The Pioneer in My Heart

I've been contemplating a lot lately. A heck of a lot. It's all spinning and tumbling around in my head and... I just can't seem to get it all straight. I've been trying to write to ya'll for the last week and every time I sit down to write anything all of my thoughts seem to rush out at once and get stuck in my fingertips. It's like the party we were "volun-told" to throw for Army Man's Change of Command when he took command of a Basic Training Company. We looked all over the city for a punch bowl. I don't know why I was so set on having a punch bowl. I think it was because I had a two week old baby and the sleep deprivation caused me to focus in on little things and make them into great big stinking deals. Anyway, after combing the city we found a beautiful... well... I don't know exactly what you'd call it. I know there is a word for it but I can't think of it. It was a giant glass container with a spigot. I decided on my favorite punch made with Hawaiian Punch, Sprite, and a variety of frozen berries. Unfortunately the frozen berries all settled at the bottom and the spigot didn't work. Why was I telling you this story? Oh yeah! Because that's how my thoughts are. They're stuck like berries in my fingertips.

All of those crazy mixed up thoughts center around one theme. I'm trying to figure out how to take the qualities of "simpler times" and incorporate them into my here and now. I went to the library in search of the reality series filmed by PBS in 2001 titled Frontier House. It's about three families that are chosen out of hundreds of applicants to live like the pioneers in the Montana wilderness for five months. We ended up using that fast forward button a lot to skip over most of the bickering, so I'm going to warn you that you might have to do the same. But there was a lot of meat in that show. I'm also reading a book titled "See You in a Hundred Years: Four Seasons in Forgotten America" by Logan Ward, a Manhattan resident who moves with his wife and young son to the year 1900 for one year. They choose to live for a year using only the tools available to people in 1900. He got the idea from reading a newspaper article about a similar show to Frontier House that was also put on by PBS. I'm not sure of the title of that one but it was about families that lived in 1900-era London for several months.

That takes me to my swirling thoughts. I don't live in 1900, and honestly I really don't want to because I love air conditioning and bug spray to much. I also love refrigeration, flushing toilets, vacuums, washers, dryers, and a host of other modern day conveniences. However, I don't like the fact that I have wasted away so much of my life in front of a screen, whether it be tv or computer. I also don't like that I don't know very much about my heritage. I want to learn more about where I came from. I also want to learn about the values and morals that our forefathers held. Granted, there were a lot of sins committed in our past, but I don't want to feel like I've thrown the baby out with the bathwater. I want to maintain many of the qualities of my history while living in the present.

I also love that I'm thinking this way now. Back when we relied on debt, it was like my need for stuff was almost all consuming and I would have poo-pooed the idea of going back to simpler times. The more we bought the more I wanted. We didn't go crazy with it all but there was a long list of "needs" (mostly all wants) that I wanted to purchase when we had some money freed up for new types of payments. Now I'm spending a year without most of my stuff. It's almost all in storage and I don't really miss it. I also don't feel a burning desire to add to it like I did before. It's like my diet. When I eat a lot of sweets I crave more sweets. When I eat a lot of fruits and veggies I crave more fruits and veggies. Right now, rather than craving more stuff, I crave fullness in my life. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with stuff, because it's fun to have some stuff. I just don't want my stuff to have me.

I've started making several changes to the way I live my life, but I'm always looking for more ideas and that's where you come in. Now I'm just trying to figure out the best way to phrase this question. I suppose it would be to ask you if you think of simpler times very often and of ways you can incorporate aspects of those times into your present life? Do you only watch t.v. on the weekends? Do you spend a lot of time reading? Do you set aside special time for family time? Share your ideas! I want to hear them. That's one of the beauties of technology, that I get to tap into your ideas and creativity with just a few taps on a keyboard.

Mind Candy and Mind Broccoli

Hey ya'll, I'm sorry it's been awhile since my last real post but I've been indulging in some mind candy lately and therefore I've been neglecting this blog.

The mind candy you're wondering about are the fiction books I've been devouring lately. I was a huge reader in elementary school, but the older I've gotten the more I've let the habit slide. However, since moving in with my roommate my love for fiction has been renewed as she is an avid reader. Instead of spending late nights on my laptop reading and writing blogs I've been spending hours and hours reading words on actual paper. It feels so good to get that soreness in my wrist from holding up the book, like the strange way a sore muscle feels good after I run.

However, in my reading glee I started hearing Dave Ramsey's voice interrupting my delicious fiction novels. "The average millionaire reads one non-fiction book a month... The average millionaire reads one non-fiction book a month... If you want to become a millionaire someday, then do what millionaires do..." I swear, as much as I'm grateful for that man, he can become a real nag inside my head!

