Personal finance is 80 percent behavior and 20 percent head knowledge.

I love Dave Ramsey. Listen to him almost every day. I don't work his plan all the time, but I have enough variant on it that I pay cash for everything, and we don't carry any debt as a family, either, except for the mortgage. I've got to reconfigure and renew working it again, though - been backsliding and not paying attention, and it's cost me bit of my savings to be as undisciplined as I've been this month. Actually, more like six weeks. And my lil truck needs tires, so my wastefulness is a bit painful right now.

I like having one (or several) less thing to worry about. Lord knows I can find SO MUCH to fret about, without adding car payments or credit card balances into the mix!

Thanks, Dave, I'm back on the path.

I got nuthin'

It's Thursday after the book study I attend and I'm pretty tired, but I have a request. If you read one of my posts, would you please attempt a comment? I got word it was impossible for some people to add a comment, and though I do write mostly for me, I'd LOVE some feedback. I reconfigured the comment thingy, it's now a pop-up instead of embedded, so I need you to add a little note to see if it's working. If the durn thing still won't work, shoot me an email so I know, ok? Thanks for your consideration and your continued reading!

One other thing - if you post anonymously because you can't or don't want to sign in to whatever your choices may be, please sign your comment so I can tell who you are. Not as quick at deciphering as I used to be, y'know.

Pressing business?

I'd like a new ironing board. A GOOD (read: expensive) one, with a preference for the old wooden one my mum has. I like the fact that the one I own now hangs on the back of the office door, as it dispenses with the annoying chore of getting it out and setting it up, not to mention a PLACE to store the damn thing. But it needs a new cover and pad VERY badly. So, I'm doing a bit of shopping and waffling...

THIS, however, is NOT what I'm planning to do with it, so even a cheap one would do!

(Thanks to Margo's Maid at The Shadowlands for the link to a fun site!)

UPDATE! In the black small spot in my heart where Revenge lives, I enjoy THIS ONE!

"Free, cheap abortion is a policy of social defense."

Do you think Planned Parenthood is a program to help educate and inform women and girls about making babies, not making babies, the functions of their bodies, and other realities girls should learn from their doctors and parents but just can't for some reason?

Do you think Roe v Wade was about "women's rights" about what happens to their own bodies?

For many years, I thought exactly that way. My 'thoughts,' such as they were, were based on a complete lack of honest information about these topics. I believed what I heard in The Media, mostly without question. As I matured, as I learned more, the truth became clear to me. I have moved from being an uninformed 'women's rights' advocate, to being a fairly well-informed Constitution-centered pro-life advocate.

Jonah Goldberg gives us the REAL deal, as he writes about one of the Supremes, a WOMAN who gets to make these decisions for all the rest of us...

Non-government changes

I began this "stage" of my life at the young age of 45. The symptoms began to manifest the summer before we transferred to Hawai'i, but didn't arrive full-blown till September - I remember the FIRST DAY of extreme discomfort...and put it off to moving stress and "climate change" from SoCal hot and dry to tropical balmy and damp. After about 7 weeks of mood swings and lack of sleep, I went to see a doc at Kaneohe. She did the blood test, but gave me Prempro anyway...and within 20 minutes of taking the first dose, I could tell the difference. What would have been a severe hot flash became a THREAT of a hot flash (I was having flashes every 41 minutes, like clockwork - day AND night), and 12 hours later, I wasn't having even those. So I slept for the first time in weeks. I didn't spend hours crying about nothing.

They will pry my HRT from my fingers if they want it back. I ain't givin' it up.

But Celia Rivenbark has a much funnier take than mine!

Thomas Tuesday is here!

Oh, c'mon, you surely knew this was coming, didn't you? Thomas Sowell is a Hero of mine, not because of his accomplishments, but because of his humility and his quiet dignity. His writing makes me think he's quite "comfortable in his own skin," as I've heard it stated. He thinks his basketball skills left much to be desired, but he should've seen 4'2" me play in a tournament in high school (because there were only 5 regulars that showed up...and my 'best friend' fouled out). Don't believe I ever played again, unless forced to in P.E.

From Mr. Sowell's column at JewishWorldReview.com:

When I was in school, I was so awful in basketball that the class coach wouldn't even let me try out for softball, at which I was actually pretty good.
...
Most discussions of "disparities" and "inequities" are a prelude to coming up with some "solution" that the government can impose, winning politicians some votes in the process. How could the disparity between Michael Jordan and me be solved?

We could change the rules of basketball, in order to try to equalize the outcomes.
...
But, conceivably at least, we might change the rules some more to make the results come out less lopsided, in order to create "social justice."

