b is for budget cuts September 18, 2008

Last night I made some roasted tomato soup with tomatoes from my brother John’s garden.  It was really tasty.  We had grilled cheese with various combinations of cheese, but I think my was the gooiest and tastiest with fresh mozarella and provolone on a really nutty whole grain bread.  Yum! And the whole meal was really affordable.  There is a great project going on in our town through the local food bank.  Lots of people have signed up to take the $25 challenge, agreeing to spend on $25 dollars for their food for one week (per person).  This is the amount someone on foodstamps receives to buy their groceries for a week.  The sample menus look challenge, carbo-loaded, and none too healthy.  It’s hard to by high quality and fresh food for that amount.  Don’t know if we are on board for the challenge or not – we’ll discuss it tonight at dinner.

After dinner while I cleaned up, John ran Thomas over to church for his Wednesday night youth group, then swung by to pick me up.  We headed over to small group at B’houses to kick off our fall study called “Conversations.”  I really like those people and it was wonderful to hang out with them.  Two of our group had just attended a forum about the budget cuts to human services.  Cuts in our state (already 51st in human services) have been drastically affecting social service agencies.  Our local substance abuse prevention and treatment agency, for example, has had to close their detox unit and lay off over 20 employees.  This means anyone in need of a detox facility will be going to the emergency room and so it will cost even more to serve these individuals.  The cuts are drastic and across the board:  substance abuse; disabilities; youth programs; violence prevention; even children’s caseworkers.  Human services in Illinois make up only 4% of our state’s budget  and yet they have experienced 12% of the budget cuts.  Makes no sences, except to say that politics in Illinois almost never do, and usually there is something suspicious behind every action.

I am working from home and then heading into the office for a noon meeting.  Thomas runs XC at Danville today, so John is heading over to the meet and I might be going with him, depends on where he departs from.  I made lasagna this morning and it’s in the fridge all ready to pop in the oven for dinner tonight.  Yum!  I wonder how much it cost?  Hmmm, time for some calculations!

b is for back in the saddle September 15, 2008

I have had a delightful six weeks hiatus, hanging out with my darling daughter and enjoying what was left of summer.  Now we are down to three, Thomas, John and me.  There is a little more hammering in the garage and much more tackling and shooting on TV.  There is no one to laugh at Jon and Kate Plus 8 with me; no one to shop for clothes with or eat impromptu cheese nachos at El Torero.  But all that being said, life is as it should be.

Kate went back to college.  She did not drag her feet.  There was no kicking and screaming.  There was just an admirable tenacity to pack and travel while sick as a dog, and settle into a year that is to be gotten through to get on to the good stuff.  We are proud of her, and miss her.

Christian’s mysterious year in Germany unraveled a bit for me today when I got to have an online chat with him.  He is having a marvelous time and remains his wonderful self.  I enjoyed every moment of our exchange and feel like I know a little bit more of what life is like for him now.   I won’t share much of our conversation, but John and I both loved it when he said that he doesn’t have to do homework, but sometimes he does it anyway.  This is a miraculously perfect set up for Chris, one that would have made his high school years nearly idyllic!

Thomas is a little under the weather.  It’s going around; Kate and I both had or have it.  Hopefully Thomas will bounce right back.  He has a couple of cross country meets this week and school work to keep up on.

John is making progress on our garage and got some paint on the 2nd quarter Saturday.  Our shoe shelves go up this week.  It may be the world’s longest project, but it’s going to be pretty sweet when its done. With a busy schedule right now, that project is taking forever!

With our fall schedule pretty much worked out, the three of us are back in the saddle.  We will continue to move ahead, missing some key pieces to family life, but knowing that they are right where they need to be.