Says Me

Last year I made a commitment to myself to pay off all my credit card debt. I was tired of lying in bed at night chiding myself for letting it get to be so much. On five or six different cards (I don’t remember now).

I started by enrolling in Financial Peace University, a 12-week course "led" by Dave Ramsey.

For the class I had to actually tally up what I owed. When you live in the land of denial, you never do such things. I swore I would never tell anyone how much it was. I was (am) too embarrassed that I let myself get that far into the hole. Let’s just say it had five figures ($00,000) and is probably more than you think.

I buckled down and followed the rules. Got my $1,000 emergency fund set. Did the Debt Snowball. And in November I made my last credit card payment. It is so lovely to see the last balance finally at $0.00!

It took 20 months. At first the projections of when I would be done were five and six years out. A lifetime away. It was very discouraging. Instead of letting it get me down, I just became more determined to not let it take that long.

I set a strict budget for myself (which I’d never done before). Post bills, every last cent from my paycheck went towards the debt. As did every extra dollar that came my way. By the wayside went trips to the bookstore. The Hallmark store. Target (cause you can find everything there!). Basically all shopping outside the grocery store.

I scrabbled together enough to take two weekend trips during that 20 months. Me, who used to take five – six – seven trips a year! It’s been a struggle, for sure.

But, something inside of me pushed myself to get it all under control. With the economy the way it is today, I feel less worried now. If something happened tomorrow, I don’t need to go to Africa. I could get a job at B&N and still pay all my bills. That’s a burden lifted too.

I should be starting Step 3, but instead I am paying for my trip to Tanzania (approximately $10,000). I plan to have that paid off by August.

Then on to Stages 3 and 4. And I don’t need to worry about Stage 5 . . . whoot! I’m nearly there. And that feels great!

Apparently one of the potential side effects for the heart drug are nightmares. I'm not having those, thank goodness, but I am having very vivid dreams. The kind where you wake up and wonder . . .

Last night I had one about a hole in a tooth. I think my subconscience is trying to tell me to be a better flosser.

In another mom was talking with some folks we haven't seen in a while. I think that one came from seeing that the owner of a once popular restaurant died. They were from Mexico and that was their favorite place to eat in town.

There are many each night and they are so vivid. Doesn't seem to translate well here. I'm just glad they are not nightmares.

When the package says to prick the pie crust before baking, there's a real reason. And no, those bubbles don't just push back down, they break. Into lots of little pieces.

When you prick holes into the second set of pie crusts, you do not actually need to push the fork through the bottom of the tin.

Oh, and cherry pie filling is not a suitable substitute for pie cherries. Cherry + pie on the label should equal what I need, right?

Thanksgiving is only a few days away. What is your favorite Thanksgiving recipe? Will you be making it this year? Mind sharing?

This year I will be taking a salad, stuffed acorn squash and winter fruit pie as a contribution to our meal at Linda's. The stuffed acorn squash is a recipe I just saw last week and the winter fruit pie is a long-time favorite.

Stuffed Acorn Squash

You can easily increase the amounts in this recipe to fit the number of guests who'll be skipping the turkey. Makes 4 servings.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2 acorn squash, halved with the seeds removed

2 cups vegetable broth

1 cup wild rice

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup walnuts

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

In a shallow baking dish, coat with olive oil and place the halved squash cut side down. Put in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes, or until just tender.

In a pot, bring the vegetable broth to a boil and add the rice. Cover, lower the heat and cook until the broth is absorbed, about 30 minutes. Remove from heat. In a bowl, mix the rice, cranberries, walnuts, salt and pepper. Spoon the rice mixture into the squash.

May be served warm or at room temperature.

 Winter Fruit Pie
1 lg can crushed pineapple
1 sm box Orange Jello
1 can pie cherries, drained
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 c sugar
¼ c flour
5 bananas, sliced
2 baked pie shells

Bring pineapple, sugar, flour and Orange Jello to a boil. Fold in drained cherries. Let cool. When cool, add pecans and bananas. Pour into baked pie shells, chill until set. Serve with whipped cream or Cool Whip. Also good plain.

I have no idea why each recipe is spaced the way they are. They both came from single space Word docs. Ah, well.

This year for Thanksgiving, I adopted a turkey via the Farm Sanctuary's Adopt-a-Turkey Project. Care to join me?

The Adopt-A-Turkey Project provides people with an opportunity to take an active role in the birds’ care by helping to fund their food, bedding and veterinary needs, as well as education and advocacy efforts for turkeys and other farm animals. For a one-time donation of $25, sponsors receive an official “adoption” certificate with a photograph of their turkey, a one-year membership to Farm Sanctuary, and a subscription to the organization’s quarterly magazine. Turkey adoptions also make great holiday gifts.

The Adopt-A-Turkey Project has enabled Farm Sanctuary to save more than 1,000 turkeys, and place hundreds with loving families through the Turkey Express. These turkeys’ lives are a marked contrast to the daily pain and suffering endured by turkeys on factory farms. With 250 to 300 million turkeys slaughtered for food in the U.S. every year – more than 45 million for Thanksgiving alone – thousands of birds are tightly confined in giant sheds, parts of their beaks and toes are amputated without anesthetic, and they are slaughtered when they are only 14 to 18 weeks old. With charming turkey ambassadors symbolizing a better way, the Adopt-A-Turkey Project has encouraged millions to reconsider what they eat on Thanksgiving and throughout the year.

Farm Sanctuary is the nation's leading farm animal protection organization. Since incorporating in 1986, Farm Sanctuary has worked to expose and stop cruel practices of the "food animal" industry through research and investigations, legal and institutional reforms, public awareness projects, youth education, and direct rescue and refuge efforts. Farm Sanctuary shelters in Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Orland, Calif., provide lifelong care for hundreds of rescued animals, who have become ambassadors for farm animals everywhere by educating visitors about the realities of factory farming.

Mom started driving Tuesday and hasn't stopped since!! Thursday she worked a normal shift (10a-4p) at her volunteer job, then ushered at the BB King concert! Tomorrow she goes back to work (7:30a-1p, then 8-5 Mon-Wed).

Man, I'll never be able to "milk" jack shit since my mom is now known as the recovery queen!

In the first two weeks since the election, President-elect Barack Obama has broken with a tradition established over the past eight years through his controversial use of complete sentences, political observers say.

Millions of Americans who watched Mr. Obama's appearance on CBS's 60 Minutes on Sunday witnessed the president-elect's unorthodox verbal tic, which had Mr. Obama employing grammatically correct sentences virtually every time he opened his mouth.

But Mr. Obama's decision to use complete sentences in his public pronouncements carries with it certain risks, since after the last eight years many Americans may find his odd speaking style jarring.

According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, some Americans might find it "alienating" to have a president who speaks English as if it were his first language.

"Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in agreement," says Mr. Logsdon. "If he keeps it up, he is running the risk of sounding like an elitist."

The historian said that if Mr. Obama insists on using complete sentences in his speeches, the public may find itself saying, "Okay, subject, predicate, subject predicate -- we get it, stop showing off."

The president-elect's stubborn insistence on using complete sentences has already attracted a rebuke from one of his harshest critics, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.

"Talking with complete sentences there and also too talking in a way that ordinary Americans like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder can't really do there, I think needing to do that isn't tapping into what Americans are needing also," she said.