The problem with trying to equalize is that you can usually only equalize downward.

...

If you are going to have these lower physical requirements be the same for both women and men, that means that you are not only going to have women who are not capable of carrying someone out of a burning building, you are also going to have men who are likewise incapable of carrying someone to safety.

Most activities do not exist for the sake of equality. They exist to serve their own purposes — and those purposes are undermined, sometimes fatally, when equality becomes the goal.

Just pics

Not inspired, not creative. So check out my Pixie a few days back,
when it was VERY hot outside...

Mark Martin is still nifty at FIFTY!

My Favorite Old Guy does it AGAIN! Hot damn and congratulations, Mark, thanks for cheering up my Saturday!

From Fanhouse.com -

"I'm going to feel like hell tomorrow because I ain't going to sleep much tonight,'' Martin said on Saturday night. "When I'm pumped up driving fast race cars, I certainly don't feel 50.''

He's far from the sunset of his career and proved it under the lights on the 1.5-mile track.

From Chicago Tribune online -

The close-cropped stubble on his head contains as much salt as pepper, and the wrinkles run across Mark Martin's face like long-ago dried-up riverbeds. And for a while, twilight racing had a far less poetic meaning, semi-retirement leaving him with a loose grip on the track.

So it was with unmistakable giddiness that a man a half-century old took to the radio early in the LifeLock.com 400 on Saturday, his Chevrolet efficiently chopping through traffic and turning the Chicagoland Speedway's 1.5-mile tri-oval into a veritable senior circuit.

"This is easy, bud," Martin told crew chief Alan Gustafson.

He spoke far, far too soon, as double-file restart dueling extinguished his well-earned lead and then returned it to him, all in the final 50 laps.

"Rick Hendrick, he wouldn't quit," Martin said of the team owner who coaxed him back to full-time driving this year. "I was persuaded to do it. And I can't believe what an idiot I would have been. I had no idea it could be this much fun. The whole thing has been beyond my dreams."

• "He's been in his prime for 30 years now."
- Tony Stewart on Mark Martin

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

From the Weekly Standard blog, a post by Jamie Fly:

During President Obama’s almost six months in office, support for two key aspects of his national security policy has been greater on the right than on the left. This fact has been curiously underreported.

On Afghanistan, conservatives were quicker than their counterparts on the left to praise and defend President Obama’s decision to send an additional 21,000 troops to Afghanistan. On Iraq, they hailed his willingness to go back on a campaign pledge and modify his timeline for troop withdrawals from sixteen to nineteen months.

On the left, Obama’s policies were greeted with concern about Afghanistan becoming “Obama’s Vietnam” and the formation of a “Get out of Afghanistan” caucus made up of the remnants of the “Get out of Iraq” caucus. Key Democrats have threatened to impose benchmarks and limit funding for the war in Afghanistan if progress is not made within a year.

Despite this support from Republicans who want to ensure that the United States does not desert Iraq or Afghanistan before the job is done, recent comments by Obama administration officials indicate that the administration’s approach may not continue to be so worthy of praise.

Read the rest.

Busy! Linkages to fill the time.

Here are some links to some things I found interesting, as I'll be mostly offline till we conclude the business with the computer. I don't even have cutesy amusing little remarks to go with 'em, just the link and maybe a line from the story. You understand, my brain doesn't always work real well first time around...and you don't need my commentary, anyway, do you? If you want good commentary, go visit Paco Enterprises or the Grouchy Conservative Pundits - they always have a point of view or one of the commenter's got a point of view that'll either amuse you or piss you off. And that's a GOOD thing. Y'all have a fine day, y'hear? Thanks for stopping by!

Bert Prelutsky -
The question that’s been preying on my mind is who is best suited to study those strange beings known as liberals. It strikes me that they’d be fit subjects for psychiatrists, who might be in a position to figure out why they revere the people they do -- people such as Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, Al Gore and Ted Kennedy -- men who haven’t a single notable accomplishment to their name, aside from either winning elections or eliminating them altogether.

Cal Thomas -

Before buying a car, a shopper might be expected to ask people who own the same brand how they like theirs, or at least consult Consumer Reports. Before we buy the biggest transformation of health care in history and its consequences, shouldn't we first look at countries where government makes most health care decisions to see how things are working for them?

Larry Elder -

President Obama and the Democratic Party's congressional supermajority represent nothing less than a grave and gathering threat to that which made America great — free enterprise, competition, allowing people to keep as much of their own money as possible, and the assumption that people know better how and on what to spend their money than does government.

