I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV: January 2010

I had an amazing grandmother. We lived next door to my grandparents and they were farmers. We were able to spend a lot of time with them growing up. After reading an article about what our grandparents taught us about being "green", I got to thinking about all the "quirks" of my grandma. Things that came to mind:

She would take small left over pieces of soap and combine them into a new, bigger bar. It looked like vomit...but it was soap.
When doing laundry, she would empty the wash water into the laundry sink, then use it again on the next load. Really dirty laundry was washed in the old wringer washer. Everything was line dried except in the winter. Then if a small load, she would hang it in the basement.
Until my grandfather was probably in his 80s, they mainly used wood to heat. He would chop it himself. They had a furnace for back up, like when they were gone.
Grandma used everything. Nothing was wasted, especially when cooking. When making pies, she would use the left over crust to make little cookies. When cooking bacon, she would save the grease to use for fried potatoes or what not. She made pickles out of watermelon rinds.
She would make up large batches of food at a time and save in smaller portions. Now, I know a lot of people that do this. The scary part of Grandma's practice, she would date the package. I remember having the same swiss steak for probably 3 years or more. Scary!
Grandma's idea of Tupperware was left over plastic containers.
She had a dishwasher but it was never used unless it was a big holiday family meal. It died from lack of use. Everything in it dried out.
She composted before I had ever heard of it. All food scraps went out to the field. They didn't have garbage service so everything had to be composted or burned...or saved. Oh, boy, did they save stuff!
If it was glass and somewhat shaped like a drinking glass, it's second life WAS a drinking glass.
Always reused her aluminum foil and washed out her zip lock bags to reuse.
Her clothes! If she lost weight, she would just pin in the waste band on her pants, or worse, use twine to keep them up. She never threw any away. She would patch and mend until...well..I think she always had the same everyday clothing my entire childhood.
Of course, I played with all my mom's old toys. Even bath toys (mainly boats). She later gave them to my son, Westin, for a birthday one year. I thought it was the best gift ever. They didn't make it to my son, Wieland, as they were gross and falling apart by the time Westin was done with them.

I think you get the idea. If I think of any more, I will be sure to add them. :) So, if you are like my husband, you are asking yourself, "Why is she listing all of these things?"

I laid in bed last night and I got to thinking about some funny things my grandma did. Specifically, she was a freak for condiments. She loved her ketchup and mustard! She would pile it on food and it would be dripping off it, there was so much. It made me sick just seeing it. (You know, a little goes a long ways) We always joked about how Grandma grew up in the Great Depression and she didn't get to have condiments growing up, hence she really loved them now.

Here, my family is going through it's own Great Depression. We have seen numerous recessions during our years in business and they never really affected us. This recession, being so heavily auto industry related, has devastated our business. We don't know when the next dollar will come in or where it will come from. Still, I am sure it is nothing like the original my grandparents lived through. Yet, I still wonder, what parts of this time will chang

e the rest of my life and my children's lives. Maybe I will pick up some great money saving habits that my children or grandchildren will laugh at when they get older? Maybe I will have this great fear of the stock market like my grandfather always had, that I never understood, but now can start to understand?

So far, this time has taught me that as long as I have my family, we will find a way to get by. We will get creative and we will do our best to not loose our entrepreneurial spirit. We will see it as a learning experience like no other, and hopefully protect ourselves from experiencing the same kind of uncertainty we are experiencing now. It will all be ok.

Westin is the best. He is 12, he has type 1 diabetes and celiac disease. He also has a form of epilepsy, a swallowing problem related to seasonal allergies, chronic acid indigestion, asthma. I list those last, as they don't affect him on such a major "effects my daily life" level. Type 1 diabetes is a disease that is dealt with 24 hours a day. He is thinking about it all day. I am thinking about it all day and night. Celiac disease affects every meal decision.

In my earlier post, I talked about this wonderful gluten free bread that landed on our door step last month. Well, the 8 initial loaves are gone. We have 2 slices left. I really had intended on ordering another 8 on Monday but when looking at the limited funds in my checkbook, I just couldn't swing it. I had to break the news to Westin this morning that I wasn't going to be able to order any more any time soon. He just said, "Ok." and went on with his day.

He loves this bread! Obviously, he has gone through 8 loaves since the 18th of December. I know he is going to be bummed when the reality of it being gone really hits. It upsets me more than cutting our budget way down for Christmas. I mean, shouldn't bread be a given right? Nope, if you are celiac and on a limited income, it is a privilege.