1.
Obama school speech controversy – someone in the comments of my Examiner article thinks that anyone who find Obama’s speech controversial should be sterilized. Then he spelled “our” wrong while pointing out how dumb people are.
2.
A friend of mine’s daughter is in the hospital. Keep her in your prayers!
3.
Not only will the IRS be enforcing the healthcare mandate should Obamacare go through, but the IRS will be sharing your private financial data with whatever new bureaucracy springs up to manage costs. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want the IRS anywhere NEAR my healthcare decisions.
Remember that movie, The Pursuit of Happyness, with Will Smith? Remember HOW he ended up homeless? The IRS seized his bank account, leaving him $21. Do you think the IRS will care whether you’d rather buy groceries than pay your healthcare premium? Don’t kid yourself.
4.
Mr R is on a restricted diet – no food colors, MSG, artificial sweeteners, BHA, BHT, or TBHQ. Some of those chemicals have been banned in Europe and deemed unfit for the food supply. What you may not know is that major food companies have removed tartarizine – yellow #5, and other chemicals from European versions of the food while continuing to put them American’s food! MomsRising.org has a petition for Kraft to make the European version of Mac N Cheese available stateside, too. The whole site looks good, but I haven’t had time to go through it.
5.
T.K. and Deidrea Laux loved their son. They found out before birth that he had Trisomy 13 and may live mere hours past birth. They loved him fiercely for every minute of his life. They chose not to terminate the pregnancy, because he was their son, and have graciously shared their story.
From Diedrea’s blog:
My sweet baby boy –
When I woke up this morning you began moving around in my belly. As usual, you stuck your butt in the top of your safe home and when your daddy started talking to you, you moved around as if trying to get closer to him.
Every morning you are the first thought of my day and the last thought before I go to sleep. I wish it could be like this forever – you safe in my belly.
But the doctors say one day soon you’ll have to leave your safe place and face life without the support my body has provided you for the last seven months.
I am so scared to lose your and to not feel you move inside me. You have brought so much joy to my life. How do I tell you goodbye? How do I wake up without you?
6.
I just discovered John Scalzi’s essay on Being Poor. So true.
I’d add a couple of things.
Being poor is knowing the water company will let you go 90 days past due, but the electric company must be paid no more than 11 days after the due date. And paying a $25 late fee every month.
Being poor is buying Christmas presents at Goodwill, but only on half price day. And feeling hopeless when that $3 bike gets stolen.
Being poor is hiding the Scotch tape because it’s a luxury.
Being poor is living in a motel, and almost dying of embarrassment when a visiting family member sits in the only chair – which has 3 legs.
Being poor is washing your only cooking vessel in the bathtub, because there is no kitchen.
Being poor is letting the toddler play in the bathtub all day on Thursday, because payday is Friday and there are no diapers.
Being poor is biting your tongue when the landlord lays a plastic runner over the bathroom carpet instead of fixing the leaky toilet because you don’t want to get evicted. And having weird house rules, like you have to put your shoes on before you go potty.
Being poor is being relieved that your husband’s second job is at a buffet restaurant that lets employees take what they want after closing. Otherwise, what would you eat?
Being poor is giving your can opener to a family even worse off than you are, and having your husband think that it is a truly heroic act.
Being poor is knowing deep inside which material goods are mere trifles, and also knowing what things endure.
7.
I was reading a healthy food blog, and she mentioned her five favorite foods. Then she noted that her choices were actual foods (avocados, kale) not dishes (like pizza or cheeseburgers) like others mentioned. Interesting!
What are your five favorite foods (single ingredients)?
Mine are:
Avocados (man, I could eat them all day!)
Tea (yes, I drink it without sugar, usually)
Peanut butter (yeah, I’ve been known to eat it straight out of the jar. And then maybe sprinkly chocolate chips on the spoon.)
Cherry tomatoes (warm off the vine)
bacon (mmm… bacon)
And a bacon avocado sandwich? Heaven!
For more Quick Takes, check out Conversion Diary.
Alicia (1)
Amanda (1)
Angie @ Bigbearswife (1)
Birdie (1)
christy (1)
Dawn (1)
Grandma Margie (1)
Jennifer (1)
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Your “being poor” list is great. We need lists like that for every situation people find themselves in, it’s so much easier to understand each other through these little visceral snapshots.
You “being poor” list tugged at my heart. I must say I’ve done a few of those myself in the past.
I, to, was touched by your “being poor” list; money is tight here. but it made me realize how very rich I am.
ETA: to clarify the toilet situation: that house with the leaky toilet was the only house available in the little town near where my husband had a temporary job. We did not want to get evicted because we could not afford to have run two households, one two hours from my husband’s jobsite (the next closest town, on the other side of the reservation) and one in the town nearest the jobsite (still 30-40 minutes from his work). Because my husband was working 12-14 hour days on a shut down, a two hour commute was out of the question. We also could not afford to lose the job or quit. So we made the choice to live with a plastic runner for two weeks because we could not afford the alternatives. These are the choices one makes when one is poor, which is the point of the post.