Thursday, December 23, 2010

What To Do? What To Do?

Hello, all! I was sitting at the computer tonight and thinking how much I'd really like to be /doing/ something. Anything! I could watch a movie I stored in my Netflix queue. I could just surf the web. I could wait for someone to talk to me, or start up a conversation with someone on a social website. But I'd really rather be doing something more active with other people. Board games aren't an option right now. Our hosts are out or asleep so I wouldn't know wear to look for them and I don't dig. It's a point of honor, I guess. Two of my kids are watching an Avatar marathon (the /real/ Avatar, btw, and not the fake one with blue people). My youngest is watching an anime (Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple). My husband is surfing the web/using his tweetdeck. And I sit here, blogging. *shrugs* Ah, well. We can't always get what we want, eh?

So, what do you, my awesome readers, do for fun that doesn't cost money? What's your favorite game or hobby? What's your favorite place to go for a relaxing time or valuable conversation with your spouse/date? Try to give answers that are great for a tight budget. I can't wait to see how many folks give an answer. And please do keep it kid friendly. My kiddos are sometimes hovering under my elbows... ;)

Here are my top ten ideas for fun, inexpensive things to do with my family. The first 5 will be family activities. The last 5 will be date night activities.

1. The Zoo-Our whole family loves the zoo. The only downside is if the zoo is big or in a town that gets most of its income from tourism. We usually look for smaller zoos. Those are best for my husband (who has trouble with his knees) and much better for our budget.

2. The library-While going to the library with an active 6-year-old can be quite trying sometimes, on a good day, the library is a great way to get out of the house and enjoy some forced quiet. This can be an awesome thing when there's been nothing but noise for days on end.

3. The park-While the kids really enjoy going to the park, I'm not a big fan. We do take them from time to time but I generally like to avoid the park. We usually try to go when there are fewer children since too many children makes it very hard for me to keep an eye on mine. I'm easily distracted by conversation and sights and losing them in a crowd just isn't an option. Not to mention, crowds of children are very intimidating to me.

4. The pet store-I don't know if any of you have tried this but my kids (especially my girls) love going to the pet store. We've been avoiding it lately because our youngest wants a hamster. It's not fun when you leave the pet store with a whiney 6-year-old.

5. The Arboretum-Our 'local' arboretum is about 30 minutes away but it's free to go through it. Some Saturdays, they host a discussion about nature. The did a good little presentation on butterflies that we were able to attend. Not only is it relaxing there, it's also educational!

6. A local cafe-Our local cafe is called 'Cafe Mosaic' and it's an awesome venue for some fun conversation and a little bit of online fun. They also make a fabulous gelato! However, if you want intimate conversation and a more private venue, this isn't it. On Fridays and Saturdays, it's so packed you can hardly hear yourself think.

7. Go to a movie-It's always nice to go to dinner and a movie, even if you have to eat at McDonald's or Subway. During the dinner, you get some conversation and after the movie, you have the opportunity to discuss the finer (or awful) points of the movie. This is sometimes the jumping off point for further discussion. From a woman's viewpoint, that's always a plus!

8. Karaoke-While I've never done this as a date, some might enjoy it. I prefer to do karaoke with a larger group. It's a great adult activity and gives parents time with other adults while they take a small portion of time away from the daily grind.

9. Visit a museum-Our small town has 2 museums-a Cajun culture museum and a Cajun music museum. At least, I think the second one is a music museum. It's located in a couple of refurbished train cars, one of which is an actual caboose. :) We haven't visited it in quite some time. But both of these museums don't cost much at all to go into. One of them asks for a donation.

10. Go for a drive-There's nothing like going for a drive down country roads on a star-filled night. The music is awesome (because you choose it) and the conversation is as private as can be. It's a great way to focus on the conversation and talk about things you might not otherwise discuss. Most places have beautiful country roads that are scenic and beautiful. Talk about great ambiance!

Well, I've wracked my brain and now it's your turn. Get ready! Get set! GO!

Friday, December 10, 2010

Pianolady32's Holiday Wish List Meme

TodaysMama and GameStop are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What is your holiday wish for your family?

I wish for a safe and blessed trip to visit with my husband's relatives. We haven't spent a Christmas with them in several years so we're really looking forward to it.

2. What is your Christmas morning tradition?

We usually just wake up, make coffee and wait for the kids to wake up. :) Our kiddos are sleepers. When the kids wake up, we gather round the tree, read the Christmas story from Scripture and enjoy opening gifts together.

3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be?

Ohhhhh...completely decadent...I've been pretty practical concerning myself for so long...I think I'd like to make our house and property self-sustaining. I don't guess that qualifies as completely decadent but it's something that I really, really want but can't really do.

4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money?

We read some wonderful stories, 'The Tale Of The Three Trees' and 'The Cajun Night Before Christmas'. We might play a round or two of Surprise Marble on a board handmade by my great-grandfather. We also might make cookies or some holiday crafts. We watch a movie or a couple of movies. We just kinda take it easy and see what we feel like doing. :)

5. What games did you play with your family growing up?

We played Uno when we visited with my mother's family. I remember the laughs! We played dominoes sometimes, too. Every now and then we'd play Monopoly.

6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood?

We read the Christmas story from Scripture and sing Christmas carols.

7. Where would you go for a Christmas away-from-home trip?

That's a really hard decision but I would so love to have a trip to Ireland. I'm not sure they'd be at their best during the Christmas season, though... Maybe Jamaica? Or a cruise might be fun. All impossible at this point in our lives, though, considering there are 5 of us.

8. Check out GameStop and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year?

Any Zelda game, PS3, Create for Wii

Monday, December 6, 2010

Really Cool Stuff

Looks like I'll get another post in before we get knocked back down to slower internet speeds. :) I'd like to share a couple of websites with y'all. The first one is All Free Sewing. The best thing about them (and the one thing that drew me) is that you can get free patterns! The also have some free ebooks you can download that are full of helpful hints, ideas and patterns. You should check'em out. Right now, they're doing a give-away for a book about altering patterns to fit /you/. I really need something like this so I have to admit to some reluctance to blog about it to you all. LOL Here's the link: http://www.allfreesewing.com/sweeps/Pattern-Fitting-with-Confidence-Book-Giveaway so that you can also sign up to win the book. While you're there, be sure to sign up for their newsletter. I have gotten lots of great ideas and patterns from them. I hope you'll enjoy the site. They didn't pay me for doing this. It does give me another entry to win the book, though.

The second place you should visit is Cupcakes and Crinoline. A great friend of mine writes it and always posts creative ideas. http://cupcakesandcrinoline.com/ Sometimes she does give-aways. She also has a shopping page with a few items. She's just recently started out so I wanted to help her get some more visitors to her blog. I hope you'll visit today and see the cute cookie ideas she posted! :) I think we're gonna try out the Christmas Caroler Cookies. They look like fun and they seem easy enough to modify. We may also try the chocolate reindeer cookies.

Well, I hope you are all having a great holiday season and I hope that it only gets better from here on in. :) I hope to talk to you soon!
Laugh a lot!

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Internet Detention Looms-One More Post Before It Crashes In

Yes, folks. We've hit the download limit again. Ah, well. Such seems to be our lot concerning online time. I wanted to get another blog post in before the lockdown begins.

Does anyone else have last minute Christmas shopping to do? There was a time when I was ready for Christmas...completely...by October. I miss those days very much. Not only was it a relief to be able to take my time while shopping, it was also easier on our budget. Sadly, I had nothing but stocking stuffers by October of this year. So all the major purchases had to be done in November and December. Talk about a budget drain! But I think it will be a special Christmas, even with all the stress and strain. We'll be able to spend this one with my husband's family. We haven't had a Christmas with them in several years. We're really looking forward to it!

Speaking of Christmas, what does it mean to you? Is it just a time for laughs and friends and presents and a feast? Or does it mean more to you? To me, Christmas is a time to remember and reflect. It's also a time to bring family together. Christmas reminds me that there are many more people less fortunate than I am. It reminds me I need to be giving and helpful throughout the year and not just for one month of each year. I'm going to enjoy this Christmas and revel in the magic and wonder and history and splendor. Here's my top 10 for this post...what I love about Christmas, what I'm thankful for at Christmas.

1. People are more giving and forgiving...in general, unless you're in their way on Black Friday.
2. Christmas lights-So much fun and so pretty!
3. Obscure Christmas songs-They are a riot b/c they make people give you the quizzical puppy dog look.
4. Trimming the tree-Fun when I do it alone. Interesting when I do it with my kids. But the satisfaction when it's done is always the same. :)
5. Old Christmas cartoons-I love the stop motion cartoons. Can't help it. The magic just carries over and still makes me feel secure. Gives me warm fuzzies, too.
6. Public Servants-Everyone wants a little peace. Everyone needs a break. Well, most people get one for Christmas. Sometimes we that get a break at Christmas need to remember those who don't, who still go to their jobs so that we can be safe while celebrating during the holiday.
7. Giving gifts-Giving a gift is so much more fun than getting one. I love watching a person's face light up while they open it! I love seeing the enjoyment when they like what they've received.
8. Wrapping presents-I love wrapping presents. It's a time of peace and quiet and I can get really creative with each package. Well, I can get as creative as time will allow, anyway. :)
9. Homemade gifts-Homemade and handmade items are usually a plus. However, if you don't know the person's favorite color, or what they are able to consume, get a gift card. It's not special if you made a chartreuse scarf and the person just can't wear that color at all. :( Having said that, I'm working on scarves right now...and praying the recipients will love them...
10. Stories-I love reading certain Christmas stories with my kids. We have two that are somewhat traditional. The first is 'The Cajun Night Before Christmas' by "Trosclair". (Please take note that none of the other versions can compare to this ORIGINAL.) The second one is 'The Tail of the Three Trees' a folktale as retold by Angela Elwell Hunt. We recently added another possibility to our reading list. Brian Jacques wrote a book called "A Redwall Winter's Tale" that I just love.

