I HAVE DECIDED TO BECOME A WRITE-IN CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT IN THE YEAR 2012.
HERE IS MY PLATFORM:
(1). Any use of the phrase: 'Press 1 for English' is immediately BANNED!!!. English is the official language; speak it or wait outside of our borders until you can.
(2). We will immediately go into a two year isolationist attitude in order to straighten out the greedy big business posture in this country. America will allow NO imports, and we'll do no exports. We will use the Wal-Mart's policy, 'If we ain't got it, you don't need it.' We'll make it here and sell it here!
(3). When imports are allowed, there will be a 100% import tax on it coming in here.
(4). All retired military personnel will be required to man one of the many observation towers located on the southern border of the United States (six month tour). They will be under strict orders not to fire on SOUTH BOUND aliens.
(5). Social Security will immediately return to its original state. If you didn't put nuttin in, you AIN'T getting nuttin out. Neither the President nor any other politician will be able to touch it.
(6). Welfare -- Checks will be handed out on Fridays, at the end of the 40 hour school week, the successful completion of a urinalysis test for drugs, and passing grades.
(7). Professional Athletes -- Steroids? The FIRST time you check positive you're banned from sports ... for life.
(8). Crime -- We will adopt the Turkish method, i.e., the first time you steal, you lose your right hand. There is no more 'life sentences'. If convicted of murder, you will be put to death by the same method you chose for the victim you killed: gun, knife, strangulation, etc.
(9). One export of ours will be allowed: wheat; because the world needs to eat. However, a bushel of wheat will be the EXACT price of a barrel of oil.
(10). All foreign aid, using American taxpayer money, will immediately cease and the saved money will help to pay off the national debt and, ultimately, lower taxes. When disasters occur around the world, we'll ask The American People if they want to donate to a disaster fund, and each citizen can make the decision as to whether or not it's a worthy cause.
(11). The Pledge of Allegiance will be said EVERY day at school and every day in CONGRESS.
(12). The National Anthem will be played at all appropriate ceremonies, sporting events, outings, etc.
My apology is offered if I've stepped on anyone's toes. Nevertheless.....
The perception of being "poor" varies with every family... and the different words defining poor vary too.
We're just about as monetarily-challenged as we've been in a long time. A decade or two, actually. Medical bills have piled up, hubby's pay hasn't increased with the cost of simply living, gasoline prices are through the roof, our utility bill is higher each month than any car payment we've ever had, school tuition for Caboose (which came out of the blue last November) equals our property taxes per year, it costs over $100/mo to keep my blood pressure down so that I can stay alive, and usually by the 15th of the month our wallets are pretty well dry (hubby gets paid once a month... the last work day of each month).
Like in the good ole days of our early marriage, we have to try to make a quarter stretch into a dollar most of the time. We have to tell ourselves "no" to many things that we used to do & take for granted. Eating out is a huge treat now... and by "eating out" I mean McDonald's.
You know you're poor when.... sitting down to a meal at McDonald's is as big a treat as going to a fancy restaurant used to be years ago.
When there's no money in the wallet, folks have a tendency to get creative. "What can we do, to get out of the house, that doesn't cost anything?" The library's a big one for us. We usually head there, especially when we have granddaughter, because there's so many things she can do... run around, color, play on their children's computers, etc. We can get books & movies too. The library is still an amazing luxury to me & one that I'm shocked, in today's economy, isn't busier than it is. Reading books... checking out movies... for FREE. Doesn't cost one thin dime. A better deal can't be had anywhere else!
We sometimes head to our local mall as well. That place is nearly deserted most evenings & how they stay open I have no idea. But it's wonderful for our uses, in letting granddaughter run to her heart's content, in a sheltered environment. We look at all the store fronts & once in awhile we buy a few turns on the Bob The Builder ride. Granddaughter enjoys that! :-)
Yesterday was payday for us & we had granddaughter since Sunday noon. We were all feeling a little stir-crazy & money-deprived so hubby went to the bank, withdrew our monthly allotment, and we all (hubby, son, youngest daughter, granddaughter & myself) headed for the open road. Our first stop was the library, of course, and we spent about 90 minutes there. We had such a wonderful time!! We saw the son, and some of his children, of a dear former neighbor of ours who moved back to Louisiana about 7 years ago & has since passed away. It's always a blessing to see this man & speak to him, with hugs & handshakes all around, talking about years gone by. We couldn't believe how tall his oldest daughter is. When hubby saw her last, she was a toddler no bigger than granddaughter, in a frilly little dress visiting Grandma & Grandpa next door.
We all found books to read & brought home a Mickey Mouse video for granddaughter to watch while here. Our son even colored one of the pre-printed pages at the children's table (he's 6'4" tall... those long legs at that little table, sitting in that little chair... priceless!) & granddaughter did her usual library routine except this time she didn't cry when we left. She must have had her fill by the time 90 minutes was over. Have we hit on the magic number? :-)
We then all went to McDonald's for supper. It will be our only time we "eat out" for this payday so everyone ordered what they wished. No instructions to "Only order from the $1 menu, guys!" and no admonitions to "We have food at home too, guys, so don't order enough to get stuffed... just enough to fill the empty spot!". This time we had a table full of food with apple pies for dessert. We feasted & it all tasted soooo good. As we sat around the table eating, we talked & laughed & reminisced about so many things. We hadn't all been around a table, eating out, in a long time. After we got done we let granddaughter play in the Play Place at McDonald's, for the first time. I don't know if we've ruined it for future visits or not, as far as her eating before wanting to play. But somehow that thought didn't matter last night. It was a magical night with not a money concern in sight. Some playground fun in the Play Place seemed in order.
