Tryin to Make a Dolla outta 15 cents

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Sittin on a Fence

Tryna make a dolla

Outta fifteen cents

She twist!
She twist!

She twist like THIS!!

Oooo to be young again! Back when making a dollar out of 15 cents was the least of our worries. Back when we worried about where we would get our next pack of sour powers from not how we would pay our next rent check. Back when knew who all the Smurfs were (Smurfette, Papa Smurf, Lazy Smurf,...) but we didn't know who NASDAQ or Dow Jones were. Back when we could charge kids a snicker bar to get into our backyard (Or was that just me?). Ooooo How I miss those days!! We didn't have bills or rent or other miscellaneous bills to pay but we had us a good old time.

In the last few weeks I've made it a practice to read as many articles as I can during my lunch breaks as I can. I usually find myself on CNN.com at some point and read the numerous stories about all the people being affected by our deflated economy. Something keeps nagging me though. I read so many stories about people who are just going nuts over all the job losses or pay cuts or whatever. And I can definitely empathize as I've also been affected by whats been going on in this country today but... I can't help but think "Well at least now they know what it feels like to have to do without."

I mean honestly I didn't grow up with much. And I still don't live a lifestyle where I can afford to spend hundreds of dollars a day (much less a none rent paying week). So having to buckle down these last few months hasn't crushed me. I hear all these stories of people losing millions and getting depressed or killing themselves and/or their families and I'm thinking OK it's really not that serious. I can understand that they are shocked because they have to live a lifestyle they aren't used to and its hard. It is VERY hard I'll acknowledge that but there is a small part of me that is thinking 'suck it up you STILL have more money than most people.'

I mean come on they went from eating caviar to whiting and they are shedding tears. Some people still eating sardines out the can and in this economy they can't even splurge and get the sardines in the tomato paste. Living off Ramon noodles and bologna sandwiches while others can still afford to keep their in home Chef.

The kicker for me is a lot of these same people would always have something to say about poor people. How lazy they are and how all they do is sit and collect a check. Which in some cases may be true but not in EVERY case. Its hard out there for the have nots. I can speak from experience that you can get up at the crack of dawn and head out to work and get in after the sun goes down and still not have a lot of money by the end of the month. You can eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches everyday for breakfast, lunch, and dinner so that come first day of school you can have new clothes. Now the lines of at the state agencies that distribute those checks have bankers, lawyers, retail workers, and domestic workers alike. And in between grumbling about losing one of their summer homes they are trading recipes on the many different ways to make hot dogs (throw em in some eggs for breakfast, eat it with a bun for lunch, and for dinner put them together with some beans and eat em with rice **insert thumbs up sign here**)

I don't know. I just really wanted to get that out. It irks me a bit that the formerly wealthy are going on about how devastated they are and how they can't imagine having to live like this for much longer. They better start taking some lessons from their nannies, chefs, dog walkers, etc. on how they've been able to feed their families for so long. One of my own personal tips?: Keep the essentials in your kitchen (bread, rice, canned sardines, veggies) you never know when lobster won't be an option for you anymore.