Budgeting (Cajun Joke) and Abloom (Sunday Selections)

(Because some people like Blogger and some like WordPress, i am putting the same content at both.  If you would prefer to read this on the other site, it is linked here.) 

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Just because Sandee of Comedy Plus is no longer hosting a Silly Sunday blog hop, do not expect me to quit telling Cajun jokes, especially as it has now become a habit.

The other day, Ms. GA told me that Mr. BA was going to an antique auction.  Mr. BA cannot resist an antique auction, and the house shows it.

“He has us on this new budget,” she said, “because he says we need to be saving more money.  Last week, we went out to dinner, but he said we couldn’t go to a movie this time.  So I told him that if he spends anything over this new budget and he can’t take his wife to the movies again this week, things will not go well with him!”

Boudreaux done tell Thibodeaux, “I done put me an’ Clothile on de budget, we gots to be savin’ mo’ for de retirement.”

An’ Thibodeaux say, “Marie an’ me be plannin’ aggressive fo’ dat!”

An’ Boudreaux ax, “How you be doin’ dat?”

An’ Thibodeaux say, “Mais, we be playin’ de lott’ry at least two, t’ree time a week!”

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Sunday Selections was started as a way for bloggers to use photos that might otherwise just languish in their files.  The rules have been relaxed, and it is now simply a showcase for your photos, new or old, good or bad, although nothing rude, please.  It is now hosted by Elephant's Child.     

Mr. BA’s garden, going into late summer, is still all abloom:

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Today is: 

Be Kind to Humankind Week: Sacrifice Our Wants For Others Needs Sunday 

Birthday of Horus -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Burning Man 2019 -- Black Rock Desert, NV, US (through Sept. 2; a radical way to celebrate the arts through desert survival and building a 50-foot statue to be burned)

Day of Songun -- North Korea

Discovery of the Runes/Odin's Ordeal ends -- Ancient Norse Calendar (date approximate)

Go Topless Day -- US (on the Sunday closest to  Women's Equality Day, Aug. 26, stand up for women's right to go topless in public)   

Independence Day -- Uruguay(1825)

Kiss and Make Up Day -- a day begun by Jacqueline V. Milgate to encourage people to make amends and repair relationships if they need to

National Banana Split Day -- some sites have it as Aug. 10

National Park Service Day -- US (legislation creating the National Park Service was signed this day in 1916 by President Wilson)

National Second-Hand Wardrobe Day -- pull out the hand-me-downs or thrift store purchases and wear them with pride!

Notting Hill Carnival -- Notting Hill, London, UK (through tomorrow's August Bank Holiday Monday, the 2nd largest street festival in the world)

Opiconsivia -- Ancient Roman Calendar, Vestal Virgin Festival in honor of Ops

Rumpleskunkskin's Bride Escapes to Heewigoland Anniversary -- Fairy Calendar (Fairy celebration, Goblins get grumpy)

Soldier's Day -- Brazil

St. Genesius of Arles' Day (Patron of notaries, secretaries; against chilblains, scurf)

St. Genesius of Rome's Day (Patron of actors, attorneys, barristers, clowns, comedians, comediennes, comics, converts, dancers, epileptics, lawyers, musicians, printers, stenographers and torture victims)

St. Louis, King of France's Day (King Louis IX; Patron of barbers, bridegrooms, builders, button makers, construction workers, Crusaders, difficult marriages, distillers, embroiderers, French monarchs, grooms, haberdashers, hairdressers, hair stylists, kings, masons, needle workers, parenthood, parents of large families, passementiers, prisoners, sculptors, sick people, soldiers, stone masons, stonecutters, tertiaries, trimming makers; Québec, Québec; Saint Louis, Missouri; Blois, France; Carthage, Tunisia; La Rochelle, France; New Orleans, Louisiana; Oran, Algeria; Saint-Louis, Haut-Rhin, France; Saint Louis, Missouri;`Versailles, France; Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Louis; against the death of children)

Whiskey Sour Day

Birthdays Today

Blake Lively, 1987

Rachel Bilson, 1981

Alexander Skarsgard, 1976

Claudia Schiffer, 1970

Rachael Ray, 1968

Albert Belle, 1966

Cornelius O’Landa Bennett, 1966

Blair Underwood, 1964

Joanne Whalley, 1964

Ally Walker, 1961

Billy Ray Cyrus, 1961

Tim Burton, 1958

Elvis Costello, 1954

Gene Simmons, 1949

John Savage, 1949

Martin Amis, 1949

Anne Archer, 1947

Anthony Heald, 1944

Frederick Forsyth, 1938

Regis Philbin, 1933

Tom Skerritt, 1933

Wayne Shorter, 1933

Sean Connery, 1930

Althea Gibson, 1927

Monty Hall, 1923

Leonard Bernstein, 1918

Walt Kelly, 1913

Ruby Keeler, 1909

Clara Bow, 1905

Hans Adolf Krebs, 1900

Ludwig II, "Mad King" of Bavaria, 1845

Francis Bret Harte, 1836

Allan Pinkerton, 1819

Ivan the Terrible, 1530

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"42nd Street"(Musical), 1980

