A Vision Splendid » Philosophical Thinking

My Kermit Moment.

visionsplendid — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 05:04:00 +0000

Who’d a thought a Muppet character from the 80s would be espousing such wisdom for generations to come.

Today, I had to agree with Kermit, it’s not easy being green!

We have had atrocious weather, as I said yesterday. My grand plan of having a week to ‘get ahead’ has been somewhat wasted. Today I ventured to town with two kids in tow to go to the second hand shop to get three things – a clothes horse, a torch and ( funnily enough) an umbrella. Previously I had watched ‘THE STORY OF STUFF’. You MUST go to the website and view this short film. I cannot begin to describe the impact it will have on you.

Anyway, at the second hand shop, after the children wanting everything from golf clubs to food vending machines ( so they have to pay for snacks, he tells me ! ) I ask the lady if they have any torches or umbrellas. I wanted an old sturdy torch that was unfashionable but solid. Something that will last another forty years because it’s already been around for 35years. The lady said “ no, we don’t have any. The best place to get them from is THE WAREHOUSE. They’re really cheap”. I said to her, “yes, but I want something old and sturdy because I am sick of buying $2 rubbish” She said “ no sorry and Big W is the best place for umbrellas – they’ve got heaps and they’re really cheap too” – “thank you” I smiled and walked out sighing.

Then I venture to the shops and am very proud of myself for picking up just two apples and putting them in my envirobag, and two carrots and two potatoes – all without plastic bags. I need worstershire sauce and I am happy that the bottle is glass. I buy butter and it’s wrapped in paper and I have a green halo glowing. Then I gt around into the next aisle and rice crackers are on a really good special and I stock up ! bummer – 3 plastics packages ! So I think ‘what the hell’ and grab a packet of salt n vinegar chips on the way out! LOL – MUST TRY HARDER !

The Paradox of Our Age by The 14th Dalai Lama

visionsplendid — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 21:47:00 +0000

We have bigger houses but smaller families;

More conveniences, but less time;

We have more degrees, but less sense;

More knowledge, but less judgment;

More experts, but more problems;

More medicines, but less healthiness;

We’ve been all the way to the moon and back,

but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbour.

We build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever but have less communication.

We have become long on quantity, but short on quality.

These are times of fast foods but slow digestion;

Tall men but short character;

Steep profits but shallow relationships.

It’s a time when there is much in the window, but nothing in the room.

*Thanks to ‘Greening Gavin’ for posting this on his site.

Debtland….warning Soapbox moment.

visionsplendid — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 07:36:00 +0000

Last night the ABC screened a programme on Four Corners about the debt crisis and focused on one family in the outer suburbs of Sydney who were losing their house. You can see the programme by visiting www.abc.net.au/fourcorners.

The wife in the story spoke about how they had huge debts because the banks ‘let them’. Credit counsellors spoke of people in good jobs visiting charities for food because they had ‘maxed out’ their credit cards and couldn’t keep up with their mortgage payments.

Am I heartless for thinking ‘ as you sow, so you reap’ ? I noticed that the house that was being repossessed was far from your three bedroom, one bathroom style of place. It was huge ! Whatever happened to starting out small with a cardboard box under a piece of material for the coffee table? Or having hand me down furniture for some time ? Why do you have to have the huge stylish house the moment you are married. There is not much scope to move if interest rates go up or the wife falls pregnant and can’t contribute to the mortgage repayments. But are the banks to blame ? That’s like saying McDonalds is to blame for our obesity because they say ‘do you want fries with that’ and we respond ‘yes’. Where is the self responsibility and self accountability ?

We live in a small cottage style house. We have been renovating it for over 11 years now! LOL Well… what I mean, is that the house changes as our family grows. We have taken out walls, closed in verandas, built on to the back of it. It expands as we do. Sometimes I think it will be lovely to move to a bigger, newer, place. When I think about it though it’s mostly for the land space, not necessarily the size of the house.

The one thing that keeps me here is that we own it. We finished our mortgage and it’s ours. That allows me to sleep at night. I am not trapped in a job I hate because of mortgage payments. I am not worried by interest rate rises.

