when it all hits the fan....

Justin and I have been trying lately to get "more prepared" when it comes to emergency preparedness. We have become more aware through news and media of the terrible state of our economy and world affairs and we have been trying to get our house in order so that when it all does "hit the fan" we will be ready to keep our family safe and be able to provide accordingly. We still have a bunch to do, but we feel like we are on the right track with securing our food storage and emergency preparedness items.

My dad passed a valuable link to something Glenn Beck put together regarding "being prepared." It is Glenn's personal list of things he would do. Some of the things make more sense after watching the episode he does on his TV show (GBTV) but a lot of these are self explanatory. I know that he does a 14 day free trial on GBTV.com if you want to get the details of what some of these mean (if you do the 14-day trial, the episode that discusses this list is the 10/13/11 episode).  Anyway...some of these make you think....I know we are re-evaluating our own emergency preparedness to-do list!

BUY FARM LAND
GROW YOUR OWN FOOD. LIVE NEAR PEOPLE AND BEGIN TO MAKE ALLIANCES OF SKILLS (BARTER) LIVE NEAR FARM LAND

ELECTRONICS FREE
PAPER COPIES OF IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS (great link for this HERE)
KNOW WHERE YOUR DEEDS ARE. TAKE THEM IN EMERGENCY
RUSSIAN GANGS IN TROUBLE

COLLEGE/SCHOOL
APPRENTICESHIPS ARE THE FUTURE.
DISCUSS THE VALUE OF SCHOOL FOR WHAT YOU CAN EARN.
DO NOT LOOK FOR LABELS THEY WILL BECOME MEANINGLESS (YALE)
FIND OTHER FORMS OF SCHOOL. ON LINE.
TEACH YOUNG CHILDREN NOW THAT COLLEGE IS NOT A GIVEN
DEMAND MERIT FROM SCHOOL AND STUDENT OR PULL YOUR TIME/ $
EDUCATE YOURSELF AT ALL TIMES. ALWAYS READ.
HAVE A HARD COPY OF IMPORTANT BOOKS AND DOCUMENTS
LEARN OLD AND OR LOST PRACTICES.
MENDING/CANNING/FARMING
LEARN TO FIX AN ENGINE
RE-LEARN READING A MAP
KNOW THE NEWS. LIFE CAN CHANGE QUICKLY.
BE ABLE TO DEFEND YOUR POSITIONS BY KNOWING THE OTHER SIDE

TRADITIONS
PRESERVE WHAT IS IMPORTANT. SHED ALL OTHERS. CONSERVE AND
PRESERVE. RECLAIM AND RESTORE.

MONEY -
GOLD, FOOD, CIGARETTES, LIQUOR, SUGAR, AMMUNITION, GUNS, SEEDS,
SKILLS (BARTER) KNOWLEDGE
HAVE 30 DAYS CASH ON HAND
BUY A HOUSE
STOP ALL EXCESS SPENDING. BUY QUALITY ONLY. FORGET FASHION ONLY
MEASURE TWICE – CUT ONCE. DO NOT WASTE.
CONSIDER A FUEL EFFICIENT – SUV/TRUCK
CONSIDER SOMETHING PRIOR TO 1979 FIX YOURSELF

LOCATION
LIVE NEAR LIKE MINDED PEOPLE. TEXAS, MOUNTAINS OR WHERE GOD STILL PLAYS A ROLE IN REAL LIFE
IF YOU CANNOT MOVE (NO PLACE WILL BE UNTOUCHED) CREATE NETWORK

BUSINESS/WORK
BE THE BEST YOU CAN BE. BE THE ONE EMPLOYEE NO ONE CAN FIRE
SMALL BIZ – BE THE PRODUCT OR SERVICE NO ONE CAN CANCEL
CONSERVE AND PRESERVE
LEARN FROM THE DEPRESSION -
ADVERTISE WHEN NO ONE ELSE IS: CHEVOLET
STAY IN BUSINESS BUT DOWNSIZE AND PRESERVE (ARCH)
HONESTY, INTEGRITY AND CHARITY.

