Joan.of.the.Arch's Pleasant Suffciency Blog

According to SymphonyIRI Group these were the top ten successes in new foods & beverages introduced in 2011*:

1. P.F. Chang Home Menu frozen dinners

2. Thomas' Bagel Thins

3. Oscar Mayer Selects frankfurters

4. Folgers Gourmet Selections K-Cups coffee

5. M&Ms Pretzels

6. Sun Drop carbonated beverages

7. Kellog's Special K Cracker Chips

8. Lean Cuisine Market Creations frozen dinners

9. Gold Peak Chilled Tea

10. Bailey's Coffee Creamer

I am out of it. I have not tried any of these products. I have seen television ads for three of them, and one of them I have seen in the grocery store. But they haven't reached me in a way that persuaded me to spend.

DH, on the other had tell me he has had the Gold Peak Chilled Tea. This tells me that product is sold at gas stations, because DH will frequently buy a thirst quencher after filling the tank. Oddly, he often doesn't order anything to drink in a restaurant. Well, if there is water set before him, he will drink it, but he won't even order water.

http://www.retailwire.com/tip/1235/setting-the-pace-for-new-...

What about you? Have you tried any of these top new food products?

We have an odd situation on our block this week. It may be happening on adjoining blocks, but I don't know. There is a little boy, about 11 years old going around mowing peoples' lawns without their knowledge! He is happy as a clam as he mows. In some cases he has asked (begged) to mow for pay and been turned down, only to come back another day to it anyway. But he is mowing without asking permission or money in most if not all cases.

I've personally seen him mowing 6 different yards! I made him stop mowing the yard next to me. I take care of it, so can tell you for certain he had made no arrangements. At that time there was a police car sitting nearby watching for people blowing through the stop sign. DH says the officer told the kid to knock it off, too.

Actually, the day before his mowing started I found the boy beginning to climb over my fence toward my own mower which I had not put away. I had thought at the time he might be intending to steal it. Now I wonder where he got the mower he has been using.

I saw two adult women come load him and the mower into the back of their car in the sprinkling rain on Friday, so some adults at least know he is out there mowing. I think the kid has a fixation.

Oh, funny thing-- I had reported to abandoned house with knee-high weeds to the city. Next day, that yard was mowed. The kid must have done it.

But as you can imagine, I worry. What if the kid slips on a hill? Hits a brick in the grass and -- you know-- his eye gets hit or something. This is a strange case of lack of impulse control.

I know where he lives around the far corner. I think I have to go ring their bell.

So ask me tomorrow: Did I make contact with the kid's grown-ups?

We so badly need an insurance review. I guess you can see why I think of that.

My DH set up a link between our mortgage servicer and our ING account. We think this is going to make it easier to complete out extra payments without having to tell them to apply the extra only to principal. They don't do it automatically.

We toyed with the idea of paying an extra $5000 to the mortgage this month. But then decided to wait until we know that my sister gets re-employed. This was my spouse's idea. Isn't he a sweetheart? So we sent only $1000 extra.

DH wants to not teach any classes this summer. Then come autumn, it looks as if the community college is going to get more strict about how many students must enroll in a class for it to be allowed to meet. That could certainly affect how often he has part time work there.

The house was back down to our winter temperature yesterday. In my long underwear, two shirts, and thick wool socks I was still cold. Darn it-- turned on the furnace. Days ahead look like they will be good work outdoors weather, but nights cool enough that I'll want to bring in my tender plants. Not freezing, just a little stressful for plants that are trying to grow!

I know there are some landlords among the bloggers here. Oh, my I don't know how you do it!

Recently the rental house next to me was occupied by a couple who only paid half a deposit (supposed to get the rest within a week), then the only rent the landlord ever received was one month's that a church paid. They were lived there 7 months. It took that long to get them out. I'm certain the landlord will never let someone move in like that in the future.

When the landlord finally got into the place it was wrecked. It has to be a gut rehab. Walls are coming out, door frames, French doors, hardwood floors, vinyl floors, tiled bath floors (filth is soaked into the grout), carpet, cabinetry, possibly even the basement stairs. They are going to try some enzymatic and chemical sprays on structural floors, then paint them with Kilz to see if they can avoid cutting them out. Today, I think I heard drilling of the concrete basement floors....I can't imagine how much more they can find.

An undetermined number of dogs were locked in one room and possibly never cleaned up after. Reptile cages were left behind, big reptile cages. Mattresses were caked/soaked with animal excrement. Cigarette ashes filled the carpets around 2 abandoned stuffed chairs.

The workers clearing it out could not suffice with N-95 masks, but had to get active respirators. The one told me he was struggling with the urge to vomit.

Well clearly, the renters had serious mental issues. I was told that the woman renter actually called to ask for their deposit back when they left! And now that I know the back story, I think about how, as the tenants were packing the moving truck, the woman told me that she had gotten an anonymous letter complaining that the lawn needing to be mowed. She seemed very hurt over that. Genuinely.

These people must have conducted their animal collecting at night while I was asleep. I never saw animals, nor cages, nor any pet accoutrements come into the house. I had seen two big dogs in the yard occasionally, and I did see one puppy in arms as the renters were leaving. But the other furry animals? The reptiles? Never saw a thing. But I did see occasional visitors! What? How could they even go in there?

I definitely had seen the male renter carrying out trash, but the clean-up crew had to carry out garbage, garbage, garbage. Oh well, three contractor bags of excrement alone! Each day, truck loads of nastiness are hauled away.

Oh, I'm told that the workers killed two snakes in the yard while they were mowing the high grass. That worries me a bit, as so many people who keep snakes keep large poisonous, venomous ones. I wish I knew what kind of snakes they killed. They said one escaped into a pile of wood that is against the fence. Oh, and two large dead rats were found stretched lengthwise, side by side in the tall grass. The presumption is that these had been intended as snake food, but did not get eaten. Ugh.

Our houses are only elbow distance apart. It must only be because of their windows being closed for winters that I did not detect this. I did notice that the couple started running their air conditioner in beautiful weather this spring, rather than open the windows. What kind of two-person insanity leads people to seal themsleves up in such filth. Two people! Not one sane, one insane.

The day the carpeting was pulled out, I had washed laundry and went to hang it on my clothesline. But I could not. The wafting stink from the pile of carpet would have infiltrated my wash. Aughck.

This house had been totally rehabbed about 10 years ago. The hardwood floors that were removed were actually only put in 2 years ago. And the rehab had not been for renters, but for the owner, who did most of the work himself, being a building contractor. So it was well, done and not with the cheapest materials. I remember that in addition to modern windows he even installed 2 antique windows to mimic the original windows in the house modern windows. I wonder if those are ruined, too.

I hope to God they can fix the mess. The house is 112 years old. Amazing to think that seven months of abuse might take down what has stood up to large families, ice & heat, the Depression, winds, even the drug dealers that are said to have lived there a couple decades ago.

