The Happiest People

do not have the best of everything; they just make the best of everything.

from Crystal Payne's blog Money Saving Mom.

A Short History of Women by Kate Walberg

I really wish that on the Goodreads ranking system, there was one less than 1 star--say a black hole rating. This book deserves it. It is a navel-gazing instrospection of 4 generations of self-centered whiners. Even the sentence structure is gratuitously obtuse; it is as if the writer tried to arrange the words in a sentence to accomodate the most commas possible. I kept waiting for some character redemption but none was forthcoming. I finished the book as an act of self-disciple. I wonder i...moreI really wish that on the Goodreads ranking system, there was one less than 1 star--say a black hole rating. This book deserves it. It is a navel-gazing introspection of 4 generations of self-centered whiners. Even the sentence structure is gratuitously obtuse; it is as if the writer tried to arrange the words in each sentence to accomodate the most commas possible. Finally, I kept waiting for some character redemption but none was forthcoming. I finished the book as an act of self-disciple. I wonder if it will count as time spent in purgatory.

Planning a trip

Planning is almost as good as the event.  I love to plan things--next season's garden, the budget, the week's menu, and a good trip--to name a few.  Do things always go as I plan?? Ha!! The wonderful thing about planning next autumn's garden is the lack of bugs and blight and deer.  The wonderful thing about planning a trip is that there is no TSA, the flight leaves on time, and luggage is never lost. Now back to reality.

We are planning a trip to Las Vegas to see Celine Dion and O.  JMM and I have seen O but DD has not.  I think I could watch O a hundred times and still be in awe.  We are planning around JMM's birthday in January.

None of us gamble but the shows and food are wonderful. 

Things to be done:
1. Airline tickets
2. Reservations for Celine
3. Reservations for O
4. Hotel reservations

Muffins

When I get upset over the state of the economy/world/government, I bake muffins.  (Here lately, we've been eating a lot of muffins...)

One of my favorites is this one:

Bran Muffins with Raisins

2 cups buttermilk

1 egg

2 tablespoons oil

½ cup honey

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 ½ cups wheat bran (Not Bran Flakes; you can get plain wheat bran at Whole Foods or other natural foods store.)

1 cup raisins

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine buttermilk, egg, oil, and honey. Stir together flour, bran, raisins, baking powder, and baking soda. Add to liquid ingredients.  Pour into oiled muffin tins and bake 15-17 minutes.

Variation: Instead of raisins, use 1 cup nuts, 1 mashed ripe banana, ½ cup chopped dates, or ½ cup peanut butter.

National Debt Ceiling

Time to pay the piper.  Funny how the people who got us into 2 wars with no thought how to pay for them other than by giving upper income folks lower taxes (hmmm), these folks are now willing to throw the country into default to get us out of debt.  No, it's not funny; it is abominable.  I keep thinking how much good we could have done with the money wasted in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, and Somalia. How much medical care given, how many schools built, how much land restored, how many people alive and whole. What a waste.  And now it is time to pay the piper. It won't be pleasant.

Quarterly Financial Update

I did the financials for the second quarter.  Retirement savings are $898K, Emergency Fund, $60K, and Net Worth $1.45M.  I am retired but JMM continues with his job for income and health insurance.  No one who knows us would have any idea that we have this much money.  Our house is paid for, our cars each have over 135,000 miles, we dress casually and inexpensively, church and home are our activity centers.

We realize that we are among the more fortunate in this country and certainly among the most fortunate on earth.  It is a responsibility to use the resources that we have been given in a wise and compassionate manner.

President Obama's speech on troop withdrawal from Afghanistan

This evening President Obama will give a speech outlining his plan for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan.  I am worried.  In all probability, he will plan to remove 10,000 by the end of this year. That still leaves about 123,000 troops still there and another 100,000 contractors (according to those who should know).  10,000 is not nearly enough. We should have 30,000 (the surge) out by the end of the year, another 50,000 out by the end of 2012, and the remaining 50,000 by the end of 2013.  Cut the $$$ off to the contractors over the same period.  End the nation building in Afghanistan and start the nation building at home.  If anyone wants to support charity to Afghanistan, I'm sure they can find organizations doing charitable work there to donate to. 

I get extremely annoyed when I hear that we have to stay in Afghanistan because Pakistan has nuclear weapons.  So, are we going to stay until they don't have nuclear weapons??

I will be watching the speech tonight.  I am prepared to be very disappointed.  I wish I knew of an organization like Old Ladies Against the Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia.....I guess the acronym would be too long...