About Me

Actually, I guess it's a little about me and more about my focus for this blog.

I write as a wife and mother.  It's my responsibility to feed my family well and keep them healthy, come what may.  Because I read secular history and also know that the scriptures come to us from God, I'm aware that challenges await.  I have no delusion that these challenges will be short term or won't affect me personally.  I have to prepare my family and myself.

When The End of the World As We Know It (TEOTWAWKI) happens, our lives will change dramatically.  I have no idea what will kick it off.  It doesn't really make much difference in how I prepare or what I choose to research.  I know:

• There will be world war.
• There will be civil war.  It will not be north versus south, but neighbor versus neighbor, black versus white, rich versus poor, progressive versus conservative, and a few others I'd rather not write about.  It's gonna be interesting.
• There will be lots of guns and ammo.
• There will be people fleeing for their lives.
• There will be famine.  True famine.  Like nothing ever seen in this country.
• There will be abandoned pets and people eating dogs and cats.
• There will be people thinking they'll shoot all the food they need.
• There will be no medicines coming from China.  There will be no medical supplies.
• There will be people freaking out without their drugs.
• Medically dependent people will die.
• There will be a lot of death.
• There will be a lot of deaths from trivial infections due to a lack of antibiotics. 
• There will be a lot of suicides.
• Young wives and mothers will die in childbirth or from post-partum infections.  
• Children will die.

These things will happen no matter who wins the White House, Republican or Democrat.  Personally, I think things will happen sooner if a Democrat wins.  A little faster, that's all.  The anarchy, famine, and destruction will happen regardless.  So says history.  And the people who believe otherwise have always existed.  They've said they and their people have learned from the mistakes of the past and won't repeat them.  Always.  Call it arrogance or normalcy bias or whatever you want.  History always repeats.  Whether we like it or not.   You have no say in whether these events come to pass.

This is why I write Prep School Daily.

You do get to decide how and whether you prepare and to what extent.  Some who read this blog will suggest that my preparations and ideas are over-the-top.  I sure hope so.  I sure hope the level ten event I plan for is only a level five.  What kind of wife and mother would I be if I only prepared for a level-five event and my family was faced with a level-ten situation they couldn't survive?

And many will say it's a very pessimistic view I hold.  Not really.  Based on the historical record, I am a realist.  The glass isn't half-empty or half-full.  It's just holding half of what it could.  I believe in the potential.  I am optimistic.  I want my children to survive and thrive and have their own families and experience the great joy that they have given their father and me.  I want lots of Christmases and birthdays and anniversaries, Thanksgivings, and Easters and everything else.  I want warm fires, comfy beds, and indoor plumbing. 

And on the other side of these events, there will be a lot of happiness.  Far less government intrusion. Far fewer liberals seeking to control my life.  There will be people who have learned to work hard for their needs.

So what actually qualifies me to write on these topics?

Absolutely nothing.  There are no degrees is emergency preparedness, survival, or homesteading.  There are some programs popping up around the country in disaster management, but they're mainly at a community level, working for the government.  No thanks.

I have nothing but thirty years of experience using food storage, teaching emergency preparedness, raising children, a diabetic husband (type 1), taking kids to doctors, and studying history.  I earned a bachelor's degree in Russian, with a second major of zoology, which is considered a route to medical school by many.  I have no certificates.  I guess I could have gotten some, but I wasn't interested in the little pieces of paper.   I observe the government and people today.  It's delusional to believe that the course we're on ends well.  It doesn't.  It doesn't end well for us or our children.

I never started this blog to make money.  I don't participate in any affiliate programs to get a percentage of sales.  I guess if I did there would be more pictures, more puff pieces, more articles along the lines of "if you don't buy this it will disappear from stores and you will die."  And I have to apologize for the lack of annoying pop-ups that jiggle and twist and hurt your eyes and keep you from reading what you want to read.  But there are plenty of other sites where you can find those if you need them.  My reviews are my honest opinion, not something I was bribed to write nice things about.  I was asked to review a product once.  But when I couldn't guarantee a positive review, I didn't hear back. 

