When we moved here (for 3-6 months that has now been well over a year) we had a few choices of where to live. Either in a homogeneous setting where we did not belong to the group, or in a resort community with a variety of temporary and permanent residents. We chose the latter.
We love our home, our views, the air and the weather, most of the time. Plus, we’ve met some really nice people. The one thing that bothers us the most about living here, however, is a sense of entitlement. Some folks come up here and spend $400/night to stay plus over $100 per family member per day to ski. Some are great! Others just think they’re entitled to whatever the world has to offer, anyone else is the hired help, and whatever these visitors can get for free, just go for it.
One day a temp neighbor came over, irate. He basically said that he was stealing from us, was unhappy with the stolen modem service we were providing (unbeknownst to us), told us to fix it, and to do so immediately. Hello? What planet do you live on? While we’re temporary as well, we’ve been here over a year and have settled in somewhat. Does that mean we should provide free services that come out of our own pockets to every Tom, Dick and Harry that comes in for a ski weekend?
One thing about Jim’s and my upbringings is that we came from humble beginnings, learned the value of a dollar and of treating people as we would want to be treated. If we ever “hit the big one” in business, we are both committed to living our values and remembering our roots. I want to be the gal in the ten year-old car that blends in with the locals and is one with them.
We do find that self-made business people are the most down-to-earth people we meet. The silver spoon set tends to look down on others and try to get things from working class folks like us for free. Oh, well, what can one do? We choose to enjoy this unique experience while it lasts.
Tonight I made the soy marinade and did chicken wings in the oven. I erred on the side of protecting the oven so the wings steamed a bit until I browned them in the sauce at the end, because the oven was just cleaned! My car was just cleaned over the weekend, too, and I took it out for 20 minutes today, as I want to keep it safe in the garage! The dinner was spicy overall, with frozen chipotle sweet potato fries and steamed broccoli with a splash of soy sauce, sesame oil and hot pepper flakes. Yummy.
I’m not a complainer, really, but when something sets me off I have to do something about it. Hope you had a great day and are looking forward to July 4th! Cheers, Dee
Cooking with Dee 