To Try Men's Souls

So, the last book I read, he also authored this one, To Try Men's Souls, along with Newt Gingrich. The duo has also co-authored other historical books about Pearl Harbor, WWII, the Civil War, and now, the beginnings of the Revolution.

As if anyone could really truly understand the desperation and suffering in those weeks and months as the British and German armies pushed the colonial militias back and back and further back; starvation, cold, storms, desertions, loss of morale...

I really enjoyed reading this and getting another view on George Washington, but also on the men of the militias. The writing really drew me into the stories behind the stories. More than one time I was overcome with a huge sense of gratitude for the people who have done and suffered so much so we can have the freedoms we enjoy today. Never again will I take my freedom, all of my freedoms, for granted. And, because of Washington's example and determination, he has shown all of us that freedom is not won and lost by just a few, but of an entire collective. Yes, some with think it easier to go along with the current situation. That requires less effort, emotion, work, heart. But, to fight for the good of nation, to fight for what is right... that takes courage and determination. Because of these, we will never be the same:

"These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: ~~'Tis dearness only that gives everything its value." (Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, Number1, December 19, 1776).

I will never be the same

What ever happened to...

I think, next Sunday, I will put together a "Countdown to Christmas" calendar. I'm just so excited for the Holiday Season to get started! But, since I've had time to think about it, I don't want our Christmas countdown to overshadow Thanksgiving.

I feel bad for Thanksgiving; it gets completely and consumerly bypassed. Yes, I just created a new word : consumerly. And, since I created it, it IS spelled correctly and I AM ignoring the red underline.

Anyway, my point. Eliza asked me today when Santa became a part of Christmas. We talked about what Santa represents, serving others. And what happens when we serve others? And I pray my children will learn this through our struggles... Gratefulness. Simple gratitude. When we do things for other people, we learn to be grateful for what we have.

But why do retailers completely bypass this holiday? Because consumers don't buy presents for it? I guess we could start... :) Hey, Bro, here's a bronzed cornucopia for your display. Enjoy! :) Yeah, probably not. BUT, that doesn't mean I have to bypass it and just completely JUMP to the crazy part of the holiday season. I cherish the slow-down before the frenzied crayz of the end of the year. November truly slows down; time even moves back an hour :)

So, here I am, slowing down, counting my blessings and trying to bring my children along to realize those same blessings. Thus, The Annual Count Your Blessing Month. Join me! And pray I have hair left to style :)

Greatful for Patriots' Dreams

So, I've started riding the train to work again, with mixed emotions, especially at 4:30 in the morning... Anyway, gas is money. Enough said. So, with all that extra time in the morning, I've blissfully gone back to reading!! I downloaded this book on a recommendation from this food storage website.

In September, the website did an emergency preparedness drill. Each day for 7 days, they gave a challenge and you had to function in that challenge for the day. And, for the whole 7 days you weren't to go to the store, spend money (other than work needs) or buy gas (again, unless you were traveling for work, etc). Very interesting stuff!! Honestly, I wasn't in a situation where I could follow all the challenges, but I read them each day :) and were needless to say, thought provoking. I've added many things to my emergency preparedness room and list of future things to add.

After it was all over, they started a group book discussion on this book. I'm not participating in the Group Discussion, but I did want to read the book. And boy, am I glad I did!! Holy cow, have you ever thought about living, completely living, without electricity? None! In an instant, gone?!? Wow. Reading this book not only gave me thought to things I need in my storage, but also was such an emotional roller coaster! It literally brought out the worst in humanity but also the best. I read it much faster than I intended, not just my 3 days commute to and from work, but I would read at night and every other free minute I had! :) Highly recommended!

After I finished, I looked up other books by the author. Low and behold, he's written and co-written a handful of historical and historical fiction books! Sweet! Next up: To Try Men's Souls, about George Washington and the Christmas March across the Delaware, the last stand of Washington's men, "Victory or Death" was their battle cry... I'm only in the first chapter, but can tell I will relish my commuting time.

Well, why not?

I guess I can shoot for once a month, right? Eh... sure, why not!

I guess I can at least post once a month :)

I'm just super glad Halloween is behind me and I can move on to the Holiday Season! :) I've never really liked Halloween...don't like painting my face (just makes it itch)...never liked getting dressed up (thinking of costumes gives me head aches)...and all that walking, in the cold, just to beg for candy that will eventually make me sick?!? Naw. I can live with out it, and I don't like dragging the kids through it, even though, yes I'm sure they have fun... but it's a ton of effort on my part that I'm not terribly excited about.

However, I don't want to pass my prejudices onto my children, so I participate in the obligatory Halloween holiday activities. Much to my dislike, we usually carve just one pumpkin. This year, for some reason, I was feeling spirited and we carved two :) Then, I even roasted the seeds! Never done that (don't know why) but maybe that will help ease the carving burden because they were fantastic! As for costumes, yes, I buy costumes. Well, expect this year. E wanted to be a witch again, and since I saved her costume from last year (which was about 2 sizes too big!), score! Then, I talked L into being a ghost :) Bring out the white sheet! 2 for Mom!

