Texting.......from across the hall.

So, I'm talking to a friend on Face Book last night and she's telling me that her son has invited my daughter to the lake for the weekend. My friend Donna wants to know if Courtney's going or not and I'm telling her, "I don't know. I'm in the bed with my laptop but I will text her and ask." I text my daughter, who is across the hall, on my Iphone, to see if she is going to the lake or not. I then reply to my friend Donna on Face Book telling that in fact Courtney is going to the lake this weekend with her son. Seriously, have we gotten so lazy folks? I suppose so. I do however, remember the first time we got a microwave, a cordless phone and a VCR. Man, I thought my family was livin' well. I still had to set tobacco plants, help get in hay and work in the garden growing up. Real manual labor and it didn't matter if it was 110 degrees outside. My kids get mad if I ask them to check the mail in the middle of the day! "But Mom, it's sooo hot outside." "Do I have to right now?" Everything is "I'll do it later," but when they want something, they want it right then.

I know that I had it better than my parents and our kids have it better than us, but is it really benefiting them in the long run? I mean my kids don't know how to boil water people! I sometimes wonder what would happen if we lost everything we had and had to start over. I mean everything......no car, no house and no cell phone.  Oh... I know.... scary thought huh? I mean go back to Little House on the Prairie days. How do you think our children would fair? Well, I don't know how long mine would last, but I'd probably blow my own brains out to escape all the whining that would be going on.

Other things have changed since I grew up. Our kids are living in a faster paced society. Most children have a cell phone by the age of 11 and the percentage of both parents working outside the home has increased. Seventy percent of women with children at home work outside of the home. (Leadership in Action, July 2010) Twenty eight percent of families eat dinner together seven nights a week. Teenagers eat fast food more often and parent-child communication has been on the decline. (Leadership in Action, July 2010)

Lucky for me, I can work at home now and be here to listen to my whinny kids. I can text them from the kitchen to see what they want to eat for supper. It's not the solution, but it's a start. I used to have to work a 12 hour swing shift. Now I work with FourPointGroup around my family's needs. I work when I want for as long as I want. Some days, I don't work at all...... I just sit with my girls and listen to them complain about this and that. Yea, they are spoiled and they can't do anything but at least I'm here to teach them.......just as soon as I get off Face Book. haha

Truly, I have found that most people who work for themselves are in a higher tax bracket. According to the U.S. Dept of Agriculture more American's personal income is coming from  government benefits and less and less from private wages than ever before in history. Economists report a downturn in jobs with private employers combined with governments handouts is creating a trend that could become unsustainable. USA Today reports that benefits from Social Security, unemployment, food stamps and other programs have reached a record high during the first 3 months of 2010. In fact 1 in 2 Americans receive income from govt programs. 1 in 5 Americans hold a govt job or are dependent of federal spending. 1 in 5 Americans receive Social Security or other govt pension. About 19 million receive food stamps, 2 million get subsidized housing and 5 million get educational grants. (Christian Science Monitor)  If private businesses continue to deteriorate the govt won't be able to tax private wages to support their expensive programming.  More than half of all Americans receive some sort of income from govt programs.

I work for a company that has been in business since 1985 and owes no loans and has never asked for a govt bail out. We have continually made a profit every year for the last twenty five years no matter what the economy looks like. So nowadays I'm able to sleep better knowing that a have a secure income with a company that allows me to spend time with my kids and tell them about the good ole days when I had to walk to school... bare foot.... in the snow..... up hill both ways just like my parents did.