Reformed

I am not talking about me! We haven't had TV in our bedroom since we got rid of satellite.We don't watch much news anymore. It's been lovely. Except for the fact that hubby and I like to have the TV when we go to bed. We've been watching DVDs, but we've run through most, if not all, of the movies we own about a bajillion times. Then one day, the TV wouldn't turn on. Well, how do you watch a movie with no TV? It's not easy. So we bought a new one. It was something we hadn't planned on, but we did it anyway. I don't agree with the whole digital TV being mandated by Congress, but I do like that most TVs nowadays have a built in antennae. We have TV in the bedroom again.

So what do I put the TV on in the morning as I start my day? Morning news shows. Why? Because I am an idiot. I don't know why I bother. All it does most mornings is piss me off. They talk about politicians, celebrities, and crap that just makes me think that the general IQ of our country has dropped about 100 points. People, please, grow a brain. More importantly, start using it. I have a brain cramp.

Education reform is another way to say that we have no idea what the hell we are doing when it comes to educating our children. Where I live they are considering changing the grading system. Know what that's going to do? Make more kids fail. I am not one that thinks that we should only use positive statements. They need to learn to be disappointed. Life is not easy or simple. But we shouldn't necessarily make it easier for them either. Standardized testing is a crock of shit. They don't measure performance of teachers or students any more than a ruler will measure cups and ounces. In our state, it is illegal to teach to the test. Um, someone should tell the schools that. They are teaching to the test. They did it when my kids attended public school and they are doing it now. It's not the teacher unions that are the problem. They are a problem, but not the root of this problem.

The problem is that we are using outdated standards and listening to "experts" that have never taught a day in their lives. Why? Because they have a degree that says they studied about how to educate? How about listening to teachers about their job? Sorry, just makes sense to me. How about we realize that teaching a room of 20-30 kids is almost impossible? They learn different ways. How about we recognize that there are different ways to learn? Some are visual learners, some auditory. Some people need to actually do to learn. It is impossible to teach to each individual and still accomplish teaching and learning. Placing kids together by age makes no sense. Is that how your job is? Are you only working with people your age? Are your friends all your age? I'm going out on a limb and saying no. Should there be standards and a yearly review for teachers to keep their jobs? Doesn't everyone else get one? They should. What would the criteria be? I don't have an answer to that, but I know it's got to be better than what is going on now. I have several teacher friends and they are frustrated that they can't do what they love, but instead, are forced to follow rules and curricula that ties their hands.

Do you know why there's high school? It started in the days of the Great Depression. Too many men were out of work. The work force needed to be decreased so that there would be more jobs available for men. What better way than send the kids back to school. There were avenues of higher education, but not a country wide high school system. They were also training them to be able to work in a factory setting. Think about it. What do your kids learn in school? Stay on the line, follow the rules, and do what I tell you. Sounds like factory work, doesn't it? Just some food for thought. But remember, it's not the kids or the teachers that are broken. It's the system in which they have to operate.

Healthcare is another area that needs serious reform. Insurance for all is certainly not the answer. And, frankly, I don't want to pay for your insurance. I also don't want to pay for your groceries, housing, and cell phones. We can barely pay our own bills. It's about reforming the system that provides healthcare as well as the insurance system. Some hospitals require you to pay up front before they see you, insurance or not. I have a friend that was forced to pay $2300, up front, before a procedure was done. No money, said the hospital, no procedure. Wow. I always advise people not to pay their deductible until the insurance company has determined who the deductible should be paid to. The hospitals don't play by that rule. When the boy had his appendix out, they did several tests. They only needed one. Why did he have to have all the others? They were covering their butt. And costing me money. And costing you money, too. We had no insurance at the time and we were put on emergency Medicaid. Know who pays for that? We all do. Thanks for paying $25,000 for my boy to be transported by ambulance from hospital to hospital, doctors to read his tests, having emergency surgery to remove his appendix, and an overnight stay at a children's hospital. We are ever so grateful. And pissed off about the whole thing. Still. 6 years later. It's not about treating patients, it's not about diagnosing properly, it's not about helping people that can't help themselves. It's about the Benjamins.

