Hello New Year

Dear 2014,

   As this is a blog from a wanna-be living under a bridge type individual I see no reason to fluff up whats on my mind. My hiatus from posting has been part 'where do I start' to 'pure-laziness.'

   Water has been forefront in my mind lately and if you read some of the things happening from lack of rain to flooding to dying seas to killer tidal waves ... water in some way has been big news in the previous 12 months.

I will go out on a limb here and say it will be (and if it is not it should be) in the forefront this year too. Such a silly thing as water yet our very existence is dependant on it yet big businesses and even government bodies are purchasing water rights around the US and the world.

Those that control the water will control life. If you don't believe me Google or Bling 'Nestle water rights' or 'state water rights' as there are states in the US that are making it illegal to collect rain water in varying amounts without a permit.

Who owns the rain anyway?  Water is the new and growing commodity and it is frightening to think how far this could go. Do we really need so desperately to be controlled by big business and government?

The very thought of the possibilities is making feel like a conspiracy theorist with a twist of paranoia.

If you are looking for a good investment you might want to jump on the band wagon and find some water rights of your own to purchase. That might be a life giving inheritance to your kids someday.

All those mind bending water thoughts aside, I am so happy the New Year has arrived. At my age you would think I would be dreading the passing of the years, even a single year but I don't, as any chance to start fresh and do better is special.

I am no good at resolutions so I will make none here but I am making plans. I am taking that sage advice of learning from where I have been, enjoying (the best I can all things considered) where I am at and moving forward toward what is waiting ahead. May the fates take pity on me with all the moaning and groaning I do.

Peace and Love to all for the New Year
Me~

Moving On - A Golden Rule Revival - Of Sorts!

   Strange how we neglect to look inside for what is troubling us. The possible outside forces, which can cause mayhem in our thinking or habits, good or bad right or wrong, are there. We just need to look inside and see. We may not always find an answer to why, who or how, but often just swimming into the quagmire will help us disperse the sludge.

   I filled with sludge shortly after taking a leap of faith and sharing a selection of interesting personal articles I had hoped to publish.  Shortly after I had sent it and began the waiting-game I lost my ability to write in length. My thoughts of writing and stories floated about almost constantly but could not draw myself out to put finger to keys. It was painfully.
   This dilly dally crap went on for weeks and I am talking weeks. The editor I chose seemed to be knee deep in his own busy life and I was merely an afterthought … well that is how I felt. 
   Three, four and five weeks passed between communications and all those ‘oh I am enjoying the reading,' 'it is comical' (as it was meant to be) etc., said lots but his actions and lack of interest in working on it showed me his words were empty.
   The money I am paying did little to guarantee communication and forward movement in this endeavor and I am paying almost three times my hourly wage for this. When he did do something, he did it professionally but honestly you would think he was a spoilt top paid movie star.  Oh you know I am good so you will put up with it. Actually I am talking your word on that and it is #$%^&!
   Several weeks ago I threw my hands up and decided to start bugging – previously he would say next week and it would be three to five weeks. Nothing in between, no email saying sorry busy time or it is going to be delayed, nothing. If there are delays, people are much more understanding if you let them know than expecting them to just suck it all up when it is done. The situation has not improved but I have freed myself.
   Four months it took me to look inside me and realize that I had mistakenly prepared to put my life aside to work on this with him. As my mind tormented itself with waiting and the calling of my stories to give them attention and still I could seem to stop waiting.  My expectations were weekly or fortnightly were not daily - I am a reasonable person.

   When I finally cleared my toys from the pram, I felt desperate to get back what I felt I had lost. I started in on a YA, which needed its last couple chapters. Once I had finished rereading the first 25k words I sat and finished the ending in two days (5-6k). I have done some correcting and it is ready for a couple beta readers and their comments. I threw off my mental bindings and dove in.

   I would not leave all the fault with my editor in fact most of the fault shall be mine and the choices I made. I waited rather than pressed the issue. I trusted people to follow through with what they said they were going to do and give heed to our communications. I assumed! I made an ass out of him and me by not following through with the issues I was having. Not every choice we make is a good one but how often we allow one bad choice the time to reproduce more bad choices.

