Day 22

Today I decide to be wealthy.

I am now more than a third through the trial period.

The 5 lessons are --my note are in italics:

1. decide to be wealthy  --doing that part now
2. take responsibility for your money. --working on it
3. keep a portion of everything you earn  --does left over coins in the coat pocket count?
4. win in the margins --find some way to make money that's during your non-regular paycheck time
5. give back --tithing and charity.

I've always done #5.  I've paid tithing since I was a child, and my mom told me not to, as it cost the church more to process the nickel than it was worth.  So I guess in a way, paying my tithing was a form of rebellion against my mom, but it was still keeping the commandment to put God first, first.  So keeping the commandment to love God is honoring my mom.

Anyway, Malachi 3:10--- Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

I also give a fast offering once a month.  A fast offering is when we fast for at least two meals and give the money we would have spent on them to the bishop.  The church uses it to help the poor (like me).  Fast offerings fund the Bishop's Storehouses.  When I had a regular paycheck, I usually gave $20 a month.  Now it's $10.  For $10, that could buy a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, a dozen eggs, a pound of butter. The last time I got food from the storehouse, it was before the girls came home from college.  I'd say that we got $100 worth of groceries, if not more.  Dairy, canned foods, soaps, baking ingredients, as if we'd gone to the store and bought it all.  (I'd gotten some meats before, and someone was cleaning out their family freezer and gave us some more.)


I would like to give $100 every month, with $200 at Christmas time. Perhaps sometime in this life, I will be able to do that. The largest I gave was $300, when my aunt died and left me some money in her will.  (We paid off the septic system and the water hook-up with most of it.) 

My girls are in college or graduated, and they have good lives.  My husband and I are still together, and we are still in our house.  If we need to, we can get some more food from the Bishop's Storehouse. Our parents are in good health, and we have gas in the car.  We went over to the town where my brother and his family live, and had a nice visit.  We are still so very broke, but at least we are still breathing.


From time to time, I give small donations to other charities.


Tomorrow I have a one-time job doing inventory at a store.  $10 an hour, maybe five hours at the most.  If I had a regular job, this would be part of Lesson #4.


Today I decide to be wealthy.

Day 21

Today I decide to be wealthy.

It's been a day for relationships. 

I went to a memorial service this morning,  I was surprised to discover that the deceased, who died of medical complications, was only months older than I--I always thought she was well in her sixties. Her son talked about how happy she would be not worrying about rent and paying bills.

I found out my college roommate, whom I haven't visited with in years now has six grandchildren--five more than when I'd last talked with her.  And they are all living with her and their mother, her daughter. I had no idea.  Imagine the grocery bill.

One of my daughters called and talked to her dad about one of the guys she'd written ten page letters to every week for two years is engaged.  She is very depressed about it. I remember those days when I was in college, and how I thought that my heart would never quit breaking, and that the scar tissue would make it hard, and I would be a bitter old lonely woman who would only get older.

Well, I got older, anyway.

I've been able to get more job applications in this week.  A job interview, and three resumes distributed, two for housekeeping, one for a driver position.  I need to get to the gym and start getting serious about weight-lifting, as they all require it.

A success story is that I got a number of articles written for the neighborhood newsletter.  I wish my muse would return.  I have a memoir that I'm ghost-writing, and I haven't worked on it for weeks now.  I also got the newsletters into their envelopes.  And having the job resumes sent out is definitely a plus. 

Today was productive. 

Today I decide to be wealthy.

Day 20

Today I decide to be wealthy.

I broke a molar a couple of days ago.  It needs a crown, and, fortunately, I have dental insurance that I pay for out of my own pocket, that I got when I was working at the call center a year ago, so most of it is paid for, and the dentist will take the rest in trade. (The dental insurance has paid for dental checkups for the family, a crown for my husband, and surgery for the twins; it's been worth every penny I've paid in premiums.)

The dentist told me that his parents are both unemployed.  His mom is a school teacher, and she lost her job right before she would have qualified for tenure.  His dad is an engineer, and works in airplane production, but there isn't any call for airplanes now, let alone engineers.  So he knows that we can't afford any out-of-pocket payments.

