Do It Yourself - Hardly a New Idea, Folks

This morning, The Washington Post published an article about how many people are cutting back on extras and learning how to do things themselves. This is an interesting development, but one I don't think really needs a whole lot of attention.

Since my family has never been flush with money, things like manicures and pedicures were never on our list of must-haves. I only had my hair professionally colored once - I found most of the cost was just for the stylist's time, not the supplies used. A box of Clairol doesn't cost $60 and I'm not forced to listen to the latest gossip from the ladies next to me in the salon.

Years ago, my father-in-law discovered I didn't know how to put oil or radiator fluid in my car. He escorted my out to my car and showed me how to do it. I still don't know how to change the oil, but I know how to put some in. This comes in handy since my van leaks like a sieve and the cost to plug up the leaks is somewhere in the thousands. Jim has Alzheimer's now, but I'm very grateful to him for showing me how to be less reliant on a mechanic.

Doing for oneself is hardly a new concept. For years, I have heard about money saved on doing your own repairs. Lowes and Home Depot have workshops to teach the consumer how to do just about any home repair or improvement - install bathroom tile, repair your faucets, rewire a room, etc. Our local, family-owned hardware store has employees who will show you exactly what you need to do for whatever predicament you are in. These guys are amazing and no question is too dumb. They taught me how to install a new shower head and made sure I had all the tools and supplies I needed.

There is a downside to doing things for yourself. If it's something you aren't very good at doing, it really shows. Take a look at my yard and you can see I'm no gardener. Every year, I try, but by mid-summer, everything looks terrible or dead. A landscaper could really change that for me, but I can't afford one. So, I must content myself with looking wistfully at Better Homes and Gardens magazines and ignore the crabgrass that defies all weed killers.

The President and the Pricey Helicopter

While President Obama is scolding Congress and another other political entity for overspending and irresponsible spending, The New York Times printed two articles that detailed something most of us really haven't given much thought to. The first article, posted February 15, explained in detail the history of replacing the aging helicopter fleet that scurries the President to the airport and any other place he may need to go.

I didn't know he needed a fleet of helicopters. I thought he only needed one, maybe two. However, the article explained that other staffers ride these choppers and some act as decoys. From a security standpoint, this makes sense. The article also explained that the current fleet was over 30 years old and really should be replaced. Frankly, I would be nervous about getting on anything that is going to lift me off the ground as ancient and in need of replacement.

The second article mentions a fiscal responsibility summit where Senator John McCain remarks on the cost of the new helicopters as costing as much as Airforce One. OUCH! A helicopter is quite a bit smaller than a jumbo jet and it costs as much or more - WOW! The origin of this purchase actually came in response to the security issues raised after September 11 terrorist attacks.

Now, I certainly want our President and his staff and his family safe in anything they are flying, but a $400 million flying machine is asking a bit much. Apparently, President Obama feels the same way. Does the President really need 28 helicopters? I wouldn't mind the White House having two, maybe three, to get by for awhile - but 28 sounds pretty extreme. Each of these new helicopters is supposed to hold about 14 people, so do you really need 28 choppers? In the event of another attack on our country, are we going to ferry all of Congress on these things? We didn't do that the last time.

I really hope that President Obama gets some really good, sound advice on this one. And I hope Congress doesn't go berserk and insist on all 28 choppers. A knee-jerk reaction to the terrorist attacks is not a good reaction and one that's never based on reason. We need to think clearly during our economic crisis and make decisions that will preserve our country on all levels.

Social Networking for a Shy Person

Okay, I admit it. I have joined Facebook. I did it at my professor's recommendation. I really fought the idea, but since I was planning to join My Space to watch over my teenage daughter, my arguments against following the crowd seemed pretty thin. Then I joined Linked In so I can network for a job in the near future. Trouble is, I'm having problems presenting myself on that forum. Facebook is pretty easy, I can reveal that I'm married, mom of two teenagers and no stranger to domesticity. However, on Linked In, I really don't want to do that.

I almost feel like the main character in "Three Faces of Eve." My Facebook personality is more closely representative of me, the My Space personality is the guardian (think a cross breed of German Shepard and Rottweiler) of a 14-year-old girl, and the Linked In personality is the professional career woman. Now, what do you want to bet that someone from my past will be able to put all these three together and tell the world what a psycho I am! Actually, most of my high school classmates know that, but why confirm it?

Now, basically, I'm a rather shy person. I don't like to reveal much about myself because of past bad experiences when my "secrets" became known. Also, I don't think I'm a very exciting person. Maybe it's a self-esteem thing. I'll have to work on that. Facebook gives the writer an opportunity to be "out there" with some element of safety. Or so it would seem. When I searched for "friends" from my high school days, I found a few. None of them I would want to talk to today much less over the last 30 years since graduating. So, now I'm a little nervous. Suppose they find me? Afterall, I found them. But, I didn't contact them. So, maybe they won't contact me. Feel better? Don't know yet.

