Flada Blog

Here’s a little information for you about myself and my family background.

My name is Serena and I am 41 years old. I was born in Indiana, but have lived subsequently in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and for a very short period of time in Florida. I currently reside in South Carolina.

I am married to a really terrific man. He works hard and most importantly he respects my views and opinions. We have been married for almost 7 years. Neither of us have any children, although that wasn’t a conscious choice. Currently with my worries about the future of the US, I am particularly glad that I do not have to worry about any progeny.

We have two dogs, a terrier mix named Charlie who will be 16 years old this fall, and a Shih tzu named Shiloh who will be 6 years old this fall. They were both rescued dogs.

My husband is an IT professional and we have a relatively new real estate investment business for which he blogs in a couple of locations. So far, it hasn’t made us any money. He also has his irons in the fire of a business that makes it possible for people to pay off their mortgages in fewer years, while not paying anything additionally to what they already pay. After we saw how well it was working on paying down our mortgage, he decided that he had to become an agent for the company; so needless to say he has scant little free time, but at least he hugs me and kisses me as he goes running by from one obligation to another.

I currently do some work for our real estate investment business and I am working on fixing up parts of our house that are beginning to deteriorate. I had a life, health and accident insurance license, but I could never bring myself to use it so I let it lapse just this month. I have a long background in health insurance, but I also used to own a rental property management business for which I did not only office work, but also thoroughly threw myself into the physical labor part of it. I have drywalled, roofed, dabbled in electrical work and plumbing, and driven a bobcat to begin landscaping a lawn. I believe that if someone else can do something then I am perfectly capable of learning it and doing it myself.

We live well within our means. We do not believe in credit card debt. Our furniture is older than people who will be graduating from highschool soon and our vehicles are well-maintained dinosaurs that are more than a decade old. We do not believe in status symbols or trying to “keep up with the Joneses.” We do not buy into the media BS that you must always update everything and acquire more in order to be relevant and popular. Although we love people, popularity doesn’t mean nearly as much to us as self-respect.

I am a voracious reader and researcher. I read many subjects including physics, math, history, and politics. When I need to relax I love a good mystery.

As far as family background, I think it is important to know that despite believing in the free-market, we, my brother and I [and other siblings-ed.], did not grow up with silver spoons in our mouth; and in fact we grew up in nearly the exact opposite circumstances from that. When I was 11–Edmund is two years younger–we moved to Minnesota from Indiana and we first lived in a bus that was loaned to us by a local tavern owner, then in a tar-paper A-frame shack and finally in a mobile home. We lived there for a little over five years with no electricity and no running water. Those times left us with some scars but we survived them and, I believe, are the better and stronger for them. We do not believe in hand-outs at least not for more than a minimum amount of time to get someone over an especially rough patch. There were many times when we had nothing much but plain macaroni. On holidays we might receive a basket from the Salvation Army. We received nothing from the government.

But we are not any worse off for having had to subsist sometimes on meals of plain macaroni or refried beans. We are strong and healthy even in middle age.

And growing up reading books and having family discussions instead of watching television was actually one of the greatest riches of my life. Those times forged a bond in our family that is unbreakable and I believe that we are well equipped to handle hard times to come as we have handled any of them over the years–as a family.

I am happy to be writing here and I expect a number of posts from me will be cross-posted from a little blog that I write in exclusively for long-time online friends and for family.

Hoping the day finds you well,

Serena

“The greatest gift is a passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it
excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind. ” –Elizabeth Hardwick