After we left McDonald's we went to the drugstore to pick-up my blood pressure pills & headed home. My heart was full. Really full... of joy, happiness, contentment. When you can go to the library & to McDonald's afterward and come home feeling like you've had one of the biggest treats imaginable, then that's the blessing of being poor. When you can find joy in the simple things, that's when you know that you are right where God wants you. He has brought you back to a place you left years ago, to perhaps locate once again some things you misplaced without even realizing it.
My dad died a relatively quick death from lung cancer, once we knew what it was that was making him so sick. By the time he was diagnosed until he died was 2 weeks. But for 18 months before he was diagnosed, he lived in hell... on earth. Back in 1987 the diagnostic tools weren't what they are today. Whether that's a positive or negative could be debated... seriously. They thought he had congestive heart failure & that's what was causing all the fluid to build-up in his lungs. They thought that was why he needed to have his lungs stuck with a HUGE needle every so often, to drain off the fluid.
Right there in the dr's office. No numbing of any kind.
My dad was a brave man.
Today is the 24th anniversary of dad's passing. He died at 3:01pm on Friday, February 13, 1987. I could go on & on about how much he suffered during those last months, weeks, days, hours, minutes. It wouldn't be hard for me to do because I remember every detail like the whole nightmare happened yesterday. But I've made a conscience decision this year to not dwell on his suffering but to dwell on the good things... the things I loved about my dad... the things that I can still remember.
~ I loved how well-groomed my dad always was. No matter how sick he felt, he a-l-w-a-y-s showered, shaved, combed his hair (and fingered-in those waves on top) & put on cologne. Always put on cologne. His face was as soft as a baby's bottom & whenever I would kiss his cheek, I would feel the softness against my lips & could smell his cologne... Avon Musk for Men. He never wore anything else but that cologne. I kept the last bottle he ever had for the longest time. I even might still have it, I don't know. But after he died I would open up that bottle & smell it and be instantly transported to a world where my daddy was still alive and still with baby butt soft cheeks.
~ I loved how my dad made oatmeal. Lumpy! My dad was a big man... 6'2" & 260 lbs. He loved to eat but never EVER looked sloppy in his clothes. He was simply just big but neat as a pin in everything he wore. Sometimes when mom was gone, dad would make breakfast & it was always oatmeal. It had huge lumps in it & I loved it, for whatever reason. Sometimes he would make it for me "just because".
~ I loved how my dad & I did some body work on an OLD Pontiac that my young husband had bought for me, to drive back & forth to college when, after being married a year, I decided I wanted to become a nurse. It was a jalopy if there ever was one. I swear it got (maybe) 10 MPG but it got me to school & back safely for 3 years... and was within our budget. The poor thing started to rust really bad one summer so dad convinced me that we could do a little sanding, puttying, and painting ourselves to make the car last longer & not totally fall apart. I'll never forget doing it in mom & dad's driveway while dad sat in a lawnchair & supervised. Dad already had heart problems for years by that time so he couldn't help me much but he coached me & together we did it. No, it wasn't the best of jobs but it served the purpose. That's such a vivid memory for me.
~ I loved how my dad worked for the same company all of his adult life. He took 2 years off, to serve in WWII when he was drafted, but then returned to the same company after being discharged. A plaque was given to him, upon his retirement, and it said: "Constancy is the complement of all other virtures". I believe that's true... and my dad was definitely constant in everything he tackled.
~ I loved how my dad made things with his hands. Whenever there was a need around the house, for a new table or a set of shelves or a kitchen cabinet or some cabinets for mom's laundry area in the basement, dad would always build it himself... usually with no pre-purchased plans or schematic. He would draw out the plans himself & then set to building whatever it was that the household needed. The house that I spent the most time in, from birth until 13 years old, went up for sale not so many years ago, by the owner who had purchased it from my parents back in the late 1960s. I saw the ad for an Open House in the newspaper & couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the address. My husband took me & I explained to the realtor how we were just there to reminisce. He was very kind & let us take pictures & slowly walk through the house. It was like I had stepped back in time because so many things were still the same. Especially in the basement, where the shelves still stood that my dad had made for my toys... and the cabinets he made for mom's laundry supplies next to the washer & dryer... and the beautiful bar that my dad had built in the family room side of the basement that was now stacked with junk & had totally lost the luster & beauty from when I was little. So many many things... too many for me to list here... were still in that house, standing in the very place my dad had built them. I wanted so badly to ask if I could buy those old cabinets & shelves & that bar but: #1 We had no money to buy them with & #2 Had no place to put any of it if we did. Walking out the door of that house that day, I felt like I was leaving a part of my dad behind. I felt exactly like Alice in Wonderland walking through the looking glass into a whole different world.
