Toilet Paper and Hovercraft

    OK, so today I attempted to do another demonstration with air pressure. It seemed timely.In Oklahoma, we see lots of examples of the forces of air pressure. Just last night, a microburst removed a roof from a house.
    So, how did I do this?  First, I reviewed Bernoulli's principles with some toilet paper. Yes. I sometimes take toilet paper to school for the purpose of science.  I introduced Harry the Hairdryer and informed the children that "Harry" was on a fieldtrip. After all, if you had to deal with hair like mine, you would need a field trip too!  Next, I used a round curtain rod and slipped a full roll of toilet paper onto it.  I turned on the hairdryer and nothing happened... Big deal. We are giving the toilet paper a little extra fluff.  OK.  So I asked the children if Bernoulli was correct, what was the problem?
    These kids are so smart.  They instantly that the full roll of toilet paper weighed too much.  I asked my assistant to look inside my bag... Ahhhh.. there is a partially used roll of toilet paper.  We slid it onto the curtain rod and turned on the hairdryer.  Away went the toilet paper. Wheeeeeeeee!  I love the fun experiments.  So of course then I asked my assistant to roll the toilet paper back onto the tube so that I could use it later...  Ewweeee...Okay, then I told him he could just throw it in the trash.
     Next, to demonstrate control of air pressure. I had already glued 2" sections of irrigation tube to CD's.   I passed them out and gave each child a balloon.  I drew a fantastic representation of a hovercraft on the white board.  I even drew the windows and an outline of myself looking out of the window waiting to go on my trip.  I explained that I would like to get from England to France. I have engines that blow massive amounts of air.  Which way should I point the air to be able to travel?
    One child raised their hand and said, "UP!"... Ummmm... I drew a little tear on my face.  If the air is going up then I am going.... "DOWN" they shouted.
     Yes... So they followed along nicely.  We blew up the balloons and the hovercraft WORKED!  YES!  Success!!
   More importantly, I think they understand a little more about the force of air.

Prepackaged snacks

Maybe I have mentioned this before, but I cannot help it. I am really not going to miss pre-packaged snacks. Purchasing boxes of individual bags of crackers, granola bars and other such snacks drives me a little more than batty. Who is it that only needs 6 of these items?  The boxes do not contain enough of these snacks to make me feel good about the purchase. Why is that? There are enough preservatives in these tiny packages to store them for a while, so why only put 6 or 9 in a box? The cost of keeping a single child supplied with these during a single school year is astronomical.

So that is my first complaint. My second is that I have not yet met the child who can remove the last snack from the box and actually dispose of the box. I look into my pantry and feel a little less stressed about my week as I see the boxes neatly lined up, ready for the children to add one to their lunch box each day.  I then walk toward the boxes to make sure there are enough in each box, only to discover three completely empty boxes. AAAAAACCCKKKKKK!

Starting this summer, I will be able to simply purchase regular family sized boxes of crackers. We will be able to sit together at the table and I will know that my children are eating the food that is presented to them. They are not trading their cheese sticks for a sandwich, or trading their sandwich for more crackers.
  
At this point, you are either thinking I am extremely petty or you are rolling your eyes because you have been here, or you are here with me. Who really tries to control what their children are eating anyways?  Okay, I get it, you do not have a child coming home STARVING every day only to find out that they have only eaten crackers for lunch for a week.  I was adding more protein items to her lunch with no change. I really could not understand it until I dropped by at lunchtime to watch the swap. 

Ahhhh... I remember a time when I had convinced my mom that I would only eat Hoagie style sandwiches. She was purchasing pickles, peppers, peperoni, salami, ham, tomatoes and lettuce just for me. Ummm.. I did not like these items and she was puzzled as to why I would eat them on a sandwich, but she bought them anyway.... so that I could trade them for other things. Yes, it probably would have been easier just to tell my mom what I really wanted to eat, but I was a pre-teen. What I was doing somehow made more sense to me.

Please excuse me... I have to call my mom.