The Wizard of Oz(Film), 1939

Today in History

The Council of Nicaea ends with the adoption of the Nicene Creed, 325

The Children's Crusaders under Nicholas reach Genoa, 1212

The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, and the second most senior, is formed, 1537

Galileo demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers, 1609

Hundreds of French settlers arrive in New Orleans, which had been founded only a few months before, marking its true beginnings as a city, not just an outpost, 1718

James Cook begins his first voyage, 1768

Alice Meynell becomes the first female jockey, in England, 1804

British forces destroy the Library of Congress, which then contained about 3,000 books, 1814

The New York Times perpetrates the Great Moon Hoax, 1835

Captain Matthew Webb becomes the first person to swim the English Channel unassisted, 1875

Kitasato Shibasaburo discovers the infectious agent of the bubonic plague and publishes his findings in The Lancet, 1894

The United States National Park Service is created, 1916

Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly nonstop across the US, 1932

US Army officer and missionary John Birch is killed by the armed supporters of the Communist Party of China, considered by some as the first victim of the Cold War, 1945

Zimbabwe joins the United Nations, 1980

Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Saturn, 1981

Tadeusz Mazowiecki is chosen as the first non-communist Prime Minister in Central and Eastern Europe, 1989

Mayumi Moriyama becomes Japan's first female cabinet secretary, 1989

The Tli Cho land claims agreement is signed between the Dogrib First Nations and the Canadian federal government in Rae-Edzo (now called Behchoko), 2003

Acting as a private citizen, former President Jimmy Carter travels to North Korea to negotiate the release of Aijalon Gomes, a U.S. citizen, 2010

This morning's blog started out to be one big whine fest (want some cheese with that?), so I canned it. I am frustrated by so much right now.

I have come to the point of considering a clothes dryer a luxury item, because of the electricity used to run it. I keep trying to switch to a cheaper phone plan, and they keep raising the prices. I want to get rid of the tv, but the family would stage a rebellion.

I feel like we could make do with so much less, if only the family would cooperate more. I have cut what I could where I can and the rest they fight me on, tooth and claw. I have cut my own needs down to bare minimum, to the point of rationing my food intake to make sure I don't waste a penny.

I get complaints, especially from brother-in-law, if there is not enough of the choice items to go around. I see so much waste, although less and less of that is food, as we have less food in the house. Twice as much shampoo used as they need. Handfuls of paper towels used where one would do.

In all of this, I am the horrible ogre.

It's a tough role, and I am tired.

I guess, no matter how much I rewrite and edit, this whole thing is a whine.

Sorry, the cheese is being saved for a recipe tomorrow night.


Today is:

Assistance Dog Day

Book Lover's Day

Chih Nu, China (Feast of the Milky Way)

Cranham Feast, Gloucestershire, England

Goblin Ugly Contest -- Fairy Calendar

Independence Day, Singapore

International Day of the World's Indigenous People

Jesse Owens Day

National Polka Festival

National Rice Pudding Day

Popcorn Festival

Sanus, Libya

St. Matthias' Day

Sutter Creek Ragtime Festival, California

Veep Day


Birthdays Today:

Gillian Anderson, 1968
Delon Sanders, 1967
Sam Elliot, 1944
P.L. Travers, 1899
Joseph Locke, 1805
Amedeo Avogadro, 1776


Today in History:

Battle of Pharsalus, in which Julius Caesar defeated Pompey, who fled to Egypt, BC 40
Start of construction of the Tower of Pisa, 1173
Sistine Chapel opens, 1483
First horses arrive in Hawai'i, 1803
Elevator patented, 1859

Money is amoral. This means it has no morals. It is not good or evil in and of itself. How it is used is good or evil, and an unhealthy love of money, making getting money your major goal, greed, those are evil. The money itself is not the problem, the attitude toward it is.

We all have our money attitudes, set down from watching our parents. We also all have two keys to our money "personality style".

Some people are spenders and some are savers. That is one key to our money personality. The other is that all of us are either, to use the Dave Ramsey terms, free spirits or nerds. The free spirits are like my Sweetie and break out in hives at the sight of a spreadsheet. The nerds love it when the numbers sit nicely in rows and columns and balance and behave themselves.

Every married couple has a free spirit and a nerd. Every married couple has a spender and a saver. Neither goes by gender. It is all mix and match.

Why is this? Well, to quote Larry Burkett again, "If two people just alike get married, one of you is unnecessary." Add to that the Dave Ramsey reasoning that "Spenders have savers in their lives so they don't wake up at retirement broke, and savers have spenders in their lives so they will have a life."

