Election 2012, Opinion and New Direction

Wow...this election has me boiling! Seriously, are there that many stupid people in America??

Last election I cried. I really did cry. This guy is dangerous to our nation if for no other reason than economically. But...I could be forgiving. People were just not prepared. They didn't know any better. And it was a cool thing in history to be a spectator as the first non-white president was elected in America. That part of it was exciting, but couldn't it have been Alan Keyes? At least he had a financial brain in his head. Okay, maybe I've gotten a little political already. But forgive me--at least it's the day after election. I'm not a political writer and at least you'll only hear it once, right?

Forget decorating! If President Obama has anything to do with it, our economy is headed for the sewers. Forget how much a gallon of paint will cost, can we afford a gallon of gas or a roasting chicken?

Am I paranoid? Maybe. Maybe not.

I always veer to the side of paranoid, though. I write. I have an imagination. It's fun to wonder and speculate. It's great for writing fiction to allow your brain to go there. But...the thing is, at least this time in history, it may not be paranoia anymore. Sad. It may just be common sense. He DID put us into a butt load of debt. Debt we as a nation could never recover from.

"Just as the rich rule the poor, so the borrower is servant to the lender." -Proverbs 22: 7

Yes, our country was already in debt, but the farther you fall into that pit the more enslaved you become. This is not just a truth related to the individual. A country can also be servant to another country and that's where Obama has put us. He has enslaved us to others by putting us so far into debt that we can't ever pull out of it.

I'm no prophet and certainly not good at understanding politics, but isn't it common sense that there is something seriously wrong happening with our economy? I think so. Are we headed for the next Great Depression? I certainly hope not, but I think we are in a place in this country that it's no longer crazy or delusional to be preparing for an economic crash.

I'm not saying to go out and buy a bunker! I'm not even saying to become an extreme couponer. I'm just saying that maybe it's not such a bad idea to learn to cook beans and rice. I'm saying it's not crazy to learn to make your own laundry soap and learn to cook cheaper meals at home. Maybe it's time to start shopping for Christmas at thrift stores instead of department stores.

I know for me, my first step in preparing for what is a potential economic crisis, is to learn to cook homemade meals the majority of the time. We spend an atrocious amount on food--not because I don't know what to buy or how to cook, but because I'm not experienced at putting those things to work. I've learned how to research about how-to's far more than I've taught myself to actually practice them. And if things start sinking fast, that surface level knowledge won't do a thing but make me wonder why I'm failing. I need to practice.

I think this election has sparked something in me as a mother of three little ones that I've never really felt before. How do I raise a happy family in the midst of a depression, should it come?

My mother felt it, I'm sure. We had Maccaroni and Cheese, Tuna and Peas because it rhymed, right? It couldn't have been because it was an incredibly cheap way to have carb, calcium, protien and vegetable all in one meal. And we were clueless until we were adults that our parents (before we were born) had eaten a sample of Bugles that came in the mail on the day that they were out of food, for dinner.

I knew as a kid that Beans, Rice, Cornbread, Tortillas, and Milk could make Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner for a week straight.

Beans and rice one night. The following day leftover rice drenched in milk as cereal. Lunch was beans wrapped in a tortilla and super we made homemade cornbread to go with the beans. The following day you drenched leftover cornbread with milk as cereal (honey's always nice) and then cornbread covered beans...and on it went. Rice with salt and pepper. Bean soup. Etc. When the beans ran out, you simply made a fresh pot. It's good, it's healthy, it's simple. It works.

Now...I just need to put myself into training. Can I make that same pot of beans as delicious as I remember? Do I know what goes in cornbread? Have I introduced my children to these tastes?

Will I ever really need to? Who cares. Isn't it great to know anyway?? Aren't beans or homemade chicken or whatever other meals we train ourselves to make cheap good for us anyway?? Might as well learn. If the economy comes crashing down it will be imparative that we know. But unlike building a bunker that could go to complete waste if there's never a bomb...cooking is different. It's worthy of knowing even if the economy goes soaring and everything's great. It's still worth it.

So...here we go. I'm going to do it. I'm going to teach myself to cook good healthy, and inexpensive food.