Cigarette tax

Yes, aparently this is a rather hot topic here in Mississippi. Tomorrow the price per pack goes up and the legislature her in Mississippi is trying to pass their oen tax hike of anywhere from 62 to 80 cents per pack.

The revenue is going for the insurance program here, S-CHIP. That is low income children getting needed insurance. Paid for by the habits of smokers.

The #1 complaint seems to be that it is somehow 'unconstitutional' for the government to penalize...er, tax...a minority of the public. They are singling out a group of people for taxation. It's not right punishing any one group based on their choices. They have to pay higher taxes now than X percentage of the public.

Ok, in 'debate mode' here I could jump all over this in agreement. Why pick on smokers? As a local talk radio station argued, what about everyone else? What about folks who play baseball -- tax their bats and balls. What about adding extra taxes those folks driving SUV's and other large vehicles? If the government can single out one group over others for taxation, what freedom is left?

Now, on the other side (and I'm sorry, but it's just the plain common sense side folks...). Smoking is a free will choice you make. It endangers your health and you still knowingly and willingly choose to do it. That's called stupidity if you want to label it. And it's not only YOUR health, but everyone else around you with your second-hand smoke. Go ahead and make your choice but how dare you force anyone else to pay your consequences with you.

And someone argued they don't raise the liquor taxes like this.

Boo to the idiots in government then. They should. That's another free will choice that endangers not only the initial drinker, but has a very serious trickle-down effect to inumerable others. They should be taxed and that money should be funneled into health care as well.

Taxing individual groups based on personal choice has always happened. Hello...it's the government. Adjust and get used to it.

As to that argument that folks driving large vehicles and such should be/could be singled out for higher taxation....already happens. Here in our county (rate hike capitol, it seems) it costs me over $280 a year to get that lame little sticker to makle my license plate legal because I drive the year and model I do. Started off at double that, but it does go down a little each year. Yippee for little favors. Back north, I'd pay maybe $78 a year.

I'm not trying to be 'mean' to anyone. Smoking is a pwrsonal choice and as such sets you aside in a minority grouping. It's dangerous to everyone around you, and 9 times out of 10 costs someone else money later on while you live out your last days on 24/7 oxygen. It's a horrible way to suffer and a terrible way for loved ones to watch you die. If you make the choice to smoke, then lump it and put on your big boy/girl panties and pay extra to do it. I don't smoke -- and I did for a number of years, so don't start that argument with me --but if I did and the increase in tax was a big deal, I'd reexamine why I was buying the cigarettes and decide if I could afford to keep doing it. It's totally up to you if you participate in this latest tax hike from Big Brother. You sure can't say that about many of them!

Smoking is a nasty habit. It is now, and it was when I was using my own brain for a chimney and sucking down 2 packs a day -- but I'd rather you smoke in my presence than chew tobacco and constantly spit in a cup, can, or at my feet. Do I look like a spittoon to you???

But THAT is a whole Knuther soapbox there....
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Another Resurrection Egg list

EGG #1

3 dimes--30 pieces of silver that Jesus was sold for...(Matthew 26:14-15)

EGG #2

small plastic communion cup--Jesus praying in the garden...(Matthew 26: 36-39) (Note: If you cannot find a plastic communion cup, a tiny "Barbie" cup will work fine.)

EGG #3
rope--they bound Jesus...(Matthew 27:1,2)

EGG #4

small piece of soap--Pilate said he washed his hands of the killing of Jesus...(Matthew 27: 24-26)

EGG #5

red cloth--they put a scarlet robe on Jesus...(Matthew 27:28-30) (Note: I also have a small thorn from a rose bush in the egg; however, this may not be appropriate if you have small children since it is very sharp.)

EGG #6

cross--Jesus carried his own cross, until Simon carried it...(Matthew 27:31-32) (Note: I made a cross out of two toothpicks and tied them together with some string/rope.)

EGG #7

dice--casting lots for Jesus clothes... (Matthew 27:35-36)

EGG #8

small pebbles--the earth shook, rocks split apart...(Matthew 27:50, 51, 54)

EGG # 9

linen fabric--used to wrap Jesus…(Matthew 27:57-60)

EGG #10

stone--sealed the tomb with a stone...(Matthew 27:65-66)


EGG #11

cloves/spices--spices that the women were bringing to anoint Jesus on Sunday... (Mark 16:1)

EGG #12

(empty)--Jesus had risen!...(Matthew 28:5-6) It is always EXCITING to open this last egg!

A Chatty Blue Monday update...

Well, it's not raining, so it's a good kind of blue today :o)

It's been a rather slow day. I have a new Poulan tiller sitting on my front porch waiting for the mud and puddled goo to vanish. Once it does, look out dirt world, I'm coming to the garden spaces! I have about 30 or 40x60 area behind the trailer here, then a strip along the side of that, then I'm heading for the clearing and going to attack that as well. I might even find some other places to tear up...er, till up.

But for now, we have ankle-deep puddles, still. Not much I can do about it. It's springtime Mississippi style.

Today the youngers and I finished our schooling with a sort of 'spelling' contest. No prizes, really (oh, wait, there were fresh baked peanut butter cookies involved...). We have a list of simple words on our big board here, each day we add another consonant or two, then build new words. This is for the youngest ones...even Emily, 2.5 gets involved copying David with this. It's more a review of words for KatiAnne, Jacob and Abigail. The words are there, plain as day, on that massive white board. I ask them how to spell one of them, say fig, and they have to tell me which letters are in the word, preferably in correct order.

They all did really well today. Even Emily, who simply mimicked everyone else and didn't have clue one what we were doing really :o)

I've put the last of my school order together today and will call it in later. Whew. I'd have to check on my overall total for books and such this year, but we have everything together with this final order now. The 2nd grade math is the last set of individual workbooks I need, so I ordered 3 sets of them to cover the 2nd graders coming up (Abigail, Jacob and KatiAnne). I will have to get another 2 sets later for Emily and David, though. Guess I can't say I'm finished with school purchases afterall, heh?

I have to put together my 'high school' years yet. Rod & Staff pretty much ends, and while we have a fairly good plan of what we are doing, it's not really set in stone yet. We have the more in-depth Home Ec things we have only touched lightly on daily here, accounting/bookkeeping skills, more work with various animals, etc. I know it won't all be 'fluffy' stuff, but it will be more of the ame stuff we already train and teach here....home life skills. I just really need to gather my plan, set up my resources and such, and get it listed up properly.

Know what I like about the Amish school traditions? They maintain their values, they uphold their beliefs in every aspect of teaching and training, and they don't worry about what is going on next door. They school as they do because

• 1) they want to keep their children close to home
  
• 2) they keep away from our modern school standard of segregation and constant change --classrooms for specific ages, grades, different classes for each subject, etc
  
• 3) parents run and oversee the schooling, as parents are Biblical responsible for what their children are led into; their teachers are selected from their own community, they have a relationship with the children and families from birth most often, there is a genuine sense of caring -- they are not handed over to Lord knows what influence for several hours a day
  
• 4) there is no worldly wisdom in their curriculum, children are not taught useless facts and information that does not blend directly into their lifestyle
• 5) they believe in and live out Godly training by example -- their entire community lives out their Faith by everyday example, there is no mixed messages to confuse children between school and home and church
• 6) they are cautious of too much interaction with worldly influences, which can lead to unhealthy relationships, unGodly attitudes, and being unequally yoked in marriage later.

They know what most of us know...we just don't live what we truly believe, and our churches certainly don't teach the stronger Biblical Truths. Too much interaction with the world's form of wisdom makes you restless, discontent. Religion should be inseparable from a day's work, a night's sleep, our family meals...not how the world teaches, which is that religion only has a certain day, a certain location and a certain time. All else is separate.