   When it comes to business where there is an exchange of funds for work, acquaintances or not, keep it business and keep the personal stuff out of it. Treat your customer as you would want to be treated as a customer.

Sounds so simple.
Sounds so stupidly simple.                  
It is still up in the air but I have moved it to a back burner.

From the Ashes ...

I know I have been away for a bit. Massive amounts of things going on but from the ashes of what has burned through these last few months there is a seed breaking open and life emerging.  All my rants about waste and recycling – well probably not enough of them – has propelled me to with several others create a group called UpcycleWild.  This brainchild has been on a slow emergence and is not all to my credit - rather the results of months of discussions on how best to move forward.

One lady creates the most wonder bags from old pants called Mim Bags. These are wild, funky, sometimes outlandish purses/handbags with fantastic utility.  Another shop will be recreating (aka Upcycling) retro furniture into funky new looks. I am currently sporting a bedroom set she did and I love it.  I have a slightly unusual item I Upcycle.  Bones, antlers skins, and more upcycled into into interesting pieces of art, curios and some more useful items. 

Our husbands love working with wood and is playing with ways to recycle pallets and old pieces of broken furniture into everything from useful pieces form model railroad layouts to Christmas decorations.  We girls will also have a range of unique clothing and accessories called B.U.G.s – Beautiful Upcycled Garments. This is the brainchild of our Jo but is so much fun we all cannot resist putting our hands and minds to the task. 

Although we will each have our own representative shops, most of what we do will be linked through our labor of and love for recycling old and unwanted into new and treasured.  Our most important rule is everything offered will be 70% or more recycled.  Things people have found useless or thrown away or sold on for pennies to the pound, as the saying goes.
 
All of this is still six months in the future and the future looks promising.   

My Old World!

I miss the old world, my old world.  The world when you went out to the bookstore to buy a book.  Called a friend to sale hello and most of all, the customer was important and your quality kept you in business.

I know I am not the only person who feels this way.  Who has signed a contract only to find out all those promises of how important you are as a customer was hogwash (jiggery-pokery) to get you signed up?  The words and energy behind them was black and void. 

I know I would miss the ability to turn on the computer and being able to check how the kids are doing half way around the world, finding that instant answer to what was the name of that song or my bread machines instructions manuel because I miss placed mine again.  Sure I would miss them for a while but for how long I can only guess. 

Apocalyptic Tidbit - Vinegar

In an effort to share some useful information - lets give Vinegar its fair dues ... The stuff is awesome.

VINEGAR It is a must-have for the survival kit.  Gallons of the stuff would be handy.

I use it when cleaning small wild game before popping them in the fridge for cooking the next day or freezing on the day.  I soak it after the final clean water rinse only because it is impossible as humans to keep sanitary conditions when skinning rabbits or feathering partridge.  Vinegar will help kill any lingering bacteria before freezing

It will reduce bacteria build up on many surfaces including hands.  Be careful not to use it on granite style surfaces like marble pastry boards.

FRUIT and VEG wash with vinegar and water is excellent to remove any residue chemicals as well as cosmetic residue (Wax on apples). Look it up  How To Clean Fruits    

More Fabulous uses ...

Avinegar wash over a sunburned area will cool it.

Excellent for pickling and preserving food.

Even better for eliminating odors

A lovely hair rinse – soak fresh crushed rosemary in a quart of water over night – add two tablespoons of white vinegar and use as a final rinse on your hair to remove build up and put some shine in it.  

Uses for vinegar: Tips and ideas

Vinegar also has many health attributes.  Whatever you think about vinegar it is something I will be hoarding when **** hits the fan.

Best advice is get one of those cute little books about the wonders of vinegar or print a few pages off the internet to have to hand when needed.  Easy to make too.

Apocalypse Nuggets - Dandelions

Doom, Doom, Gloom.  Ok I feel better.

Actually I thought I might do something a little more useful. You know the world is headed for some major changes – Asteroid, Solar Flares, Zombies – Who knows from what or where. Although the thought of being the only one left in the world seems a little less stressful, I think it would be more fun to live under a bridge if there were people to scare and goats to eat.

I took some photos and thought I would share a bit of interesting easy to remember info about things that grow wild and are edible.