As for the whole begging-for-candy thing, we went to the ward Chili Cook-Off (to which I brought potato soup because I figured my children weren't the only children who don't like chili). There was to be a Trunk-or-Treat to follow, but the downpour brought it inside the church :) Ghouls and Goblins Trick-or-Treating inside a Church...hehehe. Anyway, because of the cold and rain it didn't take much convincing of the children to stay home and enjoy the spoils while watching a movie with popcorn and hot chocolate. 3 for the lazy Halloween Mom :)

And now, I can start counting all my blessing, because this is the annual Count Your Blessing Month. Or so I will name it. For now, I'm grateful my husband has found another job, with a reputable company. He'll be gone a lot, but it will be worth it in the long run.

TTFN...

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Happy Planning

So, about a year and a half ago, I was diligent and finally put together 72 hour backpacks for all 5 of us - clothes, food, water, mess kits. I felt really good about at least that part of my food storage beginnings. I couldn't really do much beyond that because we had moved from our house to a small student apartment, so storage was tight, but the backpacks were great to store under the beds. Plus, it was a HUGE weight off my shoulders.

When we moved to our present home, I figured we should go through them and update the clothes and the food kits. L's bag still had pull-ups in it and 2T clothes! :) So, I figured, since Fall Conference was coming up, we'd use that weekend, every fall, to update our backpacks. So, every October, during Conference Weekend, we would eat the food from our 72 hour kits, take out the old clothes, put in new clothes and make new food kits!! :)

The food kits were so easy because they are super basic, enough to sustain life, not provide a full course meal. Besides, they have to be portable. The meal ideas I took from a Stake Preparedness activity a few years ago and just times by 5 and added a few small things because there was room.

Oatmeal, hot chocolate, drink boxes, granola bars, fruit roll-ups (don't use fruit snacks, they will become hard) cheese and pb crackers, tuna, ramen, suckers, hard candies. I made a meal plan chart but I can't get the format to copy here but if you're interested, let me know and I can email it to you. Otherwise, take these ingredients and make 3 breakfasts, 3 lunches and 3 diners out of them. The suckers and candy are for snacks, and to keep saliva in your mouth to keep from getting too thirsty.

I splurged for the tuna packets just so I didn't have to worry about a can opener and packed two per bag just to have extra protein. Also, I packed an extra hot chocolate packet. For the hard candy, at the store I found Tootsie Roll pops and thought that would be an nice treat so bought enough for 1 for each day, plus some wrapped hard candies. The pack I made a while back had raisins and trail mix, which sounds like a good idea, but they ended up like tiny boxes of rocks :) so we passed on the raisins and upped the cheese and pb crackers! Plus, I wanted to maximize the protein and calorie intake.

These are all just suggested food items. Feel free to add or take out whatever you'd like. All of these items, when grouped for one person, will fit into 1 gallon sized ziplock bag :)

Like I said, super simple but pretty taste! I guess we'll find out next year, hoping we don't have to actually use them before then :)

Also, I just wanted to make a note of how I organized the backpacks. Hopefully assuming we are all evacuating or leaving together, the 72 hour items are distributed as follows:

D's bag: extra water, small cooking source, extra fuel, 2 mess kits (his and mine), emergency blanket, hygiene kit, hand warmer, flash light, radio, first aid kit

My bag: is actually a small rolling suit case because it has both mine and D's clothes and both our food kits, another emergency blanket, glow lights and hand warmers (plus, I will probably be carrying L's bag so I needed another form of transporting the stuff I needed to take)

J's bag: his clothes and food kit, his mess kit and a roll of tp, an emergency blanket, 1 bottle of water, a glow light and hand warmers

E's bag: her clothes and food kit, her mess kit and an extra hygiene kit, an emergency blanket, 1 bottle of water, a glow light and hand warmers

L's bag: her clothes, food kit, mess kit, an emergency blanket, another roll of toilet paper, 1 bottle of water, a glow light, hand warmers and a package of baby wipes (can never be too clean in an emergency)

It wasn't really practical for L to have to carry as much as J, so I divided the essentials up. D gets the heavy stuff :) If we have more than a few minutes to grab stuff, we have the packs now stored with our camping stuff so we can grab sleeping bags and a stove with out taking more time. I know there are things, too, over time that I think, Oh, I need to add that to our packs! Like more hand warmers and glow sticks (great buys during Halloween clearance)! Also, I just remembered I need to put games and activity books or coloring books into the packs! The kiddos will need something to keep them occupied while out and about!!

Just thought I'd share my learning experience so you can know, it's not as overwhelming as it seems. Once you have all the food arranged, you can get it all put together in just a few hours! Happy Planning :)