I love blogs

I love blogs- I love writing this blog for our friends and family (teamschiele.blogspot.com for those of you following on facebook), I love keeping up with far away friends and family thorough their blogs, I love reading blogs dedicated to educating and documenting… something.

I have a rotating list of blogs that I read regularly dedicated to something that I am curious about, interested in, wanting to understand better. Many of them come and go- today’s favorite may hold no interest tomorrow. I may not have found tomorrow’s favorite. Here are some of my current favorites and why like them.

One Cheep Chick
Lesley Mitchell is a tribune money section writer who keeps this blog of deals and freebees. Of course I love saving money, there is never enough for everything I want, and it is fun to be able to afford things we wouldn’t otherwise. Last Tuesday we went to the spaghetti factory on the cheap thanks to her notice that they were offering 40% off menu favorites. It was a great date and so nice to get out.

Little House in the Suburbs
Tomato Lady and Ivory Soap (not their real names I think) have spent their lives doing all those urban homesteading activities that I spent my life avoiding- only to find that I love gardening, canning, and chickens. Their post on gourds was the deciding factor in the decision to try to grow them. They need a longer season then we have here, but I want to try them anyway.

Rambling Babushka
I would like this blog for nothing other than the name, but Ildie makes eating well look amazing. Her food photos and directions (too simple to be called recipes) make me want to eat better. I can’t tell you how often my efforts to eat better end at lunch when I can’t think of what to eat. She shows what she is really eating and makes it look so yummy. She also documents her workouts- yeah, go Ildie, not following you on that one sister.

Unclutterer: Daily tips on how to organize your home and office http://unclutterer.com/
My most honest resume would say organizer of people, time, space stuff, information. This collaborative effort follows the gospel of a place for everything and everything in its place. I learn new techniques and have fine tuned many ideas from the info found here. Every Wednesday they offer a gag- unitasker of the week. While these are meant to be funny, I find them poignant. My love of shinny junk is barely balanced by my need for neatness. Wednesday serves as a weekly reminder to think before deciding I ‘need’ something.

Growing Girls With Purpose – The Girl Revolution
This is one of my newer blogs. I recently found Tracee Sioux my roommate from my wild and crazy days. We had so much fun together, navigating the single world as young divorced and insane women. She has turned her always strong writing skills, and strong feminist ideals into a blog dedicated to raising girls into amazing women. She is quite an amazing woman herself and I love seeing her and her ideas all grown up and working in the world.

I have been looking for some good blogs on retirement saving/ investing. I understand the basics of stocks and bonds and know that we should be diversified, but how do you figure out where exactly to put your money? I find this subject quickly frustrating so would love to learn in small bites like you get on a blog. Any suggestions?

So what blogs do you follow? Do you find they add to your life or are just a distraction? Are they a good way to learn something new or just another outlet for our voyeuristic/exhibitionist tendency’s?

Healing

Things you forget when you have been sick for a long time:

1. The fresh, live feeling of a clean house.
2. How much work it is to get the house realy clean
3. How nice it is to spend time with friends
4. How you look when you are polished, colored, moisturized and made up
5. The time it takes to do all those things you were dreaming about when you were too sick to do anything
6. What season/ month/ day it is (what happened to all the Christmas lights?)
7. That just because you feel ok does not mean you have the stanima of a healthy person
8. How good it feels to get out for a change of scenery
9. How much your husband sacrificed to take care of you
10. The joy of dancing

One kid, two kid, red fish blue fish....

I was just wondering if I would ever ‘get the call’ from DCFS telling us that they had a child they would like to place in our home. This is not unusual, I think about it at least 20 times a day. So it is surprising that when I answered the phone and the woman on the other end said she was from DCFS my first thought was ‘oh no, what’s wrong’ and not ‘whoo hoo a kid for us.’

We have agreed to one child. She had two and wondered if we would take them. Of course I had to at least ask. The thought of kids in the house for Christmas, the fact that this is the first call after months on the list, and the fear that she would never call again was enough to risk the wrath of Brian. In the past he has all but lost his cool every time I bring up the subject.

No, there are not two little angels on their way to our home tonight, but we have agreed to talk about it. I think two would be easier, and it while it might be fun to grow up as an only, it would be too sad as an adult. He thinks two would be too much time, too many expenses, and while I assure him otherwise, I think he is worried that I will take after my mom and keep going.

So give us your honest thoughts on the subject- one kid or two? What’s best for the child(ren)? What’s best for the marriage? What are the pros? What are the cons?

Thanks for your help!

Vote For Me Please!

