I will be the first to say that I don't understand economics, unless it is really as easy as I think it is. I am having a hard time understanding the coming "recession"--based on the housing market. It seems to me that people have too much stuff. Look at landfills; look at trash cans; look at shows like "Clean House" or "Mission Organization." Do we really need more?
Why are people building more houses, when old houses, beautiful houses, are sitting vacant? Why isn't there a tax relief plan for people to renovate these houses?
So if this is the case, how does saving and doing with less affect the economy? Really, household economics is fairly easy: You make so much money, and you live within those parameters. If you don't you declare bankruptcy.
How much of our money goes into the great gulf of nothingness? Interest payments on mortgages and credit cards, insurance, entertainment--the list could grow a lot here. I am not saying that we don't need these things (well, insurance is a scam, but that is a different rant!), but look at how much money is poured into this abyss.
I guess my basic question is: When is enough enough? If we have enough, why do we (as a country or a culture) continue to spend? Why is the stress put on spending, rather than saving both money and things? I hate the disposable society.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
More Books Read
I wish there was a separate space or list so that I could just list all the books I read. However, in addition to the Saint books that I have read this year for Accelerated Reader tests, I have read 2 more novels, and am listening to one on CD (that counts, right?). So, I have finished:
1. The Manny (Holly Peterson) - simply OK. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, but if someone asked me, I would tell them it was just OK. Not a complete waste of time, but close.
2. The Overlook (Michael Connelly) -- I usually like Connelly's Harry Bosch books, but this is probably my least favorite. It didn't feel finished, and I didn't get to understand any more about the character. It just seemed like Connelly wanted to get in on the terrorist novel angle before it went away. A big disappointment, because I like the others so well.
I have a stack of books on my night table now, and in a couple weeks, I will have a couple more titles to share.
Where can I keep a list?
1. The Manny (Holly Peterson) - simply OK. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, but if someone asked me, I would tell them it was just OK. Not a complete waste of time, but close.
2. The Overlook (Michael Connelly) -- I usually like Connelly's Harry Bosch books, but this is probably my least favorite. It didn't feel finished, and I didn't get to understand any more about the character. It just seemed like Connelly wanted to get in on the terrorist novel angle before it went away. A big disappointment, because I like the others so well.
I have a stack of books on my night table now, and in a couple weeks, I will have a couple more titles to share.
Where can I keep a list?
Saturday, January 12, 2008
ACC Basketball Season TODAY!
Since I promised to incorporate more pictures, I thought I would share one of my favorite photos I found on the web. It comes from InsideCarolina, created b y Jim Hawkins (apparently a really talented, wise person), and it used to be my desktop wallpaper:
I know I promised to post on Thursday, but I wanted to wait until today for a good reason: Carolina begins its ACC season in earnest today. I have a lot of blogs bookmarked and I read them regularly (sometimes I spend a LOT of time at the computer). My favorite one is not a sole Carolina blog, but the guy who writes it is really funny and smart enough to make it interesting, even if he does have a misspelled word here and there. Anyway, his blog is "Work Hangover" and I really enjoy reading it.
A couple other I look at regularly are: Tarheel Times, Tar Heel Fan, and TarHeelDaily. Since I live here in Kansas, we don't get coverage like one does on the east coast, especially in God's country, so I search the internet for stories that have things I might not hear otherwise.
So let's look forward to a great season, no more injuries, and a trip to San Antonio in the end. I'll be there!
GO HEELS!
Friday, January 4, 2008
2008 Goals
One of my goals is to post some of my scrapbooking layouts, pictures of sewing projects, or other artwork that I do through the year to my blog. I think pictures really help make a blog more personal. So, in order to do that, I am going to try to upload a photo of my doggies, Rufus and Mrs. B:
OK, the photos are in, but it didn't quite turn out the way I wanted it to. By the way, Mrs. Baggins is the one with the dot on her head; Rufus is her last baby. I so enjoyed having her puppies around.
So I guess that now that I know how easy it is to upload a photo to this blog, I will publish more pictures of what I work on in my craft room. I will publish pictures of my craft room if I ever get it finished!
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Book Read
OK, I said I was going to post, and I mean to do it!
