Yesterday, I was a thing-finder

August 29th, I was reading chapter 2 of Astrid Lindgren's book, Pippi Longstocking, to the girls (the 8 and 6 year old). Pippi introduced her new friends to the concept of thing-finding. They were to walk around town and look for stuff. They sure did find some things that day.

Wouldn't you know that yesterday, I couldn't find my bag for school so I had to carry 3 books in hand around campus and I was in such a rush that I didn't bring a pen out of my car upon exiting. Surely I can walk around campus and find a pen lying on the ground before I get to class, right? Not! I saw a long bobby pen and a pair of lady shoes on a bench. You can imagine my disappointment by the time I got into the building. Oh, there's someone's office. As I approached, there was a sign on the door that read "There is no office supplies in here" or something to that extent and I just laughed to myself and smiled at the lady in the room. So, I am not the only one, I see. So, I had to resort to asking my neighbor in class. I then needed to reach for my glasses in my jacket pocket and wouldn't you know, there was a pen in there waiting for me to find it. I know as I was rushing to class, I put my hand in both pockets and was rather disappointed that I didn't have a spare. So, how did that pen get in there. At the end of my school day, on my way back to my car, I found a spoon too. A spoon of all things, just laying on the ground waiting for someone else to find it.

I never thought to look for anything on the ground before reading that chapter. I challenge all my adult friends to be a thing-finder for a day.

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Open House is over

School for the youngens official starts tomorrow morning and I am too glad to send them all off. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday comprised of evening open houses at 3 different schools for 4 children. I am tired but happy to have met everyone's new teacher. I am truly hoping each child of mine a successful new year.

I am beat..... Thank you for stopping by and be sure to check out my sponsors.

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The Death of a Carrot (ETL #1)

I am no gardener but I sure as hell am trying to figure it out. I have seen tons of YouTube videos in regards to it and let me tell you I am pumped. Earlier this summer, a neighbor gave us some vegetable plants, so I sent my husband out to buy us a raised bed. I was not pleased with his position of the thing, but it is movable. I really don't have a green-thumb and forgot to water it. Needless to say, a few plants have died and well 2 tomatoe plants and 4 sweet potatoe plants remain.

(In this bed to the left: the leaves you see are of the sweet potatoe plants and in the front (the green sticks) are the tomatoes. Later post will be close-ups.)

I know we don't have any tomatoes yet and we should've, but now we are watering and it is still alive. The sweet potatoes are growing too, problem is, I am not sure yet when they will be ready. In the same bed, we have since added a few carrot seeds.

The last day to plant them for a fall harvest was August 15 and so, they are sprouting. We decided to use some space outside and use pots inside.

My carrot seeds inside are dying off. ;(. At the end of this week, I will get some soil from outside and mix it with the organic soil that are in the pots and hopefully have a better soil mix. The organic stuff came with wood chips or something, which to me, is too much.Besides, I can't have all the carrots ready at the same time.

Why carrots, you may ask, well they are $2.50 a bunch at the farmers market. Since there is only 1 farmer who seems to plant them, there is not good bargains. We want to juice them and when we first started, we brought 2 bunches and quickly realized that 2 is not enough for six. I have a dream that in the morning, I will juice the kids some fresh veggies before they are off to school. Our son, can't drink it because he has oral allergy syndrome. So if you do the math, 5 bunches at least 3x a week would equal $15 a week. Not economical, so we purchased a packet for less than $2. After this harvest, we will be better prepared for spring gardening.

It is gettin pretty late to plant other seeds this season, but I will go to Walmart, the local hardware store and Lowes to see what veggie plants are available. Here is a photo of our future raised area. I can't wait to get started on the bed in the front of the house, we will be using concrete blocks.

Thank you for reading, this post is the official start of a new series called Eat To Live (ETL) which will chronical how we tend to grow more of our own foods right in our yard. I hope you enjoyed!!

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Schools In (LWL #1)

Just like the kids, I am super excited about the first day of school and this excitement happens on the first day of each semester for me. Taking off this past summer felt good, but I am ready to move on to the next chapter. This year is a bit different because I am attending North Carolina A & T (NCAT). I was successful in going part-time at my job which should be very helpful when it comes to studying, but it may deeply hurt my household financially.

As the semester progresses, I will blog about our journey. We are a family of 6, that's 2 adults both in college (1 is employed part-time while the other is not), 4 children (our son is 16 and going into the 11th grade, our daughter is 13 and going to the 8th grade, the second daughter is 8 and going to the 3rd grade and finally the baby in the family is 6 and she is going to the 1st grade). *I must add that we have 2 older daughters (I am their 2nd mother) and 2 grandchildren (our grand-daughter is 10 while our grandson is arriving late November). We are super excited.

We have been surviving on one income for the past year and a half and now, it is about to get really tight. I chose to work part-time because the bigger picture outweighs the current picture. Even though I was working full-time and going to school full-time for the past 2 years, it was really starting to get harder. My grades were horrible, mostly Cs and I had to drop a lot of classes. Our hopes is that my husband will get a job and we will be OK, but in essence, it doesn't matter; we have to learn to live with less in order to have longevity.

Each post in this series will be labeled (LWL #?), living with less. I will continue to share poetry, articles, insights, etc. If you haven't already joined the RSS feed or subscribed, feel free to do so NOW. Please explore my sponsors pages as well (you can help us by clicking on them).

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Search Engine Keyword Placement–placing Keywords in Strategic Locations | Webupon

Hands down, this is a very easy to follow article on SEO. If you are a fellow blogger, I highly recommend this quick read.

Search Engine Keyword Placement–placing Keywords in Strategic Locations | Webupon

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Deal or No Deal

In all honesty, this debt ceiling issue or the government dept is scary as hell. I haven't been watching this game very closely, so I'd admit, I don't know what is really going on. But the key word that always gets my attention is CUTS. How much can one cut. How many great programs will get cut. How much will education and senior programs get cut.

No one really seems like they are dealing with the issue of tax cuts for these big businesses. According to the organization, Unite for a Fair Economy, corporate tax cuts are not creating jobs. In fact, these companies are cutting jobs. A couple of years back, Dell was offered an incentive to open a plant in NC, low and behold, they too were threatening to close down and get rid of over 900 jobs. These incentives are for years, like 10 and 20 years even. How is it that the whole government; local, state, big and little, Democrats and Republicans alike, keep this mess going on. Then, when election time comes (every year) someone is talking about how they are going to fix it.

It seems like an easy fix to most of us, everybody needs to do their share. STOP CORPORATE TAX CUTS and I am sure the bills will be paid. TAX THE MILLIONAIRES and I am sure the bills will be paid. And one more thing before I go, for all the rest of us, STOP BLAMING THE PRESIDENT AND THE GOVERNMENT for no jobs. When was the last time any of us went to a government office to get a job at a local plant or call center or bank. I mean I can go on, but I won't. I am telling you if you want to blame anyone for the lack of jobs, it is the companies themselves. They want to maintain and exceed their profit margins. BOTTOM LINE.

Be sure to leave a comment below, keep it clean. That's all for now, be sure to visit my sponsors. Have a GREAT DAY!!!

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