Well, that concludes my wordiness for this post. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you enjoy the holiday season. Remember that the most important thing is that you hug those you love. Most people, even children...maybe mostly children, don't really care how many gifts they get. They'd much rather know they are loved and that someone cares about them. Time spent together is so very special! I know there are many more people struggling this year than there were last year. I know times are tough. Just remember you are not alone. Happy Christmas wishes to all! And for those that don't celebrate 'Christmas', then I hope you have a very festive holiday season, whatever tradition you follow. :)

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Baked Apple Stuff (a Recipe)

Well, this is a first for me. I have never posted a recipe. I guess that's because I'm not always too confident of my culinary expertise. However, I performed a little experiment with some apples and pears. It turned out to be a yummy experiment so I'll share it. I highly recommend organic stuff if you can get it.



Ingredients:

2 granny smith apples peeled, cored and chunked

3 red pears peeled, cored and chunked

1 braeburn apple peeled, cored and chunked

2 handfuls of raisins (organic raisins will plump back into grapes!)

1/4-1/2 cup honey (I didn't measure. But I do think it was closer to 1/4 cup.)

1/4 tsp powdered ginger

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

2 Tbsp water (I didn't measure the water. I think I put closer to 1/4 cup and thought it was too much.)



After chunking apples and pears, put them in a deep, round casserole dish that has a cover. Heat the oven to 300 degrees (or 350 if you're in a hurry). Add the raisins over the top. In a small bowl blend the honey and spices well. Drizzle the mixture over the apples. Add the water to the dish. Cover. Check periodically and stir if necessary. The dish is done when the apples are the desired tenderness.



It was a well-liked dish for our Thanksgiving meal. I hope you all enjoy it as much as we did!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Agh! I've Been Absent Too Long!

I was amazed to see, when I logged in to my blogger this morning, that I'm up to a whopping 16 followers! Either I wasn't paying attention (most likely)or I had some new folks jump on the Mawkishness train in my absence. Either way, it's just been too long since I posted something. Wildblue satellite internet doesn't make it easy when they stick me in detention. What is internet detention? Well, it's sort of like an oubliette-where you put people to forget about them. Technically, it's what happens when you exceed your download limit or your upload limit. Since we're not /so/ into uploading stuff, that's never really been a problem for our family. Our problem is the pitiful download limit. We pay $90+ a month for a download limit of 17G. You may be saying, "Wow! That's great!" Not so much. This is the amount per 30 days...rolling. That 'rolling' thing has been a thorn in our side. As some of you know, we school our children at home. I download many resources to use in their classes. If I wanted to put them in an online class, they wouldn't be able to do it. There simply isn't enough download space. Streaming video and music is a no-go for us. It saps the download faster than a frog catching a fly. When our speeds are slow, we can't upload anything at all. So blogging can be really difficult when we're in Internet Detention. Ah, well, enough of that. I said it all to let you know that I'm back up and running at normal speeds after about 3 and a half weeks of slower than snot speeds.

And so, to celebrate this return to higher speeds, I'd like to list ten things I'm thankful for.

1) I'm thankful for my family. My husband and my children, my parents, my in-laws, my grandparents...they all mean so much to me and have contributed to the person I am today. I'm pretty happy being me and I thank them for helping me get there.

2) I'm thankful for the beautiful weather. Now, when I say "beautiful weather", I mean all weather. Last night we had a wonderful and much needed rain shower pass over us. Today the sun is shining and the wind is making the leaves dance in happiness. It just makes me think wonderful thoughts...or situation appropriate thoughts. (It rained when we buried my grandfather and it rained when we had the wake for my pa-pa. That's situation appropriate weather, IMO.)

3) I'm thankful for people like Jason Boyett, Tess Mallory and Matthew Paul Turner who all have fabulous blogs that make me laugh, inspire me and make me think and all from a Christian perspective. It's nice to know there are 'big name' Christians out there that are honest with the public about a whole life experience. Honestly, I just don't believe that we can be on a spiritual high all the time. That's just not the kind of person I am. And people who profess that...well, let's just say I have a very hard time believing they're truthful. Kinda like prosperity preachers-God does want us to prosper and be successful. But it isn't going to just fall into our laps. We have to go out there and work for it. As the old adage states, "Anything worth having is worth working for."

4) I'm thankful for a creative mind. Now, my mind might be sort of like gas molecules with ideas bouncing around wildly, but sometimes I do get good ideas. Putting them into good use is sometimes difficult or trying but if successful it's such a cool thing! I love being able to make things with my hands and using my mind to enhance an idea. I love the freedom that having a creative mind allows me. I find that artists and artisans are more open-minded than most folks. That's just my opinion, btw.

5) I'm thankful for my healthy living support group. You know, I never thought I'd need to be involved in a real support group of any kind but this group has really been an encouragement to me. I've learned about the health benefits of fermented foods and a wonderful website called www.pickl-it.com where you can get recipes and equipment for making those ferments. I've learned about the benefits of raw milk, though I haven't been able to test that out yet. Hopefully, in the future, Louisiana will allow raw milk sales.

6) I'm thankful for the freedom we have in our country, the best country ever! And I'm thankful /to/ the men and women who daily sacrifice for us to keep our freedoms.

7) I'm thankful for the wonderful friends I have who have opened my eyes to the truth of variety being the spice of life. They, too, have contributed to making me the person I am today. I love them for it.

8) I'm thankful for my followers on this blog. You must've seen something you liked. LOL I'm so random in my postings that there's no telling which post snagged your attention. And I'm so sporadic in my posting that you must be quite patient and easy-going. But for whatever reason you decided to join in, thanks! I'm glad you're here.

9) I'm thankful for internet resources that help me learn and explore new and exciting things. Where would we be without our sense of curiosity, our need to explore and observe the things around us? A life without curiosity and learning would be so boring! Having said that, sometimes I learn things that I wish I'd never seen or heard or read. But in the end, I have to be thankful for those things, too. Bad things exist in this world whether we accept that fact or not. And I'd rather know about them so that I can fight against them. You can't fight what you don't know. I guess I'm thankful for Sun Tzu, too. LOL I really should read 'The Art of War' for myself. I got my info from my husband who read 'The Art of War For Leaders'. I'd like to read the original book.

10) I'm thankful for the peace in my soul that comes from my personal belief in a God that cared enough to remake, recreate and reform me. 'Born again.' 'Saved.' Those terms are so well used they're a bit ragged around the edges. But they apply to me. The truth of the matter is that the other three words are really /more/ accurate. Choosing to serve God is a life-changing and ongoing thing. It isn't something that occurs once and then you go on as before. It's something that should be constant and never ending.

I've been in a kind of slump lately, feeling like I don't really know what to do next. Wondering what my purpose is. Getting bogged down in "what if's." What I need to remember is that perhaps this is a time when I need to be resting. Perhaps my purpose for now is to take a breather and refocus. Maybe, just maybe, God is telling me to be still for a time. And I have to snicker because I'm just as bad at being still as my 6yo!

Monday, November 1, 2010

So Many Goings On!

It's been a few weeks since my last post but it seems like several months! So much has been happening lately. Since my last post, our internet was cut back. Again. This time, we only had two weeks at normal speeds before being cut back. I impatiently await the day when we can switch to a better system. I've taken to calling this down time 'Internet Detention'. Our Redwall Feast didn't happen at the usual time this year. Too many things happened at once and I just was not ready. So it looks like we'll be having a Mid-Winter Redwall Feast. I hope we'll have our wood-burning stove installed by then. That would be so wonderful! TheRo had a birthday this past weekend. It was a small affair with a pleasant number of gifts that she greatly enjoyed ripping open. :) For Halloween, we don't usually do trick or treating. We have done it a couple of times in the past but it's usually more trouble than I care to deal with, mostly because we have to get rid of all the candy. (I have a new friend who has a great tradition that might help me solve this problem in the future, though.) So yesterday, we had one kid who was very upset not to be going trick or treating (our 9yo) and one who could care less either way as long as she gets to play (our 6yo). LOL The girls did dress up and went over to Grannie's house to trick or treat. This they enjoyed very much and I enjoyed it because I knew they were safe and also that Grannie knows what they can and can't eat. :) What a joy! My only regret is that the camera had no battery power so I have no pictures to commemorate it for the first time in 14 years. :( Well, I'll have to be on the ball for next year.

I've been extremely slow about lots of things this year! I can't believe how badly I have fallen into a slump. The things that I normally enjoy give me little or no pleasure these days and I find myself just functioning, surviving, whatever. Those costumes I talked about before (at least, I believe I mentioned them on this blog...Princess Mononoke, Merle and Able Nightroad) are still in the planning stages for the most part and not cut out at all. And I'm still working on a necklace for a friend that should've been complete long ago. I came to the conclusion that I needed to set some new goals for myself. For right now, setting new goals is as far as I've gotten on that. LOL Can you say 'procrastinator extraordinaire'? The girls got some money for birthday/Halloween and they used part of it to get some yoga gear so we've gotten back into doing some yoga during the work week. I'm hoping we can keep it up. I do feel much better when I start my day with some good, calming yoga. That seems to help a lot towards getting me motivated for the day. Well, speaking of motivation, we still need to do the yoga routine for today and I have Pickl-It jars to fill and dishes to wash and laundry to get done and patterns to cut out and Christmas to plan for... Well, you guys get the picture. :) Wish me well and I wish the same for you all. I hope I can remember to post again soon. LOL
Laugh a lot!

A Fun Giveaway from All Free Sewing!

I recently stumbled on this great website ----> www.allfreesewing.com What a wonderful resource for anyone interesting the the textile arts! I got a link from www.homeschoolfreebieoftheday.com that was to take me to a free ebook download. I ended up choosing a different ebook download that worked better for me. Since I am schooling my children at home, an ebook dealing with beginner sewing projects was much better suited to my needs. Our 9yo is very interested in learning to sew but many sewing projects are just too much for her. They include too many pieces or are too time consuming. The beginner-targeted sewing book was a super find!