Who did Congress talk to while putting together Obamacare? CEOs of hospitals, doctors, and insurance companies. How about the billers? They are the ones that have to collect the money from insurance companies. How about the customer service reps that deal with hospitals and doctors offices that question the billing? How about the patients that have to go through test after unnecassary test? Yeah, why? That would only lead to responsible reform. 

Political reform. I could write a whole blog on the evils of the current political system. I find it odd that the best way to become a multimillionaire is to become a Senator. They have first hand knowledge that allows them to play the stock market and buy or sell stocks in companies that are being awarded contracts or losing contracts with the government. Really? And that isn't insider trading? That's bug nuts crazy is what that is. We do have more than two parties in this country, but no one else gets exposure except the big two. And talk about crooks! Rick Perry wanted to have every girl in the state of Texas to have the Guardisil vaccine. Sounds magnanimous and generous, doesn't it? Yeah, until you found out that one of the major contributors to his campaign is the maker of the vaccine. Now that makes better sense. Not the only time he's done that, by the way. It's not just him. Politicians couldn't get away with it if we didn't let them. And, boy, do we ever let them. I have screamed and screamed that we need to educate ourselves. Still screaming, people.

It's not enough to pass a law. It's not enough to change a grading system or administer a test. It's not enough to order a test. It's the sytem that's broken. Look to the root of the problem and fix that. Talk to the people that are having the issues. Talk to the people that would be affected by the solution. Or just leave it alone and let the systems break down even further. Yeah, not so much on this blog.
  

Updated

Just a few things on my mind. Not much, just enough to clutter things a bit. Thought I'd do something I don't do in real life: dust. My allergies are kicking in already.

• I used to be very political. Hubby was worried that some of my blogs would lead to black SUVs following me everywhere. We used to joke about snipers in the back field. I just got tired of all the bullshit. Oh my gosh, there's enough of that stuff for many, many square foot gardens. Except that there was this push to pretty much make your home garden illegal. Sorry, just had to throw that in there. Be aware, people, be aware. And I am. Doesn't mean I'll blog about it. Doesn't mean I won't, either. Just not to the point that there is the possibility of surveillance. For the record, Monsanto is evil and they should be ashamed of themselves!! Just needed to get that off my chest. Well, so much for surveillance...
•  I am a sucker for word games. I have probably told you before that I have Words, Hanging, and Scramble with Friends. If you play any of those, and you have my email, text, or we're friends on Facebook, let's play. Send me your name and which one(s) you play and it is on, honey!! My favorite out of the three is Scramble. It's like Boggle. I have games going with my friend MFE. She is whooping me but good. I get a game every now and then and I'm getting better, but she still beats me. Can't help but be addicted. I check my phone every 10 minutes to see if I have words. If I go more than 15 or 20 minutes without a word, I'm like a junkie looking for a fix. Two of my kids and hubby have some if not all of the games, and I am forever bugging them to give me words. "I NEED WORDS!!" is the most dreaded phrase heard in our house.
• We got our taxes filed. I hate this time of year. Mermie and Big Sis worked at the same CPA firm. Mermie first and that's where she retired from, and Big Sis for a few years until the babies started coming. I think I got tax anxiety from my brushes with accountants and CPAs. I hate it. Anyway, it's done and we got a refund. Thank you, God! We owed money one year and that was stressful to the nth degree. You do not want to mess with the IRS. Gives me the heebie jeebies.
• One of my favorite apps right now is I Heart Radio. You can listen to radio stations from all across the country. It's awesome! It's not every station from every city, but there is quite the selection. I listen to stations from Dallas, but you can scroll through and listen to pretty much whatever. The big girl added it to her iPod. Funny thing that we both have the Mix Master station.
• We are in the market for three new appliances. We need a washer, an oven, and a dishwasher. We've found a couple we like, it's just a matter of checking to see if they fit. There goes the nice padding in my wallet. Oh, well, I keep thinking convection oven, convection oven, convection oven. That's better.

