The Barbers Move to Denmark

What have you all been up to since New Year's Eve? Our days have been pretty dull for the most part. Winter in Denmark is gray and cold, and we're all hunkered down trying to stay warm and cheerful through it all. Marabel has it figured out. * * * As if the gray weather weren't already kind of a downer, we had to sit through the presidential inauguration in Danish class, the roof started leaking, and we had to figure out how to file our U.S. federal income taxes on our own for the first time. It's been quite a year already! We tried to avoid watching the inauguration, but our Danish instructor had other ideas. I mean, I can understand. All of Denmark was on the edge of their seats to see if he would make any bold statements about Greenland in his inaugural address. I never expected to cry in front of my classmates, but surprise! Ugh. Enough about that. On to the leaky roof. It's actually not as exciting as it sounds. Khloe stepped in water in the hallway, and we loo...

One of the most discouraging things about moving to Denmark was the feeling of "starting over." At the time we decided to leave the United States, we were set up pretty well. We owned a home that I bought in 2012 at a low interest rate. We had two reliable vehicles. We didn't really have to think about money very often because we weren't living paycheck to paycheck, and, other than the house and my ridiculous student loans, we were debt-free! We had a nice little savings account, and we were prepared financially in the event of disability or death. We weren't rich, but we were comfy and cozy. That comfort didn't happen overnight, ya know? It took us more than a decade to get to that point. It was the result of tight budgeting, years of earning extra merit raises and promotions and bonuses, difficult choices to invest responsibly in our future instead of our present, DIY elbow grease, and more than a few nights of grilled cheese and tomato soup dinners. In movi...