The Benefits of Disconnecting Cable Become Appearant

She told the baker what to write on
her birthday cake.

Daughter #4 just recently had her sixth birthday. Nearly a month prior to her big day, Wifey and I began asking her what items she would like as gifts.

The usual answer became "I'm not sure" and after a while, Wifey and I decided just to get her what WE thought she needed (imagine that!).  Among her gifts were a new school backpack, a new dress and shoes for church, a modest mp3 player ($14 from Amazon, no ridiculously overpriced iPods here) and a new line of Legos made just for girls.

It wasn't until Wifey relayed a recent conversation to me that she had with one of her friends that I saw the big picture.  My daughter didn't know what to ask for because she wasn't being bombarded with carefully crafted commercials hawking the latest, greatest must-have toy of the week.

You see, we opted to disconnect our cable tv over three years ago. We don't even have the bunny ears required to get three local channels. We simply don't need it AND don't miss it one bit. The constant barrage of junk television shows with misguided teen plots and negation of family values will not be polluting my kids.

In fact, almost a year after we turned it off, I took a few of my older girls with me to work one night.  I had been called into a hospital to perform an emergency ultrasound which typically takes less than one hour.  My girls tagged along with plans to watch the tv at work and enjoy the free soda pop in our cafeteria.
Upon returning from my examination, my eldest daughter informed me that not only were the same sitcoms on the Disney Channel on year later...but the EXACT SAME EPISODES were playing.  In other words, one year after we tuned out commercialized television, the networks were still re-running the same old junk.
My girls were amazed and laughed at the fact that, in their minds, they had missed NOTHING by having to live without cable television. 

So I had my thoughts reconfirmed this month as to the validity of turning off the cable networks many years ago.  My children don't ask for the latest widget and are happy with gifts from the heart.
Wifey even teased #4 that she was only getting one birthday present. Unbeknownst to her, all her gifts had been wrapped up inside one large box, giving the appearance of one gift. Do you know what she said when she was told she only got one gift?

Not one...single...word. No whining, no crying about multiple gifts at past birthdays or birthdays of siblings. She was content with the notion of one single gift. Can I attribute that to a lack of tv? Probably not, but it sure helps keep her little mind from being distracted by worthless drivel.

I am so proud of her and the little girl she is becoming.  I love her so much. She makes Fatherhood such a joy.

Renaissance Festival Family Fun & Don Lewis Tankards!



Arrival at the Faire.

Finally! This past weekend was our chance to go to the annual Renaissance Festival that comes through our neck of the woods every year. Royal Faires puts on a dandy of a festival for a solid two months every year near Apache Junction, Arizona.

This is the first year we've been lucky enough to scrape together funds and buy costumes. Wifey, my oldest three daughters and I all bought outfits from Amazon.  Here is a LIST of all the costumes we bought and used.  Wifey made costumes for the three little ones herself and saved us a few bucks.

I like to think that Ren Festivals give us a little insight as to the way things were back in that time period.  I enjoy going not only to see the clothing of that time period but to see people actually using skills from that period as well.  There's always a glass blower, soap maker, coin striker and dozens of other fantastic showcases on hand.

The official Renaissance era spans from the 14th - 17th centuries (according to Wikipedia). It was a time of blooming artesian expression from the likes of D'Vinci and Michelangelo.

Here is the Coin Striker (QuickSilver Mint) that comes to our festival EVERY year. There are only a few jobs I'd like to do at the Ren Festival...and this is one of them.




Here's a hand yarn spinner explaining that in her opinion, an average family from this time period would not have been able to afford a yarn spinning wheel. They would have had to opt for this handheld spinner due to cost and availability.



Here a young lady explains to my wife how the hand loom works:



This is just a glimpse at how large the festival "town" actually is:



I talked to a worker at one shop and she said her mom had owned the same store for 27 years. Folks actually BUY these buildings just like REAL property. If a shop is not available for purchase, you can purchase the lot and build a shop yourself (once approved). According to the Royal Faires website, it looks to me like the MINIMUM price just to rent a "cart" was $1000 for the two months that the festival is open each year. If you need electricity, that's an additional $275.

I just can't imagine making THAT much money at the festival. I mean, if you're doing it just to go and be a part of the era, I get it. Break even maybe. But if you're trying to make a living doing this? I don't see how.

One of my intentions of going this year was to take inventory of what all was being sold and see if there was a niche I could fill with my family. If you work in a "store", you get free tickets to anyone that works with you for the entire time the festival is open. Obviously, ALL my girls would be employees so the savings there would be several hundred dollars if they went to the festival several times.  But what could I sell? 

