Common Sense Living

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Can you feel it?

There’s something different in the air tonight. Something magical. It inspires joy and hope.

Tonight is the Winter Solstice.

We start to come out of the darkness!

Judging by a lot of the posts I’ve seen today, a lot of people are feeling pensive today.

I thought about where I was last year – facing eviction and struggling to keep the utilities on. My vehicle was on its last legs and would die in the next few days. My dinner came from the food pantry. All that pumpkin stuff I made last year? The pumpkins were given to me.

No, I didn’t tell you. Only one person knows how bad things were. I faced it with the help of my sister, and the grace of God.

It was the culmination of dark times for me.

But like tonight – it started to change. Gradually – bit by bit, there was more light.

Things are still not as great as I would like, but I am grateful for every bit I have this year. Imagine being grateful to be able to buy toliet paper. I’ve been happy to spend my last dime on a great dinner and gifts to make this Christmas as special as I can.

The whole thing has taken a toll on my health. I hate to think where I’d be if I didn’t have healthy eating habits. But I believe that as things get better, so will my health.

Believe.

Believe that things will get better.

Keep trying.

Work hard.

Never give up.

The light will come.

This too shall change.

Happy Winter Solstice!

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• Winter Solstice ~ Merry Yule (fordrinksandtips.com)
• Winter Solstice 2011 (gallery32.wordpress.com)
• ‘Tis The Winter Solstice (openspacesfengshui.com)
• Winter Solstice Signals Start of Storytelling Season (indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com)
• Winter Solstice 2011: When It Is and What to Know About Start of Winter (ibtimes.com)
• Kissing Under The Mistletoe: Traditions for the Winter Solstice (listyles.wordpress.com)

Every once in a while I get sent a pass around email that is actually worth sharing. This one is so common sense I had to share it -

BEST THING I HAVE HEARD YET…..From a senior citizen around 80 yrs. of age. (We aren’t useless yet.)

The Fix

There recently was an article in the St. Petersburg , Fl. Times. The Business Section asked readers for ideas on: “How Would You Fix the Economy?” I think this guy nailed it!

Dear Mr. President,

Please find below my suggestion for fixing America ‘s economy. Instead of giving billions of dollars to companies that will squander the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan.

You can call it the “Patriotic Retirement Plan”:

There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force. Pay them $1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the following stipulations:

1) They MUST retire. Forty million job openings – Unemployment fixed.

2) They MUST buy a new AMERICAN Car. Forty million cars ordered – Auto Industry fixed.

3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage – Housing Crisis fixed.

It can’t get any easier than that!!

P.S. If more money is needed, have all members in Congress pay their taxes…

Mr. President, while you’re at it, make Congress retire on Social Security and Medicare. I’ll bet both programs would be fixed pronto!

If you think this would work, please forward to everyone you know.

If you read the related articles, the last article brings up a really good point – Did we the people vote to give congress the lavish benefits and retirement they enjoy at our expense? Shouldn’t they have to live like the rest of us?

Related articles

• How to Fix Congress by Warren Buffet !!! (2012patriot.wordpress.com)
• A solution to fix Congress and save $$ (bulltopia.wordpress.com)

I was down on the beach today, just enjoying the beautiful Indian Summer day. I was puttering, pulling a weed here and there – when I saw the baby turtle struggling.

She was about an inch long, and struggling against the waves. She was too small to swim against the current. The waves were just throwing her about. Her little legs were going a mile a minute as she tried in vain to keep herself upright and going in the right direction.

The poor thing had to be exhausted, so I put her up just out of the water’s reach so she could regain her strength. She ran right back into the water only to start struggling again. I let her struggle for a minute, and then tried putting her just outside the waves, but she ran right back in.

At this point, I figured I had to just let nature take it’s course.

A little while later, I saw her further down the beach. In that short amount of time, she had learned to stay along the edge of the water where she was better able to stay upright and move along. Occasionally a wave would still knock her over, but she fought to get herself turned back over and went on.

The episode reminded me of how we are often tempted to try and make life easy for our children; running to protect them from every little thing.