~ I loved how my dad built me a doll house in pieces one winter, down our basement, and then assembled it outside in the spring. It's long gone now but it stood in the backyard of my old house for many years after my parents sold the house. It had windows, shutters, a shingled roof, a little table & chairs inside, the whole bit. A house in miniature. I was the most popular little girl in the neighborhood and all my friends & I played in that doll house for years.
~ I loved how my dad came over every single morning, Monday thru Friday, to have coffee & visit with our oldest (and only, at that time) child. My dad was our oldest daughter's "Papa" & he loved her more than life itself. Dad met his cronies at McDonald's every morning, after he was retired, and they'd meet when the place opened at 5;30am. All these men were used to getting up early & reporting to work, so after retirement their lives still needed an early morning purpose. They'd let dad buy (for 50 cents) the Happy Meal toy & so that's what he'd bring our daughter on certain mornings. Other mornings he'd stop at the drugstore & buy her a little something. He felt he could never come empty-handed to see her. He'd sit & color with her at the kitchen table for an hour & not mind in the least. She always looked forward to her Papa coming in the morning. We had a signal too. If I had a bad night or wasn't up by 6:45am, which was the time he'd usually stop by, I was to keep the kitchen curtains closed and that way dad would simply drive by & not stop. It only happened a few times, that I would keep the curtains closed, but God how I wish I never had done that. What I wouldn't give for just one more visit from dad!
~ I loved how my dad cried when he "gave me away" at my wedding. I was his youngest child... his only daughter... probably his favorite, if the truth be known... and he wanted to keep me for himself, as his "little girl", I'm sure. I was only 19 when he walked me down the aisle & I'm sure he thought he was truly handing me over to my husband & "losing me" as his own. It didn't take me long, after my marriage day, to make him realize he would never lose me & I would always be his little girl. Even at 54 I'm still his little girl today.
~ I loved how dad would want to take a little "vacation" once in awhile. Never anyplace far & never for a long time. Usually within a day's worth of travel & usually for always less than a week. It was just the fact of getting away for a little while. Mom never liked to travel so I was always dad's "partner in crime" to plan out our next destination. Dad loved atlases & loved mapping out our routes. I still have an old atlas that he used to use, along with a notebook he'd write in about the paths we should take. Those precious hands, writing down those precious plans, with all the excitment of a child on the night before Christmas. I would simply listen & smile... and do all the driving because, with his heart the way it was, he couldn't. He dreamed & I made his travel dreams come true.
I love you, daddy, and I miss you so much that my heart aches whenever I think of you. It's been 24 years since I've seen you smile... or heard your voice... or kissed your cheek... or heard you laugh... or saw you walk up the steps to my house... or watched you drive a car... or saw you swing a hammer... or watched you comb your hair... or listened to you sing to Fallon... or tasted your delicious oatmeal... or watched you knot your tie for church... or listened to you snore as you laid on the couch "watching" your favorite John Wayne movie... and my memory has so faded that it makes my heart weep. I used to be able to close my eyes & actually feel the softness of your skin on my lips as I'd kiss your cheek... but I can't do that anymore. The years have taken that away from me. I wonder if you ever fathomed me being a grandma, dad? Or Fallon being a wife & mother? She was only 4 years old when you died, dad. She's a 28 year old woman expecting her 2nd child this spring.
I'm aging, daddy, and one day... probably in the wink of an eye... we will be together again. I can't wait to hug you & kiss your cheek. Please wear that Avon cologne for me, would you, daddy?
A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.
Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying A word.
In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl.
Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, “Tell me what you see.” “Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied.
Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it.. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.
Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled, as she tasted its rich aroma the daughter then asked, “What does it mean, mother?”
Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its insides became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.
“Which are you?” she asked her daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?
Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?
Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?
Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?
May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.
The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can’t go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.
When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling.
Live your life so at the end, you’re the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.
Hurray for the pro-choice movement. This excerpt should make you happy, no? You are proud of and promote the existence of abortion clinics, yes? You are in favor of what goes on in abortion clinics being legal, correct? Then this article should make you thrilled. It's a good advertisement for your cause, eh?
If you are pro-choice, picture me grabbing the back of your neck & MAKING YOU READ THIS ARTICLE. Because the chances are very good that you are in favor of something you've never witnessed & never received yourself. If you are pro-choice and unable to read this article, from start to finish, you are a weasel. A baby-killing weasel in denial of the actuality of what you favor.
You're the same suckers that car dealerscountonto buy their used pieces of crap without driving them first or actually looking under the hood, as to what is lurking there... refusing to look at the reality of what you are about to buy, hook-line-sinker.
Read this article and weep... for the actuality YOU pro-choicers have helped to bring into legal existence in this country. How kind of you. On behalf of this little child, tortured to death, I thank you.
Abby Johnson was executive director of the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Bryan, Texas, and had been with Planned Parenthood for eight years.
One day in 2009, due to a personnel shortage, she was asked to assist with an ultrasound guided abortion. This was a technique uncommon in Planned Parenthood abortuaries, but the doctor executing abortions that day had opted for this method. It was a procedure Abby had not been part of before.