I just finished a book: Father Kino, Priest to the Pimas. I promised the school librarian that I would read this whole stack of easy Saint books in order to write A(ccelerated) R(eading) tests on them for the kids to take and earn points. So here is one read; one test completed.
I really despise books written for children that are poorly written. I swear, I could write these so much better, but I hate the do the research involved!
I just finished a book: Father Kino, Priest to the Pimas. I promised the school librarian that I would read this whole stack of easy Saint books in order to write A(ccelerated) R(eading) tests on them for the kids to take and earn points. So here is one read; one test completed.
I really despise books written for children that are poorly written. I swear, I could write these so much better, but I hate the do the research involved!
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Long Time, No Chat
OK, another chance for New Year's resolutions. I have made a few (5), and one of them is to blog every week. Another is to write more, and so this allows me to accomplish two at one time.
I was just visiting the www.2peasinapod.com website. It is a cool site, with many, many different things going on. For example, I just found a place where people just talk to each other, about many different things. One conversation yesterday was about Jewishness vs. Christianity (not versus, as in a war, but more vis-a-vis). The comment that interested me was where the author stated that a Jew could not be a Christian. What she meant was that a person could not practice both faiths. I understand, but I always considered Jews to be both a tribe, or race, as well as a faith. I believe that a Jew can absolutely become Christian, and not lose his or her "Jewishness." Her position was that it is absolutely impossible to retain the tradition through the generations if you are not practicing, as far as I understood her comments.
This was an informed, adult, informative chat, and I enjoyed it immensely. I went on today, and a woman was asking a question about a touchy situation. I could not believe how some women piled on her, saying awful things about her finances, her decision-making, her judgment--it was really amazing. When other posters began standing up for question-asker, the pilers began making excuses, saying that this woman has a history of causing trouble, etc.
Why do people find the need to be ugly? It takes so much less energy to be nice.
I subscribe to www.Flylady.com, and one of her agendas (and I mean that in absolutely the best way--this woman is a saint and should be given a medal) is to Pay It Forward. There is one drive-up restaurant here in town that I go to only sometimes, but I have made it a point to pay for the car behind me every time I go there. It makes me feel good. I love the fact that the person behind me isn't expecting a thing, and something really great happens for them, and they don't even have to thank anyone. Every time I do it, I pray that the person behind me does something nice for someone. That is all I want to happen, is for people to be nicer to each other.
Maybe if we all did this, there would be no Columbine shooter, or Virginia Tech shooter, or Von Maur shooter. Just because we did something nice instead of being ugly. Wouldn't that be nice?
I was just visiting the www.2peasinapod.com website. It is a cool site, with many, many different things going on. For example, I just found a place where people just talk to each other, about many different things. One conversation yesterday was about Jewishness vs. Christianity (not versus, as in a war, but more vis-a-vis). The comment that interested me was where the author stated that a Jew could not be a Christian. What she meant was that a person could not practice both faiths. I understand, but I always considered Jews to be both a tribe, or race, as well as a faith. I believe that a Jew can absolutely become Christian, and not lose his or her "Jewishness." Her position was that it is absolutely impossible to retain the tradition through the generations if you are not practicing, as far as I understood her comments.
This was an informed, adult, informative chat, and I enjoyed it immensely. I went on today, and a woman was asking a question about a touchy situation. I could not believe how some women piled on her, saying awful things about her finances, her decision-making, her judgment--it was really amazing. When other posters began standing up for question-asker, the pilers began making excuses, saying that this woman has a history of causing trouble, etc.
Why do people find the need to be ugly? It takes so much less energy to be nice.
I subscribe to www.Flylady.com, and one of her agendas (and I mean that in absolutely the best way--this woman is a saint and should be given a medal) is to Pay It Forward. There is one drive-up restaurant here in town that I go to only sometimes, but I have made it a point to pay for the car behind me every time I go there. It makes me feel good. I love the fact that the person behind me isn't expecting a thing, and something really great happens for them, and they don't even have to thank anyone. Every time I do it, I pray that the person behind me does something nice for someone. That is all I want to happen, is for people to be nicer to each other.
Maybe if we all did this, there would be no Columbine shooter, or Virginia Tech shooter, or Von Maur shooter. Just because we did something nice instead of being ugly. Wouldn't that be nice?
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
What Are People Thinking?