Ok, mind cleared enough to let me sleep. Thanks for HANGING in there. I knew I could find the right WORDs. Just needed to unSCRAMBLE my brain. Peace out, FRIENDS!

There Ya' Go

It is a rainy morning which means I would rather spend all day in bed with a self-replenishing cup of coffee and a great book. Since I have kids, that isn't happening. I think I'll blog instead. Ready? Let's go.

• I am still trying to figure out where self respect went. The other day hubby and I took a  little time for date night. Love date night and that we're able to leave the kids for a little bit. We went to the mall to get the boy's birthday present. As we were coming out of the mall, package in hand, there was a couple coming into the mall. They were both wearing pajamas. Um, what?!? Are you kidding me. Since hubby and I were holding hands, he took a quick second to squeeze my hand. Kinda hard. Like he was telling me to shut my mouth until we got to the van. And that was exactly what I did. I am not the submissive type, but sometimes I know what hubby is saying when he doesn't use his words. He was saying "It's date night. We're about to go eat dinner. I'd like to do that with all my teeth." Fine. But, are you kidding me? What the hell? They were tattooed and pierced to within an inch of their lives. And you go out in public with cartoon characters on your pajamas. Are you 4? Grow up. Put on some damn clothes!! Have some self respect. All that stuff you did to your body is negated when you wear Spongebob pants to the mall. And fuzzy slippers. I'm taking away their "bad ass" card. Good grief. Guess who's gonna rule our country one day?
• After we left the mall, we went to a Mexican food chain restaurant. You pick up a menu at the door, then walk to the counter to order. As we were sitting waiting for our food another couple walked in. They were wearing wedding rings, but I can't say that they were married to each other. When they walked in, they each picked up a menu. He walked to the counter when he had made up his mind, leaving her standing by the door. When they sat down at the table next to ours, they both pulled out their phones. We left before they did, but the whole time we were there, they said not one word to each other. Not. One. Word. I felt sorry for them. Call me a quitter, but when it gets to the point that you say nothing to each other, you only play on your phone, that would be the time to call it over and done. I don't know them. Maybe that's how they are in public. Maybe they're different at home. Maybe not.
• I like short blog titles. They don't even have to pertain to the blog. I follow one blog written by a woman in Texas who is so stinkin' funny. She usually has these long blog titles that used to drive me crazy. Sometimes they're two sentences long. Then I noticed that some of my blog titles are long. And getting longer. Great. I'm actually starting to dig it a little more. When you read the title of my blogs, and it's a short story, please feel free to let me know. I will rein them in. Please and thank you.
• I feel strong when I dance. It doesn't matter if it's the Wii or dance class or standing out front of CiCi's pizza during a youth fund raiser. Yeah, that was me. Just honk and wave. Everyone else did. I like the way my muscles feel. They feel long and lean and strong and endorphins storm through my body. My knee doesn't like it very much and I have to ice it and take two Advil when I'm done. I missed a dance class because I was sick. Hated it! Nothing I could do about it. There was no way I could have danced without hacking up a lung. Not attractive and I was not feeling well enough to clean up the mess. That and when I get sick, if it's respiratory, like this was, I get a touch of asthma. Not good for dancing. When I went back this week I had to learn from the beginning and learn quick. They were moving on. OK. One of my dance friends said she couldn't believe how quickly I picked it up. I love it! Makes me wish I had followed my dream to dance in music videos when I was younger. Imagine where I could be now. Yeah, I would still be sitting in my room blogging. But I would hopefully have bedroom furniture that matched.   
• I needed to send an email the other day while we were out. I don't email from my phone. Call me crazy. But I really needed to send this one. I did all the stuff to add my email to my phone, and then the dinger went off saying I had email. As I was clearing the emails, an old one popped up. It was the one from my SIL that accused me of ruining the fishing trip my FIL was going to take. It started bringing up all that ick again. I didn't even have to read it, just see the "subject" line. The only decision she could ever make that I would agree with would be her decision to fall off the face of the earth. The icky feeling didn't last long and I was pretty happy about that part. I sent my email, deleted what I needed to, and took email off my phone. Moving on to happier stuff.
• Speaking of my phone, what did I ever do before I had this thing? I take notes on it. I added the note about my first topic to remember to blog about it later. I used it to take pics of the Lego sets the boy wanted for Christmas. I saw a book that reminded me of Big Sis, so I took a pic and texted it to her. Hubby wanted slippers. I saw some on sale so I took a pic and texted it to him. He said no, but thanks for thinkng of him. I'm glad he said no, because they were really ugly. REALLY ugly. I like that I can play word games wherever I am. I have Hanging, Words, and Scramble with Friends. Look out world! Music wherever I go. That is my favorite part.
• I haven't watched the morning news in I don't know how long. I could turn on the TV in the living room and listen to it while I cruise the internet, but I don't want to wake the kids yet. I get about an hour or so in the morning all to myself. I'd like to keep it that way. I don't miss it much anymore. I do miss having TV in the bedroom while we go to sleep. I like the noise. It gets turned off sometime during the night, or I really wouldn't sleep. We don't watch much news anymore. I just don't care to be brought down every night listening to how mean and cruel people are to each other. We get a channel that is all local weather, and that's all we need. They can keep that other junk.

