This Is Why

This is why I want to get "back home again, in Indiana!"

Craving Doughnuts

This is weird, but it proves something that I always knew had a grain of truth in it, and that is that you always want what you can't have. In my case, I want doughnuts! Very strange, isn't it. I think the reason doughnuts have been on my mind a lot lately is that I have been seeing commercials for Dunkin Donuts, and of course, here in "Green Acres" there are no doughnuts to be had; not real doughnuts, anyway. Oh sure, I could go to the grocery store and get their bakery doughnuts (they rarely have a good variety, though) or get a bag or box of stale Krispy Kreme doughnuts that are trucked to the grocery store and sit on the shelf for who knows how long. I have bought Entemann's boxed doughnuts out of desperation, but they just aren't the same as picking out fresh, soft gems from behind a glass case at Dunkin Donuts. The closest store takes about 30 minutes to get to, so my family and I never have them, it's just too far to drive. A lifelong resident here in "Hicktown, USA" told me that once there was a Dunkin Donuts here--you can even see the outline of the letters on the front of the building where the store once was. The delicious and really-bad-for-you pastries were trucked in from the store in the next, more civilized town 20 miles away, but alas, "Hicktown" is anti-chain food, so the shop closed and all of us who would love to have a little treat now and then must go without. I will just have to make-do with watching the commercials and dreaming of the day when I sink my teeth into one of those yummy pillows of high calories and sugar!

The Strangers-No Need to See the Movie, the Trailer is Creepy Enough!

Okay, I don't usually do two posts in one day, but I forgot that I wanted to write something about that creepy movie that is due out in theaters on May 30th. The movie is called "The Strangers" and I couldn't find out a whole lot about it--that must mean that the movie stinks, but I really don't need to see the movie, the trailers that have been running on television are enough to freak me out! Those white-faced masks are SCAREY!!!!! As a matter of fact I had to quickly cover my six-year-old's eyes a couple of nights ago because that thing came on right as I was taking her up to bed. I just knew it was going to frighten the crap out of her, and this time, her fright is well founded. The trailer says the movie is based on a true story--I couldn't find anything about it when I did a quick search this morning, but I am sure there is more to come. I like a little scare from a movie now and then, but this one just seems creepier than what my 44 year old heart can take!

Can't Stop Spending Money!

Today, the bad news is that Americans have hit a new low in their view of the economy. The outlook hasn't been this negative in twenty-two years, so "they" say. I know things are bad. I know that my own situation isn't great, but certainly not as bad as others. It makes me sick that my husband makes a six-figure income, and yet we seem to always be scrambling to have the cash necessary for the everyday things. Gasoline prices have certainly taken their toll on our bank account, so has the cost of feeding a family of six. Nothing seems easy lately, except spending money. I don't understand it. I know things are not good, but I still seem to be spending money. It seems like each thing requires that another thing be purchased. For example, we have this new house, and in order to make it look good and in order to take care of it, I have had to purchase rugs to protect the hardwood floors, plants, trees and flowers to put around the outside of it, paint for the rooms. . . it seems like it never ends. The other big expense has been our trip to Florida this summer. We have been planning this thing for two years. Before we have even gone, we have spent money on airline tickets, rented a condo for the week, purchased Disney World tickets, and spent money on bathing suits and small toiletries to take with us. When we get there, we will need to purchase food, and gasoline, etc., etc., Do see what I mean? If it is this way for my family, who is indeed blessed richly, what is it like for those who do not have the income my husband does? We Americans seem to be getting awfully weary of the dismal state of things. We need good news and hope, and soon!

Mixed Messages

I hate to admit it, but I do watch the morning "news" shows, and they do nothing but frustrate me. The show I watch the most often is "Good Morning America" on ABC. They are really beating the global warming drum--and loudly. They also seem to get off on bring all manner of bad news. Everyday it is gloom and doom--the housing market, the gasoline prices, the price of food, the record number of tornadoes. on and on and on! Anyway, one thing they do that really honks me off is when they give us consumers "tips" on how to save money and conserve energy. It seems all they know how to do is give mixed messages. For example, they frequently do reports on how to save money on groceries. Most of the stories conclude that buying in bulk saves the most money, and they are probably right about that, but then in the next breath, they give us tips on how to conserve energy, which contradicts what they say in the food story. One of the suggestions for cutting back on the use of electricity is to "unplug the refrigerator in your garage." Okay, so tell me please how in the heck am I supposed to keep all that stupid bulk food you said I would save so much money by buying? We can't have it both ways. Either you save money on food and buy in bulk and store it in your refrigerator/freezer in the garage (or basement), or you unplug the darn energy gulper and only buy what you can store in your main refrigerator/freezer. Oy! These people! The other thing I think is that their whole attitude is that the suggestions are for everyone else--not for them! I would like to see how any of these newscasters and others making these suggestions live. I'll bet very few of them are following many (any) of these silly suggestions!

