When We Were Young

[martymas]

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning ... uphill BOTH ways .. yadda, yadda, yadda And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that...

I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy!

I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a Utopia!

And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet.

If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email! ! We had to actually write somebody a letter .. with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!

And talk of about hardship? You couldn't just download porn!

You had to steal it from your brother or bribe some homeless dude to buy you a copy of "Hustler" at the 7-11! Those were your options!

We didn't haveCall Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like "Space Invaders" and "asteroids" and the graphics sucked Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever!

And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! . Just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or someone with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were just screwed!

Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no on screen menu and no remote control! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on!

When it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your butt and walk over to the TV to change the channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-b---s

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up. we had to use the stove or go build a fire ... imagine that! If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot.

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled.

You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in the

50's or 60's !

Regards,

The over 50 Crowd

[KeithLDick]

Marty did you have to remind me?...

hahahaha

Cheers my friend...

[Honda_Boy]

Yeah and the 4 bangers back then didn't have fancy VVT (in my case VTEC) to give them enough power to make those tiny little econo boxes move as fast as sports cars.

Old people. Pssch. Ha, I'm kidding. I'm glad I never here my dad talk about crap like that. The only thing is he doesn't like PC's. He loves messing with Mainframes and he wants a Mac though. The only new thing that makes him mad and talk about the past is drink machines and how long it takes for them to spit a drink out. One guy not living in the past and not complaining how hard it USED TO BE. He doesn't care.

[jamaicaman]

We didn't haveCall Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

and we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up. we had to use the stove or go build a fire ... imagine that! If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot.

whats call waiting? Obviously i havent got it either...............

i dont have caller ID, kinda annoying though when people are like "k, just call drew back when your done, im at his house" "i dont know drews number" "look it up on your ID!" "dont have it"

i love jiffy pop over microwave.................but the best id from popcorn poppers! my dad just got us one a couple weeks back, it was fun watching the popcorn pop and then it tasted better too. (not the air poppers, the ones like a dome)

thats was a cool thread though, some of it i didnt know, like the movie theatre one

Edited March 3, 2007 by jamaicaman

[garmanma]

My kids can't believe that when we got our first telephone, not only did it NOT have pushbuttons, we shared the same phone line with 10 other people on the street

Mark

[JDoors]

Good ones.

When I was in High School I wrote an essay about living on my Grandma's farm. Had to read it to the school and it left 'em wide-eyed. No running water (wanna bathe? go to the well, pump your water, bring it in to the stove, heat it, haul it back out to the washtub ... THERE's your bath!), no inside toilet (yup, hike to the outhouse, winter or summer, rain or shine, knock off the spider webs and hope they don't crawl back in place for a couple of minutes while you finish your business -- funny I don't recall what was used for TP ...), dinner time meant grabbing a chicken and chopping its head off, and if you wanted butter for your bread you milked the cows, ran the milk through a separator, then churned the cream into butter, etc.

So I know from a hard life.

[handplane]

funny I don't recall what was used for TP

Was it corn cobs?

[garmanma]

Good ones.

When I was in High School I wrote an essay about living on my Grandma's farm. Had to read it to the school and it left 'em wide-eyed. No running water (wanna bathe? go to the well, pump your water, bring it in to the stove, heat it, haul it back out to the washtub ... THERE's your bath!), no inside toilet (yup, hike to the outhouse, winter or summer, rain or shine, knock off the spider webs and hope they don't crawl back in place for a couple of minutes while you finish your business -- funny I don't recall what was used for TP ...), dinner time meant grabbing a chicken and chopping its head off, and if you wanted butter for your bread you milked the cows, ran the milk through a separator, then churned the cream into butter, etc.

So I know from a hard life.

Actually, it brings back many fond memories. The only way my kids seen farm animals was to go to the county fair

Mark

[Martint]

I can somwhat relate to you oldies (jp)

When I was living in India, no runing watter, dad killed my chickens for big dinners!, no tp...ya..thats right. No cable nor interent, just the simple life.