Anyway, today I received email notification of a great giveaway by the folks at All Free Sewing. Here's the link to the giveaway -------------> http://www.allfreesewing.com/sweeps/Sewn-Spaces-Book-Giveaway You may have to copy and paste the link but I do believe it's worth your time and effort. ;) It looks like an interesting and fun book of projects. Have fun and I wish you luck!

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Halloween Dreams

I thought I'd have a little fun and share some costumes I'd love to get a chance to try out but probably never will. These are my top 10 costume wishes but done in a countdown from 10-"it would be cool" to 1-"this is flippin' awesome and one day I will own this costume if I have to make it completely from scratch." Hope you enjoy...

10) Anything with cool heels-I love high heels. They are so much fun! And these days, you can actually get kooky heels to match your quirky moods. Too bad only the major designers sell them. :( I love them but I'm not paying more than about $60 for super heels or $150 for awesome boots. Sorry designer people! But, you guys will notice a recurring theme in most of the costume ideas...
High Heels Pictures, Images and Photos

9) 80's Punk Rock Star-OK as cheesy as it sounds, I've always wanted to have a costume to display my 'edgy' side. What? You didn't know I had an edgy side? See! I knew I needed this costume!
80s punk Pictures, Images and Photos

8) An Amy Brown Fairy-I confess, I cannot help myself when it comes to the colors and designs of the Amy Brown faeries. They're pretty flippin awesome! But since I'm short, this costume gets stuck at number 8 because let's be honest...a short faerie? And my shape is all wrong...
Amy Brown Pictures, Images and Photos

7) Gypsy-Here's a traditional sort of costume! And one that I could really get creative with.
5 Pictures, Images and Photos

6) Autumn-Yes, I do mean the season. I've been winter. I'd love to dress up as autumn. Perhaps a dress of leaves (fabric leaves, of course) would be pretty cool...
Autumn Pictures, Images and Photos

5) Chainmail-clad warrior maid-Who has never desired to wear chainmail and carry a sword and jingle when they walk?? OK, so I guess I'm in a minority with this one. Just goes to show how eclectic I really am. :) I've always loved fantasy art and fantasy stories. It would be fantastic to be a warrior maid, I think! This one gets two pix b/c I love these kinds of pictures...
Warrior Maiden Pictures, Images and Photos
This next one is one of my all time fave warrior maid pix.
Warrior Maid Pictures, Images and Photos

4) The female android from the movie 'Bladerunner'. The main reason for this one is that she wore this sparkly body suit. Now if you know me well, you know I'd never wear an exact replica of that (couldn't actually. I don't think it would be legal.) This also puts me in mind that I need to purchase this in blueray for my dear husband. It's a favorite of his. :)
bladerunner Pictures, Images and Photos

Now we get to the top 3 which I will have, one of these days. I may not ever wear 2 of them out of the house but that number 1 costume is a must use.../somewhere/. It's really hard, though, when you don't really celebrate Halloween...

3) The Princess from Conan the Destroyer-She's got this fabulous sleeping gown that I have got to learn how to make. Sorry, the picture is just a face shot. Apparently more people like the posters, comics and book covers.
Conan the Destroyer (1984) Pictures, Images and Photos

2) Harley Quinn-I would wear this to a private venue but not out in public...except for the car ride to get to the host's home. I just think it'd be a great deal of fun. LOL
quinn Pictures, Images and Photos
And one more...
Harley Quinn Pictures, Images and Photos

And the number one costume favorite of my life that I will own one of these days even if I have to make it from scratch-------

1) Maleficent-She's been my favorite villain for a long, long time. How could you not love that hat! And the Dark Flame Cloak/Dress? Wow! Now the glowing orb staff might be a bit of a trick to make...
Maleficent Pictures, Images and Photos

I hope you've enjoyed this fun installment of Muddled Mawkishness. Now, go and have a wonderful Sunday!

Laugh a Lot!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Top 10 Things To Do Today

Some folks have asked, "Melody, how do you fit it all into a day?" Well, that just depends on the day. Some days I get nothing done. I hate a nothing day because it feels like an absolute waste. Some days I get so much done that I'm tired for the next 3 days! I like those days because they feel so productive and positive. But you can see the imbalance in my life. I wouldn't recommend /my/ way of doing anything to anyone! LOL I just figured a top 10 of what I'd like to achieve today might give a little insight into a "Mel Day".

1) Drink coffee. Check, check and triple check. This is done times 3. :)

2) Drink cranberry juice with breakfast. Check. The girls fixed a fruit, yogurt and bread breakfast that was really yummy.

3) Drink water. Working on that throughout the day.

4) Touch base with Twitter and facebook friends. Working on that throughout the day.

5) Keep tabs on email messages. Working on that throughout the day.

6) Fix something for lunch. Leftover soup is on the stove to warm.

7) Fix something for supper. Still working on some kind of idea...

8) School with the kids. Started at about 9am and we'll keep working til about 3pm or 4pm.

9) Some sort of craft?

10) dishes and laundry

As you can see, my list is pretty vague except where food and coffee is concerned. I really just wing it. I figure we'll get what we need to do done at some point. We just take it one step at a time. I guess that's the best reason to explain why it takes me forever to complete my mega-projects. :) It's a beautiful day. I better go get that laundry started...

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

10 Reasons I Love Days Like Today

The weather in our area is absolutely gorgeous today! The morning was cool and dewy. Autumn is in the air. I love this time of year. Days like to today just make me feel so very alive. So here is my top ten for today. I haven't done one in a while and thought it would be fun to make a list today. :)

1. The sun is shining brightly, making the dew look like millions and millions of little stars. How could anyone not love the creative thought of that?

2. The air is fresh and clear. Living in the country, you can take a huge breath of air and most of the time you just smell fresh air. Sometimes you can smell the diesel fumes from a tractor or metallic scents of a barn or garage. Sometimes you can smell freshly plowed dirt (which is one of my favorite scents). But on days like today, all you smell is the combined scents of all the flora and fauna surrounding you and they mix well to form the scent of fresh, unpolluted air. AWESOME!

3. It's a reminder that my second favorite holiday is just around the corner. I love Thanksgiving. I consider it to be a true American holiday, not borrowed from any particular culture but a tradition all our own. And what a wonderful tradition! Who can find fault with a day to be /thankful/? And who can find fault with a table brimming with delicious goodness?

4. Days like this make it hard to frown. I frown a lot about a great many things. But on days like this, it's really hard to stay down for long. The bright sunshine and beautiful scenery around me are just too beautiful and too magnificent to foster any kind of 'down-ness'.

5. I feel energized and renewed. I don't know if it's the sunshine or the fresh air or the combination of the two but I feel like I could conquer the world on days like today. Or maybe just the few herds of dust rhinoceri that have invaded my domicile. :) (Didn't you know that rhinoceri is the plural of rhinoceros?)

6. It's the beginning of a new school year. A fresh start is always a good thing. You've had a breather, a short break, and now it's time to learn more interesting things. Helping a child learn new and interesting things is such a blessing! To watch your child catch on to new ideas or read a book for the first time...what an awesome thing!

7. Ah, yes! The bugs will soon go to sleep for a time. OK, so not all bugs sleep during the cold season. Some die before it hits. But some of them do. Let me just say here that the ones that don't had better stay out of my house (or stay out of sight) or they will not live through the winter.

8. The time for a fall garden is near at hand. The excitement of planting fall veggies is always something to look forward to. Broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, turnips [which I do not like so much], there are so many healthy vegetables to plant during this time of the year!

9. The sounds of cicadas and crickets and frogs are all still heard during this time of year. They wake us in the morning and sing us to sleep at night. What beautiful music they make!

10. The stars shine brighter, it seems, when the weather turns cooler. And I can hear the train passing by as if it was just across the bayou rather than 10 minutes down the road. I don't know about you guys, but I love to hear the passing of a train at night. During the day, it's not half as fun! I have no idea why this is.

This concludes today's top 10. I hope you enjoy it and I hope you will come back to read more in the future. Until then, be sure you...

Laugh A Lot!

Friday, September 10, 2010

Treating My Scalp and Hair, Naturally

This year, I've really been thinking about a lot of things. I know what /you're/ thinking..."UH-OH!" Seriously, though, I'd just really rather do what I can with inexpensive (or relatively so) items that I already have on hand. And some of you requested to know how some of my experiments have turned out so I'm tagging you. Also, if I thought you liked herbs or natural remedies, I tagged you. :)



For the past several years, I've had to switch shampoos constantly b/c they all tear up my scalp. I was told at one time that allergies can make your scalp break out. I believe it because when I'm in humid areas, my scalp is awful! When we moved to Texas, it got better for a time. Then it started to come back. I'd found a shampoo that worked well. Then the company did what they always do. They discontinued it. I can't use any shampoo that isn't clear. That severely limits my choices, right there. And the traditional choices for scalp issues and dandruff just do not work for me. In fact, none of them were clear shampoos except Neutrogena T-Sal (which didn't work but didn't make it worse) and one of the types of Selsun blue. Most of them actually made the problem worse.



I despise going to the doctor for /anything/. And I refuse to pay for a doctor to just shove a prescription in my hand without concern for whether it will work for me personally and pay twice as much as my regular doc charges. So I did the next best thing. I went looking for the herbal care websites. Bingo! I found a whole page of natural hair care recipes you can make at home. Some of them required items I don't usually buy, like glycerin. But since I just wanted the basics, I had everything I needed.



