Greed - An Aesop's Fable - Rather, a Justine's Fable

We teach our children to not be greedy don't we? I fully believe in this teaching. But there comes a time when the theory gets put aside. That would be when your husband brings home a box of Purdy's chocolates! Sorry kids, you saw your mother get very greedy. And you saw her reap the negative consequences of it.

My hubby came home from work one day with a box of Purdy's chocolates.

 

I saw them and remembered how wonderful they are. I knew someone once who worked at Purdy's. I even got to go to the factory in Vancouver when I was a girl.

What began as a joke turned into an earnest fight for the chocolates. I simply began by making a statement that I should have the chocolates, since he would not appreciate them, considering he was known to inhale treats. For Ray, it is a matter of popping in a chocolate, one or two chews, and down it goes.

I, on the other hand, am known to nibble away at a chocolate, until it has disappeared. His is done in the first 10 seconds, while mine lasts a good 30-60 seconds, or more, depending on how delectable it is!

He joked back at me that he had picked up the chocolates, therefore he was entitled to them. Not I.

I stated that I paid the bills at that particular company, and therefore the case was in my favour. He laughed at me. The nerve of him!

I could see that I was losing ground, so I dug in my heels and told him that I was willing to buy him TWO boxes of Stover chocolates in exchange for this box of chocolates. They are very good chocolates. Those I don't care if he inhales.

He laughed at me again, as he walked off with the chocolates. Hhhmmmpph!

I would have been willing to share the chocolates on the condition that I could see him enjoying them as much as I did. There would be no - open, toss in, chomp, swallow nonsense. That is purely sacrilegious (grossly irreverent towards what is being held in esteem) to a chocolate!

I left the room feeling it was extremely unfair.

That night as I sat down in a darkened TV room to watch a little TV I had no idea that my sweet husband had left the *untouched* chocolates right beside my chair. But as I turned on the light I saw it there. I opened it. Not one chocolate eaten. Talk about restraint! (grin) I carefully chose one, leaned back, and bit by bit, I nibbled away at it's delicious flavour.

Once done, I knew I had to hide the chocolates.

Somewhere that no children would find them. I truly, truly, truly was not hiding them from Ray. Yes, it looks like I was. But no, it was the children.

I put them on a shelf under some motorbike helmets, where I knew no young or old boys would find them. Then I went to bed. I forgot all about them.

Until...

About a week later, Ray walked in the door with this...

Boy, did I laugh. And laugh hard. The joke was on me! The rest of the family saw a beautiful sleigh full of chocolates.

I saw the Moral of the Story.

Be Willing to Share!

That sleigh was FULL of Purdy's chocolates. Five boxes, plus individual large candy and chocolate items! My kind husband said he will share with me. Personally, I don't think he will ever believe that I didn't hide the chocolates from him. I seriously forgot I had put them away. I am sure this last week he has felt that I just hid them. (laugh)
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Snowboarding Experience

Dane really wanted to try snowboarding this year, and so Ray decided to take him and three of the other boys. When Ray was sorting out the skis he had to take he told me he was planning to snowboard, instead of ski this year.


I am not sure how much he liked it...


Apparently, according to Dane, they did a *lot* of falling on their heads. I guess it is harder than skiing. Be interesting to see what Ray decides to get into next year when we spend the whole winter on the slopes! I know I am sticking to skies cause it is something I *can* do!
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Memere's Visit

While we were camping, it was decided that Ray's mom would come out for a visit. It was a pretty impromptu visit, because we had no clue what we were doing for our holidays this summer and we did not want to miss her. So she decided she would arrive on the Tuesday.

Meanwhile, we were having such a good time camping, that we decided to not leave the campground until the bitter-end - the day she was to arrive. So I got home about 11:00 am and she arrived at 3:00 pm. Boy, am I learning to do things on quick speed! *laugh*

It was the first time she had seen the girls and so it was really neat for them, especially since their understanding of English is so good now.


We also decided to celebrate Colt's graduation that particular week because it was a wonderful chance with his Memere being in town. So we all went out for dinner and had a wonderful time.