That is what I want here. I want my children to keep some level of innocence (it's getting harder and harder to even use that word in conjunction with youth these days!). I like that my 11 year old will sit in the middle of the floor and play race cars with his younger siblings at night. I like that my 13 and even 16 year olds will help their younger siblings draw and color pictures. They will even play dolls if asked. What are most 13 and 16 year olds doing these days?

Well now, my rather in-tune dear husband made a comment this weekend that sort of hit me with one of those all-too-common DUH! moments (am I the only one who notices a marked increase in those sort of revelation moments as you get older???) The girls had made some doughnuts...totally unhealthy, filled with white everything and topped with gooey sugar. It isn't an everyday kind of breakfast here at all, not even a once a month kind of breakfast. More of a once in a blue moon kind of treat. However, we had just given Jacob his morning 'juice' -- which is what prompted Dewey to comment. Wild Child's juice is a calming tincture blend....passion flower,, blue vervain, skullcap, american ginseng, alfalfa, catnip, oatstraw, peppermint and chamomile. Several drops to a cup of water. It's been working very well with him, though not at all long-lasting in terms of just needing say that one cup daily. He needs at least 3 over the course of the day.

But, the point of the comment by dear husband was that here we are getting him his juice, and there he is eating doughnuts. Sugared up and goodey-filled. What exactly was the point in doing it?

I will admit, I hadn't even put much thought into the juice and the doughnuts at all. And Jacob was rather Tigger-like that day, despite the drink. Still, it was one of those gotcha kind of moments. I felt rather stupid, actually. Either way, we are going back to the changes we had implemented a couple years back. Those changes that started off good, kept picking up steam full ahead, then just sort of stalled out some. We have reverted back to old ways, and that isn't good.

No, sugar in itself isn't good for you, but it isn't our biggest problem here. Just the same, the whites are leaving this homestead. No more white flour (and I don't mean we are going with unbleached...back to my home-ground wheat), no white sugars, limited white pasta, rice and potatoes (I am the mother of a set of starch-fiends here. I can ditch the sugar well enough, but try stealing all the white pasta, rice and potatoes in a cold turkey move and I'd have a mutiny here! Remember The Alamo....this would be just as bad a picture!) It's got to be done, I know this. What better time than now a we start the garden and the fresh veggies begin?

We have a Work Day at church this Saturday. General clean-up of the grounds, the cemetery, the church itself will get a good spring cleaning and scrub down. Then, of course, we have Easter. I am still pretty mixed on that. Easter, Resurrection Day...whatever tag it gets, I know why we as Christians celebrate, but the fact remains that it has such deep pagan roots it really doesn't belong in church. Then you have the fact that if He was crucified on Friday as today's church commonly teaches, and resurrected on Sunday, which we celebrate in modern churches, where does the Scripture in Matthew 12:40 come in? Unless I was taught to count the wrong way, Friday to Sunday isn't 3 days and nights. At best, it would be 3 days and 2 nights.

But, maybe I'm just splitting hairs. A part of me says it is important and it does matter, the details and all. Another part says, no it really doesn't. I am bought by the blood of a RISEN Savior. Death could not hold Him, Hell could not hold Him. LIFE is His and He has offered it to me through His gift of Salvation. What day of the modern week it is makes no difference either way. It's the mere fact that He is Risen that makes the difference.

We also have Homecoming at church soon. Another clean up day will come and we'll fine-tune things at church for the day of fellowship.

Having only a handful of ladies who attend church makes it rather difficult to call our gathering a Ladies Fellowship really, but still, 4 of us came last month to gather together and work on some blankets for the needy locally. Maybe we can spur some more interest and get some community ladies from Dry Creek involved. Right now, it's mainly crocheting we are working on, but it will eventually grow I'm sure to include whatever hand skills the ladies possess. I have a quilt frame that needs a project!

Speaking of which, that poor quilt frame better get its project soon. My grandmother has a special birthday coming up this fall and I need to get to work. I've moved the shelving out of the living room where the garden starts are and put them in the "wood room" next to the heater. We haven't had the heat turned on in well over a month now, so I figured I was safe in taking the space now. I need to get the cookstove moved if I'm going to use it at all this summer, too. Anyway, if i moved things around a bit, I think I could set the frame up and get to work. If I keep at it, it shouldn't take too terribly long. Right now my over-sized ironing board is set up (it's pretty much always set up -- we have a lot of sewing going on!), but I think I could make the quilt frame work in here.

ok...time to get back to work. Dinner needs prepped, laundry needs to come in from the line, and general stuff needs done. Here are some goodies I found -- I think I'll gather the materials for both the Names of Jesus garland and the Resurrection Eggs. We bought some at WalMart year before last, but I'd like to get the children doing them up at church. Maybe my teens could teach the youngers to put them together....hmmmm...

Names of Jesus Garland from The Homespun Heart
Resurrection Eggs from Want What You Have

To Train Up A Child

A Biblical Philosophy of Child Education

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

If you need to know your basic duty and basic objective as a parent and home educator,
here it is in Proverbs 22:6. The basic duty is to train up the child and the basic objective
is to have him walking in the way he should go that he will not depart from it.

Matthew Henry provides us with these helpful comments on the proverb:

Here is, 1. A great duty enjoined, particularly to those that are the parents and
instructors of children, in order to the propagating of wisdom, that it may not die
with them: Train up children in that age of vanity, to keep them from the sins and
snares of it, in that learning age, to prepare them for what they are designed for.
Catechize them; initiate them; keep them under discipline. Train them as soldiers,
who are taught to handle their arms, keep rank, and observe the word of
command. Train them up, not in the way they would go (the bias of their corrupt
hearts would draw them aside), but in the way they should go, the way in which, if
you love them, you would have them go. Train up a child according as he is
capable (as some take it), with a gentle hand, as nurses feed children, little and
often, Deut. 6:7. 2. A good reason for it, taken from the great advantage of this
care and pains with children: When they grow up, when they grow old, it is to be
hoped, they will not depart from it. Good impressions made upon them then will
abide upon them all their days. Ordinarily the vessel retains the savor with which
it was first seasoned. Many indeed have departed from the good way in which
they were trained up; Solomon himself did so. But early training may be a means
of their recovering themselves, as it is supposed Solomon did. At least the parents
will have the comfort of having done their duty and used the means.