I think that's it for now. I've cleared the notes off my phone and my paper. Well, except the ones that go on the other blog. That's for later, though. See ya'!!

New Year, New You or, What the Hell Is Wrong With Me the Way I Am?

Good grief, if I hear that one more time I may have to strangle someone. You can be a new you without the new year. My nephew had posted something along the lines that you can say new you all you want, but it's still the old you underneath. That doesn't mean people can't change. I am certainly not the same person I was 10 years ago, or even 5 years ago. I still have some of the same traits, but I look at the world and react differently than I used to. You can teach an old dog new tricks. I guess one thing that will never change is that if you tell me no, I'll do it anyway and kick ass at it. And the other thing that doesn't change: my love of bullet points. Here's a few now.

• I don't make resolutions. I love to hear them, I just don't make them. I don't like to exercise, but I like to dance and do yoga. If I made a resoltion to go to the gym, I would find every excuse in the book to not go. Sticking to a budget is hard for me. I like to spend money. It doesn't help that we have things that we need to spend money on. We need a new dishwasher, washing machine, front stairs, a fence, and supplies for a square foot garden. My goal is to be a better wife, mother, friend, daughter, sister, aunt, woman, person than I was yesterday. Sometimes it works. Sometimes, maybe not.
• There is a new hydroponics store in our area. Hubby spends a LOT of time there, picking the owner's brain. Some things do really well in our tower. We can grow lettuce all day long. Our tomatoes and peppers had a lack luster showing. Cucumbers and squash out the wazoo. But not our current crop of squash that gets about as big around as a 50 cent piece, then withers on the vine. It can be a little frustrating. The guy at the store said something very wise. If it blooms, grow it together. If it doesn't bloom, grow it together. Well, duh. That only makes the most sense ever. And when we look back at what worked well when planted together and what didn't, he's right. Right now, broccoli is kicking ass! We didn't realize that brussel sprouts took so long, or we would have planted those a lot earlier than we did. The cold snap seems to have energized the plants, too. We've even managed to get a couple of strawberries off the plants we got for Christmas. Trial and error.
• And sense there are things that we can't grow in the tower, like onions and carrots and potatoes, we're planting a square foot garden. Hubby's been pulling out the shrubs at the end of the house to clear out some room. It has also cleared out a bunch of bugs. I despise bugs. We are hoping to plant tomatoes and cucumbers and zucchini as well. I wonder if bok choy likes the spring? We already have a deep container for planting potatoes. They have to be mounded with dirt. Then pile more on top. Then a little more. The more you cover, the more potatoes you get. When it's time to empty the tower and clean it, we'll move it around the corner to join the garden. One day we would like to have a second one. Hubby's working on a prototype because he is weird that way. He wants to use the buckets that our beans and rice came in. Guess we need to get to eating that stuff.
• We order brown rice, black beans, and lentils in bulk. Sounds funny, doesn't it? I order spices in bulk, so why not? I also order popcorn in bulk. Love me some popcorn. It's a company called BreadBecker's. When we get our taxes back, hubby wants a grain mill. Then we can grind grain as we need to use it instead of buying the stuff from the store that has lost most of it's nutritional value. Which means I'll be buying grain in bulk as well. Someone needs to teach me how to use the cool opener thingy that you have to have to seal the bucket with. And I need the cookbook. So much freshly ground grain, so little time. Just call me Laura Ingalls. 