Thank goodness they are gone before hot weather got here. And thank the owner that the clean-up was started immediately!

So anyway, financial? I just don't even know what the costs to me could have become had they stayed next door any longer. Snake bite kits? Losing use of my clothes line and vegetable garden? Having to abandon my own house until they were gone? Really, I'm wondering if they might end up deciding to demolish the house. We are built so close together I think that would be dangerous to my property.

I was marking out the boundaries of "the orchard" (as I am already referring to the vacant lot I will lease from the city) when a woman drove up and called to me. She introduced herself as being from just around the corner. She thought I was a nearby neighbor and wondered what I was up to.

I explained that I live on the other side of the railroad tracks (true!) so am not the neighbor she thought. When I told her I was going to put in a little vegetable garden and a bunch of peach trees, she got curiously reactionary, telling me I shouldn't plant trees, as trees would get too big. I assured her these were just little trees.

She asked if I was going to sell the peaches. My answer was that I would use some personally, give some to friends, and send some to a homeless shelter. She said that she was not homeless but that I should give her some. I can't say for sure, but I don't think she was just teasing or being humorous. I think she was saying she is as deserving of my peaches as a homeless person.

Oh well, it will be a few years before I have to doll out peaches. But I was instantly a tad annoyed that someone would stick out their hand to be filled as soon as I mention a charity I hold to heart and will favor.

She then said again that plants just grow too big around here, that it's our soil. Yes, I agreed, we have good soil. She told me she lives next door to the people I'd already determined I want to meet, the people with the big, tidy garden. His plants grow too big, too, she said. Then she told me that this neighbor told her she could work in his garden sometimes. But she doesn't.

Later, I thought, maybe she asks for his produce and he is suggesting that it would be nice to have a little help in return for the fruit and veggies.

We repeated our names to each other and I told her I'd like to meet more of the neighbors. She drove off to work and I climbed back up the hill, double gloved and ready to pull the start cord on the mower.
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Last autumn I thought I might have to finally join a gym. Just as it is harder and harder to control weight as you get older, I am also seeing that it is easier and easier to lose muscle! Truth is, I don't like the idea of paying to exercise. At home, I did various exercises, stretches, and balance routines all through the winter. I think it paid off. I am really happy with the strength and stamina I have this spring. I mean, it isn't as though I were 25, but I can still get done what I want to get done. There are inexplicably bad days, but I tell myself that at this point I must deliberately fight to keep what's left of my health.

So yesterday, I measured and marked off spots for the first 12 trees. I scythed about 100 4-foot tall docks, in bloom and going to seed. Today, I returned with my mower stuffed in the back of my little Kia. I mowed a buffer zone around the lot, then got about 7/8 of the lot mowed. It was one heck of a workout. Tomorrow I'll finish mowing and will rake up some of the grass to cover the ground where I want to put my first trees. Who needs a gym!

I intend to hire out the mowing by the beginning of June, but while I need to go to "the orchard" frequently, and while it is still relatively cool, I think I'll do the mowing. I keep watching for the company that mows the apartment grounds near me. They do a great job and have great equipment. I want to get an estimate from them. I don't know the company name. But also, I should get an estimate from the mower guy who gives me grass clippings for my "alley garden." He just has a push mower, and I'm afraid he actually would need to charge much more given how much harder the work and longer the time required to use a push mower.

I bought 60 kids books for $6 at the St Vincent de Paul store. I had given myself no time limit to browse, so I looked at every kid's title they had. Funny, I re-bought some books that I'd bought for my own child 20 years ago. I saw some that I remember reading as a sixth-grader myself! The guy who takes care of the book section told me he was trying to get the store to organize a children's book club there. Isn't that a "novel" idea for a thrift store? That was a year ago, though, so it looks like nothing has come of it. I did not see him to ask if that idea had any wings.

I also finally found the plain votive holders I wanted, $0.75 for three. You'd think there would be gazillions of those in thrift stores, but I guess they are so common most people throw them away. And what did I find next to the candle holders, but a huge lump of candle that someone had given up on, $1. So I rescued it. I know I really should buy candle stuff at yard sales for even better prices.

I got a large --larger than I really need-- oak berry basket, $1. That's another item I'd been watching for. Most natural materials baskets are made for decoration and are not strong enough for tough garden use. To tell the truth, I'd like a plastic basket, so that I could rinse off the berries without tumbling them out of the basket, but the plastic ones have solid bottoms that would leave the berries in a pool of water, or force me to tumble the berries around. I want to be very gentle with them. Whoa, aren't my problems huge?

Last but not least, I got three yards of pajama flannel for $0.50 and 3 yards of 60" wide chambray denim for $1. I can tell these are both older fabrics, not because they are faded or dingy, but because the quality is so good. Also the flannel print is just retro.

It's clear that this particular store gets donations from a lot of old households. Actually I think that is why it was voted best thrift store by the readers of the big alternative newspaper, a fact which is announced big a big banner near the entry. So many folks are looking for the 1960's stuff now, and this store has it.

Later I went to get a bottle of isopropyl alcohol. They were watered down at the dollar store (60%). I bought 16 oz at the grocery store. My husband also went to Target and found 32 oz bottles of 70% for the same price. He stocked up, 4 bottles. We use them for bathroom cleaning, but I also wanted to use alcohol to clean the covers of those books. I'll use adamp microfiber cloth first, followed by an alcohol wipe.
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My brother who has been unemployed for so long told me he has a webmastering contract. It's very part time and ends in the fall, as it is election related. He is very reserved and lives far away. Normally, in good times and in bad, I don't know what is going on in his life unless I ask specific questions. But he volunteered this information, so I am certain it is a huge boost to him.

However....big however!....Now my sister is unemployed. She tells me she can meet her regular bills at the regular level for five months. She told me where she will be cutting back to make the money last. She's very employable (and doesn't live so rurally as my brother) so I'm not too worried about her. Some though. Yeah, there are too many good, skilled people still unemployed for me not to have some fear for her. My Dad lives with her.

If wishes were fishes,
We'd be frying tonight.

I've been "working" on this little orchard for three years now. That is to say, three years ago I started wishing to have it. As of this week, unofficially I've got it! I talked to the Land Reutilization Authority about the lot I want to lease. They gave me the go ahead. Laughably, I'd been speaking of the lot as "mine" for at least a year now and have visited it through the seasons.

My request formally goes before the Board of Commissioners May 1, but I am allowed to start using the lot immediately.

I have 2nd year trees in pots ready to go. I have more seeds germinating. The little orchard will be 40 X 140 feet, but the lower part will not be planted in peaches, as the sloped land will allow any early spring cold to settle downslope and not freeze the blossoms or earliest fruit, or so I hope. Perhaps I could put three pear trees at the bottom. They bloom later so freezes are not such a problem.