The patterns of behavior a child develops even in infancy will have great bearing on how
he behaves in his youth and into his old age. A poorly disciplined and trained infant and
toddler will typically make for a poor school student and a lost youth. So it is important
that the little child early on adopt a Christian demeanor and a Christian understanding of
himself and the world. He must be trained not to whine, he must be trained to sleep during the night, he must be trained to obey his parents and to respect his siblings, etc.
He must be told that God made Him, and that in gratitude he is duty bound to obey God.
He must be taught to trust in Jesus Christ as his personal Savior from his terrible sins and
his personal Lord as ruler of his life. He must be taught to pray. He must be trained to
know that true joy comes by way of a life glorifying to God, and long term misery comes
in the path of disobedience. While we must remember he is a child when he is a child,
we must also remember that we are training him to be a mature Christian adult, not an
immature modern adolescent.
Training and discipline finally consists in inculcating a wise and productive use of time.
“Look therefore carefully how ye walk, not as unwise, but as wise: redeeming the time
because the days are evil.”(Ephesians 5:15-16) The value of time should be emphasized,
as well as our duty to be wise stewards of it. The time we are given on this earth should
be used to the fullest to glorify God and to build up His kingdom.
This does not mean there should be no time for rest. God gave man Sabbath days
because he knew men needed such occasions of rest. But our rest should be used to
promote spiritual reinvigoration, not spiritual declension. We should provide rest for our
children and the whole family consistent with its scriptural pattern. Amusement parks
and comic dramas are hardly according to the scriptural pattern of rest we find taught in
scripture.
11
Dr. Richard Bacon, in his sermons and lectures on the Ten Commandments, provides
these observations in his treatment on entertainment:
“Entertainment wastes time and goods when unnecessary, and wastes our minds
when not used productively. Time is taken first in thinking, planning, and talking
about it. Then more time as well as wealth is taken up in actually doing it.
"Minutes make the years"…The most distressing of these entertainments is the
pornographic, but we ought not to be at extremities before checking our desires.
We live in a day in which entertainment is regarded almost as a civil "right."
Stimulating entertainment generally leads to desire for more stimulus, not less.
Most entertainment leaves unsung the praises of Christian sobriety, temperance,
watchfulness, humility, penitence, self-denial, heavenly-mindedness, or any other
Christian virtue. Thus those entertainments that inculcate or at least encourage
such Christian virtues have a place, though at the periphery of our lives.
Scriptures: "I will set no wicked thing before my eyes" Ps 101:3; "The thoughts of
foolishness are sin" Prov 24:9; "They became vain in their imaginations" Rom
1:21;"Lead us not into temptation" Matt 6:13; "Filthiness, foolish talking,
jesting" combined Eph 5:4.”
Given the nature of Biblical training and discipline, it should be obvious how flawed the
modern concepts of ‘childhood’ and ‘adolescence’ are. Adolescence as it is conceived in
modern times is wrong and must be rejected as thoroughly un-Biblical. Our objective
should be that the child would be a mature, thoroughly catechized young Christian adult
by the age of 13.

Much of this is taken from The Puritans Home School Curriculum. While I certainly won't agree to everything contained in their file or site, I do like to pick out the meat and such in just about everything I find for homeschooling from a strictly Christian point of view. I am not raising children to be like everyone else, I am praying to raise them to be the next generation of true Biblical adults that the Bible calls us to be. In, not Of...you know. So, when visiting this site, or pretty much any other site claiming Christianity as its base, enter with prayers for guidance and avoidance...guidance to find those good parts, avoidance of the weeds and bones that lead you off the Correct Path.

Thank You Anonymous

This more, more coherent, I've read the link and no, I don't like it at all.
I could probably find something of use/good there if I lacked common sense and didn't have a base distrust of the Government, but I have too much of a moral conscience and a glaring suspicion of anything Big Brother claims is for my benefit.

Thank you for the link. I certainly would have missed that in my less-active online life.

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From a group online....anyone know anything about this?

It's late, and I'm tired...and I'm mailing from the cell phone so I really am not in a position to search this out and get deep with it.

Does anyone know anything about this? What's the scuttlebutt going around? I am way beyond out of the loop lately....

H.R. 1388: Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act

(3) YOUTH ENGAGEMENT ZONE PROGRAM- The term `youth engagement zone program' means a service learning program in which members of an eligible partnership described in paragraph (4) collaborate to provide coordinated school-based or community-based service learning opportunities, to address a specific community challenge, for an increasing percentage of out-of-school youth and secondary school students served by local educational agencies where–

`(A) not less than 90 percent of the students participate in service-learning activities as part of the program; or
`(B) service-learning is a mandatory part of the curriculum in all of the secondary schools served by the local educational agency.
SEC. 125. PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES AND INELIGIBLE ORGANIZATIONS.
`(a) Prohibited Activities- A participant in an approved national service position under this subtitle may not engage in the following activities:
`(1) Attempting to influence legislation.
`(2) Organizing or engaging in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes.
`(3) Assisting, promoting, or deterring union organizing.
`(4) Impairing existing contracts for services or collective bargaining agreements.
`(5) Engaging in partisan political activities, or other activities designed to influence the outcome of an election to any public office.
`(6) Participating in, or endorsing, events or activities that are likely to include advocacy for or against political parties, political platforms, political candidates, proposed legislation, or elected officials.
`(7) Engaging in religious instruction, conducting worship services, providing instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship, constructing or operating facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship, maintaining facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship, or engaging in any form of religious proselytization.

SEC. 1704. AUTHORITIES AND DUTIES OF THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER.
(7) CONSULTATION- In conducting the studies and preparing the reports required under this subsection, the Corporation shall consult with veterans' service organizations, the Department of Veterans Affairs, State veterans agencies, the Department of Defense, as appropriate, and other individuals and entities the Corporation considers appropriate.';

I am going to attach the actual document. I hope it goes through. If you noticed in what I highlighted above it will be starting in middle school. They use the word MANDATORY and some of the groups involved are military, like Department of Defense! While involved in this the people will not be allowed their right to free speech and will also be prevented from serving God. This is a total enslavement of the American people and an infringement on our rights. There are more bills in the making so MORE people will be forced to participate. Below are some interesting quotes from people and facts....

7 million members of this civilian "army" equates to about one member for every 50 Americans, a similar figure to the number of East Germans who collaborated with the Stasi and informed on their own citizens during the cold war.

Obama's Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, said "We're going to have universal civil defense training, somewhere between the ages of 18 to 25 you will do three months of training….but there can be nothing wrong with all Americans having a joint similar experience of what we call civil defense training or civil service in service of the country, in preparation, which will give people a sense of what it means to be an American." Asked if the training would be military style, with people wearing uniforms, Emanuel stated, "If you're worried about are you going to have to do 50 jumping jacks the answer is yes," adding that the service could be done through state national guard.

In July 2008, when Obama told a rally in Colorado Springs, "We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that is just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded."

To see both of these quotes on a youtube video ::click here: http://www.youtube. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtDSwyCPEsQ> com/watch?v=HtDSwyCPEsQ
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Hanging Planter Bags

A friend on the Bama board sent this in and I wanted to pass it along for thos not wanting to dig up yard space.
My mother made these hanging planting bags for her flowers and they turned out really pretty. I don't know that she has done tomatoes yet. Strawberries could very easily be done in the bags as well. Peppers, maybe even bush beans...I imagine the applications could be endless depending on the boundaries of your imagination!

Now something I would like to know about is poking tomato plants down into old hay bales??? Someone did that around here last year, a tomato plant at either end of the bale. Not dirt, just poked into the bale itself, then a metal Tpost at either end and some wire strung across for staking. That house had some 15 bales lined up their driveway and huge plants!
Has anyone seen this done or done this themselves?

For sometime now I have been looking at those "upside down tomato totes" only to dismiss buying them because of the price.
I had never seen the personally or even touched them until this past weekend.
Home Depot had some set up and planted with 2 tomato plants at $20.00 each.

They are made out of plastic! Most of us with dogs, buying large bags of dog food, are coming in contact with that very same material! Well it has dogs and info printed all over it and they have a green color printed all over it.

I am cutting up the bag and will sew them into totes.
The top of the bag will be hemmed, double sewed with nylon thread. There will be an opening in the hemm on left and right side. A wire
coat hanger (taken apart) will be put through and both ends will be connected tightly. Use the exposed wire to connect the
chain or rope for hanging.

Fill bag with light gowing medium, disposable diaper (outside liner removed - keeps planter more hydrated)and more dirt.

Cut a small x on one side and plant tomato, after one week hang up!
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Just one more quick note.... (pictures at the bottom)

AuntieM....over at Salty Disciplines...if you don't visit there, go now. There is a great post waiting (and lots more in the archives for when you have some spare moments)! Her other blog is just as good...Aprons, Poetry and Fun Stuff.

I loved this...absolutely loved it and was nodding my head in agreement the whole way. I have done alot in terms of what is spoken of in this post, but I am so far behind and have so far to go! Abigail is 9 now and KatiAnne is 6....we have lots of work to do!!!

