Goals

I've been thinking a lot about goals lately. What is the goal of my preparedness efforts? What are my financial goals? What are my therapy goals? What are my family goals? What are my personal growth goals?

Preparedness - where I live, most of the possible disasters are not natural. There hasn't been a hurricane in 40 years. Twisters are teeny tiny and take out a few houses a year. There are no real earthquakes. Sinkholes are rare and only happen near quarries. Fires don't really pose a threat. The only real threats we face are drought and man.

When it comes to drought, it's also not a huge issue. We conserve water when possible. We have some (not enough, but some) water stored downstairs. We plan on buying a rain barrel as soon as we can afford it. And, we're on city water. Unless the reservoir dries up, which it has before, we're not really hurting.

Man-made disasters are a constant threat and are tricky because they can come without warning. I live close enough to DC that a nuclear blast might not get me, but fallout could. Where I live (in general) is crowded with people. There is a huge disparity between the classes. Rich people are insanely rich while poor people are very poor. This gap could lead to looting at the smallest sign of trouble. I live near one of the most dangerous cities in America. It almost always shows up in the top three, but the actual top distinction changes often. It is for this reason, mostly, that I store food, water, and ammo. I'm not crazy - I don't go preaching the end is nigh or anything - but I don't want to be left without options if and when something bad happens.

Financial - I think for my age, I'm doing alright. I have a house with a decent interest rate in a good area. I have a 403(b) and an IRA for retirement (because we all know Social Security won't be around). Aside from student loans and a mortgage, my debt is not insurmountable. My only goal is to pay off the semi-modest amount of debt I have on my credit card and to keep saving my butt off. It doesn't help that I'm paying for a wedding very soon :o)

Therapy - This is not a factor for most people. Dealing with anxiety has really changed my life. I was, at one point, fairly carefree. I am at the point right now, however, that if I don't take my medication, I am mentally paralyzed. I've only posted on this problem once, here, and I was very vague. People use the word hypochondriac as a joke, and so did I at first, but the older I get, the more I wonder if I'm not. I try to stay on my medication as much as possible to avoid this issue. It is my goal to be able to control my body and mind more and to not need medication any more if at all possible.

Family - Family is kind of a two-parter for me - current and future. My goal with respect to my current family is to get over my issues with my dad and to try to enjoy them while I've got them. My goal with respect to my future family is to become healthy enough (see therapy goal) to give *B* and any children we may have the care and attention they deserve. I've been observant lately, making mental notes of what I do and do not want to do with/to my children. It is my hope that I can be a better wife and mother by defining my idea of a good wife and mother before I even get there.

Personal Growth - I don't ever want to get stagnant. I have been in school for 20 of my 24 years now. I'm still taking classes. When I get my certification, I'll take my masters classes. When I'm done them, I'll take English classes, and cooking classes, and sewing classes. I'll take CPR and First Aid classes. I'll take Spanish classes and history classes. As cheesy as it may sound, I love to learn. My goals are to keep taking classes as long as I can afford them, and to travel more so as to expand my horizons through personal experience. If I could, I would be Morgan Freeman in The Bucket List: the guy (girl) who knows something about everything. Yes, I know, "Jack of all trades, master of none," but is that such a bad thing?

I'm also striving to reflect upon life as it comes, rather than reflecting upon the whole near the end when I can do nothing to change it.

What are your goals?

Spring Break Reading

Today was my first day back to work in more than a week. It was a lovely break, full of family, gardening, and READING! I read four books on my days off. It turned out almost all of the books were on Oprah's Book Club list. I never wanted to read them because I thought it was cliched, but I realized that she's just tagged all the good books. I've made peace with that.

Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood
This is a weird book. There is a common thread throughout the stories, but it took a little while to figure out the plot line. Overall, I loved it. It made me want to be a homesteader even more.

Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald
This book covers some rough topics - most of them death related or sexually oriented. It covers the development of a family throughout a few generations. It's definitely a 17 and over book. It really reminded me of The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb.

While I Was Gone by Sue Miller
This was a great book exploring the interaction of our pasts with our present lives. The relationship between the main character and her husband is amazing. It made me consider my relationship with *B* in a new way.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy
This book has been in the news recently as it was just made into a movie. It was a super fast read - maybe 3 hours total. I can't imagine this as a movie. It chronicles the story of a man and his son in a post-apocalyptic world. This is definitely NOT for children. It even turned my stomach.

An FYI - I have been picking my books by using the website What Should I Read Next. Once you get books you like entered, it makes choosing new books super simple. I love it!

