Brodyssey
After driving my 1999 Honda Accord EX-L for 12 years, it was
at that point where it was in need of some major maintenance to keep it running
and looking good but I have no interest in driving a rolling maintenance
project so it was time to go. I was
raised in cars being rebuilt and maintained weekly by my grease monkey dad to
keep them going. I made a promise to
myself when I left home I’d never drive a wreck again; of course I broke that
promise when we bought our first “Laie car” for $200 as newlyweds 19-years ago,
but I digress.
I shopped for 6 months checking regularly with several
sites, got on the call list with a couple of dealers who would check in with me
every time they got something in they thought I might like. I was very particular about what I wanted and determined to get the right car at
the right price to last me another decade if necessary. In May the planets aligned and two viable
options at two dealers came up. It gave
me the boldness to ask for what I thought was a great deal and do some real
negotiating that I would not have thought possible. I asked for a ridiculously low amount and
rather than slam the door in my face, they both came back with better counter offers
than I thought I’d ever get. I settled
on my beautiful blue 2008 Honda Odyssey EX-L for about $6,000 less than they
were asking (@dealers cost + $100) and the whole family is so happy with my new van.
The registration expires this month so I kept waiting for
the renewal forms to come in the mail.
To my delight, this week I received the Title along with the
Registration form and the $400 sticker good for another year already paid. What an unexpected surprise. Tony Honda Waipio really won another customer
in me. I nicknamed my new van the
Brodyssey.
Tithing
I’ve always had a pretty easy time with the law of tithing
so it surprised me when last week I was tempted to not pay tithing on the
$2,000 I got for selling my old car to a friend. I
wasn’t sure it was technically considered income or an ‘increase’ because if I
had traded it in it I wouldn’t consider the reduction on the overall price of
my new car as income; but I sold it to a friend for cash instead so the money
changed hands and I received a check rather than a credit. It was one of those things where it was a
grey area and I was rationalizing that it was not really income but an offset
to the cost of my new car. Anyway, I
quickly decided it is always better to err on the side of caution and put my
faith and the Lord first. The verse in
Malachi 3:10 came to mind and made my decision much easier, “…prove me now herewith, saith the
Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows
of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to
receive it.”
Five-days later I received a check for $195 in the mail from the
condo association we belonged to before we sold our condo in Arizona a year
ago. Turns out they had overcharged us for
something at some point and just figured it out. There was no way I would have ever expected
that and I know it was a blessing being poured out for being faithful. The best part, because it’s a refund from being
overcharged, I really don’t need to pay tithing on this check.
Haircut
Ram was not too thrilled with me after I cut Zeth’s hair on
Sunday. We had been just letting it grow
for the past 9 months and it had gotten kind of gnarly, tangly, & crazy but
was very back/bottom heavy and not as full on top so it was not doing much for him
and was a beast to try to detangle.
Anyway apparently the several talks & lessons at church & FHE
this month about modesty and appropriate appearances got into his head and when
Zeth asked me to cut it, I made the exec decision to do it. He has been begging me to style his hair in a
sort of faux-hawk like all the boys are doing these days but that just wasn’t
working out. I left it long on top but
trimmed everything else so now he can almost achieve what I’ve termed a
fro-hawk. He’s a happy & handsome
kid.Here's a before shot of the Z-fro and Zana trying on the costume I just finished making for her Tahitian group performance. My favorite part is the t-shirt which is not actually a part of the costume but reads: "Fabulous like my Mom" haha.
Pineapples
One of the cool things about living in Hawaii is sticking a pineapple top back in the ground and growing your own pineapple plant. It's such a low maintenance plant that even I have a hard time killing them with my neglect. It takes about 2 years to produce 1 fruit. We had two grow at the same time and we just ate them. So cute.