BTW -- my girls all do know how to cook at least a few things, even KatiAnne and Abigail can handle things in the kitchen, though not on the level of Jennifer and Johanna. Johanna excels more with baking thank cooking. Jennifer does a lot of cooking here, but her baking is still mainly for the chickens :o) They plan to live next to each other...neither husband will go without a well rounded meal that way ;o)

The Wedding Bliss Blizzard

Your daughters will begin understanding and receiving the blessed agenda of God as they prepare meals that increase with satisfaction, as they progress. And Mom, allow your girls to make mistakes in the kitchen! Give them the apron and wooden spoons once or twice a week. Perhaps have them set up a menu with you. You could buy them their own cookbooks with a trusty ole' apron!! Now there's a thought!

"Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates." Prov 31:31

These are the last of the pictures...they finally uploaded. technology my aunt fanny. Pokey Little Puppy is more like it.

These are the same fish at the spring from the earlier post this week. They were swimming around the dock where we get our water. Tons of them. Just swimming in the sunshine and lovin' life.

David spent the day picking up all the clay clods we dug out for the raspberry bushes. I filled each hole with compost, peat, and topped it with Miracle Gro potting soil. I cheat, I know :o)

Barn Cleaning was also done over the last week or so. Yes, there's David again (it's his wheelbarrow he says...) and Abigail up front...and KatiAnne in flowered pants no less in the back. She had been at the pond...she soaked her dress and the others were on the line still. Probably dry enough to get, but I was inside the barn shoveling and mucking it out, so she grabbed things from the give-away bag someone else had passed along to us.

Here they are coming up from the pond and back clearing. This clearing is where we plan to build our house...eventually. The barn and pastures will be at the front of the property and we will build there in the middle, sort of hidden away nicely. I was actually planning to put the schoolhouse up here, but I'll take the full house instead :o) That path behind them goes to the pond -- just behind the pines on the right is where I wanted the schoolhouse building. Yes, David has mud boots on his hands...and he's barefoot. He's always been a bit, um, eccentric.

Long Over-Due Update....for what its worth :o)

If the SD card ever uploads my pictures, I'll start posting them. It seems rather slow today for some reason. Well, probably user-error, but still....it's slow. Of course, I could just stop using my cell phone for a camera (even though it does take really nice pictures...and is handy...). I could just take real pictures with a real camera like normal folk.

Not sure when I even posted last, at least anything of worth in terms of an update. We've been busy, although I don't know that on paper we have actually accomplished much really. I'll probably work through the update in a hodge-podge manner, nothing in any particular order. LOL....that's how we roll here on the homestead most days it seems. No rhyme or reason.

We finally had a nice Wednesday, one where we could get to the spring for water. We were pretty much on our last 3 gal jug....we had to go get water somewhere, no matter what. Luckily the weather was perfect and the spring was clear. After a hard rain, or just a long rain, the water is rather mucky and it settles too much in the jugs. Just creates a mess all around. I'm glad we finally had a clear week for it. I didn't fill all the containers (23 of those 3 gal jugs) but we did about half. It will be raining all week, so none this week, but next week if it looks decent we'll have to fill them all. There is a spring not too far from here, over the mountain, but it has a distinct iron taste to the water, no matter what. We try not to get our water there unless we are desperate. With summer coming, we might want to make sure all the jugs are filled each week...we go through a lot of water here.

We spent this weekend really busy -- planted 16 raspberries and 2 grapes. Sure, that isn't sounding like much, but when you are talking red and gray sludge clay soil, and a post hole digger that uses me for the mule-power...it's a lot, trust me. I had to keep going, it had to be done, but man oh man, but midday, I was dying. My wrists were throbbing they hurt so bad. I spent the night and all day yesterday wearing my wrist braces and popping 800mg Ibuprofen. Yes, very herbal, I know, but I was hurting and I wanted what I knew beyond a doubt would make it all feel better. I took 4 tablets over the course of the 24 hours and I was able to sleep without wanting to crawl in a corner and cry all night. That's a big plus.

We (well, ok, technically it was Jennifer...but I told her how to do it...) used the pick/mattax to chop away all the sod from an area giver or take 5x7, then built the grape arbor...then read directions and found out we could plant the grapes about 8 in apart. Ugh...so we can actually fit 6 grapes in that arbor we concocted. I need to get 4 more plants out there! We will probably go ahead and make another arbor the same way, and plant 10 plants total. I think a dozen concords should yield more than enough grapes for jelly making, don't you think? Yes, it will be a good 3 years to a decent harvest, but still....no time like the present to get it done.

Sunday morning, we were surprised (just a bit -- we knew it was coming, just not totally sure as to the when) by puppies on the homestead. Just before sun up, Lady had her puppies. She's been penned up in the barn, in the center stall, for about a week now. She is typically our escape-artist, climbing up cattle panels and other fencing like a human on ladder. LOL...not this time. Too fat ;o) She had 8 pups! Eight! Dewey just laughed (well, more of a shocked laugh, one of those nervous nelly kind of laughs...) and wanted to know what right she had popping out 8 her first time.. She should have kept it simple at 3 or 4.

You gotta remember where we are. This is the homestead for lost odd ball animals. Throw-aways from others. Misfit Acres. No self-respecting animal around here is going to waste time on the small stuff. We go big.

Lady and family is resting comfortably in the middle stall of the barn. The black dogs are beside themselves wanting to check out the action in the middle stall. Buddy, the Great Pyr, has taken an active role as well. Near as I can figure (being the dog whisperer that I am...ahem...) he thinks they are his now. They were born in the barn, the barn is pretty much his domain, hence, the puppies are under his care and authority now as well. He won't let the goats back in the barn. He literally nailed the bind goat to the ground this morning when she went too close to the fence between pens. Poor girl -- she didn't have a clue. She likes to follow noise. Those pups sound like catfish in the bottom of a boat.

We'll have to have a talk with Buddy and let him know the goats are still welcome in the barn, puppies or not.

Last Monday, we drove up to Linden TN and visited Linda and her family for the day. Immediately upon arriving and saying our hello's, we went to collect things from the van that we had brought along. We like to bring food....we're a rather large group, descending on someone for a day, so we brought dinner :o) (yes, I look incredibly goofy here...I was starting to say something to Jennifer and bingo, dear daughter took the picture....she loves her momma...)

Anyway, the doors were locked. Abigail ran to the front door and opened it to hit the lock button. Just as I reached for the back doors, she climbed out of the driver seat, using the arm rest....need I go on?

We are 2 1/2 hours from my closest van key. Dewey and Chris are over 6 hours away with my other van key. There's one in my mom's safe, but that's in northern Illinois. Get the picture?

We did good, though. No one freaked. I didn't freak. We set to picking the locks. Well, let me rephrase -- my eldest daughter set to picking the locks. This is a van door. Not a house door. She's pretty adept with doors on houses, padlocks even, but vehicles....that's different. At least I hope it's different, otherwise dear Jennifer might be looking at a small little room in one of the State facilities.

We ended up prying the wing window on the side door just enough to slip a hanger in past the trim and catching the very slight divet in the door lock. For the most part, all the locks are smooth as can be. That one has a bit of a gouge in it. We got lucky. We snagged it and managed to pull the lock up. My keys...and my cell phone with the free roadside assistance...stayed in my hand the rest of the day, literally!

I have talked to Linda for what now....a good 2 years, maybe 3, I guess. It was nice to have her move this direction from New York, and to finally get the chance to meet in real life. Of course, my children were acting like goofs :o) You'd think they never get to interact with real people.


Dewey was home a couple weekends ago. We didn't really get much done, just family time. It was nice. I bought another monster chuck roast to cook. Oh that roast turns out beyond delicious in that big cast iron pot. Spoon-tender and then some. Delicious. This one was 9 1/2 lbs. LOL...I actually panicked a bit at the butcher's wondering if it was going to fit in the pan decently. Well, it didn't. Not in my usual pan. I had to pull out the big pans for this one. This pot is 6 in deep and 14 in across. It sort of creates a dip in my oven rack when I use it, but so far no mishaps.