Horses: What do They Do?

For some reason, I have been thinking about all the things my mother-in-law said during her visit with us in December. One day we were driving somewhere, she asked what everyone around here did with their horses. We live in Northern Virginia where every other house you pass has some sort of farm animal on it; many with horses. I had to stop and think about that question because I am from northeastern Indiana where most horses that were around us were working horses living on Amish farms. My mother-in-law is from the Detroit area where there are no horses to speak of. Anyway, I really couldn't think of an answer. Around here, the horses seem to live the ideal life. All I have ever seen them do is eat grass in green pastures, run around a little bit, and sometimes run around with someone coaxing them to jump over rails and things. So, what is the purpose of having a horse? It seems to be a really big business around here: equine medicine, equine research, tack shops, etc., but for the life of me, I cannot figure out what the horses do. I told my mother-in-law that they are very expensive pets. People around here can apparently afford them because everyone (except us of course) has one or two or a bunch. Maybe if the price of gasoline prices keep going up, they will be employed as transportation!

The Importance of Friends

Something that my mother-in-law said to me when she was visiting us at Christmas has been bugging me. When I was lamenting the fact that I missed my friends back in Indiana, she said, "Friends are over-rated." At the time, I thought it was a strange and rather un-helpful statement to make to someone who was clearly homesick and lonely. Anyway, she says a lot of puzzling things that I just have to forget, but this one has stuck with me all this time. Part of the reason it has been dogging me is because I don't believe it's true, and also because my husband, through the years, has also said similar things to me. He has never really put much value on friendships like I have and now I know why. The longer I am married to this man, the more I see how differently our families functions, and what things our indiviual families valued. Even though I hate to admit it, I am awfully thankful I am from the family I came from. I think friendship is something humans can live without, but I don't think you live very well or very happily without friends. I feel terrible to say this, but right now, in this place, I have no friends. Sure, I have acquaintences here: my girls' teachers, a few friendly people at the church I am attending, and two neighbors, but these people while being friendly are not true friends. There isn't anyone here that I can just call to talk to, or to ask to see a movie or go shopping with. It's all very strange to me. I have been finding myself craving adult interaction, but there just isn't any to be had other than my husband, and these days, he's just not all that interesting to me; just too much of a downer to be around him. I guess the good thing is that I still have friends in Indiana so when we eventually get back there, I won't have to start all over in the friend department. In my opinion, friends are just as important as family and I miss having them.

Autistic Boy Banned from Church-Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Earlier this week Good Morning America ran a story about an autistic boy who had been banned from attending church. The usual tone of this story started to unfold: once again, an "evil" institution has wronged someone. Sometimes stories like this bring about change and awareness of problems and help others understand situations. This story leaves me with extremely mixed feelings. Before I was a stay-at-home mom, I was a social worker at an agency that served mentally handicapped people. One of my jobs was to distribute meds at lunchtime. We would always do this job in pairs and fortunately for me, this was standard procedure because one afternoon an autistic worker approached me from behind and got me in a choke-hold. Thank goodness my partner turned around and helped get our client off of me. This particular client was not very big, and was not particularly violent, and I don't think he really wanted to harm me, but nevertheless, I could have been choked until I was unconscious or worse.
So, back to the boy in Minnesota. He is thirteen years old and already is a big fellow weighing in at over 250 pounds and six feet tall--no match for most kids his age, and bigger than a great number of others who might be attending church. As far as we have come with issues of inclusion and tolerance, this sort of issue continues to cause upheaval and discontent. The mother of the boy insists that the boy belongs in church, and indeed needs to be there because he needs more of what God can give him. Unfortunately, I disagree with this mother and have to side with the church (even though exclusion is not usually what I tend to agree with). It sounds like the priest at the church has done everything in his power to provide worship opportunities for the boy including mediation, video feed in another room, home worship--all have been rejected by the boy's mother. I think the mother is only thinking of her son being excluded and not even considering the consequences of what would happen if he hurt himself or someone else. The boy has apparently had violent outbursts in addition to verbal outbursts at the church before. How could this mother want to put her son, the church and herself at risk of being sued, or having some tragedy occur? The church had no other choice and I would venture to say that even though the family has found another church that will accept the boy at services, all it will take is one incident, and the new church will be forced into making the same difficult and painful decision to turn the boy away. God can be present in all places, not just a building called a church,
God wants us to come to Him, but He knows our hearts and can be present with the boy regardless of his attendence in a building.

$2.99 Gasoline for Three Years-Cheers to Chrysler!