The very, very bottom will be left for mower access and for tomatoes and as yet unknown annual crops.

I have scrounged materials for a temporary fence, as I am obliged to install one. I was afraid the fence would be too expensive, but the LRA is not particular about it.

I also will talk to our house insurance agent to see if existing coverage would extend to this lot. If not, I will buy a separate policy. I want some kind of liability coverage. Does anyone have a clue what such coverage might be called? I'd like to read up on it before seeing the agent, if possible.

This is not the walnut tree farm of my dreams, and it is is not the garden I once had a flitting hallucination of http://joanofthearch.savingadvice.com/2012/03/28/-coupons-ga... --4rth paragraph, but it is an amazing thing to me. Happy, Happy, Happy. Beaming. Floating on air.... Oh, and sourcing a couple of apricot & pear trees, to boot.

Sometimes, wishes really are fishes.

I think I was B-listed for a wedding, as I got an invitation for an affair 25 days away. I'm not surprised to be lower down the list of guests as I had not even heard the young woman was engaged. My reply is in the mail, lickety-split.

I googled up the wedding registries and saw a set of three votive candle holders for $125. I have been looking for holders for my own votive candles (bought two dozen at Christmas sales). I hope to find a couple plain glass ones at a thrift store for 25-50 cents --for myself, I mean. For the wedding I think I will get one of the kitchen-y or dining-y items.

I am considering donating regular Saturday time to my tutorees who are sisters. They really need to be reading but seem not to be doing so much on their own this year. The thing is, they actually very much enjoy it, sometimes begging me to stay longer so that they can read to me. They also beg me to stay longer to help them with stories they like to write, and that is great, too! Clearly, they like the social aspect of reading & writing together. How can I not meet their delight with some indulgence?

This is the kind of thing I wish parents would do every day. In their case, there's a growing language gap between themselves (They speak English better than their first language now) and their Mom. Besides, Mom cannot see well enough to read, nor even to look at the pictures. Their Dad doesn't seem to have a whole lot of time in the home, though he does take them to school and go to all the parent-teacher conferences.

Reading and experiencing more of the real world-- that is what I really wish I could offer these kids.

A couple Saturdays ago I was waiting with them for a taxi, and in that time we talked casually about the birds we saw and about the earthworm struggling to get beyond the puddle on their front step. So much to observe and talk about in those two things. Mom's vision impairment prevents her from even knowing that those things were out there.

But bottom line, I think reading much more is the number one thing these girls could do to improve their learning and their school performance. They are not doing especially well in school and their parents only hire me to do homework and required special projects with them. They need different approaches than their homework gives them.

I've been thinking about this for some months, really. It is a little awkward. Is it an insult to offer free what they would otherwise pay for? Am I signaling that I can be taken advantage of? Am I just going overboard?

My husband's brother called regarding the sale of my deceased FIL's homes. One is completed, the other lingers, having been on the market in Florida four years, I think it is. Apparently BIL is toying with buying it himself as a retirement home. His retirement is seven years in the future. He floated the idea that my husband and I might enjoy living in the house those years so that he would not need to hire a caretaker or make frequent trips to check on the place.

There is an easy answer for that proposal: No.

There are quite a few reasons why neither of us likes the area or the lifestyles that are most possible in that location. And what would we do, abandon our own house for 7 years, hiring our own caretaker? Financially it would make no sense for us. We'd have the huge problem of having no health insurance, as our insurance is tied to local MDs and hospitals. There is out-of-plan coverage, but it is quite lacking. So, nope, no way can we move out of town. Besides, if we could move, we would head north, not south. We actually would like to move north. We've checked out towns and poked around to see what the housing possibilities are. But there is no getting around the fact that our overwhelmingly best insurance is this one which ties us to the area where we live now.

DH seemed to focus on the financial/insurance concerns when he answered his brother. I would have just said, "No, thanks. We really just don't like it there." DH thought it might be rude to say that to someone who has just said they'd like to retire there.

And then there is the fact the DH's sister is also interested in buying the house if the price were within her reach. Oh, dear.

Anyway, even having such considerations brought up is just too much for me. God, I prefer such simplicity. No spinning plates, no alternative plans, no exciting deals, no irons in the fire. Maybe it is just laziness, but I could make the case that it is just good mental health to keep it simple.

Pension check in,
health insurance check out.
So it goes,
month after month.
--

We waited a week for our mechanic to get a cable needed for our emergency brakes. I'm thinking he forgot to order it, as it appears I could have ordered and received it days ago. Nor did he call to let us know not to bring in the car for its appointment. Totally forgot about it, I'd say. In the mean time, we're parking with the car in gear.
--

Called yesterday to wish my Dad a happy birthday, and made pastry plans with him for December! I am to mail him six stollens with almond filling. To the notebook that reminder goes.

Dad tells me my sister with whom he lives has quit her job. I think she had worked there about 10 years. They were blessed to have had her, if you ask me. I wanted to call and talk to her this morning, but my husband took the cell on which I make long distance calls. I hope to catch her later.

So that now makes 2 unemployed siblings, and 2 over-employed (overworked, longer hours than they want) siblings. Everyone is in their 50's.
--

DH is cleaning out his desk drawer and finding interesting stuff, some of which I am claiming for my own desk drawer! Ha-ha. But the coolest things he found were two books of coupons, handmade of paper scraps, and stapled together by our son when he was little. The coupons offered trash service, car washes, dishes washed, dinners cooked. He had to have been at least ten, because that is when he started cooking complete meals. I look at how horrible his hand writing was, how awful his spelling was. I understood back then that he was not interested in good hand-writing or conventional spelling probably because he did not much care about communicating. He was a rock; he was an i-i-is-land. ♩ ♪ ♫ Not until he went to college did he amend his ways. Suddenly he was studying something that brought stars to his eyes, studying with professors and students with whom he did want to communicate. His writing became impeccable. Total turnaround. Anyway, some of these coupons promised these chores to be done with "no nagging required." Oh, how did we forget to redeem them? To think of all the unnecessary nagging we did!
--

I keep checking and checking for my peach seeds to sprout. No luck. When do peaches sprout? Late spring? I have four baby trees from last year. I wanted to have more to set out, even if only seedlings. I have not yet rented the land for my mini orchard, because I did not want to be responsible for mowing until I actually was ready to put them in the ground. It just occurred to me today that if I have space left over that is not big enough for trees, I could at least set out some raspberries. That would be very low maintenance.

Over in the neighborhood where the mini orchard lot is to be, I see someone who also grows peaches and has a nice vegetable garden. They have bee hives, too. Oh, my, I hope to meet them someday. When I was looking for land I saw that these same people own about eight contiguous lots to the side of the their house. Those are not gardened. I wonder if they have anything in mind. In my mind, I see the lots as a field of clover for the bees. In reality, the city makes them mow it. Where the city sees a problem lot ("Mow it, Buddy!"), I see a beautiful piece of alternative economy.

