The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income family.
Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition.
But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down.
It translates into:
* $8,896.66 a year,
* $741.38 a month, or
* $171.08 a week.
* That's a mere $24.24 a day!*
Just over a dollar an hour. Still, you might think the best financial advice is... don't have children if you want to be "rich." Actually, it is just the opposite.
What do you get for your $160,140?
* Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
* Glimpses of God every day.
* Giggles under the covers every night.
* More love than your heart can hold.
* Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
* Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
* A hand to hold, usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
* A partner for blowing bubbles and flying kites.
* Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.
For $160,140, you never have to grow up.
You get to:
* finger-paint,
* carve pumpkins,
* play hide-and-seek,
* catch lightning bugs, and
* never stop believing in Santa Claus.
You have an excuse to:
* keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,
* watching Saturday morning cartoons,
* going to Disney movies, and
* wishing on stars.*
You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day,and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.
For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck.
You get to be a hero just for:
* retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,
* taking the training wheels off a bike,
* removing a splinter,
* filling a wading pool,
* coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and
*coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.
You get a front row seat to history to witness the:
* first step,
* first word,
* first bra,
* first date, and
* first time behind the wheel.
You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great grandchildren. You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.
You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits.
So . . one day they may, like you.
Love without counting the cost...
That is quite a deal for the price!!
~Author Unknown
"One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words." --Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
I LOVE taking pictures and I LOVE poetry and quotes. So...in 2010 I am going to attempt to take one picture a day and post it along with a quote or poem.Whether it be something I did that day, something that made me happy, something that made me sad, something I thought was beautiful, something I thought was not, something that made me cry, something that made me laugh...we shall see.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Day 58
Friday, February 26, 2010
Day 57
a tree in Auburn on our way to Coby's basketball practice
"It's come at least...the time when you can no longer stand between your children and heartache... they walk out in all innocence and they walk right into the grief that you'd give your life to spare them."
~A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith - Chapter 53, pg. 453
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Day 55
I spy a rainbow...do you? 4:13 PM
May you always have work for your hands to do.
May your pockets hold always a coin or two.
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you.
And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.
~Irish Blessing
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Day 54
Orange Creamslush I have been wanting for months. Thank you John!
Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.
~Robert Heinlein
Monday, February 22, 2010
Day 53
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Day 52
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Day 51
Friday, February 19, 2010
Day 50
It took forever to straighten Chance's hair...it is so thick
Beauty isn't worth thinking about; what's important is your mind. You don't want a fifty-dollar haircut on a fifty-cent head.
~Garrison Keillor
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Day 49
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Day 48
Sophie...my beautiful niece
A smile costs nothing but gives much. It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give. It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None is so rich or mighty that he cannot get along without it and none is so poor that he cannot be made rich by it. Yet a smile cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away. Some people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give.
~Author Unknown
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Day 47
11:58 AM p.s. I know I take a lot of pictures of the sky but I can't help it.
It is better to have your head in the clouds, and know where you are... than to breathe the clearer atmosphere below them, and think that you are in paradise.
~Henry David Thoreau
It is better to have your head in the clouds, and know where you are... than to breathe the clearer atmosphere below them, and think that you are in paradise.
~Henry David Thoreau
Monday, February 15, 2010
Day 46
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Day 45
Sherman made the terrible discovery that men make about their fathers sooner or later... that the man before him was not an aging father but a boy, a boy much like himself, a boy who grew up and had a child of his own and, as best he could, out of a sense of duty and, perhaps love, adopted a role called Being a Father so that his child would have something mythical and infinitely important: a Protector, who would keep a lid on all the chaotic and catastrophic possibilities of life.
~Tom Wolfe
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Day 44
Friday, February 12, 2010
Day 43
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Day 41
Upon entering my laundry room this morning
Raising Boys
I scrub the wall of fingerprints,
I scrub the wall of fingerprints,
Pick up the mounds of clothes.
I sweep the dirt that shoes track in-
Wish I could use a hose!
Meals are served from dawn to dark,
Dirty dishes crowd the sink.
Just when they're washed and put away-
Everyone wants a drink!
The washer pulls the dirty grime
From pants worn thin and patched.
They look so very neat and clean-
Yuck, look what the pockets hatched!
Broken bones and bloody knees,
I should have been a nurse.
I take it all in shaky stride-
Just grateful it's not worse!
Screams and shouts and arguments
Test the keeping of my cool.
They left the neighbor's faucet on-
See their new front yard pool!
A soothing bath is ecstasy,
A reward at the end of my rope.
Raising boys isn't really bad-
But first I must wash the soap!
A rose can say I Love You,
Orchids can enthrall;
But a weed bouquet in a chubby fist,
Oh my, that says it all!
~Roberta I. Teague
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Day 40
Monday, February 8, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Day 38
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Day 37
320th and Pac Hwy sky
A pessimist sees only the dark side of the clouds, and mopes; a philosopher sees both sides, and shrugs; an optimist doesn't see the clouds at all - he's walking on them.
~Leonard Louis Levinson
Friday, February 5, 2010
Day 36
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Day 35
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Day 34
Downtown Seattle- headed to the Elton John/Billy Joel Concert
Music is moonlight in the gloomy night of life.
~Jean Paul Richter
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Day 33
Monday, February 1, 2010
Day 32
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About Me
- Jaime
- Mother. Friend. Daughter. Sister. Aunt. Artist. Photographer. Child of God. Dreamer. Listener. Teacher. Cook. Nurse. Book nerd. Maid. Movie lover. Referee. Girl. Country singer. Sock and PEZ dispenser collector. Scrap booker. Brunette. Chauffer. Game player. Bird Watcher. Cheerleader. Fashion designer. Lover of: rice crispy treats, polka dots, cheese, vanilla candles, Survivor, Interior design, So You Think You Can Dance, shoes, the UFC, Bon Jovi, chocolate, music
I LOVE taking pictures and I LOVE poetry and quotes. So...in 2010 I am going to attempt to take one picture a day and post it along with a quote or poem.
Whether it be something I did that day, something that made me happy, something that made me sad, something I thought was beautiful, something I thought was not, something that made me cry, something that made me laugh...we shall see.
Whether it be something I did that day, something that made me happy, something that made me sad, something I thought was beautiful, something I thought was not, something that made me cry, something that made me laugh...we shall see.