Christ is Born! Indeed He is Born!

Hristos se Rodi! Vaistinu se Rodi! Srecan Bozic svima! (Christ is Born! Indeed He is Born! Merry Christmas everyone!)

"Peace of Christ, Christ is Born!" Pic found here

I would like to take a moment to wish all of my Eastern Orthodox readers and family members a Merry Christmas. Having grown up Serbian Orthodox, I remember the burning of the Badnjak (Yule Log) on Christmas Eve and then going to church on Christmas morning before going over to either my grandma's cousin's home or my grandma's home for lunch. With the exception of Christmas 2010 when my mom was hospitalized following a minor accident, Christmas always held fond memories for me. And yes, we would open our presents on this day too.

Even though I am no longer Serbian Orthodox, I will continue to observe Orthodox Christmas because of the traditions surrounding it. My fervent Serbian nationalism couldn't keep me in the Orthodox Church anymore, but it didn't die when I became Catholic either.

In honor of Orthodox Christmas, I'll post a few traditional Serbian Christmas songs I remember singing as a youth. Enjoy!


"Oh Yule Log, Oh Yule Log" traditionally sung while the Badnjak is being burned


Traditional Christmas hymn praising the birth of Jesus


"Christmas Christmas Blessed Day"


Serbian rendition of "Jingle Bells". Not exactly traditional, but I remember singing a version of this at a church Christmas concert as part of the Sunday School kids choir


"Silent Night". The song is actually of German/Austrian origin, but I too recall singing a version of it as a kid in the Sunday School choir. I don't remember whether this was the same version I sang or not, but we did a rendition of it.

Have a blessed holiday and please don't forget to share, comment, and subscribe!

Why I'll Never Be an Unscrupulous Promoter

Greetings, dear readers!

Today is Day 3 of the 21 day blogging challenge. I must say, I'm starting to like this little pursuit.

As my blogging venture expands, I may have to occasionally promote products from time to time for marketing purposes. I used to think this was crass, but I've come to accept ads, product promotions and affiliate links as just another cost of doing business. After all, blogging can be a rather lucrative business. These kinds of promotion tactics are fine and dandy, except that alot of the time, the products being promoted are either impractical for my sort of low-income lifestyle, or too expensive for the tight, shoestring budget I keep.

Coconut oil, not just for hippies. Pic found here

Take for example, coconut oil. During my online adventures, I will occasionally come across a granola/yuppie blog promoting coconut oil and its various uses. Yes, it is a highly useful cosmetic agent and of significant culinary use, but am I going to take the trouble to promote an ORGANIC, NON-GMO, SUPER REFINED AND SERVED IN A BIODEGRADABLE JAR brand of coconut oil? Absolutely not. While it's nice that the coconut oil might have those things, it would also be quite pricey. Even if your local grocery store stocked such a brand, EBT/food stamp restrictions might not make it worth buying. Online retailers don't even accept food stamps, so that option is clean off the table too.

TL;DR: if I wouldn't buy or use such a product, I wouldn't push it on you.

Prior to resuming my blogging activities, I worked in a call center selling cable tv/internet/phone packages to customers of Verizon Communications. I hated the call center I worked in for various reasons, but I hated selling even more because being a good salesperson requires knowing how to lie to people. By nature, I am a terrible liar. It also didn't help that Verizon's services were centered in the northeastern part of the US and the East Coast, as well as parts of Texas, Florida, and California. Living in Arizona, we had no means of knowing what quality of service Verizon provided for the prices it was listing. I also famously avoid TV and phone service like the plague, relying solely on the internet for my means of entertainment and communication. As such, my sales weren't especially great and I was eventually moved to a different project, but the dark lessons I learned about the nature of sales stuck with me and I vowed to do a more honest job if I ever had to sell stuff again.

My policy of promotions also extends to services. As it stands right now, I have no subscriptions to any sort of streaming entertainment services like Netflix or Hulu, no extended product warranties, nothing like that. I do, however, make use of whatever free services I can find like Hangouts for VoIP and the various platforms offered by Google for use in communication and entertainment. Basically, if I can find a free alternative to a paid service, I will take that route. It's not a matter of being a cheapass, I legitimately can't afford anything else!