When I was 22, I looked out a window in my "really bad" neighborhood, and across the street on the empty lot I saw a very lush garden, with a brick ivy-covered "Arc de Triomphe" opening into it. Only for a split second did I see that garden. Then, I saw its true, very glass and trash strewn bleakness. I promise you I am not given to hallucinations. I think my mind just filled in what I needed to see, much as the scruffy, parched cartoon characters in the desert see the oasis on the horizon. Thirty-one years later that lot is still vacant. I pretend that it is meant for me to make it into a garden. Time is not important. When I do it is not important. Someday I'll do it. I don't think I even need a sketchy plan., but just an acceptance of the story that is fated to be a garden and that I should will it into existence some how. How can I explain that this is totally fiction, yet I still believe it? Have you ever totally accepted the truth of a sleeping dream, yet also acknowledged the fiction of it?
--

Oh, too cool. DH just found in his drawer an old souvenir/advertising coin I had found in the soil where we rented almost two decades ago. It is a souvenir from the 1904 World's fair, the edge of which was about three blocks from our apartment. The coin says "Majestic Ranges Malleable and Old Style Charcoal Iron. Worlds Fair Saint Louis Missouri" In the center there is a picture of a stove and some more writing I cannot read. On the reverse side there is a 4-leaf clover with two letters on each leaf. I cannot decipher those. Around the outside edges are 12 horseshoes. Inside of each horseshoe is an astrological sun sign symbol. The coin has ridges like a US quarter. It's 1.25 inches in diameter and non-magnetic. It looks bronzey, quite rough condition and has a bit of verdigris. Wish I had a good scale. Mm, just noticed the front side also has the words, "Grand Prize," and "Highest Award."
--

I buy sunscreen and some skin products from Paula's choice. I always buy on sale. Used to be I favored free shipping offers over sales, because the sales tended to be small percentages off, and free shipping was worth more. In the last year, though, it seems like they have had some great sales. I just received yesterday 2 bottles of sunscreen at 60% off. Love this sunscreen. It is so non-smothering, if you know what I mean. It does not melt and run into my eyes when I'm sweating. It is not shiny, or plasticky. My skin can "breathe." Just wish it were a little higher SPF. It's SPF 30. but I could use something more effective. If you've ever bought Paula's Choice products and liked them, be sure to subscribe to her e-mail list. There are very frequent sales. I save a lot by stocking up on sale products that I would buy regardless.
--

Update on souvenir coin: I just found a seller of such a coin.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Medal-1904-World-Fair-St-Louis-Mi-Ma...
It turns out the lettering on the 4-leaf clover says "Good Luck," which I should have guessed, as even when I was a child in the 1960's one would get clover charms at the fair with the "good luck" written on the leaves in the same way.

No, not you, Heinrich. You are still allowed your beer.

"Foreign and Smashed" is the label I just made for a small tin of coins that fit those two categories.

The rest could pretty much be labeled "Dirty and Stinky." My hands feel so nasty after handling a jar of coins. And what is it with pennies? They seem so much filthier nowadays. Is it because zinc ages differently than copper? Is it because pennies tend to sit around unused for years at a time, so that the movement through many fingers and many pockets does not keep them relatively polished and corrosion free?

I committed postal indiscretion. I sent CWB cash through the mail. It does cause me concern, but only a little. I think there is a 99.999% chance that it will arrive at its destination. It was just the easiest thing to do at the time.
--

The credit union today sent an update on our progress toward meeting out requirements to earn their higher level of interest on checking. It looks as though we will not be able to meet 25 debit card uses. We'd need to make 11 more, yet I can't think of needing to make that many more purchases. Until this month, only 12 were required and we were always able to do that. But the amount of interest we would earn has dropped another percentage point, so that our loss of potential interest is negligible anyway.

It is now more important that we meet the debit card requirements on the accounts at two other institutions with higher deposits as well as higher interest. We've already met those.
--

Bob B, suggests an interesting debt interest arithmetic. Very simple--just how much interest per day is being paid on debt? http://bobb.savingadvice.com/2012/03/20/march-daily-interest... My only debt is mortgage. Presently it would be about $5/day going to interest. Don't know what to say. That seems like an annoying little flea bite, but, really, if it were a flea I'd slap it dead. Dead and gone.

That's Arabic. I found it through "Google Translate." You can listen to the pronunciation there if you like. It is the word my neighbor told me when I was explaining to her daughter why I had cute note paper from St Jude Children's Research Hospital. I explained that when you give a donation, the hospital sometimes gives you a little thank gift. Her Mom learned the word "donation" and told me the Arabic word. Arabic words seem always to be so hard for me to hear properly and say. That's why I wanted to hear it again on Google.

The girl has showed me her coin jar before. She puts money in it which will be given to the poor, I think usually during the long observance which is overlapping with December. So now, she can firm up both the English and Arabic words for the concept.
--

DH yesterday asked me if we should just donate to the state the $140 Missouri owes us. I asked him what percentage of our donation would go to pay for the bronze bust of Rush Limbaugh and the weekly feather dusting thereof. He just said, "Oh. Oh yeah." I told him I'd be happy to donate the $140, but I'd choose something other than the state general fund.

Actually, husband's generosity and consideration of other people's needs were qualities that attracted me to him in the first place. He still hasn't lost it.

We handle some bill paying for the next door neighbors when they are out of town, which is most of the time. They sent us a check by registered mail to cover upcoming expenses. The check took three weeks to get here, I guess in part because of international mail, but also because they had the address wrong. I'm impressed by the letter carrier who figured it out and actually got it to us. Online I see that they paid the real estate tax from their end. I need to tell them that in the recent gusty winds, they lost a decorative shingle from the front parapet and a gutter is loose.

I keep checking our own house and garage for wind damage, but so far so good. The neighbor two houses away has lost a lot of roofing from his garage. The corner neighbor has some tree branches on the roof of her garage! We are two blocks from the highest point in the city. I wonder if that has anything to do with the winds we get. This is not otherwise considered to be a particularly windy city.
--

My son and his beloved were here for 3-days during spring break. She has 2 new part time jobs, but was able to swing it, to my astonishment. She did some online work during her visit though.

And what did these fine young people want to do? Visit the Arch? A museum? Take in a great restaurant meal? No, nuh-uh, nope! They wanted to visit thrift stores. That apple fell close to the tree.

We hit three charity thrift stores. I was happy to find a Target curtain panel, $6, to match the one I got at GW last June, $4. I had tried to order it online, but they would not sell it that way. I'd have to go into the store to get one. I just never got around to it, and there it was at GW . I've already hung it, but it needs to be hemmed. Actually, I should pop them both into the washer and then line dry in this peculiarly warm weather. Ehh, tomorrow.