As she held the probe over the stomach of the young woman having the abortion, Abby saw the image of a perfectly formed baby appear on the ultrasound screen. The baby was about 13 weeks, and Abby saw the clear profile from face to feet.
Abby did not want to watch what would happen next, but she knew she had to. She saw the insertion of the cannula - a straw shaped instrument attached to the end of the suction cup. Abby repeated to herself the empty talking points Planned Parenthood had taught her: "The baby doesn't feel pain... the fetal tissue feels nothing as it is removed... This is a simply quick medical procedure."
She was jolted out of these platitudes when she saw the baby react - a sudden jerk from his tiny feet. The baby was kicking as if trying to move away from the invader.
"As the cannula pressed in," she writes, "the baby began struggling to turn and twist away."
The abortionist then made the callous comment, "Beam me up, Scotty", which was meant to instruct the nurse to switch on the suction.
Abby knew what she was about to see. She wanted to cry out "Stop!" But there she was holding the probe. She was an accomplice.
She then describes one of the most horrifying scenes a person could witness.
"The cannula was already being rotated by the doctor and now I could see the tiny body violently twisting from it. For the briefest moment it looked as if the baby was being wrung like a dishcloth, twirled and squeezed. And then the little body crumpled and began disappearing into the cannula before my eyes. I saw the tiny perfectly formed backbone sucked into the tube. Then everything was gone."
Stunned and horrified, Abby dropped the probe. She remembered the ultrasound of Grace at twelve weeks, her daughter who was now age three. She thought of her eight year affiliation with Planned Parenthood, and determined on the spot she would never be part of this again.
(I was going to insert a picture of an aborted, broken, mutilated, tortured 13-week gestation fetus here. I decided not to. Not everyone who visits my blog is a baby killing abortion proponent. Why should I expose them to the heartache. You pro-choicers... go look it up yourself. Wait, you don't have the guts to do that. But vote for pro-choice presidents & other governmental officials? No problem! You do it with smiles on your faces & celebrate afterward. God save your souls from hell's damnation, I pray.)
One of my dear aunts called me on the phone yesterday, to ask about my brother who just had lung surgery, amongst other topics. My Aunt really isn't my "aunt" in technical terms. She is actually my cousin but back in the days when I was a child, we always called those women relatives who were quite a bit (at least 20 yrs) older than we were by the term "Aunt". That's what I was taught to do back then & that's what I do now... she's my Aunt Shirley & that's that. My mother had 7 brothers & sisters and Aunt Shirley was the child of my mom's oldest sister, Aunt Julie. There are only a few years difference between Aunt Julie's child & Aunt Julie's youngest sibling, my Aunt Charlotte. So if I had to call Charlotte by the term Aunt, then I suspect they figured I might as well call my cousin, who was about the same age, by the term Aunt also.
Works for me and always has.
The older I get (I'm 54 now... turning 55 this summer) the closer in kindredship I feel towards my "Aunt" Shirley. She & I have a lot more in common now than we've ever had previously. Age has a tendency to do that, doesn't it. We both pretty much run our lives the same, very similar to the way our parents did... homemade suppers, Laundry Day Mondays, calling on the phone to find out how relatives are feeling after surgeries, sending get well cards via the post office rather than cyberspace. After we got caught up on the medical updates of folks in the family, we ventured to the top of the good ole days... a sure sign that both of us are indeed getting older!!
We talked about the "meal train" that every woman could expect to roll in to her household during the couple weeks after a major surgery or birthing a baby. That was just something that friends/family did for friends/family. No one had the money to buy fast food every night for 2 weeks & even if they did, fast food gets pretty tasteless after a couple days of it. So women would get together with each other (over the telephone) and each signed up for providing a meal on the day of their choice. When it was our turn to cook, we ALWAYS made our very best... our specialty... to take over to the family in need. Yes, that was probably a prideful thing but that's simply the way it was then. All women took pride in their cooking, cleaning & homemaking skills.
Today things like that simply don't happen. At least not very often. My Aunt Shirley & I discussed that awhile, trying to come up with reasons things have changed so drastically in the last 3 decades or less. I told her I personally think it's money and people having just too dang much of it these days. She thinks people are spoiled, not wanting to resort to what someone else decided they are going to have for supper. Another idea was that most people have "virtual" friends & the true, flesh-and-blood friends simply don't exist in folks' world of reality. It's so easy to send a "get well" email or comment to someone, upon hearing of their surgery, and leave it go at that. No one really wants to invest their time (time = themselves) in anything other than what they want to do. Doing something for someone else? Making a self-sacrifice for someone else?
Don't. Think. So.
As I told my Aunt Shirley, I don't think people are hungry enough... or destitute enough... or needy enough... or despairing enough... to understand the importance of neighbors, friends, & family. Times just plainly are not bad enough (yet) to understand what sharing a meal with a neighbor means. Your own refrigerator has to be empty at home, before you really understand how wonderful it is to sit down at your neighbor's table for a good, wholesome, homecooked meal (complete with dessert). You have to be without an operational vehicle before you really understand how generous it was for your retired Uncle Joe to pick you up, take you to the doctor's office for your appointment, and wait outside in the car until you're finished. You have to be without any clothes for your child who just had a growth spurt, and without the money to buy any new ones, before you realize what a true blessing that a bag of hand-me-down clothes from a friend really is. You have to be in an awful lot of pain after a major surgery, with people in the household whose stomachs are growling & the family purse empty & you just not able to get up to stand at the stove to fry some eggs for sandwiches, to realize how closely a pot of chili delivered to your doorstep by a dear friend really does resemble a meal fit for a King & Queen.