For my scalp issues, I use 2 Tbsp of coconut oil massaged into the scalp. (You could also use olive oil but it just depends on your personal choice. Since I have oily hair already, I opted for the lighter oil. It smells better, too.) I let that sit for 15-30 minutes. While I'm waiting, I make my shampoo and conditioner. The shampoo is 1 tsp baking soda to 2 oz water. I double the recipe because I still have a lot of hair. The conditioner is probably the most unpleasant smelling of all of them. Mix a ratio of 1:2 apple cider vinegar and water. It stinks. And if it gets in your eyes, it burns. But I'll be doggone if it doesn't work! My hair isn't quite as bouncy b/c of the oil treatment but it does work and my hair is clean and my scalp itch is much better. The only thing I'm going to change is buying apple cider vinegar that is not distilled...unless Louisiana gets another wild hair and outlaws it. I'll find the link where I got the recipes and post it in the near future.



Coconut oil and olive oil both have amazing results when used on the skin but you have to find out which one works for you. Coconut oil has antibiotic properties and can also be used on cuts and scrapes as a healing agent. Shh! Don't tell the doctors! They might try to take it off the market. Coconut oil also pulls out infection. If you use it as a facial mosturizer, it will pull out all the acne and then you'll see an improvement in your complexion, or so they say at a blog I read which I will have to find again. In the meantime, here's a resource from a place that 'sells' coconut oil so you should take that into account and perhaps do more research on your own.

http://www.coconut-info.com/coconut_oil_why_it_is_good_for_you.htm



Also, I'm sure some of you with babies know what a problem cradle cap can be. The coconut oil will work for that. I so wish I'd known when Rowan was born! I knew olive oil would work but I hated to put that on her knowing the smell was so strong. No worries now. I give the girl's hair the same treatment as I do mine. It surely helps Rowan.



So I guess, I said all that to say "Nyah" to all those pricey options out there that never worked for me. I don't need fragrance and weird chemicals to make me better. Take your heavily scented junk and...yeah, I guess you get the picture.



On a side note, I've found out that ridged nails and loss of hair can be caused by a zinc deficiency. I'm taking zinc anyway b/c it was suggested to me for a better immune system. I guess I need to take it more consistently for it to have any kind of effect on my hair and nails. LOL I would just really like to /know/ what minerals are deficient in my body and where I really need to work to pick those up before just downing a bunch of different things. And /why/ is there only one naturopath in our area? They're charging way too much for a thyroid test. I have a friend who gets hers done for $35 or $45 so why should I have to pay $218? I guess that's Lafayette for you...



Laugh a Lot!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Busy, Busy, Busy!

We are so busy right now! We have so many projects going on that I am feeling massively overwhelmed. I do this to myself all the time. For most people, Halloween is coming up. My family doesn't celebrate Halloween. We host a Redwall Feast instead and celebrate the joy of friends and family. It's like a Thanksgiving feast but with costumes and party games. :) The costumes for this year's feast are almost done. I still need to finish the chemises for the girls. But after that, I do believe we'll be ready for the Redwall feast. For Christmas this year, I'm making my kids each a costume of their choosing. It's ok that the older two know that. We don't celebrate Christmas like everyone else, either. LOL We have our own family 'traditions'.

TheShi has been after me for a long time to make her a San costume. San is the wolf girl, aka Princess Mononoke, from the movie of the same name. If you haven't seen it yet, it's a good movie. Not for young kids, generally speaking, but a good movie all the same. So I have most of the pieces and parts that I'll need to complete the San costume.

Next up is Merle, the cat-girl from the animé and movie 'Escaflowne'. Not a great deal of work there but it will require more purchases. I find I'm lacking in the yellow-orange fabric that I need for the dress. And I'm also having trouble finding a pendant in the right shape, size and color. I'm thinking I'll end up making the pendant myself. Not hard, just more expense and more time. The hardest part of this one is going to be finding a pair of ears and a tail in the right colors.

Last and most definitely the 'piece de resistance'-Able Nightroad from the animé 'Trinity Blood'. If I can pull off /this/ costume, it will indeed be a great feat worthy of feeling proud of myself for the accomplishment. It's massive and grand. Leave it to my son to choose that particular costume. I never would have guessed in a million years he'd want /that/ one. He hasn't seen the animé, so far as I know but I'm sure there are clips on youtube. Regardless, I finally found patterns that I will only have to modify slightly. One is a Matrix pattern and the other a cloak from a vampire costume pattern. The rest of it will have to be completely my own imagination. I'm /hoping/ it will be done by Christmas but I'm thinking a better estimate might be birthday. I'll have to buy almost everything for this costume. Most of the black fabric I have is the wrong kind of fabric. But it will get done and hopefully I will not be shamed by my efforts. :)

Also going on the project front-a Sleuth Kit based loosely on the Nancy Drew sleuth kit. The girls and I are making a sleuth kit from scratch. I hope to post our materials and methods here when we are done, along with pictures of the completed project. Those should be finished this week sometime.

I'm still working on that boxchain I started a couple of weeks ago. I ran out of supplies so I just have to wait to get more. I should be able to finish it within a week of getting the supplies in. :)

It's a beautiful day! I started it with a headache but the headache is fading and I'm really thinking I'm going to enjoy this day. At least, I'll give it my best. I read a fabulous statement in an email newsletter this morning. I'll post it here. "The right thing isn't always the easy thing—especially in the midst of daily bickering and the responsibility of vigilance as both parent and teacher. It's a calling I don't take lightly, yet I know for now God wants me here. And
what I love about Him is that in the most necessary moments, He lifts me
up and swathes my heart in grace and joy. "The LORD gives strength to
his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace" (Psalm 29:11 NIV).~Lori Freeland" That's what homeschooling is like for me. So I thought I'd share it with as many people as I could. I know this could be applied to any calling! I got this from a Crosswalk email. I'm glad I didn't ignore that email today. :) Hope you all have a fabulous week! Laugh a lot!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

How Exciting!

While they were playing outside recently, my children found something they thought very exciting. They rushed inside telling me stories of 'berries in our yard'! When theShi was researching herbs this morning, she found out what kind of berries they are. They were elderberries! I didn't even know they would grow in our area. This was an even more exciting find than first thought. TheShi will be blogging about it on Friday so I won't spoil the fun. But if you'd like to learn more about elderberries, you can find lots of information online.

We also found some mystery berries that I'll be taking to our local nursery to see if they can tell me more about them. They look like little grapes and could be muscadines but I'm really not too sure. They have this really bright fuchsia color and then turn a dark purple that is almost black. I suppose I'll keep you posted on our findings.

Until then, y'all be sure to laugh a lot! I know /I/ need some laughter today...

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Whee! Here we go!

Ah, it has been very good these last few weeks. We started school on the 9th and things have been going fairly well. I can hardly believe we've gotten three weeks done! At least, the girls have gotten 3 weeks in. Our son started yesterday and it was so nice to see him start with a smile on his face. I'm so glad we decided to use the college books his father kept. Those will definitely challenge him. I think that's exactly what he needed. He told me today that he likes his new books. I could hardly believe it! And my youngest is reading (READING) this year! I'm so glad that I didn't push her too fast. She's really enjoying it. So overall, the first few weeks of school get an A. :)

On the crafting front, I haven't been up to much of anything. I did manage to scrapbook the children's play and part of the photos from the first play we did back in the spring. I don't have an album yet but the pages are looking fun and creative.

We are coming to my favorite time of year. I love the autumn months. No matter where I am, things just seem lighter and full of hope. It could be that most of the fun holidays are coming up. It could be that the autumn colors are my favorite colors. I really don't know what exactly causes it to be so. It just is. Where we live, we don't see much 'fall color' in our trees. The air changes, though, and it becomes cooler, much like a breath of fresh air that blows away the heat and humidity. Having said that, I /hate/ Louisiana winters. They are wet, cold and generally nasty. There isn't much playing outside that goes on during the Louisiana winter.

Our Redwall Feast will be coming up soon and I just love preparing for it. I can't wait to plan and send out invitations! Should be lots of fun since we have new people to invite this year.

I have several costumes to make. Last year, theShi asked me to make her a San costume (the heroine from the movie Princess Mononoke). I've been gathering the materials to make it for some time but it's coming together...slowly. LOL TheRo asked me for a Merle costume (from the anime Escaflowne) and that one should be a bit easier. We'll see. This month, I'm going to try to get some of the few things I have to buy to complete it. Thankfully, I have almost everything I'll need. My one worry is 'fur'. That kind of material is usually pricey and I'll probably need about 2 yards, if not more. We shall indeed see...

On the garden front, our citrus trees are producing pretty well. In a few months, we should have pink grapefruits, lemons and oranges and probably in amounts that will be too bountiful for our needs. I think the people of the church will probably be blessed with some. I'm looking forward to fermenting the lemons and I hope to make some orange marmalade and some grapefruit jelly. Our efforts with last year's crop yielded some very pleasing results!

Well, I guess that's enough for now. I really am trying to get better about posting more often. I don't worry too much about doing 'extra' stuff on a regular basis. I'd much rather get into the habit of doing the necessary things on a regular basis...like dusting and mopping... Well, we do what we can. Talk to y'all soon! Laugh a Lot!

Monday, August 16, 2010

Good Golly Miss Molly...

The second week of school for my girls starts today. I've been trying to keep the schedule kind of light for the first 3 weeks, taking care of the core subjects and trying to add in little projects that reinforce some of those lessons but are fun, as well. Last week went pretty well. We did work every day and worked well together for the most part. I found some wonderful online sites, thanks to other home school moms who post these helpful tidbits. www.currclick.com is a wonderful resource for unit studies and helpful supplemental materials. They offer many free items and lots of their products are less than $5! (They didn't ask me to promote their site. I just thought I'd pass along some helpful info to other home school folks.) Another of my favorite sites is www.enchantedlearning.com . This is a worksheet and information site. You do not have to be a member of the site to print out some of the worksheets but many of the topic specific worksheets can only be printed out by members. I think it's well worth the member fee (which is somewhere around $25/yr, I believe) to be able to print any of the worksheets I might happen to need. The worksheets vary in grade range all through the elementary level. They are easy to modify for a child who is a bit older. As an English and Science project throughout the year, my DD will be posting to her new blog www.journeytoaworldofherbs.blogspot.com . She'll do research during the week on various herbs of her choosing and post her findings.

