Do Look At Today's Posting at www.fido-and-fifi.blogspot.com

When Money Is Tight . . .

Back in the middle ages, when I was young, Mother used to have some very nice ladies come to help with the household chores. At least one of them had a husband fighting the war.

The women were kind and they were out working to make some money. They had no union and no chip on their shoulder. The made precious little per hour plus bus fare to and from.

So, today, everyone has a car, I guess. And from what I sometimes see, I have to assume that no one needs any cash.

A friend had a circumstance where the lady who has been helping with the household slammed down the phone on her. I felt she learned something and that there are probably many people today who would help her.

Well, I was right and it was a school teacher whose husband is not getting many hours at his job who volunteered to pitch in.

I was very fortunate recently to meet a student who had never had a job. She helped her mother at home and it wasn't very long before she was coming over to help me with the physical things that are harder for us now.

My neighbor, who always liked to do all her gardening, found a young man from the next street who is doing it for her.

Both these people are friendly, smiling and glad to have some extra cash.

Groceries have gone up in price tremendously but if you look carefully, you can probably go out to eat for a more reasonable price than buying and preparing it yourself. Many places do not charge for children's meals during certain hours/days.

Another thing you will find out when eating out these days, is a more polite server.

Got a glass jar to put change in? You will be surprised how soon you will have enough to buy something you have wanted.

I probably do not have to mention coupons to you but there are lots for groceries, drug store items and restaurants. You can find them in your Sunday newspaper but you can also subscribe for e-mails to be sent from stores.

Entertaining at home is back. You can watch a movie (DVD) or play a card or board game. Check with some of us older people to find out how we made out before all the technology that has taken over the current generation - "Y" - I think they call it. I wonder why they are called "Y"?

I leave that one to you.

More on John Corapi And The New Chapter In His Life

I am very discouraged to see that the picture that I used from the photo service, Flickr, has been removed in my blog about John Corapi, as you will see a few blogs below this one. I am leaving it so you will see that in fact, there are more blemishes in our daily lives than we care to admit.

Father John Corapi - as we knew him - was an ordained priest of SOLT out of Corpus Christi, Texas. He was ordained by Pope John Paul in Rome 20 years ago.

If you do not know the story of John Corapi, briefly, he was a successful businessman in the Los Angeles area who hobnobbed with the entertainment folks who sometimes get into plenty of problems. He himself ended up a cocaine addict, broke on the streets of Los Angeles.

Originally from New York State, John Corapi's mother, a devout Catholic, managed to get letters to her son and finally sent him the one-way bus fare back to Hudson.

(I hope I am capsulizing this well for you without too much detail but with no mistakes.)

When John went home, he went to the local parish priest for a confession. He studied for about seven years overseas and was ordained at the approximate age of 40.

John Corapi has been speaking for many years and has a book (The Black Sheepdog) soon to come out.

We enjoyed watching him on ETWN network on Saturday evenings. His message was always one of perfect sense, based on biblical teachings and applying to today's life.

We are not Catholics, but John Corapi's message was one that just about anyone could benefit from.

The pages on Facebook dedicated to John Corapi - Father John Corapi and The Black Sheepdog have a lot of venom in the postings. This is not helpful to John Corapi, the Catholic Church or any individuals.

God Bless John Corapi and hopefully he will be able to open a new chapter in his life.

Happy Independence Day!

Amercian Flag, a photo by sfPhotocraft on Flickr.