As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints we are admonished to strive for self-reliance, which includes being prepared in the event of an emergency. The First Presidency says, "We encourage members world-wide to prepare for adversity in life by having a basic supply of food and water and some money in savings." This is a fabulous concept; however, it is sometimes difficult to turn this idea into a reality. We all have our reasons - not enough money, not enough space, don't know where/how to begin... the list goes on.
I have been one of those people with great intentions of being prepared for emergencies. Until now. Now I actually am one of those people prepared for emergencies. Okay, maybe I'm not totally prepared, but I definitely have started taking steps in the right direction. I owe all my successes to the fabulous blog "Safely Gathered In", where Hannah and Abs have taken the time to help us poor, clueless folks take baby steps in becoming prepared.
What has seemed so overwhelming (for all of the reasons listed above) now seems totally do-able. They simply break down the various components, particularly related to food storage, and help readers to slowly but surely gather the needed items, and know what to do with them, should the need ever arise. They follow a weekly schedule with different types of posts:
Monday - inspirational thought to to motivate us to follow this important commandment
Tuesday - items to gather for the week; I love this day because it is so straight-forward. They already did emergency car kits piece by piece each week, and now they are working on 72-hour kits, as well as items for a 3-month storage each week, and longer term storage items each month
Wednesday -bonus postings; extra recipes, tutorials, guest postings, or whatever they feel like posting
Friday - Food Storage Friday! Each week they make a recipe using only food storage items (usually focusing on how to use the long-term storage item of the month), and they include detailed step-by-step pictures as well as the recipes. It always amazes me how appetizing these foods look; I am actually excited about trying pretty much every recipe!
Saturday - roundup, where they post links to other related articles, websites, or ideas they found during the week
If you can't tell, I am obsessed with this site. Why is it always easier to do things when someone tells you exactly what to do? I mean, I could easily take a list of items for a 72-hour kit and split it up into weeks, but for some reason it seems much simpler if someone else is telling me what to get. There are several more things that I love about this site, but I will stop gushing and if you are still interested you can check it out and see for yourself!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
New and Improved
I got my hair cut today! I have been thinking about it for some time, and I finally decided to take the plunge as a little birthday present to myself. After all was said and done, I cut 8-9 inches off. Wow. But I like it, and it is a good change. My hair had gotten really long, about half-way down my back, and now it is... well, take a look for yourself.
Nothing too crazy as far as the style goes, but pretty drastic length-wise. In fact, I had to have the stylist cut more off after she was done because she had left it longer than I asked, thinking I would freak out when I saw how much hair was gone.
Nothing too crazy as far as the style goes, but pretty drastic length-wise. In fact, I had to have the stylist cut more off after she was done because she had left it longer than I asked, thinking I would freak out when I saw how much hair was gone.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
The One and Only
This is a pretty fun and interesting website that gives you facts about your name. How many of you are there? Leave a comment!
Monday, September 1, 2008
The Mischievous Life of a Two-Year-Old
Today was a classic example of what some may refer to as the "terrible twos." We got up this morning, bright and early, as most 2-yr-olds do. We read, had breakfast, and then commenced to get ready for the Labor Day picnic with our church. Nothing too unusual.
After my morning shower, I am getting dressed when I hear a muffled "Mom. Mom!" coming from the other room. As I walk to the back of the house I see a little movement in the dryer door window. Yes, my daughter has crawled inside the dryer, and yes, she has managed to completely shut the door behind her. She is all about doors being shut these days. I somewhat panic at the thought of her being trapped in the dryer, make a mental note to never leave that open again, and help her out. Much to my glorious surprise, she left a little present in the dryer for me! That's right, in the 2 minutes she was in the dryer, she managed to poop! Not to be too graphic, but at least it wasn't very messy so it was easy to clean up. Of course Madeline thought this was a great game and immediately tried to crawl back in. I stopped her from doing that, and brought her back into the living room so I could continue getting ready.
A couple minutes later, I realized it was mighty quiet out in the living room. Naturally, I went to investigate. When I found her, she was standing on the toilet with my face wash and my makeup sponge, and had squeezed about half the tube of cleanser onto her body, and was enthusiastically rubbing it in with the sponge.
"Madeline!"
"Lotion!!"
"No, that's not lotion."
"Soap!!"
"Ahh!!" (Running bath water...)
After the bath, the first thing she did was run to the garbage can, pull out the sponge, and start beautifying herself again. Thankfully I was still right there, so I caught it before it got too far.
