IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS THAT GET YA!

Well, here it is almost September!  I don't know where the time has gone!  I have been very neglectful of my little blog.

Every summer I want to just lay around eating popcycles and reading books.

I don't know why that never happens!

Instead I am so busy!  Too busy to even worry about emergency preparedness?!

It's all the little things in a day that add up to a busy schedule.

First I had some big things.

I went to work (only 1 month, but it was an intense month!)

Then I decided my house needed a good overhaul. That took 2 months.  It felt so good to get my house organized. (for me, an organized home is an organized mind)

I finally got all my emergency preparedness books in one spot (in the front closet right above my 72 hour kits; that seemed like a logical place to store them)

here is a list of my books:  (in random order)

Essentials of Home Production & Storage LDS Church
Passport to Survival by Esther Dickey
Project Readiness by Louise E. Nelson
Citizen's Guide to Terrorism Preparedness by Richard Stilp & Armando Bevelacqua
Prophetic Statements on Food Storage for Latter-Day Saints by Neil H. Leash (this one scared me! Those who are not prepared are going to be in big trouble!)
Harris' Farmers Almanac; everyday emergencies a survival guide
Emergency Essentials by Larry Barkdull
Disaster Survival Handbook by Alton Thygerson
Roughing it Easy by Dian Thomas I've always liked Dian Thomas' ideas
How Do We Eat It? by Deborah Pedersen Vanderniet
Great Myths of the Great Depression by Lawrence W. Reed
Just in Case, How to be Self Sufficient by Kathy Harrison
The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook (this one tells you how to: escape from quicksand, wrestle an alligator, land a plane, and more!)
It wasn't raining when Noah Built the Ark by Tami Girsberger
(which is the also the name of my notebook)
Keeping Your Family Safe During Disaster  Southern Nevada Health District
In Time of Emergency Federal Emergency Management Agency (dated 1983)

WOW! I didn't know I had so many books on emergency preparedness, until I gathered them all up!

(now that I got them out just now to put the titles here in my blog, I am going to read some of them!)  I picked out 2 to start with. This will help me see which ones are to keep, and which really are not helpful.- I was having them in my emergency prepareness library as reference on a need-to-know basis.)

now that that was done, (the organizing) I could do some little things. The summer wasn't over yet.

I wanted to do more research on solar ovens, and alternative cooking, but that got bumped by other projects.

What other projects, and how did I get so busy?

I had been praying for service opportunities.
(last year I was praying for a job, and God blessed me with a great job that required me to work for 1 month intensely (at the power plant during an outage) and then home the rest of the year.)

Since money wasn't such a critical priority, I turned my heart to service. Be careful what you pray for! 

I wondered how I would be able to give service, since I was basically a homebody. (I love being home!) 

Oh, God finds a way!

Before I knew it I was sewing for others, decorating for weddings -I have another wedding this Saturday where my wedding stuff, and my decorating skills are needed. I'm not that great a decorator, but I am manpower.

I still donate a lot of time to scouting - between being a merit badge counselor and advancement chairman on the scout committee.   ( BTW, their motto is Be Prepared!)

I also still teach those adorable 3 year olds on Sunday. 

I still have 3 teen-age boys and a hard working husband at home.

All this adds up to a full day, and a full life.

Which brings me to my point - how to add the essentials of emergency preparedness into an already busy life.

Little things done on emergency prepareness add up to being prepared.  Putting it off until we have more time somehow means we never do it.

Here's an example of putting things off:
At the beginning of the summer I decided I wanted to do an indepth study of the 4 gospels in the Bible. All it would have taken is 1/2 hour of my time a day. I never seemed to find 1/2 hour.

I just found out that my son is going to be studying the New Testament in a church class every day during school.  They move pretty quickly thru the text.

I missed a good opportunity to be prepared to discuss and share with him what he is reading. There is no time now to fill my brain with all the information/insights I would have gotten if I had been studying all along. 

It would have been a little thing (1/2 hour a day)

The point is, I didn't know that would be his point of study, and I missed an opportunity that would have been a blessing.

we don't always know when we will need information/stuff for emergency preparedness.

We always think there will be more time.

I do have a back-to-school-time plan to get myself back on track to researching and planning and preparing for the future. I'm going to add some little things things to my day that I know will add up to being prepared big time!

DO THE CAN CAN

I've been very very very lazy (hey, it's summer!)

But one thing we did today was drive to our closest LDS food cannery (now called home storage centers) and canned some food in #10 cans to add to our food supply.

