And the Family Dynamics Continue

Sweetie's visit to his sister's (where his mom is staying) was met with a an invitation to leave the premises. And, she had this parting shot: "If you think, after all these years, that you're going to tell ME what to do, forget it. It's NOT happening."

Later that day, his older sister called to say she'd be up here today. She and her husband are coming with reinforcements: two daughters, a granddaughter, and three son-in-laws. They claim they're going to remove their mother from the house and bring her next door to her home. So that ought to be interesting.

To top off this circus, about half an hour ago we get a call from them. Two of the three son-in-laws, and the two daughters all lost their jobs last night! The daughters worked at the same place; the son-in-laws each worked for different businesses. So, Sweetie's sister said they're all ready for a change of scenery anyway!

Then she asked to speak to me: "I know you keep a lot of food on hand... Could put some in the cupboards for us because now we're all afraid to spend money?"

So once again, Ms. Preparedness comes to the rescue. I really don't mind helping out. In fact, I hope a few of them will be interested in learning how we manage to live on under $700 a month while all of them (who until recently had great jobs) are always broke.

And while I'm on my soapbox, I'll tell you this:

If you're out spending money on luxuries - which include Ipods, cell phones, flat screen TVs, DVDs, CDs, MP3 players, fast food restaurants, carry out cuisine or any other assortment of initials you're throwing money at, you are just plain ignorant.

No amount of entertainment or gastronomical convenience is going to keep you warm, housed or fed. When you're hungry/homeless/unemployed/sitting in the dark and/or cold ALL those plastic boxes and discs will not save you.

Life as we know it is changing folks. Get that into your brains and stop thinking you can escape it or - worse yet, that the government will straighten out the mess in time for it not to affect you!

It's the basics, plain and simple. First you do what you can to acquire food, shelter, utilities and basic clothing. Then you save money and examine all the ways you can do things differently in order to save more money. Then you learn some useful skills like gardening. Then you begin stockpiling food, personal care products, cleaning supplies, medical supplies, hybrid seeds, tools, alternate ways to heat and light, and clothing.

Then, for entertainment you have a backyard barbeque or go camping so you can practice survival skills.

Then, you keep repeating all of the above so you get better and better at it. And before long, you'll discover what NORMAL is meant to be.