Sweet potato canning is finished! yeah me! All totaled and accounted for, we have 65 quarts from 120# of jumbo sweet potatoes (those are just regular quarts, Brenda...the picture does make it look larger, though, huh?). I was tired of seeing little yellow and orangish looking chunks in my kitchen, honestly. Not that I don't like seeing the many (many) quarts in the pantry, mind you, but I am burnt out on sweet potatoes for a while. I started off on the wrong foot...I was doing my best to peel the monster taters with a simple paring knife.

Silly girl. Sweet potatoes are thick skinned, tough to peel really. Yes, I could have bathed them a bit in some boiling water but I already had a stock pot of water for adding to the jars, the saucepan of water simmering with my lids/flats, and then the canner. The humidity level of my kitchen was way past anything comfortable. I thought I could tough it out. I waas wrong. I had blisters....blisters....on my hands from that route.

So I shifted gears and went at it like a big boy. I started scrapping peels off with the butcher knife. Now that made life easy, even if a bit dangerous and I do not suggest it to anyone else. That is my disclaimer...don't try this at home ;o) The blisters started healing nicely -- until I got the wild idea to plant those raspberries with the post hole digger.

I'm so homestead-minded. So pioneer-ish. So country...back country, that is. I bloom where I'm planted...more or less...and use what I have.

However....

...I really really need to get out more. I need some serious homesteady tools here. I need a post hole auger for the tractor....I need a tiller (preferably for the tractor, too Hey, it's here, it's lonely for use...I just want to keep it up and allow it some work hours...).

Seriously though, I need stuff here. You know, when there's no man on the homestead, things don't stay on some sort of holding pattern. They still need done, tending to. I am not a man. My poor arms and body just ain't made for real life, I guess. I'm one of those Type-A personalities....I don't do 'patience' very well, and I don't like things half-done, jimmied together, etc. Hey, I like The Red Green Show same as any other self-respecting redneck hillbilly, but I'm not a duct tape and WD-40 kind of worker. If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy. Well, right now, the only handsome ones here are to young to do the big stuff, and we are finding out that none of us are truly what you might call handy. I don't pace myself well, either.

What I really need is a chiropractor :o) Next door and handy throughout my day.

Sweet potato2

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Sweet potato

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Fish spring

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Water spring

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Deanna and Linda

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At Linda's

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Tea Time

Thought this was funny....

Tea Time
=========

One day my mother was out and my dad was in charge of me and
my brother, who is four years older than I am. I was maybe one
and a half years old and had just recovered from an accident
in which my arm had been broken, among other injuries. Someone
had given me a little tea set as a get-well gift, and it was
one of my favorite toys.

Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening news and
my brother was playing nearby in the living room when I
brought Daddy a little cup of "tea," which was just water.
After several cups of tea and lots of praise for such yummy
tea, my mom came home. My dad made her wait in the living room
to watch me bring him a cup of tea, because it was "just the
cutest thing!"

My mom waited, and sure enough, here I came down the hall with
a cup of tea for Daddy and she watched him drink it up.

She then asked, "Did it ever occur to you that the only place
that baby can reach to get water is the toilet?"

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Just Plain Good Reading...

Found these today and want to keep them in my stash here -- How much more common sense does one need :o)

Dear IRS,

I am sorry to inform you that I will not be able to pay taxes owed April 15, but all is not lost. I have paid these taxes: accounts receivable tax, building permit tax, CDL tax, cigarette tax, corporate income tax, dog license tax, federal income tax, unemployment tax, gasoline tax, hunting license tax, fishing licence tax, waterfowl stamp tax, inheritance tax, inventory tax, liquor tax, luxury tax, medicare tax, city, school and county property tax (up 33 percent last 4 years), real estate tax, social security tax, road usage tax, toll road tax, state and city sales tax, recreational vehicle tax, state franchise tax, state unemployment tax, telephone federal excise tax, telephone federal state and local surcharge tax, telephone minimum usage surcharge tax, telephone state and local tax, utility tax, vehicle licence registration tax, capital gains tax, lease severance tax, oil and gas assessment tax, Colorado property tax, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma and New Mexico sales tax, and many more that I can't recall but I have run out of space and money. When you do not receive my check April 15, just know that it is an honest mistake. Please treat me the same way you treated Congressmen Charles Rangle, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank and ex-Congressman Tom Dashelle and, of course, your boss Timothy Geithner. No penalties and no interest. P.S. I will make at least a partial payment as soon as I get my stimulus check.

Ed Barnett
Wichita Falls

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

The Parable Of The Poor Plumber.

Your sink is leaking, down underneath. You've tackled it briefly with your own pump pliers, but they don't do any good. Time for some expert help.

You go to the Yellow Pages, look up "Plumbers", and pick one who is nearby, and available.

They send a guy; he works at the sink for a half hour; making lots of show; lots of tools. And he presents you with a bill "Hey, lady, it's a minimum $250 to bring the truck out, ya know; I don't set the prices."

The sink seems to work. Except - the next day, the leak is back. Worse than before.

You are not happy. You call the plumbing company; and actually have the gall to complain, and basically demand that for $250 bucks, you do deserve a sink that does not leak. They grumble, but send a guy out. Same guy.

He's not really fazed by all this- "Lady, sometimes they just take more fixing. I'll get it." And he puts in 45 minutes this time; many tools. A little cussing. Well after supper "There, lady- she's fixed." And he vanishes.

The sink, however- still leaks. And actually - the cold water faucet no longer delivers water- and it did, before he got down in there to fix it.

If you've been through an exchange like this (and who hasn't) by now, you can see the steam starting to come out of "Lady's" ears.

Once more, you chew out the plumber's dispatcher. Once more they send a guy (a different one this time!).

And...

Yeah, it's still not fixed. Leaks as badly as ever; and no cold water.

We're past the steam coming out of the ears now.

And...

Now your toilet is refusing to flush...

Here's the question; and the point:

Do you call the same plumber to come and fix your problems?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Boy, I guarantee I don't.

And at this point, the NPR personality (whom I'd forced to listen, tête-à-tête, to this shaggy dog story) said forcefully and abruptly, "Yes. So?"

And I replied: "Why. On God's Green Earth. Would you ask an economist anything- about the current economic crisis?"

I let that sink in for about 2 seconds (a long time in her world) and continued: "They PUT us here. They say they couldn't see it coming. They don't agree on why or how it happened, and they have no ideas for how to get out of it, or where to go. WHY would you be asking them for advice - as if they had advice to give?"

Oh, she didn't buy it. Nope, in her world, economists are who you ask about the economy. Never mind that, just like in the fairy tale (ok, it's Andersen, not Grimm) - they've just proven to the entire world that they are intellectually bare stark naked.

A big part of this problem, of course, is that economists have steadily worked to make the world believe they know what they're doing. They invented their own Nobel award (Nobel did NOT give a prize in economics); and added "mathematical modeling" to their discipline.

And it all clearly does not reflect any realities- but they've left the world with the impression that there is no other source of information on this important subject; you must ask an economics professor, if you wish to discuss it. No other options exist. That, without thinking, is where the NPR person was.

-------------------------------------------------

Except. There IS another discipline- which did see "all this" coming; long ago; and said so, loudly. Maybe- it would be a good idea to look to the people who predicted all this; for some understanding, and maybe some answers?

