Holiday

My daughter will be off from school for the next 5 days including the weekend.  I will finally get a chance to stop being so responsible in having to get up early and make sure my daughter is ready for the bus and school.  This is great.  This also means a digital break for me as well.  Opting instead to spend quality time with my family.  I will return.

Remember to give thanks and try not to spend too much if anything on Black Friday, Shop local or even shopping on line.  Give yourself an extra pat on the back for saving a life.  You didnt eat a turkey for this holiday.  Congratulations!

Other great gifts are gifts in a jar bath salts, teas, hot cocoa, etc.  be creative and they dont cost a lot either.  If you need to check out a gift jar book from the library I am sure they have at least one.

Enjoy and be thankful.

Holiday Shopping done!

My last post I mentioned a New American Dream well I downloaded and printed coupons for my husband and my daughter. I spent a whopping $1.50 for my husbands gift and a smidge more for my daughter for the holidays. Here is the link for the holiday coupons http://b.3cdn.net/newdream/2f858580ca1bbff6ef_hhm6bolwp.pdf and here are a few of their suggestions for different folks on your list http://b.3cdn.net/newdream/84f7c33876e0e9ff24_com6b957c.pdf. This covers one of my daughters final gifts. I give her 4 things you might think I am cheap but, with grandparents going crazy with stuff for her this makes more sense to me and I dont feel as though I have to keep up with the “Joneses” or in my case the grandparents. She gets something she wants, somethings she needs, an experience gift, and last but not least $100 for her college fund. I do the same for her birthday as well again it is only four things but, it helps me stay more sane and not have (hopefully) so much stuff in my house.

I hope this helps folks struggling with what to get a person on your list. You can do all or none of New Dreams suggestions for a person. I really hope this helps you to spend less and have more quality time with someone.

In other news I FINALLY got my new to me computer up and going it took a lot of anger and pleading on my part to get my husband to get it up and going. Why because I insisted that it have Linux on it not some other OS. I am picky that way. The good news is that now I can post pictures to this site and I can download what I want to on my computer! Wahooo! I am going to do my very best to KISS (aka keep it simple stupid) and not put soo much stuff on this machine.

New American Dream

This holiday season I have everyone covered for gifts except for my husband. Thanks to New American Dream I now have a solution. I will give him a coupon book with some coupons he can redeem when he wants to. This will be great and we can spend some quality time together. I love it! I had been struggling with what to do/give him for a gift when all I had to do was wait. Romance and quality time with my husband who works a lot to provide for our family sign me up! Woot! If you want some peace and peace of mind that doesnt damage the wallet head on over to http://www.newdream.org for your chance to simplify your holidays.
Also you can make a donation to a charity of your choice in a persons name and even have it go to help the victims in France the Red Cross is a good start. There are others that are good as well Charity Water brings water to areas where water is scarce or hard to get to, Free Tibet, ASPCA, Farm Sanctuary and other animal groups, Doctors without Borders. There are a lot so just find one or more that you feel like giving to and maybe instead of a one time donation you can set up a monthly withdrawal which helps even more. Again the holidays dont have to be about how much you give someone or how much you spend especially on credit (cause you might be paying for it years later with a 15% or more interest on it). If you are struggling with debt or know someone then give them a book by Dave Ramsey to help them get out of debt for good and stay out that might be the best gift ever!

As for turkey sacrifice day my family and I are celebrating by having a free birds thanksgiving. As in other words we will be having a vegan pizza and pumpkin pie for our celebration. Be creative and if a tofurkey or field roast isnt your thing try Indian food, Chinese, or whatever sounds good. Its not about spending hours cooking its about giving thanks.

Yet another one

I watched Divorce Corp on Netflix and a lot of it I was unaware of. This is another one I highly recommend.
I was unaware that judges are bought some of the time by attorneys via campaign contributions and awards, and even trips. If anyone has been through a divorce it is not easy with or without kids. Kids as most people know are on the short end of the stick.
They profiled one gentleman who lost custody of his daughter, lost everything, and had to go live with his parents in Scandinavia.
In Scandinavia divorce is a lot easier. Alimony is paid until the divorce is final not until the end of a spouses life. Child support is $150 per month per child not for the child’s pageant dresses or new toys etc. The cost of a divorce is the cost of a stamp not the thousands of dollars that most people spend.
It is again very informative and very interesting. I encourage folks to watch this one too.

Documentary

I watched Cowspiracy on Netflicks. It is a very good documentary and I highly encourage folks to watch it. If you do not have Netflicks then please go to http://www.cowspiracy.com where you can get a copy of the film to watch. You can also join if you are not already a Vegan to sign up for a 30 day challenge.
It is interesting in that a lot of the “environmental” groups hardly or never mention how animal agriculture is extremely polluting to the environment. My husband pointed out that if most people went Vegan our economy would collapse and it might be true but, it would be sooo much better for the environment. Change is always hard but, I think that we would probably persevere and survive and perhaps even thrive.

Enjoy the film and if you are not already Vegan sign up for the 30 day challenge and enjoy the change.