As far as medicine is concerned, I'm not telling you how to treat an illness.  I better not be.  I'm not a doctor.  However, it doesn't take a doctor to write about the supplies that are required and how a doctor will use them.  I can assure you that no doctor, unless he's in your family, is stocking any supplies for you.  Most doctors are not preparedness-minded, just like the rest of society.  So they don't even stock much for their own families.  But if they do, then those supplies are for their families.  That is how it is and should be.  Here on the blog, I discuss the supplies you need to have.   Hopefully, you never need to use them, but I can assure you having them on hand provides great peace of mind.

I can talk about medications as well.  I can write about how doctors use them.  Or how drug companies sucker you into paying more for Benadryl marketed as a sleep aid instead of as an allergy reliever when they're both the exact same thing.  How you pay more for the brand name than generic or get suckered into throwing away medications when they're past date.  These are just the supplies to have on hand, so a doctor can care for your family.  You have to supply the doctor.

When it comes to illnesses, I share what symptoms a doctor is going to look for.  Diarrhea is a very generic term.  A doctor is going to want to know these things whether the stool is watery, loose, bloody, or mucousy.  What kind of odor it has.  Pay attention.  You've got to be able to take a temperature accurately.  Digital thermometers don't last forever and they aren't all that accurate.  Make sure you have a couple of good thermometers.  The information here will prepare you for what a doctor is going to ask.  An emergency is not a good time to say "I don't know," or "I don't remember."  I also discuss medications that are commonly used and easily available.  This includes herbal remedies that many doctors won't like, but in a prolonged collapse, they might be all you have to work with.  Just like with everything else in life, you sift through information and determine what is of most benefit to you.  You make your own decisions.  This is all for entertainment and information anyway.  You are not becoming a doctor with this.

And now for the food.  Yeah, 'bout that.

OK, most people already have the foods they love.  The last thing most people need is a cookbook.  I get that.  I believe that even.  I really didn't want this to be a recipe blog.  The world has enough of those, and besides, the people that write them make beautiful-looking, picture-perfect food.

That doesn't happen in my world.

My family has our own recipes that we love.  Or like.  Or tolerate because there won't be any dessert if we don't choke down what's on our plates.

You already have your own recipes that you love.  You probably don't need more.

However, we all need to learn how to use our food storage better to recreate our family favorites, and maybe along the way we discover some new delights.

Furthermore, in my experience, a lot of cookbooks get padded with recipes that are just no good.  I get that not everybody likes everything.  That's kind of the story of my life here.  With five children and a somewhat picky husband, it is the rare dish that everybody likes.  Hmm.. hamburgers, BLTs, chicken salad sandwiches, spaghetti, Papa Murphy's pizza.  The jello salad for Thanksgiving.  Chocolate chip cookies, as long as I don't taint them with coconut.

I have no delusions about the recipes here pleasing everyone's palate.  I've got both the King and the Queen of the Picky Eaters here.  Well, I used to.  KOTPE got married; now he's his wife's problem.  So I include some reviews.  Not all of us like everything.  It's like some people have a gene that makes broccoli taste bad to them.  They've recently found the same for cilantro.  Admittedly, I don't like cilantro.  Anyway, I think it's helpful to have some reviews.  Especially for foods that could be a little sketchy.  Pinto bean fudge?  Yeah, you need to hear what the real people who live here think.  Magic Mix chocolate pudding made with coconut oil instead of butter?  I'd have said there was no way it could be palatable.  And yet, I couldn't tell a difference between the two.  Lydia thought the coconut oil one tasted better.

All those recipes you come across online for DIY whatever.  You need to know there is a foolish guinea pig on the planet that will test these things out and tell you what works and what is garbage, or what freeze-dried or dehydrated foods are garbage and do not perform as promised.  

What is important, I believe, is that you see how to adapt your own recipes to use food storage.  To make food taste better, cost less, and be healthier.  To be able to make just the number of servings you need, so that you don't have leftovers if there is no electricity.  To make just a small batch of brownies, because while it's nice to have a brownie fix, most of the time you don't need a 9x13 size brownie fix.  What substitutions you can make if you lack an ingredient.  Hopefully, you'll see how to adapt your own recipes to make just-add-water meals or mixes for disasters, whether the disasters are local or national.  Whether the disaster is short-term or all the kids are barfing at once and you just need a quick, easy meal.