Bob Tyrrell -

With the government suddenly looming so large in the life of every American, it is time for us to consider what is a singularly American possession: individual liberty. The Founding Fathers created a government that was uniquely solicitous about individual liberty. With the federal government so deeply involved in our health care, our banking, our manufacturing and the many targets of its $787 billion stimulus program, it is time to think about your liberty vis-a-vis the government bureaucrats who are about to minister to you.

Jonah Goldberg -

In July of 2007, Obama said that he would order U.S. forces out of Iraq as quickly as possible, even if he knew it would lead to an Iraqi genocide. This makes Obama the first president in modern memory to have suggested that causing a genocide would be in America's national interest.

"If it looks bad, it is bad."

Please take the time to read this article on Spiritual Survival , from Rabbi Yonason Goldson.

Nostalgia, familiarity, and wishful thinking often assert themselves so powerfully that they overshadow knowledge and common sense. We become so focused on what we expect or what we want that we can make decisions with no rational justification — sometimes with catastrophic consequences.

Wednesday? How'd it get to be Wednesday?

I didn't post yesterday, and almost missed today. Internet service is dodgy at best, and I can't stay on long...and I have dozens of things to do that really are more pressing than posting links to the columns written by a man I think may be smarter than the entire population of Capitol Hill put together. Including the ones I kinda like.

Since I missed it yesterday, my link to Thomas Sowell, Part I, is his column at Townhall.com. The second part is today's column from JewishWorldReview.com. I used to read Townhall all the time, no idea why I don't still do so...well, yes, I do know - I have a ton of other things to get done and a Pixie to potty train. This stuff don't do itself, y'know?

There's been a lot of rain 'round these parts today...and yesterday...and even Monday. I like that it's not 110 in the shade, the cloud cover keeps it almost bearable, temperature-wise...but I think my hair must be getting curlier as I age, is that possible? I don't really wanna turn into Raggedy Ann or Shirley Temple. Really. And I don't like to futz with my hair, it's partly why I cut it off last year. May have to cut it again to keep it in line but I was hoping to make it to August...

One more quick thing...our plan to not become independently wealthy has had some serious assistance recently and is succeeding beyond our wildest dreams. The computer needs an overhaul and some new additions, as I mentioned previously. And I gotta have new tires on my ol truck so it doesn't qualify as a death machine. I don't wanna spend money on such an old wreck, about half of what I could sell it for, I think, but I don't have any other options that don't include being in debt. Which is like garlic to a vampire in this household. And we're going to help out Lovely Daughter so she can take a college course. Between them, she and her hubby make too much money to get financial assistance. Ain't that a kick in the head? Lower middle class who work for everything they have gets crapped on, while the "poverty-stricken" who drive snazzy new SUV's & have their nails done every week on welfare money get to attend school on my dime, too.

I'm glad to help my kids when I can, though, because it's not something I thought would ever happen. Ever. Makes me feel good, and useful, to be able to help.

Life Is Good.

And don't you forget it!

Karma

A few years back, My Chief (retired) bought a copy of Windows, while deployed for Uncle Sam's Yacht Club and Flying Circus, for ten bucks. It has served us well, and Gates never seemed to miss the money we weren't sending him. However, the time has come when more of some certain things are needed on the computer, and nothing can be loaded without a Windows update...which we can't get, because it's a pirate. Tomorrow, my loving husband is going out to buy us a 'new' computer with a registerable and updatable operating system. Won't that be nice???

Posting and reading and commenting may, once again - for a different reason - be spotty at best and severely delayed at worst. I'll still be checking in now and again, but this'll mean I can concentrate on hanging out with the Pixie, so it's certainly not a BAD thing. She is a lot of fun, and cuter'n Hell, too.

Have a FABulous day..or two!

Busy with the Pixie

Happy Monday! My BEEootiful Pixie is 21 months old today. *sigh* We're a bit distracted, so posting, commenting, and even my newspaper reading will be minimal, to say the least. Grandpa gets home shortly, but have errands to run then, if the weather holds.

We're distracted because we've begun the - hopefully short - process of potty training. So far, the potty has gotten wet one time! Perfectly normal, perfectly expected...perfectly awesome.

As American as...

...small Western towns...

...hot dogs...

... Lady Liberty,...

baseball, baseball, baseball, and

FIREWORKS, FIREWORKS, FIREWORKS!

Happy Birthday, America! May you have many many more!

UPDATE: Whoa, I almost forgot the parade!

UPDATE2: And parade pictures! And more parade pictures from a different town (and these are just too cute)!

