This is Fascinating

“Perhaps the Lord needs such men on the outside of His Church to help it along,” said the late Elder Orson F. Whitney of the Quorum of the Twelve. “They are among its auxiliaries, and can do more good for the cause where the Lord has placed them, than anywhere else. … Hence, some are drawn into the fold and receive a testimony of the truth; while others remain unconverted … the beauties and glories of the gospel being veiled temporarily from their view, for a wise purpose. The Lord will open their eyes in His own due time. God is using more than one people for the accomplishment of His great and marvelous work. The Latter-day Saints cannot do it all. It is too vast, too arduous for any one people. … We have no quarrel with the Gentiles. They are our partners in a certain sense” (Conference Report, April 1928, p. 59.).

Economic Principles from the book of Ruth...

I have prayed for direction in understanding what God's principles of Economics are.  I was led to the book of Ruth.  Upon my initial reading of the first two chapters, here are some of the principles that I have found....roughly the most elementary ones I am sure.

• God blessed the land with bread.  
• Stayed within family units for help during difficult times
• Agriculture ran by the men of the family was the factory
• Harvest and work was expected of both men and women
• Generous gifts given
• Freedom to travel where needed for maintenance

These principles do remind me of Nibley's Approaching Zion.

So my next question is....How exactly do these get applied to my family?  Can these principles be applied in our modern setting and still be pleasing unto God, or more accurately, is our modern economic system pleasing unto God in any way?  What ways?  It seems we could operate our families with these basic guidelines inside the complex structure that we now live in, but could a someone wanting to influence Economic theory and policy use these points to develop anything that could actually be implemented in the system that we have now...could these points be used in a Macro-setting or only in Micro?

Doesn't sound very Keynsian does it?

Copied from Building it on Pennies: DIY Cleaners

Dish Washer Soap

1 cup of Borax

1 cup of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

2 packets of no sugar added Koolaid Lemon Aide

Mix together well and add 1 tablespoon to each load!

(If you are making your laundry soap you already own everything except for the koolaid)

Cost to make this is $0.78 a batch and does 32 loads of dishes!

Rinse Aid

Never Buy Rinse aid again use White Vinegar (Works perfect with no smell)

Rinse aid runs $3.99 you use about $.04 of Vinegar

Daily Shower Cleaner

1 cup of White Vinegar

2 cups of Water

2 teaspoons of Dawn dish soap

Mix together and spray down shower (Watch how clean it stays it is AMAZING)

Hard to find the cost exactly but I come up with $.11 and the bottle lasted me about 7 weeks

 Fabreeze

1/8 Cup of Your Favorite Fabric Softener

2 Tablespoons Baking Soda

Hot Tap Water - To Fill the Bottle to the Top 32oz bottle

Shake it up in your Spray Bottle and you're ready to go and fight those Stinky Dog smells.

Fabreeze anywhere from $5.69 Our cost $.15 cents for 32 oz.

 Windex

1 empty Windex Spray Bottle

1/8 Cup (1 oz) white Ammonia

¼ Cup (4 oz) Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol

1 Drop of Laundry Detergent

Water- to fill the bottle

Shake it up in your Spray Bottle and you are ready to go.

I used a 64 oz bottle of Ammonia and a 16 oz bottle of Rubbing Alcohol that I picked up for $1.00 each at the Dollar Tree.

Windex $3.69  Our cost (Ammonia $.02 & Alcohol $.25) = $.027

Shamelessly copied from  Building it with Pennies:  Gotta try these

 Clorox Cleanup

1 Empty and Rinsed-Out Bottle of Clorox Cleanup/Empty Plastic Spray Bottle

1/4 Cup Bleach

1 Teaspoon Laundry Detergent

Fill the rest of the bottle with Water and Shake

Clorox Cleanup $4.99  Our cost $0.02 (The little bit of bleach you use from the gallon that cost 1.00)

 Carpet Fresh

Instead of buying carpet fresh use baking soda, you will use less and save over half the cost.

Well,

Yesterday I had my gallbladder removal surgery.....today I am sore and happily drugged...so, I am spending time gathering ideas for more quilting projects that I will be doing for the next few years....here are my plans.

1.  Finish my French General quilt with Candy Coated by Crazy Mom Quilts for initial inspiration.   All my pieces are cut and now I need to do my ruffled piece to intersperse between the strips.  The color pallet is grays, browns, reds, and aquas.  It is delicious.

2.  A table topper for my mom.  I plan to do a "Swoon" like block in the center and then add large borders for where the dishes will actually sit.  This way there won't be seams under the dishes.  Her table is 60x60, and I am going to make it just a little larger and then do something like a box pleat, but I will probably use grommets and ribbon to lace it down.  I want to do it reversible, one side to match her kitchen, the other side will be her favorite holiday design.  Way excited for this.

