I've decided to drop the happyspinster url. I'm letting it go. It will no longer be mine after tomorrow. If you want ti grab it before some site squatter does. My host keeps sending frantic emails but meh.
Okay. September is preparedness month. Don't believe me ask FEMA. I pondered putting something up on the popular blog but there are things that need to get done before the fiscal year ends, so maybe next year. Off and on I'd been reading The Chatelaine's Keys, a blog by a Jewish farmer lady, whose thing is peak oil, and that's why she's prepping. I think I found her for the canning and gardening tips. Then this year I came across a fellow named Jack Spirko and his Survivalist Podcast. We (me, the Help, and my libertarian leaning Buddhist cousin) listened to several of his podcasts while driving to and from western Virginia. His language is salty and we enjoy it when his Pennsylvania/Jersey accent peeks out from his adopted Texas/Arkansas one. He has a near daily podcast and it is informative. I've learned about biltong, and then found this lovely biltong box from Ikeahacker. I am very interested in food preservation and food security and growing, not because I fear the black helicopters (there are helicopters flying over my house but they are navy and white and they &^#!-up my TV reception) and peak oil. No. I need to free up space in the freezers and I sometimes like to be very lazy and not have to go to the store or market every week. Also there are minor set backs in the system. Old power lines go kablewy and we lose power for 1-16 hours. I think once we lost power for a full 24 hours. If it snows, more than 2 inches, the city loses it's mind, Metro stops working and the end of civilization is nigh. This is why I try to keep enough TP in the house for a 1 month seige.
These prepper/survivalist things just inspire me to can and preserve food from the farmers markets and whatever I grow if I get anything. Have bulk supplies of stuff I eat. Have a month or so supply of food on hand. Right now I can eat rice and tomatoes, and pasta and tomatoes for a month if I was trapped in the house.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Letting the Spinster Pass and catering update
In a few days I'm going to let the happyspinster.com url go into the great beyond where someone else can buy it up and use it since no one has asked for it. I'm keeping crappychristian.com
Now on to wedding matters. We are pondering a caterer. He's really not a caterer but a former chef. A former 4 star chef. I mentioned our price constriants. When I brought him up to the Help, he also wondered if we could afford him. I Googled him, he almost hit celebrity status. Worked at restaurants I can't afford. Okay, normally can't afford. I'm re-reading my email to him and I told him what our budget is and that I think he's worth more than what we've budgeted. I ran into him and he said, no problem he's not that busy at that time of the year.
Still, worried about the afford part. Because I know he has that 4 star chef desire for great, fresh, and local ingredients. And everything will be out of season.
Now on to wedding matters. We are pondering a caterer. He's really not a caterer but a former chef. A former 4 star chef. I mentioned our price constriants. When I brought him up to the Help, he also wondered if we could afford him. I Googled him, he almost hit celebrity status. Worked at restaurants I can't afford. Okay, normally can't afford. I'm re-reading my email to him and I told him what our budget is and that I think he's worth more than what we've budgeted. I ran into him and he said, no problem he's not that busy at that time of the year.
Still, worried about the afford part. Because I know he has that 4 star chef desire for great, fresh, and local ingredients. And everything will be out of season.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Blessed are the poor in spirit
“Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit” Matthew 5:1-13
Well the biblical commentary on this says one thing but I've been pondering another. The material poor who also lack skills and imagination.
I am thankful to the US Army as it did not send my father to Vietnam to be a name on the wall or a nut case. Instead he wound up in Germany and was trained as a mechanic. He took those skills learned in the army got a job, then made a business that at times fed us. I say at times, because daddy is a crappy businessman, decent mechanic and plumber, craptastic businessman.
Mummy, can sew and crochet and has a few other skills, but hasn't really made any money with them. They make her happy and lets her make other people happy. The girls like it when grandma sews them something.
But let me get back to my initial thought, the material poor and poverty of the spirit. We were lower middle class in a poor neighborhood, but rich in spirit. We had our Lord and we had our creativity to create and do. Though some of the doing didn't create a lot of money, like lilly dillys, frozen Kool-Aide on a stick in a tiny Dixie cup. But there was creation and doing and worship. Now I worry. There is less worship. Complete lack of creation that has been replaced with consuming, and the doing is becoming more criminal.
Not only are people poor in material goods they are also poor in spirit.
