Never a Dull Day (or Night)

That was SOME storm that rolled through last night!

The girls and I were enjoying the almost-end of The Enchanted Castle by Edith Nesbit, a free Kindle download  (Parts of it are hilariously funny, but parts of it do drag on....), which something caught my eye outside the window in the storm.

At first I thought it was a streetlight.  But, then, we don't have any streetlights.  THEN, I thought it might be the moon.  But, I reasoned, we were in the middle of a very strong wind, rain and electrical storm.

Only then did I holler out for Andy to come look at the fire on the power line.  Eeesh.

We called '911' and Appalachian Power, and both made it out in great time.  By the time they got here, though, the fire was out (I tell ya, that was some heavy rain!), but we wanted them to look it over just in case.

Its not much to look at today (look at the brown leaves), but the result is that that AP has put in an order to get all of the trees down that side of the yard trimmed up and off the power lines.

Book Review

I'm reading another great book.  That's "great" with a lower-case "g," meaning that it is not one of Great books, although I've got stacks of those waiting, thanks to PaperbackSwap....

This tome is described as "A story of courage, community and war."  Here's a hint as to its subject: it is timely, considering a holiday we celebrate soon.  Oh, and I discovered it at the Clifton Forge Library while doing a search on "Indians." 

Any ideas?
The book is Mayflower, written by Nataniel Philbrick, copyright 2006.   

Honestly, when I was researching books to check out I didn't realize it was such a hefty piece of work - in the large print section at the library, its over 730 pages!  But, I decided to give it its due and read the first 100 pages - and I was hooked by the time I finished the introduction. 

This ain't your candy-coated Pilgrim story with big-buckled shoes and handprint turkeys.

Charlotte Mason, in her approach to education, advocated reading "living" books, books that are "well written and well put," and said that knowledge is the true motivation for education.  This book, with page after page of primary sources in the bibliography, is a good fit for Mason's criteria.  I can't wait until Hannah can read this book.

All of the historical figures in this book are well rounded, fairly-depicted, with flaws, strengths and weaknesses. What I see most in this text is the contrast between the "Native American story" with which we are indoctrinated today and the historically accurate picture of the Indians that lived in the area that is now New England in the early 17th century.  Those Puritans?  their reliance on "Strangers," or those not of their faith quickly gave them a reputation for fierceness and violence that struck fear into the Indians of the time.   

Another book I happened to pick up during the same library visit is Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen.  It turned out to be the perfect companion reader to Mayflower.  I've only read the first two chapters, but so far I agree with the author's point of view that most high school students loathe history primarily because of the flat and paltry treatment it gets in textbooks and that those same texts tend to grossly distort the past. 

I won't give too much away about Mayflower, except to highly recommend it.  You think you know the whole story about those white-capped and hatted folks who came to Plymouth in 1620, don't you?  There is more to the story that will give you a richer perspective of who we are today and even our own American relationship to Naive Americans in the modern age.  Don't let the size scare you away.  It is an easy read and will give you a more in-depth picture of the early inhabitants of this country - native and immigrant.  While this is a secular text, all "religions" are treated fairly.  What is most evident to me, though - and it probably was not an aim of the author - is the fact that we are all - Indian and "white man," sinners in need of a savior.  None of us comes close to perfection as we struggle in our human condition.  No one group of people is closer to perfection than another, regardless if they are living in harmony with the land or seeking sainthood on their own by their religious fervor. 

Get thee to the library, friend!

Book Review

I just finished a most satisfying read: Romancing Miss Bronte, by Juliet Gael.  Though it was published this year, it was as fulfilling as one of the Bronte sisters' books themselves, which were penned in the mid-1800's.  If you're a fan of Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights or even Jane Austen, you will appreciate this work of historical fiction.