BE GEORGE BAILEY
SPIT YOURSELF OUT OF THE SYSTEM. TURN UPSIDE DOWN NOW
PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR HEART IS
DO BUSINESS IN SYMBIOTIC WAYS – WE NEED EACH OTHER
DO NOT TRY TO PUT OTHERS OUT OF BUSINESS, LET THEM DO IT.
GIMBLES AND MACYS
NEVER BE THE SMARTEST MAN IN THE ROOM
TAKE CARE OF YOUR EMPLOYEES THE BEST YOU CAN.
TAKE LESS AND GIVE MORE
READ FRANKLIN AND WASHINGTON

LIFE
DO NOT PLAN YOUR LIFE AND THEN MOVE. PLAN, LISTEN AND OBEY
PRACTICE AT LEAST FRANKLINS AMERICAN RELIGION
SERVE
HONOR ALL OF YOUR OBLIGATIONS
PRESERVE – FOOD, TIME, MONEY, ENERGY
TEACH YOUR CHILDREN THE BASICS. VALUES/PRINCIPLES
DO WITH LESS NOW. LESS OF A SHOCK IF IT COMES LATER
SERVE/SHARE
JOIN A 9.12 GROUP. LINK ON LINE. PHONE AND LOCATIONS
HAVE A MEETING PLACE ESTABLISHED FOR FAMILY
READ THE BIBLE
HAVE A GUN AND KNOW HOW TO SHOOT IT.
RESOLVE THOSE ISSUES THAT ARE HOLDING YOU BACK
STOP ALL BEHAVIOR THAT DOES NOT EXPAND YOU OR OTHERS INTO GOOD
MAKE AMENDS FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE
FIND PEACE AND GET TO WORK
TEACH CHILDREN WORK ETHIC
TOLERATE NOTHING THAT YOU FEEL IS WRONG BY REMAINING SILENT
LET YOUR CHILDREN SEE YOU STAND
BE HONORABLE IN ALL OF YOUR DEALINGS
UNDERSTAND THAT ANGER IS A PART OF LIFE BUT NEVER FEED IT
THE FIRST LOOK IS NOT A PROBLEM. IT IS THE SECOND LOOK.
NEVER BE THE BEST MAN/WOMAN IN THE ROOM.
BE HAPPY AND OPTIMISTIC. LIFE WILL GO ON. MAKE PLANS FOR THE
FUTURE. GET MARRIED. HAVE CHILDREN.

and last but not least, he advises to SING SONGS! 

{new love}

Gracie discovered that she really does like Meisje after all! She is the "pup's" new best friend and can't get enough loves, kisses and licks! Whenever Meisje licks her paws, Gracie licks her own hands. It's pretty dang cute! Gracie is a tender-hearted soul -- Sterling was in the kitchen goofin' off with a friend (kinda of horseplaying around) and Gracie got really concerned for Meisje, sitting right beside her, holding onto her while she watched the rowdy boys with a concerned look on her face. She is a lover! 

*before* it started sleeting this week....

   

 

 

The baby doll was due for a bath anyway

It's been one of those mornings...attached to the baby mornings....Gracie wasn't too thrilled that I perched the baby on the towel rack to be a spectator while she got washed up in the tub. The baby needed to be IN the tub. I've been meaning to throw the dolls in the washer for a week now...a little tub water couldn't do too much damage :) plus, I got my own happy (and clean) baby in return!

love you more than....

this is for my handsome hubby :) 

echoes through WalMart

Gracie and I were running errands and stopped by WalMart to buy Justin some treats (okay, to stock up the fridge so our hard-working husband and daddy wouldn't starve!) We were walking along and Gracie sees another baby being pushed in the cart. She immediately starts calling out "baby! baby!" (I swear she has a baby-tracker embedded underneath her skin somewhere!) The baby started making a high pitched noise (short intervals, but high pitched) as his mama pushed him in the opposite direction, down another aisle. Gracie decided she had to contribute and so she began doing the same thing. She would do the high pitched noise and this other little kid (who was LONG gone by now down some other aisle) would do it back. They did this back and forth for about 5 minutes with each other. I'm not gonna lie, I got a pretty good laugh while we were doing our shopping. I only hope the other mama did too!

She sacrifices for her babies

Gracie would only take bites of her oatmeal and bananas this morning if I would first give a "bite" to baby doll #1, then a "bite" to baby doll #2, and then she would open her mouth for a bite..breakfast went on like this for the ENTIRE bowl of oatmeal and bananas! She is such a good little mama to make sure her babies get fed before she does! (it's a good thing we didn't invite all 4 baby dolls to breakfast this morning!)