Do You Indulge in Indulgences?

A recent article in the New York Times opinion section talks about the recent re-introduction of the Catholic penance tradition of the plenary indulgence. This is an interesting development.

I am Catholic, albeit a lazy one. I haven't attended Mass regularly, although I try to be careful about attending confession once a year. Yes, I'm not a great example of good Catholic practice for my children. It sounds lame, but life tends to get in the way of going to church. All God asks of me is an hour of my time once a week - that really isn't a lot.

Now we have this indulgence thing. I'm not too sure what it is, but my mother (a fallen-away Catholic) gets angry any time the subject is brought up, so I don't ask her. I looked to the St. Louis Archdiocesan web site for a definition and found a letter dating back to 2005 from then Archbishop Raymond Burke defining indulgences. I'm still confused.

Since I'm really a Catholic convert (both my parents fell away from the Church before I was born, therefore, my Catholic education didn't begin until later in my life), I am really having trouble understanding why our sins aren't just forgiven when we ask in the confessional. I sometimes wonder if this plenary indulgence is a man-made thing that some bored bishop came up with just to complicate things. I really don't know.

Since Lent begins next week, I'm going to try to do better about reciting my rosary, read my Bible a little better, and make a better effort to get to Mass. As for this plenary indulgence thing, I hope God will forgive me if I just don't get it. I don't understand how the mechanics of my car work, but I can still operate the vehicle.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow . . .

The economic news here at home is still grim and the future isn't very rosy just yet. The results of the new economic stimulus package that the president is supposed to sign on Tuesday won't be felt for quite some time. Globally, things are as bad or worse. The New York Times has an article about the impact of worldwide job losses. The picture is pretty bad, folks.

However, I mentioned in one of my previous postings, that I felt we should all take a step back and try our hands at a small cottage business. Innovation is what grew many nations, so let's try this thing again. Already, it looks like India may be on to something.

Whether we like it or not, we are a global society. So, isolationism isn't really the answer, however appealing it may seem. But we need to step back, quiet the hysteria, and think our way through this economic crisis. God led us to it, He will get us through it. We just have to be quiet and listen.

Multiples and Multiplying

My generation is probably the last to see the large families as an ordinary thing. I grew up with a girl who was the youngest of ten kids. Her mom had them one at a time, so by the time Tami came around, the first born was old enough to be her mom. My husband is the fourth of six children - would have been eight but his mom miscarried one and another was still-born. Once I worked for a woman who was the oldest of 15 kids - her mom had most of them one at a time, with one set of twins thrown in for good measure. Most of our generation really didn't think much of this. Now that we are parents, we have toned it down to two or maybe three children.

Recently, the media has become fascinated with the few women who are having "litters" of babies. The McCaughey septuplets born in November, 1997, Masche sextuplets in 2007, and now octuplets born to Nadya Suleman just a few weeks ago have all appeared on our screens and airways. To be sure, these multiple births are newsworthy.

Suleman and her doctors have been the center of a firestorm of ethical and psychological controversy. Many blogs have decried this woman as completely insane (I'm inclined to believe this myself) and many have demanded that the doctors who performed the procedures have their licenses removed.

Yes, I believe this woman is nuts and the children really ought to be placed in loving homes elsewhere. She says she was an only child and was filling a void. Hello? I'm an only child and there's no way on Earth I would have 14 children. I had my first child at 28 and my second at 32 and decided the baby factory was closed after that. I am married to their father and while things aren't easy, we manage to get by. If there was a void in my life as an only child, I guess I was too dumb to notice it. As an only child, I learned to occupy myself with hobbies and a few friends. I'm probably a stronger person for it because I don't depend on other people to keep me company or entertained. I enjoy company, but don't require it.

I also believe the doctors acted in an unethical manner. However, do we really know what conversations transpired between doctor and patient? That's private and protected by law.

While I pity the family (and I hate the word pity), I wonder if we as a society should pass judgement on this situation. I truly believe God doesn't give us more than we can handle and maybe, by some miracle, this family in all its weirdness will get by. Who knows, maybe one of these babies will grow up to be an inventor or doctor or something fabulous. Or they may grow up and rob every bank from California to Kansas! There's enough of them to do it.

This situation will be a drain on taxpayer money, and many people are rightfully angry about that. Why should all of us pay for the irresponsible behavior of a lonely, deranged woman? However, we face this question everyday with people all around us. My neighbor has two daughters. Both those young woman each had a baby without the benefit of getting married (the biological fathers were deadbeats anyway). My tax dollars are supporting their two adorable boys as well as their tax dollars are supporting my two (wonderful when they feel like it) teenagers. Which situation is fair to the taxpayer? My situation won't last forever. Once I graduate, I will get a full-time job. My husband collects disability and will continue to do so. My son will turn 18 this year and will officially be off the welfare rolls because of his age.

