Kalmia
-
Posts
1,765 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Blogs
Classifieds
Store
Posts posted by Kalmia
-
-
If you live at the eastern edge of a time zone like I do and it gets dark in the winter at 3:58 p.m.!! you love springing ahead more than anything. And I suppose if you live near the western edge of the time zone, and the sun comes up at 8:30 a.m., you love falling back. Perhaps we just need narrower time zones and more of them. lol
Our family is so erratic about time that we never have trouble adjusting. Because of where I live, I want to be springing ahead forever, keep daylight savings time so that our people don't get out of work in total darkness every single day during the cold, snowy grip of winter.
Even though I am a dyed in the wool democrat, I love George Bush for extending daylight savings time, as much as I hate President Roosevelt's moving Thanksgiving to November.
-
My kids are both young adults now. We were fine until they went to brick and mortar school and the school gave the kids iPads and insisted all assignments be submitted electronically and we needed phones for pickups after play practice etc. Well, if I had to do it all over again, I (a rather liberal person), would NEVER have let them have phones, iPads or any time on the internet that was unsupervised in person (as in I would be sitting right there next to them). The damage the "anorexia influencers" alone did to my daughter is incalculable. Not to mention all the other horrors of the internet that got into my children's hearts and minds. Even adults are not equipped to be barraged by the bad images, ideas, sales pitches, etc of millions of people at once. It is too much to process and leaves even adults feeling depressed, that the world is an ugly place, and lonely and hopeless. My best friends parents almost cry over how horrible it is to raise children now with the internet. They feel so sorry for us. My daughter says that I should never have listened to her begging for a phone and that her kids will never get them because it was like handing a direct line from people with bad agendas to her eyes and ears and heart. In retrospect, I should have stood up to the schools and asked for alternatives for viewing and submitting assignments (which they would not have given, because it was their way or the highway) then I should have taken them out of the experiment (brick and mortar school) and homeschooled again. Of course, so many many people are not in the position to do that. And for others it might not have been as big as a mistake. I am sure some kids come through it jaded but generally fine. My kids are fragile and now I can't undo what that exposure at a young ages has done.
-
1
-
8
-
-
I am sorry the system wasn't able to recognize your dedication to learning. It seems (I am in my 50s) that workplace of all types (and especially medical) have changed for the worse since I was in my 20s and 30s. With computer technology came the ability to constantly surveil and measure every action of employees, instead of seeing, in the older way, workers as part of the workplace family. Corporations are now legally allowed to put the shareholder's profits above all else, and thus are allowed to quite literally poke and squeeze every bit of effort out of every employee to line their pockets. The speed at which things are processed is one of the many ways the shareholders make more money. Another is to hire fewer employees than are necessary to do the job. This efficiency and monitoring and maximization of profit at the expense of the worker (and the customer!) is affecting all jobs from doctor to supermarket cashier. I am so sorry it affected you. I also worry how it will harm the younger generation just entering a workforce in which every second will be monitored and controlled.
I hope you can find a job or workplace that has respect for people and does not treat them as machines.
-
15
-
1
-
-
Maine: Milk with a short "I" rhyming with silk.
-
In Maine, we can establish a family burial ground on our own land. One needs a permit from the town and you have to fence it in. Of course, one would have to hire equipment to dig the grave, but otherwise much cheaper. Easements remain for access for the family if the property is sold. We are going to do this on our land for those who want a traditional burial rather than the scattering of ashes.
But as to the question of being weirded out by pre-buying one's own plot. I give you Ruthann from Northern Exposure. This particular clip does not include the part where Ed reveals he has purchased a burial plot on (on a bluff with a great view) for her birthday present. At first, she is surprised, but in the clip below she figures out a way to makes the most of the odd gift. (Unfortunately, this is a very short clip and the only one I could find now. The original is so sweet with the gifting and the dance).
-
1
-
-
Bernadette Banner (hand-sewing)
Melissa K. Norris (homesteading)
Old-fashioned on Purpose (homesteading)
Homesteading Family (obviously homesteading)
Natural History Museum (British)
American Museum of Natural History
-
2
-
-
The check from one of my husband's clients that was late and worrying me (in terms of bills due on the 1st) came yesterday along with another payment, yay!
I have been very good about eating out of the pantry and keeping close watch on the fridge so no perishables are wasted.
Within the week I will complete a copyediting job and will be paid the second half of my fee. I also signed a contract with a teeny tiny small press to get my novel published, probably won't earn me much, but it is a step in the right direction!
Next month won't have a mass of medical bills, tuition bills, extra large fuel bills, car insurance, etc. so I should be able to pay off Christmas which was mostly on the credit card.
-
5
-
-
One of my husband's clients has been late in paying him and the first of the month is coming up so I am uneasy.
