Common Sense Living

Archive for the ‘Misc. Stuff’ Category

My grandmother used to say that. Anyway, the website is all pretty now. I think I’ve gotten all the residual problems that kept popping up all weekend.

Special thanks to Dan for helping me with the last issues that I could not figure out. I know you’ve seen him in the comments often.  If you’ve ever wondered – here are his websites

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We finally had our Christmas dinner with the sick side of the family last weekend. What a group!

The interesting thing is that everyone had their own interests in the political arena. My brother was interested in financial aspects, tax loopholes, taxing the millionaires and such.

My niece was very vocal on the failings of the ‘health care reform’, and how it has helped no one.

I, of course, was interested in the Monsanto issues.

All of us agreed that there is not a good candidate to run this country that has any clue what is really going on.

My niece talked about how you will be required to get check-ups, and if you don’t do what they tell you to do or meet you health goals for the year – you will be fined. She also talked about how they have made it impossible for health care providers to actually get paid. She said they only get paid 20 or 30 % as it is. That will result in fewer Doctors, and less available health care.

My brother talked about how ‘they’ can see what you do inside your house with super powered satellites. How uncomfortable is that? He said, “1984 is here.” Creepy.

We talked about how Monsanto seeds can blow on to your property and start growing, and then they send in their armed thugs to intimidate you, and then they sue you for growing their seed without paying for it. We talked about the GMOs, and about animals being fed unnatural grain diets and how that affects us.

It occurred to me that we all have issues that we know about, but we don’t even touch the tip of the iceberg. There is so much going on, how can you possibly keep track of even 1% of it all?

Its an overwhelming world we live in. Its hard enough to survive, let alone be educated and involved. Of course, that is what they count on – that we won’t be paying attention.

Have any tips for staying on top of things?

Are you in the cold and snow belt this weekend? Why not make the best of it?

Knock out some of the spring cleaning. Anything little thing you get done now is soemthing you won’t have to do when its warm and you want to be getting outside.

Image via Wikipediayou want to be getting outside.

Make some great food.

Do some baking.

Play cards. My daughter loves gin rummy. We can talk and play for hours.

Sled.

See? There’s a lot you can do

I’m finding that I’m not too motivated to do anything important, but I can manage to putter around. I made split pea soup and pumpkin bread today, and shoveled a lot.

Oh, and I’m practicing shuffling. What a fun way to get some cardio!

Whatever you do, have a good weekend!

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Image via Wikipedia

I was thinking (I know – dangerous!) that it is sort of fitting that Martin Luther King’s birthday is now. It’s a couple of weeks into January. Resolutions have fallen by the wayside for most. We are subject to the dullness of January. The after holiday letdown, the burnout, and for much of the country – cold uninspiring weather. Blah….

I always like to start my year off with a clean house. Its sort of my tradition. When I put away the Christmas decorations, I clean everything as I put it back and sort of get a fresh start.

Its crazy to think that you are going to accomplish your goals in the first 2 weeks of the year.

You’ll see references to “I have a dream” all day. Let it inspire you. I know you have a dream too.

If you’re suffering the January blahs, like me – you can at least do a little something everyday to move you closer to your goals. You’ll be surprised how little things done consistently add up to big progress.

I was reading the bible last night. I will typically just open it up and start reading – whatever page I happen to land on. Here is the passage that I landed on -

If clouds are full of water, they pour rain upon the earth.

Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there it will lie.

Whoever watches the wind will not plant,

Whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.

As you do not know the path of the wind,

or how the body is formed in the mother’s womb,

so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.

Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let not your hands be idle,

for you do not know which will succeed,

whether this or that,

or whether both will do equally well.

Ecclesiastes 11:3-6

Weird, right?

OK, I was pretty idle this weekend. But I did do little things. Not as much as I should have, but something anyway. I’m a few steps closer. That’s better than no progress. I dabbled with a little of this, and a little of that – and it will come together.

Will this work? Will that work? You don’t know until you try.

I think it was Roosevelt who said something to the effect of – the only way to fail is to quit. Never, never, never give up.

Here’s to your dream!

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Image via Wikipedia

You might remember that I took my car into the Lindenhurst Firestone before Thanksgiving to have it fixed. It makes a noise that through my research sounded like the rear hub assembly.

They said, no, the bearing is fine. The brakes rub a little and that’s what I hear.

The noise has made me increasingly crazier. So I took it in to have it fixed. They did the rear brakes. He said that there was rust build up and that accounts for the noise.

Guess what? That wasn’t it.

I know I should have listened to my inner self and taken it somewhere else, but I can get home from there. Now I’m stuck. I don’t have the money to have the car fixed again.

So I have a car that makes me crazy in the first place.  We are supposed to get 4-8 inches of snow, and it’s my late day. I get to try to drive home down dark country roads after dark in heavy blowing snow. I’m not happy.

I may end up staying overnight at the office. I’ve double filled the cat’s bowls just in case. What more can I do? It is what it is.

I hope that you have a safe vehicle, and if you’re in the snow path that you take it easy and stay safe.

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