If your feeling angry...

I have had a lesson in life today. Things are a little tight around the Gold house at the moment, financially speaking of course. I had decided a while ago to do all my own car maintenance to save a little money. Well, that is not working out so well because it ends up costing us more than saving. Meagan has informed me that I am not longer allowed to work on her car, so her aunt's boyfriend, who is a certified mechanic does all the work for a really reduced price, and that is what actually saves us money. So we are trying to get the car running like it should, setting a little money aside every paycheck until her car is perfect, then we can work on mine. Well, for those of you who read Meagan's blog, you know I got pulled over on new years eve and got a $175 speeding ticket. It was not a good day but we'll recover.

Last night, we are driving home from being out, and Meagan sees this van, and just for kicks, she wonders (out loud for my benefit) how much it is. So I flip around and we do a little after hours car shopping for fun. There were other people on the lot, so I had turned my headlights off so I don't blind them. I still had my running lights and tail lights on, so it wasn't like I was driving around with none on at all. We finish looking, and get back on the road heading home. About a mile later, this cop is coming at us, and he flips around right behind me. I knew exactly what was going on, so I flipped on my headlights, but he pulled me over anyways. I figured he was just going to inform me, but no he gave me another ticket. I was so mad. I thought Meagan was going to cry. I still don't know how much it will cost, but he told me it would be less than a speeding ticket, a little reassuring. I was really upset the rest of the night. I had a hard time sleeping, and stayed up way late watching a movie until I finally went to sleep around 3 am. It was double trouble because I had to get up around 7 to get ready for a service project I had organized for my next door neighbor.

There is an older lady that lives next door all alone. She is a teacher like Meagan, but is fixing to retire at the end of this year. I kind of have a first hand knowledge of how much teachers make, granted she has been doing it a lot longer, and hopefully makes more. She has a huge spot in her yard where the ground has settled and it has sunk about 18 inches. We decided as an Elders Quorum to get some dirt and fill it in. The labor was really easy to get, but the dirt was a different story. After two weeks of searching, we found someone willing to donate however much we needed. It took about an hour and a half and two loads of probably 5 cubic yards each, but we got most of the low parts of her yard filled in. It was a lot of dirt, but totally worth it. I don't know how much money it would have cost her to have it done, but I know we saved her some. After all that took place, I totally feel better about things. The ticket isn't such a big deal anymore, especially since someone told us they know someone that may be able to get it dropped. I'm not holding my breath, but there is always the possibility. We'll see. So my life lesson is when your feeling bad about life or yourself or anything in general, go do something nice for someone else and it makes it all feel much better.