If I am going to promote anything, I will promote the things or services which I feel would legitimately improve your life. As much abuse as it has taken in the millenia since it was first formulated, I try and make it a point to hold to the Golden Rule when it comes to sales because nobody likes being lied to and nobody likes being pushed to buy something they can't afford or use.

What's something you vow never to do? Please share in the comments below.

Thank you for reading and please share, comment, and subscribe to my blog.

My 2016 Bucket List

Hello again, dear readers!

Today is Day 2 of the 21 day blogging challenge. I've never been much for bucket lists, but they do have uses as goal setters. Here are ten things I want to do before the end of 2016.

Not quite the same bucket list as you have, Homer. Pic found here

• Get pregnant. 
I want to give the baby a sibling and I plan to start trying after she turns 1. 12 months is a good age to start trying for a sibling, since the kids won't be too far apart in age and it will be easier for them to relate to each other.

• Figure out what wines I like. 
I'm primarily a beer drinker, but I've been wanting to venture into the wine side of alcohol consumption when I have the funds to do so. Wine was something I never bothered with before for reasons of class and income, but there are times when it is preferable to beer.

• Change the oil in the car by myself from beginning to end. 
Regardless of gender (though it's especially important for females), knowing how to do basic car maintenance is greatly empowering. Unscrupulous mechanics are less likely to take advantage of you if you can do the work yourself.

• Start a beauty vlog. 
Makeup and beauty are two big vices of mine because they are my confidence boosters and help make my impoverished life a bit more bearable. I also have been known to binge watch beauty tutorials on Youtube for days. I want to start my own beauty channel for women who are new to makeup, but can't afford the more expensive brands like MAC which are the staple of just about every beauty vlogger's cosmetic arsenal. If I can find an affordable video camera with good resolution, that would be a huge boon to any vlogging I do. Until then, I suppose I can duct tape my cellphone to the back of my computer and use it as a webcam. It's a ghetto solution, but it'll work for the time being.

• Get my travel papers updated.
If the Republicans win the elections this year, we may be taking a permanent vacation out of the US. My husband suffered terribly under the Bush regime, and he will not risk the wrath of whatever fascist asshole who faps to Ayn Rand and swallows the cum of certain Middle Eastern leaders gets the presidency.

• Take a trip into the mountains with my family.
I live in Arizona, which is renowned for its natural beauty. Here in Southern Arizona, there are no shortage of mountains and national parks with hiking trails within driving distance. It's not everyday that people get to live in such a naturally beautiful region. I really should take advantage of it more often.

• Work to expand my blog and any income I get from it.
This is a given. I'm still figuring out the whole blogging-for-money thing because I did it as a hobby for so long. This includes taking the time to learn all the technical jargon associated with marketing and maintaining a blog. Maybe one day, I'll be able to pay for a domain and migrate off of Blogspot for good. Or, I just might keep this account. Google and Blogspot have been good to me, and that's a big reason to stay.

• Take part in a conference.
This one has both a professional and a personal side. On the professional side, I would like to attend a conference for help in expanding my blog and making money from it. On the personal side, some of my interests like henna tattoos and makeup have conventions that I would like to attend just because the subject interests me. Of course, I would first have to be able to pay for the travel and lodging expenses, which is why I haven't gone to any conferences of any sort so far. Now if any of these conferences were to come here to my part of Arizona, I'd happily find a way to attend.

• Reconcile with some long-standing family feuds.
This is a bit of a long stretch, but it would be nice if I could reconcile some of the family feuds I got caught up in that threw my life into turmoil. Some progress has been made already, which is good. I want to take that progress further.

• Grow in faith, every way I can
Pope Francis has designated this year to be the Year of Mercy. I could use some mercy and become more charitable towards others in the name of my Catholic Faith. Our Carmelite other church and the Latin Mass church we attend can be sources of great help in this regard.

What's on your bucket list for this year?

To take part in Alana Le's 21 day blog challenge, click here.

Thank you for reading and please share, comment and subscribe to my blog

Why You Need Sally Blankets

Happy Monday, dear readers!

I'm stretching my comfort zone a bit for the next few weeks. While perusing my Facebook feed as I often do, I came across a post from a blogger named Alana Le who issued a 21 day blogging challenge as a means of expanding readership of one's blog. Since I ultimately hope to earn a living by blogging, I decided to take part in the challenge to see what would come of it. It was free, and each day I would be emailed a prompt to write about on this blog.

