Build Tomorrow - Another Day Of Life

It’s Tuesday, and the last few posts have focused on the economy, and the overall health of the US markets.  Truthfully, they stink. Each month is a struggle, and we continue to try and figure out how to balance the needs of our family, against the needs of our finances.

Frugal Dad, had and interesting article yesterday, discussing the idea of not having a baby until you were debt free.  As of this morning the post had 32 comments, me being one of the commenters.  I found it to be very thought provoking, but also a genuinely good question.  If you have time check it out.

Things in our house are still challenged. We have begun the process to clean out old stuff, and things we no longer need, and have begun to discuss a yard sale later this year.  Fall is generally good, not too hot, not too cold.  This will also give us time to get things in order.  I am also taking a marketing course, something called the “Thirty Day Challenge”.  The idea of the group there is to teach the fundementals of on-line marketing, and how to supplement you income.  While I don’t belive it will make us rich, it may help my wife with her start-up business idea, as well as bring in some slight additional income.  Best of all the proce for the course is within my ballpark, Free!  If you are interested, you can check it out here.

Next week we will be going on vacation.  While the plan was no vacation this summer, this worked out because it met my criteria, again, Free!  Well not exactly, we have the cost of gas to drive there, and back, but the place we are staying at was through a resort I own a timeshare at (which I inherited about five years ago), so all it cost was the loss of “points” I had sitting there for the last few years.  So it won’t cost additional debt.  Since we have a kitchen in our unit, the food price is the same, and all we will be doing is lounging around at the pool, the beach, and enjoying the free activities of the resort.

So at least I will get some much needed R&R.

~Another Day

In my post yesterday, I talked about finding my journals from over fifteen years ago.  The funny thing as I looked through that random notebook was I found that boy in myself, that I wrote about all of those years ago.  Dr. John, commented,

“I suppose the boy that asked the questions is still there in all of us we just don’t hear him any more.”

I think that is very true.  I think we all learn to ignore parts of ourselves, that ask so many questions, like “Why am I here?”, “What is my purpose?”  The boy in those stories asked those questions, and in finding that box, I found those questions in myself. 

So what happened with those books?  They are safely back in the box, just not on a lonely corner of the basement, but in a safe place.  I did not read them all, and have no plans to do so right now.  Why?  Mostly because that boy is now a man, and while many of the questions may be the same the answers are not as simple.  And therein lies the rub.

What seeing those journals has done is made me realize that focus will be the key, and with focus comes some introspection.  Change is inevitable, even to this blog.

Another Day of life is about hope, community, and Building Tomorrow, based on today’s dream.  Since my first post, I have talked about those dreams, but not put in action the plans to achieve those dreams.

Over the next few weeks you will begin to see some changes, to the posts and to this blog.  I am working on what will become the template for this site, and once done will remain (other than some minor tweaks and fun things), for the foreseeable future.  Also some of the posts will change, as well as a concerted effort to grow this community.

I am really excited about one addition that I have been mulling over for quite a while.  I hope to announce it over the next week.  Until Tomorrow.

~Another Day

For some reason this site is now having problems with feedburner.  I have added a new subscription block on this page which will allow you to subscribe via email as well as a reader.  It’s through “Addthis”.

I hope to have the feedburner issues worked out shortly.

~Another Day

As many of you may or may not know today is the birthday of Beatrix Potter, the author of the series of books about Peter Rabbit.  It is also a celebration of creativity and an excellent example of a legacy.

The original book, “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” was published in 1902, and was written by Beatrix Potter, an unlikely author for her time.  Beatrix was born to a wealthy family who discouraged her independence, and “intellectual thought.”  They instead forced her to manage their household which she did until age 30.  Have a large number of pets, including bats, Beatrix loved animals and science.  Her parents forbid this, and much of her daily life was documented in journals she wrote in code.  Her journals were not decrypted until years after her death.

Being a woman she was not allowed to attend or publish and scientific articles, including her extensive research on fungi, and lichens.  Much of her work was introduced by her uncle to hide the fact that the research and writing was done by her. One manuscript she wrote as a letter to a close friend was the Tale of Peter Rabbit.  In 1902 Fredrick Warne & Co agreed to publish the book, which established Beatrix as a well know author.  She was able to support herself and left her family.

Beatrix had no children.  Her engagement to Norman Warne, not supported by her family ended in sadness when he fell ill and died in 1905.  She later married, William Heelis at age 47.  She focused solely on her animals and her farm named Hill Top Farm.

In total Beatrix wrote 23 Children’s books. All of which contained animals, and lessons still valuable today.  Her most famous character is that of Peter Rabbit, which children read even today.

So why today’s post?  I think that the life of Beatrix Potter is a lesson in itself.  She was a person faced with roadblocks at almost every turn.  She was held back, yet never gave up.  She continued to pursuer her dreams, and found ways to overcome those obstacles in her way. 

No matter that the situation we all face today that lesson, is one that still holds true.

So Happy birthday Beatrix, and thank you.

~Another Day

Here are just some of the stories I found on the web today that gave me a moment of pause.  The first comes from WFFA in Dallas Fort Worth.

Boy ends up at Hooters after slipping out of day care.-A five year old boy asked to go to the bathroom at his daycare center, and ended up across a major highway at, Hooters. The daycare center belives he slipped out through an emergency exit.  They were alarmed when the boys’ father came to pick him up and he was no where to be found.  I guess even at five boys will be boys.  I wonder what he thought of the wings.

New Zealand Judge makes girl a ward of the court so she can change her name- This was actually big news yesterday.  A 9 year old girl in New Zealand asked the court to make her a ward of the court so she would be allowed to change her name.  The name that was so offensive? “Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii“.  The jusdge ruled that a name such as that would create an “extreme social handicap”.  I would be just a worried about writers cramp.  Some name they cited in their decision where the court stepped in to allow a name change: twins named Benson and Hedges — after a brand of cigarettes; Violence; and Number 16 Bus Shelter.  Will the imagination of people never cease.

Angry Man Shoots Lawnmower-Apparently the offending peice of lawn equipment wouldn’t start for him.  Wouldn’t it cause less damage to kick it?  Probably less explosion risk too.

Dr. Randy Pausch passes away at 47- I wrote this post about Dr. Pausch in April when I saw his interview with Diane Sawyer.  He gave his students a “last lecture” when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  He has also written a bokk entitled “The last Lecture” which is avaialble from Amazon.  his overriding goal was to leave a legacy for his children. If you haven’t ver seen it it is available on You Tube here.  I was truly amazed by his ability and honest thoughts, even in the face of his own mortality.

And those are my Friday findings.  I will be doing some additional work on the site to make it both more user friendly and interactive.  Have a great Friday!

~Another Day