Who? Ecologists. I got news for ya- ecology is far more a science than economics- and- you notice they have the same Greek root? oikos - for house. Ecologists actually study the same thing economists do- the flow of resources; over time. Except; ecologists go out into the real world, and look to see how it actually works. Economists- live on college campuses, and make up anything they want. Reality need not intrude. Ecologists do experiments, and measure results. Economists - can't. So they just project. Leaving them open to little booboos like "see, the sun comes up in the east; and goes down in the west- OBVIOUSLY - the sun revolves around the earth."

So, Dear World. Your toilet is backed up; not working. Who you gonna call?

Actual 'Letter to the Editor' from the February 6th edition of the Wichita Falls, Texas Times Record News.

MIA, I know

I've just been busy. Not that I have alot to pass on as accomplishments, but I've been busy and haven't even turned on the computer since I don't know when. That Blackberry is spoiling me, being able to see my emails and notes without having to log in and start the computer up at all. Terribly addicting.

So much for cord cutting on this homestead I guess :o(

I've been canning sweet potatoes. I'm such a wimp. I have blisters on my hand from peeling the potatoes! And I bought some 120#.....I have blisters after only 20# peeled and cut up :o( Some pioneer homesteader, I know. LOL

The children and I headed north to Tennessee Monday morning. We visited with Sister Linda, up in Linden and had a wonderful time. We'll definitely be making another trip...and take her into town so she can show me all the goodies a Plain community has to offer :o) The area around there is absolutely beautiful. Maybe north Mississippi isn't our home place and south Tennessee is :o)

I have a ton of photos on the phone to transfer over, but not tonight. I still have potatoes to finish canning and I'm absolutely beat and want to go to bed.

Homestead projects in the plan here:

• canning more sweet potatoes
• planting berry bushes
• planting asparagus
• planting onion sets
• tilling and prepping remaining garden areas for the year. I have a lot to do -- bringing in fertilizer, tilling, prepping a couple of raised beds for carrots and beets at least.
• running more fencing for a larger pasture area for the goats
• finish sealing up barn room -- replacing a couple boards on the outside wall, some new planking in loft to seal up 'roof' in the room

Hi D-- I tried getting on your blog from the cell here to leave you a note...ugh, I'm sure it can be done, just wouldn't work for me :o(

I remember several posts you made about your parents, mostly your time with your father. It isn't easy and I have no doubt you srtuggled terribly trying to do what your heart told you you should be doing.
And I most definitely understand those struggles. Dewey and I have both been down that pathway, from illness to paranoia and dymentia. My older children have been part of the care-giver process as well.
It's not easy and it's not decision every family will be prepared to make, that's for sure. Eventually it will cross everyone's path, though, and they can only benefit from taking all the knowledge they can from all sides of the discussion, good bad and ugly alike.
Thank you for sharing your heart. It wasn't an easy walk for your family at all.
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I'm hardly romantisizing caring for our elderly parents, and I don't doubt they want and deserve as much independence their years and health can afford them. They have lived a long life, they have raised their family. They have every understandable expectation of living their time with dignity, respect and around those they spent their lives caring for and are familiar with.
I don't guilt anyone for feeling ease with moving their parents into nursing homes. I won't do it, and my children won't do it. I've walked first hand and behind the scenes in many of those homes and I will not put a family member of mine in there. It's just a personal choice for us.
My children are being taught the value of other generations, of the special knowledge and connection to who they are and where they came from. That is what makes them who they will be one day. That connection is where they draw their strength and direction.
My grandmother will turn 90 this year, Lord Willing this Fall. She lives alone, in a home behind my mother's. She gets out every day and works in the yard, or shovels the drive of snow. She cooks for herself, she still handles her own bills and banking and makes her own decisions. She isn't being held back from living, she is a part of life in as many ways as she still can be.
At some point, of course, she will probably need more care, more hands-on attention than living on her own will afford her. She will most likely move into my mother's house at that point.
I'm not talking about pulling grandparents out of life and stashing them in the back room. Maybe they continue as long as they can living alone, but why is a nursing home more of an option than family living? Why do we immediately think first along those lines instead of keeping our parents or grandparents at home, with family and celebrating the lives good or bad or otherwise that gave us the life we have?
What makes our country so narrow that we stop valuing the lives of those before us at some point in time, yet so many other countries have embraced it?
Where do you want to be when you grow older according to someone else's terms? Not thought of as a duty or a burden, certainly, but as one cherished and cared about deeply I would think. That is what my children are being taught.
What everyone chooses for their family is what works for them I'm sure. It's just sad to have a generation thrown aside and left behind.
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There are alot of people right now who thought they were retired and ready for those Golden Years.
Not a week or so ago one of the NBC news shows showed an elderly couple who had their entire retirement savings wrapped up in one of those bad companies os recent talk. Its gone. Every penny this 80-something couple had is gone.
Social security for an income? Even as a supplement? Anyone who still believes that is even waiting is living on another planet.
We might not have much here, and by many folks 'standard of living' ideal we might be pretty rustic and bordering on plain weird (or so I've been told a few times), but we will find a way to keep ourselves fed and clothed and one day my mother will be right here with us.
It wasn't that long back in our common history that families took care of their elderly. We are probably one of the few countries who chose more often than not to pasture out our older generations for 'quality of life' in those last years. Whose quality of life? Not theirs, thats for sure. We do it so we aren't burdened with dealing with an older parent living with us, disrupting our vision of family life. We are selfish.
In my sidebar there, under my photo and intro blurb is a video I really enjoy called A Parent's Wish. Watch it.
Oh I know...we have parents with all manners of special needs now...alzheimers and more...life isn't easy dealing with a parent like that. It's hard on the family. We can't do that to our children.
I'm glad that some families feel they have a choice.
Don't come barking up any trees here folks, I'm not saying anyone is right or wrong here and you're only going to be labeled a trouble-maker. I'm just sharing my thoughts here, like them or not is your choice.
We are one of the only countries to section off our generations. Our children can't be exposed to an elderly parent with mental issues, or severe physical issues. No it wouldn't be an easy thing to do certainly, and I'm not arguing that at all. I'm arguing the mindset and heart issue around it.
We visit a couple of local nursing homes every month, the children and I and yes, all of us go, including 2.5 yo Emily. We don't visit the money-maker on the hill with all the resources. We visit the 2 smallest, lowest income ones we have here, which is saying a lot for what we have here locally.
I'm not trying to pat myself on the back here, I'm just sharing what we do. We believe families should take care of one another, not pasture out the older ones. We don't cull the group for our own comfort of living. These visits to the nursing homes are joyful and heart breaking for us. These particular homes are more forgotten than anything. These grandparents cry when we visit then leave. They are starved for 'family' attention. They could spend all day just playing and hugging my children because their own families don't have time to spend there day in and day out.
When Jacob was in the hospital those 2 weeks after he was burned, of course I wanted to be there, he's my baby, but I had so many other things that needed tending as well, and other children who needed me. Still, I stayed at that hospital day and night for 2 weeks. I came home twice and couldn't stay here knowing my little boy was not home.
How could I send my mother to a home of strangers? Jacob had the best care and team of anyone and I couldn't leave him.
I can't think that way. It isn't a burden to have your parents with you any more than it should be a 'burden' to have a special needs infant to care for. It's foolishness to think that because you have set aside this money or that, invested in retirement or whatever, made plans to live this or that way wheb you are older...you will be able to do it. Even for those who didn't really feel the effects of the economy crash the past year and half, this should have been a wake up notice for you. No one is immune from global collapse when it comes to finances. Jobs were lost all over the board, high end as well as low end. Monies were lost not only by folks who could take the hit and keep moving but also by those who were cut off at the knees and brought to a dead stop. No one can say they are truly fireproof these days, kwim?
I'm sure we aren't, even with our plans and lifestyle, but we will still be keeping on long after most folks I know have been stopped. And that means my mother as well.