• Doing our research about health and nutrtion and how they tie together, hubby has come to a crossroads. Hubby will no longer eat pork. Good thing he found this out after Christmas since we had ham. He may have been a very hungry man. Pigs will eat anything, including their own babies. I knew that, and I'm pretty sure I told him that. Maybe he didn't believe me, I don't know. And, of course, I had just bought a pack of pork chops. We don't eat much pork anyway, but there was a sale. It was the first time in probably 4 or 5 months, except the ham, that I bought pork anyway. So last night we ate the last of it. Poor hubby. The look on his face during dinner. I buy turkey bacon, so that won't be much of a change. I want to try beef bacon. Maybe if I have a little extra money at co-op, I'll see if they have some. I like beef sausage, but not turkey. I really like venison sausage, but I haven't been able to get that for years. Changes, they are a-coming.
• We ordered a kitchen composter. Yippee!! I have wanted one for awhile. We found one at the hydroponics store (told you hubby's been spending some time there). We still have a compost pile outside, but hubby moved it. It was on top of the hill, since that's where we had the garden for awhile. Hubby moved it so it will be closer to the new garden. The yard compost will go in that. The kitchen scraps will go in the inside composter. Please pray for the worms that I will be able to keep them alive and composting.  
• I almost burned the house down overnight. Never get a snack at night and forget the oven is on. Hubby and I had the munchies. He dragged out the beef summer sausage (yes, the food. Mind out of the gutter.) and I threw some garlic bread in the oven to warm up. And after we stuffed ourselves with meat, cheese, and crackers, we forgot about the bread. Until this morning when I was wondering what that burning smell was. I knew it couldn't be the heater. I jumped out of bed, which is never good with my back, and ran to the kitchen, kicking myself the whole way. That was really good garlic bread, darnit! Not so much this morning. This morning it was charcoal. Well, crap. 
• I have got to stop saying "crap". It's getting some of my younger friends in trouble with their parents. And my kids are starting to say it. I'm trying to use stuff or junk. Good days with the bad days is how I take that one. Come on, good days...

That's all I've got for now. Just the same ol' me. Or the new me. Or, me like I am, an ever evolving creature of habit. Yeah, that's something to figure out, isn't it? Good luck with that. May all of your years, not just the new one, be fruitful and prosperous and joy filled. Peace.      

That's What I Mean...

I love to read. I read almost everything but historical fiction. I don't love biographies, but I like a couple of them. I just picked up Barbara Eden's yesterday from the library. They were holding books for me, which is not a big surprise. I also have Patrick Swayze's and Lisa Niemi's. I've started that one, but it needs to pick up soon. I get reading inspiration from lots of places. Friend's posts on Facebook, the library "knowledge portal", a particular subject we're learning about in school, wherever. But I also get inspiration from my friend, Hillside Hollow. Her tastes aren't always mine, but she has yet to pick a bad book. She keeps a running list on the side of her blog. If I am lacking inspiration, I go there.

The last book I got off her lists is The Christmas Chronicles: The Legend of Santa Claus by Tim Slover. Very good book. It was only 160 or so pages, but they flew by. I finished it in about an hour and a half. I highly recommend it. It could also be read to the family to help explain Santa and they hows and whys involved. I was thinking about reading it to my kids. I still haven't decided yet.

