Friday Confessions

1. I ate a large container of goldfish between lunch and three p.m. I take lunch ate one.

2. I was mopping the floor and P messed with me. So I lifted the mop and squirted him in the face with mop water

3. I went into the gas station in my p.j.'s.

4. I got dinner for myself one night and P only wanted a drink. I drank 1/2 the drink before I got home.

 

Fess up y'all!

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A Follow Up to: I Don't Really Care What You Have To Say

Sunday night I wrote this post and it led to some great discussion. I think all of the comments were relevant, and they showed the frustration, confusion, and exasperation of where we all are regarding politics. One comment stood out to me because I have been thinking along those same lines as of late. Heather over at Townsend House said:

"I totally agree on the country being divided, unfortunately. I don't think I have much faith in the government anymore, because there is too much money (on both sides) to make decisions that actually benefit Americans.

Recently I have been thinking about whether it even makes a difference for me to vote if I'm red and live in a blue state, or blue and live in a red state, or if I live in any state other than Ohio, Florida and Virginia.

So what do I do? I continue trying to work harder on my own life, hope that I can gain some sort of self-reliance, learn to provide for myself and my family and live without what others find necessary. It isn't easy, but I hope that if we fall off the deep end here, my family will be ok."

 I could not have said it better myself. Wisdom, that is what she has shared with us, wisdom. 

That is what we have to do, learn to rely and provide for ourselves. But, what does that look like to you? What does that look like to me? Honestly, I don't know. Do we need to focus on becoming more agrarian society? Do we need to learn to grow our own food again? What does pure self-reliance mean? 

I have been talking about self-reliance to P for the past several weeks. Obviously, Mitt Romney has been in the news everyday, and there has been a lot of light shed on Mormonism. I am embarrassed to say that up until this point I have been pretty ignorant about Mormonism. I knew they had a temple in Utah, that BYU was a Mormon school, and that they didn't drink alcohol. That is all I knew, and it was my fault for not knowing. Did you know they are encouraged to have an entire year's worth of food in their homes? That floored me. What a great idea. 

Is that part of self reliance? Having enough food and water on hand so that your family can have enough to eat for a year? Why stop at a year, what about two years, or five years? When is enough enough? Again, I don't know. I do know that I have started to dedicate some of our resources to starting a food stockpile. As a couponer, I get quite a bit of items for free or cheap. Here is my stockpile. Do you notice that many of those items are health and beauty products. These items would not feed or hydrate us. I have battled with stockpiling food because most of the items we eat are perishable. But, I decided to start a stockpile. Here is what I have so far. 

I have 6 boxes of organic oats, 4 boxes of pasta, a box of rice, 4 cans of green beans, and four bottles of water. 

The last point Heather made "and live without what others find necessary." Does that statement automatically bring images of American excess to your mind too? What do we find necessary as Americans? Smart phones, cable t.v., new clothes, nice cars, big t.v.'s, boats, the list can go on and on. 

Finally, I am thankful that we have been able to have an open discussion and respectful discussion about these issues. Thank you for sharing your voice, thank you for being honest about where you are. I promise to respect you and your political stance. 

Heather, thank you so much for your comment and for inspiring a discussion.

What do you think? What does is your definition of self reliance? Do you live on less than many others? 

I don't really care what you have to say

99.9% of the things I say on this blog are positive and funny, but we need to get serious for a moment. Ya'll down with that? I have a little bit of a rant that I cannot keep in today.

This is election season, and I am following everything closely. I don't know you, and I don't know where you stand, if you are red or blue, or even green. Libertarian, Republican, Democrat, or a political atheist.

I will tell you right now where I stand. Barack Obama is not my hero, idol, or savior. Neither is Mitt Romney.  Neither of those two men are going to fix this country in four or eight years. I fear that we have become so divided, that we are ungovernable. Every morning during my quiet time, I pray for this country. I pray that we find peace, that we can find something to unite us, and that  we can somehow restore ourselves.