In other family news...my extended family still doesn't get it about our food decisions. Eating out is unhealthy for us. So bringing food home that has been made at the fast food place is also not a good thing. Also, Domino's pizza has got to be my least favorite pizza of all the 'fast food' pizza chains. I guess that's why they offer their product for school fund raisers. :( So my middle daughter, who would love to kill herself with junk food, is now upset b/c Domino's pizza will be on the table for supper at my mom's but she won't be able to get any. I suppose my question is why. Why was it important to tell my girls what others were having for supper? Did they ask? If so, then the truth was better than a lie but...it's still annoying to have to deal with grumpy kids who'd love to have some pizza. And, no, it's not ok for them to have it 'just this once' because 'just this once' turns into a regular occurrence. If we're going to pinpoint what is making our allergies worse, then we have to eliminate all kinds of that stuff. Tough when it keeps getting shoved under our noses...

More news... My dh has started getting his things together to start the new semester at a new school. While shopping for books (at the store the school referred us to), we found out that his books were going to cost about $400...which we didn't have. The school gave us the ISBNs for two of the books but not the third one. When my DH went back to the store this morning, the owner said he didn't give out the ISBN's because it hurt his business. Poor owner! He just didn't really realize that he hurt his business even more by /not/ giving us the customer service we needed. I'd never shopped there before and had planned to go back but not now. I'll just shop at Amazon. I'd even pay 3x as much, rather than shop at that store now. Honestly! Did the imbecile not know that we /can/ research the stuff on our own? He still lost business on the school books and now he's lost business on his used books, too! I'm not stupid. My DH is not stupid. We found the ISBN at the school and got all the books online...for about 1/3 of the cost. We would really have been stupid not to get the books online... Which bookstore? "And Books Too" in Lafayette, LA. If you need comic books, I'd recommend you go to the other comic book store that I don't know the name of. If you need used books, I'd recommend the one off of I-49 on the north side of town. Can't miss it. It's a huge building with a bright orange tin roof.

In the midst of all this chaos, I think I'm staying sane. Well, as sane as possible considering my 'normal' state of mind. LOL Trying to stay positive in the middle of all the negative...but wondering if that attracts the negative, now. After all, physical science teaches that opposite charges attract. Ok, since I'm rambling, I'll stop for now. I hope some of this helps someone out there.

Friday, August 13, 2010

A Bit of Fear is Healthy, Right?

Well, I guess it keeps me on my toes...maybe...unless something shiny crosses the path.

My 9yo, who enjoys using her imagination but hates writing anything down, expressed an interest in blogging. At first, I thought, "ARGH! No way." Then I thought that it might be worth it if our young lady is learning something useful while she learns about something she's interested in. She happens to be interested in herbs, historical use of herbs and specifically the use of herbs to help others. So we'll be setting that up today and I'll be watching very closely as she posts on her blog each week. We had a great start to our school year with our girls begging me to begin their schoolwork. And now a writing project that was /chosen/ and suggested by one of them... Something else to note is that she will be learning valuable internet usage information. It just kind of surprised me since I know someone who's daughter is also doing a blog for a school project, though she is older and is doing a lot more work with hers.

So please pray for us and wish us good tidings with our endeavors on this blog.

Monday, August 2, 2010

A Visit With Relatives

Just a quick post today. My DH, 2 DDs, my dad and I went to visit my great-uncle and aunt yesterday. He has Alzheimer's. She's not too healthy, either, but she's well enough to take care of him for right now. The Alzheimer's is progressing slowly but it is progressing. I suppose the hardest thing to take is the fact that he used to be in the thick of things. Both of them were always involved in community projects that benefited their city. They were active older adults who traveled at least once a year. They were truly an asset to the human race, a vision of what hard work and dedication can do for each individual and for the rest of humanity. So now they go out periodically. They still attend church. They dine out periodically. I guess it just goes to show we should always be thankful for the small joys in life. They are still here. They are able to get out some. He can still communicate well enough to have short conversations on his good days.

I'm glad we went to see them yesterday. My uncle still remembers my dad. They were able to share some old stories and some jokes. My uncle didn't remember me but he remembered my son, who wasn't with us on this visit. I thought that was a very nice compliment to my son. My uncle always appreciated the fact that I borrowed another uncle's name to use within my son's name. My Uncle Willis Kessler died in the D-Day invasion of Normandy. He never had a chance to have children of his own. So we chose to add his name into our son's name in honor of the sacrifice he gave. So my uncle who is still alive, who was brother to Uncle Willis, remembers my son. My son has always been special to him.

I guess I said all that to tell you to cherish the time you have here on this Earth. Cherish the ones you love and take good care of them. Be faithful to them, even when it's hard to understand all the whys. Forget about yourself for just a little while and bring a bit of joy to another person in dire need of it. You won't be sorry and the smile on that person's face will be its own reward.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

What a week!

It's been a whirlwind week! Our kids just finished up a play this week called "Humpty Dumpty Is Missing". If you've never seen it, it's a hoot! They had a lot of fun and considering there was a cast of 25 children ranging in age from 7-14, not a whole lot of altercations. My son was the oldest and of course, he always knows best so there was bound to be /some/ trouble. Turns out, there was only one kid he had real problems with. And his main beef with this kid was that he held up practices with his bratty behavior and inability (or lack of desire) to memorize his lines. Anyway, thankfully the play was over before any real physical harm was caused, except for this kid stepping on my son's foot. I wonder if he knew my son has an ingrown toenail on that foot. The world may never know. I tried to upload a couple of photos but it's not working for me. Maybe I can load some later.

So all week long, we were rushing to get the kids to the play. Friday night was the last night of the play and tonight we had a birthday party to go to. A friend of ours (we met through the first play we were involved with) had a BIG birthday party for her little girl who turned 3 this year. It was a princess party and all the girls were to dress up as princesses. My two went as Indian (as in the country India) princesses. They were gorgeous! I know. I'm biased. :) They had a lot of fun and really enjoyed being a part of it all. Well, I know it's short but I have to get some sleep. My weekend is almost over before I even began it! LOL Hmmm...and my birthday is coming up soon. I better get started planning something for that...

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Respecting My Elders

I just got to thinking about something today. I have a few friends who aren't comfortable around the elderly. These same friends may even mock them at times. They are entitled to their opinions and responsible for their own actions concerning this matter. But here is my take on respecting the elderly...in 10 topic sentences.

1. They made it to the age they are.-They must have had some kind of tenacity to get to the age they are today. For sheer determination in surviving the things life throws at all humans, they deserve my respect.

2. They have lived through many experiences.-They have had to deal with many things we can only imagine in today's world of fast everything. In doing so, they've had to make do with what they had, which was sometimes not much at all. For their ingenuity, they deserve my respect.

3. They are or were hard workers.-Back in the day, you actually had to work to get recognition or honor of any kind. Back in the day, if you didn't work, you didn't eat. Back in the day, everything was work and work was constant. Washing clothes, cooking, keeping the house clean, keeping the yard looking nice-all these things meant hard and diligent work had to be done...constantly. For that, they deserve my thanks and respect.

4. They know a few things.-Things may have changed a bit, but human nature remains the same. Trust me. I've learned quite a few things from my grandmother, who is also my hero. I may not always agree with her, but I can still respect her opinion because she may have something-something I probably missed. Last time I checked, I was still a kid to her, still her granddaughter, and still not quite as smart as I think I am. For their knowledge of the world around them, they deserve my respect.

5. They care.-Most people razz you or criticize you because they care. There are indeed a few who do so out of spite, malice and jealousy. But if these people are friends or family, they are doing this because they care. Listen to them. Take the bits of what they say that make sense, those bits that you understand, and apply them. See what happens. For their care and concern, they deserve my care and respect.

6. They take the right things seriously.-I find that most elderly folks are most concerned about their family. I think they have that right. I think family should be the most important thing to all of us. And I think there is a lesson to be learned here. How many of us think we never have enough time to stop? I think I'll take the advice of the elderly and be sure and spend some time with the people I care most about every day...or at least as often as I can make time. For their time, they deserve honor and respect.

7. They've been there. They've done that.-There is no advice like the advice from someone who's been there. Like I said earlier, times may have changed but human nature hasn't. Listen to what the elderly have to say about what they learned in life. Chances are, you will learn something new and helpful. And even if you don't, there's probably a good story to be heard. For their helpful words and advice, they deserve my respect.

8. They can teach others.-Where many of us (the young'uns) have no patience, I find the elderly have it in plenty. And they have so many things they can teach us. For the lessons they are willing to share, they deserve my thanks and my respect.

9. Storytime-I love hearing the elderly relate stories of their childhood or young life. Many of these would be frowned on now because political correctness has torn down so many good walls as well as some of the bad ones. For the stories they are willing to share, they deserve my willing and eager ear and my respect.

10. They are educated in many ways.-Most of the elderly are smarter than we give them credit for. Their school was actually much harder than the stuff we were/are made to learn today. Their teachers were not allowed to go over the test questions before the test was given. Their teachers did not keep the rest of the class hindered because one or two students were behind. They kept up, or they got left behind. There's a reason for that. They had to be strong to survive in the world of yesteryear. Their minds had to be as strong as their bodies. A strong mind has to be worked and stretched into shape just as the muscles of the body must be worked and stretched in order to be strengthened. For their determination to succeed, in order that they may pass on their hard work for the benefit of their children and their children's children, they deserve my heartfelt gratitude, my respect and great honor forever.

And that's how I feel about the elderly.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

10 Things I Would Like To Do But...

I'm following through on the new "10 Things" kick I started with my last blog post. I really believe we make time for the things we truly want to do. But what happens when the things you want to do are more than the time you have available? Oh, yeah. A priority list might help...unless you hate making lists and being confined to schedules. Am I the only person who desires to do lots of good things but never does them? I seem to have lots of good intentions but I never follow through on about half of them. So here's a list of confessions, things I want to do, have started to do, but never made the time to finish.

