Close Encounters with the Vaccine Schedule
I’m proud to say that we never ‘really’ had that conversation with anyone and neither has our child been injected with neurochemicals at such a fragile and neurologically developing age or now.
I guess when he’s older and rebelling against all that we ’stand for’, he can decide for himself to go and get inoculated with the latest list of injectables.
So, on a couple forums that I belong to, there has been some recent talk about what people eat in general, where they shop and how much it costs them. One person linked to a photo gallery of families around the world and what they eat for one week as well as what it costs them. Here is that link:
I do most, if not all of our grocery shopping every month. I usually have one really large shopping day (Trader Joe’s and East End Food Co-op) about mid month with maybe one or two little trips (Trader Joe’s, usually) in between. Keep in mind that we eat vegan, so there is no meat for us to buy; I cook every meal (usually from scratch); Almost everything is organic; We like to drink and we smoke — we can’t be perfect, you know!
For an entire month we usually spend:
$300 on edible/drinkable goods (generous amount)
$152 on produce (once a week organic goods delivered to our door)
$10 on non-edible goods (Toilet paper, cleaning stuff, tobacco [roll my own], etc.)
$10 on cat litter
$38 approx. on ground rabbit for our two cats’ food (we buy in bulk about every three months).
$60 on two cases of beer/cider!
$150 eating out twice (we have expensive taste, or rather like to drink when we eat out!)
Grand Total: $720 (pretty much eats up one of William’s paychecks)
So, what about you and your family’s grocery habits?
In case the rest of the world is in the dark about the current fiasco concerning eBay and it’s plethora of users, find out more by visiting the links below.
Outraged eBay Sellers Plot Strike Week
YouTube - Beb 18-25th 2008: Worldwide eBay Strike
My suggestion, don’t even visit a single page on eBay during this time, unless it is to do one thing — remove all traces of you and your account! Yes, remove yourself from eBay. Tons of people have done so thus far and many more will be doing it. There are other options out there for selling your wares.
Check in with eBay’s stocks, the last time I did today, they were falling significantly fast! This is a GREAT oppurtunity for millions of consumers to vote with their dollar and stop buying and selling!
So, today the kiddo and I ventured out for the first time on our own…using the city bus. I know what you are thinking — you’ve lived in the ‘burgh for almost three years now and you haven’t used the bus without your hubby! I haven’t even used it by myself! I prefer to walk — only the Children’s Museum isn’t exactly within our walking radius.
Now, I am not in any way against using the bus, too ‘good’ to use the bus or anything else other than simply lazy, a shut in (most days) and terrified of doing that sort of thing with an independent four year old. Not to mention, that it was cold, there’s icy slush on the sidewalks and Elijah is rather impatient when it comes to just standing around waiting for ‘our bus’ when 15 others have passed us by.
Needless to say, our adventure was fine. We walked a block and got on the 16B, which took us all the way within about 2.5 blocks of the museum and then we walked over there and had a good afternoon. When it came time to leave, I had forgotten when the bus was going to be by…I tried to convince Elijah that it was time to leave, so that we wouldn’t be standing there in the cold for 20 or 30 minutes waiting. Ha! I think we rounded the corner as the bus was pulling away. So, we waited and waited and I was totally convinced myself, that the bus wasn’t coming. But almost 30 minutes on the dot, there she was.
Apparently, there had been an accident on North Avenue and it had delayed the bus. The moral of this story is that it’s not hard at all to bus with a free range child, just make sure to explain the situation well and dress appropriately. Snacks are optional, but might make the wait friendlier for yourself and other people around you 
Do I plan on doing this regularly? Why, yes and I am so glad you asked. No more crazy car juggling with the hubby or awkwardly asking friends from the East End to pick us up when they are coming to the NorthSide to do something. Yay! Why don’t more of you guys use the bus? Now, we shall try this again, but not on a Saturday, because I forgot that’s the day that all the unwashed masses take their children to the museum. We might also broaden our busing radius and make a trip to the East End to visit those friends who so nonchalantly offer to pick us up for fun days.
We’re not up to much right now…just enjoying the snow! We did have a grand time sledding in the yard on Tuesday…you can see what fun we had over here
Hope everyone is doing alright! I’ll get back to you this weekend.
Cheers!
why is it that I have to become an expatriot to find this kind of life?
Freetown Christiania
Christiania Photo Montage
==============================edit=================================
February 10, 2008
I don’t mean that all the police activity is what I am looking for…or that random criminally conflicted persons trying to find shelter in my potting shed is what I am looking for…nor is the possibility of having my house burn down to the ground if it catches fire (that’s always a possibility though, regardless of the services available to you).
What I mean is that I want to live in a place, house, neighborhood, city, where ever I can find it, that is populated by people who understand ‘it’ and get ‘it’. What ‘it’ is to be a community and help out your neighbor…look out for yourself and your neighbor. I don’t want to live in a place where I have to privately OWN stuff to have some kind of feeling of control over what the hell is going on…I want to share the joy, the pain, the responsibility and work load. It is hard work (purposeful work) to make it happen and continue to happen.