Then when I moved to America when i was 6, it all changed.

now at 16, I have internet, TOILET PAPER!, running watter, hot water..etc.

but then again...It's not a simple life.

[martymas]

from you guys posts it seems us oldies

have seen those hard times

like no running water a long drop for a toilet

and a hundred yards from the house

no phone

if you wanted to connect with some one

you had to walk to the post office

i mile away

write letters

there were no quick bik pens

you had to use

a pen neb

and dip it into an ink bottle

many time the page you were writing on was blotched with ink

would i go through all that again

yes i learned that life wasent handed to you on a plate

you had to earn it

marty

Edited March 3, 2007 by martymas

[thesidekickcat]

Grew up poor on a small farm. Yes there was a hike up the trail to the outhouse...luxury was having store toilet paper...otherwise it was Sears or Wards calalogs.. and bees in the summer to worry about, and spiders all year long!!! Oh how I love indoor plumbing...though still have the occasional spider.

Had a well that was on an underground stream a hundred feet down. So pumping the water up took ages, but oh in the summer time it was so cold it would frost the glass up. Great tasting water too...all those minerals were good for us. As was fresh air, walking about a quarter of a mile to the school bus...or in my case usually running because I was late. Wild life from bears to wildcats to deer to plenty of birds and fish in the lake. We had a huge garden and a goat herd (I was allergic to cows milk for most of childhood) and sold extra produce to local market, canned alot of food, sold extra goat milk to Dr's office for those who couldn't have regular milk. Did alot of trading surplus of animals or goods with others. Didn't have electicity, used kerosene lamps ughhhhh!! Had wood stoves for cooking and heat...lots of work (lots of trees on our place to thin out or use downed logs) to keep us in wood all year long. Hard life to just survive...but maybe a better one than having it so easy now? Don't know about that, but one thing I do know I didn't have time to get in much trouble what with being an only child and lots of chores to do everyday. Had plenty of dogs, cats, and kid goats, to keep me company whatever I was doing, from walking to school to chores to a lazy summer day reading the afternoon away laying in my hammock...and folks you really need to try relaxing in a shady hammock on a warm day with a good book and have a half dozen puppies or kittens sharing space with you...even if a goat does sneak up and butts you out of it. Ha!!!

I think all that gives me greater appreciation of my indoor plumbing, electric appliances and lights etc. But still like wood stove heat better, and still do a small garden for good tasting vegies. I love my freezers, side by side refrig with water and ice in door, microwave, electric lights everywhere!!! And oh how I love hot showers instead of pumping well water, carying it in to heat it on wood stove, and trying to bathe in a small galvanzed tub and then later carrying out the dirty water. And did I mention my wonderful Amana washer and dryer? Sheer luxury!!! Radio back then was a Sylvania (I think) great sounding table top radio with a gigantic farm pack battery from Sears to use for a few hours if lucky a day. Now I have my choice of radio (AM or FM or CD), tv with roof antennae for a half dozen local channels and umpteen Dish network channels, plus tapes, or my computer and the whole world opens up for me via the internet . All that is nice, but are the tv and radio programs as good as the old time stuff on the radio?...some are but a lot of it now is just trash. So when nothing good is on I read from my tons of books and magazines, and if I want more the library is a mile down the road compared to yesteryear when we had only a handful of books and I spent my Saturdays afternoons at the town's tiny one room library 3 miles away.

Times change but some good is always lost along the way yet much is added that is of value...the problem is how to incorporate the long ago good with the present good times or to even realize what has been lost. And to always be Thankful for what we do have, and not complaining about what we don't.

Choose carefully my friends from all that is good and live well.

Pat

God bless everyone

Edited March 4, 2007 by thesidekickcat

[Honda_Boy]

Well ya know....ummmm..................uhhhh.......................hmmm.

yeah.

