2018-01-15 - 10:47 p.m.

Powerful poem pick for MLK Jr. day

http://poems.com/poem.php?date=17547 Update on lost phone, it was in a lighterweight jacket I wore last Thu on that oddly warm day that came after the cold snap! No wonder I didn't find it for a while, as I checked my winter coat pockets! Thanks to the puppy who I had to bring outside really quickly I finally found it last night , rather late. Off to bed after listening to "On the Mountaintop" full speech my MLK Jr. Could not let the day go by without actually thinking of his message of economic and racial justice, and how they are intertwined- can't have one without the other and have any meaningful change. I heard mention in an interview on Kojo of a must read book about the economics of slavery called The Half Has Never Been Told which I jot down here so when I forget its name I can come back and find it....(LOL!) In other news I finally found the perfect Christmas gift for my son. No matter Christmas is gone.... I just never buy crap and have to give a meaningful gift. I do have a gift card which a co-worker really sweetly insisted she send to me!($50 for Macy's)- which I will send him. I have to send something personal as well. So this bass player I really enjoyed talking with mentioned a book I had never heard of, and how when he read it as a young man it just opened his mind ISHMAEL by Daniel Quinn. I finally shipped Christmas gifts to my oldest child Katerina on Sat, which will arrive tomorrow. I found Nina Simone Live at Montreal Jazz Festival DVD at the thrift store so sent her that along with a few other miscellaneous items (including Grinch Shirts for both her and her boyfriend- LAME those were sent AFTER Christmas! ) I just didn't send the package earlier as the budget was honestly super tight (after puppy shopping! Buying all the stuff for puppy!) So I decided to just wait. I had sent cupcakes on her birthday in Dec! Sadly AMEX increased my credit limit and I know I shouldn't do this but I am using it for things like grocery shopping, sending the gifts and the car repair co-pay. Then will use the cash to pay the AMEX bill. The problem with doing that is that I am not real time budgeting so could go over and spend more than actually earn way too easily! Only using it for necessities.. but of course college application fees for my high school senior do fall into that category! I can't NOT support her for that! Her dad paid for many of them , so he left a couple for me. She didn't communicate about this until last minute of course. She is actually rather lucky that I got the credit limit increase just now as she might have been out of luck otherwise frankly!! I can't wait to this year get rid of credit card debt to the extent I can. I don't carry all that much, but my goal is to have NONE. NADA I think it is just the dumbest debt to carry. But I did use it for things like CAR Insurance... and groceries.... and graduation dinner for my oldest and graduation tickets and travel to be there. Some things are worth using credit for rather than not experiencing them. Attending your college graduation dinner with the speaker who was incredible; and applying to colleges are indeed some of those things. For me, travel to see the performances of my children falls into that category as well! I will however draw the line at cable TV. Seriously I vow not to not get cable using a credit card!! EVEN when my son is in his first TV appearance! Heck... the series will be out on DVD eventually, right? I can just go visit my friends and have viewing parties. Hasn't happened yet but HEY That is a good goal for me! That I have gotten out of debt and can afford cable when he is in his first major TV role.

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