As a result we have been eating out of the pantry except for fresh vegetables and fruit and milk. And I cut off my college daughter's allowance for the next two weeks since she spent the first two week allowance on in-(video)-game purchases!!!!!!!! Faint!
I had to fill the car up with gas: about $35. And I had forgotten I'd preordered a book on Amazon a month or two ago, and it just came out, and I was charged for that. If I had remembered it, I would have cancelled the order.
We did splurge to go out to the movies at our local independent theater $18 tickets $10 concessions. But the movie trailer gave us NO hint about how horrific and brutal and ultimately fatal the life of the donkey (and other animals) in this Polish art film would be (film is called EO--ten thumbs down! Do not see!) so I am calling that a huge financial and emotional loss and wish I could have those hours of my life back or therapy money to recover from the film. So much for date night.
-
2
-
-
To be sure we can cook many different meals from scratch we stock up in categories: fats, sugars, grains, beans, meats, vegetables, fruits, cooking supplies, spices & salts, drinks
It may look different for everyone but for us this means:
Fats: coconut oil (in jars or other containers) and butter (in the freezer)
Sugars: cane sugar, maple syrup, honey
Grains: oatmeal, whole wheat flour, white flour, einkorn flower, rice, popcorn
Beans: Black beans, pinto beans, refried beans (canned)
Meats: (all in the freezer) whole chickens, boneless chicken breasts, whole turkeys, turkey breast, hamburger, pork chops
Vegetables: (in the freezer): broccoli, peas, corn, green peppers. (in jars) jalapeño peppers (in our cold basement) potatoes, onions, garlic
Fruit: (in fridge or cold basement) longer storing variety apples, dried cherries, dried apricots
Cooking Supplies: Powdered milk, baking powder, baking soda.
Spices & Salts: All the spices! Sea salt, Himalayan salt, and pickling salt
Drinks: Tea
-
1
-
-
Throughout my life: friends who are Jewish, Mormon, Wiccan, Quaker (not sure that counts) & Sikh. When I lived for a short time in Australia, two aboriginal Australians who were friends with my boyfriend there. When I lived in India (though they are not a minority there), Hindu and Muslim and we met some Jain and learned about their religion on a tour of their temple. At grad school, Christian Science and Pantheist. And plenty of the biggest (non-religious) minority, Atheist.
Oh, I forgot, my husband's relatives who have become Buddhist, but probably the most narcissistic Buddhists in existence, so not sure I have learned anything about their religion from exposure to them!
-
1
-
-
Not regular monthly expenses:
Setbacks include the annual reset on the health insurance deductible ($15,000 family) and so husband's visit to the orthopedist, X-ray and MRI to show no actionable tear or damage will cost us $1300. Sigh. Next month, there will be another $400 for a second member of the family with a bad knee who just went in to the orthopedist.
Our evil foreign-owned power company got delivery rates approved basically doubling our electric bill for no additional services. $270 Grr.
Tuition was expected (leftover balance after loans) $805.
Unexpected earnings:
Sold two of my photographs in a show at the local gallery: + 160.00!
Savings:I answered Azure Standard's customer survey and got a $25 promo code off minimum $100 purchase, will use this to buy bulk butter to freeze.
One cat suddenly started refusing Fancy Feast. To test whether it had changed flavor or he was ill, I bought the significantly cheaper Friskies for a week and he gobbled that down. Tiny can of Fancy Feast is .89 (up from .69 before it became so scarce on the shelves during the pandemic) and larger can of Friskies is .57. Trying to decide if I should just switch the other cats over too. Historically lesser quality food has been their taste preference. Not that Fancy Feast is high quality, but the all-meat pate did put our old cat into diabetes remission after his diet of dry food gave him diabetes, so I have some positive feelings about it.
Switched to store brands: soap, laundry detergent, hydrogen peroxide, Brillo-type pads, sliced cheese, and canned black beans. Lots of people have store brands in their carts these days. Don't know all the exact savings, but laundry detergent was a $3 savings per same-size bottle.
Stopped eating Green & Black's dark chocolate after reading Consumer Reports article about it having high levels of cadmium and lead (like many other brands--cadmium from soils it is grown in and lead from site contamination).
Financial:
Got my daughter a checking and savings account at our bank for easy transfers of money between accounts.
-
5
-
-
I very much enjoyed Neil Gaiman's class. I watched other writers' classes too, but his was the best (lots about imagination) and would be interesting to anyone, not just writers.
-
1
-
-
Knit or crochet dishcloth and Brillo pads for really stubborn stuck on stuff. My friend knits the dishcloths and there are crochet ones at the local farm stand so I have a huge supply and switch them out every day. They are really pretty colors, but I wish that they were all white so I could put them in the white wash load with hydrogen peroxide. Because the Brillo are disposable and wasteful, I tried substituting the stainless steel reusable scrubber pad, but it deeply scratched my favorite frypan. You can extend the life of a Brillo pad by putting it in a baggie in the freezer in between uses. It won't rust that way.
