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Besides a gold discovery here and an oil drilling there, there is more to Santa Clarita than a collection of historical locations. Over the next several months, I'll be recounting some of the people and events that have shaped this valley. It can be argued that the Newhall family, particularly patriarch Henry Mayo Newhall, had the most influence over how Santa Clarita is viewed today.
How often do we complain about the cost of our auto insurance? It seems that there is always an advertisement on TV featuring a reptile, a cowboy or just a "happy family" sharing how their new car insurance is the cheapest.
How quickly they grow, these little ones in our life that we love. They give us so much, they fulfill us in ways we never thought possible. They start out so small and as they grow we reevaluate how we feel about life, wondering if things will ever return to "normal." Of course, I'm talking about our credit card balances.
Give 'til it hurts? OK, stop! It hurts! Hurricane Katrina and Rita, a historic earthquake in Pakistan, even a tsunami of biblical proportions... And now the holidays are here? Is my watch fast? The holidays are a deep conspiracy, designed to rock us back and forth into a sublime sense of our year, without a care for ourselves. Every month has a holiday (yes, check it out) and I will swear there is intelligent design at work here.
Not many residents remember the name Ed Pardee. Ed was the local sheriff back in the late 1800s and he owned a home on a piece of land bordered by Newhall Avenue, Market and Walnut streets. The home was originally built in 1890 to serve as the Good Templar's Lodge, a place Newhall cowboys could go to relax while still following the rules of Prohibition. Ed Pardee moved the home from its original spot on Pine Street, added onto the place and called it home for many years.
Like fingers reaching for the skies above, the jagged points of Vasquez Rocks rise over a hundred feet above the park floor. The rocks, formed over thousands of years of geological activity, earthquakes, and erosion are a focal point of local geography. Visible for miles along State Route 14 between Santa Clarita and Agua Dulce, the rocks are a continual source of fascination for thousands of commuters each day.
During the holiday season, many gifts will be exchanged, many holiday meals will be prepared and many miles will be traveled by those seeking to unite with loved ones. As a result, many a family will feel the pinch of holiday purchasing. At the root of post-holiday debt is lack of planning.
It's undeniable when you step in the door. Maybe, in your house (like mine) it was the smell of bacon, crisp and sharp. Maybe it was the tomato/ground beef smell of meatballs that mom could never get out of the couch (So that's why she covered the furniture in plastic!), or was it curry, greens or incense at your place?
In the hot September sun, I sit among a grove of oak trees and gaze at wildlife as squirrels and birds clamber around me. In the background, a small brook rolls by and I can barely hear the distant roar of the 14 Freeway. The sun is getting warmer now and I'm beginning to feel a little tired. Maybe I'll just nap for a minute here under the tree.
Why do we spend 18 years raising our children, teaching them to behave, and telling them to do well in school? Because we want the best for them. We tell them that they should study hard for college, but we can sometimes neglect our part, that we may want to help them pay for it. If we don't teach them to save money for themselves by getting a job, applying for scholarships, and saving when young, our part of the bargain will raise its head in the form of the funds for that ever-increasing college tuition.
Numbers don't lie. Every year more bankruptcies are filed and more foreclosures happen and re-happen. The reality is that many of us educate ourselves about money through a process of elimination and it takes us years if not our whole lives to recover. It keeps us out of real homes and our kids out of real schools, and we quiet our very real anger with justifications, denial and desperation. Here's a story about how financial intelligence can improve the quality of life for a family not much different from yours. We'll call them the Joneses, and hopefully you can keep up with them as they reach financial success.
When the opportunity arose to purchase an existing antique shop in downtown Newhall, friends Sue Neiberger and Colleen Henriques jumped at it. While their passion for antiques was obvious, their business experience was limited, so Neiberger and Henriques turned to the Women's Business Center for advice on a variety of issues such as permits, funding and setting up the books. The Center also offered to help them with marketing.
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