#1 Preparedness Need

Most of the preparedness posts I and others like me do have to do with material possessions. What do we pack in our 72 hour kits? How many months of food do you have? Do you have a big enough water storage container? While these are obviously very important, they are not the most important survival needs to be considered. Eventually, the supplies will run out. Will you have the knowledge and skills to survive?

I've been thinking on this topic a lot as of late. First, Survival Mom has been posting lists of survival skills for men and women. Then the other night, while watching Jeopardy, a contestant talked about her latest endeavor - she was working her way through the 1911 Eagle Scout requirements. I think this is a fantastic idea. Finally, APN posted about the need for skills when TSHTF.

All of this moved me to evaluate my own knowledge/skill base. I want to:

• re-up my CPR certification
• take a First Responders course
  
• do a 72 hour practice run
• cook using only my pantry foods for one month
• learn and regularly practice knot tying
• learn to make my own soap
• learn to make my own candles
• learn to clean animals killed for me

Are there any skills you'd like to brush up on?

My Mom's Cheese Bread

My mom's cheese bread is amazing. No matter how hungry or how full one is, it always evokes hunger pangs. I have not quite mastered her recipe, though it is very simple. The missing ingredient is patience. I always seem to be a little short on that one. For your benefit: how to make my mom's cheese bread.

Step 1: Make/buy white bread dough. I googled "white bread recipe" to make mine, but my mom buys frozen dough.


Step 2: While the dough is thawing/rising, cut 3/4 to 1 lb of colby cheese into 1/2 to 1 inch cubes.

Step 3: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray grease a pan.


Step 4: Pull off a lump of dough about twice the size of the cheese lump.


Step 5: Press the cheese into the dough.


Step 6: Wrap the dough around the cheese like an envelope.



Once you get the hang of it, it goes by really fast.


Step 6: Layer the dough covered cheese pieces in the pan. Here is my mistake: do not put too many pieces in one pan. I always lump everything in there that I can and the middle never finishes right.




We had extra cheese when all the dough was done. Someone thought it was fair game :o)


Step 7: Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until the top is medium to dark brown. Fair warning: put a cookie sheet underneath. We're still sucking smoke here from when some cheese dropped off onto the element. You have been warned. When done, it should look roughly like:

*drool*While this is amazing hot, I love it even better at room temperature the next morning. Enjoy!

Wedding Drama

Things have been getting kind of crazy in the wedding department. I've been using the checklist at the Knot, and the lovely wedding spreadsheets through Google Docs.

As of right now, I/we have:

• talked to the priest
• booked a church
• called the organist
  
• picked my wedding dress (but not bought it)
• given the girls their dress styles
• picked the groom's and groomsmen's tuxes out and gotten some of them measured
• decided on hair/makeup helper
• talked with the florist and gotten an estimate
• "booked" the photographer (a friend of mine)
  
• reserved the reception location
• called some DJs (with no responses)
  
• decided on wedding favors (they're precious! expect a post on them)
• roughly decided on invitations
• decided on honeymoon location
• roughly decided on hotel
• roughly decided on transportation

At this point, it's a lot of waiting. After I tallied up the cost on all of this (and trust me, I cut corners), it gave me the kick in the butt to get my resume done. I applied to a couple of "learning centers" helping kids polish (and often relearn) skills over the summer. If I can't get jobs there, it looks like it will be retail or food service for me this summer. I'll just be thankful to get any job at this point.

Oh My Gosh!

Today has been a GREAT day! First off, it's my dad's birthday. He doesn't like to make a big thing of it, so I just dropped by to give him his present, and we grabbed some lunch and such. Afterward, my mom and I went to the appointment with my wedding florist.

As you may recall, in order to save money (and give some kids some practice in a future career) I've decided to have my flowers done by the local vo-tech school. These are basically high school kids who get started on career skills early. I was prepared for the worst in both the possibility of getting the arrangements done, and the price. I am happy to report that a) they can do my flowers and b) it'll cost me less that $150!!! Thank God. I was so worried.

When I came home, I decided to do a little bird watching. I've really grown to like it in the past couple of weeks. I did, however, manage to get a 1/2 inch splinter in my foot while getting snaps of blue jays bathing in our bird bath. They were out and about a little earlier tonight, but we have a front pushing through and it looks like a thunderstorm is brewing.

These are the birds I've been able to identify so far:

Red-Breasted Robins

Male and Female Cardinals

Blue Jays

Black-Capped Chickadee

Simple Pleasure Thursday

My simple pleasure today is being published somewhere other than my own blog! A couple of days ago, American Preppers Network published a link from someone's blog where they denounced Pyrex as being poor quality and prone to explosions. Given that I'd seen that email from my grandmother a million times, I challenged it. So he let me write an article on the truth about Pyrex.

Here it is! The Pyrex Challenge