Mrs ERJ plans to retire this summer.
It will almost be like having split personalities.
We will be like newly weds while the kids are in school and back to middle-age parents after 3:00 PM.
Belladonna will be a senior next year and Mrs ERJ wants to be there for her. Bella will remember the human interactions more that she will remember the "things".
Mostly I keep thinking, "We are going to be poor!"
Mrs ERJ reassures me that we will be better people for it. She says that we will be teaching Belladonna and Kubota some very important life skills. Even the poor people (in America) do not know how to be poor. Yesterday I listened to an young, unemployed man carp about his new $800, 55", high-definition, 120 Hz refresh rate, LCD TV....because it did not have enough features. I have it on very good authority that nobody in this young man's household knows how to cook "regular" rice.
I would love to receive some feedback from my readers about basic skills (perhaps ones we take for granted) that a "poor" person must know. There is no telling what life circumstances will bring our way, but it reasonable to think that "poor" people won't always have five TVs in their house, paid for by somebody else.
I will get the ball rolling.
The University of Nouveau Poor: A "nouveau poor" person needs to know how to cook "regular" rice, cook beans and make a pizza crust from scratch. We need to know how to mend a button, a "V" tear and put in a replacement zipper. We should be able plant a squash seed, a bean and a tomato plant. We need to know basic gas motor maintenance and to change a bulb and a windshield wiper. We need to know how to bend over and pick things up and how to carry them. It would be spiffy if we could walk three miles
Please comment. I want to hear from you guys because I know that I am vulnerable to tunnel-vision.
You've got a handle on it. It's not living poor, it's living frugally, and it's very easy to do. Poor denotes spirit, where frugal denotes money. Soap is cheap, as is flour, beans, and sugar. Anything else you can raise or barter for. Go look in the cooking section of castbullet.com. You'll learn plenty.
ReplyDeleteSoap. That is a hot button issue. Kids now need "Body Wash". It is a tea spoon of soap, 14 ounces of water and a pinch of methyl cellulose to make it gel.
ReplyDeleteMy fragile darlings say that soap is too harsh. I tell them to use less...it will go further and it won't dry their skin. Grrrr!
This looks like a blog post in the making. How long does a bar of soap last vs. a bottle of "Body Wash"