Our house is not much in some people’s books. We could ‘afford’ a much better home and could, if we wanted to spend our savings, have the 5 acres out of town. But at the end of the day, this is the home where my children were born. It holds our family memories. It is the place that I am so happy to return to when I get home from work. I don’t need to impress anyone with my wealth or make out that I am richer than I appear. I don’t feel inclined to keep up with the Jones’.

I blame television and advertising for a lot of what is wrong with our lives today. I call it the ‘marketing devil’. From advertisers there is a constant message – “go on, you deserve it !” ( said with satanical voice) ” you work hard, you know you need it” ” think about yourself”. etc

It began in the 1950s when they started telling women that they had more ‘important’ things to do than be stuck in the kitchen, cooking meals for the family! Things have gone down hill rapidly from there until we are told ‘ buy now, don’t worry about paying, you deserve it, pay it back in four years time, you work hard, you deserve it, you want it, you need it, GO ON, life is short” unfortunately for some, life at 28% interest is somewhat longer than they had envisaged!

Anyway……. I’ll get down off the soap box now. Epicurus, the Greek philosopher thought that we were after three main things in life…… Good food, Good friends and an analysed free life. When we see advertising portraying a group of people escaping for the weekend in a brand new car, we actually want the friendships and freedom, so we buy the car. Have a look at these elements in advertising and you will soon be a wake up to their ploy . We buy products when what we really want is the lifestyle that goes with them. If you limit yours and your children’s exposure to advertising, you don’t get bombarded with that feeling that you are missing out, or can’t keep up or are inadequate and need to fix the problem.

I stand by my position that if it wasn’t for credit cards and mortgage redraw facilities we would be in a 1930s style depression. How would you and your family go if you had to work off cash only. Could you do it ? I find it works for us… and most of all it brings tremendous peace !

Let me know what you think.

Restoring The Vision Splendid

visionsplendid — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 07:02:00 +0000

I have been doing a lot of reading lately on a number of topics – green living, frugality, additive free eating etc. I have said this before…… whichever way you turn it comes back to the same thing for me….. live like it’s 1940.

Here’s what I mean. If you decide that you are going to approach things from a green living perspective then you might group your trips to town to save petrol, shorten your showers to save water and money, save electricity, grow your own food, buy non processed foods, buy foods with limited packaging, buy second hand, not use disposables etc

If you are approaching life from a frugal perspective you will cook from scratch, work on a ‘cash only’ budget, make things instead of buying them, not spend money on non-essentials, barter or share with friends etc

Whenever I read these ideas for living I think that it all comes back to how people lived in 1930 or 1940. It seems that they had things pretty well worked out!

My Grandmother built a house in 1936 which was made with solid concrete using sand from the creek. There were two water tanks at the back of house, for rainwater or water from the well on creek bank when there was no rain. There was a well which was spring fed and crystal clear. My mum tells me it tasted better than bottled water. There was a big tank that was put up in the 1950s. It was for watering the garden and was filled from the well

All vegies were home grown as were the fruit trees and grape vines. All excess fruit and veg were preserved and made into jam and pickles.

A sheep was killed about once a week or maybe a fortnight for meat. Beef was shared with the neighbours. They also had ham and bacon which was salted and smoked in a square tank with sawdust. There was also chooks for meat and eggs

In so far as rubbish is concerned, nothing left the property. All scraps went to pigs and dogs. All packaging that was re used. My mum tells me that there was also newspaper in the dunnie!!!!

So… in today’s terms you would call it ‘ self sufficiency’, ‘green living’ ‘frugality’ ‘the Good life’ etc. I call it 1940s.

I think we can all learn something from this way of life.

Outnumbered

visionsplendid — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 07:56:00 +0000

A wise women told me last month that she was going to an Iron Maiden concert because she was spending some quality time with her 18 year old son and nephew on ‘their terms’ and was meeting them ‘where they are at’. I really admired her for this. It reminded me of another wise woman at work who has raised two beautiful children to adulthood and has remained ‘connected’ with them by taking an interest in their interests ( no matter how awful the music is !)

