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.

So I did this 25 list over on the Facebook and thought I would put it on here for record keeping purposes. So if you read this over there, hit escape now and have a lovely day. If not, see if you learn something about me that you didn't know.

1. I love dragonflies. I think they are so amazing.

2. I am terrified of drowning but I'm obsessed with water. I would love to be a dolphin for one day.

3. I love to shop at the D.I. I love finding something old and making it new and usable again. I have 7 designer purses that I purchased for $1.00 each at the D.I.

4. I love graham crackers and milk. So good.

5. I hate, hate, hate to run but would love to run in a marathon.

6. I love to go out to eat. Anywhere.

7. I learn something new every day from one of my children. Hey with 5, the odds are pretty good that one of them will teach me something. Most of the time it's patience.

8. I have a fascination with trees. I love to climb them. I love everything about them from the leaves, to the bark to the creatures that call them home. I think it's ironic that I'm allergic to most of them. Whatever.

9. I love pina colodas. anything with coconut in it actually. It reminds me of Hawaii. Mmm, I love Maui.

10. I love baseball, especially old school baseball. I'll take Ted Williams over A-Rod any day.
"The Natural" is my personal "Gone With The Wind" or "The Godfather". That's just good movie-makin.

11. I am a 4th of July freak. It is my favorite holiday hands down. My idea of heaven is sitting at a ball game eating a hot dog with the smell of fireworks in the air. Okay, maybe heaven is a bit dramatic but doesn't that just sound nice? I am a really patriotic person who has a real respect for soldiers and veterans. I really enjoy war history. And even though we have some crazy issues going on, I think we live in a pretty spectacular country. And I think we have the coolest flag. Okay I'm done.

12. I'm 2 years older (and smarter) than my awesome husband.

13. My husband makes fun of me all the time but I can sing the entire Jordan High School song word for word. He makes fun of Jordan Pride but I think he's secretly jealous of the Beetdiggers.

14. I would love to be on Survivor just to see if I could do it.

15. I mowed my first lawn last summer...and I liked it.

16. However, I do not like to weed. I love flowers and gardening but I do not like to weed.

17. I am full of useless information. I seem to retain all the crap that won't help me do anything but win at Trivial Pursuit. I love Jeopardy.

18. I used to be a Security Guard for concerts. I worked all kinds of Heavy Metal, Rap, and Rock concerts and the only time I had to get physical with someone was at a Dan Fogleberg concert. I mean, come on, Dan Fogleberg? I did get sung to by Lars Ulrich from Metallica backstage. He sang me a lullaby.
I really love music. All kinds of music. Well, almost all. I've really tried and I appreciate that it's art and all but I just don't get rap.

19. If I could have dinner with one famous person it would be Cal Ripkin. Or Simon Cowell..or Paul Newman..or John Stockton. No, Cal Ripken. Or Coldplay.

20. Unlike most people, I enjoyed my first kiss. Good Job Cory!! (Is that inappropriate?;)) Oh well.

21. I have an amazing family and fantastic in-laws. I'm proud to call all of them mine.

22. My favorite thing to eat is cereal. Any kind. I would eat it for all three meals.

23. Although I can do a pretty mean stick figure, I would love to be an artist. To make something beautiful out of nothing.

24. I'm late for everything. I just am.

25. I like, totally loved growing up in the 80's. It was like the best. I had the raddest friends growing up and I like, way loved Jr. High and High School. (No, I wouldn't do it again. I'm just saying I'm glad I'm not in High School now. Yikes.)

26. I'm a pretty good speller.

27. I think Dr. Phil is full of crap. I think Dr. Pepper is full of goodness.

28. I love going to the movies. I love movie popcorn and the seats, good movies, bad movies..whatever. I like going to the movies. And I tend to like supporting characters more than leading characters in movies.

30... Oh, we were only supposed to go to 25. Sorry.

Has it already/only been 3 months?

Tyson is 3 months old. It's hard for me to believe that he has only been with us for three months because it feels like he has been part of our family forever. It totally amazes me how quickly, almost instantly these little people become essential to the happiness of a family.
I have met and loved so many people in my life and I am so grateful for the things they have taught me. I have such strong feelings of love for my parents and siblings.
I vividly remember falling in love with Greg. I knew he made me better. He has an amazing family and I realize how seriously lucky I am to have them.
It really was like meeting the other half of my family.
I felt complete.
And then I had Lindsay. I felt like life could not get better. Then I had Makenna and thought it was perfect. And then Olivia came and confirmed to me how lucky I was. And then came Ethan. Finally, a boy to compliment our little family and teach me a different kind of love. I thought my heart was full and felt it was time to call our family complete.
When we decided to have another one I was more than concerned that I would be a good mother to five children. I worried that I would have enough to give to another little pipsqueak.
A little piece of my soul tears at the thought of not having Tyson in my life and part of my heart. He has reconfirmed to me that we all have more love to give. Your heart does not lose love, you're just somehow given more love to give away. I can't explain it, I just know that my life has become like a roller-coaster that I cannot, nor do I want to get off of. What a thrill it is to be at the top of those high peaks when you feel the air of life rushing through your hair and you can't help but throw up your hands at the excitement of it all. That's what I try to remember when I'm in the "what's for lunch", "I peed my pants", "She's looking at me" straight parts of the ride. And I know a lot of us would trade those unexpected twists and turns to stand in a boring line where scary things don't happen. But just like we can't stop time, that line keeps moving us closer to the unknown of what's beyond that turnstile.
Luckily, I kept my hands and feet in the cart, even though I thought it was time to get off. I hate to think I would have missed out on that last little dip they throw in at the end of the ride.
Hold on Tight and have fun!

Lincoln Logs rule!!

So I am a huge fan of America. I love living here. I love being able to travel from state to state without any papers. I love being able to go to church wherever I wish to. I love being able to say anything I want to say without getting into trouble, well, except with my mom I guess. Anyway, I love being an American. I don't even like apple pie but I eat it because I love anything Patriotic. One of my favorite trips was to Washington D.C. I could not believe all the history and excitement there. I love the founding fathers and all of the lesser known Joes and Janes who sacrificed SO much for us to have all that we do. I am amazed that through everything that this country has been through, we're still standing. We're still the luckiest people in the world. She's not perfect, she's not even close but the good old U.S.of A. ain't too shabby. I mean, we came from nothing. They lived in mud huts for Heaven's sake. So to honor one of the men who did his darndest to keep us all "One Nation under God" when we were so close to shredding ourselves in half, I am sharing the Ghettysburg Address. I know we've all heard it a lot but it had been a while for me and I just love the simple eloquence of the words he uses.
And I also thinks he just ROCKS that stove pipe hat. Happy Birthday Mr. President.
It's a great day to be free people. Enjoy it.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.