I know, I ramble on. I know the dumb little tag on here will say sent from my Blackberry, too. I have no idea how to cut that off and oh how I miss my computer :o( This pretty little phone gives me thumb cramps :o(
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I was asked about renting a car when we don't have any credit cards.

Over all of our years, wekd never needed to rent one until moving down here. Once, when Dewey and Chris first went back north to move the larger but misc. things we rented one so the children and I weren't left here alone and new and stranded we did rent one.
We also rented one 2 years ago when I needed to drive back north to gather some business papers and was not making it a family trip.
Neither time did we have an issue renting a car, and neither time did we have a credit card. They asked for one, we explained we didn't have anything like that and the Enterprise owner made other arrangements for us. It never occured to me that it would be an issue as it was worked out when qe needed it. Small-town Southern luck maybe, I don't know.

I guess one of my problems (aside from the whole debt issue) with credit in general is what would you do if you were not eligible for any? What if you had no alternative left but to be self sufficient?
What would countless Americans do, right now, if they had no choice but to 'fend' for themselves? No government help or aid of any kind?

Oh wait...many are finding that out now. They had all of their earnings, all of the resources, their day to day livelihood and even their future incomes tied up in the credit-worthiness and sustainability of others outside of themselves.

They lost a job because someone else was not stable.
They lost money they had already earned because someone else was not sustainable.
They lost their homes, their cars, so much...

They outsourced their future with too much confidence or maybe a lack of self-confidence.

My future is not based on my putting confidence into anyone flesh and bones or mortar and block. I am teaching my children that they had better know how to confidently supply for their own day to day needs and not sit back with a false sense of security from educational training, employment or potential government interceding. They had best have their own plan of action in place because when push comes to shove, it all comes down to just God and them alone.

People are failing right now because they wagered their current and future worth on the knowledge level and morals of others. They bought houses they knew they couldn't afford using future income they had no assurance of because they were told it was status. They lost jobs that were based on the financial backing of others. They lost investments savings and their entire futures that were given over willingly to others for 'safe keeping' until they needed them.

We lost some $11000 due to poor investment planning of others with Dewey's Union pension a few years back. Sure, in the grand scheme of things, that really isn't some huge amount to lose when talking investments. But it was to us mainly because it was someone else losing that money -- OUR hard earned money. We don't have that problem now.
My mother had several investments and accounts that over the past couple of years lost money for her, literally over half their worth. This is all she has to live on and it is just gone. She finally took what was left and turned it over into other things, but still...her future is intertwined with the financial base of others.

We are wanting out of debt for that reason alone. We don't want our future or our lifestyle to be based on others ability to survive or succeed. For us, having credit is the same thing. Today you have decent credit but what about tomorrow? A lot of people had great credit worthiness until this past year. Now they are shooting their employers, their families and themselves because it's all gone. No job, no investments, no home.

That credit score does not give me value unless I base myself on someone else's arbitrary point system.
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One thing

...I don't like about having to 'blog' from the cell phone is I can't comment...I have to send it in as another entry. Ugh.

Aimee thank you. That is just what I'm talking about. I fully understand why people go about things the way they do in life -- its always been done like that. That's how life is done. We do what we've been taught to do, by our parents, our friends, the media, etc. We don't grow up thinking outside the box of common and normal and expected.

Honestly, I didn't grow up pushing the box apart. My family is pretty textbook common and normal. They don't throw 'caution' to the wind and do wild things with anything, let alone money. My mom has crefit cards, investments, Roth IRAs, bonds...the whole Wall Street shebang has her income tied in knots.

I don't do any of that. We haven't had a credit card or store card since before Johanna was born -- she's 13 now. We don't like banks at all, but this company has one of those direct deposit policies for this job so we have no choice, the check shows up when it's scheduled (except a couple weeks ago when it just didn't...). By 9 am on payday I'm waiting outside as they unlock the lobby doors -- I immediately pull that entire paycheck out in good old hard cold cash.

If anyone is going to lose that money, it will be me...not circumstance.

All I'm saying is for us personally, we want to live a different lifestyle. I don't believe folks have near the control over their own lives they think they do. They are too intertwined to everything around them. They have tied their own hands with feeling somehow obligated to follow the lead of everyone else...credit cards, debt that never truly gets paid off just down, spending money they don't have yet because they want what they want now rather than later. It's how we've been conditioned to live. Why wait? We deserve these joys in life now.

I want my children to live a different life. I want them to see that they can have all the things they want without the ties of debt included.

Maybe it can't be done they way I think it can. I mean, so far we've done it, but maybe it's just a delusion. That's ok. I'm pretty stubborn. I fully intend to keep living a different life than most folks, if for no other reason than to show it can be done :o)
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Congratulations on the next blessing Jana.
I agree that those scores are being looked at more often these days and I had heard a while back that even McDonalds looked at them for hiring.

I still believe they are only as important as we allow them to be. If I went out today and applied for several jobs, just turning in apps and whatnot, then tried to get into an apartment and go for a cell phone, my score would drop seriously from the number of inquiries. This takes time to recover, so for say a month, I've dropped my 'score' just from activity that had nothing to do with anything financial. If they are looking at my score to determine worthiness, I look pretty bad now for no other reason than I've made alot of paperwork on my end and they've checked my score. The last few guys to check my rating really think I look bad.

Some people are going to stress over their rating no matter what. I'm not. It's just not something I'm willing to lose sleep over or go into debt for. That score shows I have debt. Paying off or otherwise, I have debt.

We bought our home/land with cash. We set up our cell phone contract the same way. I'm sure our credit was looked at, but the most it did, being virtually non-existent, was increase the down payment we paid to start the cell contract. I can live with that. It's my payment for not being part of the common thought wave, I suppose.

It is harder to deal with cash alone these days and that's sad. It takes a lot of work and hunting to deal on a cash-only basis but I prefer it to being a number on someone's desk somewhere. One day it could prove to be a big deal to not be one of those numbers.
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Well, still not feeling very well, but we are somewhat functioning. I couldn't possibly get more 'stuffed' than I am.

The map I sent the test photo of -- we colored several of them, one per child. We play a game with them where we draw a card with a state name on it (we also made those) then we have to locate it on our map. First one who correctly shows the state on their map draws the next card.

We also pass out cards to each and play that way -- which state(s) borders the one in play. They youngers don't know their geography well enough to play along so we made the maps to go along. I still have to laminate them, though.

I was talking to a friend about finances and we disagreed on some things. Mind you, it was a given to begin with. They are pretty heavy into credit cards and loans and we aren't. Folks who enjoy spending money they don't have (like credit cards) don't usually see wisdom outside that pathway. Same with those who have no credit cards aren't likely to see benefit of getting them.

Of course, most topics about money come around to my being asked why we don't want credit cards, why don't we really worry about having a credit score, etc. I like Dave Ramsey. A lot of folks don't. He isn't one to candy-coat your financial mess. What most people don't like is that if they were truly honest with themselves, they are in the mess they are in because they are selfish and have no desire to change their ways. Those 'ways' are the spending habits they have lived with and they just want a fix, not a true change. They don't like someone telling them it isn't going to get any better, and they aren't going to be able to keep the same lifestyle and see a change.

I'm not changing their mind and they aren't changing mine. I want to get on the backside of debt. Yes, I have my own set of selfish tendencies to get past with thoughts of money. If I didn't we'd have paid these loans off already -- or better yet, we would have never gotten into them in the first place.

I don't like debt. I don't believe I need a good credit score. I don't believe I need any credit score, really. Credit scores are used to determine if I am eligible to get a loan or a credit card. I don't want a loan or a credit card, so I'm not worried about what someone thinks my credit score is.

