First off, the wife let it be known it's been a while since I last posted to the blog. So that must mean that I don't talk to her and she wants to know what's going on.
So here is the skinny…
We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving. I managed to get both Thursday and Friday off work. Every year, for that last 13 years, we complain about how messy the snow is on our Christmas tree. This year we made a preemptive strike and got a new tree. It's much easier to set up as it only has 3 pieces.
Let's see…
Here is a complaint, it wouldn't be a proper post without one. A little while ago our HOA had an election where new board members were put into office. Since then, letters have been sent out, ticking off the neighborhood. We were the recipients of a few. Each and every letter would tell us to redo our landscape to the original standard. So I would go out and rake the gravel make the yard look just as it did when we moved in 9 years ago. But it wasn't enough. The letters starts coming weekly, all saying the same thing with one change. They started levying fees, $50 each time. Now you can imagine our confusion. We have lived in our house for 9 years and never changed our landscape. The granite rock looks as nice as anyone's. Now we were being fined for noncompliance. This of course got our attention in a big way. I discovered our HOA has a website. I started emailing the manager of our community and investigating the board. It turns out the community manager doesn't live in our neighborhood. None of the listed contact people do. Here is what happens. We elect a board and they contract out the management of our community to an outside property management company. If you are saying WTH? Then you are right were I am. Why have a board if they outsource all the actual work? The only info I have on the board members is their name and title. Strangely, they hide behin5976 E Flowing Spring, Florence 85132d the faceless property management company. One thing is certain, none of the current board members will get my vote and I may start campaigning against them. I am not going to run, I will just tell people not to vote for any of them. I am thinking of writing an open letter and distributing it to all the houses in the HOA.
So, it ends this way, for now. Trying to live the principle of the closer it is to me the better it is me and for everyone around me, I went as close to family as possible to get the "required" landscaping done. Was it the cheapest? Probably not. But now $800 dollars later it's finished and someone from my church will have a very nice Christmas.
Christmas message…
This year I am trying to view Christmas with eyes of wonderment. Looking for the small miracles and trying to see the "magic" all around me. The thought came to me that we really don't have any meaningful traditions beyond the ones that focus on presents. (Not that those are meaningful). I am looking for those traditions that put Christ in Christmas. I noticed that we were celebrating Xmas. So we are going to try some new things this year. Some are just for fun. We started with an Elf on the Shelf to get the magic started. It's been fun finding our elf in new places everyday. I am thinking of putting on a small play where we act out Christmas carols like do you hear what I hear. Going to the temple to see the Christmas lights and watching some of the videos centered around Christ. I would say volunteer to help those who are needy but this time of year they get a lot more help than they need, but now that I think of it, maybe a family service project. Christmas is about honoring the life of Jesus Christ. Not just His birth but His teachings , death and resurrection.
I hope you all have a merry Christmas!
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20 S Main St, Florence, AZ, United States
Nathan