Nowadays, my reading selections lean toward the more pressing themes in my life.  The subject matter tends to vacillate from "Ohmygosh We're Homeschooling, What-Have-We-Done?" to "Dear Lord I've Messed Up Again On The Same Stuff I Prayed About Last Week..." to "What Are We, CRAZY Living on One Income In This Economy?" and the occasional "Hop on One Fish Goodnight Clifford."  "Romancing" was a welcome reprieve.

One of our local libraries lent me this book and I was able to read through it fairly quickly, in spite of it being over 400 pages.  I might even return it before incurring a fine!  I've been sick this weekend and have "oft taken to my bed" allowing longer reading sessions.  It seems that whenever I read this style of novel - Victorian? Romantic? Gothic, even? - that I am sick and have more time than usual to read.  Being ill myself, I am able to identify well with one or more of the characters, who iinvariably are dying of consumption.  Not that I have TB or anything, but these are the type of books that are well suited to immersion and not a few stolen minutes here or there.

I wish I could speak with more scholarly authority on Romantic Fiction, the Victorians or even Gothic Fiction.  Unfortunately, during my undergraduate years as an English major, I had other interests:  Flingin' spaghetti and doling out Chianti* in a quaint Italian restaurant....discovering Jack Kerouac, Ernest Hemingway and the Grateful Dead....  I didn't come to appreciate really good literature** until much later.

You should pick up this book once I return it, or order it online somewhere.  As a work of historical fiction, if you appreciate any of the Victorian authors or themes, you will enjoy looking at the lives of the famous sisters.  And then, if you're like me, you can return to your regular ("Quick-There's-A-Penny-On-The-Ground-Get-It-And-Squeeze-It") subject matter.


*Often ordered thus:  "Oh, and gimme some of that "SHY-ANN-TEE waine..."
**This is neither the time nor the place to discuss whether On The Road or Dharma Bums qualifies as good literature.  Sometimes it is, sometimes it is not.  It depends on the mooooood.  And the Beat.

Save Money on Grocery Shopping, Part 2 of 5

Let's get Wal-Mart out of the way. (Oh, that we could!)

There are two types of people: those who loathe Wal-Mart and those who tolerate it. Oh, and those who love it. Three types.

If you are the type of person who wouldn't darken the doorstop of your local Wally World, that's OK with me. More power to ya. But I have 2 grocery stores within 12 miles of my house: a Food Lion and a Wal-Mart. Kroger -my local favorite - is 26 miles away. So, my choices are limited.

Wal-Mart saves me money. And in my quest to remain a stay-at-home-mom, I will take advantage of many means to save money…also, hey, at this stage in my life, it provides many of our household needs from clothing to water softener salt to OTC medication….all at prices that I can afford.

As much as I can make it convenient with two little beasties with me 24/7, I make it a point to shop locally with small businesses. In fact, we purchase all of our meat - except, occasionally, chicken - at a small independent grocery - Bartley's Meat Market. I buy all of my spices and extracts at A&B Bakery, a local bakery. Both of these markets have fair prices, are conveniently on my access routes to and from town and stock the items I need at great prices. But recently I ran out of baking soda and, being in the middle of a recipe and rather than run all the way into town (7 miles), I purchased the baking soda at one of these two stores. It was $.79 for a 4 oz. box. Jeepers! I generally pay $.50 for a 1 lb box at WalMart. I was glad to patronize this store, but I'd go broke on BS if I didn't shop where the deals were (pun intended).

Another reason to shop Wal-Mart is that they match published competitor's sale prices. The full policy is on their website here. But the basics are if you find a lower advertised price on the same product - that is, same size, same brand - they will price match. They will NOT price match BOGOs (buy one, get one free) or % off when multiples of the same item are purchased (i.e., buy 10 of select items, get 30% off each item). It is important to note that they will match store brands. For example, if Kroger's brand of cheese is on sale, say, 16 oz. for $2.50, you can get the Great Value brand cheese for 16 oz. @ $2.50. This could potentially save a trip to another store if there are only a couple of these type deals in the sale circular ad and will add up to big savings.

