I heard someone say how this whole economy thing is going to start hurting different people at different times, depending on where you live, your income bracket, and your standards of living. It has definitely just started to wrap its fingers around our neck here in the Stepherz abode. And I’m trying to stay optimistic.

The cost of groceries is insane. We’ve had to change the way we eat in the last few months. Now that the gas prices are rising, I imagine the food prices will follow soon behind. I haven’t been meal planning because I honestly have to just shop for what’s marked down. I work with whatever that weeks specials bring me. This week, I found pork chops on sale. So, we’ll probably be eating them at least 3 of the next 7 nights. Hopefully 4.
It just got me to thinking about how wasteful and unappreciative we’ve been here in America. How much food, gas, money have we wasted? We indulge in frivolous things with no thought towards the future. I don’t mean you, because maybe you aren’t wasteful at all. I just mean most of us spoiled Americans. And what are we doing to plan for the future? What are we doing to prepare ourselves if our economy falls again? And that’s a question for all of you– from France, to Japan, to Australia, to Canada. Because if America falls, all governments, countries, people… All the world will feel some of our pain.

I’m not trying to sound like the voice of doom. No, I have lots of hope. I especially have hope knowing that perhaps… maybe… we have a chance at change with a new President who won’t wave a magic wand but who will instead help us to help ourselves. Sometimes I think he or she is getting handed too big a problem.

I do think about how America would be, ya know, if we were to have another depression. It’s bigger and crazier here now than it was in the 30’s. And that’s scary to me. It could happen, y’all. And if it did, it might even happen really fast. All of the comforts we know now would be gone. The luxuries. The simple things like having cans of food in your pantry or a doctor to take your kids to, might not be so easy to come by. And when the lower class falls, then the middle class, and finally the upper class… Who is ready for that? Can you imagine having to fight for food? Because you know you would fight! Your children would depend on you to.

I guess this all comes from some dreams I’ve been having. The night before 9/11 I had this horrible night. I couldn’t sleep, my skin was crawling, I wanted to get out of bed and let go of this weird anxious feeling I had that I couldn’t explain– run, dance, write, paint, something. I thought it was a full moon (I can feel those). I wiggled and tossed in bed all night. I woke from a weird dream around 3 am and sat up in bed. My window was open and I suddenly heard some movement outside my window. There was a daddy bear trying to get into my dumpster a few feet from my window. He was angry and restless too. He was unusually agitated and seemed to share my emotion.  A few hours later I got out of bed finally. I made some coffee, showered, got ready for work. I was driving to work when I heard about the first plane. I then understood why my night had been so weird. We’re all connected. We’re all sharing energy.

Last night I had a dream. I dreamed that I had been fast forwarded who knows how long. I was searching for something (I have a lot of dreams where I’m trying to find my family). I came across a highway and there was an 18 wheeler being raided by a group of people with guns. Every store I could see had been looted and people just didn’t even seem human anymore. And it’s weird because, you know, if things got too bad, we would all be out there trying to get our own, and take care of our own. Can you prepare for that? Can you imagine that? We try not to, don’t we?

We want to live in our happy little bubbles and pretend that another depression couldn’t happen. We forget that great civilizations have fallen. Are we so optimistic, or prideful, or maybe even nieve to think it couldn’t happen to us? Don’t you think that it’s possible that you are being distracted with your Dancing with the Stars episodes, or your economy stimulus checks from what might, could, be happening?

And this all seems quite random but I think I’m getting to something… I know I’m a conspiracy theorist and I try not to be too paranoid. But I’ve decided to start preparing. I’m stocking my pantry, I’m researching water purifiers. I’m reading about how to treat runoff water, how to build cellars. I’m filling extra prescriptions and buying first aid kits. I’m reading about survival and natural healing. And if I’m just being a weirdo and overly paranoid, what did it hurt? We’ll have some supplies, no biggie. With the price of food rising, some extra cans of food in the pantry won’t go to waste. But if I’m not suffering from paranoid delusions? We’ll have enough to keep us going for awhile. We’ll have some skills and supplies that others might not and that we wouldn’t have had otherwise. And that’s not a bad thing. Even Jack the Jackass might find himself needing to learn something from us. Like how to make a water purifier. Or how to build an underground cellar.

So if you’re also a conspiracy theorist, or maybe just want to be more informed, here are some links I’ve found quite interesting. I’ve printed them off and I’m making a notebook of useful info like the stuff I found here:

Make it yourself Root Cellar 

Garbage Can Root Cellar 

Water Purification and Storage

Emergency Preparedness Plan

Drying meat

Preparing Meat for Storage 

And lastly… This was an interesting prediction. Sounds like a really smart guy.

And that is all. If I find some more valuable links, I’ll be sharing them.

This is an interesting story. And I’m obviously missing some screws because, really, who takes on their town government? Only those that are a few fries short of a Happy Meal.