There is one passage at the end that struck a particular chord with me. It's true, unfortunately.


 "Alas! Too few are now the places where the Straight Road may find purchase on the earth. For as Saint Nicholas predicted, the demon struck at Christmas, and struck hard. Unable to come at Klaus himself, it has assaulted humanity. Hundreds of years of simple gifts freely given out of the fondness and mirth in Klaus's soul, gradually at first, and then more rapidly, have turned into a frenzy of commerce and competition, until many grow heartsick as Christmas approaches. And that is the demon's work."

That's what I mean. It has become something ugly and mean and we wanted no part of that. So we took no part in it. It isn't too late to change and start over and we needed to. We needed to break the cycle of commerce and competition. And we were the better for it.

The freezer is stocked, we have extra batteries for the Wii remotes, and you should see the pretty roast I bought for New Year's Day. We are going to eat the broccoli from our tower, which is big and beautiful. We are going to add our cowpeas from the tower to the black-eyed peas. We are going to drink sparkling grape juice at the stroke of midnight. We are looking forward to a new year and new traditions. What are you looking forward to?

Big Top

I am here, there, and everywhere these days. I wish I meant physically. My emotions are over the top, I want to cry and beat someone, or I am over the top happy and want to cry and hug someone. It fluctuates from second to second. Meanwhile, the bullshit gets deeper and deeper and deeper. That cave in Tahiti is looking better and better and better.

Big Sis says she done. She's tired of playing the game, everybody else wins. I let them win, too. By taking myself out of the game. You will hardly ever see me throw a game. I needed to throw this one. It was either that or throw someone, and that would get me jail time. I'm almost thinking it's worth it. I'm hard headed enough to convince myself, too.

Hubby's brother has been sending him messages on Facebook. Amazingly, he hasn't asked to be his friend. Wonder what that's about? He's asked me twice, but I've declined both invitations. The first message was actually kind of nice and we thought, ok, maybe. It said he loved my hubby and always would. Yeah, the second one, not so nice:

                       dido. WHY ARE YOU SO ANTIFAMILy?

Um, the first word confused me. I thought he left out an "l". No, he meant "ditto". The rest of it made me want to cry, then scream, then beat the holy living hell out of him. Antifamily? Who's the asshole now? I wanted to respond. I wanted to send an email back and make a fool of myself. I didn't. Good thing. Hubby called me a little while later and asked if I had. No, but I wanted to. Badly. Good for you, hubby said. Hubby called him. And stood his ground and told him to back off. BIL said hubby hadn't been to the parents house and hadn't spoken to the brother that is between them. Hubby said been there twice and spoke to brother last night. Quit talking about things you don't know anything about. If you have anything to say about me, talk to me first. Phones work both ways, too. He should know, he's the phone man. Oh, yeah, and SIL should stop using her sons FB account to take digs at me. Yeah, she's classy that way. Go away!!

I have been trying so hard to take the high road. That is one of the most difficult things I have ever done. I am a throw it down, in your face kind of gal. I guess you already knew that, though. My flesh screams at me to yell and scream that they know nothing. It won't do any good. We have remained quiet, except my blog. They can kiss it if they think I'll be quiet on this thing. At the park, I said "The view from the high road is AMAZING! It's boring as hell up here, but the view is worth it." Just want them to go away. And on to better topics...

Hubby had some vacation time he needed to take before the end of the year. It was just a couple of days, but it was amazing. We took a drive about an hour north of us to buy his Christmas present. We are all about instant gratification. We could have ordered it online, but then there's the wait as it ships. Who wants to do that? Hubby got a solar kit. It isn't much. It's only 45 watts, but it's enough to power our shed. Hubby is like a kid. He prepped the kit, cleaned the shed out some, rearranged some things, and realized he didn't have a good battery to store the power. So off we go, 9:30 at night, to the big box store so he can buy a battery. That man is crazy and I love him. You should have seen the smile on his face. And if he wasn't at work right now, he'd still be smiling.