So I glanced over to my bookshelf where "Thou Shall Prosper" was waiting patiently, with a toilet paper book mark set in the half way point where I left off. I finally picked it up again and when I did I really got a talkin to. Rabbi Daniel Lapin, the author, was discussing the four major motivators in our lives and how to balance those four in order to "achieve maximum success in all aspects of your life" (pg 114 of Thou Shall Prosper). On page 109 he started with the first motivator: wisdom. He likened this need to our body's need for potassium or sodium chloride by saying

"You probably do not feel your body's need for potassium or sodium chloride, but you try to eat intelligently and control your diet so that your body's need for these minerals is satisfied. Similarily, you should regulate your reading and your exposure to intellectual stimulation so that you don't subject yourself to just the mind candy found in popular entertainment. You also need the mind nutrition found in regular solid and substantial material that will provide deep and vital satisfaction. Without it, your being is off balance."

I realized that I was getting fat and sassy off of my diet of pure fiction and "mind candy." There's nothing wrong with fiction, just like there is nothing wrong with watching the occasional sitcom. But I've been getting out of balance because I haven't been eating my "mind broccoli." (Okay, now that just created an image that made my stomach churn. Hopefully you're getting the point of this and I'm not making you turn green.)

I'm vowing to you today that I'm going to try to have a more balanced diet when it comes to what I'm putting in my brain. I'll make sure to share with you the things I'm learning. I'm excited to discuss another book with you that I just picked up at the library titled "House Lust" by Daniel McGinn. If you're interested in discussing that one, or Thou Shall Prosper, with me, head over to your local library and pick up a copy. I want to hear what think about these books, and others. I want to fill my head with valuable nutrition and thankfully I'm surrounded by some very intelligent blog readers with lot's of wisdom to share.

And if you're like me and your brain has started resembling a couch potato, then join me in vowing to get fit mentally!

-Amanda-

In the Meantime

I'm working on a recipe post but it will take a while to get the pictures together.

In the meantime, my brother-in-law posted this and I HAD to share it with you. Let's see, the financial tie could be that you might end up paying stupid tax if you honk at an elderly woman. Stupid tax is the money you pay for... well.. doing something stupid. It's a Dave Ramsey slang term.

I promise you will laugh. If you don't, I will give up chocolate for a day.

P.S. I apologize for the videos that show up at the bottom at the end. I don't have any control over those. If anyone knows a way to change that please let me know!

PayCheck PigCheck #2

It's Paycheck Pigcheck time! Hip hip hooray! Hip hip Hooray!

All of that hip hip hooraying is to keep me feeling positive. We added another 2% to our house fund, which is fabulous, but also frustrating. It's hard to think that we still have 93% left to go. I'm trying to think of ways to speed up the process. If anyone has any suggestions for good work from home type work, please, I beg of you, share them with me! I've thought of a couple but we're going to be on the move again in the beginning of the fall and I don't know if it will be worth it to start up a home business when there isn't much time left here. But then again, it might be just the right boost to get some traction on our house savings. So much to think about and so little brain power to do it with! I blame deployment brain. Has anyone else who's been through a deployment experienced deployment brain? Maybe that will be my next Deployment Thursday post. It's a lot like baby brain, only with a little more maniacal laughter and talking to yourself-ness thrown in. I was just getting over baby brain, and then deployment brain hit me and knocked me back into la-la land.

Okay, here's the pig at 7%!


Original Pig


Old Pig


New Pig

Deployment Finances: Cyber Tea Party

Deployments are rough. There is no doubt about that. It's hard on everyone from the soldier to the baby. One of the difficulties is staying connected. Thankfully, we no longer have to wait for months on end to receive a letter from our loved ones. Thanks to modern technology we sometimes get to talk face to face. Here's one idea for keeping the soldier involved in the lives of your little ones if you have access to webcams and a laptop.



What does this have to do with finances?



Nothing really, I just thought these were adorable photos and wanted to share them with ya'll.


Although, you'll have to excuse the pant-less baby.

I wish we had pictures of our new favorite game, "Wak-a-Daddy" The kids hit the camera with a piece of cardboard. Then Army Man falls over as if he's been hit. I haven't seen them laugh so hard in a long time. They love it and Army Man seems to have a good time. I love that he's able to play games with the kids even from across the globe.

Have I mentioned that I'm crazy, madly in love with this man?

This is a picture of Army Man that I took with the "take snapshot" feature of my webcam.


It's been 23 weeks since the last time I planted a big wet one on that gorgeous face.