Blissful Days

In Texas we generally have Summer from April through September. From October to about March we have Winter, Spring and Autumn. Those are my favorite months!

It's about this time of year when having lots of full size windows can let it lots and lots of heat! I have a system that totally blocks the sun from coming through when the temps get in the 90s and rise quickly from there, until then I raise and lower the mini-blinds (yes, I still have those antiquated thangs...lol!).

So, ANY time we get a cloudy overcast day I let the outdoors in. We have been blessed with many overcast days these last two or three weeks. I've really enjoyed the peace that comes from seeing the greenery around us while spending day after day in my Dining Room Studio.

I've been working on the patterns for several fun fast and frugal crafts as well as polishing off a large E-Book on how to get by in times like we are currently experiencing.

We experienced our own Depression that lasted for 7 years! It was awful. Oddly enough I am glad for having endured and learned from it. I saw this world through entirely different glasses than I'd worn all my life. During that time we were Unemployed or Under-employed while Hubby earned his Masters, then as he established himself in a new field. It is an abrupt halt when you go to living on 1/3 of your previous income; especially when kids are in the home and have become accustomed to a certain lifestyle.

We went from private school to home schooling. We started sharing a car rather than having one for each of us. We went from eating out or ordering in to me processing and cooking every bite that anyone ate. 'Mother May I' was not a game, it was a necessity when the kids wanted a snack out of the pantry. Everything in the pantry was there because it went into something for a meal or snack. It wasn't fair game for mindless munching. Did I say my cleaning lady had to go?

I felt like a pioneer woman. Short of drawing water from a cistern, digging potatoes and killing the chickens, I was a pioneer woman. I fed our 2 teen boys and us 2 adults for $385 each month.

I learned a LOT and was thankful I had started taking the steps toward a more frugal lifestyle just months before the company my husband had been vigorously recruited to work for filed Bankruptcy. We were one of the few given severance pay, many worked for free and didn't know till it was too late.

One of his associates from that company died. His wife of 25 years remarried quickly and we are left to assume his home life had taken a nose dive. Their house was paid off but they had refinanced it and were in a world of credit card debt. Such a tragedy. Had they been better prepared for the Depression our families experienced we believe he would be alive today and they still would be married. I don't intend to sound uppity or point fingers, not at all. The facts are clear, when money gets tight and/or jobs are lost it takes a toll on families.

A toll.

You know, like when you drive on the Toll Road and pay a fee for it's use. When our personal economies take a downward turn we pay for it; we pay with our lives for a thing called Convenience. Convenience is a bottomless cloud. You don't have a clue you are on Cloud 9 till you realize there is no bottom to support your weight and you are nose diving to the ground. To that sudden stop. That is the fee you pay for the use of Convenience.

Others we worked with had family issues brought on by that Depression.

One of our other friends told me, after loosing his job that a Recession or Depression can only be defined by whether or not you are one of those who is impacted by it. To an extent, he was right. Early in the new millennium we were seeing regions of the economy suffering from the Off-Shoring of manufacturing jobs and those who supported those jobs.

The scope of this scenario has broadened in our 'Today'. We are all being affected by world economics. World economics will cause us to make some changes in our lifestyles.

We have choices.

We can adapt and be happy and a peace or we can bury our head in the clouds and pretend there is a bottom to hold our weight.

Personally, I prefer the Cloud. However, I also like to wind out my sons Mustang GT in second gear, screetching the tires and flying down the road...hoping no one is stupid enough to pull out in front of me...hoping that light I can't stop for stays yellow...hoping some child doesn't step off the curb while he is imagining he is a tight rope walker between two buildings in downtown New York City.

Yep, I prefer the Cloud.

I don't mind being the Pioneer Woman but that is a high demand job!

I prefer Convenience.

So, I made cutting the budget to the bones and tossing Convenience Simple and EZ!

I have the best of both worlds.

I am here to assure you...you can too!

Does it mean I don't wind out that Mustang and fly anymore? Of course I will...I'll make a choice when my risks are lowest and I'll enjoy every moment. But I won't do it everyday, I won't do it as a matter of convenience cause I am running late to get somewhere, I won't do it because I am too tired or unprepared.

I'll do it when I choose to.

And I'll have those How-Tos in my E-Book where I connect the dots on making yours a soft landing while still keeping your head in the clouds.

All that to say: I have enjoyed my view out this window while working in my Dining Room Studio.

I hope your day is filled with peace and comfort and you are enjoying the view outdoors.