Independence Day Quotes

Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.
~George Bernard Shaw

Many politicians are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident proposition that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom. The maxim is worthy of the fool in the old story who resolved not to go into the water till he had learned to swim.
~Thomas Macaulay

I prefer liberty with danger to peace with slavery.
~Author Unknown

We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic not to find soil for their ploughs but to secure liberty for their souls.
~Robert J. McCracken

Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.
~Albert Camus

Those who won our independence believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty.
~Louis D. Brandeis

You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.
~Erma Bombeck

It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you.
~Dick Cheney

It's Independence Day!

Here are some things I came across while looking for something inspirational or uplifting - or amusing - to share on Independence Day. I didn't have a lot of time for it, I'm kinda new at this, y'know? I'm off to a meeting real soon, then have a bit of corn on the cob to prepare for the deep freeze, and I plan to make potato salad for our dinner later. Got some chicken breasts marinating in Korean bbq sauce, which will go nicely with the corn and potato salad, I think. Maybe some sliced cucumbers & tomatoes as a nice fresh side. Good food and baseball today, with racing under the lights at Daytona as a nice end to the day. Man...I got a great life. Now, let's see what we've got here...


Like other heroes of our founding generation including Paul Revere the silversmith, William Dawes the tanner, and Joseph Warren the doctor, Adams never thought of organizing as a full-time occupation; he just lent a hand where he thought it was needed.

Please read the rest at American Spectator.

There's also An Enlisted Man's Point of View by George H. Wittman that will give...yep, a completely different point of view from what the DemSM (Thanks for that, Andrea) will tell you on any given evening news.

Here's a bit from that article:
It might be a good idea for President Obama and his civilian advisors to spend a few weeks with the Army and Marines to get some idea of what really motivates the U.S. military. Apparently General Jim Jones, USMC Ret., the national security advisor, has forgotten what he once knew.

This column from the online version of the Wall Street Journal is from Memorial Day, but remembering Heroes is a good thing in ALL seasons.

You may think Our Elected Officials speak in gibberish - and I wouldn't argue the point - but it seems Thomas Jefferson's friend wrote him a letter in cipher that has only recently been decoded.

And last, from William J. Bennett and John Cribb, an article on one of the greatest writings of all time, in my humble opinion. I used to know it by heart, but with age and damage, most parts have gone to the recycle bin of my brain. It is still a beautiful and inspirational piece to me.

I wish you all the finest Independence Day imaginable. Be safe, and take care of each other, y'hear? Thanks for stopping by!

Governor Palin stepping down

From the Office of the Governor of Alaska:

“People who know me know that besides faith and family, nothing's more important to me than our beloved Alaska,” said Governor Palin. “Serving her people is the greatest honor I could imagine.” Standing outside her home in Wasilla, Alaska, Governor Palin reflected upon some of the administration’s accomplishments for Alaska as she approaches her final year in office. “I am determined to take the right path for Alaska even though it is not the easiest path,” said Governor Palin after the announcement. “Once I decided not to run for re-election, I also felt that to embrace the conventional ‘Lame Duck’ status in this particular climate would just be another dose of ‘politics as usual,’ something I campaigned against and will always oppose. It is my duty to always protect our great state. With that in mind, my family and I determined that it is best to make a difference this summer, and I am willing to change things, so that this administration, with its positive agenda, its accomplishments, and its successful road to an incredible future, can continue without interruption and with great administrative and legislative success. I look forward to helping others – to fight for our state and our country, and campaign for those who believe in smaller government, free enterprise, strong national security, support for our troops, and energy independence.” The transfer of power will occur following the Governor’s picnic in Fairbanks on July 26. At that point in time, Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell will be sworn in and Lieutenant General Craig Campbell will assume his role as Lieutenant Governor. Governor Palin will spend July 4th in Juneau.

Breitbart: Yes, that's it for now, and I don't have time to search for more, going out to dinner with some ladies...

from FoxNews.com

If you've made prayer part of your life, please petition your Higher Power on behalf of one of our own Soldiers.

From FoxNews.com:

An Afghan police official said the soldier went missing during the day Tuesday in the Mullakheil area of eastern Paktika province. Gen. Nabi Mullakheil said there is an American base in the area.

For more, on a MUCH more personal level, see AFGHANISTANSHRUGGED.

On character

I've had a bit of a lesson in gossip and tale-telling this week. We all know, don't we, that anything we say can be twisted by someone else and turned into something ugly, even when what was said was what we thought of as merely informational. Many of the people I know should be politicians, because they're VERY GOOD at it.

Rabbi Twerski's lesson this morning seems applicable in my situation. Thanks for the reminder, Rabbi!

If you wish to know the true mettle of a person, look at his disciples. The true nature of a person is revealed in those whom he taught. Their character, their behavior and their belief reflect that of the teacher.

Before accepting anyone as authoritative on how one should live, check into how he has lived his life.