Now that Wal-Mart is out of the way, here are some sensible things you can do on your very next shopping trip to begin saving money - no coupons needed:

1. Make a grocery budget and stick to it. For our family of four, ours is....oh, who am I fooling?....we're aiming for $125 a week. That is high - really high for us. We can do a $100/week budget, but I have to concentrate. Like I said, blogging about this is motivation.  Your budget might be higher based on who you're buying for, your income, what you are purchasing at the time (buying diapers? that takes up a huge part of a grocery budget.).  But if you want to save money, you definitely can, no matter what your budget looks like.  Oh, I should note that our "grocery budget" includes pretty much anything you can purchase from the outer two-thirds of Wal-Mart - food, OTC pharmacy and toiletry items.  Not t-shirts, underwear or automotive.  Or fabric.  (Sorry, K, you're not in our budget :)

2. Try the store brand. I know! You are still going to buy the Kraft Mayo or the Hellman's because you LOVE it and you can tell the difference at a bit if someone tries to slide a knock-off brand into your ham & cheese sandwich.
You have choices, though:  keep buying the brand name with a coupon and on sale, or condition yourself to tolerate the lower cost product. Your third choice would be to eliminate this product from your pantry shelf all together. You just have to find out what works for you. For things like Mayo or even ketchup, we go for specific brands that we enjoy and crave. For things like saltine crackers, mustard, milk, bread the store brand works for us.  Try it - you might like it and just don't think you would.

Another exception: When the sale price of a national brand or a national brand + a coupon is lower than the store brand price. Always - EVERY TIME - compare prices and don't just assume that the store brand is lower. I see this a lot at Wal-Mart and with loss-leader items at other stores.  They also change their prices on common items and move them up and down week to week or so.

3. Shop with a list. This will help curb impulse buys, but if you must shop with kids, you can say, "but it's not on the list!" and save yourself a hassle right there. Hek, forget the kids.  Them you can tell "NO."  It's ME and my husband who are the weakest links on this one! ! The exception to shopping "off list" is when you see an item on clearance at an unbeatable price or for which you have a coupon.

I keep my running list stuck to the side of the fridge. Whenever I run out of an item - or better yet, am low on something in my stock, I write it on the list. I have a general idea how long it takes us to run out of something like, say, pork-n-beans, and when I am down to two on the shelf, I write, "porknbeans SU" which lets me know that if I see a good price, I should buy several to replenish. If not, then I buy one or two cans to tide me over until a sale.

4. Try to do without some things - or make them yourself. We don't purchase floor cleaner. If you've been to my house, you know what I mean! (Just kidding.) (Kinda.). Instead, we use a mix of ammonia and water to clean the floors and countertops. We use vinegar and water in a spray bottle to clean windows and mirrors, and we make our own laundry detergent. I make our own biscuits, pizza crust, breadsticks, breadcrumbs, dill pickles and jelly. The savings are well worth it, and - I don't run out of them because I can make them fairly quickly.
When we had our kitchen floor installed I asked the installers what to use to clean it.  They said, "ammonia and water."  No kidding!  So right there I saved, what, $3 off Mr. Clean or whatever the new floor cleaner brand is?

5. Know your prices. You'll have to write them down. Amy Daczyn, author of the Tightwad Gazette and (WHOA!  I just linked that to CBD.com and that is a GREAT price!  Get it!  Its the 3-part book that I have, well-read!) others suggest a price book. I just have a random list that I keep with my coupons.

But the point is you have to know if a sale is really a sale, and if it is really a sale, is it the BEST price you can get on an item. For example: CVS regularly has Dawn dish soap as a loss-leader for $.99 for a 19 oz. bottle. I know that I just have to wait a week or two for it to go on sale and go buy a few of them to keep myself in stock. Just last week, Target advertised the same soap for $2.25 as being on sale. Really? What about Lays potato chips - Target had them 2 for $5 in that same sale ad, and a week later, Food Lion had them 2 for $6. Which would you buy? (NEITHER! Buy the store brand and you won't know the difference.). These might not be the best examples, but you get the idea.

6. Read the signs. And the fine print. Most grocery stores put a unit price on their shelf price labels. It pays to read this! For example, I buy Kroger brand powdered milk*. It costs less than the Wal-Mart or Food Lion brands, often by several dollars. HOWEVER, I don't buy the large box. You'd think the large box is a better value, right? Nope! In this case, the smaller package with the individual serving packets is the better buy - by less than a dollar, but I buy about 10-12 boxes of powdered milk a year. Not much of a savings on its own, but when you add it all in, it really ads up. Take a look at cheese, too. 8oz. + 8oz. = 16 oz. But often the 8oz. cheeses will be priced less (per ounce) than the larger blocks or bags. Just buy more of them to get to the amount you need to stock your shelves.

*My kids love powdered milk. I know, they're crazy.  But I really don't mind it, myself, either. Generally I use it in recipes like hot chocolate and to stretch regular milk. Really, you can't tell the difference if you mix it with 2% milk, unless you're a milk connoisseur. 

7. Read more signs and know what they mean. Just because it says, "$10 for $10," you don't have to buy 10. Or another favorite, "3/$5". Do you need 3 or just one? Do you have two coupons for the product? Then use two coupons and leave the other one on the shelf. Check the store's policy, too. Food Lion often has "BOGO" (buy one get one free) items. You don't have to pay full price for the one - you can just get one of the item and get it for half price. Say, you want the Edy's Frozen yogurt, but you only have 1 coupon. It is buy one get one free, so right away you've saved 50%. Add in your $1.00 off coupon and your savings rate is high. Kroger often has 10 for $10 mix or match-type sales. Love 'em. I buy things I wouldn't normally buy -because these are brand name items that have published coupons - like cookie dough - but I use a coupon - usually $.40 off - and since Kroger doubles their coupons up to $.50, it makes the coupon value shoot up and the price shoot down.

8.  Use Coupons to your best advantage.  That's next week's post.  I'm just trying to psych you up to it.  You're dreading using coupons and I'm going to help you see that its e-a-s-y.....

9. Plan your menu.  We have about 10 meals we rotate through pretty regularly, and when I think about it I throw in something different. I usually have the ingredients to these meals on hand. We have picky eaters in this house, so your situation might require more creativity. But to be a great shopper, plan your meals around what is on sale. Don't serve rump roasts when they're at their highest prices. If I'm doing it right, I loosely plan a menu of about 10 meals when I'm scanning the sale ads. But, I also stockpile, making menu planning more flexible…..

10. Stockpile. This is where you are going to realize the most savings. Since it's so important, I'm going to give it its own blog entry…..


Questions so far? Leave them in the comments section below and I'll answer right away.

Reverence & Respect Fail

We're using the LifeWalk curriclum at Wednesday night church, reading through the Bible in a year. At home I usually use a parallel version: NASB (New American Standard) and The Message. The best time for me to be in the Word is in the morning, as I'm relatively undisturbed if the girls are sleeping, so I fix the first of 3 cups of morning coffee and come back to read in bed.

On a recent morning, however.....

when I got up to refresh my coffee.......

I returned to the bedroom and the Bad Cat with a haughty tilt to his head saying,

"Me? You'd blame ME for that?"
"Uh - you got a little of 1 Samuel there under your fingernails"......

This could be an argument of why pets (certain ones, anyways) will NOT be in heaven. Ahem.

Spring Reading List

The winter continues on. There is hope in the color of the birds that visit our feeders, though. The goldfinches are looking a little more gold, the house finches are cranberry and there have even been a few robins grubbing about under the feeders. It's all a promise of Spring. I won't complain about the snow, unlike friends (and, -ahem- family - immediate family members, to be more precise) here and on Facebook. Growing up in Tidewater the anticipation was so firmly engrained that it remains when the skies grow dark and the temperature is below freezing. We have snow on the ground mainly in the woods and on slopes that receive little sunlight. There are also expanses in shady yards and of course where snowplows did their job. But with temperatures being over 40 for the last several days and a sapphire sky, even I have to admit that it is a nice change.

