I could be ironing...

... but instead I decided this was much more fun. It's important that we share and preserve the memories of the many bizarre, funny, creative and depraved things we've done for our children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews before we get too old to remember. I have to credit Carla and her thread on her Facebook page about being bitten by monkeys with this idea for a blog in a lighter vein. So here goes -

Remember when some of us had a girl's weekend in Chicago? Julie, Nora and I along with Joe, the neurosurgeon from Nova Scotia, (not sure how he got involved with a girl's weekend) went to Excalibur. There we were on the top floor leaning over the railing, minding our own business shooting bugs into bimbo's cleavage when a bouncer had the audacity to threaten us with expulsion just when our aim was getting better.

Anyway, please feel free to share. Here's a few words to jog your memory.

Dick's Last Resort

KitKat Club

nipplecappers

ditches of Itasca

Rawhide

Pink Cadillac and busdrivers

Orange cones and Irish Fest

More Books and Community

So are you feeling secure in the current economy? I'm guessing most people are pretty worried right now but other than generalities don't talk about it too much. While I'll never underestimate the abilities of the "powers that be" to keep this house of cards standing, continuing on as we have just isn't possible for much longer. I cringe when politicians proclaim that we much save "our American way of life". As far as I'm concerned the goal of our way of life is to keep us busy, buying and ignorant. The goal cannot be to keep our economy "growing" as this is simply not sustainable.



A couple books I've been reading address this as well as how we will need to depend on our local community in the (probably very near) future. One, A Reasonable Life by Ferenc Mate http://www.ecobooks.com/books/reasonablelife.htm, was written in 1993 and the other, Depletion and Abundance by Sharon Astyk, has only recently been published. http://www.energybulletin.net/node/46908 - see review here. Sharon's book focuses more on why peak energy and climate change will force these changes on us than Mate's book. Of course the present drop in energy usage due to the economy will push forward the date of peak oil/energy as the late 70's recession pushed forward the date of peak oil in the U.S. (Hubbard's Peak).



At any rate I found both of these books informative and even uplifting in the sense that we can have a very satisfying, if not better, life with less.



Check out Sharon Astys's blog http://sharonastyk.com/ and

Allison Arieff's http://arieff.blogs.nytimes.com/

I'm so busy...

I've decided not to use this phrase or variations of it anymore. Of course, I might forget sometimes. I'm tired of using it myself and listening to so many people giving the same answer to the question, How are you?

I'm in the process now of trying to make life simpler and less hectic (see I didn't say it). I've been taking stock of the various volunteer commitments I've made and tried to whittle them down to those that give me the most satisfaction and pleasure. This does exclude Pioneer's Gold Rush as I feel some obligation to work on this. At least the committee is made up of some pretty nice people. This will be my last year as co-chair though.

At the same time I've joined a couple of social groups, a small group (with no name) from church and an environmental book club. Both meet once a month but at least there is no obligation to attend. The church group is a pretty eclectic group of eleven. We've only met three times and one of those was on a very snowy night so most did not attend (including me). A few of the members I knew fairly well but most are just acquaintances. So far we've mostly been getting to know each other better. I went to the book club for the first time last Thursday. We read The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependancy to Local Resiliance. Here's a website describing the Transition Culture. http://transitionculture.org/about/.

Well that's about it for now. I will now attempt to add some pictures. You will note that I've added a picture on my profile now. I'm feeling quite proud of the fact that I found a picture on my memory stick (not too many pics of me as I take most of them) that I thought looked pretty good. I was holding one of the twins when they were newborns but this is about me not them so I cropped it.

The one on the top is our new goat , Hudson and Poppleton (Hudson is the white one). As it was below zero this am when I took the pic it's not the best. The other one is from Christmas Eve this year. As you can see from their smiling faces my granddaughters are thrilled to be sitting with me.

Food Issues

Ok - Here's a link to a Kos food diary http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/1/17/31820/9734/302/685174

Check it out. Sorry I know this is short

What are you reading

Here's what I'm reading right now:

No Logos - Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies by Naomi Klein - this book was written over 10 years ago.
Shock Doctrine also by Naomi Klein

Just finished Kite Runner by Khaled Hossein
I also rented the movie from Netflix

I would recommend them all.

Our Friends the Fredricksons

This Christmas we received this letter from our friends, The Fredericksons

Happy Holidays From the Fredricksons

Hello friends and family! I cannot believe it's time for another of our annual family updates! My how time flies. As you probably noticed, the Fredrickson Clan has moved to Minnesota. We apologize if you weren't aware, but with all the friends we have it's hard to remember those who are down at the bottom of the barrel, ya know. We relocated due to Rick's job. Myself and the kids were none too happy, in fact it was the first time I heard the word "fuck" come out of little Steve's mouth!

As for myself, this year has been a doozy. In addition to moving 7 STATES AWAY FROM ALL I KNOW AND LOVE, I have taken up drinking. I'm sure all you housewives enjoy a glass or five of pinot noir every now and then yourselves, so don't hate. I did, however, get a DUI back in July. Not to worry though, I'm still hittin the bottle, just in the comfort of my own home.

Ahh, Rick the Dick (a creation of my own haha). Well Rick is now the Assistant Manager for the Metal Roof and Siding Department at the Menards here in Cambridge. woo hoo. Oh well, it pays the bills. He's also continued his admiration of golf and even got off his ass to try playing a hole or two himself instead of just watching it on TV! Onto the kids...

Who else to start with but little Steve... oh my. As you know, his vocabulary sure has grown! We hear a few curse words now and then, especially since the move but our motto is as long as he keeps it to a maximum of 3 swears a day, he won't be any worse than the rest of them. Only kidding you church goers! He's still dressing up in the girls' clothing wearing eye shadow, and trying to kiss Johnny down the street. Rick and I just shake our heads. Kids will be kids.

I guess next on the list would be Melissa, the youngest of the 4 girls. I can't believe she's 10. Still hasn't taken a liking to boys... they all still have cooties. She failed her math class last year, whoops, and is now in her 2nd, yes 2nd year of fourth grade.

Oh our Mary, Our twelve year old little girl ... ooops, I mean WOMAN. That's right folks, Ms. Mary gother first visit from good ol' Aunt Flow. She's still not too comfortable talking about it so please don't send any Tampax just yet. She is getting braces in January, yikes, and will have to wear them for 3 years. I'm sure we'll all be thankful when those daggers aren't jutting out of her mouth anymore!

Jess has had an interesting year. As mentioned, she's followed her sister's footsteps and become a cheerleader. My, those little skirts get shorter and shorter each year! NOT a good thing for our Jess who's put on 22 pounds since last basketball season. Rick and I have told her to skip the cheese and ask for extra lettuce on those burgers we give her money for, but she just won't listen!

And last but not least, Shelley. Shelley is 17 now and has a little boyfriend, Mike. They are definitely the best looking couple at CHS. We give Shelley anything her little heart desires. She is the prettiest of all our girls, soshe definitely deserves it. After she graduates in May, she'll be traveling with Mike and some friends to Europe for the entire summer. You know, one last hoorah before college. Shelley may be the bet looking but she is definitely the dumbest of our children, so we're hoping her friends that she'll be traveling with are a little less challenged in the intelligence area.

Well that's all from us...we'd love to hear how you all are!

Love to all,

Jane, Rick, Steve, Melissa, Mary, Jess and Shelley

This lovely letter was accompanied by a photo of the entire family.

LET'S TRY AGAIN

Hello all,

I still think a blog would be fun and a good learning experience for me. Probably noone else will read this except a few people.

What do you think?

Margaret