Emergency Kits: a quick overview

Emergency Kits: a quick overview

Why should you think about putting together an emergency kit?
*Being prepared in the event of an emergency (i.e. water main break, extended power outage due to tornado, ice storm, etc.) lowers the stress associated with the emergency.
*Having a kit lessens your dependence on others for help.
*It feels good helping to look out for your family.

Some categories to consider including in an emergency kit:
*Sanitation: toilet paper, facial tissue, disinfecting wipes, garbage bags, bleach
* Survival: rope, flashlight w/batteries, matches, candles, blankets, water, canned food, can opener (not electric)
* Medical: family prescriptions, bandages, over the counter medicines
* Personal Hygiene: toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, deodorant, feminine hygiene products, hand sanitizer
*Stress Relief: deck of cards, silly putty, crayons, notebook, pencils, pens, reading materials, inspirational materials
* Miscellaneous: reading glasses, first aid book

Talk to your family about gathering items for an emergency kit. Each family’s needs are different. What would your family need? When you’ve gathered your items, inventory them, including expiration dates of any medications, then store in a waterproof container. Keep your inventory in an envelope taped to the container. Every Jan. 1, rotate your “expiration dated” emergency kit items, by placing them into your regular home use and refilling kit with fresh supplies. (Our kit took our family several weeks to collect. If your family chooses to put a kit together, it’s easiest to do it a little at a time. Have fun!)

(This is what I'm mailing tomorrow to Mr. Obama, Ms. Pelosi, and Senators Feingold and Kohl.)

April 14, 2009

Dear Mr. President,
Please accept this empty tea envelope as a symbol of my disgust in the state of affairs in our nation’s capitol. I am attending a TEA party tomorrow, April 15th, tax day. In this case, TEA stands for Taxed Enough Already. Have our legislators forgotten that they work FOR US? My tax dollars are being used for immoral purposes, such as funding embryonic stem cell research, and abortion subsidies in this country AND IN MEXICO. I am also tired of being told it is my duty as an American to pay MORE taxes to rescue people that purchased larger houses than they could afford. It is absolutely unconscionable that my tax dollars are being given to ILLEGAL aliens. My family came from a different country LEGALLY. However, we are responsible citizens. We all have jobs. We pay our taxes. We live on budgets and don’t ask others to remediate the consequences of any poor decisions we make.

The Stimulus Package recently passed has much “pork” shoved into it. I am very concerned for the future of the United States of America. The little bits of legislation stuck inside that massive stimulus package add up to a huge tax hike for responsible citizens to cover the backsides of irresponsible ones!

Tomorrow, I am “dumping” my tea, along with millions of other American citizens who have had enough of this ridiculous tax situation. I love my country but fear my government.

Respectfully,

Me (actual letters signed with my real name and address)

My philosophy of education

Recently, I was nominated for an award. I had to write several essays about education to include with my materials to be considered by the selection committee. These essays may interest some of you. The following is my philosophy of education.

Like a pebble thrown into a pond, every choice we make causes ripples of change to reach where we cannot imagine. My educational philosophy is, “Go forth and make ripples.” This is a concept I discuss with my students at the start of each school year. We talk about how some choices bring about unfavorable outcomes, so we need to make our choices carefully. Naturally, if we make good choices, the good ripples spread incredibly far. I believe in this concept so deeply that I put “RIPPLES” on my license plate. Yes, strangers stop me at gas stations and ask me about it. I’m always happy to give them the main idea. When my students see me driving around town, they explain my license plate to their parents and the ripples continue.
In my classroom, at the end of each lesson, I ask the class how friendly, helpful and responsible they were. Students rate themselves on a scale of one to five. The scores they mentally give themselves are private. The numbers are guides to help them improve in any way needed during our next class. Using this self-evaluation tool to end each class period allows my students to keep the concept of making responsible ripples fresh in their minds. Students often stop me in the hallway to tell me about other good ripples they made at home or in their other classes. Like the threads of a spider web, we are all connected. The actions we choose to take affect all those around us. The earlier children learn the idea of being responsible for their choices and the outcomes they bring, the more successful I believe they can be.

Are you a pencil?

Not long ago, as I was driving home from work, I was listening to Relevant Radio. A man was talking about having met Mother Theresa. He said that she considered herself "a pencil in the hand of God." Hmmm...let me think about that a minute.

• Pencils are simple, but pretty useful tools. Anybody can use one, but if someone is skilled, they can create artistic, musical or literary masterpieces with a mere pencil.

• How would it work if a pencil exerted its own intellect and tried to take over while the master artist was at work? A mess, right? So, if we are simple but pretty useful tools in the hands of God, what will it take for us to release our will to that of the Father's? What artistry will God perform with us and through us if we do?

• Pencils are of no use unless they're sharpened. What sharpens us? All those little annoyances and big crises do. Each one knocks a little off of our edges until we're sharp enough to use. How do we look at the hindrances and stumbling blocks in our lives? If we reframe them, we can appreciate (sometimes MUCH later) how they helped us to be of more use to God's work.

• Do pencils have to be perfect to do their jobs? Some are chewed, their paint chipping off. Yet, inside each of those pencils is still the graphite necessary to do its work. We all have our issues. God can and does use us, in spite of our faults...and sometimes because of them.

• Pencils have erasers. We get do-overs because of God's infinite grace and MERCY. It's that simple.

Being a pencil doesn't sound too bad! Are you a pencil?