Coming Together

After a frantic couple of troublesome months, I'm hoping, praying, that things are returning to normal here. I've walked around for the past few weeks with a knot in my stomach, just waiting for the other shoe to drop. That's just no way to live.

So back to the blissfully normal doldrums. Mara and I spent the morning defrosting the freezer and I must say, I'm very pleased with the goodies we've put up over the summer. Whenever I find a good deal on meats or cheeses, I buy it in multiplicity. As a result, we have tons of frozen chicken breast, smoked sausage, bacon, pepperoni and hamburger. Today, Walmart had Honeysuckle turkeys on sale for .60/lb, so I bought the last one and my mom picked up a second one for me when they restocked this afternoon. In addition to our pantry full of dry goods, our basement storage room full of home-canned fruits, veggies and meats and the comfort foods I pick up on sale, I think we're in pretty good shape for winter.

I know some folks think it's old-fashioned or neurotic (or survivalist) to stock up like we do, but I can see no downside to it. I buy the foods we use *anyway*. I buy them at excellent prices, so when prices go up, our food stores are like money in the bank. And what great insulation to have against life's pitfalls. Joblessness. Natural disaster. Inflation. Terrorism. We are living in such strange, uncertain times, it makes me feel better knowing that our basic necessities are covered. That's the least I owe to my kids. When Jeff and I were alone, it wasn't such a big deal to fly by the seat of our pants, but now that Isaac and Mara are here, it's a whole 'nother ball game. They deserve that protection, and the promise of some normalcy if/when the SHTF. We may not be able to afford a huge house, expensive vacations, fancy toys, but we can give our children security.

This weekend looks to be a quiet one; a little deer hunting, a little leaf-raking, church and probably some canning. There's a half-bushel of apples in the garage to sauce, plus a few to dry. Walmart was practically giving away pumpkins today for a penny each, so I bought 3 to can for pies and pumpkin rolls. Other than that, I'm looking forward to a still, quiet, peaceful weekend at home. So, til next week, Best Wishes from the Run.