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Happy Family!

Trying to live on one salary can be difficult and Chad and Nicole have struggled through for almost 4  years now with one vehicle – his old pickup truck with just a single bench seat. Bless Nicole’s heart! When they went to her mom’s, which is pretty often, not only is Addie’s big car seat in the middle but more on Nicole’s side than Chad’s, but their big dog, Speck, would ride right under Nicole’s feet.

Chad had the pickup at work so Nicole never had a vehicle. Chad’s truck is the one he bought after his accident in 2009 or 2010 — can’t remember, but it was well used when he bought it. It has been dependable and he’s had to spend a little money on it but it gets terrible gas mileage and just is not a family vehicle – great for hunting and fishing though!

They’ve saved and they’ve done without and were finally able to get themselves a new car.

New Car!

New Car!

This is the picture from the car dealership. I’m so happy they now have a dependable vehicle and they have two cars.  

The only problem I see . . they have a one car garage! When I went to visit them, they always parked Chad’s pickup out and let me park my car in the garage. I’m afraid I no longer get garage privileges!  🙂

Now that they have a dependable vehicle, we may do a whole lot more “meeting in the middle” if we can find a rental cabin on a lake in Oklahoma somewhere that we like. We had talked about buying a cabin on one of the lakes in Oklahoma but it would have been also a retirement property and now that Oklahoma penalizes solar use, I don’t see us ever owning property there . . but it won’t hurt to visit from time to time.

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Comments

  1. Oh what a precious picture! I am so happy for them!! I wish them all the luck in the world with it!!! Nice to have good news Judy!!!

  2. One step closer to meeting half way and seeing precious Addie????

  3. Sadly, I don’t think it’s in the middle, but Paul and I loved Grand Lake of the Cherokee. We stayed in an RV park, of course, but there are cabins around. Here’s one site Bedford Cabins.

    • That’s not much more than an hour from Chad’s house so we’ll probably look for something a bit closer to us but yes, that’s a pretty area.

  7. Check out Beaver’s Bend State Park – they have lots of cabins for rent.

  8. What a great picture of a very impressive little family! You must be so very proud of them. And, being the mom/grandma that I am, I’m thrilled they have a dependable vehicle big enough for all of them. Oh happy day!

  9. So glad that they could get a new car. You have a special son who is willing to work hard and sacrifice to let Nicole stay home and be full time Mom to Addie. Some things are worth the sacrifice!

  10. That is AWESOME! But I wonder why OK penalizes solar use? That’s doesn’t make any sense (and I grew up in OK).

    • Google can be your friend! 🙂 I googled it and there’s a mass of info out there but this is the first one that came up. I didn’t spend a lot of time on it today but I think they were supposed to set the surcharge by May 1 and I don’t know if they did or how much they’re going to charge but the fact that they’re discouraging solar power makes me have no interest in retiring there.

      • Yep, that is RIDICULOUS!! WHY discourage solar or wind power for that matter..readily available and free. Makes no sense.

  11. Beautiful family picture with their new car. Why does Oklahoma penalize solar use? I never heard this before.

  12. Good for them!!! So happy for them. We were one of the families struggling on one paycheck. It is hard and getting new things even when absolutely necessary came with much sacrifice. I don’t know how families make it now days since everything seems priced for double incomes.
    I hope y’all find a wonderful place to meet and have great vacations and create wonderful memories. 🙂

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