Bread pans and bikes


A few days ago I was headed out on a bike ride to town with the three younguns... Planning on
1. stopping at the bank to deposit a bunch of cash from Randy's working wages
2. touch base with a friend at the hardware store about subbing for Sunday school
3. stop at the thrift store to check for loaf pans and 
4. go to the grocery store for loaf pans if the thrift store didn't have any.

What's with the loaf pans?

We've been really intentional about simplifying our lives lately and pinching pennies however we can, to save up for building a shop on our new land. Randy was inspired one morning to try his mom's bread recipe (since we eat a lot of bread but could make it organic for less than $2.50/loaf), so he mixed up the dough. As the dough rose.... so commenced my bike ride. It was a nice day.

Two very important things happened on the 1.25-mile ride to town.
1. I was really enjoying life and experiencing a sort of relief/freedom since I was going to deposit a bunch of waited-for funds.
2. As I formulated the order of stops to make in town to minimize back-tracking, I started thinking I could combine talking with the friend at the hardware store with buying my loaf pans at the hardware store too, cutting the thrift store stop, grocery store stop, AND getting myself a nice, non-stick, new pair of loaf pans.

So my plans changed to 
1. stop at the hardware store to talk and buy loaf pans, and
2. deposit the rest of the money in the bank.

Well, we ran into (almost literally) that friend on his break in front of the coffee shop. Touched base on Sunday school. Check.

Continue bike ride. Nearing the thrift store... here's the conversation in my head, if it was put into real words:

Now you should stop at the thrift store instead of going to the hardware store.

Naaahh.. I have MONEY! I want NEW loaf pans! Besides, the thrift store probably doesn't have any, and if they do, they're crap. Certainly not the newer non-stick kind.

*Pass thrift store*

I see, so now that you have green stuff in your pocket, you're too busy to stop here and check AND you're too good for second-hand loaf pans. You know, for someone who doesn't like it when people spend all their paychecks as soon as they get paid, you don't seem to mind if YOU...

"Teddy, turn around! We're stopping."

Lo and behold, we found 2 non-stick loaf pans in the size I wanted, in very good condition, each for $.97. And since Teddy and Bridget have been all about making muffins, I spontaneously caved to their requests to buy a mega-muffin (also non-stick) pan for $1.97.

That conversation in my head? Pretty sure parts 1 and 3 were the Holy Spirit. It's hard to explain to people how you learn to listen to His voice, or follow His promptings. But the above conversation happened in my head/heart in a matter of 5 or 6 seconds... convicting me, showing me my hypocrisy, challenging me to be disciplined in frugality. And HE PROVIDED because HE KNOWS.

I shouldn't have to tell you this, but today's exhortation is to start listening. Every moment. Be sensitive and open, and humility is not as scary once you start practicing it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

December: mud, mud, mud. Let's go skating.

Image
After I had the Flu at the end of November, we jumped into taping and mudding for the whole month of December. The following pictures are self-explanatory unless captioned otherwise. A secret hiding place! Because we're new to some things, we built the rough framing for the bathrooms with 1-2 inches extra in width. Turns out, tubs usually fasten directly to the studs and you need the space to be a true 60", not 61-62. We will have slightly roomier bathrooms, but will also have a piece of PVC trim that covers the jog in the wall by the tub. Entry Thru entry into laundry room We realized afterwards that *smart* people probably install drywall and then install the stair treads and risers. But, it works this way too. We missed 2 of our homeschool co-op days due to illness, and had to finish paper mache projects at home. Andrew got to do one this way, though, so it worked out. Randy. Will fix printers in a pinch. Sorta...
Read more

August: Upper walls, ROOF! Class 5.

Image
After a bout with the REAL flu, I'm back at this catch-up thing. (Seriously, though, the Flu is no joke. I was up to nothing but lying around for about a week, and ate almost nothing for a good few days. I still have a bit of headache/sore throat/swollen lymph nodes, 2 weeks later.) August 9: Working on the upstairs walls. Once you  get to a certain height, you kinda need to put in the  window and door bucks to go further.  Looks funny like this! August 11: We HAD to make sure we were taking a "sabbath" during this house build season, so that we wouldn't work ourselves to death. It often helped to get away from the project to reduce the temptation to say "I'm just gonna do that one little thing" and then "I'm just gonna do this other little thing" and before you know it our day of rest would be quite productive and we wouldn't be ready for another week of work. On this particular BEAUTIFUL Sunday, we visited Pelican La...
Read more

Cabinets 1

Image
Do you know how to build a kitchen cabinet? I didn't either. At least, certainly not in a day! All it takes is a little planning, the right tools, and the right people. When my brother Tim and his family visited for a week in early October, he and I (and Laura, one day!) focused on getting a few cabinets built for the kitchen. Randy and I had heard about MyWorkshopSpace at a business fair, and conveniently, it's a program located at Down to Earth Woodworking, just across Pine River from our place! For $50/week, you get to use all the tools, purchase materials through the shop, AND Allan Wiener , the owner and operator, is on-site to teach you... How best to plan your project How to use the equipment How to put everything together What not to do, too, and how to fix mistakes Now, with my super-great brother Tim, Allan didn't need to help "me" much, as Tim actually went to school for woodworking and spearheaded that week of work once he was fam...
Read more