Monday Message

"Let us be in a position so we are able to not only feed ourselves through the home production and storage, but others as well." (President Ezra Taft Benson)

I picked this quote specially for now, because as of today, we have had a government shutdown.

Hoping that it will be open by the time you read this. I can tell you when my husband was in the military we had a government shutdown and we got no pay. The military does not get paid enough as is but we couldn't pay our rent or buy groceries and neither could our landlord, as he was military as well.  No one knows how long it will last. So if you know any government employees, ask how they are and perhaps take them a care package. 

So we need to continue to work on our skills and learn frugal ways and keep putting in storage because they keep saying the prices will continue to rise.

I have continued to work on my two projects that I am learning on.

I am moving along now on this scarf. It is fun to see the color changes. I am learning a lot from doing this.

I am really happy how that dishcloth has turned out. I learned an awful lot by pushing on through the hard to learn parts. I took really detailed notes so I can repeat it. There are many patterns to do these and with each one the directions are more cryptic than the one before - that goes for all of them. I had to really study to find the answers. To be fair, they probably thought anyone using them knew what they were doing.

The one I went with just gave you "do this many rows and that many rows" not where should the carriage be or what steps to put that stitch into play. Here again, to be fair, there are a lot of machines and they are so different anyway so it was up to me to learn and learn. I did and I made very good detailed notes. So I will make another and then maybe another using a different fiber and different tension, then it is on to baby booties. I need to restock my gift box. I like to have a box with gifts inside to help me to put together a gift no matter how poor or how busy I am.

We successfully made it through September without getting groceries. So if we get our check and it isn't in the mess of government shutdown this month, I will be getting groceries. Did I learn things? Oh, I would say so! I am thankful for storage. I learned I need more cheese on hand and more eggs. We had enough eggs but were running low. I have plenty of American cheese but not the hard cheese.  

It is easier to clean the refrigerator when there's not as much in it. Celery I ran out of. I have it dried but some recipes call for fresh, omitting can be done on lots of things.  

A big one is I had some brown sugar in a bucket. It turned funky, it's hard to describe but it's like the molasses over powers the sugar so that it is more molasses. When I made a recipe that called for one cup of brown sugar, I did half a cup and half a cup white sugar - it turned out perfectly! So that is important and of course, you can make our own from molasses and white sugar - both of which I keep in storage.

But most of all it is important to have storage and know how to make bread.

Did we have my chocolate cake you ask... we sure did! Yum!

I share this hard times month so you can learn. Think of the things you have on hand. Could you go four weeks not getting groceries?? Cause you never know when something will come up that will test you.

With so many out of work and probably losing their jobs as the president has threatened... I can tell you that it has happened to us - last hired, first to go. For anyone it is first shock then fear - how will we manage? My husband worked hard getting work. In that case, it was freelance work in the same field. For me, it was try to keep home life as normal as possible and bake that chocolate cake.

I would take stock of my pantry... what did we have, how far could I stretch it? Remember, any money coming in would need to go to rent and utilities and car payments first. So knowing how to sew for the kids and mend was important. A trip to the library was normal and would stay that way as it was close by. So these are steps we went through, it would be different for everyone. But everyone can learn from others.

So keep pushing on your storage including everything - not just food - it is everything one uses.

This has been a sad week for the members of our church. We lost our President and Prophet of our church. President Nelson passed away, he was 101 years old, a wonderful man. Then the next day while in a church meeting, an angry man drove his truck into the door of the church in Michigan and started firing and started a fire. Our prayers go out to those involved.  

I have to tell you that this has been something I have thought about a lot up till about six months ago. I would think which is the fastest way to exit. How many children can I herd that way. And that is exactly what the members did. They protected the kids. This has been a fear I have had, so hello old fear, you're back. I use to do that when I went to Walmart as well. I hated that area where you self checkout. It has gotten better now but they used to have you corralled with one way in and one way out.

So evil is growing, we must all stay safe. 

We need to beef up our kindness to others.

https://www.rtor.org/2022/11/11/5-ways-to-flourish-in-tough-times/ - I thought this might be helpful right now. I know I woke up after all those things happened over the weekend and told myself I must find joy.

Remember, we are not alone and we can try and find joy. We are all in this together.

https://www.crochet365knittoo.com/crochet-pumpkin-coaster-pattern/?utm_source=convertkit&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Crochet+++Cozy+Vibes+%3D+The+Perfect+Weekend+%F0%9F%8D%82+-+19138345 - because it is October, I included this one.

I write in a journal every day and in October, I use the O in October to make it a pumpkin - tall ones, fat ones, teeth, no teeth but each day the O gets to be a pumpkin. It makes me smile.

I feel we might be in hard times for a while so find those things that make you smile and find ways to cheer others. It is so easy to do and does good for you and who you cheer.

Missy says, though it is hard to put in storage and you get tired, please keep going. It will be a job that helps you when needed.

Tippy Longstockings says she likes to show off her stockings in this nap, but she says be kind to others  - many are hurting right now.