Many folks in our society, of the younger generation especially, feel they don't need anything or anybody in order to survive. Or sadly enough, maybe they don't even know any better & don't understand that people helping people is the only way any of us survive on this earth.
Maybe they don't realize because they've never heard of Matthew 25:45 "I can guarantee this truth: Whatever you failed to do for one of my brothers or sisters, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you failed to do for me."
Maybe because, in this land of plenty, most folks don't think they need God either. I wonder if we're beyond the point of being able to turn that around?
I remember when I used to borrow money from my mom back-in-the-day. The amounts would vary and I'd always pay her back, usually on payday. When I'd drive over & hand her the cold hard cash, she'd respond in the same way every time. She'd say: "Ohhh, here we are, Ang... with our high finance again!" and she'd chuckle & take the money from me. I'm not quite sure what that meant but it always struck me as funny too so I'd laugh as well.
I've been thinking a lot about those days since the beginning of this new year. We had a lot of medical bills come up from Oct'09 through Oct'10, the biggest two being my abdominal surgery in Dec'09 (~$34,000) & my bat bite with subsequent rabies vaccination series ending in Oct'10 (~$8,000). Yes, we have insurance but boy, it's not nearly as good ($4,000 deductible) as it used to be & we're paying more for it now than in years gone by. The same ole story for most things we purchase, I suppose. It seems the gap in agreement between insurance companies & medical providers is getting larger & more cavernous by the year. Regardless, when the bottom line is stated it's stated & that's what you owe. Period. The nice thing is that most hospitals have a timed payment plan with no interest accrued. See, there really IS a silver lining to most clouds!
Add the medical bills to the fact that my husband didn't get a raise (no one did, at his place of employment) in 2008. His bonus (which is supposed to compensate him for the miriad of overtime he works on a weekly basis & which we use every year to play "catch up" on any medical bills or outstanding charge card balances) in 2007 was used for our oldest daughter's wedding... then there was no bonus either (in addition to no raise) in 2008... and both the 2009 & 2010 bonuses were used to pay off my mother's funeral (in 2008).
All these things added together mean only one thing: it's time to crunch the numbers & go down to "bare bones" to try & have some $$ leftover at the end of the month to begin to chip away at the outstanding bills that have accumulated. So that's been one of my main focuses, as chief cook & bottle washer & money manager around here, since we rang in the new year of 2011.
The ideas I've come up with & things I've started incorporating into our home & my routine are really nothing foreign or new to me. I had just sort-of laid some of them aside, for various asundry reasons. Luckily I didn't forget where I put them :-) so they were very easy to find once again. I'll share a few of these things with you, in case you might like to try them yourselves. WARNING: some of these things are really rather 'back to the land' - type stuff, which may appeal to you or may not. Take what you can use & let the rest blow away in the wind. Someone who lives downwind will catch what you've cast aside & use it for themselves, so don't worry.
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1. I'll get the most shocking one out of the way first... I've stopped driving! *gasp* I drove one time this year & that was January 3rd. I haven't driven since. I am simply at home. Our youngest daughter went from being homeschooled to attending a church-based learning co-op (which uses A.C.E. paces for their curriculum) from Sept'10 - Dec'10. The co-op being unsatisfactory in every aspect of education, we switched her over to a parochial 'regular' school in the middle of Dec'10 & which she continues with today (& loves). But with the switch from homeschooling to out-of-the-home schooling, my hypertension (which I've had almost all of my adult life) went caflooey with my blood pressure skyrocketing & my head feeling like a solid rocket booster waiting for take-off! Too much tension, too much running, too much everything... and my body began sending out a warning that something had to give. I discussed it with my husband (who works from home - same company for 29 yrs & does same work but from home now instead of at the division building that closed back in 2008) and so now either my husband or our 23 yr old son has taken over transportion of Caboose. They also do any shopping I need done or any errands I need run. Which basically means that only the very minimum of trips are made, off the homestead here, because I don't know about your men but my men don't like going anywhere with a list in their hands. With gasoline over $3/gal now, that translates to less gas used than when I used to drive and also less $$ spent. The men get what's on the list: no more & no less. If they're sent on an errand, it's to accomplish that errand & get home. Period. Which leads to....
2. I'm back to using food & supply storage, buying staples in bulk, making the majority of our food solely from scratch, using dehydrated fruits & vegetables rather than fresh, always eating at home, etc. I was first introduced to this way of living back in the 1980s, when it was most popular for my generation. There were many magazines being published, at that time, that helped women learn to do such things as bake bread, store flour & sugar bought in #25 bags, and find beef by the quarter or half steer for the deep freezer kept in the garage. I soaked up the information like a sponge & never released it, even though I may not have always used it. I had indeed forgotten though the joys of: a.) eating good bread whose number of ingredients you can count on one hand b.) always having toilet paper in the house rather than running out after using the 4-roll pack just purchased a week ago c.) not going into a panic because we're down to the last quart of milk (in the middle of a snow storm) and just whipping up another gallon from the milk powder on the shelf d.) simply having the safe & secure feeling of knowing that my family has everything they need under our roof, to exist comfortably for quite awhile, without having to run to the grocery store first and e.) being self-sufficient in a small sense. Which leads to...