This summer when I was home, my mom gave me some jewelry that had been sitting in her jewelry box, just looking pretty. One of the things she gave me was a ring that had belonged to my grandmother. Correct me if I'm wrong, Big Sis, was it her wedding ring? The diamond had actually belonged to my great grandfather. He bought it with moonshine money. People always look at me crazy when I say my grandfather ran moonshine. Well, hello, different time. When he had it, the setting was a locomotive and the diamond was the headlight. It was cut without electricty. Too cool.  My mamaw had it reset. I wanted to wear it right away, but we needed to have the prongs checked first. Prongs are good! The next issue was that my grandmother had these little skinny fingers. So do my mom and sister. Beautiful hands. The big girl got them, too. They skipped me and I have chubbier fingers. I had to wait for the weather to get cooler and my fingers to shrink a little so I could wear it comfortably. It's cooler. I love wearing it. It connects me to the past and to my grandmother, who I love very much. And miss every day. I look at my finger and I feel like she's with me. Just makes me happy.

When I blog, I usually have my headphones in. Music inspires me. Before when I plugged in, I either had to wait 'til hubby got home or put my phone where I could see it light up or feel it vibrate or both. Not with my iPhone. I am so liking this phone. I still would like a QWERTY keyboard, but I wouldn't trade this thing for another phone. Hubby is eligible for an upgrade now. He's pretty sure he's going to get one. Beware the power.

That's all I've got now. Hopefully, it's enough. If I don't see you before Christmas, make it a merry one. And screw the haters. They don't know you like I know you.


 

Getting It Off My Chest

Gotta love a random blog. That means I got stuff on my mind. Hang on, y'all!

• Hubby and I seem more stressed out this holiday season than ever before. We know why, and we're doing what we can to counteract it. It acts like a poison and tries to work it's way between us. The one thing that hubby and I have always agreed on is that we need to talk our way through it. Don't pull any punches and be honest but not hurtful. I will say it has led to some pretty amazing discussions. My man is incredible. If we can weather this storm, we can weather anything. Prayer helps, too, so while you're at it, if you could add us to your list, that would be awesome.
• High horse alert: Lowe's is catching flak because they have pulled their ads from TLC during the show about Muslims. A Christian group has bombarded Lowe's with complaints that the show is nothing but Muslim propaganda. Looks like I'll be shopping at Lowe's alot more. Between Sister Wives and this show, I may be boycotting TLC. Wait, I kinda already am since we got rid of satellite. That was easy.
• All of my spices are now all organic. Love it. My friends and I have all been on this health kick for about the last two or three years. I have one friend that has concentrated on bread and grains. I have another that has concentrated on getting all the sugar out of their diet. We all have those things that concern us the most. You already know I focus on the produce aspect. And since I love to cook and herbs and spices have such a great benefit, that was area number 4 hundred something. I love it! my spice rack looks so pretty. I ordered a Hawaiian black sea salt that is beautiful. It's almost a sweet salt. Lovely! I bought these cute little spice jars to put some of them in. I got those on sale and I had a coupon. I bought in bulk. You should see my great big bag of oregano. Glad I didn't get busted for that one, hehehehe.
• I do all of that because we hit spells when we are horrible eaters. Hubby and I had date night, we had a very busy weekend, and I could go on and on. By the time the weekend was over, the kids were complaining that they wanted mama cooked food, hubby was complaining that he wanted mama cooked food, and I was compaining that we needed a chef. Wait, I guess that would be me. On the band wagon, off the band wagon. Around and around we go. 
• Between soap, spices, curriculum, and a couple of other things, for someone that doesn't like to order stuff from the internet, the UPS, FedEX, and postman may have to go on my Christmas card list. If I had a Christmas card list. Which I don't. It got to be one more thing. And that had to go. 

I guess that's all the damage I'm gonna do for now. See, I said for now. Catch ya on the flip side!