During my recent unemployment I had a lot of time on my hands, and during that same period I made friends with a guy who does two blogs, on is called "The Fiberglass Manifesto" and the other "Fishy Kid".
Both are about fishing of course, but this post has something to do with the latter site.
As I mentioned I had a lot of time on my hands, which I filled with some stuff around the house of course, fishing and photography, but I also entered Fishy Kid's "Adult Coloring Contest", where I colored and submitted three pictures.
The creators of the site have decided to put the winners to a vote, so if you could please vote for me.
Use the following link: http://fishykid.org/contest-rules/vote-here
Brian Schiele
Thanks!
Brian

In case you haven't heard....

I know many of our dear readers are also one or both of our "Face Book Friends", so the following maybe old news to you, but here goes....
I was offered a job!
Which I took of course, it's with the VA, where I have wanted to work since my experience on active duty with CBHCO.
I don't know a lot about the job at this time, but it basically involves helping veterans that are first entering the VA health system.
I start in a little less than a month, so I can finish up on a few things around the house and get in as much fishing as I can.
Being unemployed this past eight weeks or so hasn't been all that bad, I've done a few things around the house, and Mirinda and I have gotten a little closer too I think despite the extra stress.
I did a lot of fishing too, by my standards anyway. There were a couple of times for instance, where I went in the late afternoon/evening one day and went again the next day. I also got a lot of opportunities to make some photographs when I went fishing too. I'd say I added eight new photographs to the project I am working on. You can see it HERE if you like.




















One of the afternoons I spent somewhere on the Middle Provo....(Yes I did catch one that day!)



Just me and my shadow.... ;-)


There were several days there where I didn't shave at all.

Anyway thanks for your support during this period Mirinda and I greatly appreciate it.
A HUGE thanks to Mirinda for putting up with me during this time too, as well as being there for me and with me during this period as well as the period before.

Here's to new opportunities!
SALUD!
Brian

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Today is All Saints Day, a celebration of all saints, both known and forgotten. It lands on the ancient Samhain celebration of the beginning of the dark time of the year. It is also the end of daylight savings.

I have been feeling the lack of sun for a few days now. The light which was perfect just a few weeks ago is suddenly not quite bright enough. It’s too cold to expose my arms to those week rays and let my skin drink up the vitamin D. My garden is all but gone to sleep and my fingernails hold no trace of growing soil. The dark time of year has begun, and it is time to remember those who have gone before.

They say Halloween is the day the division between this life and the next is thinnest. I look forward to this day as a time to remember those who have died, passing through the winter of this life into the eternal spring of the next life. But this year I am being reminded of life.
The last few days I have had several reminders that people are most important, and that I have neglected some of my most important people, including myself. As we celebrate the day of the dead, I am being reminded to live.

I apologize for not taking better care of myself. I would ask that you forgive me for not calling you, for not sending you a quick note. I am sorry that I was not there for you when you needed me. I promise I will work to be here. To be in the now. I will do this for you my friend, as well as for myself.

This year instead of celebrating the saints who have gone before, I will celebrate the potential in myself to bless the lives of those I love. I will celebrate the living, and life. I will dance with passion, and light a thousand candles against the darkness. I will live, to honor those who showed me the way.

Marriage sucks - Rebuttal

You might think that that our marriage is a little rocky after reading Mirinda's last blog entry, but I am here to tell you that our marriage is the best it has ever been and is always getting better, simply because of one reason, because we work at being married.
And if you have been married for any more than five years or so, you know this and if you have been married longer than that, you defiantly know this and appreciate the work that you and your spouse put into your marriage.
I remember when Mirinda first told me she felt like this, I was a little taken back by it too, but when she explained things to me It made a little sense to me, but I accepted it, because the last thing she said to me at that point was that, "despite all the lousy stuff about me and our marriage, she loved me and accepted it and was willing to work on our marriage.

One of our favorite singer/song writers David Wilcox, put marriage best in his song "Good Together" on his CD "Live: Songs and Stories, when he was telling a story about a single friend who had had several failed relationships. His hapless friend said to Dave, that marriage sounds like a lot of work, to which Dave replied, "Yeah, it is, but it's good work, if you can "get it." I somehow think that Dave just didn't mean get it as in obtain it, I think he also meant to understand it in that marriage is a lot of work too. Which is that just how we see it, because we've got a good marriage and we understand that it take a lot of work to maintain our marriage.

For those of you who are married, I encourage you to thank your spouse for being married and tell them a couple of reasons why you love them and why you appreciate them. It will do you and your marriage good.

Thanks for loving me Mirinda! You are a great wife!
Brian
;-)