I immediately thought of the wonderful wooden handmade tankards made by Don Lewis over at Rural Revolution. I figured, if ANYTHING would sell like hotcakes at a Ren Festival...it would be these awesome wooden tankards. I started wondering to myself if I could get Don to let me sell them for him at our festival and how would I get them to Arizona.

Then guess what I ran into about ten booths deep in the festival...

SOMEBODY SELLING DON'S TANKARDS!!!  DOH!



Guess it wasn't such a bad idea after all. Goodly Woods was a store owned by Joseph Victor and he not only made his own tankards but sold Don's too. I saw several of the "locals" walking around carrying Don's tankards. They appeared to be a staple item, as common as the cinched up boustier...and both tended to overflow (wink wink).

All-in-all, we had a blast and can't wait to go again next year. I even made a few friends...

What a cutie!

Remedies for Headaches & Migraines

Image via Google but by no means illustrates all headaches.
Mine are usually in the back of the skull near the base.

I've had recurring headaches for years decades. My favorite remedy has always been ibuprophen. It has done the job 99% of the time and being OTC (over-the-counter) is always easy to obtain.

Until recently...

Now, it seems that my old friend Ibuprophen is only about 50% effective.  I haven't asked my physician friends if there is a level at which a person can develop a tolerance to it but perhaps I've reached it. Otherwise, either my headaches are getting worse or their root cause is changing.  I've taken 800-1000mg dosages up to three times in one 24 hour period and had it not take the pain away.  It used to work after one dose.

Hence the reason for this post.  I'll be experimenting with new methods of migraine control and posting it here as well as on my Medicine tab. I've begun asked my Emergency Room nurses for their opinions on Imitrex and similar drugs. As soon as I get some, I'll post the effects.

What do YOU use for headaches/migraines?

Practice Your Barter and Trade Skills

I used to think that the only way I was going to be financially happy was to own several automated car washes and laundromats.  The constant "passive" cash-only income would support me (this was my dream before I had a family) and MAYBE I would report the cash income to the IRS for tax purposes...maybe.

Unreported cash income seemed to be best way to go if I wanted to live my own life and not report to The Office five days a week.  Of course, the profit margin on these businesses aren't what they used to be and as I've grown up (stop snickering!) I've slowly come to accept that I may just have to "work" for the rest of my life (I have a large family now, social security obviously WON'T be there when I hit retirement age in 30 years, etc etc.)

So one of the things I have begun to implement is bartering. This week turned out to be a good week for my family.  One of my trained "professional" skills is Sonography or performing ultrasound exams.  Since there is no radiation involved ( I am also trained in Xrays and CT Scans = radiation), I can perform ultrasounds on people without the need for a Doctor's prescription and not worry about losing my license.

This week, after completing the third or fourth ultrasound on a family's pregnant mommy, I requested the use of their giant bounce house or jumper as some people refer to them.  This family happens to have five of them and were more than happy to help me load it into my trailer and take it home for TWO WEEKS!



Just the sight of my childrens' faces as they walked out into the backyard as saw what Dad brought home was priceless.  My 4th daughter just turned six yesterday and I told her this was her last of her birthday presents this year.  All six of my girls played on it for hours AND the house was peaceful AND everyone went to bed on time and exhausted = win-win-win!

So my point is: look around you. What can you barter? Just like working can make you money, saving money can also "make" you money or at least help you keep what you have in your pocket a little longer.  So, too does bartering. It cost me nothing to do the ultrasounds other than my time and between me, you and the fence post...I LOVE doing ultrasounds on babies.  It is so fascinating to see God's little creation kicking around in mommy's tummy and to watch the parents faces glow with happiness while watching.

Spend an afternoon writing down some things you can do for barter.  This will help keep the ideas in your mind when opportunities arise.  I recently loaned out my trailer to a co-worker who needed to move things up to his bugout location three hours to the north of us.  In exchange, he was more than happy to load me up with bags and bags of oranges.  We have enough fresh squeezed orange juice to last a month and it didn't cost me a penny to loan out my trailer. I've also traded for bullet proof vests and leg holsters.

Every little bit helps. Do you barter?

Full Rain Barrels Thanks to an Easy Setup

I love to see it rain here in the Arizona desert.  We are always in such dire need of it.  The other day it rained and I went out in the backyard to see how the gardens were doing.  While looking around, I noticed my rain barrel system was still working flawlessly.

I bought a dozen or so rain barrels (rinsed out 55 gallon used Coke barrels) and placed them on the side of my house.  The back of my roof is pitched and has two gutter drains dumping right outside the back wall of my house.  I placed a barrel directly under each drain and to my joy, had them filled in no time.

Here's a little video: