Yes, I'm still here

Writing more than 140 characters has become the challenge of my life lately.  When I'm not able to max out that count, thoughts go to here: http://twitter.com/nicoletankovich Come listen to me there.

My personal history of 9/11 isn't about planes or deaths or ideals.  It's about friends.  I was blessed to have friends (sisters) that processed the days events as we watched them live on TV.  A friend (my roommate) that admonished me to leave campus when they evacuated us (for no reason really, we were in AKRON). Another friend that insisted I come home with her.  Friends I watched leap into action, eager to find some way to help, even in Ohio.

I don't have any other events to which to compare it.  My parents had JFK's shooting, grandparents had Pearl Harbor, still others had even more varied and less public events.  All I know is my generation continues to define itself as adults by 9/11.

We feel old when we realize there are people alive today that were not then.  We feel old when we remember others younger than us remember it only as children do - spurts and fits and confused patches of information, stitched together into a quilt of something important that happened that wasn't quite personal.

Some of our peers were driven to volunteer.  Others collected supplies for search and clean up teams.  Some of us lost loved ones or have a co-worker that missed a train or had something else happen to keep them at a distance.

September 11, 2001 was terrifying for many reasons.  For people like me, who were only tangentially connected to them, the events of that day caused a pause in an otherwise busy and all-too-introspective life.  I realized we were part of something larger -- of a country, of a world, and that not everyone liked us or our way of life.  It made all of that very real and very scary.

I don't have a soapbox today.  Just go hug your kids a little tighter and pause to appreciate your life as it is today.  And know that it could all change in an instant - so love it while you have it.

Someone tried to out on

Someone tried to put on his own pants... Got them on, just not quite right.

Cutting the Food Budget – Possible Strategies

A couple days ago, I asked all my FB friends for strategies to cut our food budget. Here's the list I got. My friends are geniuses. And also, THANK YOU... 



PLAN AHEAD:

• shop sales/ plan meals around sale items
• shop at Aldi
• Plan your meals, including snacks and lunches
• Buy at on sale en masse and stockpile things like:

• Facial tissue
• Toilet tissue
• Hair care products
• Body wash
• Feminine products – tampons, pads
• Contact solution (use FSA card)
• Canned food
• Dishwasher detergent

Make it or grow it

• Plant a garden
• Make your own bread
• can or freeze sale produce to use bounty later
• make your own yogurt
• dried apples

Buy in bulk when possible

• meat – Mosley’s or Carfagna’s boxes
• grains (rice, quinoa, flour)
• cereal (oatmeal, “Cheerios”, etc.)
• raisins
• milk
• cheese

Limit shopping

• “Allowance” - $20/week you can use on anything you want, including lunches out. Once
• it’s gone, it’s gone.
• Eat out only2x/month.
• Don’t shop – use your pantry!
• Buy the cheapest store brand/generic you can find for most things.
• For items you won’t buy store brand, use coupons and buy on sale.

Reduce your consumption:

• Don't buy cleaning supplies (rely on vinegar, lemon, baking soda, etc. instead of manufactured stuff)
• Pre-portion snacks, especially bulk items, to reduce waste
• Avoid items like:
• frozen foods (frozen veggies allowed, but only plain)
• soft drinks
• paper products
• processed food

You can also download it here:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BwSGlRSfWRiSQThScjVsanlzeGM

Project Me

I am now inspired by this - the Happiness Project.

The idea of committing to something like that for a year is DAUNTING to say the least.  But it is one day at a time that you accomplish it.

So here is my goal - everyday, do something to cultivate MYSELF.  Since I had a child and since I got married, I've been buried in the everyday, the survival.  Now I am realizing how much I miss myself, I miss not being consumed by the mundane.  I miss being able to lift my head up from Life just long enough to see small pieces of beauty in the stuff I pass everyday.

Join me won't you?  What will you do to cultivate yourself this year?