When we first moved here, I had an interaction with the older gentleman who would go on to be elected Mayor. We’ll call him Jack. Jack the Jackass and I had our first interaction in the Fall of 2005. Bella was about 10 months old, Austin was 11. Austin took Bella for a little walk to the end of the street (where Jack lived) and stopped in front of his house to pick an apple off of his tree. Jack came out of his house yelling at Austin for “stealing apples” and “Probably being the kid who threw all the apples in the street.” HOLD UP! One thing I will NOT tolerate is someone being nasty to my kids, especially over something as ridiculous as picking an apple for his baby sister! I let him know that if he had a problem with my son in the future he needed to confront me and told him I would replace the apple Austin took with an apple from our tree. That’s what I did. Jack the Jackass found a box full of delicious green apples on his doorstep the next day.

One day I went to the post office and was following behind Jack. I cut through the parking lot going the wrong way (no one was there and thought it wasn’t a big deal). Sure enough, Jack waited until I got into the PO to talk to Austin, who was waiting in the car, about how I was breaking the law and will get a ticket for doing that. Once he got inside the PO, he made sure to scold me in front of the postal worker. I told him, “I’m such a lawbreaker, Jack. You know I just can’t help myself.” What I wanted to tell him is, “Jack, go piss up a rope! One third of this town has a meth problem, there are hungry kids, and there’s probably a wife being beaten by her husband. Why on Earth are you worried about something so trivial?”

One day I was walking the kids around the block and stopped in front of his house to do the friendly neighbor chat with Jack. He started telling me how he’s had to put up surveillance cameras on his house because the kids in the neighborhood had knocked over his solar powered yard lights and broken them. He continued on and on about the kids this and the kids that. He finished by saying he was going to push the city into not letting the kids ride their bikes on the sidewalks anymore because they crash into his solar lights vandalizing his property. I didn’t say anything, but I thought, “You pompous old man! The wind could have knocked them over! Use our tax dollars to make a new town rule that 4 year old kids have to ride their bikes on the road. That’s so unselfish of you! Jerk!”

Well, here’s what got my goat. He was driving down the road a few months ago and the teenagers were playing hoops in front of a neighbors house. The teens didn’t move out of his way when he drove up, they just continued playing, forcing Jack to drive around them. Next thing you know, the Chief of Police is coming by everyone’s house in the WHOLE TOWN demanding that the basketball hoops be taken down. Mind you, the speed limit is 15 mph and no one abides by that speed limit. I’ve been trying to get the city to put in speed bumps for 3 years. The fact of the matter is, in a small town, KIDS PLAY IN THE STREETS. I don’t let Bella and Noah go out in the street, obviously. But Austin is old enough to move out of the way when a car turns onto the road. And if they are doing the speed limit, the kids have time to move.

No one on the street removed their hoops. Strength in numbers, we all decided not to comply. Then, last week, I received a certified letter in the mail from a lawyer telling me to move the hoop because it’s an unsafe place for kids to play. Of the 3 families with hoops, only one complied after the letter. I’m not taking Austin’s hoop down. Fine me. Scold me. Put me in jail. I don’t care. The kids in this town have nothing to do. This old man is a walking contradiction– he wants kids to ride their bikes in the street but doesn’t want them to play basketball in the street. He wants to spend tax dollars to hire a lawyer to send certified mail, but doesn’t want to advocate for the families who want tax money to go towards speed bumps being put in. It all boils down to one thing for me: The man doesn’t like kids or families and only uses those tax dollars to carry out his own personal vendettas. And since that’s the case, he should move his crotchety old ass to a retirement community and let ME be the fargin’ mayor!

I don’t know what’s going to come of this. With my luck, he’s a member of the mob and he’ll have my house vandalized for being non-compliant. I don’t want to go talk to him about it because I think I couldn’t do it without being overly passionate about it at this point. Jeremy is the same way. And besides that, he has that whole “I’m part of the greatest generation” mentality and there’s no talking to someone that stubborn and selfish. I called a lawyer today and I’m waiting to hear back. Anyone else been through anything similar? I mean, it’s petty. But the lawyer made a good point: Kids play in the streets all over the country. People driving through neighborhoods know this. Tax money could more easily be used to enforce the speed limits, put in parks, or place speed bumps in neighborhoods. It won’t be so easy to keep the kids from doing what they do: Play.

Now I wouldn’t let Austin play in the street at some of our previous neighborhoods. They weren’t safe– they weren’t set up for street basketball. But this neighborhood is different than the others. Shouldn’t it be left to the parent’s discretion? I mean, kids should eat dinner before 8 pm but if the government tried making that a law, it wouldn’t go over! Kids shouldn’t skip brushing their teeth for 2 days, but the government isn’t going to go into your home and tell you to brush your kids teeth twice a day! Kids, in general, shouldn’t play in the street either. But why is ok for the government to shake their fingers at us for that and not at the fact that grown adults should drive the speed limit?