1. Stained glass-This one is easy. I never have the money to start this kind of project because of the plethora of other projects I always have going. I love the art of stained glass, though. So this is on my mental list of 'things to do before I die'.

2. Make stuff for all my friends-I always get some kind of compliment on the work I do. And I like to share. Currently, there are 5 projects in the works for friends. Are any of them finished? No. How many are actually started? Two, both just barely.

3. Keep my desk clean and organized-This is a hard one. I spend the most time at my desk. It gathers the most clutter. I tried the Fly Lady thing but the emails were so overwhelming, I felt unable to comply. Besides, I work better under pressure...well, that's what I tell myself anyway. Right now, my desk looks like an F-5 tornado swept through, followed by Hurricane Katrina, followed by a tidal wave of epic proportions. There's barely enough space for my water glass. I've tried organizing it. I bought great little drawer boxes and labeled them. Those are still functioning as described. It's mainly the paperwork that gets out of hand. I even simplified that but it's still like a paperwork swamp! (sigh)

4. Keep my house dust free-This one is practically impossible unless I walk around with dust rags or Swiffer mitts surgically fixed on my hands, feet and head. We live next to a dirt road and there are fields all around us. I'm beginning to think the dust rhinoceri are my pets and am getting quite attached. This is a sad thing, though, when I'm allergic to them. :(

5. Keep up with dishes and laundry-Well, in a family of five, I guess I'd be doing dishes and laundry non-stop. Not gonna happen. I have no desire to constantly stand at the sink or in front of the washer. I do love hanging laundry on the line but there's only so much room out there. I've come to the conclusion that I just need to accept the fact that there will always be some laundry in the laundry baskets and some dishes in the sink.

6. Indulge my budding inner artist-I love art in all forms. I see beauty in so many things. In fact, I see beauty in many areas most people turn away from in disgust. However, putting this down on a piece of sketchbook paper seems to be beyond me. At least, I can't seem to do it on a regular basis. I seem to do things in ragged lumps. For example: 1 week of sewing non-stop, 2 weeks of chainmail jewelry non-stop, 4 days of calligraphy non-stop, etc. As a result, I usually finish a couple of the projects I have going and get started on others so they can sit in a box for a couple of months before I get back to completing them.

7. Exercise-I'm not a sporty person. In fact, I hate sports. I realize the importance of staying fit. But I do not believe people should be paid more to play games than to make a building safe for thousands of the workers inside. That makes no logical sense to me. Anyway, I love the idea of a regular workout routine. I do well for about a week, then the novelty wears off. I'm not getting any younger and my metabolism will be changing before too long. But I can't seem to stick with it for long enough to make it a habit.

8. Eating a good breakfast-I used to eat breakfast every day. Now my breakfast usually consists of 2.5 cups of coffee. I know that's not a healthy breakfast but I can't seem to desire a good breakfast. Not only that, if I eat too early in the morning, I feel kinda yucky. If I do wait to eat breakfast, I'm usually sidetracked by something else that needs doing.

9. Writing a book-One day, I'd like to write a book. I can't really decide on subject matter, though. I thought a book of my blog posts might be interesting. But then I thought it might just be a bit redundant. I did take a course on writing books for children. And I wrote a book...and was told there was too much information in it for the target age. That was interesting since my little cousin didn't seem to have too much trouble with it. Anyway, I haven't tried again and that was years ago. It's not that the critic was dissing my attempt. It's more about me not being sure of what I really want to say.

10. Jam with some of my favorite musicians-I'd love to just sit in on a jam session with some of my favorite artists. There's nothing more comforting to me than sitting in a small, intimate setting with friends and just having fun with music. Sadly, I never seem to be in a position to make this happen. Ah, well...

So there are my ten things for this go round. I hope you find them interesting, funny or helpful in some way. Feel free to comment. I'm not looking for help or guidance. I know what I need to do to 'make' these things happen. I also know that some are more probable than others. I'm a realist, after all. ;) Have a great day!

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Ten Things I Learned From My Family

These aren’t like a top ten list of things but rather random things I just remember learning. I either learned these things by watching the example of family members or by hearing them taught in our home.

1. God exists and He loves people. Why do bad things happen? I don’t know. But I /do/ know God /does/ exist and that He loves the people He created. He is everywhere I go, hears everything I say or don’t say and sees everything I do. You can pervert and twist that any way you’d like but it won’t change my mind about this being a good thing. I learned this from my mom and dad and my mom’s parents.

2. We are people of the land. The land is a part of us and we are a part of it. We can’t get away from it. It’s in our blood. When we are apart from it, we pine for it. Home is truly home and a safe haven. It’s not something to run away from or a trap. Rather the traps are set all around us and avoiding them can be a bit tricky. This is a good thing, too, because it keeps me on my toes. Some might call that paranoid. I guess they are as entitled to an opinion as any other person. I learned this from my dad and his mom and dad and brother.

3. We make do with what we have. We choose to be content. We don’t go begging for handouts because we want what everyone else has. We may not have the newest, coolest gizmos and gadgets. We may not have the most outstanding house on the highway. But we have an adequate domicile in which we can live a life that is abundant with the things that count the most-the joy of family living. This is not to say we don’t work hard which brings me to my next item. I learned this from both my parents and both my sets of grandparents.

4. Hard work never hurt anyone. Slave labor has. But hard work, willingly done, never hurt anyone. In fact, my grandfather (my dad’s dad) was one heck of a workhorse. As a farmer, he worked from the time he walked out the door after breakfast until sunset or after. Many are the times I remember bringing a sandwich lunch out to my dad, his brother and my grandpa as they worked the fields. Many were the nights we didn’t see them come home until well after dark, which in summer can be 9 p.m. Another familiar saying that goes along with this is “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” Yeah, you can laugh at that one if you want to. I notice the number of obesity cases is climbing… I learned this from my parents and grandparents.

5. Life isn’t usually fair. Every now and again, you’ll get this really awesome fairness that happens when you least expect it. Cherish it. You might not get another chance. I learned that from my mother.

6. There will always be a few regrets. Learn from them. Move on. Living life with a bunch of regrets weighing you down is no fun at all. Of course, you may look at all these ‘Life Lessons of Mel’ and think I have no fun at all anyway. Stick around. You might be surprised.

7. Being yourself is really, really hard. I learned this from some extended family on my dad’s side. Anytime I tried to be myself, I was wrong. I think they might have been trying to ‘help’ me ‘fit in’ but when ‘fitting in’ wasn’t necessarily going to happen anyway, all that did was make things worse. Still I am more firm in my belief that being myself is by far the better thing to be. It’s worth all the ridicule, teasing, bullying, mockery, etc. Trust me.  No need to be bitter, though. Let that part of learning the lesson go and revel in the breath of fresh air that it is to be YOU.

8. Marriage. Ah! What an interesting thing it has become these days. Do any marriages last anymore? Do people even go into marriage with the idea, no, conviction that this is a lifetime deal? I did. And I learned that from my parents and grandparents. ‘Well, I’m just not happy.’ Or ‘We just don’t get along.’ (sigh) Try looking at things from your partner’s perspective. I remember my mom saying, “It takes two to tango.” It means there are two sides to every story and taking the time to hear both sides is usually worth it. Just because the grass might /look/ greener on the other side, doesn’t mean it really is. Consider that you might be seeing only part of the picture of that green good-looking grass. My mom talked to me before I got married and right after I got engaged. She said this, “Don’t ask yourself whether you can live with him but rather ask yourself whether you can live without him.” I knew. I was convinced my husband was the man for me. And we are still together. Through sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, until death parts us? Yeah, I meant every word I boldly spoke that day before God and my family and friends.  I made a VOW.  I’m holding to it.

9. Never break a promise. If you do break a promise, you better have an awfully good reason for doing so. I learned that from my mom.

10. Life is short. Live it well. Love. Joy. Peace. Patience. Kindness. Goodness. Faithfulness. Self-control. Do you see anything bad in this list? People who live by this list are few and far between. Some of you will recognize it. You should, and probably are, thanking God for the person who taught it to you. So far as I know, it is still not against any law to use any of these actions. I do not always measure up to this list. It’s a tough one. But it’s worth my time and effort, especially if it means someone gets a bit of help along the way. I learned this from my mom her parents.

This concludes my random list of ten things I learned from my family. Maybe I’ll share some more things later. I have 35 years of experiences to draw from. Maybe next time, I’ll share ten things I learned from going to school or maybe from church social life. I really do hope this list will help someone. It helps me to write things down. This way, I’m less likely to forget. Thanks for taking time to read it. Feel free to share your thoughts but please be courteous. Also keep in mind that these are my perceptions of the lessons taught in my home. They are my firm beliefs. I do my best to respect the beliefs of others and I expect the same respect in return. Thanks!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Hello Again!

Ah, the sun is shining brightly today! There's a breeze blowing billowy clouds across the sky and I have high hopes for my laundry getting fully dried on the line. :) And so I begin my work for the day. It's been a while since I last blogged and I'm hoping for a good blog this time.  I've found myself being quite productive lately.  I've been working on Renaissance costumes for my girls.  Their costumes will match one I recently finished for myself.  (Just a helpful hint-if you wear matching outfits to a big event, it's easier to keep track of your group.  Schools do it all the time now.  I do have to say our matching costumes are much more fun than a simple matching t-shirt.)  Once I'm done with the girls costumes, I'll move on to my menfolk.  I had to make lots of modifications to the pattern I'm using for the girls.  I don't do buttonholes.  I like lacing much better.  Since my bustier has laces /everywhere/, I decided to modify the girls' tops to also use lacing in similar places.  I'm almost finished putting them together and I'll be sure to post photos when they are complete. Once I'm done with the girls' costumes, I'll move on to my menfolk.  They need jerkins or doublets and I haven't decided how I'll accomplish those yet.  I think they need the open sleeve doublet which will show a bit of the shirtsleeve underneath.  That would be most similar to my beribbonned sleeve, I think.  I'm still trying to decide.  I'll also need to buy more supplies in order to accomplish this task.  But I'm so excited to finally be getting it done! Well, I guess I better stop typing so I can go work some more.  I have a long to-do list! :)

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Awesome Giveaway From Simply Stacie!

http://simplystacie.net/spring-bling-mystic-pieces-giveaway/#comment-34296 Here's a link to Simply Stacie's blog. She's giving away some Spring Bling! :) Hope you enjoy your visit to her blog and to Mystic Pieces on Etsy. Have fun and good luck!

