themartianchick

I did want to add that I was so ticked off by my step daughter and hubby yesterday... This is the one that has become more interested in prepping, which is good because she has 5 children. I called her Saturday night to make sure that she knew about the storm and explained the magnitude to her. I figured that she had food, since she is the one with a deep freezer that is around 6 feet long. I mentioned that our city doesn't lose water access when the power goes out and that there might be a lot of rain, possibly snow, downed trees and powerlines, etc... I told her what my preparations would be and left it at that. So around 7pm, I get a text message that basically asks if this storm is supposed to be really serious like the Labor Day Storm that was the worst storm in our area in my lifetime. ( I found out later that she had been posting on Facebook about how she didn't understand why people were acting as if this was the storm of the century.) WHAT?!?! Didn't we just discuss this? So I called her and tried to get it to sink in. I suggested that she have the kids round up their flashlights in case of a power outage. Uh-uh...can't do that, they are all broken, missing parts, etc... I was ticked because I bought all of then flashlights so that they would have them in an emergency. I probably spent about $25 on them total and they did use them once when the power went out for an hour. I started telling her that she needed to be and in case she lost power and that she shouldn't bother trying to get bottled water, flashlights, etc...from the stores because they were all out. She has a gas stove, so I knew that she could cook and possibly heat the house with the stove if need be. I scrounged up some little LED lights that are designed for cabinets and closets. I bought them at Dollar Tree a couple of months ago before deciding that they wouldn't work for my purposes. We dropped them off at her house (5 minutes away) on our way to unlock a door for a tenant. On the way home hubby told me that I was selfish for not giving her some of our "good" flashlights since we have so many. He said it in a light-hearted manner but I wasn't so sure that he didn't mean it. I pointed out that if they had all kept their flasklights in good condition (or even just one!) that this wouldn't be an issue. I told him that if she had heeded my warnings a couple of days ago, she'd have had time to buy some before they were all snapped up from stores. Then I pointed out that I'd already given them $25 worth of flashlights and that I wasn't willing to take chances with the things that we keep for our use in an emergency. In fact, some of our flashlights were given to us over the past 20+ years by my parents to keep us safe. We always kept them in good condition and that is part of the reason why we have an assortment. I also pointed out that I didn't have to provide her with the LED lights and that time spent in the dark might actually help her to understand that she is the only adult in the house (since her divorce) that can protect her children. Considering how dire the storm predictions were, this could have been a really serious situation. Hubby immediately apologized when he realized that we can't always be there to pick up the slack for her. Good thing he did, too! :frying pan: I must have scared her pretty well... She got up this morning and went to the new Tops grocery store that is having a grand opening today and bought 2 of the last three flashlights (store was only open for 45 minutes and that was all of the inventory they had left) and then filled up her gas tank. I really hope that she is scared straight. I'd hate to have to disown her for a breach in preparedness!

Things are fine here. We had rain and a bit of a breeze. Looking at the weather maps, I think that we have a lot more rain in store. It appears that we haven't gotten the real waves of rain from the storm though. I don't know of much local damage yet. I've been watching the damage downstate on CNN. I'm still in bed and posting from my phone. I wanted to see the sunrise from my bedroom window. Yesterday morning, the entire sky was reddish pink! Today we've got nothing but grey.

The pictures are great! I'd love to see more... (Special hint for Wormie or anyone else that has some!) My guess on the pj's...Could they belong to Lovinit? I now have the Christmas song about Snoopy and the Red Baron stuck in my head.

We've got a storm coming... Plenty of time to read!

No matter how pretty I think foxes are, I'd be worried if I saw one near my house. I do have chickens, after all.

Jeepers, can you keep chickens where you live? Guinea fowl are excellent at decimating the tick population, but they are LOUD!

Awww... rest up and feel better soon. Today's weather is making my joints a bit cranky today, so I'm taking my own advice for once!

I teach credit repair as part of my day job. There are several things that go into creating a good credit score or report. You do have to have something reporting to a creidt report in order for there to be a score. I always advise people to keep a few things reporting, even if you really don't have to use the credit. That is not to say that I advocate going into debt, but that you exercise the credit lines that you have from time to time. Some of the factors that go into determining the score : 1. Positive credit lines - These can be open or closed, though open is better. There should be not a single late payment on them. One late payment automatically makes the entire account go into the negative category. If you have only one or 2 late payments, you may be able to get them removed by disputing the lates or by asking the creditor to remove them. 2. A good mix of credit - This includes at least one major credit card (like a Mastercard, Visa, American Express or Discover), a store or gas credit card (Exxon, Sears, JC Penney, Lowes, Home Depot, Victoria's Secret, etc...) an installment loan of some kind (student loan, car note, mortgage, personal loan) and some age. The loans can be paid off, but be advised that they will eventually age off of your credit report and will no longer assist your credit score. You don't want your accounts to be too new because they don't demonstrate that you have the ability to manage your credit over the long term. 3. Utilization - This term refers to how much of your credit limit you are using and does not apply to loans. If your credit card has a $1000 limit, then you should try not to allow the balance to be higher than about 50% or $500. 30% is even better. There are two types of utilization that count: How much of each credit limit you are using and the overall amount of your total credit limit you are using. In other words, if you have 3 credit cards with $1000 limits and one card is maxed out, your utilization on that one card is too high at 100%. However, the other two cards don't have a balance so that are at 0% utilization which makes your overall utilization at 33%. Even if you don't believe in using credit as a matter of course, it is a good idea to buy something on your various credit cards to exercise them. You can always pay the bill off immediately to ensire that you pay no interest. Living debt free is a wonderful thing, but there are many ordinary things that we all need that require a credit check. The insurance rates that we are quoted on ourcar and homeowners policies are partially determined by our credit scores. I'm not sure how they determined that someone with a low credit score is also a bad driver... As to the question about secured versus unsecured, bear in mind that an unsecured credit account can eventually become secured if a creditor gets a judgement against you. Armed with a judgement, they can begin to garnish wages and can even get a lien against your property/house, which is essentially the same as making it a secured debt. It does take awhile for it to get to this point, however. If you are ever forced to decide to pay something late, make sure that you don't pay it 30 days or more late. The only late payments that can show up on a credit report are the ones that are 30 days or more late. They can still hit you with a late fee, but it won't wreck your credit!

