Musings by Melissa

Someone challenged me awhile back to try to do one thing every week that would help my family survive if things ever get really bad.  In other words, learning how to be more self-sufficient.

So, in the past six months or so, I’ve been steadily working at building up our food supply.  When I see food on sale, I’ll stock up.  I haven’t been using our freezer though because if the power goes off for any length of time, I’d loose all that I’d put in there.  So, I’ve been a canning maniac!  ~smile~

So far this year I’ve canned maple syrup, chicken, ground beef, and strawberry jam.  This past week I added carrots to the mix.  They were easy to can.  The local store had the one-pound bag of baby carrots on sale for 50 cents.  Not knowing how many bags would fill a quart jar, I bought 14 bags.  Well, one bag is one quart!  So, I now have 14 quarts of carrots lining my pantry shelf!  They look so pretty.

That’s one thing about increasing the amount of food onhand– you have to have a place to store it.  But if you can use your imagination a bit, I’m sure you can come up with a place to store at least some food.  Even if someone lives in a smaller manufactured home or apartment, they can find a closet or space under a bed.  (Granted, they may need to get rid of a few things first.  It does come down to priorities.  I’ve heard of people who stack cans of food under an end table and cover the whole thing with a floor-length table cloth. 

And you don’t have to can everything you store.  When things go on a good sale, if it’s something you eat, go for it.  We enjoy a particular brand and flavor of spaghetti sauce.  When it went on sale for 75 cents a can, I bought enough to last us a couple years.  Granted, I spent a lot on spaghetti sauce that month, but it’s something I know we all like, and I know we’ll use it.

What about you?  If you or your spouse lost your job and had no income for awhile, would you think, “Oh, if only I had done _________ before now!”  You fill in that blank, and then go do it!  You might never need it, but then again, you might be glad you did!

It’s been a number of years since we had been invited to any graduation open houses, but this year I think we ended up going to five or six of them.  And of course, that left the question: What do we give for a gift?

Eek!

Those of you who know me know that I hate feeling obligated to find a gift for someone.  I’d much rather give a person a gift “just because I saw this special widget and it reminded me of you.”  But alas, sometimes gift giving must be done, and graduation open houses are one of those times.

So, what to give…  Money’s always a sure bet, but that always seems like a cop-out to me.  Besides, most of these kids weren’t going on to school, and I really didn’t want our gift to be used to pay for gas for their car.

Tangible things usually seem lame to me.  A lawn chair?  Really?!? 

Gift certificates are appreciated, but impersonal.

(Can you see why I struggle with gift giving?!?)

Well, we hit on a good idea that both Wayne and I liked.  We gave each grad a magazine subscription to a magazine that God has used to strengthen our faith on numerous occasions.  It’s the “Answers” magazine put out by Answers in Genesis.  Yes, it was a bit more than we usually would have spent, but every other month each grad will be reminded that we are praying for them and wishing them the best in whatever it is they have decided to do– whether that be further education, work, or the military.

So, the next time you need to buy a graduation present, consider giving a magazine subscription.

Now, what to get my daughter for her 11th birthday…