Last birthday together

It’s crazy how life takes you by surprise some days! It’s Monday morning and I’m sitting down for breakfast with Melissa. Today is her last “tween day” as she turns 13 tomorrow. She will be a teenager! I am one of those short order cooks that asks every morning what they want for breakfast and then make it for them. She asks for eggs, I make eggs. I sit down with her as she eats and try to find out how she feels about today… and also if she has any special requests for tomorrow’s breakfast, her special day. She looks up at me and she says “I actually do.” I’m pleased to hear because she doesn’t ever ask for anything special. “Oh yeah...

I get asked often about how I manage to travel for a month at the time. It’s sometimes hard to explain it to someone who puts travel at the bottom of their to-do list but there are little things that anyone can do to make travel possible.

Of course, time is the biggest challenge but once you manage to find the time, how can you afford it? It might sound silly but it’s the little things that make a difference. The things that are not painful but when done every day are very efficient. Here are some of the things that I do to save money. While not very exciting, they have allowed us to travel and enjoy our time away.

Not drinking or smoking ~ I very rarely drink and it’s hard for me to imagine spending $8 for a ...

I think my garden is a man. Growing up in a Latin language speaking country I can’t help but associate every word with a feminine or masculine derivation. And that’s ok, over the years I’ve gotten used to making mistakes and answering questions like why do you call your car a “her” and why do you keep calling your baby “him”, are you expecting a boy?

I picked my biggest tomato ever today. I actually took out a ruler and measured it. Almost 6 inches across and as big as my palm. But as I was picking the tomatoes and wondering how they can grow so big, with so little care, I thought… “This garden is like a man, the less attention I pay to it, the better it treats me!”

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