Living for today, Being prepared for Tomorrow

Although I usually write about fun loving mommy topics and stuff like that-there are the occasional moments that I actually feel like writing about something completely off topic. And this is one of those moments.

The subject isn't a pretty one. It has to do with the current state of the world today. As in the world we are living in NOW, the events that are happening NOW, and my concern with current world events. Because if you have been following the news lately, you know that things are going to hell all over the place not just here in the US with our current economic crisis.

As a mommy blogger (and now grandmommy blogger!) this particular world situation affects us all. Our children, our grandchildren and their children-all will have to live in a world that could one day be very different from what we know today. I grew up watching The Jetsons, and thought when I was "big" I was going to live like Jane and have a robot maid and have virtually NO housework or cooking! Boy, was I wrong!

First up, our current economic state in the US. Foreclosures and layoffs continue, tent cities continue to have new residents and gas, oil, food and other life necessities continue to rise. I bet most of you personally know of or have heard of someone affected by this "deep recession". When my job was done in March, we had just started getting the fallout from those that had lost their jobs. I will be heading back in July to continue with fuel assistance and after a record season that ended April 30th I can guarantee this year will be challenging and stressful to all of us as we struggle to provide everyone their assistance before the cold weather sets in. One trend I have noted is that more extended families are living together than before. Grandparents, kids and grandchildren all living in the same house-adult children moving home to live with parents, all things that I hadn't seen in years.

Then we have issues with other countries-you know who they are. Talk of nuclear weapons, war, terrorists all threats to us in one way or another. I mean, if a nuclear weapon goes off in a country halfway around the globe, how is that gonna affect us, right? Um, ever hear of fallout? I read Nevil Shute's "On the Beach" years ago and saw the mini-series-while lots of it was Hollywoodized for TV it is a very real issue. What if, for some reason, a nuclear missile goes off way above the US atmosphere? And that triggers an electromagnetic pulse which effectively fries all our communications and destroys all those nice little countertop appliances you are all accustomed to using? Are you prepared? Do you have a back up plan or some way to cook and feed your family short term or possibly long term if needed?

Look at what happened during Katrina, stores were looted, and people began panicking-survival of the fittest-here in our own country. With your local grocery stores only having about 3 days worth of food at any one time, and communications disrupted-that food will not last long. We always think it won't happen to us... I'm sure those in New Orleans and Biloxi never thought it would happen to them...until it did. It is always prudent to have some kind of a stockpile-food, water, the basics. Our own weather is unpredictable, and a severe ice or snow storm or hurricane, earthquake or tornado could disrupt food and supplies coming to your area for awhile.

Some of you may think that I should be on a street corner with a sign around my neck declaring the End is near. Kind of a funny thought, but hey to each his own, right? I will admit, I am a bit of a SciFi buff and all those disaster movies have influenced me some. I'm not saying that you need to go out and buy hundreds of dollars worth of supplies at once, not all of us can afford that. But, if you use coupons, rebates and take advantage in creating a stockpile of goods you can successfully have some sort of a stash in case the shit hits the fan in your area. And that could be something as simple as a pink slip when you go to work that Monday-at least you'd have food, right?

So the main point to this post is to plan ahead, think about what may happen given current world/US events and weather, and go with creating a comfort zone that you and your family are comfortable with that would provide for you and any other extended family members or friends/neighbors. Maybe assign different duties to different people-have one person pick up the canned goods, another the paper products, etc... (don't forget baby wipes, cloth diapers, cloth pads for the ladies and toilet paper-that in itself will be worth its weight in gold if there is none around, trust me)

Alright, back to posting more mommy stuff before you all think I'm a lunatic and never come back to visit my blog!