 

Dandelion if there was ever a beneficial weed in the world it is the Dandelion. I hope is makes it onto our favorite flowers list since many of our most lovely flowers found their start as weeds.  I cannot sing the praises of dandelions more.  It is a food worth examining before it is one of those things you do out of desperation.

Mr Culpepper Explains that the Dandelion is under the dominion of Jupiter and opens and cleanses the waters within.  A natural diuretic and useful in opening obstructions and cleansing the Liver, gall and spleen. All parts are edible (no not the body part – ew!).  Mr Culpepper was ahead of his time. 

Check out the nutritional value of one cup of raw dandelion greens, just 55 grams, dandelion greens.  I think you will be amazed. But don't limit yourself to just the greens try these other ways of making us of that omnipotent little treasure messing up your borring see of green grass.

Dandelion leaf tea

Dandelion Wine

Dandelion Beer

I am thinking the biggest block to feasting on the neighborhood lawns or the field is … do dogs tread or cows graze. Still it is always  nice to know a little of the free foods in you community.  Learn a few as part of the Plan B you are always thinking about.  

Another - Fixin' What Ain't Broken - Rant!

The MANDATORY digital change – wasn’t that a load of crap! Seriously think about it. Let’s look at this logically in the spirit it was forced on us. Some people who have major investments in cable and satellite and TV electronic companies said ‘hey we are not making enough money so lets change everything so people have no choice but to pay out more money. They will have to sign up for satellite or freeview or buy new televisions.  Thirty million households (give or take a few million) and about a third of those will need to upgrade in some way.

Can almost hear them rubbing their hands together, imagining the profits from sales. Oh it is going to be better, bigger, brighter.  The UK is going to be the first government, under the thumb of an out dated broadcasting service, to FORCE everyone to have this better, bigger, brighter system.

What about those poor people (me included) who have no money to buy all this new stuff – you can use the old stuff but you have to buy this special box or satellite to make it work. Well we know they are going to have to find a way to afford it especially since they have no money to go to the movies, to restaurants or the theatre occasionally. Can’t afford the gas to go anywhere, let alone the cost of the tickets so TV is the all-round best entertainment going.  What choice have they (the UK Gov) left them?

They (one particular broadcasting company) already holds everyone who has a TV hostage every year to feed their money addiction through licensing fees. Believe it or not they have even had the puppets of democracy pass a law saying we must pay them for the privilege of owning a TV whether or not we watch their programs. If we don’t pay we can go to Jail.  Dictators!

So what do we really have with all this better bigger brighter promise (Digital Television)? If there is a storm (which can be as little as medium winds or rain)  here on our end or over there where the signal is beamed out to us, we have nothing.  DISRUPTION – can’t see or hear a thing.  This is progress? The picture maybe better but the hissy sissy equipment doesn’t like to play if it is rainy or windy and wae!  Where do we live?  Britain where the weather is what drives us on.

At least we could still hear the news even if the picture was disrupted on analog, now we hear and see nothing – THAT’S what improvement is all about.  And the best part is THERE IS NO CHOICE in the matter – oh doesn’t that reek of a totalitarian regime (or a good start to one). 

When has there ever been improvement pushed on us that didn’t make money or save money for those making them.  I think I would have a heart attack if I heard the government say. Hey this isn’t going to make us any money or even save us any money but it might make our population feel better live happier or healthier if we make this change or we do this.

Oh lets wrap this up here before I start on something else.

So again I ask why do we try to fix things that truly aren’t broken or change how something is done if it has been working fine for the larger majority?  I am not adverse to progress but I am not for it, when it is all about money for the big boys and forced down the throats of the little people (the VAST majority get screwed).

What would have seemed more sensible IMHO, to leave both analog and digital available. There are a vast amount of movie and TV buffs that would have easily paid out for all the extras - money would have been made. Just not as much as and those greedy 'leave no stone or option available' individuals, groups or companies that won't-allow-anything-to-stand-between-them-and-their-profits types aren't about to let that happen.

Grrrrowl, Grrrrrowl, Grrrrowl ... Ok I am better now.

We have decided when we move we will not be installing a TV (for anything but videos and DVDs) or paying our licence.