To cut a long story short, we are off to the football this weekend to see Newcastle Knights play Manly Sea Eagles. I have NEVER been to the football. I haven’t watched a game of football since about 1981 when Mick Cronin played centre for Parramatta ( I can hear NSW people my age laughing !) I have this sense that this weekend is an indication of the future. Me as the only female in the family, immersed into ‘boy things’ over the next few years. I am not overly feminine so it’s not as if I am wishing for shopping trips and beauty parlours, it’s just that I didn’t imagine that I would be ‘meeting them where they are at ‘ so soon. I am actually looking forward to the game – even though I disagree with the commercialism and the ‘worship’ of sports stars and would much rather my sons worship scientists or peace activists. I am actually smiling at the thought of the four of us sitting up in the grandstand with the boys cheering, with Hubbie and I not having a CLUE about what is going on. ( he is NOT a fan of football either).

But….. I am looking forward to the reminiscing ……” Mum, remember the time we went to see the footy……………….” I just hope that Iron Maiden aren’t still doing concerts by the time my guys are 18 ! LOL

Fuel Prices Starting to Heat Up….. $190 later.

visionsplendid — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 07:05:00 +0000

I have posted before about my interest in Peak Oil and how it will impact fuel prices and the flow on effect for basically every product on the planet.

Yesterday I really FELT it!

When I was driving the 7.5 km to work I noticed that the fuel price at the United fuel station was $136.7 ( for the green fuel that I use) while across the road at the Coles Service Station it was $1.47. I suddenly remembered hearing on the ABC news the night before that fuel prices were meant to go to $1.50 for Easter and that fuel had hit a $108 US a barrel. I also remembered that this particular fuel station was often the last one to put up their prices.

I did a quick U -Turn and filled the car up, at the same time calling and texting everyone I thought would be interested to fill up before the price hike. I note that earlier in the week the price had already jumped 9 cents a litre.

So… I filled up my car ($70 gulp~!!) and hubbie filled up his ( $120 ~gulp gulp!!!). Sure enough, on the way home I noticed that it was $1.47. That is a TWENTY CENT LEAP IN SEVEN DAYS !!!!

At present, I budget $30 for my car and $20 for hubbies car a week ( just dropped hubbie’s from $30) I can tell you that $20 at this rate is just JZZZZZTTTTTTT click ! ( meaning it takes NO time at all before you hit 20 bucks !

So….. what to do. I could walk or ride to work… but it’s always about time. Hubbie walked to town today to pick up his new pushbike because he had ridden the other one into the ground, literally, the axel broke beyond repair and he already rebuilt it once. It took him one hour and 10 minutes. I just don’t have that at the start and end of each day. In a couple of weeks it will be dark when I walk home and there are sections that are just road, with no houses and no street lights. I live in a little town, outside a bigger regional centre. He rode the bike home which took about 20 minutes ( he is much fitter than I am. It would probably take me 45mins)

I could ride my bike, something I would really aspire to do. Logistically this is messy. I am a professional. I wear suits. Can I scrunch the suit into a backpack ? Can I shower at work ? Can I cart make – up? Can I do my hair at work ? I know, I know. Dump the societal expectations and not wear make up and don’t do your hair. Unfortunately, the clothes maketh the man in my game, or should I say, the suit, hair and make up maketh the woman in a man’s world ! LOL

Hmmmmm…… thoughts anyone ? ?

The Tea Towel

visionsplendid — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 06:48:00 +0000

As you may remember I have taken it upon myself to single handed revive the lost art of ‘air pot’ use http://avisionsplendid.blogspot.com/2007/09/chaning-world-one-air-pot-at-time.html

I laughed recently when a girlfriend in Sydney told me that she is single handed reviving the art of giving tea towels ! Remember when people went on holidays they brought back tea towels and spoons as gifts for people ? She cracked me up ! We decided then and there that we are not reviving spoons, just the tea towels.

I can remember receiving tea towels for my ‘glory box’ when I was young. The tea towels were usually brown with pictures of kangaroos on them LOL !