I've been doing a lot of reading in my usual shotgun blast style. This means I have about 4 texts going on at once. I always think you can learn much about someone with their reply to the question, "what books are on your nightstand?" For the last couple weeks my nightstand has held:

The History of Christianity (Zondervan)

Eats Shoots and Leaves (Truss)

An Amish Gathering - Three Amish Novellas (Wiseman, Fuller & Cameron)

Living with Confidence in a Chaotic World (Jeremiah)

The Man Who Moved a Mountain (Chapman)

A Woman After God's Own Heart (George)

The Message/NASB Parallel Bible

and this month's unread Cooperative Living, Woman's Day, All You (for the coupons!) and Southern Living.

I get an idea or a recommendation for a book and, impulsively, get it from the library, E-Bay or Alibris.com and stack it on up. Then I read through it feverishly for a couple nights until another strikes my fancy, and on the stack it goes, replaced by the new text. Eventually, I'll finish them all, become burnt out on reading for awhile and clear off my bookstand for a couple weeks until it all starts back up again. The only book I've recently been unable to finish was Elmer Gantry. It was published in my favorite period of American history (next to our own, of course), the mid-1920s. Updike writes about a narcissistic, unethical, womanizing man who eventually becomes a Methodist minister. It is actually rather depressing when contrasted with The Man Who Moved a Mountain, a true story about a man who dedicated his life to the Lord and ministered in the Blue Ridge mountains in the early 20th century. Besides the uplifting story, the fact that it takes place mostly in Floyd and Carroll Counties, an hour or two south is inspiring. In reading "The Man," I've learned about the culture of Appalachians and have gained valuable insight on the heritage of mountain folk that makes them who they are.

I asked our Associate Pastor, Chris Chesley, if I could borrow a book on the history of the modern church and he loaned me The History of Christianity. Pat Robertson's controversial statements following the Haiti earthquake led me to wonder about the origins of the charismatic movement. Well, I'm stuck in Byzantinium. At least I made it through the early Roman Empire. I have a feeling I'm going to fast forward through much of the Dark Ages, so I can answer my questions. Actually, the sections on the early church movement are fascinating. I had no idea that there was so much controversy - and when you read about it from a historical point of view, it is a miracle that we even hold God's Word in our hands at all. It is a textbook, though, and I tend to get bogged down in the different offshoots of Christianity and 'isms, and besides, it's a pretty thick book and it takes up a lot of space, so I'm going to move it to the top of the stack after I read....

Eats Shoots and Leaves. Are you familiar with this book on punctuation? It's described as "The Runaway #1 British Bestseller." Improper use of punctuation truly irks me and I've often chosen to take the low road and ignore it after getting peculiar looks from friends (like when I recently pointed out to a local coffee shop owner that the proper spelling of the dark Italian coffee is "espresso" and doesn't begin with "ex-" unless it has already been drunk). (And I know that's not punctuation but the illustration is just to give you an idea of what I am up against.) Here again, I've learned that I am indeed right (as I suspected all along) about many of my punctuation choices (it is = it's but the cheese belonging to it = its). But this is punctuation taught in the way I wish I'd been taught in school - the only dryness is the sense of British humor. I'm going to stash it away for a homeschooling text in the years to come.

You might already be aware that I have a thing for Amish and/or Mennonite literature as My Life's One Regret is that I did not grow up in their culture. Sorry mom, but that might actually explain a lot about me, right? An Amish Gathering is on the level of Beverly Lewis' books and was a new fiction offering at Clifton Forge library. I snagged it on my way out, already burdened with a pile of Dr. Seuss and American Indian books for you-know-who, but ja, I would be ferhoodled if I didn't get my Deitch fix.

