pieces which he had snapped together. There were too few to build a sky but he could not yet place them in their proper context. He looked out the window to get a new perspective, and noticed some of the townsfolk dragging out the Christmas lights to begin decorating Main Street. He saw people on ladders hanging wreaths and others stringing lights and ornaments on the tree in the Town Square in anticipation of the evening’s annual tree lighting ceremony. The woodworker smiled and when he returned his attention to the puzzle he was immediately able to snap the three blue pieces precisely into their place.

Encouraged by his success and the lack of customers, he tackled the puzzle with renewed enthusiasm until Bruegel’s, The Adoration of the Kings, began to emerge. He continued to place pieces, soon revealing the stall and the donkey, some soldiers, a host of onlookers and of course, the three kings. The blue pieces had formed the veil of Mary who held the Christ Child in her lap, but after placing every piece he had, he sadly realized his puzzle was missing one crucial piece.

His grandson, returning from school, opened the door and called out a melancholy greeting to his grandfather who was on hands and knees on the floor. “Why so glum?” the woodworker asked.

“I want to help decorate the tree, but they will only allow me to hang one ornament.”

“And you want to do more?” smiled the woodworker who was still searching for the lost piece.

“Yes,” mourned the child. “I am eight now. I want to do something that will really help.”

The grandfather slowly rose to his feet and slumped into his chair. He patted his knee, calling for his grandson, and once the boy had scrambled up the man pointed to his puzzle.

“See. Despite all the work I have put into this puzzle it is marred because of the loss of one piece. One small piece,” he repeated sadly. “The story is incomplete because without that piece we cannot reveal the face of the Christ Child. We cannot tell if He was smiling or sleeping, how He responded to the loving touch of His gentle mother or the adoration of the strange kings. The story is obscured because one piece has not contributed its share to the story.”

The boy raised his large brown eyes and stared into his grandfather’s wise, crinkled ones. The man hugged the small child close and kissed his head. “It matters not what job we do, only that we each contribute what is required of us.” He tapped piece after piece of the puzzle. “When the work begins, who knows which contribution will be the one to reveal the face of the Christ?”

The boy scrambled off his grandfather’s lap and peered into a crack in the old, wooden floor. After withdrawing an object from the crevice, he returned to his grandfather’s side and opened his palm, revealing a single puzzle piece. He snapped it into place and there, lying on the table before him, was the smiling face of the Christ Child in his mother’s protective arms, surrounded by the three kings. He gingerly touched the holy face, then he began rubbing his hand over the completed picture, feeling the ridges that marked the boundaries of one piece’s contribution from another’s. He suddenly realized the importance of each part, then, smiling lovingly into his grandfather’s face, he hurried out the door, ready now, to simply do his part.
Posted by Laurie LC Lewis at 10:33 PM No comments: Links to this post by Anonymous (But I'd love to find out!)

Santa was alive and well and we were on his team.

I still have the Bible, with the tag tucked inside: $19.95.
Posted by Laurie LC Lewis at 6:40 PM No comments: Links to this post Labels: Christmas, Following Christ, grand children
 Christmas Story 2007
by Laurie LC Lewis

Posted by Laurie LC Lewis at 1:09 PM No comments: Links to this post The other day our monthly investment report arrived. There wasn't that much in the account to begin with, but it's down over 40% now, and that little piece of news, though not unexpected, still made my tummy lurch. Things are tough . . . let's face it! But I find it interesting how different people are coping with current events.

Some people are consumed by the news, while others choose to assume the "Ostrich Position"--turning off all media devices, inserting head in sand and trembling. Stocking up seems to be the strategy of choice for many people, but of what? Cash under the mattress? Sale items in the pantry? Guns and ammo in the back of the pick-up?

"Buy Pinto Beans!" is my battle cry.

Don't laugh. . . They may be the perfect storage items. Aside from the fact that they are one half of a complete protein, they are plentiful, inexpensive and versatile. With a little imagination, you can add them to your breakfast, lunch or dinner menu, not to mention the fact that there is actually a tasty fudge recipe that relies on the goodness of what exemplary legume? You guessed it! The Pinto Bean!

You can make chili, spreads, dips, soup, salad and a meat substitute with pintos. And for those of you who feel they need a more substantial means of defense, when dried, they can also be used as ammo. You doubt me? Ever heard of a pea shooter? I rest my case.

So this is how I am raging against the machine. When I'm worried about the economic impact of the seeming irresponsibility of handing out one billion dollars to host the Inaugural, what do I do? I buy more Pinto Beans! When I can't sleep over the auto maker bail-out? Yep . . . I buy more Pinto Beans! And when I was appalled by the minutest mention that that Hollywood might actually give Roseanne Barr another series? You got it . . . I clicked and ordered more Pinto Beans and their cousins-- Kidney Beans, Great Northerns, Black Beans and the dual-identified Chick Pea/Garbanzos.

Okay, so maybe beans won't single handedly save the economy or bring a return to pre-economic melt-down America. But people who have a supply of food in their pantry know that such staples bring a sense of peace and preparedness to the soul, and they do provide a good hedge against a difficult economy and a cheap way to nutritionally extend one's budget. That's a win in my book!

And I do really have some great recipes. For example:

BEAN SALAD (also makes a splendid dip for a sturdy corn chip)

1. Drain and mix together one can of each of the following: Pinto Beans, Kidney Beans, Chick Peas, Black Beans, Whole Kernel Corn, Chopped Green Chilies

2. Dice and add the following: 1 Green Bell Pepper, 1 Onion, 3 ribs of celery and 1 avocado

3. Shake and pour 1 bottle of Zesty Italian Dressing over and mix well.
Posted by Laurie LC Lewis at 1:22 PM No comments: Links to this post There was a little quiz on the Internet challenging us to match a jingle or slogan with its product. I was surprised at how poorly I tested. Some of the matches were easy, bringing the image of the product straight to my recollection. But even after I racked my brain, some could not be recalled though their jingles and catch phrases teased my brain. The problem? The little songs and slogans dwarfed the product.

The same thing frequently happens between people and the principles or products they endorse. Spokespersons and advocates take the podium to bring awareness to the cause they are promoting, and more often than not, they become the focus. Take Martha Stewart, Rachel Ray and George Foreman for example. Who'd a thunk that with a bowl of cookie dough or a pound of ground beef an entire empire could be born?

Now, to some extent, self-promotion is a necessary part of business. As an author, as in any other business, I too have to do a certain amount of "kingdom building" to establish my name, build a fan base and promote my work, but I have become acutely sensitive to how much time I spend promoting myself versus producing something worthy of promoting, and/or serving others.

I was listening to the news and a feeling of foreboding washed over me. Thirty minutes later, nestled in the company of the members of our congregation as we prepared for a ward Christmas supper, all I felt was peace. The news and financial forecasts were the same. What had changed? One set of people was bent on building ratings while the other was building the kingdom of God, one smile and handshake at a time. An excellent man died this weekend after a long, brave battle against a relentless, ever-returning foe, and today his noble family laid him to rest. Valiant to the causes of Christ and family to the very last breath, he died as he and his wife lived--with courage and dignity.

When such a fine person falls from the ranks, it seems fitting that the world should pause for a moment in recognition of the great loss, but life goes on, barely missing a beat.

His family provided a glorious, well-deserved tribute, punctuated by this magnificent quote by C.S. Lewis that captured the mindset with which he faced his final foe:

“The work of the devil and of darkness is never more certain of defeat than when men and women, not finding it easy, or pleasant, but still determined to do the Father’s will, look out upon their lives from which it may sometimes seem every trace of divine help has vanished, and, asking why they have been so forsaken, still bow their heads and obey.”
Posted by Laurie LC Lewis at 4:54 PM No comments: Links to this post Here are a few pieces of wisdom to consider from the mouth and mind of Thomas Jefferson. Can anyone doubt that the Founding Fathers were inspired?
When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.

No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.