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A Man with a Guitar & a Message
Have you seen/heard the red-bearded man singing his song, Rich Men North of Richmond yet? He goes by the name Oliver Anthony online, but his real name is Chris, and he lives in Farmville, VA. He’s not a professional musician, he’s just a man with a guitar and a message. If you haven’t watched & listened to it yet, please do so now. [WARNING: Contains foul language.] (Feel free to listen to it again…and again.) What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Here’s mine…
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Independence Day? Land of the Free?
Hardly. It never was free. Everyone is too busy serving their money god from Kindergarten to grave. Dog eat dog. Climb the ladder. More money more money more money. Vote for freedom. Wait for Jesus to fix it. Work for the banker’s currency so they can have their infinite hot checks to write. Give me a break. I am just tired of it.
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Creating a Domain in the Real World
In recent years the Powers-That-Shouldn’t-Be in this world have been shoving us all into the virtual realm, whether we like it or not. And frankly, I don’t like it. I was already quite a bit behind the times, technologically speaking –– as I’m typing this post on a hard-wired desktop computer hooked up to a printer/copier/fax machine that’s nearly two decades old. (And my wired landline telephone is stationed just around the corner, with another extension linked to an answering machine.) While I was on the cutting edge of web-design-from-scratch and the blogosphere nearly twenty years ago, I have failed miserably at keeping up with the latest & greatest of…
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How Do I Manage It All?
Housekeeping and Raising a Family I’m grateful to have found FLYLady over twenty years ago after I moved in with my husband and became an instant stepmom. FLYLady helped me overcome the CHAOS (Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome) in my home and realize that taking care of it all was a demonstration of Finally Loving Yourself. While I have gleaned a lot of great things from my exposure to FLYLady’s philosophy & customizable routines, I have not always been very consistent in my efforts to stay on top of keeping house while raising a family over the years. That’s because I took on more than just managing a house &…
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Freeze Dryer Oil Pump Quandary
I’m just now finishing up my 40th batch of freeze drying with my Harvest Right freeze dryer, and I’m still loving it. 🙂 However, I have the Premier Oil Pump, which needs to have the oil changed every 20-25 uses, and I’ve been in a state of quandary as to how to manage the oil related to it.
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Waving through a Window
Last year I came across the movie musical, Dear Evan Hansen, at a local public library and checked it out. Ever hear of it? Google describes the movie as follows: Evan Hansen is an anxious, isolated high-school student who’s aching for understanding and belonging amid the chaos and cruelty of the social media age. He soon embarks on a journey of self-discovery when a letter he wrote for a writing exercise falls into the hands of a grieving couple whose son took his own life. Google search result Oh.my.goodness.
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Cultured Home Dairy Products
This past week, with the help of friends, we made our first batch of cultured butter & buttermilk, sour cream, cottage cheese, cream cheese and whey, all using raw milk obtained from our own milk cow share. It was very empowering & freeing, especially given how good for us I know these cultured foods are. Many years ago I bought the book, Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, and have only read portions of it thus far, but I refer to it often for a handful of recipes, and am seeking to systematically learn more about preparing & preserving food through alternate means. I knew when the time came for me…
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Freedom Scorecard
I came across this snazzy little tool presented by Tag at LifeDoneFree, which he calls a UGS Calculator. (“UGS” stands for “UnGovernable Score”.) Basically, it’s a gauge to determine how free you are based on what you deem is needed to be free. For a while now, I’ve been trying to keep tabs on taking care of our First- Things-First needs, and thensome, to get as free as we can be. And I really like how Tag has put this spreadsheet together to help monitor one’s progress on achieving freedom in the many aspects of our lives.
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Longing for Community
For many years we have longed for community. However, we weren’t interested in just any kind of community, because we’ve seen (& been a part of) a variety of communities over our lifetime that have left us feeling empty & stagnant. For us, given our concern for what we see going on around us & our passionate vision for the future (particularly for our kids!), we have desired to develop relationships with folks who are dedicated to actively cooperating their way out of the System. And then, naturally, we’d like to cooperate with them to achieve that in our own respective little worlds. So, beyond simply meeting & knowing people…
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Opting out of CBDC
Yesterday, I received an email announcing a 5-Day CBDC Opt-out Challenge, which appears to be promoting the idea of utilizing cryptocurrency. While I’m not a big fan of crypto, I personally do not want to jump on board the CBDC wagon. So, I’m doing what I can to migrate away from using digital dollars. We sell products online. We’ve been doing it for decades now. It’s what has enabled us to stay home to raise & homeschool our kids and build our homestead. But now, seeing the direction things are going in the world out there, I don’t want to continue down that path much longer.