Well the biblical commentary on this says one thing but I've been pondering another. The material poor who also lack skills and imagination.
I am thankful to the US Army as it did not send my father to Vietnam to be a name on the wall or a nut case. Instead he wound up in Germany and was trained as a mechanic. He took those skills learned in the army got a job, then made a business that at times fed us. I say at times, because daddy is a crappy businessman, decent mechanic and plumber, craptastic businessman.
Mummy, can sew and crochet and has a few other skills, but hasn't really made any money with them. They make her happy and lets her make other people happy. The girls like it when grandma sews them something.
But let me get back to my initial thought, the material poor and poverty of the spirit. We were lower middle class in a poor neighborhood, but rich in spirit. We had our Lord and we had our creativity to create and do. Though some of the doing didn't create a lot of money, like lilly dillys, frozen Kool-Aide on a stick in a tiny Dixie cup. But there was creation and doing and worship. Now I worry. There is less worship. Complete lack of creation that has been replaced with consuming, and the doing is becoming more criminal.
Not only are people poor in material goods they are also poor in spirit.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
TV-Outlaw
It sucked.
The first 20 minutes I decided the show was crap and insulting. Insulting because the main character played by Jimmy Smitts is a Latino US Supreme Court Justice who quits and turns from supporting conservative issues and to liberal causes. As a conservative person of color that was just too insulting as the show's writers made it that he was only supporting conservative causes because a big bad conservative white guy was bullying him. It would have been fine if he was a liberal justice who decides he'd be doing more good as a lawyer, which would have been fine.
But it seemed to be that the writers went out of their way to say that minority conservatives aren't genuine. If we’d only be our true selves then we’d hop on the left’s side. If it weren’t for pressure from the white conservatives, if we were free we’d see the errors of our ways. Bull! And that was insulting and offensive. So, I won’t be watching this drivel. Of course, there were other things I thought were stupid too. His staff, too few and too stupid.
Well at least it appears they shot it in DC.
The first 20 minutes I decided the show was crap and insulting. Insulting because the main character played by Jimmy Smitts is a Latino US Supreme Court Justice who quits and turns from supporting conservative issues and to liberal causes. As a conservative person of color that was just too insulting as the show's writers made it that he was only supporting conservative causes because a big bad conservative white guy was bullying him. It would have been fine if he was a liberal justice who decides he'd be doing more good as a lawyer, which would have been fine.
But it seemed to be that the writers went out of their way to say that minority conservatives aren't genuine. If we’d only be our true selves then we’d hop on the left’s side. If it weren’t for pressure from the white conservatives, if we were free we’d see the errors of our ways. Bull! And that was insulting and offensive. So, I won’t be watching this drivel. Of course, there were other things I thought were stupid too. His staff, too few and too stupid.
Well at least it appears they shot it in DC.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Diamonds are a girl's best friend
Dogs are a man's best friend but you can't pawn a dog.
Yesterday, on a whim I bid on ebay for a diamond. A loose diamond. I want to start a small collection, so I can put them in a black velvet bag and take them out occassionally and pretend to be a Bond villian.
I'm not getting any diamonds to wear. The Help and I went ring shopping and decided on plain wedding bands, no diamonds. There is a practical reason, diamonds scratch things. I'm thinking of iphones. I nearly bid on a phone but apparently it had a scratch from the user's diamond earring. We will be getting plain bands from the kiosk at the mall. Maybe on our 5th we'll upgrade to plain Tiffany bands.
But I still want diamonds, just in a bag, that I can say in a deep voice, "Well, Mr. Bond, will you trade these for the microfilm?"
Yesterday, on a whim I bid on ebay for a diamond. A loose diamond. I want to start a small collection, so I can put them in a black velvet bag and take them out occassionally and pretend to be a Bond villian.
I'm not getting any diamonds to wear. The Help and I went ring shopping and decided on plain wedding bands, no diamonds. There is a practical reason, diamonds scratch things. I'm thinking of iphones. I nearly bid on a phone but apparently it had a scratch from the user's diamond earring. We will be getting plain bands from the kiosk at the mall. Maybe on our 5th we'll upgrade to plain Tiffany bands.
But I still want diamonds, just in a bag, that I can say in a deep voice, "Well, Mr. Bond, will you trade these for the microfilm?"
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