Screw It. Hard life for me was when I had to go 2 weeks without my car on 2 separate occasions (1. when I wrecked 2. when an engine mount and clutch broke in my new car). Havin to have momma drop me off at college and work. Havin to sit in the Library for ridiculous amounts of time but ummmm, yeah I had a laptop and wireless internet access along with games like Counter-Strike plus I had anime to watch that I loaded onto my laptop before leavin the house. So, umm not that bad really. But still, it sucked not havin a car when I've been used to havin a car for over 2 years with almost no down time (gotta love single cam Hondas' reliability).

I got to drive the truck to work a few times since no one else was drivin it that time of day but of course the third time I drive it the transmission went out so that sucked for the whole family to have 2 outta 3 down. Luckily we had just brought my granny's car down to have some maintenance done so we had a spare car. so we were down 2 out of 4 but that still left ole Honda Boy without a vehicle. To make matters worse mom wasn't droppin me off at school in a PT Cruiser but now in a 96 Buick LeSabre, uggghhhh. I'm buying myself a spare car dammit. I'm not goin through that again.

[martymas]

after reading many of these posts

it seems many have come from humble backgrounds

and i thought every one in the usa was from affluent

familys

i thought i was the only one with a home made ccompt

because i coudnt afford the top of the line machine

i found many posts

interesting because

you are no different from me

and a message board brings us all down to the same level

irespective of our culture and background

one of the reasons i like posting at BT

is the honesty

as many of the posts in this thread indicates

marty

[JDoors]

One thing about being "poor," kids don't KNOW they're poor. I never thought about it. All that mattered to me was I got cool toys on Christmas! (Or was it singular, "toy?" I don't really remember getting more than one toy, but I got a lot of underwear and sox!)

When I lived in Chicago we were near all the free museums, the zoo, an enormous park (similar to New York's Central Park) and the lakefront. I was occupied every single day of my life, and that was without video games or whatever else it is kids do to occupy their time nowadays. It wasn't until I graduated High School that I became aware that some people feel this alien emotion they called being "bored." Bored? What's that?!? I truly hate that word to this day.

Quitcherbitchin' and DO SOMETHING then!

[garmanma]

"To make matters worse mom wasn't droppin me off at school in a PT Cruiser but now in a 96 Buick LeSabre"

IT'S A CAR

"i thought every one in the usa was from affluent

familys"

I wish I had a smiley that rolls on the floor and laughs

"i thought i was the only one with a home made ccompt

because i coudnt afford the top of the line machine"

All mine are home-built with over 1/2 the components from "road-side pick-up" or hand-me-downs

"i found many posts

interesting because

you are no different from me"

We are probably more alike than you realize

Mark

Edited March 4, 2007 by garmanma

[papa]

Papa writes……………

Living on a farm for most of my life was as much fun as it was work. Taking care of the animals BEFORE school everyday was not the greatest fun. Milking the cows, feeding the herds and the most fun was, hauling water (in buckets), in the winter, for horses, cows, chickens, ducks, sheep and hogs. That was tough and hard work for a youngster. Then home from school, on with the ‘farm clothes’ (yea we had to change into old clothes before we went to school, back into good clothes for school and back into old for work, then sometimes had to change for supper (barn smells ya know!). Lest we not forget that the milk had to be pasteurized every day, then skimmed for cream. Mom would make butter once a week (man it was good!). Lets see, shoveling snow during the winter, feeding silage (by hand I might add, no silo unloaders, hauling hay till your hands were hurting, not those twine type either steel wire! Then there was the weekly trip to the mill to grind feed, that was shoveling corn into the truck and off again when you got there, then loading gunnysacks as big as a man back onto the truck for the trip back. All animals were hand feed, which meant the feed had to be hauled, by wheel barrel or bucket to the appropriate barn or lot. We used to get bakery throw outs for the hogs, sometimes if the packages weren’t broken we would eat them cause mom wouldn’t buy that stuff for us. Wow, then the summer chores with plowing and planting, weeding and then weeding some more (no herbicides back you had to do it yourself). Taking in the hay, shearing the sheep, vegetable canning and freezing. Not much was purchased from the store, if we had it on the farm, we preserved it! Butchering the animals was no picnic either; I remember my hands would be sore for days afterwards. Enough!