I want my child(ren) to grow up in a community, not a network.
From: Jeb Feldma
Date: February 7, 2008 7:45:44 PM EST
Subject: Help Braddock
hello all:
deep cuts to public transportation. a $500 million underground tunnel to stadiums. a $7 billion dollar, four-lane, toll road through poor, african-american neighborhoods. tragically, this is what passes for transportation policy in allegheny county.
if you have not done so already, i am respectfully requesting a few moments of your time to help our community and the region by voting against the mon-fayette expressway in the recent poll on www.postgazette.com.
please help braddock and the numerous other communities that have already been severely harmed (or would be obliterated) by this wasteful, highly destructive, and interminable 40-year discussion.
respectfully,
mayor john fetterman
Braddock
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Obviously, you know that I have voted against this atrocity. Please, we need to help Braddock, PA stay on the map. We also need to be putting more effort into saving this forgotten city. It is currently the only close place even remotely resembling an ‘autonomous zone‘ — we need more of those. If you don’t know much about Braddock, then today is YOUR lucky day!
Braddock Pennsylvania - Braddocc (mayor fetterman’s site)
Braddock, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (wikipedia)
A Call to Arms (pittsburgh city paper)
Braddocc (myspace)
FLOG for the day.
B: vegan mac n cheeze w/ penne pasta & organic foursome (peas, carrots, corn & french beans). soy nuggets w/ garlic sesame dressing for dipping. orange juice.
L: bbq tofu w/ vegenaise & vegan sliced cheeze on a sesame bun. vanilla rice milk.
D: sautéed bok choy w/soba noodles & peanut satay sauce. lapsang souchong tea.
To answer some questions about what I eat. Yes, everything is vegan, excluding honey, but we’ll get into that another day. Yes, practically everything I eat is organic — I’d safely say that over 95% of our food is organic (either ‘officially’ certified or ‘community’ certified). Yes, we cook from scratch over 70% of what we eat and only eat out on average once every two weeks…though I do hit up the soup and hummus plate at The Vault when I go at least once a week.
Feel free to ask questions about our grub anytime.
Is anyone else sick of the weather? I am. When it’s Winter, I expect Winter weather: cold, wind, snow, sleet, ice, etc.). Well, I will be getting back to that kind of weather over the next week, but the last two days here in the ‘burgh have been well, Spring like. Some of the trees have buds, I’ve heard baby birds (and seen them) and we were able to have the windows open for almost two entire days. Mind you this is occurring now, in February. We also had a four day stretch of this at the end of January, when I observed the same phenomenons.
Yes, I know you are going to mention ‘Climate Change’ and ‘Global Warming’. But, as the Republicans have informed us, those things don’t really exist. I mean, I believe they do. Do I think we have caused them, no, but I do think we have added to their severity and probably rushed things along. The only thing that I know for sure is that Mother Nature is tired of us. Though ‘we’ think that we have found ways to conquer her, she is still as feral as the inner thoughts of house cats. I’ve seen footage and photographs from Prypiat and Chernobyl. I know that less than 20 years after we are gone, Mother Nature will prevail and envelope and hide most if not all signs of us.
I want seasons, seasons that are consistent. Living in Pittsburgh, has allowed to me to experience four definite seasons, but even they are on rocky ground. I am not looking forward to only experiencing very extreme Summers and Winters with no in-betweens. Does anyone else feel the same?
So, it’s going to happen. Something. And on a global level. I am determined to keep that something at bay as long as I possibly can. I just wish that more and more people would see that our only two steps are to make the lifestyle changes necessary to become renewable energy independent (as individual persons & communities, not a national system, because we have seen how tragically our national systems breakdown) , thus lessening our pollutive contributions to the problem. The second step is to prepare to rebuild after the something. Yes, I mean what I say. Think Hurricane Katrina, but on a global scale and to the nth degree. You can see what I mean about preparing to rebuild.
Obviously, there are other steps to take, but those seem to me to be the most important ones. We have to kill Monsanto and other monopolizing entities or at least cripple them enough that their buying off and paying off powers don’t render us completely helpless. We need to convince people that ethanol fuel is only a kludge in the system and not really a solution. We have to stop sending our children to public school, so that they aren’t dumbed down and can grow up as free thinking individuals. We need to bring the community back together and find our tribes, so that we have resources for our children and elderly and for those who take care of our children and elderly. We need to stop hunting down and killing off our wise ones, our elder patriarchs and matriarchs, our sages and healers, our midwives and shamans. There is a lot to be done, but those two main steps alone could save us…sadly though, not all of us.
Any thoughts?
"Do you ever wonder who the leader is? Do you ever stop and think that you could stop following and start leading your own family?" - Valerie Fitzenreiter