The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 31,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 7 Film Festivals
We had a surprise tonight at our local recycling center. A little possum all nestled in the plastics bin. He was probably cold so he wanted to settle in for the night. We put some newspapers around him to keep him warm. He didn’t flinch. Animals know when humans aren’t predatory. After recycling all of our plastic, glass, cans and paper we ventured on to our next dumpster.
Inside the dumpster was 2 crates of frozen fish, still in date. Several large containers of ice cream, toaster pastries for breakfast, some frozen vegetables, frozen tater tots, peanuts, bread, eggs, limes, milk, olives, mango slices, fresh fruit, deli sandwiches, ice cream pops and Slim Jim sausages. Probably could have gotten more but we were too cold and the truck was full.
The local food bank was thrilled to get the largess. We’re now thrilled to have tons of frozen tilapia and fish patties in our freezer.
May all of us have a happy, healthy and prosperous 2013.
Tonight’s dinner was from dumpster to table. After being out all day running errands, my husband and I were very hungry. We were tempted to stop at a local pizza eatery but had forgotten the coupon we needed. This saved us about $15.
We stopped behind our local diving haunt to see what was there. In it we found chicken wings, pumpkin cheesecake, sandwiches and other foods. What we didn’t cook for dinner, we put in nice containers and took it to the local food bank. This was food they could eat right now and not have to wait. In fact, the main man at the food bank told us the people there were getting spoiled. I said that’s a good thing.
So for dinner we had chicken wings, a deli sandwich, and a little slice of pumpkin cheese cake and had a fine dinner for all.
At another diving sight we found an electric blanket. The cord had been cut. It would have been too difficult to fix. We took out the remaining wires in the blanket and patched up any holes that there were there. It’s a nice polyester/felt blend type of king blanket. It’s very warm to sit with it on a cold winter night.
Voluntary poverty does not mean living a Spartan cold life. Voluntary poverty means we’ve shed the corporate shell and prefer to live a life with more free time and less drama. So for now we’ll earn enough money to pay our basic bills and necessities, and no more.
I learned how to sew, cook and can (food preservation) at a very young age. I learned to live with very little for a long time, so it’s second nature to me. So in exchange for a life free of corporate culture and mean bosses, I now have a life that I live on MY terms. With an abundance consciousness and attitude of gratitude, the sky is the limit.
Well ladies and gentleman, we’re all still alive, no destruction of the earth. It’s just plain cold here where I am. The wind certainly has a bite.
Found an entire box tonight of chips. The bulk of the big bags are going to the local church/food bank. The smaller chips are going along with us on our road trip to our house near the coastline.
We found about 6 pairs of new sunglasses (Disneyland and Barbie brand) for the little ones.
The grape and orange soda will go to the younger ones. We found a 12 pack of the non-name brand a few nights ago.
On another note. Tonight on the way back from the store this young kid had a neon green sign that said Yard sale in big letters. So we stopped. He was about 9-10 years old. Cutest darn kid you’d ever see. His little hair was so blond it was white. He had some VHS tapes, a game set, a boombox and a small color TV for sale. The only thing we really needed was a TV. He wanted $5 for the TV. He probably wanted to sell it as he’d gotten a new one for Xmas.
My husband looked at him askance and said in a teasingly way, does this thing work? Oh yes sir, in fact I’ll let you have it for $4. We both said sold! Brought it up, hooked up the digital box converter I’d purchased 4 years ago and we get a few measly channels. I don’t have Cable TV as I watch most of my shows online. So now I have a few news channels and I can watch my favorite show nightly, Seinfeld. I know, I know, the show is old but I still love it. I’ve watched every episode a gillion times and I still love the show.
All in all a good winter solstice night indeed.
I’ve been MIA. I know it. I promise to write more as I’ve been finding tons of stuff. The pictures will show the booty.
But on a sadder note, I lost a very close member of my family this month. He was sick all of November and it was touch and go. He was in and out of the hospital, hit by a very sudden illness that took all of us by surprise. Every time the phone rang, my heart sank.
It’s really taken it’s toll on me. He was a good man and almost like a father to me. He was a musician, a veteran, a good husband and a good dad. He will be missed by many. We had a military funeral for him, they played taps and my aunt received a flag in his honor, for service to his country and his family.
He was only 17 years older than me, so I had him around a long time. We used to do a lot of fun stuff, riding bicycles, seeing movies like “Jaws” and “Halloween”, swimming in the ocean or lake. Back then things were much simpler. We never locked our doors, and back in the late 60’s and early 70’s we never wore a seat belt! What freedom. Kids never had car seats and we lived.
Those days and his presence are gone. This post is for you Uncle James. You will be sorely missed.
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