There was a lot of fun also; riding horses to the lake and through the woods was very cool! Building hay and straw forts in the lofts and waging wars with the neighbor kids was a hoot. Sand boxes would entertain us for hours when we were small. We didn’t have a color TV until I was almost out of high school, so it was only B & W, and NO TV during the school week! We didn’t get a chance to watch cartoons or kids shows much except when sick or snowed in. And during the rest of the time three channels only! We weren’t allowed to use the phone much, had a party line with a number of others. Watching lightning was a family event in the evening. Used to love to listen to the rain on the barn roof during a summer storm! And don’t forget those warm evenings in front of the fire (yea we cut, with a saw, and hauled our own wood, mom had a wood stove she would cook and heat water on sometimes, we helped heat the house with it too!), reading, playing games.

A treat used to be a PB sandwich; I mean the kind of peanut butter you had to stir up before you could use it because the oil separated from it. And as for food mom was the greatest! Always plenty of home cooked food! Once my dad cut a deal with a guy to trade soda pop for farm products, who remembers O-SO (orange), NEHI (grape), and Double Cola. Although we were limited on what we could have, it was a real treat!

Takes me back to a time when things were surly a lot simpler!

We grew up with a strong work ethic, still have it!

Just another over 50 input!!!

Thanks Marty!!!!!

[thesidekickcat]

after reading many of these posts

it seems many have come from humble backgrounds

and i thought every one in the usa was from affluent

familys

i thought i was the only one with a home made ccompt

because i coudnt afford the top of the line machine

i found many posts

interesting because

you are no different from me

and a message board brings us all down to the same level

irespective of our culture and background

one of the reasons i like posting at BT

is the honesty

as many of the posts in this thread indicates

marty

Hello Marty,

We are more alike than not, we value many of the same things...family, friends, our beloved BestTechie family, our blessings, our concerns about the world around us, and a whole lot more I'm sure.

I think the message boards tend to show us that we do value the same things in life...no matter where we are in the world. That we care about each other. Oh sure some boards, yes even this one has a few that are materialistic, but most of us are just normal people trying to do a good job with our lives and time here on earth. Sure alot of people have more money than sense in this country...or haven't matured enough to make good choices about things!!! Most people in U.S. though are low to middle class income levels with lots of job insecurity if they are lucky enough to still be working, and many people have chronic health problems too, and many have to many obligations and not enough time and money to take care of all the needs and wants of a family. And lots of people are way over their heads in debt from home mortgages, to credit cards and car loans etc. Then the worry about job loss with it's corresponding loss of medical insurance if we are lucky enough to have it in first place, how to send kids to college so they have a better chance at good jobs, taking care of our parents if still living and needing our care, funding our retirement if possible, and of course finding time and money to help others in our community and world, tithing and giving of our time and money to church and ministries and all the many other worries that fill our sometimes sleepless nights. So lots of stress in our lives. I would think many of those things are fairly common in western style countires and cultures aren't they?

Most of us only dream about being affluent as you call it...sigh!!!

Yet Praise God we are realy rich compared to the truly poor in third world countries.

So we count our blessings and do our best to share with others our good fortune on whatever level we can.

Yes Marty, we alll are very much alike around the world, only the media etc would paint us differently!!!

P.S. My computer isn't homemade, it was free from a one time only program that Intel did a few years back to give all the employees a new HP (deluxe at that time) computer/printer/crt monitor with Win2000. Never dreamed before that that we'd ever own one, or that I'd even learn to use it, and especially didn't think that I ever would like using it...and I now use it much more than hubby!!! Ha! Ha!

