Intros

Well, I'm not really a daddy YET, but I will be in about 4 months. My wife and I are expecting a little boy in June and there is a LOT to do between now and then... and ... forever. Over the past few months, Power Dime Mommy and I have been playing the Power Dime game. The rules are very simple:

Make your lifestyle completely awesome while spending as little as possible.

Admittedly, one motivator for playing this game was the check I wrote to my mechanic last month to get our second car to pass inspection. The check was for over five hundred dollars and most of that was labor.

This car isn't worth that much.

I don't mean that the value of the car is less than $500, though my mechanic would have you believe otherwise. I mean that piddly little fixes on this car are not worth the money to pay a mechanic for labor. This means that I will no longer put off learning how to be a mechanic.

But it's not just about being a mechanic. It's about the three P's in my church's declaration: "The Family: Proclamation to the World." I quote:

"By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families."

There you have it: Preside, Provide, Protect. It sounds more catchy if you say them in this order: Protect, Provide, Preside.

That's irrelevant.

This blog is mostly about the provide part. One of the names that was considered for this blog was "Provident Daddy," but that just sounds awful.

To explore this paternal adventure, there will be several "series" or topics on this blog, all of which will involve spending as little as possible, while getting the maximum ROI:

Fiero
The 1986 Pontiac Fiero Restoration Series. This involves learning how to do mechanical work ... and body work ... and interior work. Basically, it's the whole car. Disclaimer: I'm not very knowledgeable about cars. I can't say I don't know anything about them, since my own Power Dime Dad and Power Dime Uncle helped me rebuild the front end of my Lexus a few years back ... twice. But in terms of understanding all the different systems and diagnosing problems, I'm a novice.

Bread-making
How much do you spend every year on bread? And let's face it: store-bought bread in America is froth. It's like eating a sponge. If you want to learn how to make awesome artisan bread in little time and for a fraction of what it costs to buy a similar loaf of bread in a bakery, you've come to the right place.

While we're at it ...

Gourmet Cooking
How about an occasional post on how to provide your wife and family with a yummy meal? Yes, dads can cook.

Home Improvement
Oh, boy. Lots to do here. We have walls to paint, a nursery to set up, furniture to acquire, a workshop to organize, a garage to bring back to life and a water heater to save.

Education
One of the missions of the Aaronic Priesthood is to help each young man obtain as much education as possible. It's time for me to get an MBA, but since we're doing this on the power dime, you can be certain that I'm not quitting my job and going to Harvard. I'm really interested to see how this series will turn out.

We've only got four months until the baby comes. Let's get crackin'!