Adjustments

    The term well adjusted always makes me smirk. I have no idea what this actual concept is. I have found adjustments to be particularly painful in my life.
   When I was fourteen, I found out I have spina bifida when I lost the ability to walk. After months of physical therapy, I was able to resume normal activities, but I lost a little trust in my life's course. My youngest daughter was in and out of the hospital the first two years of her life and when my second daughter was born fat, pink, healthy and breathing on her own, I cried for joy.  Six months later, that super healthy baby was in the hospital with meningitis, whooping cough and encephalitis.  For five long excruciating days, we waited to see if she would wake up at all. Two years ago, my oldest daughter found me not breathing and called for help. A couple of months after that, my heart stopped and I was left with a brain injury. For a while, I was unable to speak well, read, or understand what was going on around me. I had difficulty walking without assistance.
    If you were paying attention, you noticed that all of these events were adjustments in my life. You also noticed that I used phrases like, "for a while". 
     I have no idea where the path of my life would have taken me if I had not had several "adjustments".   I have no idea if it would have been just as interesting, horrible, or blissful beyond dreams. I only know the path my life has taken. I was able to walk again, my oldest daughter now lives a fairly normal life, my youngest daughter survived meningitis. I am writing this, so perhaps you have guessed that I can speak, read and understand.
    It is what it is.. I have been adjusted.  I do not understand people who say they have not been through anything like this. The concept of a life free of these events is completely foreign to me. I have no ability to even picture it.  I know that as three of us in our little family have faced death head on, we don't take this time for granted. We do not have the arrogance of "That will never happen to us".  We simply do not have that luxury.  After my heart surgery, my surgeon went to the waiting room to apologize to my family and friends as the surgery had taken longer than expected.  He began with, "Her defect was in a very unusual area."  There was no reaction, so he continued, "This heart condition is fairly rare and her particular defect is only found in approximately 3% of patients with her condition."  My friends rolled their eyes and smiled. 
   "Of course it is the most rare and bizarre." They all said.  When I returned to work three days later, we joked about it. They said the surgeon really did not seem to understand their reaction. Everyone smiled. Nobody panicked.  He did not realize that I have seen plenty of rare and bizarre adjustments before.
     The miracles in life are easy for me to see.  I could walk for 14 years before anyone noticed that I had spina bifida. I can walk now.  My oldest child was born completely black from oxygen deprivation. She is now a very smart young woman. My youngest nearly died when three horrifying illnesses attacked her little body. She is totally deaf on one side and yet has no speech problems and scores off the charts on tests.  My heart stopped. Nobody knows exactly why it restarted, but it did. I could not understand basic commands. Now I am in college classes, working two jobs and creating fantastic projects to do with my children.
   I know miracles. I never ever take them for granted. I know that the doctors finding and destroying the extra pathway in my heart was a miracle. Many are diagnosed in autopsy.
   We are more in touch with that phrase, "Tell them you love them, you never know." at my house. We do not live under a dark cloud of fear. We do not allow it to take our peace at night. We do pull over and take a picture of a rainbow. We say what we mean. We know that everyone will get over it and move on if we tell the truth, no matter how unpleasant.  We also know that we have said "I love you" the last time we saw each other.
    Adjustments in my life have not been subtle. They have been more like a car being "adjusted" by a train at impact, but they have all been important. I do not begrudge you the dream of the "perfect" life, free from worries or the terror of "almost" losing a child. Hold on to your dream if it is really helping you.  If not, then focus on the "almost".  Meningitis, encephalitis and pertusis did not take my child from me. Spina bifida did not take away my ability to chase my children. Wolff Parkinson White did not take my life.  Each of these "adjustments" has made me who I am.
    
  

In the news!! Buy American!

   Hooray! It's making the news! The tides are shifting!  The morning news programs and I are beginning to showcase companies who have been manufacturing products right here in the U.S.A. and I am thrilled!  Not only are they showcasing the company efforts, they are also explaining how they have done it, dispelling the myths of the cost of U.S. labor.
   In one report, they stated that the American workers are much more efficient and accomplish more in a shift.
   The news is good for the U.S.  It cannot be good to ship goods to plants in China, pay Chinese workers to assemble them into a product we want and then ship them back to the United States. I mean good in the whole sense.
   It makes much more sense to actually use the extra shipping costs to benefit families right here in our own country. It makes much more sense to have the demand right here.
    I have lived overseas, not in China, but I can tell you that people around the world watch movies and television produced right here in the United States.  Movies are the most powerful marketing tool we have overseas.
    Let me explain. Let's say a movie comes out with a hot young actor. It's a movie about teenagers in the latest suspense and thrilling caper. Put that aside, the teenagers are eating Cheetos while plotting their next move.  At the end of the movie, the hero gives a bag of Cheetos to his heroine.  It sounds innocent and rather obvious right? Okay, so I am not into marketing right now. My point is, I was once the kid living overseas going to extreme lengths to purchase American products that I had seen in movies. It took four weeks to have a Levi denim jacket shipped to me from America after "Back to the Future" came out. You cannot imagine what I did to get American style tennis shoes.
    My point is that we have the tools and resources to flip the table. We can market, manufacture and sell to the entire global community. We have assets that can put our goods back in demand. We have the greatest in everything.  Twenty years ago, when I left England, they were building a McDonalds just 3 miles from my house. Nobody had grills in their back yards then, but I would guess that is a spreading trend now too. 
     Please let's make the most of what we have. Let's bring these jobs home, these products home. I do not want to go to any more 4th of July celebrations and be given a U.S. Flag to wave that has a "Made in China" sticker on it. That is insulting on the most basic level and we can do better. More importantly, we can take care of ourselves without borrowing money from China or any other country. We just need to make more thoughtful decisions. 
    For now, I will happily go out and purchase a Nordicware pan to try a new recipe. They are manufactured and shipped from right here in America.

What is important?

    I know when I was 17, the life I have now is not something I could have or would have appreciated. I saw my future going very differently. I had left my friends and the family I knew to move to a country that seemed to be filled with novelty. 
     My goals were simple. Get through college as quickly as possible so that I could be the millionaire-genius I was born to be. I know that sounds so funny if you know me now. 
    When I was a child, I was always the youngest kid in my class. I was told constantly that my test scores were "off the charts" and that I was very wise for my years.  Just so you know, if you are doing this, it is a recipe for disaster.
   Nobody had prepared me for failure. Classes were never difficult for me. My grades were completely within my control. I was never in a situation where I had tried, and worked and it didn't follow with success..
  Even my medical issues had always ended in success.  Big deal. I have spina bifoda and spent some time in a wheelchair. I was able to work my way through that to be stronger than ever. See? 
     The reason why I now laugh at my 17 year old goals is that my goals today could not be any different.  I have since experienced things that I could not control.  I have had things in my life that I could not "work" my way through.  Life is like that. Most people are fortunate enough to learn what to do with those events much earlier in life. I chose the pouting stubborn route.
    Yes, I did get an 'A' on my Physics final.  I was also able to do chemistry formulas inside outside and upside down.. But there were concepts in each class that were simply beyond my comprehension. 
     I have learned that being the "smartest" when taking a test means absolutely nothing in the real world. I know people who can barely read, cannot drive a car, or who simply have a great deal of cognitive difficulty that I admire much more. I have also learned that having high test scores by themselves hold absolutely no value for me. There is more to life than a number. Big deal. So you have an I.Q. of _____, now what are you going to do? Who will you love?
     Speaking of numbers, really once the basic necessities are met, money can just cause problems.  If the basic necessities are not met, money can be very important. When it stands between your children and food, that is when it matters, other than that, it really doesn't. The people who love me, do not know my income, or my home value. They simply care about me, not my wallet.
    Sooo.... many years ago I took a class on the value of intelligence tests.  It was a class I did not need but I somehow found myself there. I thought it would just be another certification to add to my portfolio, but it turned out to be so much more.
     The professor started out by asking, "How many of you know your I.Q. score?"  Several of us raised our hands.  "What if I told you the average I.Q. of prison inmates is between 80-95?"  I sucked in my breath.
    Here we go, I thought, we are going to have an elitist conversation... Ugh... I started to pack my pens and notebook. (Yes, this class was so long ago that I carried paper.)
     Then she said, "Imagine if your I.Q. was listed on your driver's licence.  Imagine that everywhere you go, you are judged by that number.  You can't do this because your IQ is too low.  Or, wow, your IQ is high, why haven't you done more?"
    OK, NOW she had my attention.  Every day, I had to write down clients I.Q.'s before I wrote out their plans, goals and assessments.  Once each month, clients were evaluated based on these plans with a graded system. They received either 'acheived', 'exceeded', 'working' or 'non-compliant'.  I had already found 'non-compliant' to be a nasty one. On paper, it appeared to indicate that a client, or lets just say person, was not participating or defiant.  In reality, it was often that a goal or plan was simply a mistake.  I had two clients with exactly the same I.Q.score.  One was able to read and fill their shopping basket with appropriate items from the grocery store. The other was not able to read, but could tell you how to plant corn, tomatoes, onions and many other vegetables in great detail.
    The plans and goals rarely included any farming. This client had been given a goal of grocery shopping for appropriate items with the ability to discern which of two identical products was cheaper.  Often, I would review his logs and see 'non-compliant'.  More than once I had to battle his psychiatrist about the sensibility of his plan. He was cooperative, well mannered, and kind, but on paper, he just appeared as 'non-compliant'.
    OK... so I am not throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Numbers and money have their place. We should remember what their place is.  It is impossible to assess a situation mearly with a spreadsheet, just as it is impossible to assess a humans life based on an I.Q. number.