I have been interested in this marketing idea that Chrysler/Dodge has come up with. In this period of unheard of fuel prices, this might be the thing that helps boost Chrysler out of their dismal sales record. It seems to me that Chrysler has always been the ugly step-sister when it comes to car manufacturer. They seem to always get a bad rap, and there is a perception that Chrysler products are inferior. My parents have owned Dodge Grand Caravans for at least the last ten years; probably even longer than that. They always lease for three years and then trade in for the newest model, and for the most part, I think they have been satisfied with the features and performance of their various vehicles. My sister bought a Jeep Liberty when they first came out and my brother-in-law bought an Aspen when that model first came out. They have also found their cars to be both reliable and affordable. I was puzzled why there were so many negative blogs and nay-sayers when this $2.99 per gallon gimmick first circulated. I really don't think the idea is all that bad. It may be a gamble for folks who decide to purchase and lock into the gasoline price, but then again, do you really think we are going to see $1.00 per gallon gas prices ever again? I am an optimist and I think that the idea is a good one and I hope it gives the Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge company the help it needs to get out of their slump. People just like to be negative, I think, and afterall what are the other car companies doing to help us out. True, the hybrid vehicles are a great idea, but they are so expensive that they don't really pay off. There are also very few family sized hybrid vehicles, so I say, "Way to go Chrysler!" Maybe this and their new crossover Dodge Journey will really take off and people will start thinking more highly of the company just in time for them to roll out their new line of affordable (I hope) hybrids.

Drowning in a Sea of Unhappy

Have you ever been so unhappy that you just don't know what to do with yourself? I am talking about an all consuming unhappiness that lasts for more than just a day, not sadness really, although there may be a little of that mixed in too. Just an all around unhappiness about nearly everything. In my life I have had times when I have been unhappy and have always been able to dig myself out of it. During those times though, I was not a mother or a wife. I did not have anyone but myself to worry about. The unhappiness I am feeling now is so much more complicated. I have been able to enjoy a few things, and talk myself into being happy for certain moments in time, but this overall unhappiness is about to eat me alive. I have lost all confidence in myself in being able to control my feelings. I am angry at myself that I just cannot let go and be happy with where I am and who I am. For the last eight and a half months I have just barely been able to keep my head above this ocean of unhappy. The only thing that keeps me from drowning in it is my children. I do not want them to know how miserable I am. The old saying, "if mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy" is playing out in my life. I do not want my family to suffer just because I am unhappy because then everyone will be unhappy. Children should not have to bear the unhappiness of their parents. Every morning after my children are off at school, I try to find things to keep my mind off of my feelings, but the more I try, the worse I feel. I feel like I am betraying myself because I have always been a happy and mostly positive person, now I am so unhappy that I am becoming someone I do not like. I am slowly being pulled under by the current of unhappiness. I just want to have things be the way they were last year at this time. I just want to feel happy, optimistic, and at ease again. I've got to get that back!

Def Jam Diet: What the. . .???

Recently there has been a lot of "buzz" about the Def Jam diet. I had never heard of it and I counldn't find much information about it. Supposedly, it is the diet that Beyonce uses if she wants to lose some weight. I am always looking out for a diet that might work, so I did a little investigating. I have to say that this diet sounds rather unpleasant. It seems that this diet has been around for quite a long time since it was developed by Stanley Burroughs in 1941; originally for helping to heal stomach uclers. There must be some level of success with this diet, also called the "Lemonade Diet" because it is still being used and diet kits to get you going on it are easy to find on the internet. Anyway, I found a recipe for the stuff you are supposed to drink. Here it is:
2 Tbs Lemon juice
2 Tbs Genuine organic maple syrup
1/10 tsp Cayenne pepper
10 oz. hot or cold water
Sounds delicious, doesn't it, but if it works, why not? Anyway, there is more to the diet than just drinking this concoction for 3 to 10 days and it sounds like it could be dangerous if you don't go about it wisely. At any rate, the "Def Jam Diet" or the "Lemonade Diet" appears to be a diet that could work if you follow it properly. I found an informative website that you might want to visit if you are considering this extreme way to lose weight. Please go to www.mastercleansesecrets.com to see if you are really up for something like this, and as always, consult with your doctor before doing this or any other extreme diet.

Regulating Private Wells

I read an interesting article in our local "newspaper" this weekend. I put the word newspaper in quotes because this paper is not very professionally written, but is rather written by locals who include a lot of editorial comments mixed in with their "news" articles. Nevertheless, this article was regarding the regulation of the use of water by folks who have wells on their private (home) property. Out little town experienced quite a dry summer and fall last year, and so had to put some restrictions on the use of city water. There is a fellow living around here who has elected and re-elected to the Board of Supervisors for this Northern Virginia county. This fellow has been tossing around the idea of putting meters on private wells so that people who have them do not use more than their fair share of the water in this county. He seems to think it would help conserve water and make this town less desirable for further growth and development--something that apparently a powerful group of people here think is a good thing. This town is so anti-development, anti-progress, that they refuse (and have been refusing) to build a much needed new high school to alleviate the overcrowding of the local high school. So back to the well regulation, I don't think this idea is very good for anyone. Putting meters on private wells would not only cost the county a ton of money, but can you imgine trying to get access to some of these rural farms and homes? Who would determine how much water a family can/should use? My family of six certainly uses more water than the childless couple who lives behind us. We do more laundry and absolutely flush our toilets more often than those neighbors. Would this water regulation also put a limit on toilet flushing? It just seems like a crappy (no pun intended) solution to the water troubles this area is experiencing.