Ughh. I could go on and on. Sorry this turned into such a rant. It’s just so discouraging how shady governments can be– using our money to carry out their own personal vendettas…

I once made and sold some soaps to locals and a few bars online. I called myself the “Soap Nymph”– silly, I know. I mostly made them for friends and family, or just for myself. I made tallow soap just to say I could (don’t wrinkle your nose, your ancestors bathed with it and you’re here today despite the grossness), and I made the most delicious lavender castille ever. There wasn’t a recipe I wasn’t willing to try and somehow, despite that I am not a great cook, I managed to cook up some delicious soaps.

I’ve been missing the soapmaking something fierce. But I decided a few years ago that it just wasn’t a safe hobby to have with babies or toddlers. Mixing lye in the kitchen while a toddler hangs from my pants leg isn’t a great idea. Now it turns out that you can’t even buy lye very easily anymore. I don’t know if it was being used for drug manufacturing or what, but I can’t buy my red devil lye at the grocery store anymore.

So I think I’m going to give it a try again. I’ll just have to do it at night when the babies are sleeping. I’ll have to update my supplies and order some oils. But, I think soapmaking was really good for my soul and would be worth an investment. I really miss the way my home always smelled of beautiful, gorgeous essential and fragrance oils as the soaps cured in my bedroom closet. So feminine and natural.

Do any of you make soaps? I’m curious because I need to brush up on my knowledge and just wondered if I had a buddy out there that might be able to share resources. For instance– where the heck do you buy lye granules now? I saw some on eBay, I might have to get them that way. I could probably ask my mother in law for help with soapmaking since she insisted when I made them that lye wasn’t a necessary ingredient. She who has never made soaps and knows all. Yes, this might be true if you are into glycerin, but even glycerin soap has gone through the lye process in the beginning, in a factory somewhere. Eck. She gets on my nerves. Without lye you have a big blob of fat or oils. Maybe she likes washing herself in oil, but I personally prefer soap. Maybe she wouldn’t be so mean if her momma would have stuck a big fat bar of soap in her mouth 50 years ago. The ingredients on your soaps won’t say, “LYE” on them because who would buy the soap if it said that!? It was best said by a fellow soapmaker (and a veteran at soapmaking), VogueVixen:

“Just for the record, all soaps have lye (sodium hydroxide) in them, including Dove, Ivory, glycerine, melt & pour, etc, etc. That’s just how soap is made. The way it’s listed on the label is a combination of the oil used + the lye itself, in other words: Sodium Cocoate = Cocoa Butter + Lye, Sodium Palmate = Palm oil + Lye, Sodium Lardate = Lard + Lye, etc. Soft or liquid soaps (shampoos/bubblebaths, etc) are made with different type of lye (potassium hydroxide). If someone is trying to sell you a “lyeless” soap they’re either misinformed or outright lying to your face. If you are able to use commercial soaps there’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to use homemade; homemade is in fact usually less harsh because it isn’t full of extra chemicals and fillers. It is possible to make a batch that is lye heavy, but only if you make a mistake somewhere in your measurements.”

Anyhooooo. I don’t hold grudges or anything.

That is all.

I’m sure you’ve had that feeling. That feeling that follows when you’ve done something that you put some heart, time, and effort into and it ended up being in vain? Well I’m having that feeling.

I finished my gnome rag quilt a few weeks ago. I LOVED it. I thought it had to be one of the cuter quilts because it’s so different and unique– not something you could find at WalMart or Target. I put a $45 price tag on it at the craft fair and didn’t care whether it sold. People that don’t make quilts don’t understand that at $8+ a yard and hours of work, these things have to cost something. Before I made quilts, I scoffed at the prices some people asked for their quilts. But now I better understand.

I decided to wash the completed quilt to start the ragging process before I sell it. It looked even more amazing and soft after the wash. I took the quilt outside to take pictures of it for my Etsy shop.

Afterwards, I took it inside to do any last clippings of stray threads. I flipped the quilt over. Low and behold! A fargin’ hole! WTF!? How did that happen!?

I know it’s not because I did a poor job of quilting, because I did a great job and put lots of love and careful attention into it. I know it’s not because it’s cheap fabric (I have at least $20-$25 in fabrics invested into this quilt). I used good quality fabrics so that this WOULDN’T happen for a VERY long time and after slews of washings and wear and tear. I know it didn’t happen because it got poked or picked somehow– nothing has even touched this quilt besides my hands and a gentle cycle in the wash. I’m soooo bummed. I don’t want to GIVE this one as a gift, much less sell it. Jeremy thinks I’m overreacting because the hole is so tiny and could be stitched up. And that’s true. I guess I’ll stitch it up tonight and list it anyways with a discounted price and a note that it has had a repair.

Isn’t this such a sad story? So sad. The poor little gnomes. The poor little Stepherz. Sniff…