Today's prompt covers a need. Since the focus of my blog is largely on life as a low-income family, "need" can be quite a large topic to cover. But if I had to narrow down "needs" away from the frivolous and to the bare essentials, I would have to say that every family, poor or not, needs a few Sally blankets in their lives.

My cat, White-chin, rests on a Sally blanket

Formally called disaster blankets or FEMA blankets, I knew them as "Sally blankets" since my husband and I would get ours from the local Salvation Army shelter. These dark grey-colored blankets are made from clean, reconstituted dryer lint and a bit of fireproofing material. They are meant to be disposable and often wear out quickly under the best of circumstances. Sally blankets are also free, which is why it's good to get some as often as possible and stockpile them for later use.

You might think that Sally blankets are only for poor people. You're wrong-Sally blankets are for everyone, regardless of status on the economic ladder!

What you may not be aware of is how multipurpose Sally blankets are. Since these are blankets, they can be used to cover one's body to keep warm at night or in place of fitted sheets on a mattress. In addition to bedding, they make great playmats for kids and can be used for moving heavy furniture across a floor. We've used our Sally blankets as curtains on many occasions to keep the cold out of the trailer or to divide a room for privacy. Our cats sleep on Sally blankets when it's cold out. My husband keeps a few old Sally blankets in the car for emergencies or seat covers and when he was homeless, he used old Sally blankets to cover the tent he lived in to keep the sun out in the summer and the warmth in during the winter.

Do they look nice? Not exactly. Are they useful? Hell yeah! With this horrible economy being what it is, function supersedes form any day. Life in poverty is hard, but it doesn't have to be unbearable.

For more information about the Salvation Army, check out their website here.

If you're interested in taking up the 21 day blogging challenge as well, here is the link to Alana Le's site where you too can learn more and sign up. It's free, so you have nothing to lose!

Thank you for reading and please share, comment, or subscribe to my blog.

Antarctica's Cathedral

Happy Sunday, dear readers!

In honor of Epiphany, the day the Three Wise Men, Gaspar (sometimes spelled Casper), Melchior and Balthazar finally arrived at Our Lord's manger bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, I'm sharing this cool article I found on my Facebook feed earlier this evening.

Frozen crucifix

In Antarctica, at an Argentine research base, some resourceful scientists of the Faith managed to dig into the surrounding ice and make a cave that they established for use as a chapel. No doubt it took quite a bit of work to complete, but it's a fully functioning Catholic church. The article does not elaborate, but I'm guessing the priests who serve there are staffed on a rotating basis from various dioceses across the country.

I suppose "cathedral" might not be the best word to physically describe the cave church. But just as the massive stone buildings we know inspire awe and ethereal grandeur, so does the ice cave holding this church.

Scientists at prayer. Look at how the blue color of the ice makes this cave feel ethereal

You can read about Antarctica's cathedral here. All pictures in this post are from the site.

Antarctica's ice cathedral, like something from another world

Have a good week everyone!

Bottle Blues

Happy Saturday, dear readers! I hope your weekend is going well.

In light of the baby's cold, I've been trying to get her to drink from a bottle. From birth, she has been breastfed, and I was fine with that. Now that we're introducing her to solid foods, I want her to be able to start drinking liquids other than my milk. I've been trying to get her to drink apple juice since it's high in Vitamin C. She knows and understands what food is just fine, but drinking something other than milk is a totally new endeavor for her.

Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time trying to get my baby to drink from her bottle! When she was a newborn, I tried pumping and bottle feeding for night feeds, but the baby absolutely refused to take the bottle. She would fight like hell whenever my husband or I gave her the bottle, but when she did drink from it, she would guzzle my milk and choke. Eventually, we gave up and went back to just the breast. It was a sanity saver.

Fuck the bottle! Titty or nothing, mommy!

Now that she's older, I wanted to give bottle feeding another go. This time around, the baby chews on the nipple but doesn't really drink from the bottle. She'll play around with it, but ultimately pushes it away and pitches a fit whenever I try and bring it closer to her. The baby has no problem sucking on fingers or her pacifier, but the nipple of a bottle is EEEVILLL!

