2nd ain't so bad.

So Greg's Grandpa was a second son.

Greg's Dad was a second son.

Greg is a second son.

And my little Tyson is a second son.

I love all four of these men for different reasons.
I met and fell in love with Grandpa Great before I met and fell in love with Greg.
Ya know those people that just ooze goodness? He was one of those people.
He was generous, loving and he was a winker..like me.
The company I worked for ordered calendars and pens from "Wally" and he would deliver them to us. I was his contact and was smitten with him the moment I met him.
He would saunter into the office carrying his supplies and would spend time talking with me. He would say things like, "I have lots of grand-sons" or "my grand-sons are single". I would smile and say something like, "If they're anything like you Wally, I'll take one of em."
He would wink at me and then whistle as he walked back out the door.
Little did I know, right?
Grandpa Dibble is the same. You instantly love him and he instantly makes you feel loved. He is patient, hard working and loves his family.
He is a good person. The grandkids adore him and I think people love to say that they know him.
He has the faith and strength to kick major trials to the side like some annoying pebble in his way. And he has such a lovely laugh and easy smile.
I am so happy to call him family.
And then there's my Gregory. How handsome is he? It took me about 7 1/2 minutes to know that I could marry him. He was easy to love and still is.
He has learned from these two men and learned well. He is an amazing father who loves and protects his children fiercely. I have no doubt that he loves me but I'm also pretty sure he that he likes me. His faith is steadfast and he has a tender and sincere love for the Savior. He is super selfless and the man makes one mean roasted marshmallow. I'm tellin' ya. It's like edible art. A gooey pot of marshmallowy goodness. The kids like him best. I love him most.

My little Tyson True is the easiest thing in the world to love. He is the only one of my children that looks somewhat like me. (sorry kid). He is spunky and smart and I adore him. He has some very good examples and I have no worries that he will be a good second son and will carry on the tradition**.

**sorry about that pressure I just put on you to give us two grandsons. I like second girls too.

It is a recession after all.

The early Native Americans probably would have done just fine during times like these. They knew how to make every little thing count. They respected all parts of any animal they killed and made every single one of those parts useful. They understood how to make the most of what was available to them.
My mom and dad both tell stories of what it was like when they were growing up. They had to eat every bit of food on their plate. If there was any food that wasn't consumed by humans, that food was given to the farm animals. I try pretty hard to get my kids to eat all of their food (those late night "Starving Children" commercials have been the best guilt trip I could use on them) but if there are bits of food left it gets scraped off into the garbage or rinsed off down the sink. If I am struck by a moment of guilt, the left-overs get wrapped up in a ziploc baggie and hang around for a few days until I throw it away.
I remember tin can after tin can in my grandpa's little shop. They were used to hold things like old nails and rusty screws and other trinkets. We throw cans away left and right and just love the cutesy little baskets that we pay $3.99 for that sit on our shelves and house little trinkets that we never use. They saved everything and used every little bit of it. My grandmother made aprons out of shirts that could no longer be used as shirts. Not only did she re-use the material, but every button was taken off and put into a big, round tin for later use. And then the thread that held those buttons to the shirt was carefully unpicked and rolled up and put away to be used to darn socks or sew on another button. People throw away clothes every day because they have stains on them or they simply don't want them anymore.
My dad still to this day dries off after a shower with a wash cloth so that there is not more laundry requiring more water. He turns the heat down in winter and the air down in summer. He loves to torment my mother by turning off her curling iron if it's been on longer than 2.3 minutes. If we're cold, the heat goes up. If we're hot, the air comes on. Everyone likes a long, hot shower and sometimes my flat-iron stays turned on the whole day. (sorry Greg).
There are still people today that hike for miles for two buckets of dirty water. I mean, people used to bathe once a week and share the bath water with the whole family. (If there was ever a time to be the early bird). If they were cold.....yep, go out and bring in some fire wood that you chopped yourself and build a fire. And if you were hot...too darn bad, maybe go jump in the swimmin' hole but only after your 3 hours of chores are done. I hate that dinner takes me an hour. I can only imagine how pleasant I would be if I had to start on dinner right after breakfast. I get bugged when the store doesn't have the kind of bread I like.
Really?
I mean it's all made and put in a little, plastic bag with a twisty tie. They even slice it up for me into nice, even slices.
We live in a "give it to me now, that's too hard, It's not new so it's not useful" society. We live in such convenience that we don't even realize how convenient things are. Going out to dinner used to be such a big deal. People would get dressed up and make it such an event. Now we can go through drive-thru's in our pajamas, eat in our cars and be done with the whole affair in 15 minutes with our only human contact being with a disgruntled fast-food employee through a speaker who's only concern for our happiness is whether or not we want that "Biggie sized".
And do you remember the last time you got a hand-written letter from someone delivered to you through the U.S. Postal Service?...... Really, when was the last time?
Don't get me wrong, I love my e-mail and Facebook and I'm sure that if I wasn't slower than a turtle, I would love texting. I'm just hoping that when my children hear a funny joke, instead of saying "LOL" they will actually laugh out loud.
So, I have decided that I am going to reduce, re-use and re-cycle much more than I have been. I am going to follow in the footsteps of my very wise, frugal forebearers and I am going to use things more efficiently. I will turn off the water when I brush my teeth. I'll scrape out that last little bit of Peanut Butter and I will use stained shirts as rags or give them to those in need. And the girls will just have to play with that one-armed Barbie doll. And the next time my brother goes hunting, I'm going to have him go the Native American route and save the most useful and beneficial part of the deer or elk he gets.
And then I'm going to make me a pair of these bad boys.






Hey, I'm just trying to do my part.