I have learned to become accustomed to operating in a state of lack. I have struggled financially on and off my entire life. There are long periods of stability thrown in there, for contrast, lol. I have gained a wealth of knowledge through the years. Hacks, everyday survival tips, resources, etc.
The current disaster in the US, coupled with my financial status, has those survival instincts kicking into overdrive. I have been trying very hard to refrain from consumerism. We only buy what we need, and try to find what we WANT in creative ways like Buy Nothing Groups, Next Door, and Facebook. I am coming to fully understand capitalism, the need for mutual aid, community, and so much more.
If something breaks, we fix it, if that’s possible. The other day, I broke our French press coffee maker. There is literally NO money to replace it. Rick was super casual about it. “We’ll figure it out.” He said. I replied like I always do, “We always do.”
We put our heads together, and realized that the solution was staring us in the face! One of my Christmas gifts was an electric kettle that also has a tea infuser carafe with a heat element below it. We realized that we could easily use the tea infuser and carafe as a French press of sorts. Ta-dah! Problem solved, no money spent.
There are points where the sadness connected to poverty creeps in. I am trying to find joy in every day. A few days ago, that sadness was doing it’s damnedest to get my attention. I shook it off. I said to Rick, “We are wealthy in books. I open our cupboards, and there is enough food to eat for a week. We’re rich.” I can walk over to a shelf and pick up any one of our hundreds of books, and it will be something I haven’t seen before. I can go into the kitchen and bake bread, or cookies, whip up an easy lunch, or a filling dinner. I don’t rely on fancy ingredients. I can stretch one onion into four different dishes. I will do everything in my power to avoid food waste. It is one of my biggest pet peeves.
I have gotten pretty accomplished at making being frugal fun. I am always looking for fun things to do for free.
Last night, we drove all of five minutes into South Pasadena to the library to see a screening of a documentary that Rick’s friend made. It also just happened to coincide with Farmer’s Market Night on the same block. Parking was an absolute NIGHTMARE. The lawn surrounding the library was JAMMED with families, screaming children, dogs… We found the line for the screening, and luckily, there was a large stone bench near the line. As I sat on the bench, and Rick stood in line, children were running around EVERYWHERE. Pushing past, and into people. A few even ran on the bench I was sitting on, and stopped when they got to me. They stood there staring for a few seconds. Did they expect me to move? Were they just curious about me?
The descriptor of “feral” comes to mind. I am a former early educator. I taught for sixteen years. By and large, I LOVE children. But children of hipster parents are a whole other species. I am not completely knocking the concept of gentle parenting, but children are not one parenting style fits all. Some of the children last night were chaos gremlins.
We saw a few friends at the screening, and got a chance to catch up. The documentary is titled, “Celebrity Caregiver”. It follows the husband of a stroke victim, who sunk hundreds of thousands of dollars into a coach who promised to make anyone who took his courses a celebrity speaker. The whole thing was a sham in my eyes. And while this man presented to the world that his coach had gotten him speaking gigs at Harvard, CNN Center, NASDAQ, and more than a few large corporations, it was all an illusion. He paid his coach $10,000 for each five minute speaking engagement, in rented venues that just happened to carry the NAMES- Harvard (Club of Boston, a wedding venue) CNN Center (ceremonial in name only. A hotel near CNN with conference rooms), etc. There was the APPEARANCE of success- like becoming an Amazon best selling author. There is a hack to make this happen fairly easily. You set your price to .99 and ask everyone you know to buy it, and give it a stellar rating. You don’t even need to read it! Then in a one hour time slot like between 11 and midnight, you send the rating. That flood of activity pushes your book onto the bestseller list. It is kinda dishonest and icky.
The movie kinda shined a light of people’s motivations. He spent countless days, weeks, months away from his wife, who survived a massive stroke, but was left paralyzed on her right side, and could not speak. All on a dream to be famous.
He paid for meet and greets with celebrities. He paid for courses. He paid to be a podcaster. I have seen this exact scenario happen in my own life. When I worked in radio, my executive producer was paying to have his show aired. He paid for meet and greets with musicians and other famous people. He forced his way onto red carpets. He began introducing bands at concerts. He became that smarmy vibrant patterned suit wearing “Don’t you know who I am?” type. The type that clears a room because no one wants to be around you. The notoriety is bought and paid for. He tried to force himself into a class that was beyond him, and faced many a slammed door. But in true pest fashion, there was ALWAYS a back way to sneak in.
The movie made me uncomfortable. Knowing that the guy IN THE MOVIE was at the screening made it very difficult to watch. The secondhand embarrassment had me cringing and covering my eyes at points. I asked to leave after the movie ended, and before the q&a.
We sat outside on a bench and had a cigarette before we headed home.
I am feeling a little crappy today. In pain. Exhausted. Nauseated. I am nauseated frequently, and it never goes further than that. But this morning… things are not going to go well. I already know I will be throwing up within fifteen minutes or so. I am having a bit of abdominal pain, too. I will keep an eye on it.
I have loose plans in the form of a to do list today. Baking sandwich bread. Making mayonnaise from scratch. Prepping dried beans to cook tomorrow. Might try making tortillas. Mailing out two orders. Getting organized. Putting clean laundry away. Coming up with a dinner and making it.
I will be happy if I can knock out 1/4 of it all. Anything more is pressure I am not willing to put on myself when I am not feeling awesome.
Rick wants me to try this new OTC medication regimen that is supposed to be life changing for peri and postmenopausal women who experience fibromyalgia symptoms, new and severe allergies, etc. It’s simple- one Allegra, and one Prilosec a day. He’s done a TON of research on it, and read articles and watched videos from trusted doctors who are saying that they are seeing patients who report life changing improvements almost immediately. Less pain, WAY more energy, a sense of feeling “clear”. So we are going to give it a shot. He found a coupon for Walgreens that would make the two medications about six bucks for a 90 day supply.
The allergist whose videos we’ve watched recommends talking to your doctor first, of course, and also finding out if any of your current medications interact with this regimen. We could not find any interactions or side effects. We’re going to do a two week run on it to see if it helps. If it is anything like what I am seeing and hearing online, it could be a very good thing for us.
I am not one that falls for pseudo-science or miracle supplements or diets. We have really looked into this.
Okay, I am going to lay down for a bit before I attempt to start my day. I hope you all have a great weekend.
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