3. Since my men (I think like most) don't particularly relish being sent on errands with l-o-n-g lists in hand, I've been using Amazon.com quite a bit for my bulk buying. If some of you haven't tried them yet, for groceries, I sure wish you would. The bargains are tremendous (much cheaper than the grocery store, for most things I order and, if not cheaper, then exactly the same) and your groceries get delivered right to your door... for free. They have a beautiful organic section too. I still belong to a food co-op (that uses United National Foods Inc.) which I get many perishable items from like eggs, milk, cheese, yogurt, 25# bags of flour & sugar, etc. But for the other things such as dish soap, bar soap, laundry soap, toilet paper, paper towels, cereal, tea, coffee, waxed paper sandwich bags, shampoo and many other things, I use Amazon exclusively. For my dehydrated fruits, vegetables & milk powder I use Emergency Essentials. Their Provident Pantry-brand of powdered milk is the best we've ever tried! Our 23 yr old son, who is the milk expert in the household, can't tell the difference... and went out of his way to tell me so.
4. Back in the 1980s I learned how very important it is to drink fresh, clean, pure water. If our nation's water supply was polluted back then, imagine what it is now! *sigh* We have well water where we are, out in the county, that I refuse to drink out of the tap. I don't think drinking water out of the ground is good for anyone living anywhere these days. So for the last several years we've been drinking distilled water through a delivery service, which comes to the house here every 2 weeks with 5 gallon containers. It's good water & I feel good about myself & my family drinking it... but it's horribly very expensive... over $100/mo. for the water plus the rental on the dispenser. We're going to be phasing out that delivery service since we just invested in a Berkey Water Purifier, which I remember reading about in my early back-to-the-land days in the 80s. I did some research and it seems that the Berkey filters are just as good today as they were back then, if not better. Gravity drip filtration with no electricity used, which is a plus as well.
5. We're in the process of deciding what to do about these cell phones of ours. Yes, they're handy but are they necessary? Are they worth the cost? I've never seen any statistics that show how many adolescent or adult children have been saved from their kidnappers by being able to use their cell phones from their captor's car truck (which is the scenario we envision when we see our son heading out for the evening or learn of our married daughter walking out to the parking lot after working late). All I ever hear on the news is that police have tracked the cell phone "pings" to specific areas and then lost them, after the person is kidnapped, or they've found that the victim's cell phone has been turned off & therefore is no use to those searching. The only thing we use our cell phones for is to text our youngest, from us in the living room to her in her bedroom, telling her it's time to get ready for bed... or hubby to call me from the grocery store because he can't find the specific item I have on the list he's holding on to for dear life... or son to text me about a song that just played on the radio that he's sure I would absolutely love... or Facebook to update youngest daughter with the lastest news on which one of her friends updated their status last. The only time I can honestly say I was grateful to have my cell phone with me was when I spun out on the highway in Jan'09, with 4-month-old grandbaby in the car, & we were buried deep in a ditch in the median. I called my husband, barely able to talk but physically unharmed (as was grandbaby), and he in turn called the police. I suppose though, if I hadn't had my cell phone, I would have simply done what I would have done before cell phones even existed: I would have rolled down my window, waved a white napkin retrieved from the glove compartment, and waited for a trucker to call the police on his CB radio. The weather was horrible that day, with multiple spin-outs, so the chances are good that a policeman going by would have seen me before the trucker would have even had the chance to call. Our monthly cell phone bill is $145 (no internet, no apps, no games... just plain phone with unlimited texting, free incoming calls, free evenings & weekends, $10 per line after the 1st line) & it kills me every month when I pay it. Our house phone is $32/mo., including tax. Why do we need anything more than that?!
That's where we're at for the time being. We're only 3 weeks into the new year so I'm sure I'll figure out more ways to "cut the fat" around here. For now this is enough. Maybe I'll hunt up my "Tightwad Gazette" books. I know they're around here somewhere. I love those things... and I love Amy Dacyczyn!
Something is in the wind. I can feel it deep inside.
Perhaps it is my Creator urging me on, to experience the joy of creating... even if it is only a minutely miniscule fraction of the joy He felt when creating me.
Give yourself a real treat today by watching this video. I believe you'll be inspired to be creative (if you have never been before)... or to be re-creative (if your creativity juices have run a little dry)... or continue to be creative (with whatever outlet you use to express that part of who you are).
I believe we often leave our creativity go, as the last piece of ourselves that we nurture, because we feel we don't have the time, the money, the energy, the space.
Make the time~ find the money~ save up some energy~ designate a space... to create.
It will be one of the lasting legacies we leave on this planet, for those who follow us.