My husband had work today, at two different places, with two of our regular customers, and one told him to charge an extra hour because the job was at night and on very short notice.  So there is a very big sigh of relief there, as I don't know if I'll be getting anymore unemployment money or not.

While I was out driving tonight, I was in a nice neighborhood of older homes, and I could look in the windows and see how neat and clean they were inside.  Having things neat and clean is a sign of wealth.  My house looks like a someone's hording a lot of papers, coupons, and file folders and clutter.  I've read where one feeds another.  Clean the house, and prosperity increases; let stuff pile up, and it makes matters worse.

I know I need to clean out the house.  I've known it for a long time.  And sometimes, I make some headway in getting it cleaned, and other times, it's "home," an emotional nest, like a pack rat's and I just want to sleep and stay in it.  I did, however, make the effort to get most of the dishes done and the counter tops cleared and cleaned.

Today I decide to be wealthy.

Day 19

Today I decide to be wealthy.

I saw a posting for a housekeeper at Touchmark, so I went and got a resume and a cover letter and got dressed as for an interview and went up there.

Mistake:  I didn't take a copy of a filled-out job application with me, nor a pen.  The receptionist didn't take the resume, but she did give me an application and told me I could fill it out it the seating are.  So I had to borrow a pen and the phone book, and I couldn't get anything useful from the phone book, and then the receptionist told me that I could fill it out at home and bring it in later.

And I've worked on the newsletter, and went to check on a sewing machine that a friend asked me to look at, and fixed dinner and did an interview, and I still haven't done the thing my youngest daughter asked me to do this morning, to find some car insurance info for her.  I'm so sorry that I've let her down again.  It's past 10, I still don't have the last newsletter article written, either.

I don't know if I've another tier left on my unemployment.  The tier I'm on now made its last payment today.

Today I decide to be wealthy.

Day 18

Today I decide to be wealthy.

It was harder for me to drag myself out of bed. 

I did get the two articles written for the newsletter, about Firewise and Project Wildfire, and sent off for the newsletter. Misha's hoping that I'll be there tomorrow to work on the newsletter.


I got some stuff sorted, but not much, but it's still something.  I just feel so tired and so hungry, and I keep eating.  I checked craigslist and Oregon Employment for job postings, but didn't find anything.  I talked to my mom, and told her about not getting the job, and she said I didn't want it anyway, not with all those grouchy old people. 

I have a paycheck coming next week.  Doug got a service call for today and tomorrow.

Today I decide to be wealthy.

Day 17

Today I decide to be wealthy.

Today I had a job interview to be a server--a waitress--at Whispering Winds (an active senior "community").  I stopped by Worksource, told Deb how it went, came home and emailed Kathy (also at Worksource), and the phone call came that they'd chosen someone else, but would keep my application on file.

I don't think it helped knowing that my unemployment account at the state has only $17 left in it--I do have a paycheck coming Friday the 13th.

So I did research for an article I should have written two weeks ago, and ate food, and existed for a while, and then I decided that "wealthy" includes taking care of my body and I did my yoga exercises before bed.

I also started reading the 5 lessons for women, and the beginning of a book called "Getting Things Done" or something like that.

Today I decide to be wealthy.

Day 16

Today I decide to be wealthy.

The girls left early this morning.  There wasn't the drama and friction as there had been on other mornings.  The trunk was smoothly packed, the Harry Potter tapes were in place, and the girls were ready to go.

I'm so grateful for Aunt Priscilla's gift to Rachel, that she has a car to transport her sisters and to get to her work, and to be able to go to places wherever she's at, like Yellowstone.  We couldn't have gotten any one of them one, due to our economic mess. 

But here we are.  We still have a house to live in (thanks to government grant), and food to eat (thanks to church's fast offerings), and electricity and water and utilities (thanks to Christmas money from my mother-in-law), and car insurance (thanks to Doug having had work).

I am so rich in so many ways--now I need to get finances (a job) so that we can give back, and have health insurance and a steady source of income.

Today I decide to be wealthy.