Just doing it!

I think about this blog at least once a week. Often several times in a day.
I really want to keep writing, updating, etc.
For some reason, uploading pictures is really complicated for me, and I have to get Nate's help each time, or I have to rediscover how to do it myself, which means that with both of us usually focused on other things, it doesn't happen.
And then I feel like I can't just put up another post of my thoughts, my musings, and basically just words because I haven't put up any pictures in who knows how long, even though I've been taking them and we have a whole file on the computer just for that.
So I brush the thought aside and keep on with my life, and the moment passes, and those thoughts fly onward, never to be exactly recovered (for good or for ill.)
But right now I decided to just write, and post, what I've been thinking.  My "readership" is probably next to nothing, thanks to the months of blog-neglect, but that's ok.  If someone reads these posts and enjoys them or thinks about them or gets anything good or interesting out of them, that's great.  If I'm pretty much just writing to myself, I'm fine with that too. :)  And if reading my blog irritates, offends, or gets under anyone's skin - they are welcome to move on.  No pressure to stick around!

I've been reading some really interesting books.  One is called "Nickel and Dimed," written by a journalist who did a life experiment of moving to several random places and trying to make all her ends meet as a minimum wage, entry level worker.  She tried it in Key West, some beach town in Maine, and the Twin Cities area in Minnesota, working as a waitress, in hotel housekeeping, with a maid service, as a "dietary aide" in an Alzheimer's ward of a nursing home, and at Walmart.  The first four jobs, she worked two at a time. Basically, it didn't work out.  After giving each situation a try for several weeks, she ended up concluding that it was almost impossible to make ends meet for the basics of housing, food, and transportation, not to mention even thinking about providing for an emergency, even working two minimum wage jobs at once.  And that was beside the way she felt looked down on, manipulated, abused, and totally dead-ended.  She narrates her experiences, bringing to life the people that surround her, people that are not going to go back to a different life with the ease that a little (or a lot!) more money and education might afford them, people for whom these jobs are real life.  I found myself strongly reminded of working in a daycare in Florida...
I must admit, this book left me a little depressed.  But it did get me thinking about the ways that I am privileged!  The privilege it gave me to have parents who emphasized the importance of education, and who provided for me and looked after me so that I could do things like finish high-school and go into college, and then get scholarships to go away and finish college.  The privilege and blessing it is to have a strong support network literally anywhere I go, whether it be family I can call on, or the local ward.  It is so easy to take for granted, even if we never use it, the help that is available just from calling our bishop, our Relief Society President, our Elders Quorum president, or even just visiting or home teachers.  And then there is the privilege of being able to stay home with my children and to be a full-time homemaker for my family.  I'm SO thankful that Nate can provide for us so that I can do this, and so thankful that he agrees with me that this is the best and most important thing I can do for our family.  And I'm privileged and blessed to be able to pass that privilege and blessing on to my children, as I love and teach and care for and set an example for them, one on one, here in our home.
Its an interesting read.  Its definitely not one of those "don't miss it" books, but if you have time and you find it, it's worth it.  Just remember, even if you don't read it, be thankful for the privileges that are yours.