As soon as that is taken away, she spots the little container of m&ms I have in the bathroom for her potty reward, and she is begging for a treat. I tell her that she can only have a treat if she goes potty, and I ask if she has to go. Now, I have to say, she has been doing extremely well with the potty training, and I pretty much don't have to worry about her wetting her pants at home (pooping is another story...). So she said yes, she does have to go potty. Only, she is very excited about the prospect of getting a treat just for going potty, so she ends up peeing before she actually gets to the potty. Mind you, we were literally about 2 feet from the potty and she was already naked! The next thing I know, there is pee on the floor, on Madeline, on the potty seat, and a few drops in the potty.
All this, and it was not even 11 am yet.
After my morning shower, I am getting dressed when I hear a muffled "Mom. Mom!" coming from the other room. As I walk to the back of the house I see a little movement in the dryer door window. Yes, my daughter has crawled inside the dryer, and yes, she has managed to completely shut the door behind her. She is all about doors being shut these days. I somewhat panic at the thought of her being trapped in the dryer, make a mental note to never leave that open again, and help her out. Much to my glorious surprise, she left a little present in the dryer for me! That's right, in the 2 minutes she was in the dryer, she managed to poop! Not to be too graphic, but at least it wasn't very messy so it was easy to clean up. Of course Madeline thought this was a great game and immediately tried to crawl back in. I stopped her from doing that, and brought her back into the living room so I could continue getting ready.
A couple minutes later, I realized it was mighty quiet out in the living room. Naturally, I went to investigate. When I found her, she was standing on the toilet with my face wash and my makeup sponge, and had squeezed about half the tube of cleanser onto her body, and was enthusiastically rubbing it in with the sponge.
"Madeline!"
"Lotion!!"
"No, that's not lotion."
"Soap!!"
"Ahh!!" (Running bath water...)
After the bath, the first thing she did was run to the garbage can, pull out the sponge, and start beautifying herself again. Thankfully I was still right there, so I caught it before it got too far.
As soon as that is taken away, she spots the little container of m&ms I have in the bathroom for her potty reward, and she is begging for a treat. I tell her that she can only have a treat if she goes potty, and I ask if she has to go. Now, I have to say, she has been doing extremely well with the potty training, and I pretty much don't have to worry about her wetting her pants at home (pooping is another story...). So she said yes, she does have to go potty. Only, she is very excited about the prospect of getting a treat just for going potty, so she ends up peeing before she actually gets to the potty. Mind you, we were literally about 2 feet from the potty and she was already naked! The next thing I know, there is pee on the floor, on Madeline, on the potty seat, and a few drops in the potty.
All this, and it was not even 11 am yet.
Missing Daddy
When we came back to New York after Madeline's birthday, I was shocked at how much trouble she had understanding why Daddy wasn't home. She was fine when we were visiting in Washington, but I think she thought when we got back here he would be waiting for us.
The first couple of weeks were really sad, watching her try to find him. She would hold anything up and say, "Daddy's?" Even one time when I was getting ready to put her down for a nap she ran into the living room. I said, "Oh, you know what is coming." She turned around so excited and said, "Daddy? Daddy coming?!" It totally broke my heart. She would grab my phone and want to call Daddy, but not understand that he is in Iraq and we can't call him, we have to wait for him to call us. Every single time she picked up a pencil she drew Daddy, or wanted me to draw Daddy. It was so hard to try to explain why he isn't here anymore, because she just doesn't understand yet.
I was talking to a friend about this at church a couple of weeks ago, because I knew her daughter (3 years old) had a horrible time when her dad first deployed. We have a senior couple serving a mission here, and they are specifically military support missionaries. I guess they gave this little girl a book called Over There. I think the Army puts it out, and they have one for deployed Moms and one for deployed Dads. Anyway, my friend had the book with her, and she very generously loaned it to us. It is a board book, and it is super simple, because it is for kids ages 0-3. Basically it talks about how Daddy does the same things over there that I do here (brush teeth, read books, go to bed, etc.), and that he loves me no matter where he is. In the back is a spot to put a picture of your soldier. It is a great book, and Madeline loves it! Literally, she has to sleep with it. She crawls in bed for nap or bedtime, and the first thing she wants is "Daddy." It has really helped her to feel better about Joe not being here. She still talks about him all the time, but in a less anxious manner, and I am sure it will continue to get better as time passes. I am just so grateful that we have an awesome support group here, so I don't have to feel like I am totally alone in this.
And, the good news is, Joe should be home by the end of October!! I know, I am not going to get my hopes up too much, and I want to still anticipate him being here by mid-November, but from what I understand everything is set, they are just waiting for the flight plans. Oh, what a relief it will be when he comes home...
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