Thursday, 5 October 2017

Another week is nearing an end...

I hear more about Christmas when I watch TV.  So many people and businesses are depending on the giving season to survive.  I think it was someone on NBR that said businesses are expecting a better year than last year.  I don't know if they ever say it is going to be a bad year.  

The rumor of tax reform is said to have made the stock market go up, but the value of the dollar is barely over 90 cents...
How do these things work like that?

Businesses are struggling to find qualified employees, but one woman quit her job to go into a home health aide position.

Billions of dollars have been authorized for hurricane relief, and more is expected to be needed. This is just the second installment payment, in billions.  The fires here in the western part of the country have already cost nearly 600 million... which seems so paltry in comparison...  but you don't rebuild a forest the way you rebuild a house.  It takes a LOT of years to grow a new tree, and ecosystem, and tourism, and beautiful scenery, and recreation income....  In the poor country we are responsible for helping, I think it was Puerto Rico, they have less than 10% of their electicity restored, with the number expected to reach 25% in a month... millions of people suffering there.  We just don't realize how expensive disasters are.  Without flexibility in our budget, they can kill our economy... our money system, I suppose I should say.  That is why the debt has to be reduced.  We don't have a financial cushion to take us through the unexpected.  Think about poor people who have no one to help them, who rely on charity, who have no options... that is what happens when you don't have a financial cushion.  I have been there... but I couldn't print my own money.

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A fun thing happened today when I discovered my son ordered the containers from 21-day-fix!  The little handout that comes with them is really wonderful.  It has food suggestions for each color.  I really had problems with the Healthy Fats container foods.

At only $8 through Amazon Prime, I asked them to order me a set for myself!  I have wanted to buy them for ages and ages and ages... I can do $8.  I had guessed the container amounts per size from exploring them online at many sites.  It's the colors that really make it work.  I found substitute containers to do my portions, but I can see they are just not the same as having the original colors.  :-)  I loved them!  I can't wait to get my own.

The issue of ordering gifts online came up when I asked to have them shipped to me, with my own email for the ebook that comes with it.  I've been trying to deal with this myself, for a long time.  You end up making separate orders for each person... so you can do a ship-to change.  The problem is even worse for digital sales.  I have this problem at Etsy, too.  If you plan to give a digital item to someone, there needs to be a way they can contact the source for replacement issues... especially if something goes wrong in the process.  I want to have my gift registered.  If I buy two copies, do I get one copy with permission to share, or do I need two copies registered to the people they are intended for?  My son ordered two sets, each with a digital ebook, but only received one file copy of the ebook... so does he have a right to copy and share?  How does all that get transferred?  There has to be an email for each file...two copies... but how to register ownership... that is the question.

Again, if I would have had the funds, I would have figured this out long ago...

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I hate to report that I ate FIVE  (5) caramels today!!!   I just couldn't stop.  Messed up my healthy food quest for sure, but it tasted so wonderful.  :-)   I LOVE CARAMELS... soft caramels.  Once I figure out the best way to make them, I will be selling them at Etsy... watch for it!

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I read through some materials online about neighborhood preparedness for disasters and really liked it.  I sent for copies of the materials, and read some of them online.  I learned some good things.  I hope to include them in my efforts to prepare for the unexpected.  You really don't understand how poverty restricts your ability to do things like that.  I saved water in old milk jugs, which was really important.  But food is not really an option... I guess it would depend on what time of the month the disaster happened... you might have food or might not.  These recent efforts have been the first time I could get ahead like this.  So I hope the disaster I might face doesn't take them away.

Are you ready for the things you see on TV news to happen to you? 

I'm from California, the Los Angeles area, so I know about earthquakes.  I never suffered complete destruction from one, but the fact that you never know when something like that will happen has never left me.  I suppose that is why saving water has always been a priority for me, especially when I was with children.  Here in Oregon they are expecting the BIG ONE to happen, too.  The fault line goes all the way up the west coast, to Alaska I believe.  If we make it through the main event, maybe we will be able to survive until things get better.

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I was reading about how to put photos into the blogs.  I will have to try it after I figure out how the instructions work at my blog site.  Maybe by next week I can share photos of some of the things I want to talk about.

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Guess that is about all for now.  I may start adding posts whenever something needs to be shared, but I haven't decided on that one yet.  I would be too attached to the process... that changes the dynamics of this effort, and I have other things to get done.  It may evolve as I get older.

Until next time...
In Christ,
Deborah Martin

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May GOD watch over us and lead us in His Truth to the best that we can be.
May our hearts be worthy of His Love, and our lives express the goodness of our hearts.
May we all find peace and joy, love and forgiveness, time and meaning in our lives.
Amen.