Nightmare Garden Part III

Oh brother, has this seemingly simple little gardening project that my six-year-old and I were going to enjoy together turned ugly! I thought things were going along okay and was looking forward to finally getting my supplies of recycled plastic timbers and connecters for our raised garden. The pieces came on Monday and as I pulled the timbers out, I was shocked to find out that my $200.00 worth of supplies were crushed! The timbers were simply unusable. Could things get any more frustrating? Well, yes, of course they could. I called the Willy Goat, the online company I had ordered them from, and they said they would contact the supplier, which is Scenery Solutions, and they would have replacements sent out right away. Great! Those WillyGoat.com people are so nice! Hold on there little gal, not so easy! The WillyGoat.com people called and said I had to send pictures of the damaged items to the supplier. Okee-dokee. My oldest daughter and I go take picures and e-mail them to the Scenery Solutions people, and they got them and agreed to replace the damaged items. This morning, I got an e-mail that said that since I ordered the item through http://www.willygoat.com/, I would have to place the replacement order through them. My goodness! All I wanted to do was have a nice little gardening experience with my daughter. This has been nothing but a royal pain and has taken a bunch of the joy of gardening out of me. In the meantime, my strawberry plants and other items that were going into the garden are sitting root-bound on my porch, in my garage, and on my kitchen counter, just begging to be set free. What a nightmare.
P.S. I have to say the people at www.willygoat.com have been extremely nice and now even know how to spell my difficult-to-spell last name without any prompts. If you want to check out their stuff, please visit their website and give them your business.

Converting Car to Water Powered Hybrid

I have been researching and studying this idea quite a bit. I have visited several websites that offer books that tell you how to convert your gasoline engine into a hydrogen hybrid. I blogged about this idea before and got some interesting feedback that said that actually, water for fuel can work, but it is not widely talked about. In my research, I found a few sites that offer their books for sale for between $100 and $300. After receiving postive feedback about the viability of such a conversion and reviewing the websites, I came back to the first "water for fuel" website I found www.water4gas.com and found that right now the price of the book is $97 and the fellow who wrote the book and came up with the system gives you permission to replicate his system. That means that once you have experience converting your own car, you can turn around and do it for other people, and perhaps make a little profit from it. I was discussing this idea with my husband last night, and as crazy and (perhaps) risky as it sounds, I think we might purchase the book and try to convert our old 1997 Ford Taurus station wagon to see if indeed the water for gas idea can work. I am excited to try, and with gas prices only going up, we really don't have that much to lose. I will keep you posted on our results.

Years Fly By!

My third daughter reached her ninth birthday on Friday. It doesn't seem like that many years have passed; she is growing up fast. My husband and I used to get a little tired of older folks telling us that "children grow up so fast!" My husband would always roll his eyes at me whenever he heard that, but truly, the years seem to have flown by. The older I get, the faster time goes. I remember as a kid, thinking that time would just creep along. Years seemed to take forever to pass. Now it's not like that at all. We have already been living in this new place for nine months. We are obligated to stay here for a total of 24 months. When I think that we need to stay here for another 15 months, I think that a probably will be able to that--it doesn't feel like it is that long of a time. Of course for the girls, that kind of time seems like an eternity. Anyway, the last nine years with my third daughter have been pretty good ones. She is happy, funny and smart. She is easy-going and always gives me a reason to smile! Happy Birthday!

Maytag Refrigerator Can Be Thrown on the Trash Heap!

Here's something for my trash heap. My eight month old Maytag side-by-side refrigerator isn't working. That's right the darn thing has only been in use since August 2007, and it has now decided to stop working. Of course, I just went to the store and bought over $200.00 worth of groceries, so that makes it all the more sucky. I had to throw away a bunch of stuff and the rest I stuffed into our old (18 years, to be exact) Amana refrigerator that I bought when we first got married. That thing seems to be indestructable, but Maytags I am not all that impressed with. We had a "top of the line" Maytag in our other house, with the stainless steel housing, and that thing had some mechanical trouble along with a rusting issue. At any rate, I am sitting here waiting for the repairman to come between 12:00 and 3:00 this afternoon, and wondering how much this eight month old piece of crap is going to cost me.