I'm doing a Bible study with some wonderful ladies (girls? women?) and we're using A Woman After God's Own Heart as a jumping-off point. I really enjoy that book because it touches on so many aspects of a woman's life. From housekeeping (an area in which I certainly need all the help I can get) to being a wife and mother, there are lessons that abound in how to do all while giving glory to God. I'm excited about our Tuesday fellowship. And, due to my short attention span/disorganization/failing memory, I've ordered a second copy of the book. So if anyone wants a paperback copy, please let me know and I'll send it your way. This is how it goes. Told you I was ferhoodled.

Living with Confidence...well, I'm going to get to that review in a later post. Stay tuned.

Finally, I have The Message beside my bed to read Proverbs to the girls and for my own reading in bed. I generally use my Living Bible for quiet time, and I keep that in the kitchen near the rocking chair (and picture window and coffee maker). My NIV "church Bible" is either hanging off the post of my bed in its holder or is in the trunk of my car. Were I a bit more organized, that Bible would be by my bed too and I could make notations like I see in others' Bibles. My grandparents gave Andy and me matching Life Application Study Bibles back when we were first married, making them at least ten years old. It is certainly not as marked up as I'd like it to be. But then, that is not necessarily a sign of a good Christian, now is it?

So, friends, thus ends your visit to Heidi's library for the day. What books do you have on YOUR nightstand? Please comment below!

News Flash

Our homepage on the computer is CNN (dot) com, so whenever it loads, I get a quick glance at the headlines, and often I'm sucked in to read a couple stories. Like last week when it announced that Garth Brooks was coming out of retirement to rake in a few billion more dol... I mean, when he was coming out of retirement.....

But today, the headlines turned my stomach. I won't regurgitate them - maybe you were fortunate enough not to know about the despicable acts that humans perpetuate on one another here in the United States, or maybe you missed numbers that were added to the tally of our soldiers dying abroad - or terrorist acts perpetuated on innocents. Each time I read accounts of such vile and utterly base goings-on, inevitably it brings tears to my eyes, and, the proper response of "Why, Lord? When are you coming back to take us away from this?" But generally, I have no quick answer, except to pray for those affected and quickly navigate elsewhere.

Tonight, though, I have been immersed in a book suggested by a friend: What in the World is Going On? Ten Prophetic Clues You Cannot Afford to Ignore by Dr. David Jeremiah. I wasn't necessarily thinking about the distressing headlines, and instead was, through this text, examining a different horror: that of how "radical" Islam is perpetuating itself and growing stronger mainly in Europe, but also in our own country, the Land of the Free.

Like the title suggests, the book examines current events using the Bible as a yardstick to illustrate the prophecies found there that foretell these, the final days of Earth's history.

As He often does, though, God spoke to the immediate need I had in reference to what I had viewed on CNN earlier. In the chapter, "Vanished Without a Trace" Dr. Jeremiah writes about the Rapture, the event that will happen when Christians and those who are dead in Christ will rise up. Dr. Jeremiah writes that this event will likely be the immediate precursor to the seven years of upheaval before Armageddon. He also writes:


"According to Jesus, Christians are the salt and light of the world (Matthew 5:13,14). When all the Christians in the entire world are removed from the earth in one day, all the salt and all the light will suddenly be gone. The result is predictable. you may think the world today is degenerating into rampant greed and immorality, and indeed it is. But as bad as things are becoming, we can hardly overstate the horror that will occur when society loses the tempering influence of Christians."


Thanks, I needed that.

Because it will be getting worse.

And if you are alive and have not believed that Jesus Christ is who he says he is and have not accepted him as your Lord and Savior, you will be reading headlines much more horrific than those that were online today - except you will be reading them EVERY DAY. If you die before you acknowledge Him as the Son of God, you will experience unspeakable horror for eternity.

But if you have accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are spared from the ravages to come. The Bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 that "For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." So there is comfort to be had....and the promise of spending eternity in paradise.

I've already made my choice.