Wednesday, 24 January 2018

Another day...

I sent off five letters today, including one to a son of mine.  He is in the Orange County Jail in California.  I still don't know why he is there, but I need to find out if I can add money to his account.  His 2017 birthday gift finally got back to me.  He went to jail right after I sent it to him. 

When they are incarcerated somewhere, it's better to send magazines and books... at least, I think so.  They will have something good to read each month (magazines) or can learn something by reading a book.  It's a challenge to find people who know how to send to prisons, so I generally only buy books for them at HamiltonBooks.com  --  they have cheap books that are decent, and they have the mailing options.  I send books on business or the hobbies they are interested in... writing, art, math, whatever I find on the day I look.

When I had more money, I would try to send them money.  Now you have to add it to their account (for that particular prison) via an online process.  I have had problems in the past, but the systems are getting better.

They have video phone calls now.  I haven't done one yet.  They also have email access, which is approved by the staff before being sent.  I vaguely remember getting one of those.

I like to write regular letters when I can.  Now I am trying to figure out how to order photos off my tablets so I can send some to them.  Photocopies are the thing I use these days.  Printing photos uses a LOT of the ink I have to buy for the printers... I think it would be cheaper to get regular photos again.  Printer ink is probably the biggest expense in my budget... almost $50 for the set for my printer, about $29 for the black cartridge for the copier I use.

I think I already told you how it upsets me that the "rules" for inmate contact are different at every institution... some of the letters I have gotten back have been for the most ridiculous reasons!

When I win the big lottery prize/s............  I will hire people to start working on some changes.   :-)

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I made some more bulgur salad... I used 1/3 cup of the dry bulger this time and it was a lot!  I sacrificed myself and ate it during the day's time.  I'm going back to making 1/4 cup at a time!  I use equal parts of bulgur and hot water.  I let it sit a bit longer that others do, I think.  I'm getting a formula figured out for the size of "salad" I want.  Today I used most of a sm/med zucchini, diced small... and some diced onion.  I have chopped almonds these days so I put a handful of those in.  Added the bulgur and some spices.  Later the dressing... the same one I have been using on my lettuce salads... 1 T olive oil and 1 T balsamic vinegar.

I am looking for some other varieties of dressings... it gets old at time to have the same dressing.  I did measure it out in the food container for dressings from the beachbody.com set... it was so great to see that I wasn't having too much dressing on all my salads.  :-)   I had thought I was.

Today I made copies of some old forms for keeping track of things, like food.  I may try one out for the ten items each day (like the Biggest Loser cookbook formula)... and see how that works out. 

I found my son's weights and will be trying to improve my upper strength... whatever it is... by using the 3 pound weights to lift with my arms. 

I am still looking for the right chair to use for my Peddler.   (Such a pain!)

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I was going to work on my goals today... that must be why I ended upstairs in front of the TV.  (haha)  I am mentally struggling with the elimination process still, but I did grab copies of some SMART goal forms I have, and some of my own creations to work with.

Making a goal is relatively easy compared with figuring out a way to reach it.  I think it's that last part that always leads me to "procrastination!"   :-)

I found some of my ETSY listing help forms, too.  I will be working on those.  I can put some of my books and other things under the Vintage category there, or put them on eBay somewhere.  First I have to figure out the shipping charges, with packaging!  AND, how to get them to the post office from here.

I am working on it, just slower than I would like to.

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So, today looks like a catch-up and complain day.  What do you think?!   :-)

Time to go... I need a nap before bedtime!  :-)

In Christ,
Deborah Martin

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May the giant GOD in the sky that is so much more powerful than I am finally open the heavens and pour down blessings on me!!!!

(Not too selfish, you think?!  :-)

You can have some of the blessings, too... just not TOO much!  haha

Tuesday, 9 January 2018

I think this blog has just changed into a non-scheduled effort...  :-)

I went shopping yesterday, and depleted my energy... totally forgot about writing and went to bed!  I was going to get up later, after I rested just a little (haha), but at 11pm - when I was awakened by "something" - I couldn't keep my eyes open so I let it go.  This is how it goes.  I may as well just let it go.  I think it will help all of us to just let this blog discover its own schedule.  :-)

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Over the weekend, I think it was, I watched some more documentaries.  I decided to watch FOOD INC again... it really made me so ill about our food supplies and how little we can do to change it.  I cried again for the mother that lost her 2-year-old son to a fast-food burger...and found a new passion for life that she would rather not have.  I had to turn my head and close my eyes at the scenes of suffering and abused animals that are part of our food supply process.  I left the room at a part I remembered as too much to deal with emotionally.

I also watched one about how we value the truth and discard our values for rewards of various kinds.  It had a catch title --  (DIS)HONESTY : THE TRUTH ABOUT LIES.  It will make you think about your life and future in new ways.  I shared with my son that the biggest point they made was about our changing economy and the effects of a cash-less society on our moral values.  The basis of the film is the testing they did on college students, but the real-life effects of our moral choices are very displayed in the real people that become examples of the effects of our rationalizations about honesty... and what happens when we get caught.  :-(  

The third one I remember watching was about prisons... another topic of interest to me.  It was called BREAKING THE CYCLE, I think.  It shared the new efforts of Norway on maximum-security prison populations and how they are inspiring change in America.  The main comparisons were about a difficult prison in New York (Attica) and then they shared the efforts of inspired changes being made in a North Dakota prison. 

If you have read my other posts or writings, you will know I have my own ideas about reforming prisons.  Some of these things are shown in Norway, but the biggest financial change would be to link prisons to the opportunity of internet sales, via the administration of one website for all of America.  It would provide income for both inmates and prisons... and change the future of so many.  I don't want to get into the details right now... but maybe later today I will add a post about that.  My "Pathway to Freedom" concept and the income / job options of internet sales would revolutionize the prison industry and reform options.

I didn't win the big prizes in the lottery this past week, so I guess I will just keep sharing them and hope SOMEONE will think about doing them.

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That's about all I can share right now.  Another day is starting.  :-)

God willing, I will be back later.

In Christ,
Deborah Martin

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May GOD watch over us as we grow into the future.
May He have mercy on us as we discover the damage life without Him brings.
May we find a way to help each other.
May we love the good, hate the bad, and let our humanity find its way through discovering our future.
May our world focus on fixing the problems we have.
May we recover from the harm greed does to our decisions.
May we care about those who have less than they need for their life, their families, their dreams.
Amen.