Comments on: After Math

By: patricia

patricia — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:41:33 +0000

Kara,
Welcome and nice to find you here today. I hope on “jungle” I did not come across as a bully, but it is a life lesson I have to work very hard on – I just keep on trying and not getting anywhere. It’s like the lesson of Patience – it just gets you more patience – I am patient to a flaw with most things.

Are not seed catalogs a ray of hope and beauty? I am just so addicted to flowers and beans and their beauty.
Thank you for coming by.

By: kara

kara — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:11:25 +0000

My first seed catalog arrived the other day. Spring can not be far away... PS Thanks for your empowering words over at the Jungle. : ) karas last blog post..Serious Suds

By: patricia

patricia — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 05:42:05 +0000

Robin,
Hello, thank you for your kind words. We are feeling things by inches but so many are feeling it big time.
Our biggest problem right now is our weather which is most unusual this time of the year…feet upon feet of snow, and now wind and rain and warm…so flooding from the mountains. It rained a 1″ per hour yesterday…all day. My phone and Internet keep going down…

I think the new administration will make a difference. But some days it is very sad.
thanks for dropping by

By: Robin

Robin — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 04:29:22 +0000

Hi Patricia - what a beautifully written piece! Things must be a bit depressing there - we haven't really noticed anything over here - such as shops closing and so on. As Vered said - you have new leadership - perhaps this will bring a new outlook which could lead to things improving. Good luck with it all! Robins last blog post..5-Year Plan For This Blog

By: patricia

patricia — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:48:13 +0000

Ruth,
Good suggestions and I will look into it. We have not had TV for years and years. My mum had Dish Network when she moved in with us and we just let her contract run out.

We thought we would try basic cable after she died and it started out so much less. Now they have upped the price $10 for the same number of channels and we are still not watching it at all – maybe an hour a week – then there are too many ads…

It would be an easy drop for us from the budget.

I will follow through about the box…we have water problems here too…the signal does not come in from an antenna most days even for radio… our DSL computer line works better and better.

By: Ruth

Ruth — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:56:53 +0000

Speaking of TV, I'd highly encourage you to get a digital converter box. We get a lot more channels now than before and better quality than we had with cable. If you're rural, it might not work as well. We got our converter box while we still had cable and then compared. Better than our basic package. So as long as you're not hooked on the exclusive channels and just watch shows on Fox, CW, ABC, NBC, CBS, or your local news, you should be fine. Ruths last blog post..Baby Steps and New Year’s Resolutions

By: patricia

patricia — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:38:47 +0000

@Tammy,
It is so wonderful to have the Christmas things all packed up and put away – I can salute you on that experience.

I think this recession will be very good experience for my youngest child (age 22) She is trying to eat healthier for her money and make the food more dense. She is attempting to organize herself to get ready to meet the work force and succeed at finding a position. But then she calls and says I have no food money left, or gas money. I did ask for her to learn about money from Santa – and I am thinking this might be the giant sized lesson she needs to finally “get it”

We are in a feast or famine business so we have been here many times before and have many skills at surviving and now thriving, but it is still producing much stress for me and great sadness. I am worried about the youngest children. I have hope

By: Cricket/Tammy

Cricket/Tammy — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:57:35 +0000

Hey there Patricia! We will all be fine. We have each other right? I have my own business, well part owner, and we have just recently had to cut back some of our employees. This was so hard for me to do. The looks of their faces of disappointment. I am really keeping my hopes up that this will all turn around...but the problem is not soon enough. I think most of us is having to cut back. This was really something that I felt my oldest child needed to see. He is 14 and never in his lifetime as he witnessed hardship. The problem with him having to witness this is that he has many friends that their families are being impacted. As far as Christmas and the "after math" I just love when the things are all put away for the next year. I have one more box left to go. Cricket/Tammys last blog post..Who would I rather be?

By: patricia

patricia — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:35:50 +0000

Good Morning Blogger Dad – or afternoon for you, thank you for your comments.

I started with cable at about $15.00 a month for 12 channels – last year, but now they have raised the price to $25.00. We watch the news sometimes (More on the computer than tv) and Bill Moyer’s journal, so I feel like we don’t need the TV except as a Wii player and DVD player. It could be a good place to cut something out of the budget.

Our goal is to cut our energy bill and usage by 25% in 2009. That will bring us to about a 50% less energy usage which is our ultimate goal.

I just know that things will get better in the new year…I think folks are on hold/Neutral Zone until we see what the new Administration is truly going to take action on .

By: Blogger Dad

Blogger Dad — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:36:21 +0000

Hope things get better for you all.

I’m hopeful that things will get better this year.

As for cable, I cut that out a few months ago. I am now on the basic bare bones version which is just local channels for about $14 a month or so. I thought I would miss it, because I LOVE TV, but I’ve done pretty well with just the local stuff (and a decent internet connection).

Good luck.