But we are doing them a real disservice when we do that. Its the struggle that teaches us how to be strong and resourceful.

Did you know that its the same in the plant world? All of the pesticides and fertilizers make lazy plants. They no longer have to build their strength from within. As a result, we have weak plants that can no longer provide their own protection like they used to, and they produce fewer nutrients.

Most great accomplishments came from people who struggled – not from people born in the lap of luxury. Think about that.

Steve Jobs, Stephen King, A.K. Rawlings, Abraham Lincoln, Cornell Sanders, Oprah Winfrey, and Walt Disney come to mind as people who struggled long and hard before seeing their dreams come true. If you’ve struggled trying to make your dreams come true, you are in good company.

Struggling is not fun. No question about that. But its what makes you strong and resilient. Struggle builds resourcefulness and character.

Like that little turtle – keep doing your best to stay upright and moving in the right direction. Nature has a way of working things out.

Make it a point to step outside your comfort zone a little more often and work your resourcefulness muscles. Try things that seem a little hard. Don’t shy away. Accomplishing things that seemed hard is a great confidence booster. Imagine how great that will feel when you can say “I did that!” 

Related articles

• Steve Jobs-The Zen of Beginning which is in the End (hinduworldvision.wordpress.com)
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I’m so sorry I haven’t written much lately. The 10, 11, 12 hours days are really getting to me, and I’m sure you don’t want to constantly hear about how I’m surviving by the skin of my teeth (and still have a pretty clean house

Afterall, aren’t I supposed to be Superwoman? Able to handle everything, and still have a clean house, a healthy diet, and get 8 hours of sleep to boot?

It really pains me to admit that I have reached my limit.

My eating habits have slipped a little. Not horrible, but not as good as they should be. I’m making an effort to get back to better eating.

And my writing both on the blogs, and the new ebook have slipped too.

What really hurts the most is the fact that I can’t change things right now. Busy season will end in its own time, and life will get back to normal – but it has gone on far too long for my liking. I want it to stop NOW.

I hate not being in control. Can you tell?

I am taking a mental health day tomorrow to enjoy some of the last bits of warm weather, and hopefully finish that ebook!

I’m not going to clean house, or paint, or dig up gardens. Imagine that…

We’ll see how that goes.

Related articles

• The Legend of Superwoman (jaymismorningfog.wordpress.com)
• Superwoman has left the building. (storeclosingsales.wordpress.com)
• {Day 2} Superpowers (jaymismorningfog.wordpress.com)
• {Day 3} Superwoman Myth #1: Superwoman Never Experiences Adversity (jaymismorningfog.wordpress.com)

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Seriously. I decided I am only moving the stove once, so that means I have to finish it tonight.

You may have shopped for paint and wondered if those new paint-primer combos really work.

I used the DutchBoy one when I painted my daughter’s room a couple of months ago. It did not cover in one coat, and it had a really strong odor that lasted quite a while. Now to be fair, I did paint over off white walls that had not been painted in a very long time – with orange paint.

In the kitchen, since I’ve removed wallpaper and exposed primed wallboard, I was going to prime, but the guy in the paint department said I wouldn’t have to with the Pittsburg paint.

The brush painting needed 2 coats. So far, it’s looking like the roller painting is covering in one coat. I have to watch the paint dry a little longer. I’m still going to give above the stove a second coat for durability.

And the Pittsburg paint has virtually no odor at all.

Now you might wonder if you buy one of those expensive new paint brushes, will it make a difference?

Sorry. I will say that the expensive brush did make trimming a lot easier, but it didn’t cover any better. And I’ve only done one small wall and the brush is shedding bristles already.

So now I’m watching and waiting….

OK, there are some spots showing through. For a professional looking finish it needs 2 coats.

As tempting as it is to try to shortcut the process, for best results you still need to prep the walls correctly and give it 2 coats. Living with a crummy paint job will bug you until you redo it. You might as well buck up and do it right the first time.

Now I’m off to finish this so I can get to bed!