Enough...

Balance.  How exactly does one find the right amount of it?  

Tonight we saw a movie and it was interesting in that it wasn't completely predictable and just when you thought it would turn one way, it took a turn in an unexpected direction.  And just as you thought something terrible was going to happen, well, terrible-ish things did happen but not too terrible and they were just enough to jolt the main characters back to a sense of reality. Back to a place where they were living in the present and not in some dreamland.

I wonder how often I'm living in a dream land... whether it's just being on automatic pilot at my job, or just going through the motions at home (dinner, t.v., read the news, call a friend, read a book, get up and start again..), or just not being completely present in a given moment.  Sometimes I think I could use a good jolt to get me seeing and appreciating the small things again.  I've noticed I'm much more aware when I'm on vacation (see londonrocks.blogspot.com), away from my home.  But how can I get that "surfacing" feeling (Annie Dillard) more often in my daily life?  I need to work on that more.  

one less...

Car. We did it. We sold the car.

Since I live only one mile from my work I can (and often do) ride my bike to work. On those rainy days Jim can take me to work. That means that if we could live for the next 18 months on one car, we can save all of that money listed above. Plus, with gas being very expensive right now, and one less car (we kept the one with better gas mileage) we will also save money on gas each month. 
Now we just have to make sure we are disciplined and save the car payment every month. And what if we save the car-payment for my car (which is almost paid off)? Could we possibly save enough money to buy a newer car (still used -- but newer) full out?? Who knows, maybe we can go longer than 18 months with just one car. Yep. I think one car is just enough...