A Convenient Life

Americans, in general, have way too "convenient" a living. We take "conveniences" for granted, such as the MegaStore/SuperStore. About 70 years ago a trip to the market meant getting some coffee, tea, or flour. There were no grocery carts, much less 10 varieties of canned beans and like, 40 different kinds of deodorant from which to choose. The little hand-baskets were all that was to be "conveniently" provided by the store (until some great guy put that basket on wheels and noticed people put more into their baskets-- Bing! Grocery cart!).

Now, you can go to the grocery store and get your toilet paper, car oil, wood pellets, light bulbs, produce, canned goods, bottled vitamins, prescription drugs, and movies. That's not counting every aisle! Maybe I should have started with the produce and finished with the toilet paper! :-)

Today, I took advantage of "convenience." I didn't feel like cleaning, cooking, cleaning again after doing my errands, so I bought pre-made food from near-the-deli (is it part of the deli?) to bring home for the kids' and my dinner.  Open bag, pull out food, eat. Re-use plastic bag that food came in to clean out cat box (there's a great back-to-back thought!). That was highly convenient, and I cringed with the act. This was just way too convenient for how we choose to live, a guilty indulgence one might say.

As a society, we've become over-burdened by convenience. So burdened by it, it's overwhelming and we rent storage units.... Oi! Guilty! But I swear that this particular "Guilty" will soon be remedied.

As far as family update goes, Hubby is slowly recovering from being quite ill. Thanks to rest, lots of fluid (I have more tea than any other 'thing' I think), and homemade chicken stew, and a decently high fever to kill the germs, Hubby is on the mend. In the 15 years we've been together, he's never been ill for this long, so it's been a little... distressing to watch.

The kids haven't been terribly sick yet, although Girl may have had a fever last night (she only told me she couldn't sleep, not that she wasn't feeling well). Typical for her is popping a high fever for about a day (as I keep a close eye on it and take precautionary measures to make sure it doesn't get too high) and then being done with "it," maybe some sniffles afterwards, but that's about it. Since not being in school, Boy has been considerably healthier in all ways! He hasn't been seriously ill much since we started homeschooling. Still having to work on the whole hygiene thing with them though. How hard is it to wash your hands? It's a very simple and the most effective way of keeping healthy. And why are Boy and Girl so opposed to showers? It must be the "teen" thing.

As of yesterday, I've lost 3/4" inch since about a decade ago... and no, not from around my waist. I'm shorter than when I was in the Navy. Ugggg, 5' 2"... what?? That's like, reallllly short! The good news is, since December I've lost 8 pounds that mysteriously crept up on me. What I don't know right now is how my thyroid is doing according to the blood work. Maybe I'll find out tomorrow. Maybe I should buy a scale....

Well, Hubby is home and we've got a lot to discuss, such as the lack of convenience of flipping a switch for heat. Yes, we have heat registers, no we don't use them. We have to work for our heat, which means we are warmed at least twice before the fire!

A convenient life? We're moving away from that, slowly but surely.

~Cedeham~