Yesterday, I can't remember where (probably online), I read an article about new parents paying consultants to help name their children! And we wonder why the government isn't working? Have we collectively lost our minds?!!
First off, what idiotic parents that they can't trust their own instincts or heritage and choose a name that fits their kid! The article cited instances of books on naming children, "Nameologists", and the like because parents don't (1) want their child with the same name as someone else; (2) want their child with a too-trendy name; (3) want their child with a name that seems too weak. So don't name them "Buffy" or "Chip"! One woman paid a consultant to help her name her daughter, and then is paying for a legal name change because she didn't like the name after it was done. If parents can't trust their instincts when naming the kid, how are they going to handle the difficult parts, like discipline? Chances are, they won't. They will bully teachers, control lives, and not allow their offspring to fail, guaranteeing a life filled with disappointment and grief.
The deeper part of this is that, in my opinion, parents see their children as accessories to themselves, mini-me people, only without the mistakes that their parents made. Listen, my kids, for all that I love them, and they are great kids--my kids make bad mistakes. I teach them right from wrong, and how not to hurt people, but really, they are not a mini-me. I am not self-centered enough, nor is my husband, that we cannot recognize that our children are parts of us, but mainly, they are themselves! If they were recreations of my husband and me, we would not have kids making bad grades (and yes, our KIDS make the grades). I don't understand parents who don't allow their kids to fail at things. How is the kid going to learn that it isn't the end of the world if he/she fails? Life will go on, and they might even learn something about next time. I don't know if parents cannot abide to see their kids fail because they see it as poor parenting, or because they don't want to help clean up the mess, or because they don't want to see their kids uncomfortable.
I know I am cut of a different cloth when it comes to parenting. If my home is too comfortable for my kids, they will not want to leave. It is my job, as a parent, to push them from the nest. But pushing a baby out of the nest is a bad thing. They have to be able to fend, fight, and make do. The need to know how to fail, and how to start again. They need to know that they are not going to like everybody, nor is everybody going to like them. They may still have to work with these people, and they might as well learn to do that now as later. They need to know that love hurts, friends stand by you, and Mom and Dad are a phone call away, but only to tell them how we survived these trials. The trials will happen. I pray that I have prepared my children to be adults when they do.
First off, what idiotic parents that they can't trust their own instincts or heritage and choose a name that fits their kid! The article cited instances of books on naming children, "Nameologists", and the like because parents don't (1) want their child with the same name as someone else; (2) want their child with a too-trendy name; (3) want their child with a name that seems too weak. So don't name them "Buffy" or "Chip"! One woman paid a consultant to help her name her daughter, and then is paying for a legal name change because she didn't like the name after it was done. If parents can't trust their instincts when naming the kid, how are they going to handle the difficult parts, like discipline? Chances are, they won't. They will bully teachers, control lives, and not allow their offspring to fail, guaranteeing a life filled with disappointment and grief.
The deeper part of this is that, in my opinion, parents see their children as accessories to themselves, mini-me people, only without the mistakes that their parents made. Listen, my kids, for all that I love them, and they are great kids--my kids make bad mistakes. I teach them right from wrong, and how not to hurt people, but really, they are not a mini-me. I am not self-centered enough, nor is my husband, that we cannot recognize that our children are parts of us, but mainly, they are themselves! If they were recreations of my husband and me, we would not have kids making bad grades (and yes, our KIDS make the grades). I don't understand parents who don't allow their kids to fail at things. How is the kid going to learn that it isn't the end of the world if he/she fails? Life will go on, and they might even learn something about next time. I don't know if parents cannot abide to see their kids fail because they see it as poor parenting, or because they don't want to help clean up the mess, or because they don't want to see their kids uncomfortable.
I know I am cut of a different cloth when it comes to parenting. If my home is too comfortable for my kids, they will not want to leave. It is my job, as a parent, to push them from the nest. But pushing a baby out of the nest is a bad thing. They have to be able to fend, fight, and make do. The need to know how to fail, and how to start again. They need to know that they are not going to like everybody, nor is everybody going to like them. They may still have to work with these people, and they might as well learn to do that now as later. They need to know that love hurts, friends stand by you, and Mom and Dad are a phone call away, but only to tell them how we survived these trials. The trials will happen. I pray that I have prepared my children to be adults when they do.
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