I also bought a $0.69 binder for financial papers and a cedar jewellery box. I have three tourist souvenir cedar boxes; this goes well with those. This was was nice and had a large mirror in it, $4.

Son bought a padfolio, a small item he could fit into his carry-on for the return trip.

Our most extravagant meal during the visit was steak from the freezer. Son broiled it, and baked potatoes. He fixed broccoli with nutmeg, roasted in oven. I would never have thought of nutmeg on broccoli, but it was good. He made it stick with a little vegetable oil. I'll have to remember this.

Mom-from-Missouri who is a very productive, very busy, very successful person had a blog note about how some relatives did not give her credit for all the work she does, and ask her when she is going to get a "real job." http://mom-from-missouri.savingadvice.com/2012/03/07/im-beat...

I was thinking of this brainless judgmentalism while hanging out my laundry this morning. I remembered how a relative once said something sweepingly judgmental to me about the color of clothes I wear! People can get hung up on their puny ideas. Oh, ye of little brain! Oh, well, alright, maybe ye brain isn't little, but ye brain sure doesn't sound open.

Truth is, I was wearing some awfully bright turquoise and magenta on those days when she made that judgment But so what? I was visiting family, not interviewing for a funeral home job.

And have I ever been judgmental? Oh, yes, it is my own biggest downfall, a lifelong problem.
==

Speaking of brain malfunction, I misplaced something Big the other day. Oh, I guess $10,000 worth of Big.

I drove just down the street to a regular appointment. I was feeling bad and running late. That is why I did not walk such a short distance. When ready to return home, I walked home just as I usually do! I forgot my car. Twenty three hours later, my husband came home from his long walk and asked me where the car was. Doh! Down the street!

So is it no more serious to forget where you put your car than it is to forget where you put your keys or grocery list?
==

Made bread again the day after I first made it this week! I enjoy bread making. Makes me feel so human. I really need to find a way to make reduced carb bread. Please, if anyone ever finds or develops a recipe, please let me know. My mother asked me if I would make it with sawdust. The store bought low-carb bread is pitiful stuff compared to the hearty bread I have always liked, but I make do with it well enough. At $3.19 a loaf, it would be great if I could make it at home. DH finds it on mark-down often for $0.99, but I can't count on it. Meanwhile, I begged DH to please quickly eat all the homemade bread so that I don't.

After getting all the 2011 tax info done, I see that--

20.13% of income went to IRAs
24.64 % of income went to insurance and medical

The medical excludes the $540 we spend for an over the counter medication that in other countries is by prescription.

All the rest we spent on riotous living.

==
Bought a 2.5 gallon jug of drinking water at the grocery. The container is meant to be disposable, but I'll keep using it as long as it does not leak. This is meant to extend our emergency water storage.

==
Yesterday I made the best yogurt I've ever made. I think it was because I used less than a quart of milk, but left it to brew as long as I would leave a quart. Or maybe the whole milk had more fat than usual.

Today I made two small loves of bread with milled flax seed and steel-cut oats. Just white flour. The bread tasted oaty, which is fine with me. Actually I can't stop eating it....mmmm... with mountains of butter. DH also made another pot of chicken and rice soup. Ah, comfort food! See? Riotous living.

My son, the physicist auto worker. He told me the grad students are unionizing and for some reason it is with the UAW. Do I understand that? Nope. Sounds odd, to me. His beloved scored a second parttime job. Hurray. Hope it goes well for her.

My brother, the unemployed communications electronics technician. Did I already note here that he got a 1099 from Amazon for the money actually paid to the small publisher who stole his books and sold them on Amazon? He said it took him a year to get Amazon to stop letting those people sell his books. Then the same day that he got the note saying they would comply with his directive, they sent him the 1099.

My other brother, the well employed truck driver. He has wanted to move to the town where his company is centered for 4 years. Evidently, he cannot get his house sold. He has not said whether he is underwater on it, but I think he had a large downpayment and I know housing prices did not dive in his city. (But neither had they ever gotten very high.) His kids are all grown and no way does he need 5 BRs all by himself 150 miles from work. But at least he is employed.

My sister the mystery worker. I don't know what she does, exactly. Evidently she is not at liberty to say, as it is some kind of high tech security company. I understand she was told when she started there that a second person would be hired to do half the work, but two years later, there is still not a second employee and she is working so many extra hours on a mid range salary. I see her health suffering. On the other hand, she is still a happy dynamo!

==
The credit union is lowering checking account interest to 1.51 % . This means we will make a transfer to our small state-chartered bank which offers 2.51%. Previously we were getting 2.51% at the CU. We keep more in cash than some would, so the better interest makes a difference.

==
We have overpaid our federal taxes by $587 and our state by $143. The state was a stunner. We had more deductions than our total income. That was due to partial tax credit on the teacher pension and our low currently earned income.... E-filed for the first time. Oh, and we opened two new traditional IRAs as we foresee lower income after age 65 than presently.

Locking myself out of the house cost me $11.49. If that sounds inexpensive, it is because I did not call a locksmith. I got locked out at 1pm when I set off to pick something up at the pharmacy---walking, which is why I did not have my keyring. I knew DH would be home at 7pm, so I just had to take care of myself until then. Ironically, I had the keys to my neighbors' house. The neighbors are gone since October and I look after their place. I let myself in and made a pot of tea since it was 45F in their house. After some time I walked down to the Family Dollar store to buy a sweater (Was wearing a long sleeve T-shirt). The only thing I could find to buy there was an ugly men's jacket, but for a mere $5. My lips were chapped; I bought lip balm. My eyes were irritated; I bought eye drops.

And here's the terrible thing: My hair was filthy from my garden work earlier in the day and it smelled bad. I bought Febreze and spritzed it into my hands to run through my hair. I had to be at my student's house at 5pm and had no way to wash up before then. This is the kid who lives on the next block from me, so I'd have no problem getting there. I just couldn't get there well pulled together.

After tutoring I found DH was already home, a bit early, thank goodness.

Oh we do keep a hidden key outside, but it was missing. We've never had to use it, yet it was gone. I guess we should change locks. Well just one lock. That key only fits one of them.

Walked by a hardware store today and saw a Radio Flyer wagon with pneumatic tires for sale at $189! What?! I think I better take care of the one I've got, the one inherited upwardly from my son. It could use some rust removal and re-painting, especially after I left it outside most of the winter. I hate doing rust removal.

Left a second message for Donovan at Dewey regarding no-show tutor. Gave him specific hours to reach me, in case that helps. Wrote a letter to send, in case he does not reach me before day's end. That way N or F can carry the letter to school.

I'm thinking of selling some hot pepper plants this spring. Need to start them really soon if I want to do that....[Break]...Okay, I just ordered the seeds.

Marked off with brugmansia sticks and very lightly mulched the new daffodil beds. Am really afraid we will suffer a lot of theft of these flowers. They are close to the sidewalk, and such a big bed with no house nearby makes them look like public, "anybody's" flowers. I've certainly seen it happen before.

