30 APR 2015 :: What about a 4-day workweek?

Four day work weeks could be the answer to some of the government's money problems...  It would save a lot of money in reduced labor costs, including benefits expenses, overtime hours, traffic, parking, and other job related issues.  I think we would see happier employees, marriages, families, and neighborhoods.  It would reduce stress, allow more people to be employed, and separate public and production times better.  I decided it would be a great idea for all positions that do not require 24-hour commitments...like police, fire, hospitals, missions, etc.  For Working Together,24-hour commitments would be the Respite Centers, which would be like Missions.

For government offices, Monday to Thursday would also mean 5-day weekends on required holidays, so they might have to opt for Tuesday to Friday schedules...or, they could change the current holiday requirements to Fridays.  :-)   We know the government can change things when they want to.

Today is my "Friday" as I try out my workweek theory.  It has been kind of great...I am still working on the test period, using my blogging and other activities as an office activity that wouldn't be done on other days.  There is always something that needs to be done, so Fridays and Sundays are my flex-times...  I'm working on what to do during those days.  I have thought that they can still be work days, but employees would be limited to 4 days and 30 hours each.

Many companies already offer 4-day-workweeks, with 12-hour days.  I think that may be to hard for everyone to accomplish in every position within a company (or government operation).  My goal is healthy families and sharing the load...with flexibility.  Forty-hour weeks would mean three employees to 120 available hours...30-hour weeks would allow four employees for the same hours.  To me, it is more like job-sharing than part-time employment.  GOD willing, we will be able to generate enough products to cover the costs of labor and benefits, creating a full-time wage based on 30 hours a week.

This is my dream... to create a business that is also a ministry.  To create a place where Christians can be helped, can work, can live, can fellowship, can support each other, and survive together...with outreaches for those outside the Church.

I don't know what I can get done now, at my age and health and continued poverty, but I hope to get the concept down on "paper," so others can consider the future we face and prepare for it.  I call it my update for the first booklet I published, What If There Is NO Rapture?

Pray that GOD will provide for this goal...soon.


29 APR 2015 :: Here I am...talking about money again.

I didn't think I would make it here... I "rested" for a bit and didn't want to (could hardly) get up again. I may fall asleep between letters on the keyboard.............

I guess today was a lesson on getting side-tracked.

I made myself head out to look for clothes bargains at my Salvation Army (SA) Sale Day this morning, but decided to do a few things on the way there.  Home Depot was kind of on the way, so I went to check out the stores in that direction.  I need a "metal square" ruler and have been looking at the prices for them in various places.  Home Depot is a building kind of store, so I wanted to find out what kind of prices and choices it would have.  The price turned out to be decent, so I went ahead and bought one...after I had seen two other things on the way and nearly forgot to find the ruler.  :-)  

Walmart was on my way to the sale, and I planned to go there anyway, so I went there first.  I bet you know what happened...I never made it to the SA Sale.  :-)

I discovered I forgot my shopping list at home.  That was the first problem.  But, the list was long and I remembered quite a few of the items on it because I have been rewriting it for a week, at least.  I also needed to explore options for two upcoming gift occasions. 

I haven't been able to do gifts for many years.  I wanted to use my new income status to at least buy something for them.  On the way to my household items and other needs, I discovered something I wanted to buy for the gifts. 

My budget was gone...I had too much to carry...and I could barely keep going.  I was not going to the clothes racks in the Salvation Army store.   It would have to wait until another day. ! (I think it will have to wait for next month... I don't know if I can squeeze out any money to go anywhere for the rest of my budget!   :-)

It is so easy to spend money.  I am finding my new government payment card is a much bigger challenge to my financial goals than I thought it would be.  I am already looking for a solution.  :-)

Having a financial cushion to get through the learning process is so important, and so impossible for low-income households.  I am 62 and still trying to find a safety net for all the problems that come up.

I don't have a credit card and couldn't qualify for one. My goal for years has been to save enough money to get a "secured" credit card and build a financial base for my credit needs.  It is still a goal.

It can become a real tangled mess trying to survive poverty and low-income issues.  If you have addiction issues, and end up in jail, the struggle is worse.  If you don't have a deep faith in GOD, the repeated problems can overwhelm and destroy you.

I don't know how to solve everyone's problems, but I hope GOD will allow me to do something to give poverty households a cushion.  I believe the Church will be financially devastated as we go deeper into the End Times, and I KNOW it isn't prepared to help its own.  This is why I created Working Together...to try to meet the many needs that will happen.

PRAY that GOD will finally provide for the goals He has built in my heart and life.

28 APR 2015 :: Short notes on the day

I am sorry... I ate some popcorn a bit ago and I am not feeling well all of a sudden.  I am trying to enter a post and get to bed as soon as I can.

Today was one of my bus and errand days... I went to the Farmer's Market to use up the last of my FS tokens for the market...and was able to get some great foods to help me through the next several days until my food stamps come in.