    I think more than one person would notice if I disappeared. I believe that is what makes me a success.  I love and am loved. That is truly what this time is all about.
   With love, I can do much more than with a high I.Q.  With love, I can do much more than money can buy.  Most importantly, I tell people I love them.  Every one of us needs to feel loved. Every one of us can grow by loving another.
   I may not be Einstein or Leibniz, but I know what is important.

P.S.    (To be fair, I believe Albert Einstein knew also. I have read his works and he had genius thoughts about more than mear mathematics and physics.)

   

What has happened to prices?

        For years, I never gave a second thought to our bills. I just paid them and went on. I paid for the largest, most ridiculous cable bundle package even though I rarely watch T.V.  I bought the foods that looked most appealing at the grocery store and the personal products that were the latest and greatest.
      One of the things I noticed when I started to take a good look at things was that I never really paid any attention to anything. I immediately changed my cable package to something that was a better fit for our needs. I started to notice that some of the things I was paying for at the grocery store were simply empty promises.
      Marketing trends owned me.  I actually felt deprived the first time I purchased lotion that was less than $25 per bottle. Me?  I could care less about having a "name brand" lotion, but I did notice a feeling of something icky when I purchased the $4 lotion. What was it?  It was similar to failure, I guess.
    I soon learned that there were differences in lotion, some were thicker, some were sticky, some were just greasy. I did not find evidence that my $25 lotion was actually better than our current personal favorite.  I mourned the loss of $21 every time I had purchased the pricey lotion in the past. Ah well, time to move on. 
     The lotion was really the beginning of a very eye opening experience.  I noticed that there are always new products coming out. In a few months, sometimes those products simply vanished.  If they were so great, why didn't they stay? Ahh... here is one of the most tried and true.  Why is oatmeal still the same stuff in the same cardboard can?  It is just as fine as it was years ago. You can still use it for breakfast. You can still add things to it. You can still make cookies with it.  The big difference is, we add fresh fruit to ours, not some freeze dried fruit remnant.
     We also discovered that a razor with two blades shaves nicely. We do not need the third, fourth or who knows what else to shave. We discovered that sometimes the larger size is NOT cheaper, that brand name products may not be more expensive, and perhaps the most amazing trick is square footage of toilet paper and paper towels.
     When you actually check the square footage of paper products, it is amazing what stands out.  It's the whipped butter of the paper product aisle.  The first time I checked, I just stared in wonder. The package marked at $15.98 was indeed much larger looking. The package marked at $8.99 on the same shelf appeared smaller but had almost a third more toilet paper in it.  Puzzling, but I purchased the $8.99 package. 
     So you are wondering how in the world these details matter, right? Well, let me help you.  Three years ago, I was spending approximately $700 per month at the grocery store for our family. I quickly pared that down to approximately $300.  It took about a month to catch on to these trends.  Today, even with rising prices, I spend approximately $280 per month, including groceries, pet food, cleaning products and personal hygiene products.  Maybe you don't think this is a big deal. Maybe you do not think it is worth it. Maybe you don't see where this can help you.  Let me explain. I initially started to add the amount to my investments for retirement.  It made a BIG difference to my retirement accounts.
    Imagine if you could find a way to add $300 or more to your retirement plans? Or toward a larger home?  Would it be worth it to take a look at what is really important to you?  When you really take a moment to sit down and look where you spend your money, you might be surprised to find that it doesn't really add up with your priorities.  So many times I would say, "We cannot afford" something that I really felt was important.  Once I trimmed down on the excess, the things that I found important were easy.  I do not need the bright SUV with leather interior. I have something much more wonderful. I am not a slave to my car payment, my house payment, my credit cards or anything else. I can sleep peacefully knowing that it will take care of itself now that we are respectful of our own values.