What does it all mean to the average couple? It means one of you will love getting the budget to balance and won't mind paying the online bills. The one who loves it, male or female, should go ahead and do it. That does not mean he or she is the boss in the relationship, it just means that person is the mechanic who carries out the plan the two of you put together for your money.

To apply all of this to your everyday life is pretty straightforward. At the beginning of every month, the two of you, together, sit down with the budget and have a budget committee meeting. At the meeting, you both have a say, both of your votes count.

The budget needs to be a zero based budget. This means you spend every penny on paper, on purpose, every penny has a "name". You begin with your income at the top, subtract out money for each category, and at the bottom it should say "0".

What categories? Well, which ones you choose will reflect your core values as a couple, what you want your money to do for you.

Suggestions for categories:
1 Start with saving. If you leave this till last, you won't have enough for it.
2 Saving means a rainy day fund and saving up for something special.
3 Giving to charities is very important. Shows that you acknowledge God as your provider and you can give some away, more will be provided.
4 Build the 4 walls of the house -- shelter, food, transportation and clothing. None of these have to be lavish, until you have the money to make them more lavish.
5 Entertainment and "fun money". Unless you are deeply in debt, try to put some money in for these two things. It can be a good idea to have a small, separate "fun money" fund for each of you to spend as you wish. That money can go for your favorite little purchases or be saved by you month to month to get yourself something you want.


Do yourself a huge favor and never go into debt. Ever. For any reason. Live very frugally if you have to so you can save up and pay cash for bigger items. Keep a rainy day fund, and try to build it up so that if you had to, you could live off of that rainy day fund for 6 months.

After you have enough in the savings to live on for 6 months (like for if you should lose your job or something), start saving for retirement.

If you ever have kids come along, start saving to pay for their education.

It is often easier if the nerd writes out a draft of the budget and brings it to the budget committee meeting. Then the free spirit looks it over and says things like, "Yes, dear, I know this category means a lot to you, but I do believe we need a bit more for this one over here." Adjust the budget until you are both satisfied that the needs of both of you will be met.

After this, the budget is the boss. You bossed it, now it bosses you. You stick totally to the budget, and if there is an emergency that requires a change in the budget, have an emergency budget committee meeting and take money from one category to cover the emergency. If it is a big emergency, use the rainy day fund. Remember the definition of emergency is not a leather couch on sale. It is the only car you have broke down and you can't get to work without it.

It is a good idea to start an envelope system for the things that you will spend money on throughout the month. Rent and utilities and such that are paid once a month, just write a check or pay online. The groceries, the fun money, maybe even clothing money (if you will have some every month), put cash in and envelope at the beginning of every month, and every penny for that category comes out of that envelope. When you run out of food money, you have to quit buying food. Makes you rethink whether you need that expensive brand or not when you look in the envelope and see you only have so much to work with.

Another thing to remember is that every item you buy needs to go in a category. Sound simple? Depends, really, because one of you may want cigarettes in the food category because to you it is a staple as important as food. The spouse may want you to put it in your own "fun money" category.

Decide on some long term and short terms goals for the money you save beyond your rainy day and retirement money. Vacations, a new, better washing machine, whatever, what you save for and how you spend money reflects your values as a couple.

See, that wasn't so painful after all. :)


Today is:

Barbie-in-a-Blender Day (Great idea!)

Caravan of Pilgrims, Cairo

Cross-Atlantic Communication Day (Why is the Atlantic cross, and what does it want to communicate anyway? Sorry, couldn't help myself.)

Festival of the Seven Sleepers (The patrons of insomniacs, maybe?)

Garlic Festival (Yes! The more, the better!)

International Lumberjack Tournament

National Blunt Object Day (Relatives, you can't live with them, and if you use your blunt objects on them you run out of places to hide the bodies.)

National Korean War Veterans Day

National Scotch Day (Good stuff, in moderation.)

National Sleepy Head Day, Finland (Where the legend of the Seven Sleepers comes from.)

St. Pantaleon's Day

Take Your Houseplants for a Walk Day (Some websites just list it as "Take Your Plants for a Walk Day, and a couple of them have mistaken that for "Take Your Pants for a Walk Day"!)

Talk Like a Mad Scientist Day (Please don't tell my husband!)

Walk on Stilts Day (Who are they kidding? High heels already give me nosebleeds.)

UFO Days begin in Elmwood, Wisconsin


Birthdays Today:

Triple H, 1969
Maureen McGovern, 1949
Peggy Fleming, 1948
Bobbie Gentry, 1944
Jerry Van Dyke, 1931


Today in History:

Francis Xavier, SJ, reaches Japan, 1549
Sir Walter Raleigh brings tobacco to England from Virginia, 1586
Department of Foreign Affairs (State Department) is established by Congress, 1798
Flooding of the Yangtzee and Hoangh Rivers kill 200,000, 1935
Bugs Bunny makes his debut in "Wild Hare", 1940
Insulin first isolated by F Banting & C Best in Toronto, 1953