Ran minutes down to zero on the Tracfone I got before going to Nashville in December. Not sure that I want to re-up on this one. Like the style in some ways, but it is staticky.

When I was in grade school, kids loved to do reports on North American Indian people who lived on the plains, nomadic, depending on buffalo for so much. They always emphasized that the people used every part of the buffalo, wasting nothing.

Well, today, I like to think of the oak tree in my neighbor's yard as my buffalo. I do their gardening. Normally one does any oak pruning in February just before the sap rises. I did it this year in the last week of January, as there are already so many signs of spring. There was one branch to take off. Where it forked from the main trunk it was as big around as my spouse's upper arm.

That was my buffalo kill. It lay in the front yard. I examined its body, tail, hide, limbs, and horns. I started the divvying process, sorting the pieces as I worked, knowing I would use every part.

One pile for firewood, not much, enough to carry in two easy arm loads. If my friend with a smoker doesn't want these pieces, I'll carry them to my more distant garden where the addition of a scrap board will make an ankle high bench where I can rest in the shade.

One pile for bean poles, 6 feet or more, branched at the tips is okay, must be thin enough to poke into the soil, but stout enough to support the weight of the vines in summer.

One pile for pea supports, three to four feet tall with lots of twigs and forks top to bottom, straight lengths unnecessary.

One pile for gladiolus supports, 20-ish inches to three feet, not to much branching.

A last pile for twigs and dry leaves which can become seed markers, tiny tripods to mark and shelter baby plants in the garden, tacks for row covers. Left on the twigs, the leaves will proved a whisp of sun and wind protection for fragile transplants. Pulled off, the leaves will become humus and fertility for the soil and its life.

That's it. Buffalo all put to use.
==

Did you ever try to pack very small amounts of toiletries into the smallest bottles and jars you could find? I recently did when I wanted five days worth packed into my small purse along with my meds and usual purse contents.

Here's a clever way to pack up very small amounts of toiletries.

http://www.briangreen.net/2011/07/diy-single-use-antibiotic-...

Isn't that guy smart?

On Craigslist I saw an ad from someone looking for a ride to Mason City, Iowa. Since we would pass through there on our way to visit our son St. Paul, I wrote to say that we occasionally make trips in that direction and that our travel times might mesh well since all of us are on academic schedules. He is a grad student at one of the med schools here. He thinks the idea to contact each other before making a trip is awesome. So we may have a short-hop travel companion who would kick in for gasoline.

I like to think little opportunities like that help keep the mold from growing around our personalities.

Heck, it would shame us into cleaning the car once in a while.
==

In their categorization of spending, American Express tells us we spent nothing on entertainment in 2011. I guess I'm entertained by things that don't fall into their category. But I thought it was funny that we might look like we just sit and stare at the walls.

None of our other cards send an annual statement. One of them will do so upon request, but but last year they kept telling me to call back later to make the request. Truth is, I do not track spending myself. I do not budget either. I just try to be reasonable and look for the better values when I am going to spend. DH does the same, and it works out.
==

Bought a beautiful but unripe pineapple at Aldi's for $0.89. Stupendous price, no? I meant to buy a single apple to go with it. You can speed the ripening of pineapple (and some other fruits) by putting it in a bag with an apple. Apples give off ethylene gas. Ethylene gas causes the pineapple to ripen.
==

I wonder if I could market my technique to get young kids to do fairly prolonged school projects that require lots of writing and a level of organization that baffles an 8 year old. Or, at least hire myself out specifically for that. Rent-a-science-fair-mentor.
Oo, maybe just Rent-a-Mentor.

I'm declaring another triumph in getting a second grader through all that formalized science fair stuff.

Seriously, though, I'm thinking of advertising that I will tutor/mentor science fair projects. Maybe offer 15 hours over 14 days per project with a guarantee your kid will laugh and learn. My target would be young kids whose schools ought not even be requiring these killjoy projects. (Grumble, grumble.) Spinning gold out of straw. Making a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

This latest project started when the child found a black & white illustration in a library discard. It showed a glacier on a mountain. The caption was about ice erosion. The girl guilelessly told me she wanted to make a mountain and glacier. Her arms made large enough swooping motions that I think she had in mind something ski-able. Thank goodness that project could be shrunken to something that would fit into a city backyard. In fact, it fit onto an urban front stoop. "Can ice break rocks?" was the question to be answered by experiment. Forty-one days later, an answer of "sometimes" is graphed, illustrated, photographed, explained, further speculated on, wondered about, and ready to submit to that big science fair judge in the cafetorium.

I'm glad its over, but we found joy in it all along....And my tutoree wants to talk more about "How does ice do it? How does it have the power?" I am jazzed that in the end, she has more questions. The gears of curiosity are turning. Super!

At the various thrift stores, DH and I keep running into an old workmate of DH's. DH has known him about 35 years. The guy has almost always pieced together what seems like dozens of free-lance jobs at a time, plus buying and reselling all sorts of electronics even before the days of home computers, cell phones, Ipads and the like. I know he has had juicy accounts from some big companies, but he has also taken the smallest one-time only jobs. He has speculated in real estate, sometimes successfully, more recently nearly disastrously. His prime mission at Goodwill is probably the same as DH's: find the valuable, quality, old film cameras.

All in all, I think of him as hustler--in a good sense. What energy that takes! I don't know if that is how he prefers to work, or if that is just how things worked out for him. Sometimes he looks really tired, but he never seems to get any older. Now how is that?
==

A technician from the power company was here to replace our meter. She said our present one was broken. I imagine that just means the signal by which they remotely read the meter had failed. If it means the meter flat out was not measuring, then I wonder if we get free power from when the last bill till today. I doubt it. Maybe they will give us an estimated bill. I did not ask the tech.
==

Son let us know he passed a super-important examination and thus can continue in his doctorate program. His beloved had a job interview, and also got admitted to a competitive PhD program herself....I don't fret much about my son's future in particular, but have enough anxiety for the general future of his generation. You know that rising tide that lifts all boats? Well, when the tide goes out lots of those boats get stranded on the kelpy sand together. DS literally eats kelp (Japanese), so I'll try to add that as a comforting metaphor for how he personally will be okay.
==

DH's pension has 7.8% taken out for federal income taxes. (A very small portion is not taxed because it was taxed when contributions to the pension fund were made prior to July, 1988.) That is very close to our effective tax rate last year, however, our earned income may have us needing to write a small check to the IRS. I'm supposing we underestimated. I've started compiling some of the records, so maybe this weekend we'll give it some closer work. Paper work for the very last medical expense has disappeared. I was not home at the time and DH was under the influence of a painkiller, so it probably got thrown away without thought.
==

How much does a cat eat? I guess an "average cat"--average size, age activity, health. My brother has been unemployed almost three years now. He's held out (and was not eligible for unemployment) all this time, but now is very, very close to the bottom, as far as I can tell or as he will tell me. He has a cat, and he's having trouble even feeding the cat. I sub'ed to a once a month Amazon delivery of catfood, but I don't know if it is enough, or too much. So, seriously, how much dry catfood might a cat eat per month?