If I need it now, I hope I have enough set aside to get it. Emergencies do happen. I don't need to go into debt because of an emergency. I don't need to go into debt because I want something now. I need a tiller now with gardening right around the corner. I'll get one, but I won't get a loan to get one. I don't need one that bad.

When...and I do mean 'when' not 'if'...we are out of debt in another several months here (I'm hoping for June), we won't have to look ahead to what kind of job we'll have to have to get by. Once we have made those lifestyle changes we should have done eons ago, income will be a bonus, not a necessity really. Sure, until I get Dewey on the off-grid wagon, we'll have utilities to pay, but if that's all we have, Dewey can have any job. Utilities can be totally controlled, so he could go right ahead and be that Wal-Mart greeter if he wanted and we'd still get long just fine.

It was good conversation, but we simply aren't floating the same boat. They want to keep being able to get what they want when they want. They base their worth and future on someone else's idea of value, i.e. credit score. I don't. Been there, done that. Not interested in joining the folks floating that lifeboat down the river.

Maybe I'm nuts, but I always did like The African Queen...chopping away through the brush and swamps. A hard-earned path, not the route of common belief.
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IMG00324.jpg

I wondered if a picture would post from the phone as well...
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A Sick Homestead

It's official here...we are sick.

Not all of us, Thank The Lord for sure, but what started as allergies with me has settled down good and tight into my chest mostly.
I certainly appreciate my head being clear considering how totally stuffed I was just a couple days ago, but oh my does my chest just ache now.
I'm barely getting any sleep, my chest feels as though I was carrying a 200# weight on it. It's a cough-fest just waiting to happen all day and night.
I will probably have to break down and visit the doctor tomorrow. I can't breathe without going into coughing fits. I can tell my BP is up while coughing--I just about pass out during the fits as I simply cannot get my breath caught.

And life just doesn't move on around here when Momma is sick :o( Johanna is trying to help but she just doesn't have the 'command' of the household and siblings that Jennifer has. I'll have time to be sick next week -- Jennifer comes home Thursday.

I would certainly covet any prayers, as well as thoughts on what I might try. I have a ton of 'band aid cures' from the pharmacy and they are useless, of course. The Claritin knocked out the stuffed sinuses, but now what? I can see this easily progressing into pneumonia if it keeps up.

I'm not a good sick patient.
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Thanks Tiff!
This whole cell thing is new for me, and I left my internet card in Arkansas, so I'll basically be offline until the week after next. The girls at the phone shop told me I could so just about everything with this Blackberry phone, but it's all still Greek to me! I'm learning, though.
So much for 'disconnecting' from the world LOL

Not much going on here...even LIFE isn't acting up. Well, not so much, really. Everyone is feeling the effects of Mother Nature and the coming of springtime. We all have wicked allergies going on. I finally broke down after trying everything I knew of for some sort of relief and went with OTCs today. They don't do anything but mask the symptoms, but at this point, I'll take that happily. Better a medicine-head momma that can at least function than a mom oblivious to her world.

While in that oblivion
earlier today, Wild Child and his accomplice came upon an old spray paint can somewhere in the 20 acres here. Need I even continue?
I'm the not-so-enthusiastic momma of a couple Smurfs now :o( Wild Child painted his arm rather solidly, while David ended up with what looks like blue measles...both of them are coated, head to toe.
See why I broke down and went with OTCs now? I HAVE to be high-level functioning around here!

:::We did get some of the paint off, but not much considering the extent. Nail Polish remover. Rough, burning sensation on large areas, but it worked fairly well. I dabbed it on David's face with a Qtip and scrubbed him with hot soapy water right away. They are still totin' a blue hue, but they are as squeaky and wrinkly clean as any child you'll find!:::

We bought some 120# of sweet potatoes at the farm market to can up this week, Lord Willing. We'll definitely head back next week to get more. They started shipping in Michigan and Washington apple, too. Best-looking I've seen all year actually--even with this being winter.

My garden starts are coming along decent enough. Now to get a tiller out here and a week of good dry weather so I can at least turn things over a bit.

I need to sew. I am just this side of desperate for clothing :o( I went shopping at Cato's and found 3 denim skirts I liked that were long enough for my tastes, and picked up some shirts for them as well. I shocked a few at church coming in dressed more like them than my usual self. It felt very strange. Very Strange. I don't know if I can keep dressing like that--it's been a long (l-o-n-g) time since I've worn anything that wasn't a cape dress or had an apron. I felt very conspicuous to say the least!

That's about all from this homestead. We had a great visit in Arkansas with Dewey last week. I can't do it again, though. I don't know how he does it, coming home for a few days then leaving again. It tore me up separating again to come home! And the youngers didn't understand at all...KatiAnne packed her very favorite toys to take and once there, lined them up on the dresser within the first few minutes! When I started talking about getting back home, they all said we were home there. It wasn't easy explaining that that was daddy's work and we still lived here, with our chickens and goats and such. They were a bit relieved that they weren't losing everything they didn't pack to bring, but they were still confused :o(

Only a few more months. We can do it. Spring is coming and we'll be so busy the time will fly by!

Right?
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

Thanks Tiff!
This whole cell thing is new for me, and I left my internet card in Arkansas, so I'll basically be offline until the week after next. The girls at the phone shop told me I could so just about everything with this Blackberry phone, but it's all still Greek to me! I'm learning, though.
So much for 'disconnecting' from the world LOL

Not much going on here...even LIFE isn't acting up. Well, not so much, really. Everyone is feeling the effects of Mother Nature and the coming of springtime. We all have wicked allergies going on. I finally broke down after trying everything I knew of for some sort of relief and went with OTCs today. They don't do anything but mask the symptoms, but at this point, I'll take that happily. Better a medicine-head momma that can at least function than a mom oblivious to her world.

While in that oblivion
earlier today, Wild Child and his accomplice came upon an old spray paint can somewhere in the 20 acres here. Need I even continue?
I'm the not-so-enthusiastic momma of a couple Smurfs now :o( Wild Child painted his arm rather solidly, while David ended up with what looks like blue measles...both of them are coated, head to toe.
See why I broke down and went with OTCs now? I HAVE to be high-level functioning around here!

:::We did get some of the paint off, but not much considering the extent. Nail Polish remover. Rough, burning sensation on large areas, but it worked fairly well. I dabbed it on David's face with a Qtip and scrubbed him with hot soapy water right away. They are still totin' a blue hue, but they are as squeaky and wrinkly clean as any child you'll find!:::

We bought some 120# of sweet potatoes at the farm market to can up this week, Lord Willing. We'll definitely head back next week to get more. They started shipping in Michigan and Washington apple, too. Best-looking I've seen all year actually--even with this being winter.

My garden starts are coming along decent enough. Now to get a tiller out here and a week of good dry weather so I can at least turn things over a bit.

I need to sew. I am just this side of desperate for clothing :o( I went shopping at Cato's and found 3 denim skirts I liked that were long enough for my tastes, and picked up some shirts for them as well. I shocked a few at church coming in dressed more like them than my usual self. It felt very strange. Very Strange. I don't know if I can keep dressing like that--it's been a long (l-o-n-g) time since I've worn anything that wasn't a cape dress or had an apron. I felt very conspicuous to say the least!

That's about all from this homestead. We had a great visit in Arkansas with Dewey last week. I can't do it again, though. I don't know how he does it, coming home for a few days then leaving again. It tore me up separating again to come home! And the youngers didn't understand at all...KatiAnne packed her very favorite toys to take and once there, lined them up on the dresser within the first few minutes! When I started talking about getting back home, they all said we were home there. It wasn't easy explaining that that was daddy's work and we still lived here, with our chickens and goats and such. They were a bit relieved that they weren't losing everything they didn't pack to bring, but they were still confused :o(

Only a few more months. We can do it. Spring is coming and we'll be so busy the time will fly by!

Right?
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