-
Search term that will help: 100% cotton thermal blanket. Some have open weave patterns that breathe and others are more solidly woven.
Pendleton makes an somewhat expensive but very high-quality wool/cotton blend camp blanket for colder weather which is breathable. I use mine without a sheet.
https://www.pendleton-usa.com/product/yakima-camp-blanket/70302.html?dwvar_70302_color=3003
-
1
-
-
I'll join in. With inflation and two college tuitions and and me not working the burden is laying heavily on my husband's shoulders and he's tiring of it, understandably. My goal is to make my money-saving efforts and what little income I can bring in help even out the burden in our marriage.
#1 Make a price book and keep it updated. I will be buying more store brands, shopping sales and stocking up at sale prices, and buying in bulk from Azure Standard, whichever I calculate to be cheapest for each product we use. I will still be buying a lot of organic and local items in the meat category, though. I also need to steer my love of buying (books and kitchen gadgets) into buying food at the lowest price.
#2 We don't drive frivolously so it would be hard to save in this category. I drive to town for errands (18 minutes round trip) twice a week. I drive to my parents' house (2 hour round trip) once a week. And my husband and I each take one trip down to western MA to see his mother in the nursing home every month (so 2 trips/month) (20 hours total). I pick up and drop off my oldest at state college before and after each vacation (3 hours round trip). I pick up my youngest at college in Illinois in May and return her in August (68 hours total/year).
#3 Figure out how to earn money from home. I do not thrive emotionally in a traditional workplace. I have a lot of past experience developing curriculum and am educated in ecology and environmental studies, so I may begin to develop a natural history/nature study curriculum to sell to homeschoolers and others who might be interested. Sort of like Ellen McHenry does, only not hard science. Though I am not sure if the new homeschoolers even use curricula much these days. I do believe it would appeal to Charlotte Mason homeschoolers.
#4 I, too, need a credit card in my own name.
#5 Ramp up production in the garden and canning/dehydrating.
#6 Radically change my attitude about spending small amounts of money. "Oh, this book is only $15 and this slightly different funnel is only $5 and these wool dryer balls are only $11 and this greeting card is only $4..." and I have basically spent $35 in a week on stuff that was in-the-moment wants. Small things are my downfall.
Thanks for starting this thread.
-
7
-
-
Merry Christmas to all! Thank you for all your wisdom this year.
-
1
-
-
I live in Maine, so cold, short growing season.
My (first, and probably won't be my last) order from FEDCO and Johnny's Selected Seeds. Asterix indicate tried and true varieties for me:
Masai Bush Haricots Vert
Quincy Pinto Organic Shell & Dry Bean
Black Turtle Organic Shell & Dry Bean
Strike Pea Shell Pea
Lincoln Shell Pea
Sassy Pickling Cucumber
Little Leaf Pickling Cucumber*
Naval Organic Main Season Carrot
Newhall Main Season Carrot
Mokum Early Carrot
Covina Organic Broccoli
King of the North Organic Sweet Bell
Revolution Sweet Bell Pepper
Early Jalapeño Hot Pepper
Amish Paste Organic Paste Tomato
San Marzano Paste Tomato*
Matt's Wild Cherry Tomato*
Blacktail Mountain Watermelon
Georgian Fire Garlic*
Dark Red Norland Organic Early Season Potato*
Red Maria Organic Mid-Season Potato
Stuttgarter Onion Sets
Red Baron Onion Sets
Red Pontiac Late Season Potato
-
2
-
-
It's environmental studies, for goodness sake, there are thousands upon thousands of nature documentaries this teacher could play and the kids could actually be learning something about the subject during movie time.
-
9
-
5
-
-
I will always choose go through the cashier line in our friendly chain supermarket, Hannaford. I know the four long-term cashiers by name, one makes very funny plays on words, one has a nephew with autism like my kid, one is very passionate about her tattoos, and one loves skiing. They are real people who live in my small town and knowing them (and them knowing all of us!) adds to the sense of community here. They are also faster than I am and the baggers are happy to load bags at your individual weight limit or keep the cold stuff together, or put the stuff for your mom in a separate bag. I will go into the self-checkout ONLY If have a few items and if all the lines are super long (like the day before Thanksgiving) and I always regret it as something will go wrong with the stupid machine. Then I find myself talking back to the machine, aloud, and as I said, it is a small town...
-
2
-
-
Oops: Reread the title of this post and those below the asterisks are not examples of sad.
For sad it is Greensleeves! Which I like, but has made me cry since I was a child.
********
Apparently any song her mother wants to listen to is a song my daughter can't listen to at all! The pause button will be pressed in a millisecond. (Edited to add: She thinks my taste in music is sad, if that counts.)