Pat

God bless everyone

[Pete_C]

Papa writes……………

Living on a farm for most of my life was as much fun as it was work. Taking care of the animals BEFORE school everyday was not the greatest fun. Milking the cows, feeding the herds and the most fun was, hauling water (in buckets), in the winter, for horses, cows, chickens, ducks, sheep and hogs. That was tough and hard work for a youngster. Then home from school, on with the ‘farm clothes’ (yea we had to change into old clothes before we went to school, back into good clothes for school and back into old for work, then sometimes had to change for supper (barn smells ya know!). Lest we not forget that the milk had to be pasteurized every day, then skimmed for cream. Mom would make butter once a week (man it was good!). Lets see, shoveling snow during the winter, feeding silage (by hand I might add, no silo unloaders, hauling hay till your hands were hurting, not those twine type either steel wire! Then there was the weekly trip to the mill to grind feed, that was shoveling corn into the truck and off again when you got there, then loading gunnysacks as big as a man back onto the truck for the trip back. All animals were hand feed, which meant the feed had to be hauled, by wheel barrel or bucket to the appropriate barn or lot. We used to get bakery throw outs for the hogs, sometimes if the packages weren’t broken we would eat them cause mom wouldn’t buy that stuff for us. Wow, then the summer chores with plowing and planting, weeding and then weeding some more (no herbicides back you had to do it yourself). Taking in the hay, shearing the sheep, vegetable canning and freezing. Not much was purchased from the store, if we had it on the farm, we preserved it! Butchering the animals was no picnic either; I remember my hands would be sore for days afterwards. Enough!

There was a lot of fun also; riding horses to the lake and through the woods was very cool! Building hay and straw forts in the lofts and waging wars with the neighbor kids was a hoot. Sand boxes would entertain us for hours when we were small. We didn’t have a color TV until I was almost out of high school, so it was only B & W, and NO TV during the school week! We didn’t get a chance to watch cartoons or kids shows much except when sick or snowed in. And during the rest of the time three channels only! We weren’t allowed to use the phone much, had a party line with a number of others. Watching lightning was a family event in the evening. Used to love to listen to the rain on the barn roof during a summer storm! And don’t forget those warm evenings in front of the fire (yea we cut, with a saw, and hauled our own wood, mom had a wood stove she would cook and heat water on sometimes, we helped heat the house with it too!), reading, playing games.

A treat used to be a PB sandwich; I mean the kind of peanut butter you had to stir up before you could use it because the oil separated from it. And as for food mom was the greatest! Always plenty of home cooked food! Once my dad cut a deal with a guy to trade soda pop for farm products, who remembers O-SO (orange), NEHI (grape), and Double Cola. Although we were limited on what we could have, it was a real treat!

Takes me back to a time when things were surly a lot simpler!

We grew up with a strong work ethic, still have it!

Just another over 50 input!!!

Thanks Marty!!!!!

Sounds just like my youth. Back then I always thought the farm was a horrid life and way to much work . Now I look back and think those were some great years.

With me it was Fanta orange on ice ; the volunteer fire department was located by the town park and they kept a big tub out on hot days and you put a nickel in the jar (honor system) and grabbed a pop.

[papa]

Guess Im not the only old farm boy around here, they say you cant take the country out of the country boys!

I think I could write a book on my farm experiences, had MANY!

Papa starts dreamin again.......days gone by.............

[martymas]

hi all i feel pleased about my

first post

as i can now relate to many of you

i had this misconception

that all people in the usa [media hype]

were well of

and that they voted according to what was in the bank book

i have to say many in our part of the world

have this misconception

but after being a member of many boards

and after meeting many americans

that conception is totally wrong

unfortunately.

i posted many of your posts to a new zealand

board

on this subject

and im pleased the post has received a good press

tho in the past ive been critical of your

administration

and i still am

i feel a hellova lot closer to youall

in particular the ordinary people

when i first joined message boards

i thought all american members were affluent

people

but this thread shows that is wrong

my god ime over sixty

and im still learning about other cultures

thanks all for your input

marty

[garmanma]

tho in the past ive been critical of your

administration

and i still am

I'd say about close to 1/2 the US agrees with you. The one thing here that's sure to start an argument is talking about politics. Religion gets a lot of people riled up also

Mark

[JDoors]

... i thought all american members were affluent people ...