I took my 3 handsome teen-age boys and they learned how to can sugar. Not only did it give them a break from their 24/7 computer games, but it let them see how and where the food they will most likely be eating in the future comes from.

I feel really good about our outing. It was a win/win for us all. I can check this off my list as something done towards emergency preparedness.

We also have a follow-up plan for my husband to pick up some cases of wheat, rice, and beans from the same cannery. (they said we didn't need to can those items - they were already canned and in cases.) How easy is that?

For information on home storage centers, go  to: www.providentliving.org

BTW - read in the paper this morning about how the USA is in a drought and as a result, food prices will go up.  Better to get the food before it becomes too expensive to afford.

(that couldn't really happen, could it???)

Whaddayaknow?

I was thinking the other day about things I know how to do.

I know how to cut hair.

I know how to make bread and cook beans.

I know how to sew.

I know how to coordinate an outfit. (ok - so maybe that won't be so useful in a crisis)

 It's important to know how to do useful things.

If the DHTF, what would I know how to do to survive? (there's so much I don't know!)

2 more useful things I do know how to do:
I know how to cooperate and pool resources with other people.

I know how to get on my knees and pray.

yeah - we will be all right.

And, in the meantime - I want to learn how to do more useful things. (backpacking skills, wilderness survival skills, alternative fuel cooking skills. . .)

It's important to know how to do useful things.

TECHIE POWER!

I admit it. I am a techie.

I love my technology!

 If I had to go without my laptop and ipod I would have withdrawal pains!

Everyone in the family is hooked up in some way.

Last night Isaiah (son) was playing his game on his computer. Justin (grandson) was sitting right next to him playing the same game against him on the family computer.

Isaiah was also watching Netflix on his little notebook.

Suzanne (sister) was visiting from out of town. She was watching Netflix on her computer while she scrapbooked.

Nephi (son), Hayden (nephew), and Jacob (grandson) were watching Netflix on the main t.v.

Tanner (nephew) was playing the Xbox 360 or the Wii (not sure which one, since they were both in Isaiah's room)

In the basement apartment, Tereasa (daughter-in-law) was on facebook on her laptop.

Autumn (granddaughter) was on another laptop.



How true to real life!  LOL!

I was using my laptop and printer to print scrapbook pages.

I decided to go to bed, taking my laptop with me to watch Netflix. Netflix wouldn't let me, saying we had too many users on at once. (ya think?)

(now, lest you all think we don't do anything else, we do. it's just that we also use technology.)

Technology is awesome!!!!!

How would you read my blog without technology?

 How could we all connect, and learn and share emergency preparedness ideas, information, etc?

Technology is a very important part of emergency preparedness!  We need it to  learn - to share!

I am in awe of Google! Google knows all !

I was sad when Andy Griffith died a while back. I will miss sherriff Taylor and what he stood for. (the world is losing moral compasses like him.) 

But I was more sad when Steve Jobs died.

Technology is good! Someday we may not have it!

Use it before it's too late!!!!!!

ABOUT INDEPENDENCE

OK I'm going to get political, and it's not going to be

politically correct.

I see what is happening in government here in America.

 Policies, laws, and moral decay have changed the America our Founding Fathers created.

Today we are celebrating our Independence from England

and tyranical rule.

Why are we returning to the very thing

we liberated ourselves from?

The American spirit is a spirit of Independence.  

Yet, how many of us are dependent on the government?

Could we live without the government?

I see part of emergency preparation as learning, and teaching ourselves how to live independent of others (including the government). If we are expecting the government to save us in an emergency, we will be sorely, tragically disappointed. 

To be American used to mean being self-sufficient.

I say we rise up, pull ourselves up by our own pointy-toed shoe straps, and prepare our independence from our government!!!!!

GOD BLESS THE U.S.A. !

JUGGLING ACT

Sometimes I feel like a juggler in a circus.  And I juggle different balls according to the day and time.

(I picked this picture because it made me laugh!)

I worry that I am not juggling the right balls, or enough balls.

I worry that I am not adding enough emergency preparedness to the mix.

some days I am just too tired to juggle.

 

Then I lay down and read a book, or wach a movie.

Summers are good for that.

CHOCOLATE!

I like chocolate ALOT! I am most happy when I have some chocolate.

(my family is happy when I have some chocolate, too.)

Our local market had some candy bars on sale 3 for $1.00. 

 I stocked up. 

I really really really need to make sure I have some form of chocolate in my emergency food storage.