Growing a family one child at a time or all at once really ought to be kept between patient and doctor. However, when the element of financial and mental responsibility comes into play, both parties involved really should examine their true motives and weigh the outcomes.

If You Hacked A Digital Road Sign, What Would You Say?

Last week, the local news stations reported that a digital road sign along Highway 255 in Illinois had been hacked and displayed the message: Road Closed Due to Zombies. This morning, another road sign in Texas was hacked and the message was: "OMG The British R Coming."

I'm sure a lot of drivers found these signs to be pretty funny. I sure did. Unfortunately, the state transportation departments were not as amused. This is understandable. These road signs are set up for driver safety, not entertainment. However, ladies and gentlemen of the 50 state transportation departments, please take a laxative and enjoy the humor. So far, these hacked messages have not caused any accidents, spewed profanity, or done anything other than cause drivers to chuckle. Of course, we want the drivers to pay attention to the roads. But how is this any different when the sign reads as it should? For instance, how is "Road Closed. Use alt route" any less dangerous than "Zombies ahead?" The driver still has to take his/her concentration off the road to read the sign. We all know zombies don't exist outside the movie theaters.

Now, if I were sneaky enough to hack a road sign computer, what would I say on it? The possibilities are almost limitless. The sign really is your only restriction. Here are a few ideas:

Please Hang Up Cell Phone
I Saw That
Its Only Fun if Cops Don't Catch You
Caution - Girl Scout Cookie Booth Ahead
Dr. Pepper Says Drink Pepsi

SUPER BOWL 43 - WOW!!!

I have never denied that I don't understand football. I recognize a tackle, a fumble (sometimes), and a touchdown. That's about where it begins and ends for me. I don't follow pro, college, or even high school football (unless its the Turkey Day game between Kirkwood High School and Webster Groves High School - Kirkwood is my alma mater). I didn't pay much attention to Super Bowl until the Rams got in it back in 2000. I guess you could say, I'm a recent follower.

However, last night's game was the most exciting thing I have watched in quite a long time. My husband, my kids and I were screaming and carrying on such noise that I'm surprised the neighbors didn't complain. Maybe they couldn't hear us over their own racket. I have never, ever seen a 100 yard drive in my life - my limited knowledge of the game still told me this was impressive. Of course, at the end of the game, fans and players were euphoric. I thought it was really cool to have Joe Namath bring in the trophy. However, what struck me is how old and short he looked. I guess I'll always have the memories of him on TV as he looked in the 70's, but I didn't think he was that short. The Steelers looked like giants next to him.

Now, let's talk about those commercials. Some were so-so and some were hysterical. We need more funny ads these days. My personal favorites were the stick-retrieving Clydesdale, the Coke heist, the Lizard Lake, and always the talking babies. CareerBuilder had a good one too, but I can't remember the name of it. I couldn't quite connect with the Doritos and the snowglobe commercial, but it's not unusual for me to miss a point in some of these ads. The movie previews were good as well. I'm so definitely going to see Monsters vs. Aliens and my husband and our son will be watching Star Trek, Transformers Revenge, and GI Joe. My 13-year-old daughter thinks GI Joe is gay - but not to worry, she thinks everything is gay.

Last night was amazing and while my son is mourning the Cardinals' loss (it's the Cardinals, go figure), we are all grateful for the distraction from the real world problems we are facing these days. CONGRATULATIONS STEELERS!!!!

If It Worked Before . . .

We all have had the economy on our minds these days. President Obama's stimulus package is getting a lot of scrutiny and debate. While all these financial wizards and economists are crunching numbers for our future, I've been doing a little examining of our economic situation as well.

Sadly, massive layoffs and store closures are still on the rise. With this bleak picture, what can we do? I think our reliance on the big box stores has become a mistake. Sure, the bigger stores can give us deeper discounts because they can buy in volume. That's an economic no-brainer. Trouble is, when these big box stores came into our everyday lives, the smaller Mom & Pop stores went belly-up. The table has turned and now the big boxes can't stay afloat. Maybe this is a good time for us, since quite a few of us are unemployed anyway, to consider starting a small business. I'm not sure if President Obama's stimulus plan will provide much help in this area, but it might be worth thinking about.

The small business doesn't have to be anything fancy - a deli, an ice cream shop, a hardware store, whatever. The market niche could be anything - personalized and knowledgeable customer service, down home cooking, reasonable prices, or reliability.

I think we as a nation need to get back to the basics the way our ancestors got by. Home Depot wasn't around 50 years ago, Walmart wasn't even a thought 100 years ago, and Microsoft was not heard of 40 years ago. Small businesses built this country, and I believe we can do it again if we just pull together. Think creatively and talk to your neighbors, your city hall representatives, and other small business owners. A small business may not be able to employ 7,000 people, but it could employ a few as the business grows.

Spending time developing your own business beats out sitting around wondering how you are going to meet your mortgage or rent now that you have lost your job.