As Dane Calls Him: Brad Pit Jr.

Graduating Boy and His Memere

The children (and us) so enjoyed Memere's visit. She is a lot of fun and a great sport. And Austin appreciated her very much, as she helped him with his kitchen chores! We were sorry to see her go and hope she can come back again sooner!
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Beef and Beer

I am so proud of my husband. To tell the story in reverse order:

I was going to get myself a snack, and I jokingly told my hubby that I had bought the chips out of 'my allowance money' and that he wasn't to have any. One of the things we have always done is have allowance money for both Ray and I. He is not a big spender, so he just buys himself a case of beer once every two weeks - one beer a day. Other than that he doesn't buy junk food or anything. Mind you, he does enjoy his icecream!

I used to drink pop, but then stopped it because it is pure junk - sugar and chemicals. But then the girls came home, and my 12 year old became an 'preteen', plus I have two teens. Suddenly, I needed my fix of pop again. Not just pop: Coke! A drink my kids are not allowed to drink.

So I have been enjoying my Coke and some ripple chips some evenings. Ray has his icecream.

Now, since we have instituted our monthly grocery budget we have done really well. It is not like we are being 'poor' - not at all. We are just aware now of where our money is going. I did my big shop one month ago, and spent all but about $200.

Since then I have bought a few items for about $150. I have quite liked shopping just once a month! Dane thought it was very interesting to see us come to the end of our month today and see the extra fridge have its last item removed (a pound of butter) and he said, "It is neat how we have got to the end of the month, and the food is gone, but we didn't run out before it was time."

I pointed out to him that that was because I had figured out our budget so well. A menu and figuring of all the things we really needed (and wanted). No waste, and enough for everything we needed. But yes, we shop on Saturday and it is just in time. Very cool and *amazing* to see how much we saved this month already!!

So anyhow, about two weeks ago, Ray went shopping to get some ground beef that was on sale. It was all part of my budgeted amount. He brought three - 5lb chubs of ground beef, plus some milk and fresh fruit. He arrived home carrying in three bags and said to me, "Some birds got into the ground beef. Can you just chop off that part and keep the meat?"

To which I said, "What?? No, you can't keep meat that was touched by crows!" Me, the freaky hygienic food person going to eat food touched by crows?! Not likely! I could just see the germs crawling all over the package!

Then suddenly I am thinking and saying, "HOW did birds get it anyway?"

It turns out he put it in the back of his pickup truck and the birds got into the bag and pecked at two of the chubs. Okay, so I wasn't thrilled, as I was having such a good time trying out our new budget, doing so well, and now we were $20 off course. Not a big deal you might say, but yes, we were trying hard to keep to a plan and $20 is $20 - wasted.

Of course, I tossed the meat out and had to proceed to buy some more at full price the next time I was in town.

That was the end of it, or so I thought.

Then tonight, I make a joke about the chips and tell Ray, "Those are my chips. You have your beer." And he makes some kind of comment about not having beer.

Whoa. Hang on. This rings a bell with a vague comment I heard the other day about no beer. I remember thinking, he must be out of beer and not gone to the store yet.

So now tonight, when he made this quiet non-confrontational comment I suddenly clued in and asked him, "What do you mean you have no beer?" To which he said that he hadn't had beer for almost two weeks and I hadn't noticed. Huh?

He said, "A few more days to go." (smile from him)

You should have seen the look on my face. At first quizzical. Then stunned. Then proud. My husband never drinks more than one beer, but he does enjoy a beer after work. And suddenly two and two are adding up and I realize what he is saying. I was so impressed! I told him how proud of him I was. He was grinning big when I said that.

He gave up beer for two weeks to make up for his mistake with the ground beef. He didn't even tell anyone. He wasn't tooting his own horn. He simply took $20 from his own allowance to make right. I am so impressed. Talk about a lesson in financial responsibility and sacrifice for his sons!

It was so neat to see Dane's face when I told him what his Dad had done - Pleasure in my reaction and pride for his dad.
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