I saw other people mentioning unemployed siblings today. This one has lived with me for as long as 6 moths in the past, twice. I'm afraid he may never find employment again. He's older now, old enough that I fear he could face some discrimination for that. He has had a number of periods of unemployment in his life and I don't imagine that gives potential employers confidence. He's very astute in what he does, though. I guess he is piecing together small jobs, but he is also somewhat geographically isolated and I don't know how he even puts gas in his car for an interview. He rents from an exceptionally sympathetic landlord, who I suspect is forgiving rent in acknowledgement of heavy work done around his rural property. I don't know for sure, though. My brother doesn't tell me how he's surviving and he gives off firm vibes that he doesn't care to discuss it. But I do know he was having trouble feeding the cat.

My DH and I ask ourselves would we be willing to have my bro live with us again. He is quite far away now, but then he was even farther those other two times that he came to stay with us.

I don't know how he stays sane, how he keeps up any determination or hope.

Okay, let me just say it. It is not only his cat he is having trouble feeding. It is himself, as well. I cannot imagine he would accept foodstamps. I think he would rather die. I don't know if he would accept help from a food pantry. I think so, especially if he could do something to "pay" it back to the charity somehow....Yes, I made some Amazon food subscriptions for human food delivery too. I know it isn't the best buy, but it saves him a little gasoline. At least we got to have some pleasant conversation about bread making and yeast collection as a result of this.

My brother doesn't keep in touch much with our Mom. Mom is chronically depressed and she would feel so sad and self-accusatory over my brother's problems. So he just doesn't let her know. When she asks me what I hear from my brother, I have only been mentioning the positive and interesting things. She knows he is unemployed. She just doesn't know how bad it seems to be.
==

I bumped into info on a brick house for sale the next block west of me, and oh my gosh, I so want my friend to check it out. It is tiny like mine, but has a big double yard and is clear and ready for gardening. This friend needs more space for gardening. I was able to find recent sales history finding photos online. $50K. Wow. Just a vacant lot I wanted in the area was $60K and much smaller.

This house is for sale with no sign in the yard. Has that become common?
==

I retrieved the two bales of wheat straw from the neighbor 9 doors down. They were heavy with internal ice and frozen mud stuck on the undersides. The one was so heavy I could not lift it without possible injury. I had to turn it up on end, turn the wagon up on end, let them fall back down horizontally together. Where there's a will.... It took me half an hour to get them both home. So at $6 a bale, I figured I "earned" $24/hour. I was huffing and puffing at the end, so it was a work-out, too.
==

Bought a display board for a science fair project and may not get reimbursed for it as the mother "thinks" she paid the school for one. But the little girl is losing heart on all the busy work of the project (so much writing for a 2nd grader!). I know it will make her happy and energize her if she can start the gluing, taping, cutting, and arranging to make it look good and to give a glimpse toward the end of the project. I also bought her some punch out cardboard letters for a main title over the display. Arranging those will be a refreshing change of pace for her and will give the display instant sparkle.

The trip to buy the board took about 40 minutes since I had to drive to two stores for it. I bought the last one available. Then I stopped at my tutoree's house to pick up part of her project to re-photograph it. The camera the first photos were on got stolen. Then I walked the project back, talked to the Mom, walked back to my place and walked again down to the tutoree's house a third time to drop off the display board in case it would be raining or too windy come homework time, 5p.m. So what was all that-- another 50 minutes? And a nice dose of walking too. Actually there is only a block between us. Ha, there was one more trip to her house for the appointed homework time. So that was four visits to their house today.

I expect I'll put in a further 30 minutes scanning and printing portions of the science fair log to use on the display board --another means of saving the poor kid so much writing. I love science. I love to do science with kids, but I hate science fair. Kids learn to hate science, too, when they are led to believe that the most important science they do is those mandatory annual projects.

So I'm putting in all this extra time trying to keep the assignment from killing all sense of joy and playful exploration.
==

Finally bought some plastic snap-cubes for math. The math curriculum assumes that the school sends home a set with the students, which never, ever has been the case. They are a great tool. The school has them but must have trouble actually using them (I can imagine the classroom chaos). They rarely use them. These will supplement all the other counting objects I keep.
==

Made a stock-up purchase from Paula Begoun last night. $57 with free shipping for three products plus three free samples. I almost always select free samples of the same thing I'm buying. If you had asked me ten years ago if I would ever spend that much on cosmetics in a whole year, I would have said "no way."

I'd been waiting and waiting for one of this items to go on sale, but it just never did. But with this company, it's kind of like how washing your car makes it finally rain. I'll get my order in a few days, and then within the week the item will finally be on sale.
==

Yesterday my sister-in-law and her husband were in town for work and we got to have them over after lunch till past dinner. She is here for work, an unusual job in which she meets medical & pharmacy professionals to talk about her personal experiences with a genetic condition. She carries a cryopack of an injectable rescue medication which costs $8000 per dose. She is supposed to take it with her to an ER, as it is not stocked in many hospitals. Fortunately it is only infrequently needed, but she has to keep it with her at all times.

DH has the condition, too, but at only a tiny, tiny fraction of the seriousness of his sister. She had to give up her previous work for her health. Her new job is with the very pharmaceutical company which makes her med and is a godsend. With a condition like that, I know she and her DH have had lots of expenses--loss of work and several long ICU stints. Thank goodness my DH has had only one episode that required an ER trip, and that was before the rescue med even existed, but he was treated with steroids and epinephrine, always available at the ER and cheap, not to mention covered by our insurance.
==

I've had my eye on two bales of wheat straw sitting in a neighbor's front yard since early autumn. They'd sprouted and looked abandoned. So upon seeing the neighbor unloading a van, I asked if there were any chance she'd like to get rid of them. I was welcomed to come pick them up, any time. Whoo-hoo! More free organic matter for mulch. Straw bales were selling singly for $5-6 this year, so I can load them on the red, rusty) wagon and trundle them home being happy not to have put out 10 bucks for them.
==

DH got a pay schedule for the semester. First check in mid February, last in late May.
==

Took care of one debit card use at Save-a-Lot this afternoon.