It's son-in-love's birthday coming up so I wanted to get his card mailed out today. I wasn't sure what to give him this year because:
#1 - his b/d is so close to Christmas & I pretty much exhausted him his gift suggestion list for that
#2 - 2011 is going to be the Year of Extreme Poverty Frugality around here.
We have a bazillion medical bills we must catch up on (from my major abdominal surgery a year ago & my bat bite with subsequent rabies vaccination series this past summer), a couple charge cards that need to be paid-off, and (2) 15-year-old vehicles that will undoubtedly need some decision-making done about them sometime this year.
I came up with the idea of putting a 2011 Ed Hume Moon Sign Gardening Almanac ($1.79) inside his birthday card envelope, with the free flower seed packet that came with it, and also including a "coupon" for a free overnight babysitting stay for grandbaby. Pete is a stay-at-home husband/daddy so I know he'll really appreciate that, probably more than most son-in-loves. (He also loves to spend time outside, digging in the dirt, like me!)
Rather than simply buying him a Moon Sign Gardening Almanac, I wish we could have bought him the moon itself. But if wishes were horses, beggars would ride... wouldn't they.
I love the idea of making a Happiness Journal for 2011. The folks over at Letters & Journals wrote a blog entry about it & the idea has stuck with me.
It's a quite simple project, actually, and can be as elaborate or as plain as suits a person's personality, I suppose. The object is to start a scrapbook-like journal of things that make us happy in 2011: pictures, articles, quotes, memories from the past, people. Whatever it is that "puts a smile on our face & a warm feeling in our heart".
The whole idea of this puts a smile on my face. Does it yours too?
I'm going to do this. I'll post pictures! :-) If you decide to participate as well, leave a comment here... especially if you blog about it & are going to post pictures as well.
What a bit of happiness, to experience & record, for 2011.
On my retired blog I wrote a post about three things I wasn't inviting to follow me into 2011. One was negativism, another was Facebook & the third was other people's rules. I had already changed my mind about Facebook & fully intended on inviting it to usher in 2011 with me. But for some reason it banned me from inviting my friends back to my friends list... something about "inviting too many people I didn't know" (why would I do that??!!). Then, I logged-in on Wednesday night & all the folks I had managed to get back on my friends list were gone! Vanished into thin air & I'm back to having the original 8 kids-neighbors-friends I had started with, on my friends list. So I'm taking that as a sure sign that I'm supposed to stick to my original "not welcoming into 2011" list.... which included Facebook.
Now that I've got the short "not following me into 2011" list finished, I've been really concentrating about the other list... the "things I am inviting back for 2011" list. This may also include things that have never seen the light-of-day in my life but really do want to see present... either for 2011 only or maybe forever. Who knows. Anyway, here's my list of invited things for 2011. Do you recognize any that you would like to follow you into 2011 as well? I bet you do! That's what makes us blogging buddies! That's what makes you come here & read my blog.... because we have ideas, thoughts, beliefs, goals, hobbies, interests in common.
Or maybe you just like to hear what I have to say? That would be an honor if that was the case. You surely will find an eclectic cornucopia of topics discussed here, that's for sure. I'm pretty passionate about what I believe in & I'm old enough to know what I believe in too. My causes are well-rooted in my heart. But causes are not what's going to be on my "invited things for 2011" list. It's other stuff...things that might have been lacking in my life, things that might be non-existent right now in my life, things that I had forgotten about but want to un-forget about for 2011. Let's see what they are (in no particular order):
1. Art-creativity-hobbies: I've read in various outlets that nurturing the artist in ourselves is good for keeping our brain sharp & our mental well-being in a positive state. For his doctoral thesis, psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi studied how visual artists create art & he found that not only artists deeply involve themselves in their work but so does everyone who is concentrating & intent on whatever they're doing... surgeons, chess players, rock climbers, dancers, musicians. Dr.Csikszentmihalyi found they all "forget themselves, the time, their problems" while engaging in their activity. That's why hobbies are so important in our lives, it seems to me. Anytime we are being artistic... letting our creativity juices flow... we are forgetting about our problems for awhile, therefore having a temporary respite from them. This probably makes our adrenaline pump slow down, our blood pressure decrease, our muscles relax, as well as giving us some right-sided brain exercise. I need much more of this in my life than has been present for a long long time. I intend on inviting my hobbies (some known & maybe some not developed yet) back into my life for 2011.
2. Time in actual reality: I can hear a lot of you reading this saying "Yessssssss". I think we're all in the same boat regarding our immersion in cyber reality. How did that start... do you know? I remember when we got our first computer & became connected to cyberspace. It was 1996 & I distinctly remember not believing my eyes in how fast information came on my screen & not understanding where it was coming from! From that very first day forward a certain percentage of my day has been spent in cyber reality... a percentage of my day in actual reality sacrificed - exchanged - reassigned... to a tan box with a screen. Lest I make it sound like cyberspace has been a total negative in my life, let me assure you it has not. Far from it!! I have connected with some of the most amazingly awesome people I have ever encountered or would have ever encounter otherwise, on this little two acres of mine out here in the woods. Blogging fits right up there with #1 above in allowing me a creative, artistic outlet & I wouldn't trade it for the world. But I have allowed the tan box, which is now updated to black, to overtake entirely too much of my actual reality & I'm sacrificing way too much because of that. I need more of a balance in my life & I need to reconnect once again with the actual reality things in my life... the things that were all I had before 1996. I've missed them & I want to embrace them once again.