I don't usually do the once a month cooking thing, but I do have some plans for cooking ahead this week if I can squeeze it in. Making bread right now and there's a chicken in the oven. I'm spending the day with a sick grand daughter that loves to cook and watch others cook.

I wasn't able to attend the gathering , but I do wish your father well. I hope that the doctors are able to figure out what is causing the problem and get it fixed!

I'd really have to put on my big girl pants to hang out with you! Between the rattle snakes and bears, I think I'd be hiding behind that couch. Wait a minute! I distinctly recall you telling a story about a snake that got in the house...

Excellent post, Gunplumber!That is pretty much how I look at it. I assign a monetary value to my time...I have to because if I'm not saving more than I could be earning, then I've cost myself some cash. When it comes to car repairs, hubby is always cheaper than the shop, even if we have to rent a car in the meantime.A car repair in the winter? We send the car to the shop! It isn't worth risking frostbite, sickness and missing work. When you average it over the course of the year, we still come out ahead.If you were going to take a walk anyways and you found a quarter, then that's great! But to deliberately go out looking for quarters seems kind of silly, unless you know of a place where people frequently lose change due to some particular set of circumstances. When my mom was young, a man in the neighborhood had all sorts of model trains. The tracks actually ran outside in good weather and all of the kids would go to see them. The kids were always finding pennies on the ground due to something related to the train hobby. Finding a penny then wasn't a gamble, it was a given. Besides, a penny could buy a lot of candy back then. Since the kids didn't have jobs, they came out ahead all the way around!

My daughter also used a website called YesJapan when she first began to study Japanese on her own. She used the free utilities for awhile and then I began paying monthly for it. I'm not sure if she is currently using Busuu for Japanese or just for Chinese.

I used to buy the cracker barrel cheese because I love the really sharp stuff! However, I discovered a brand at Save A Lot called McCadam. They sell all kinds of bricks of cheese (8 oz) but my favorite is the one called Adirondack, which the package decribes as being 'wicked sharp'. I haven't bought Cracker Barrel in 2 years. They do have other cheddars that are not quite so sharp and I usually buy the Monteray Jack to have on hand for some recipes, etc...

I wanna be CGA when I grow up!

Nora Roberts' books are fantastic!! She also writes under the pseudonym of J.D.Robb, so when you run out of Nora Roberts' books, you can still find more under her pen name!

My daughter uses a website called busuu.com to learn foreign languages, Arby. It is free and there is even a feature to allow you to chat live with people all over the world as your language skills increase.

Love it!

Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening is my 2nd favorite poem...My favorite is The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. I learned it when I was in 5th grade and thought that it seemed to fit my life at the time. I was always different from the other kids in one way or another. All of these years later and it still fits....right down to the homesteading leanings: The Road Not Taken

Hubby fixed our radiator problem over the weekend. It turned out to be the water pump and not the radiator. The water pump was $65 and the new radiator would have cost $200. He was able to install it himself, so we dodged the bullet on that one. Best of luck to Gofish and Jeepers with their vehicles, too!

Congratulations!!! We're going to have another birthday to celebrate at Mrs S.

I have to ask this question, Cat... Was the family black? The reason that I ask is that I am frequently asked about my upbringing in the boonies by other black people. Many think that it would be scary to be "only' black family or to be so isolated from the culture.I think that there are still some lingering fears about rural white people being racists.It is a completely unfair perception, but it is still there.I'm pretty comfortable in just about any environment and can easily walk confidently in any of the inner-city neighborhoods without fear.Of course, I also speak to everyone that I meet which lends a bit of personality to the interaction. In general, I think that we train children to fear the woods from an early age. Think about the stories of Snow White and Little Red Riding Hood. Bad things happen when you venture into the woods. Children learn to fear the dark. Wooded areas are dark with trees that hang over your head. Think about how many cartoons we've seen where the spooky looking trees come to life and grimace while shaking their branches at someone.When our children were very young ( ages 13, 12, 3,2) we took them to a festival that was about 50 miles away. On the way home, I had my husband turn onto a different road because the highway was backed up and I didn't want us to be stuck on the highway for hours. I wasn't completely familiar with the area, but I had traveled that way as a kid and was reasonably sure that we would eventually run into something familiar. Besides, I knew that we were going in the right direction on a parallel road. Our youngest kids fell asleep, but everyone else was terrified. After I was able to recognize a road that connected with the one that my parents lived on, everyone began confessing how scared they'd been. They mentioned that it was so dark and that there were no street lights. Even hubby mentioned how the trees looked so scary when they were only illuminated by headlights. To city folks... utter darkness is frightening!!!! As a country person that now lives in the city, I am frequently bothered by the fact that it is never actually dark in the city!I can wander through my house in the "dark" and still be able to see clearly. I truly hate streetlights!

From someone with a leaky radiator (which will be repaired in the next couple of days), you have my sympathy. I will keep you in my prayers.

I'm so sorry that I missed your birthday, Michael! I hope that you had a great one! No Arby at Arby's? Hmmm...now that is a puzzle. Was Ms. Macy there at least?

It sounds as though you will all have a great time! This is always a tough time of year for me to get away and I'm so sorry that I'm going to miss it all. Please post a lot of pictures!