We need 7 more uses of our debit cards this month to continue to earn the top interest rate on our EF savings. Took care of one debit card use at Family Dollar this afternoon. Usually we get the required number of uses out of the way by mid-month, but I have forgotten to take the debit card when I go out. We try to use the debit cards only on the tiniest purchases-- for example a $0.45 box of salt, so as to keep the majority of purchases on a rewards CC.
==

Yah! Was woken up at 2:50 a.m. by the new, improved civil defense and weather warning sirens. I woke my husband, grabbed my glasses, shoes, garden coat, and yesterday's weather-worthy clothing left slung over the chair. As I put on the glasses I noticed it was calm and not even raining outside. "Probably a mistake," I said to my husband. I stopped at the front door on my way down to the basement. The predicted cold had still not arrived; it was pleasant outside. I heard the tail end of the siren followed by the audible message that there was a tornado warning. This is supposed to mean that a tornado has been spotted. So I stopped to turn an AM radio to full blast so that I might hear it in the basement. The radio was not mentioning any weather warning.

In the basement I clumsily pulled on my layered clothes on top of my already layered pajamas. I got my shoes on my feet. That is one thing my Mom drilled into my head. Always have shoes at the ready for sudden emergencies. If there is a storm, put them on, for gosh sakes. Mom's family has history of fires, floods, and tornadoes, none of which I've had to suffer, but I take her advice seriously.

I looked around, still not quite awake, but accusing myself of laziness for not having in 18 years of home ownership determined what might be the safest spot in the basement in a tornado. Is it against a wall? Is it underneath the main beam, close to the double middle supports, 100 year old 8 x 8 beams? Is it underneath the bathroom? They used to say bathroom plumbing provided strong structure to withstand tornadoes, but I'm skeptical. I don't think I ever really see bathrooms still standing in post tornado photos. Is the better place in the wine cellar which is really a cold room that is partly above ground but maybe sturdier because it is small? Is it under the stairs where I have pushed a sturdy oak library cart, my BIL's oil field tool box, and our camping equipment? Oh yes, well, maybe the camping equipment will survive, I'll be able to drill water wells and privvy holes, and I'll have all of Western thought (as determined sometime in the 1960's) to read up on in that set of Philosophy of the Western World books.

"Just sit down there in the only chair down here. Under the middle beam. Hey, should I cover up with this pile of blankets and towels, fresh from the laundry? If I had kids with me, I'd be burying them in these things, telling them to go to sleep and laying on the thickest padding I could, ready to dive on top of them to anchor them from the sucking vortex." I scared myself.

"This basement is a wreck, but at least I can blame it on the tornado when the rescuers come," I thought. I did not say this to my husband, as he had decided to stay in bed. So I figured I'd have no one to discuss those books with.

"Why have we still not gotten a re-assessment of our house insurance needs? Lazy!"

"Why have I still not bought a no batteries needed radio for the basement? Taking everything for granted!"

"Why did I tary to go to the kitchen for a flashlight? Flashlights need to be already down here." I was waking up to the urge to make a list. My hand felt a crumpled store receipt in the coat pocket. Nothing in the other pocket. No pen with which to write on that receipt, and by the way, no gloves to put on in preparation for the winter cold after the tornado."

"Water bottles in the corner. Okay. Who could get to them should we need them?"

"What will I say to Isaac when he finds that I survived but Dad did not because I did not make him go to the basement?" The last time we had a middle of the night tornado warning when Isaac still lived at home he surprised me how willingly he got out of bed and headed for the basement. Willingness had not been the norm for either my husband or son.

Really? I kept thinking over and over of Joplin, Missouri, a town hit very very hard by a horrendous tornado last year. My thoughts could do them no good. Sometimes I just want thoughts to have material power, but I don't really believe it. I sat in my basement skeptical about any nearby tornado, but wishing I could turn the clock back and save Joplin with my thoughts. "Unchecked, middle of sleep-time ego! Oh what do I do with myself?"

I heard a local voice come on the radio upstairs. Tornado warnings in the counties south of me were canceled. Tornado watches in the counties to the north of me were expired. Storm watches continued to the north where we used to keep our boat on the river and always were stomping our feet at the weather horrors repeatedly aimed at the boat. You'd have thought it was a trailer park, or something.

But no mention of the tornado warning in our city. What? Not canceled, not expired, not still in effect?

So I was right. It was a mistake. I felt sure of it. Well, "five minutes sure of it," which is to say, I decided to sit in the basement and razz my lack of good preparation for five more minutes just in case it was the radio station rather than the weather sirens that were mistaken.

After I felt the time had passed I climbed up stairs and left all my extra clothes in the living room. I went back to bed....

...Only to be awakened a couple hours later by the roaring wind of some sudden upstart of weather. The noise was loud, very loud. I could hear rain hitting our old awnings. Was there a little hail in the rain, too? Couldn't quite tell. "How could it be so windy and yet our bedroom window awning was not shimmying and straining side to side the way it normally does in a storm?....Vertical winds!....Microburst!"

My husband woke up, made some noises, and I think I said to him, "Microburst," as I slipped back to sleep in an instant.

This morning, plastic lawn furniture was in odd places and the patio was whooshed clean, yet an empty styrofoam box left on the patio was still where I'd left it yesterday. The local news is full of talk of why the tornado sirens sounded when there was no known tornado threat, and I'm using my $10 Amazon credit toward a new radio. I'll look for a battery-free flashlight locally.

For a couple years I've been getting magazines that I don't want. Three of them come because friends or family who are subscribers were offered free gift subscriptions to be sent to someone else. The fourth? I don't know why I'm getting it. It is a good magazine (Garden Gate) with no advertising and I subscribed to it in the past. But I did not send in a subscription and they do not bill me. Most of the time, these magazines just hit the recycling bin. What a waste.
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Just read that my city had 29 cases of whooping cough in 2011. I think I recently had the vaccine included with my tetanus shot, which I always keep current, given how much I work with soil + sharp implements. My tutorees are real good at coughing right in my face. I've felt the spittle hit my lip and eyelids before. I get colds from them all the time. So I think I need to keep up on any boosters for communicable diseases. (Another freebie I don't want!) I should call my doctor's office to see if they will confirm the pertussis vaccine and see if there is anything else I should re-up.

We found out last year, though, that our insurance will not pay for our vaccines unless we also see the doctor. So if the cost of the vaccine is more than the cost of a physician visit co-pay, then it does not make financial sense to see the nurse during drop-in hours set aside just for vaccines. Crazy.
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It turns out DH will have two classes to teach this semester, unless there is a last minute cancellation, which does happen. He has authored the courses, but in the last few days I saw him making some updates, which must be done when teaching in a field with constantly changing tools--photography.

He owns the copyright to his courses. However, a couple years ago a part-time professor somewhere phoned him to tell him he was having trouble accessing the course she needed to teach. Her dean(!) had directed her to use my DH's course, because DH had taught it at the school before. It was not accessible because he had taken it off the web during a semester in which he was not teaching it. I think DH let the part-timer use it after all, but I think he ought to license his courses for a fee. I mean, they are essentially books with new editions every 4-8 months. Giving them away all the time tends to devalue the work of other authors as well. (A freebie that is good for one person at a time, but in general not helpful to the larger crowd of authors who need to be paid for their work)
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