3.  Finish my mail organizer (inspiration from Noodle-head.)  Love this.  Add I have been using it, I just need to finish it.  And hang it.

4.  Begin making each one of my kids their big kid quilt.  Kayti is first, and it will be fun to see what pattern she wants and what color pallet.

And Maybe, just maybe I will get some pictures.

"As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything seems seemingly unchanged. And it is in such twilight that we must be most aware of change in the air - however slight - lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness." Justice William O Douglas

A First Look at Social Business

Something I wrote awhile ago, and found it happenstance as I was cleaning out me email files: My brain has a great way of always trying to turn some small annoyance or idea into a business plan. One of these business plans began with the annoying task of matching small white socks for three little children. One day as I sat and matched, I began with the usual process of wondering if there was a better way. Usually, my ideas come pretty much in their complete form; and thus started my business: smart socks. Smart socks would include colored toe-seams for the same sized sock. Thus each child’s socks would have a different colored toe seam. That would make mating and shelving a whole lot simpler. Then came the idea of having new socks appear at my doorstep every four months. Of course the socks would perfectly match the others that I already had. Thus I could always feel free to toss any that had become stained or that had a hole. Individual matches would never be an issue because, every sock would match every other sock. And of course, I would receive a little reply card before the actual shipment where I could mark if I needed the company to move my child to the next size up. I had the whole product line: colors for boys and girls, quality demands, different sock styles perfectly arranged in my mind. The nature of the shipments, and the facts that the socks would always match the previous ones I already had, in my mind made a great marketing and returning customer tool. The idea could easily expand into t-shirts and underwear also. Taking care of the basic underclothing needs of kids is something a mother has to do, but is often procrastinated until it might be a little embarassing for someone to see the state of my children’s underwear conditions. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if it just automatically happened every few months without a lot of effort on my part? In Jan 2001, I sent off an email to Hanes about my idea. I tried to be vague. I wanted a business partner, not just an implementation of my ideas. But within a couple of years, there was Hanes with my "colored toe seams." I have enjoyed using them. They have been a small miracle in the laundry chores of motherhood. And for a time a forgot about the idea of business. But over the years of buying these socks, the quality is less than I would prefer, buying what might seem like the same socks from different stores often produces two imperfectly matched socks. And I have yet to get an automatic shipment to my door. I new there was still room for my business. In late 2009, I picked up a book by Muhammad Yunus. The books was on micro-banking and social business. A social business is a non-loss, non-dividend company designed to address a social objective Now, I had the missing key. Providing great socks and underwear service to mothers was one things, clothing the naked was another. My business idea is now named Our Brothers Keepers. Smart socks will just be a product in the overall idea. Basically, my business will operate as a way to stock Clothes Closets in every county in the United States, and maybe beyond. My idea is to have every family that joins Our Brothers Keepers Smart Socks program, pay for at least one extra complete set of under clothing for some other child in their county. Even though I don’t want to operate as a not for profit (I would like to make a nice living for my family doing this,) my first aim is "to clothe the naked." Smart Socks is just the vehicle to get this done.

I think that I should read this every day of my life:

As to Zion: Just because you have the idea in front of you doesn't mean you have any concept of what will be required to have the angels gather you into that company. It is like the notion that you're going to be "exalted" without any idea that the eternities are completely isolated from the unworthy. No one will or can be "exalted" who is not adequately prepared. Anyone who attains that status will be required first to suffer what is suffered, minister what is required to be ministered, to prove here their fitness. How could a selfish soul ever provide to their ungrateful and abusive offspring everything necessary for them to develop? Exalted beings sacrifice themselves, and endure punishment on behalf of the guilty. They take upon themselves burdens which they do not deserve. They forgive, they succor, they uplift the unworthy. Pride is incompatible, and selfishness utterly disqualifies a soul from "exaltation." The principles which govern there are hardly understood here. Most of the faithful Latter-day Saints imagine they will able to employ means much like Lucifer's to accomplish their expected outcome. They have no concept of the sacrifices and selflessness required to be trusted by the Lord. He is the prototype of the saved man. He lived His entire existence as a sacrifice. Read 3 Ne. 11: 11 and you will find in His introduction of Himself what a saved man must do. There is no other way. The prideful expectation that someone here is going to attain that status hereafter is based, for the most part, on foolishness and vanity, uninformed by the great things required to become like our Lord. Only those who are exactly like Him will be given that status in the eternities. Zion will be formed from people who are willing to endure His presence. That is no small thing.

I did not write this, I do not as of yet have this level of understanding. If you are interested in the source, leave me a comment with your email, and I will share.