3. Playing in the dirt: I love... completely, with my whole body & soul... dirt - nature - Mother Earth - trees - wind - sky - the changing seasons - sun on my skin - working outside - getting filthy, sweaty & sore - birds chirping - hearing squirrel nails against the bark of a tree - colorful things growing - lawn mowers mowing - grills grilling - clouds rolling in - storms coming... absolutely positively everything about outside I love. I didn't get enough of that in 2010 but that's definitely going to change in 2011. I can't survive without that change.
4. Home improvements: I do my housework each & every week but I (we?! my man & I?!) haven't been keeping up with home improvements... those little (& sometimes big) things that need to be done or they pile up so badly that it then takes thou$and$ of dollar$ & hundreds of hours to make the pile disappear. The kitchen sink & faucet in our side of the house needs to be replaced... many rooms need a fresh coat of paint... some carpet needs to be ripped up & some other flooring put down... and the list goes on. I want to do a few of those things in 2011. I want to notice a few of those things more, in 2011, than I did in 2010 (or 2009 or 2008 or 2007 or....). I think in this category also falls "decluttering". I started that this year but I intend to continue in 2011. Isn't FreeCycle the most wonderful thing?! :-)
5. National/International News: I'm staying out of it in 2011. No DrudgeReport, no CNN, no nothin'. I've decided I don't need to know our nation's or our world's problems. I've got enough of my own. I fully intend on spending 2011 being clueless about everything being played out on the news. If you readers think there's a crisis or calamity I really ought to know about, for my own safety or the safety of my loved ones, put it in the comments somewhere, ok? Thanks. :-)
6. Delving into the interior of myself: Sounds complicated, doesn't it. It does to me too. I think it's just because I don't quite understand what it means but others do & I want what they have - know - can do. No, it's not just reading the Bible & it's not just going to church & it's not just "making time for God" each day & it's not just following rules and regulations & it's not just ______ (fill in the blank yourself). It's much more than that... but I'm not sure what "that" is or how to get there. By the end of 2011 I hopefully will though. I'll share my journey here, on the pages of my blog. Maybe you'll learn to delve into your innards too, if you have such a desire & don't know how already.
That's it. Double the number of things I'm bringing with me into 2011 than I'm leaving behind in 2010. I wonder if that means something?
This is a picture of me & my beloved, taken last evening when we went out for dinner on New Year's Eve. Son (23) & his girlfriend came with us as did our little Caboose (daughter-13). Caboose is who took this picture.
I wore this dress on the very first New Year's Eve that my beloved & I were together. We were both 18 years old at the time & so very much in love. We wed 4 months later... 10 months after we first met. We'll be married 35 years this coming April 24th.
I loved this dress the moment I slipped it on, back in 1975. I love it today just the same. However, my love for the boy, back then, who bought it for me is very different than my love for the man today.
I love the man more deeply... more meaningfully... more truly... more unconditionally... more completely... more intimately... more understandingly... more appreciatively... than I could have ever loved the boy who shyly went into The Lady Shop uptown (long ago closed & out-of-business... having gone the way of the uptown itself) & told the clerk that he wanted to buy a dress for his girlfriend....
Private, God-loving, seclusion-loving, home-loving, domesticity-loving, author Gladys Taber-loving, animal-rescuing woman in midlife, who lives on two acres of woods with her family... human, plant & animal.
My man has been so for 34 years thus far. He is and has always been a good partner and friend. Is he perfect or sinless? No. But neither am I so we make a good pair.
My oldest daughter is 28, married, and mother to my first beautiful grandbaby (with 2nd beautiful grandbaby due on our 35th wedding anniversary... 4/24/11). She works in the fast-paced corporate computer world, which suits her perfectly. A love for the land comes from the heart and can not be instilled by infusion. This daughter prefers a sandy beach over grass, but did buy her first house in Nov '09 which has a very grassy front & back yard for grandbabe to play in. They moved from a 2-bedroom apt. on the lakefront. We'll see if the water & sand call her name ever again.
My only son is 23. He lives here at home and took a leave-of-absence from his job, back in February, to help out the family in a big way when my mom became bedbound. A true love of the outdoors he does not have, but the desire for a simple kind of life is ingrained in him. He often helps me in cat & animal rescuing.
My youngest daughter is 13. She is my multi-cultural child that came to me through adoption. She was 11 weeks old when she came into my life. She's quick to turn her thoughts into words, has a definite point of view, wants what she wants and wants it right now. She is the child most like me!! Isn't it funny how fate works.
My 90 year old mother has lived with us for almost 8 years now. She has been bedbound since February '08 and now weighs 50 lbs. We are trying as best we can to ease her transition from this earthy world to the Next. She is more than ready to see what Heaven holds for her.
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UPDATE:
Mom passed away October 6, 2008 at 11:48pm.
She died in her own bed,
on her own terms,
without medical intervention...
with loving people around her,
holding her hands and praying...
whispering to her that everything was going to be alright.
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