For me, anything associated with sportball games that my high school friends and boyfriends convinced me to attend (and languish in misery and boredom at) like We Are the Champions or We Will Rock You by Queen, that sort of stuff. Ugh. (Edited to add: If misery is sadness, then maybe this one counts.)
But just yesterday on a classic rock album-oriented radio station I heard a song that I NEVER want to hear again: Run for Your Life by the Beatles. Stalker-murderer song, anyone? I have never really liked the Beatles except for Yellow Submarine for kids, and I am not one to "cancel," but geez that song is terrifying. Obviously it was only played because it was on the album the radio station was featuring. (Edited to add: I am sad this song exists and I had to accidentally hear it!)
-
2 hours ago, Tenaj said:
It's really becoming a huge problem for my aunt with dementia. She is still (barely) capable of using her cell phone and iPad for certain applications but she is constantly getting the scam Amazon calls and I cannot convince her not to answer the phone unless she knows who it is. So far she hasn't given any information but I watch her bank account daily along with her credit card. I'm afraid it's only a matter of time but she has to be able to call people 🙁
I see this with my mom who has dementia and is easy prey for scammers as a result my father has chosen to close down their landline have only his cell phone in the house which is a flip phone. Mom cannot possibly remember phone numbers (maybe 911, but certainly not my phone number or my sister's) so if something happened to Dad, it is very unlikely she could call for help.
So, I was investigating cellular services that might help with this problem and there is one for children called Pinwheel that I am considering. Only calls and texts on the approved number list can come in or go out. Only approved apps can be installed. All activity can be monitored from your phone. Only the expensive phone in their lineup works with my carrier, Verizon. And there is an additional $14.99/month fee for Pinwheel's services on top of Verizon's monthly fee.
The service seems to get good reviews with parents. I hope the interface isn't too babyish. I am going to send the info to my sister and we might split the cost for Christmas for my mom.
-
1
-
-
36 minutes ago, MEmama said:
How interesting! Do you know where you found that information, by chance? I’m just curious about the reasons.
Anyone who proposes to be in favor of small businesses and growing the economy could learn from the states like Maine where it is legal. Pot shops are everywhere, at least in my corner of the state, and every one of them looks respectable and modern and safe. Much more so than your average liquor store, to be sure.
Heard it through word of mouth. My college roommate and her husband own a farm in Maine and her nephew began farming pot as soon as it became legal. I mentioned the sudden appearance of shops everywhere and she said that her nephew said he had to have three shops to get a license. Though I do not know if you have to be a farmer to open a shop, probably not.
-
1
-
-
I quite literally cannot stand the smell of pot, will leave the vicinity if I even get a whiff of it because the scent is abhorrent to my nose and makes me nauseated, and even knowing that people would be smoking it on the streets and making me very unhappy, I still voted to decriminalize it. Illegal pot is often (not always, especially here in Maine people often have grown their own) obtained from criminal enterprises that don't exactly provide organically grown pure marijuana. There can be toxic pesticides, additional drugs mixed in, etc. The sale of illegal pot also bankrolls other illegal activities including including violent crime. With legal marijuana, the sources are regulated, small farmers can make money providing organic, pure strains with no toxic adulterants. Maine legalized pot a while back and the only difference I noticed was that every tiny town suddenly sprouted three to five pot stores! I wondered how they all could stay in business, but they all have. I then learned that the state required local marijuana farmers to open at least three stores, not sure why. Anyway, all the people who were already smoking pot are still doing so with a safer supply. I have noticed some of the sweet, elderly ladies I know well from where I volunteer feel it is now okay to try edibles in hopes of taming their aches and pains without opioids or other strong, addictive painkillers their doctors suggested.
-
8
-
-
March 2023: What are you reading?
in The Chat Board
Posted
I have had very little time to read published books as I have been reading a.k.a copyediting the memoir of a friend and my daughter's novel in progress.
But I did read two fiction novels from a bag of books my friend passed on to me: Good Eggs by Rebecca Hardiman and The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. I think the one by Matt Haig was thought to be some kind of great philosophical thought experiment, but it seemed obvious and almost dated. I didn't put either down, but neither would I recommend them. Just "airport" books, I guess.
I have on my desk The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America by Elizabeth Letts. "In 1954, sixty-three-year-old Maine farmer Annie Wilkins embarked on an impossible journey. She had no money and no family and she had just lost her farm, and her doctor had given her only two years to live. But Annie wanted to see the Pacific Ocean before she died..." It is a biography, and I am wondering if I should have bought Annie Wilkins personal writings about her journey instead. We'll see! I like the idea of it, because I used to ride all the time and my secret dream has always been to find a retired police horse (or other solid, bomb-proof horse) and ride the backroads of Maine taking photographs.
and
The Reindeer Hunters by Lars Mytting which is Norwegian fiction set in 1903.