Needless to say, this is getting to be a bit frustrating. I want her to be acclimated to a bottle so that if I have to leave her in the care of my husband for a bit, he'll be able to ensure she is well hydrated and fed. I can't be the only parent out there who is having a hell of a time trying to get their kid to take a bottle. Keep in mind that I'm not cutting out breastfeeding from my daughter's feeding regimen at all. Just like food, I want to introduce her to other liquids until she is ready to wean.

#goal. Pic found here

For better or worse, parenting is a game of compromises. Yes, there are rules, but a workable solution is the best outcome for a given scenario. We compromised on our baby's bottle feeding early on because it was causing her and us a significant amount of stress trying to get her to drink from the bottle. Surely there is a compromise that can be found here.

Time to do some research. Thank God for the internet.

New Year's Celebration

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful time welcoming in the new year.

As for my family, we had a small, quiet celebration. Though we started off the day with a visit to my husband's clinic to get his medicine and had to go across town for a job interview with a group home for the developmentally disabled, we ended the day by picking up some celebratory booze. I wanted to get some wine for us to drink at midnight. Even though I am primarily a beer drinker, as is evidenced by my many reviews of beers here on this blog, I was looking to expand my palette a bit.

We intended to get a bottle of port made by Sandeman, since this was our traditional winter wine. The only reason we did not get some for New Years 2014-2015 was because at the time, I was pregnant. We found and almost bought the bottle, but as I got to looking around the liquor store and at the many varieties of wine it stocked, I asked the shop attendant if he had any recommendations for noobs like me about which wines were cheap, but not rotgut like what you get at the grocery store. He kindly pointed me to a bottle of Lambrusco wine, which fit my criteria of "cheap but not rotgut". Since we only could buy one bottle, my husband happily switched out the bottles for my "education" in wine.

Wine is a totally new field for me

On our way back, we made a stop at a local hole-in-the-wall liquor shop to get some cheap rum. This particular store was in our neighborhood, and we'd been there a number of times in the past as the Chinese proprietor carries an excellent stock of reasonably-priced liquors. Unfortunately, he did not have rum, but he did have slivovica. A traditional Serbian plum brandy, slivovica is a must have in our home owing to my Serbian heritage. Of all the liquor stores I have been to in town, this Chinese liquor store is the only one I've found to carry any sort of Balkan booze. My husband inquired if there was any rakija (Serbian brandy made from quince) in stock, but the proprietor had none.

For our New Year's Eve dinner, my husband made Hoppin' John. This traditional Southern dish is made with black eyed peas, green beans, mustard greens of one variety or another (we used kale), tomatoes, onion, garlic, and pork products (ham and bacon were our additions, though smoked ham hocks are another traditional ingredient). He also made corn bread to serve with the Hoppin' John. Some recipes call for Hoppin' John to be served over rice, but my husband does not do that. He prefers the cornbread instead.

Hoppin' John

At midnight, while our neighbors shot off guns and fireworks, we each had a glass of our Lambrusco wine. Within my first sip, I remembered why I was a beer drinker. While it was labeled as sweet red wine, I thought it tasted like grape flavored vinegar. The apple ciders helped prime my palette for the sour taste of wine, but I preferred the malty body of beer. My hubby, however, told me it was not a bad introduction to wine drinking. His first wine was a Lambrusco too, and as we got money, we'd buy other varieties to try. I had tried wines in the past and almost always found the taste off-putting. I had the same issue with beer, but with wines it was the sourness that bothered me.

My preference for beer stems largely because I am an impoverished proletarian. A good bottle of wine will shoot your budget to hell, but a good bottle of beer wont. Outside of church, I regarded wine as something that only bourgeois assholes consumed. My husband had to scold me for falling too deeply into Marxist thinking, since wine is as ancient as civilization itself. He advised that we stick with Italian wines, since Italians had over a millennium of practice and fine-tuning to perfect wine making.

We did not stay up too late, as we had to be at church at 10AM. January 1 is the Solemnity of Mary, and a Holy Day of Obligation. I always found it interesting that the Church would set that particular holiday on that day. I suppose it was their attempt to keep people from going too hog-wild and getting totally shitfaced on New Year's Eve.

And that was how I spent my New Year's.