Caffeine Crazies

I was so unaware of possibility that bottled water could be taken straight from the tap.  How could this be!? What have I been paying for all these years when I could have been saving money and taking it straight from my facet at home, for free!  I say this now because I am shocked, but yet you will probably find me at Walmart next week or Kwik Trip, buying bottled water. I guess what I was paying for all this time was for that "cool bottle" that it comes in, and for the convenience of not having to bottle it myself.  How lazy have we become, we can't even bottle our own water!  And, now were hearing on the news that these "cool bottles" aren't even good for us, they contain all kinds of cancer causing agents.

In Mark Penn's essay, Caffeine Crazies, I was able to find out a lot of information that made me feel how ridiculous of a society we have become.  We don't want to fry up a burger at home, when we can head to a convenience store or fast food place, where it is already fried for us.  We don't want to brew our own cup of coffee when there is a coffee shop right up the street.  Want to be more alert?  Lets just drink a bunch of high caffeine beverages.  Not many families are able to sit down together, have quality time while eating a good home cooked meal.  Its go, go, go grab something quick, move on to the next activity, with a fast food and energy drink in our hands...this CAN'T be good for us!  Penn mentions that there are some (probably those with monetary investments) that defend "caffeine's impact on health".  "Lower Alzheimer's rates, less diabetes, fewer gallstones, lower rates of Parkinson's, and less colon cancer" where are these statistics coming from?  Penn says there have been studies done, but every time there is a study done, out comes a new and so called "better ingredients", you would think the study would have to start all over, which makes these studies not very "long term", I would think.   All I know is I am going to "try" to bottle my own water in a "BPA" free bottle.

"Dysfunctional" and "Functional" Families

I believe every family has some sort of dysfunction within their family.  The difference is that most families are willing to talk about it with others, and the "ideal" family keep their "dysfunctions" more private.  You can read the newspaper or watch the news daily and see how many of the tragedies involving families are quoted as saying "They were the ideal family, they lived normal lives from what we could see."  And the news report says "Father murders entire family.....".  "From what we could see....", that phrase right there shows you that obviously this little "ideal" family probably went on their daily lives as if nothing was amiss, yet the dysfunction was kept under wraps until the tragic event took place. 

The Walls family in The Glass Castle, on the other hand, had obvious dysfunctions that everyone was able to see, yet their dysfunctions were a daily living to them.  Sometimes the family members made it a point to blurt out their dysfunction with pride.  There are different degrees to how dysfunctional a family is, the Walls family to me seemed extremely dysfunctional, yet who are we to judge other family dysfunctions just because it's not what we consider "functional". 

Dreaded Winter

I was just sitting here thinking about what to write for this weeks blog when I looked out the window.  I thought, "what a beautiful day".  Instantly another thought came to mind, "Oh my gosh, there won't be many of these beautiful days left".  Winter is just around the corner so I am thinking bundling, shoveling snow, trying to get the car out of the driveway, and blah, blah, blah! The list can go on and on when it comes to winter. 

Last February I was in a scary situation.  I was driving to my job in Plainview when I hit some slush on the road.  My car shot sideways into the other lane, hit some dry tar, and rolled over.  My first big car accident and let me tell you....it's not something I EVER care to do again.  I was hanging upside down in my car, seat-belted in for over 30 minutes until the ambulance came. I was lucky to have many people stop to help including a nurse! The nurse checked me all over before she would even consider unsnapping the seatbelt.  I was scared to death, laying there in the emergency room in a neck brace.  They asked me how much I liked my coat, because they were considering in cutting it off. I said "I would rather you not because I just bought this coat."  The poor EMT's had to carefully take my coat off, while I was strapped on the stretchboard.

I did learn some valuable lessons last winter though, make sure your tires actually have a tread on them, don't carry a wad of cash on you, get a job closer to your home.  This winter my tires will HAVE a tread, I no longer carry a wad of cash, and my job is now very close to my home.  I still can't wait till NEXT SUMMER!  The only good thing I can see with winter is the arrival of my ugg boots in a couple of weeks!