When I was travelling out west earlier this year I picked up two gorgeous tea towels from Inverell in brown and pink that had Australian recipes on them. I gave one to another friend for her birthday with some other bits and pieces ( after telling her our revival story). I gave the other one to my friend from Sydney when she was visiting last week. She laughed so much ! She said she loves it!!!

A few days after giving the first tea towel away my friend turned up with one from England (where she’s from) saying she had brought this back with her and now she knew exactly who would appreciate it. Oh gee I laughed !

Do you remember the tea towel and spoon giving tradition ? It makes me laugh !

So, join the club, lets do a revival of the commemorative tea towel.

The Proverbs 31 Woman

visionsplendid — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 08:51:00 +0000

Some years ago, and I can’t remember how, I stumbled across this concept of the Proverbs 31 woman. It is a verse from the bible. If you are ‘anti religious’ or simply not religious, don’t switch off just yet ! View the concept as you would any quote from Ghandi, Stephen Covey, Tony Robbins or any other personal development ‘guru’.

The basis of the verse is a mother telling her son what sort of woman he should look for in a wife. That basic idea written thousands of years ago has been the basis, particularly in America, for women to adopt a particular way of life, that is, the mother who serves her family.

I personally love the philosophy behind the ‘concept’ of the proverbs 31 woman. I will paste the full text here for those of you that are not familiar with it. Once again, I ask you to put your religious position aside and read it as a text. I have kept it in the ‘old’ language for effect and you must remember it’s about 2000 years old.
10 A virtuous woman who can find? for her price is far above rubies.
11 The heart of her husband trusteth in her, and he shall have no lack of gain.
12 She doeth him good and not evil all the days of her life.
13 She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.
14 She is like the merchant-ships; she bringeth her food from afar.
15 She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and their task to her maidens.
16 She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
17 She girdeth her loins with strength, and maketh strong her arms.
18 She perceiveth that her merchandise is profitable: her lamp goeth not out by night.
19 She layeth her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle.
20 She spreadeth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.
21 She is not afraid of the snow for her household; for all her household are clothed with scarlet.
22 She maketh for herself carpets of tapestry; her clothing is fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.
24 She maketh linen garments and selleth them; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.
25 Strength and dignity are her clothing; and she laugheth at the time to come.
26 She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and the law of kindness is on her tongue.
27 She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.
28 Her children rise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her, saying:
29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.
30 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.
31 Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her works praise her in the gates.

I love this ideal. The proverbs 31 woman is loving, intelligent and entrepreneurial. When I read through each verse it gives me ideas of how to work harder at aspects of my life.

I am reminded that by doing my husband ‘good and not evil all the days of his life’ I am insuring a good marriage. I have found that over the years the more I do for him the more it is returned to me. I find it a sad part of society today that many relationships break down because of this ‘why should I do that for him, he never does that for me’ philosophy. Going out of your way to do things for your partner brings gratitude and then it turn they do something for you and the cycle continues.

When I read through this passage I am reminded of the importance of the 6P principle. When it snows I want my household clothed in scarlet – meaning that I have an emergency fund so that if something goes wrong I am prepared.

I also think…..

- I want my husband to have full confidence about the way I manage the family finances and plan for our future.
- I want to be entrepreneurial , that is, I can invest wisely and see a return on the vehicle I chose to build our family wealth.
- I want to be ‘strong for my tasks’ in that I think it is important to remain healthy and look after myself physically.
- I rise early and prepare the day for myself and my family

Of course, the verse that always gets me off the chair and into action is the one which mentions “she watches over the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness”

I believe that society’s view of the stay at home mother is significantly shifting. It is slowly crawling out from under the grip of the feminist model that degraded the role of being “just” a mother or the idea that ‘serving your husband well’ was a form of oppressive slavery that had to be fought against!

Rather I see society as slowly shifting towards a model where even career women take off extended periods of time to ‘invest’ in the growth of their children by being the stay at home mother. There are even now ‘stay at home’ fathers !