I'm surprised, though not shocked, to find out some people believe we are all rich-beyond-reason Hollywood spoiled brats.

We still have farmers struggling to keep up, country folk livin' in cabins eeking out a living, city folk making just enough to get by as long as they visit the local charity to get enough food to feed their kids, and, though it's an incredibly small percentage of our total population, people so desperately poor they don't have enough to eat or a place to sleep (and, of course, all too many who have no intention of ever making an honest, decent living).

I guess the poor just do what they have to do and can't afford the P.R. given the rich and famous. The anonymous masses maybe?

It'd be easy to come to the wrong conclusion though since many people that might be classified as "poor" here are very well off compared to the people in some of the more Godforsaken nations of our world. Hot & cold running water and inside plumbing are a given, television (if not cable) is nearly universal, many have automobiles (if only barely running and only because they must have one to obtain supplies and other necessities of life). We have government food stamps (to be used for certain food items), welfare (living expenses for a brief period of time), Medicaid (health care for the desperately poor), and charitible institutions that dole out (likely) billions in aid, in addition to the natural family support that keeps many going in hard times.

And of course the deserved reputation as the "land of opportunity," many people do not stay desperately poor for very long. I was living out of my car at one time and now make enough I almost qualify for the "alternative minimum tax," a special tax that was meant to soak the rich (I still can't believe it when I only JUST slip under the limit on that one -- Me? Rich? Ha!).

[martymas]

hi JD

im afraid that is the view many people around the world

have of the usa

i know many in new zealand and australia

have this arrogant bossy view of the usa

and ive argued till im blue in the face

that only a few people are like that in all countrys

but they get more press time and it sells

and when your in power

what ever you do

impresses on the minds of other countrys

i feel the usa became to powerfull for to long

and to others they resented power and wealth

like a lot of people resent bill gates

but many forget about the normal people

like your selves

we have them here to

but weve never been powerfull enough

to impress people around the world

yes i do symphathise with you

how to fix it

i once had a discussion with a lady on a commuter bus

over this issue.

and the people of the world

are starting to get rotten at the core

and she said how would you fix it

i said maybe drop the bomb and start again

my did i get a mouthfull

i was joking of course.

but it will come to that in the future

we only have to look around the world

maybe a birth pill for men would help

the globe is getting over populated

marty

Edited March 10, 2007 by martymas

[Honda_Boy]

Even though I've always said I am poor, I am not really. i just don't have money for the things I WANT. Like say that new super duper gaming computer, a crap load of DVD's, new exhaust system for my car, body work and paint job for my car, SiR conversion for my car, a new car, etc. I live well off compared to many having a roof over my head and 2 floors beneath me (at the moment, my room is on the top floor with the main floor below me and the half basement/garage below it) running water, food to eat with no government assistance, not having to do any major work to survive (I work for my own money to spend on the things I want and to fix the things that break on my car, my parents give me a place to live, food to eat, put me through college and they give me love and support too). I have a computer and high speed internet to use, I get to do things I enjoy often, and I have my own car titled and insured in my name that was paid for for me by my parents. I take this stuff for granted but I thank god I get to live is comfortably as I do.

I also thank god I didn't grow up any where NEAR a farm. That woulda just sucked. Grew up in the city with a systems analyst dad and a deputy county clerk mother. Thank you lord. Sorry couldn't help my self.

[blim]

Hondaboy, you have the right state of mind! Food on the table, bills paid, and lots of love is all that matters, no matter if you have luxuries or not!

I remember when I discovered our income qualified Son to attend Berea College in Kentucky, which is tuition free for the "desperately poor", and he said,

"I didn't know we were poor"

God Bless him! Poor is a state of mind. Thrifty is also a state of mind. Trick is to decide whether you are poor or thrifty.

By the way, the farmers in my area are wealthy!!

Liz