I do know that it is scary where we are financially  and morally. It scares me that so many of us have forgotten  what it means to be self sufficient and what it is like to put in a hard days labor. Scratch that....I should say many of us have forgotten what it means to put in a fully days work. Many of us sit at a computer, in a cube, typing away in an air conditioned building with our lunch in the fridge and filtered water in the kitchen. For many of us, and I include myself in this, we don't do back breaking labor, and we find any excuse we can to complain about our boss, job, or coworkers. Again, I am including myself in all of this, I am in no way blameless.

I worry about us as a country, that we have lost our way. I worry that we have become to comfortable. I worry that we have gotten used to sitting behind a screen and typing or twittering away every thought that comes into our minds, especially when we start criticizing the superficial aspects of the candidates.

Last week during the vice presidential debate, I found myself getting angry by the responses of everyone on twitter, especially celebrities. Just because someone was in a movie 10 years ago, and has a few hundred followers, and they spout their mouths off and it gets repeated on CNN, Fox, and MSNBC. Who gives a flying flip what Rosanne Barr has to say about politics? Is any ignorant statement someone says going to sway me, absolutely not. Because they have some small platform, these people in Hollywood say, tweet, or go on one of the 24 hour news channels and gives them a voice. It makes me so mad. Who cares, who cares, who freakin' cares, especially when they are simply repeating sound bites that they have heard. And by giving them a big voice, it legitimizes them, even if they don't deserve it.

In this very serious time, I want to ask, implore, and beg my fellow Americans to not base a decision upon things that you hear in passing. Do the homework, do the research, and dig into the issues for yourself, and make the decision for yourself. Whatever you chose, simply think for yourself, please?

High horse, I'm off. Rant has been ranted. Soap box, unsoapy?

I would really like to hear from you guys about this. What do you think? Where are you in this?

Friday confessions

1. I picked my wedgie in front of a glass wall with a crowed on the other side

2. I burped when walking down the street when I thought I was alone, but someone was right next to me.

3. I smoked screened someone in the elevator

4. There is a new guy in my office named Richard. I can't quit calling him Little Richard

 

Fess up y'all.

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Is chivalry dead?

I have been riding the train to work these past few weeks. It's been great because I have been saving on gas and wear on the car, I don't battle traffic, and I always get where I need to be on time.

 

These past few weeks I have become acutely aware of how we treat and interact with each other. The transit system is pretty packed, and most days it is standing room only. In the morning, I usually stand,but most afternoons I find a seat because I get on at an early stop. Finding a seat is not that big of a deal to me, and if I have to stand, nbd. I usually offer up my seat to anyone who is hurt, has small children, or the elderly.

Lately,the behavior of some riders has been making me so mad. For example, I get to my stop most days a few minutes before the train arrives. There is one man who gets to the station right before the train takes off and we walks to the front in front of everyone to ensure he gets a seat. It frustrates me to no end because its so rude. I also get frustrated when I see middle aged men not giving up their seat. They sit there and see all of these women standing there, and they don't get up.

I can count on one hand the amount of time a man has offered me his seat. Every time, I am so impressed.

 

Please weight in here....is chivalry dead? Should we expect chivalry?

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The Couponers Delima--Donations

Why is it that some things are not good enough for me, yet are good enough for the masses?

That is a question I have been thinking about the past few weeks. I am pretty discerning in the food that I eat. The majority of my food comes from whole ingredients, and about 50% of the time it is organic produce, and 100% of the time it is organic meats. That is good for me, good for the planet, and good for the animals. 

But....what about the food that I get for free or for cheap that I donate to the food pantry? Should that be a higher quality food too?

I think it comes down to a question of quality or quantity. When donating food to food banks, we tend to donate a cheaper, lower quality of food because its cheaper, and we can get more product for our money. Is this a problem?

For example, if I were able to buy a prepackaged meal that I would never consider feeding my family because it is fattening and has no nutritional value, should I donate that item to the food bank? Is it better that someone has something, anything to eat, even if it is not good for them? Will donating these types of items to the food pantry encourage diabetes and obesity? Or, is just having something to eat good enough?

This is a question that I don't have an answer to. What do you guys think? I would really like you to weight in and let me know your thoughts. 

Friday confessions

1. I went to the library and chose eight books solely based on the bright color of the cover 

 

Ok guys I have been sick all week and have hardly left the couch. I didn't really do anything this week. Please entertain me with your confessions! Laughter is the best medicine.

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