Cold Spaghetti

We knew it would come.  We just figured we had until the contract ended in a month.  Turns out, things went a bit faster than planned.  Thank goodness Paul obsesses over Quicken we’re thrifty.   So we’re on Day Two of no billable hours for Paul, and predicting this will reach into a third day… or more.

No demonstrable household income* = Lemons

Having some time to work on the house = Lemonade!

Like getting back to the front yard, which we hadn’t seen in a long while.  Weeding, top soil, mulch… and it’s a different place all together.  Remember us bricking in the plant beds? Time to finally get those last bags of concrete and mortar off the porch!  A few more days and the middle bed will be done.

We used our child labor to help on weed control.

We haven’t forgotten about that 4+ year and going renovation in the back!  More on that soon.  It’s just too overwhelming to get into tonight.

—

*No demonstrable income, meaning, nothing that we really can speak for or give strong evidence towards… as opposed to the little spurts of cash I bring in.  Some good news, though: I was recently offered a summer adjunct position to teach in the School of Social Work.  And a grant project I was written into as a consultant was funded.  So it’s not like I’m a total loss?

Welcome to Just Posts!

Just Posts monthly round table began two years ago by Jen at One Plus Two and Mad at Under the Mad Hat.  This month marks the first (the inaugural, perhaps?) round table hosted here and at Collecting Tokens, by my co-conspirator, Alejna.  She and I share the belief that reading, thinking, and writing are partners which lead to positive action.  I find inspiration, ideas, motivation, and reason within the Just Posts and give great thanks to the readers, writers, and contributors.

Please take a moment to read some of this month’s posts.  The topics include poverty in Bangladesh, U.S. politics, conflict in the Middle East, discussions and ideas for giving, racial stereotyping, gender roles in parenting, environmental change…  and more.  If you visit a post, please take a moment to comment; a small way of letting others know what you are reading, thinking, writing, and even doing?  We want to hear all about it…

The January Just Posts Roundup:

• Adrianne at The Bodhi Tree with Quote of the Day
• Angela at Letters from Usedom with Can We Change the World Just By Connecting?
• Ashley at Letters from Dhaka with The P-word
• BipolarLawyerCook with International Relations
• Brigitte Knudson at A Liberal Education with On Social Justice and Education
• De at An Indigo Virgo with Noughts and Crosses
• Emily at Wheels on the Bus with The Holy Land and There Must be More Money
• Erika at Be Gay About It with My Uterus Sent Me Flowers
• fire byrd with this madness needs to stop, before there is a war
• girlgriot at If You Want Kin… with Miss and Mrs. … who? and Samaritans in a Subaru
• Her Bad Mother with The Invisible Boy
• Holly at Cold Spaghetti with Chipped, Just Posts for a Just World and No Cheese with This Whine
• jen at One Plus Two with Behind the scenes of the Just Posts
• KC at Mothers in Medicine with Getting into the spirit and Getting into the spirit, part 2
• KC at DC Metro Moms Blog with A light in the dark
• Kevin at The Bartoy Blog with Stimulate The Economy — Forgive Student Loans!
• Leslie at Adventures in Randomness with I Have a Dream
• Little Pea with On Joining New Clubs
• Lucaites at No Caption Needed with We The People
• Mad at Under the Mad Hat with The Pragmatist and the Heart of Gold
• Mary at The Eleventh with To Her, This is Normal
• Melissa at MOMocrats with Blog for choice: Priorities for the new administration
• Paul Newnham at Give a Damn About Poverty? with Discipline and Training and Small Sacrifice
• Rachel at Kitchen Fire with The First Time I Voted
• Rebecca at Flying Tomato Farms with Farmer’s Market Nutrition Program and Change I believe In
• Sahar at Sahar’s Blog with Clean off your hearts, people of the world! and Roll up them sleeves, we’re getting down to business
• Shahrazaad with War Ends, Schools Begin
• SoulSnax at Rice Daddies with They’re homogeneous: Black Culture, Asian Culture, etc…
• Thailand Chani at Finding My Way Home with Laying Down Arms
• Thordora at Love Has No Need For Memory with Pensioneering

Some of the January Just Post readers:

Emily
jen
KC
Mad
Hel

Please send some love to Alejna, too!

Haydel’s is the current King Cake Champion in this house.

At least, until we’ve tried a MacKenzie’s.  Must not leave a stone unturned!

Oh, and Haydel’s?  They put the baby IN the cake, the way nature intended.

Important business, this reading Heifer International’s newsletter.

No, really, Mom.  Did you know you a flock of chicks is only $20?

Thanks, Heifer.  With YOUR help, we’re just one pants-less morning away from Potty Trained.

Technically, this is a bad photograph of a ladder.  I was giddy with the camera.

BECAUSE DO YOU SEE WHAT HAS BEGUN BEHIND THAT LADDER?!?!?!

Foot bridge from the end-of-the-line PeruRail train station to the town of Aguas Calientes, a tourist mecca with the distinction of being the closest habitable place to Machu Picchu. This is exactly the kind of place I try to avoid at all costs. So believe me when I say staying here is worth it, in order to wake up in the middle of the night and get to the sanctuary by dawn.

I will finish that travelogue. I will. I will. I will!

See more bridges and learn about Photohunt here.
More of my Photohunt here.

Breaking news, 11am this morning:

INTERMITTENT FLUID IN BOY CHILD’S EAR CAUSES REDUCED HEARING

Afternoon addition:

PARENTS DISTRACTED BY NEW PARADE ROUTES AND DECIDE TO IGNORE CHILD’S POTENTIAL HEARING ISSUE

Evening release:

HEARING WHA? KID SEEMS FINE AFTER CRAZY ANTICS IN BATHTUB

What posts did you read during the month of January that made you more aware, more informed, or more moved about our world?

Alejna and I are kicking off our first Just Posts Roundtable… and actively requesting links to posts!  Here’s the jist: posts on personal blogs that make the world a little smaller, brighter, better.  They could have environmental insight, show passion for health, take a stand on inequality, tackle the global economy, address community violence, debate a solution to a pressing problem, or highlight a person or organization that deserves a little attention… you get the idea.

Just Posts for a Just World.

Have something in mind?  Submit it to the monthly roundtable: justpostsroundtable at gmail dot com.  Need more information?  There is a permanent page up with the 4-1-1.

Send in submissions by Saturday (February 7th) to be included in the Roundtable post on Tuesday, February 10th.  Nominators get a nod for reading and sending submissions and writers get a nod for writing.

Thanks to everyone and happy reading!

And extra thanks to Jen, Mad & Su!