Monday, June 14, 2010

Special Diet Frustrations

My husband and I have been trying for several years now to eat a more kosher diet.  When we were sticking with the basics of the kosher diet, his cholesterol went down and he felt more energetic and healthier. And I was much happier with the way our health seemed to be going.  We had just moved to Texas when we decided to eat this way.  We are not Jewish. I think that confused people then, and I know it's confusing people now.  We are now in Louisiana where two of the staples are crawfish and pork-definitely not kosher.  What I would like to say is this: Please do not feel bad for me or my family because we have stopped eating things we feel are bad for us.  My husband and I do not feel deprived. We are not sorry we eat the way we do.  We should not have to explain ourselves or our choices to anyone but God.

Another major obstacle to our healthier choices are people who feel that we are depriving our children. To them I need to say:  Please do not give our children artificially colored/flavored candies and say things like, "Just this one time won't hurt."  My children hear you doubt our authority and they begin to lose faith in the people who care most about them, who take care of them every day, who sit with them through nightmares and sickness and emotional upheavals.  When we say our children cannot eat the candy you brought for them or bought for them, please don't take offense. Just ask me before you give them something the next time.  And if our choices for our children are too pricey for your pocketbook, no worries! They don't have to have candy or boxed brownies or frozen cookie dough with m-n-m's in them in order to love you. Really, my children are very loving little people.

And now for the rant...

All these thoughts have been rambling around in my head for several years now.  And today I got an email from a friend who was very strong and very loving in her response to a situation like this. Only she has a child that is autistic.  She's chosen a special diet very carefully for him that has improved his health and symptoms dramatically. She let him go to a neighbor's house (who she trusted and who knew about the dietary restrictions) and discovered that he'd had several things which were not included in his diet. I would've gone insane! She calmly dealt with the situation and has resolved to just make snacks for him to bring with him when he goes to visit people.  Why in the world would someone presume to feed a child they know is on a special diet without calling the parents first?  I do not understand this at all.  When a child is diabetic, you have to feed them very carefully.  This woman's chosen diet for her autistic child is no different.

Our children are not disadvantaged by having a diet that restricts certain kinds of fish and shellfish, pork, artificial colors, artificial sweeteners, artificial flavors, and chemical preservatives.  They are not worse off for using honey to sweeten things rather than processed, bleached sugar.  They are not deprived when they have the choice of home baked goods and home cooked food rather than McDonald's or Taco Bell or something quick out of a box.  Please do not assume that we are insane, uncaring or way too strict concerning our children's diet.  God gave them into our care and we have to choose the diet we feel is best for them.  Think of how you would feel if we came up to you and questioned your authority in front of your children.  Have we ever put any of you in a sticky position concerning your kids and the decisions you make concerning them?  If so, I heartily apologize!  I love all my friends and family, even the family I try not to talk to very often. (That's a whole different blog.)  But I will not have my authority questioned concerning whether or not my kids are going to eat /CANDY/ of all things! You know, if it was veggies or bread, I would possibly understand this better. But it's /candy/ that keeps getting pushed on my kids. "Oh! They /need/ something for the holiday!" Yes. They could use a new shirt, or a new pair of socks or a good book. Please don't give our kids anything without asking us first.  It's just safer and more polite and it reinforces our authority concerning their well-being. Thank you for your patience.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Just a Little About Life

It's been a little bit since I last blogged. I thought I'd take this opportunity to express my thoughts. At present, they're happy thoughts! :) Our garden is doing very well right now but I spotted some red beetles that are not ladybugs and some 'cowboy' bugs, which are actually called 'Leaf-legged' bugs or something like that. I found that out earlier today and it just goes to show how awful my memory is at times. I also found a very helpful site about natural pest control. I'm hoping to implement their ideas soon to see if they really are helpful and if this will deter the cowboy bugs. I don't want sour veggies! I want normal tasting veggies! Here's the site: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/29097/prevent_garden_bugs_no_pesticide_pest.html?singlepage=true&cat=32 I hope that works. You may have to copy and paste it to your menu bar. If not, let me know and maybe I can add that link another way. So far, we've probably harvested 10 lbs. of squash from our little patch. We have approximately 12-15 squash plants, some of which are zucchini and some of which are yellow crook-neck. The purple hull peas are also coming up and I can't wait to eat those but I have to get rid of those cowboy bugs! I read that they will eat peas! Can't have that.

In other life news, we are going to visit the hubby's family soon. This will be fun! We haven't been to see them for quite some time. We are all excited. :)

Later on this month a very good and dear friend of ours (who we consider to be family) is coming for a visit. We are so looking forward to it! :)

There is much to do and school must continue. I just wanted to blog a bit of the goodness that is around me and really put into words how thankful I am for the blessings from my Heavenly Father.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

It's Why Apostrophe Ay Ell Ell

Good evening class! Today, let us talk about contractions. Is that not exciting? Why are contractions so useful? They would have helped me shorten the second and third sentences above. "Today, let's talk about contractions. Isn't that exciting?"

I really, really, REALLY hate seeing the amount of misspelled contractions floating all across my internet pages. They're CONTRACTIONS, people! SHORTENED short words. You just remove a vowel or a group of letters and put the apostrophe in where the missing letter(s) was! It's not that difficult!

So why do I continue to see this tragedy-ya'll? What in the world is /that/? Yahoo will? Yard wall? Yam bell? What? The proper spelling is y'all, in which the apostrophe takes the place of the missing 'ou' in the word 'you'. They're is a contraction in which the apostrophe takes the place of the 'a' in the word 'are'. Let's is a contraction in which the apostrophe takes the place of the 'u' in the word 'us'. You see? It's not that hard, is it? Can we please try to do a little better? My 9-year-old gets this. Why can't grown adults get this? Why can't college freshman get this? What in the world is wrong with us?

Ok. I'm done with my rant. :)

Friday, April 23, 2010


Lots of things have been happening in the political sphere that are pretty scary to anyone who bothers to do the research. I'm not trying to scare ppl with this note. I'm just trying to share information. You are still free to take that information, research it for yourself and make your own decisions concerning that information. I'm just putting it out there.

I teach my kids at home (as most of you know) and it's amazing what you learn (or remember that you forgot) while teaching your kids. Noah's history this year (in addition to Louisiana History) is "History of the World In Christian Perspective". Now before you go off and say how awful it is to teach something in such a one-sided way, you should know that I use as many supplemental items as I can to give my kids a well-rounded and well-informed education, especially since that is lacking in the public school systems of today. There are many good teachers out there but they are so hampered by the guidelines they have to follow...well, that's for another note. Back to what we are learning in Noah's history book. Here's an exerpt from Noah's history book that was taken from The Communist Manifesto:

"When revolution broke out in Germany in 1848, they [Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels] took advantage of the turmoil to issue 'The Communist Manifesto', a pamphlet which laid out a program for Communist revolution. The 'Manifesto' advocated the violent overthrow of all established authority and called for the following measures:
1. The abolition of private property [see the link I posted earlier about the Amish farmer]
2. the redistribution of wealth through heavy, progressive income taxes [watch your 2010 tax spike]
3. a centralized federal bank [guess who owns many of our banks now]
4. government control of all means of communication and transportation [guess who owns GM and who's trying to control the internet b/c its a way to communicate globally, just like your phone]
5. government ownership of all means of production and all natural resources [this 'green' movement that you see them pushing, along w/ all the global warming hype]
6. the abolition of unemployment through social welfare programs [this has been in place for a long time but not fully functioning yet]
7. the redistribution of the population-from cities to rural areas and vice versa- and...
8. mandatory state-sponsored and state-supported education [I'm pretty sure we're heading this way. I'm prepping my kids now.]

It closed with a stirring call to battle: 'The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Working men of the world, unite!'"

It's pretty easy to see why they were able to take over, isn't it? When the government suddenly controls all the means by which a person can successfully live, they can control you. If we give them control of all the guns, if we let them pass a law to get rid of our nukes while other countries are practically encouraged to build them, we are playing into their hands. We /need/ to research before we vote. And by research I mean we need to dig deep and look at the candidates' pasts. After all, its the only way we have to consider how they will act once they get into office. In order to stop this from happening here (and I'm not sure it's possible now but I won't give up easily), we had better wake up as a country. Since I don't know whether fb will censor this or not (simply b/c of the use of the word 'communism') I will also be posting this in a blog. At least for right now, I still have my freedom of speech.

