Some Things Do Change

Rules for female teachers posted by a school board in Massachusetts in 1870:

1. Do not get married.
2. Do not leave town at any time without permission of the school board.
3. Do not keep company of men.
4. Be home between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.
5. Do not loiter downtown in ice cream stores.
6. Do not smoke.
7. Do not get into a carriage with any man except your father or brother
8. Do not dress in bright colors.
9. Do not dye your hair
10. Do not wear any dress more than 2 inches above the ankle.
    

My favorite is #5

More fun facts from "A Peoples History of the United Sates" by Howard Zin

Apartment garden update

Today was harvest time. not a very big harvest but a harvest.

This pot yelded enough for a rather small saild.

I think I need to plant more harder lettuce plants next time like romaine or iceberg. this fruffey lettuce isn't going to cut it.

In the mean time because spring is here I started some other plants that I should be able to put outside in a couple of weeks squash, peppers and cucumbers.

Some Things Never Change

If I had it all to do over again, I may have studied history. I am fascinated with the fact that some things never change and that history has a way of repeating it's self.

To that end I am currently reading "A Peoples History of the United States 1942 to Present" by Howard Zinn. I read this passage yesterday.

Henry Adams quote: "We are here plunged into politics funnier than words can express. Very great issues are involved.....But the amusing thing is that no one talks about real interests. By common consent they agree to let these alone. We are afraid to discuss them. Instead of this the press is engaged in the most amusing dispute whether Mr. Cleveland had an illegitimate child and did or did not live with more than one mistress."

The Mr Cleveland being referring to Grover Cleveland the two term President of the US in the late 1800's

Doggey Prayer

For all the dog lovers out there. (click)

Water

Lately there has been more discussion about water. Specifically how much is there and what are the affects of climate change on water supplies. Scientists are telling us that with the global warming taking place there will be more droughts, and this could lead to taxing on already low water supplies and perhaps even conflicts. One of the reasons for the conflict in Darfur is because of water. (Click)

There is a great website where you can calculate your water usage much like carbon calculators, and find lots of other information about water. (Click) I had always know the carbon impact on the meat I eat, and for that reason I eat less red meat, but I didn't realize the water impact on eating dairy.

Speaking on water there is a guy that figured out how to burn salt water and use it as a fuel. Considering that the earth is 2/3 water this is pretty darn cool.

Budgets

Last week I posted about my finances and how I am trying to get them in order. (click) In the past week I have had a good conversation with a friend about it and taken some time to analyze my budget.

My friend reminded me about the latte factor in most budgets. (The ideal that the little things add up) I think that dining out may be that for me. Also he reassured me that saving for a house is a good use of money and can be justified.

Even after this conversation I was still a little unsettled about the disparity between trying to live with a simple lifestyle, and the amount of money that feel I seam to "need" in order to live. This weekend I have obsessed over every nickel and dime, categorizing and analyzing everything I can think of and came up with the following. (click)

I found out a few things:

• Tax's suck! I have always been of the mindset that if you make more money you should pay more tax's. But now that I'm 30 I have realized that as your income increases if you don't have children or a mortgage to claim as deductions, you kind of get screwed on your income tax. I end up paying a small fortune in tax's this year because I don't have these two deductions.
  
• I am saving a lot. There is the obvious savings each month for the down payment on a house but I also have deposits into my 401K that are automatically taken out of my paycheck. This adds up at the end of the year. Originally I wasn't taking this into account because I was only dealing with my take home pay not my gross pay.
  
• I actually am living simply. By organizing my budget in they way I did it was easy to see what my actually base living expenses were. (separated from my tax's, and aggressive savings) I also added a "Decadent Luxury" column for things like travel, pet expenses, and dining out. After all I didn't take a vow of poverty I'm just trying to live simply.
  

After looking at this I have some difficult decisions to make. In the end, I don't feel that I can't cap my income a level I would like too. That being said I'll do my best to keep the decedent luxury's to a minimum. (Currently they add up to a little over 9% of my gross income.)
I also was planning on building a cabin this summer. Although I have put a lot of thought into the design and construction of the cabin I really haven't thought about how to pay for it. On top of that It doesn't make financial sense (or justice sense) to be building a vacation cabin when I don't have my first home. I'll start budgeting a small amount each month towards the cabin and in a few years after I am settled in my first home I can resurrect the cabin idea.

New (to me) TV

There is a part of me that is sad to see my neighbors move out.
Before:
After:
And there is a part of me that is happy to have a bigger TV. :)