I have been a teacher and a lawyer and a stay at home mum. I know which, by far, is the most important job that gives the best return and it’s nothing to do with money. The best return is when you make home made tortilla wraps and your six year old says ‘ the ones you make are so much better than the ones from the packet’. Joy of joys ! :>)

Reading Aloud

visionsplendid — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 21:38:00 +0000

At the moment we are reading the Spiderwick Chronicles. The boys are really enjoying it. As I was reading to them last night I had ‘a moment’. We were tucked up in our queen size bed, me in the middle. Each boy had hold of my long hair and were twisting it through their fingers. This is something that they have done since they were babies. It still amazes me that Number One son will be ten in August and he still twists my hair {(:>) joy of joys!}

As we sat reading I remembered back to my training as a school teacher. There was something called the nuerological impress method of learning to read. It’s where an adult reads aloud to a child and the child tracks or follows along with their finger. There were studies at the time that showed that kids really responded to this style of learning and picked up reading quickly. They also learnt all the intonation, that is the ups and downs in your voice, or the expression.

But… you know what I reckon teaches children to read ? ……

LOVE. Snuggling them up, taking the time, immersing them in rich stories, that special togetherness that probabaly can’t be studied scientifically. It’s probably called ‘modelling’ or ‘osmosis’ but to me it’s the love quotient. – making reading a fun, intersting, magical world of escape rather than a punishment, chore, or something you have to do so you don’t get in trouble for missing your homework at school.

Teach them to LOVE it. Reading can take them on many adventures in life.

The Greatest Balancing Act

visionsplendid — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 20:01:00 +0000

The most difficult job of all that a mother has to do is balance her roles. I often say in a funny accent “Everyone wants a piece’a me!” And often times it is true.

I work outside the home, four days a week. I have every Monday off. I really love my stay at home day. I put my apron on and bake and organise and clean and get ahead with things and it gives me a wonderful sense of peace.

I used to be a school teacher. After my first son was born I went back two days a week in a job share and it nearly killed me. I hated having to leave him, even though I had a really good ‘Day Care Mum’. I agonised over whether to leave or not. In 2000 I started studying again externally and fell pregnant with my second son. That was all the persuading I needed. I resigned from my teaching position and cranked up my study. I studied full time waiting for the baby to come. My son was born in May 2001 and I juggled two little ones and the study. It was then that I learnt the value of redeeming my time. I gave up television ( except Seachange on Sunday nights on the ABC) and started to get up really early, sometimes as early as 4am, to do my study without interuption.

To cut a long story short, I had about five years at home with the children. Two years ago I was given the opportunity to work three days a week in the area that I had done my second degree in. I started the three days and eventually it turned into four days.

The boys are in school now, but not a day goes by when I don’t consider coming home again. It’s just the little things. Number Two son sat doing his homework this week and I thought I need to be there with him when he does it. Hubbie is home with the boys when they do their homework and he is very good with them, but it’s not the same. He is a great cook as well and has a meal ready when I get home. but it’s not the same. The difference is , that when I get home from a busy day I have very little left to ‘give’. I would be happy just to lock myself in a room for an hour until I ‘come down’.

So… it’s the great balancing act. I enjoy my work. I like the stimulation. However, the stay at home mum is the most important job in the world in my books! It’s not about the money. We have survived before on very little money. Sometimes we do better on a tighter budget because I manage it so much better – last time I budgetted really strictly when my first son was born, we ended up being able to carpet the house with the surplus !

So, if I don’t need the money and I agonise over the stay at home role, I bet you are asking why do I stay ?

The answer is complicated. I really like my work and I am grateful for the opportunity to be getting the experience. I don’t want to walk away and live with the regret of what I could have acheived. I also think that I can invest as much money as I can for the future of my boys. Goodness knows what it will cost to put them through university if that’s what they choose.

One good thing at the moment is that I can work flexible hours. My aim this year is to start early and finish early, hoping to be home at 4.30pm. That way I can still have a little down time before I slip into my apron and enjoy my children!

Are you caught in the great balancing act ? How do you juggle work and family ? Does your financial situation pin you to a job you hate ? Email me or leave a comment. I would appreciate your feedback.