If you doubt anything I've said here, then please research on your own. Don't just dismiss this as fanatical or nonsensical. Don't let yourself be so easily guided by others. Study, study, study! Our schools feed our kids info and expect them to spit it back out. This discourages them from working hard to achieve. Do you remember how hard it was to pass a test if you didn't study? I thank God my parents sent me to a school that wasn't so concerned about where it was going to get its next dollar (at least at the time). This way, I was insured a quality education. I know how to research. I know how to study. I know the value of studying. I feel so sorry for the kids today who've had everything practically handed to them. They will flounder about and never know which way is up. Too bad really because these are the people who will be voting. I have nothing against 18 year old young adults but I do feel that they are more easily swayed to vote a certain way. I also believe that because they've been lulled by the fact that there haven't been any wars fought on our home soil for many years now, they think it couldn't happen. This is a sad and dangerous way of thinking. The president we have in office now is going rogue. Many of the people who put their trust in his empty words promising 'hope and change' are seeing the error of their ways but many are still blinded by his lies. I will continue to pray for this president and our other national and state leaders. They need prayer now more than ever. But I will not stand idly by while my country is torn in two right down the middle. We will have to stand united against such tyranny (and make no mistake-this /is/ tyranny in the making) or we will surely fall. I do fear that some yahoo or group of yahoos will go ape and start killing people but I hope they don't. That would just give the current ruling body a reason to enforce martial law. And you can bet they won't relinquish that power once they have it. I'll stop now. But just think about it. Is this really what you want? If not, you better make your voice heard while you can. That's all I'm saying...

The excerpt is from 'History of the World In Christian Perspective' 3rd Edition (c) 1995 pg 455 Jerry H. Combee, Ph.D. A Beka Book Pensacola, FL

If you have anything to add or corrections to make, please feel free to do so but please keep it civil and for corrections please provide a link or something for others to go and check it out. Thanks! :)

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

‘Oh say can you see, by the dawn’s early light, what so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming, Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro’ the perilous fight, O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air Gave proof thro’ the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say, does that Star spangled Banner yet wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
Oh, thus be it ever when free men shall stand Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation; Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n rescued land Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just; And this be our motto; “In God is our trust!” And the Star spangled Banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.’
~The Star Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key~
Bet most of you (at least those of you that are Americans) know the first paragraph but how many of you knew the second paragraph also goes along with the first? Interesting isn’t it. I didn’t post it to disparage other religions. I didn’t post this to get a rise out of anyone. This is my country’s anthem and I’m PROUD to be able to sing it with vigor, even with my untrained voice.
Our country is in so much uproar right now. We’re being called uncivilized by some. We’re definitely being laughed at and ridiculed by other countries. But do they even know how our country works? Have they studied our laws? Have they studied our history as intently as we have (or as we were supposed to have)? I think not. They should’ve been studying it in an effort to at least know a little about neighboring countries but that would be a peripheral study at best and definitely not an in depth study. Please, if you live in another country, why would you choose to be so uncivilized as to laugh and mock the barbarity of others? Do you think your mocking attitude will help solve our problems? That’s an interesting idea. Perhaps we can return the favor at some point.
I would say this: If you are a country that has a reigning monarch as a leader, you have no idea what true freedom is about. Please do not attempt to tell another country whose laws are based on basic freedoms and rights how to run their system. You don’t have a clue. It might be better to follow this advice: If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. But I guess, you are probably plagued by your own humanity, just like every other human being on this planet. All humans everywhere have the same capacity for love, hate, good behavior, bad behavior, giving, taking, etc. Don’t condescend to us and patronize us because we have the ability to express our opinions outright without fear of retribution because our opinion might not be the opinion of the people in positions of power. I do not presume to tell other countries how they should do things because I do not know the inner workings of other countries forms of government. We have to solve these problems on our own with people who KNOW how our government works who were BORN citizens or who have become citizens of this country and who have studied very well the inner workings of our country and its system of government. Our problems are our own fault and we must solve them on our own. For people of other countries to try to step in and 'help' is hateful, rude, distracting and debilitating. Please stay out of it. I’m glad that the system of health care in Canada has been working as far as most Canadians are concerned. That it works is not the point here. The point is that this new bill has the word MANDATE in it. A command to the citizens of the United States of America, a command that if not followed will result in outrageous fines and jail time. A command that goes directly against what the original Americans set up as our ruling document. The fact is, most of the citizens of the United States of America didn’t want this plan in the form it takes at this time. The fact is that the people that we elected to REPRESENT us bailed on us and decided money in their pockets and material possessions were worth more than the laws of our country. Have any of you read the entire Constitution of the United States of America? Any of you? If not, then just stay out of it. Expressing your opinion is fine. Everyone has opinions and in America, we’re free to express ours…for right now. With the passing of this particular bill, worded the way it is worded now, that may be different in the near future. I’m sorry but my health is my own business. I do not now, nor do I EVER, want the federal government (who doesn’t know me personally nor do they seem to care about me in any sense) getting involved in how 'best' to take care of me and my family’s health!
I realize that there are many countries which have elected officials to represent their feelings toward choices those governments make. What if your representatives completely ignored you? What if they decided their way was much better than anything you could possibly come up with, simply because they had the power to make that decision? How would you feel then? I bet you might feel a little bit betrayed by that person you thought was going to represent your feelings and ideals in order to help you have a better life.
The way our government, the government of the United States of America, is set up is awesome! The problem that we have right now is that too many people are looking for ways to become and stay rich rather than looking for ways to benefit our nation as a whole. They are more concerned with self rather than with service. Unfortunately, we’ve allowed them to think they have all that power. But our own Constitution says that WE THE PEOPLE also have power.
If we truly are a nation that professes ‘freedom and justice for all’, why is it that this MANDATORY health care plan is only MANDATORY for /most/ of the US citizenry. Why is it that our federal representatives and the Amish aren’t part of that MANDATORY bill? What happens when an Amish person needs surgery or non-herbal medicines? Who are they going to go to? What about our /representatives/? Where do they get to go for medical treatment? Will they go to the same type of facility that the common people have to go to? We are mired in this MESS because of our own selfish behavior. When people refuse to work because the federal government is willing to pay them to do so, that’s selfish and stupid. And when our law-makers are up in DC thinking they know what’s best regardless of how the rest of their countrymen feel, that’s selfish and stupid. And when we the people let them do that, that’s irresponsible and stupid.
So let’s talk for a minute about these people that aren’t working. I’m not referring to people who’ve recently lost jobs because of current legislation that caused the closing of so many businesses (which was another example of more irresponsible behavior by our government leaders). I’m talking about the ‘undeserving poor’, you know, they are all over the place. Those people who think the government ‘owes them something’ for their lazy attitudes. Many of them could work but choose not to for the simple fact that they know the government will give them money for free. The sad thing is, it isn’t even a lot of money. But multiply that by the sheer amount of lazy, non-working citizens and you come up with a staggering amount of money. That money could be used to pay off the ENORMOUSLY OUTRAGEOUS debt our country has incurred. I’m not the best at financial planning. As matter of fact, I’m pretty bad at it. But even I know that if you don’t have money, you don’t spend it. There comes a time when you have to realize “Oh, my gosh! This has to stop!” But apparently, our federal government leaders have never reached that point and who will suffer for that? Not them. It will be my children and your children and the children of every hardworking citizen. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS NEED TO GO HOME OR TAKE THE RIGHT STEPS TO BECOME CITIZENS! Otherwise they are a drain on our already failing economy. (Hmmm, you think that maybe that happened on purpose? Their being allowed to come over here and draining our economy, I mean.)
Ok, so let’s talk taxes. I pay my taxes. I pay them with minimal complaint. I know that our country is like any other business and it needs money to run. I understand that. But when you charge a family a tax that is more than half of what they make annually, how does that help your country? (sarcasm) Oh! I get it! Let’s just put all those low income but hardworking families in jail and keep rewarding the undeserving poor with ‘free’ money. (end sarcasm) That does seem to be the mentality of our federal government, though. Better yet, lets even help people who aren’t even citizens of our country get benefits that are supposed to be available only for citizens of our country.
We have more people in this country that are here illegally and we have more people coming into this country because we provide them with health care they couldn’t get in their own countries, and you want to deride us? Our criminal detention centers offer our criminals better accommodations than many of our citizenry enjoy and you want to condemn us? If you want to offer an opinion, fine but leave it at that. Don’t even try to solve a problem you can’t even begin to understand. Don’t sit in judgment on a policy or a system of government that you’ve never lived under or even studied.
Anyone who has not read this bill, can’t pass judgment on it either. You are automatically disqualified to judge something you haven’t studied, and that’s across the board on any subject. Everyone who has read this bill understands the implications of it. People who trust blindly, are often the most brutally deceived. I remember my grandparents being very adamant about ‘read everything before you sign your name to it.’ How many of you do that? How many of you don’t? How many of you have never even heard someone say that? We, the countrymen of the United States of America, have become so lazy and so lackadaisical about our happy little bubbles that we have turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the double dealing and chicanery that has gone on for far too long in DC. It must stop or everything our founding fathers fought for will be lost. I hope that this can be stopped in a peaceful and lawful manner, since there are provisions for that in our Constitution. The last thing I want to see is an uprising in my own country! That would make it way too easy for a tyrant to take control. God forbid!
Now if you want to leave a comment, feel free to do so. But if you just want to accuse and try to change my mind, don’t bother. If I change my mind on anything, it will not be because someone told me to do so. I think for myself and I study what I want to learn about. I’m thankful I live in a country where that is possible, where I’m ALLOWED the freedom to do that. I’m thankful for our forefather’s thinking that provided us with the means to keep tyrants from taking hold of our country. If you want to dis on a country, try one who truly deserves it, or at least pick one thing about that country that truly deserves it, then study that one thing to be sure you have the right idea. All of this is my opinion and I will stand by it. Trying to move me to another position would be like trying to move the Great Wall of China in its entirety.
If you’re interested in what stirred me up to write this, check out this blog. It’s a Canadian perspective and opinion on what’s happening in our country. I took it as an opinion only until people started trashing the one American guy who was trying to explain how our system works and why this particular bill is so disgusting to most of the American citizenry. http://bigearcreations.blogspot.com/2010/03/why-are-americhristians-so-angry-at.html Please know that I give kudos to the writer of the blog for expressing his opinion (albeit biased [as it should be. Citizens of a country should support that country.]) and I also give kudos to Snarky Bill who tried his best to help people who can’t possibly understand (mainly b/c they have no desire to do so) how our system of government works. It’s not complex but you can’t possibly explain it in a blog.