Also went to the nearby SCRAP store to see what they have right now.  I picked up some items on my lists, and also found some great deals I didn't plan on... and went over my budget.  It is amazing how much money you can spend on treasures that were used already, especially things some would consider trash.

I forced myself out to get sale items at Safeway so I was able to eat salad again.  it was great.  Really great.  I loved it.   :-) 

Tomorrow, or the next day, I will use the Italian sausage I got to make spaghetti.  Will use the two new kinds of mushrooms I purchased and see how I like them.  I have to find out how they are used, if I have to cook them or if they can be eaten raw.  (I tried to share a small piece with the transit center pigeons, but they don't like mushrooms.   :-)  

Right now, I have to get going. Will write more tomorrow, I hope.... lots of things on my lists for the next few days, not sure what I will be able to get done.

27 APR 2015 :: What the New Tells Us

I have been thinking deeply about the news I have been seeing, especially the repeated video of a man in Baltimore that was killed by police for no real reason that I have heard.  In my mind I can hear his cry of pain over and over.  Many times it will make me cry. 

It reminds me of the man who was just selling cigarettes on the street and was killed by police, again, for no real reason.  He was crying out about his pain, that he couldn't breathe, and he died from the injuries he endured.

It reminds me of the man who was shot repeatedly, in the back, while running from the police during a simple traffic stop because he feared being arrested for back child support payments.

It reminds me of the man who ran from the police and was killed by a "ride-along" person who thought he was using a Taser, even though he was suppose to me fully trained, even though the Taser looked nothing like a gun.  With this news report, I noticed more the way the injured man was treated as he lay on the ground looking for help, how someone in authority unnecessarily pressed his head into the ground.  This man later died.  Why?

I can hardly forget the video of a police car, at full speed, hitting a suspect with his car, intending to kill him.  I had no idea that police were allowed to do those kinds of things.  Weren't there other things they could have done?

In the middle of all these current news events, I am reminded of past reports when multiple police were gathered together and began shooting at single suspects -- many, many, many times.  The suspect may have been ranting, or had a knife, or was not that large of a threat, but they died as though they were an army attacking the police.

Riots are different.  I don't like the riots that accompany some of these protests about unnecessary, wrongful deaths.  I also suspect that some people start them as a reason to loot the area stores, to distract the police from other things, or to create more news coverage for their cause.  Riots hurt innocent people, they are not controllable, and they destroy the jobs and houses of people who need to survive in that area. I was almost a teen when the 1965 LA (Los Angeles) Watts riots happened, but I still remember some of the news photos I saw.

Black people aren't the only ones who are wrongfully targeted. I remember news stories of border killings when the immigration issue was in the forefront of nightly coverage.  Depending on where you live, you can be a variety of races or nationalities and be the victim of wrongful death.

I don't think police corruption is a new trend,
it has been a problem throughout history. 

I guess it just seems more visible to me because of repeated reports of it from all kinds of video sources in too many locations.  I really don't want to have these reports replaying in my mind for the rest of my life... my years are running out and I don't want them filled with the growing violence of Mankind.  I would like to find a better way to exist in this End Time world.


The Bible tells us that, in the End Times, hearts will grow cold because of there will be too many emotionally painful things to consider, to care about (my paraphrase).  We will suffer from emotional overload.  I can see how that will happen. 

If I had the money, I would want to support almost every humane cause I see advertised on TV, in magazines, on the radio, over the internet, or promoted by friends, family, and coworkers.  I care deeply about too many issues :: homelessness, youth in distress, orphans, victims of domestic violence, abused animals, job losses and business failures, medical costs, illiteracy, prison reforms, stopping abortion, college educations, senior meals... I could go on for a long time, the list is endless.

It is hard to keep going with our lives when there are so many real needs to think about...and not be able to support.  I feel almost heartless when I have to say I can't help someone.


Police brutality, wrongful deaths, and other justice issues are harder to face because they have authority status over us.  We need them to help protect us, we want to believe they are good people and will do their job with honor,

BUT...
I suppose the police get tired of the criminals that fill their lives. 
I suppose some of them wind up choosing their own form of criminal activity. 
I suppose it gets hard to think of people as being good when your job is to make sure bad people don't hurt good people.
I suppose fear might look the same on anyone who doesn't want to get caught. You can't tell if fear is from overdue child support or bank robbery, being underage or being a runaway.
I suppose police have bad days like we have bad days.

AND...
I wish there was an easier way to sort out the bad people from the good ones.
I wish everyone was good and we didn't have to deal with any bad people, ever. 
I wish we could keep our measuring sticks equal so everyone would be treated the same. 


       Unfortunately, I don't think we will ever find a perfect solution
                    to overcoming what lost and sinful people do to our world because
we are the world,
                 we are all guilty, and
                              we have all done wrong things.  

I realize it will take time, but I hope we can find a peaceful and truthful way through this difficult time in our history as a country.  What happened was wrong, no matter who it was done to.  It should never happen again.