Stupid and the MSN journalist

 As I'm sitting at my desk reading the morning news sipping a cup of tea, I headed over to MSN earlier this morning to read whatever tippets of news they have decided to give me today. One of the writers, a woman named Donna Freedman, has been writing about her life of extreme poverty over the last couple of years. Now, I like Donna just fine, was even interveiwed by her last year for an article. She always had good suggestions on how to make due and stretch and all those things poor people have to do.

 So I read her first article about how grand life is without a car. OK, well and good, but I live in TEXAS, not feasable, even in the cities. And I have a child who goes to school several miles away, across roads that I'M afraid to cross with a vehicle, let alone on foot. The store? Miles away also, across a freeway. (I live in the middle of the city, btw.) I've been without a car several times in my life. No thanks. The second one was how that if you couldn't get a job, you should dump your stuff and move. Uh, no. Let's tell our child that we're dumping his clothes, toys and pets and moving with nothing more than what we can get in the car. Oops, I forgot, we're not supposed to HAVE a car! The third one I couldn't even read by this point. What has possessed MSN to put these lame ass articles online??  If you REALLY want to help, how about things like a couple of years ago, more practical ideas like how to make a turkey last a month's worth of meals, or fix a torn garment. I guess they are just out of ideas. Glad I'm not.

 Even though we are 'poor' by Austin standards, we are living a great life. We have income, great insurance, own a house, two of our three vehicles are paid for. We eat steak almost every week, due to my awesome grocery shopping abilities, taught to me by my Depression era mother and grandmother. I can sew well enough to repair our clothes instead of buying new every time a hem drops or a seam rips. I was a chef until I became unable to work due to physical problems, but even my 13 yr old son can cook well enough to not have to eat out every meal. (More of my doing, he will be totally ready when he leaves the nest.) While living our urban homestead lifestyle makes much more work for me, since I grow/raise some of our food, fix things that break, and figure out how to do without, it is still better than many other people have it.

 I'm just not in the mood lately to hear people whine and cry about how bad they have it. One of my friends lives in San Francisco, is homeless, and still lives what he considers a good life, and wouldn't give it up, even when I offered to help him come back to Texas. I know what he means. We could sell everything, pack up, and move to a less expensive town. Ugh. I grew up in small town Texas, and have NO interest in going back.

 Do I want to live the rock star life again? (Yes, I am a musician also, and DID live that life for some years.) Hell YEA! I'd love to be able to go out to eat on those days when my body has rebelled against me and it is all I can do to cook a simple meal. I'd love to be able to go clothes shopping without having to look at the price tag, even at Target. I want the swimming pool/hot tub/shiny new kitchen and bath. I want an Ipod, a laptop, a Wii. Will I die without these things? Obviously not, since I don't have them. There's an old saying, I forget who said it, "I've been rich, and I've been poor, rich is better." Couldn't agree more, but I'm also going to be practical while I wait to be rich again.