Allyson

So there’s a lot of stuff going on in the world today. I can’t fix most of it. I can’t even make a dent. I can’t repair what Dems have done, or Mamdani in NYC or any of it. It’s beyond my small grasp. That’s true of every single one of us. As a single human being, there really isn’t much we can do.

Except that there really is. The edict to help others is not just Christian, but runs through most faiths in the world. That desperation to help someone runs deep in the human psyche, to the point where some of us feel horrible if we can’t help others. There are limits, of course. But the fundamental idea of helping someone find food, shelter, a job, a working vehicle, or a quiet night without a screaming infant… these are within our grasp.

@obsessedwmc #itstime it’s time!!! throughout the years #mariahcarey #christmas ♬ original sound – queen mariah

So at this time of year, just as Mariah Carey comes out of her icy slumber, I make the same offer. If you need help, please let me know. I don’t have tons of cash, and I don’t have a big house anymore to stash people in. But if you are hurting bad enough, I have a couch. I have food. I will make sure you don’t starve. If you are feeling down, page me or call me. I will talk to you. I will listen. And for all that’s holy… please know, I would rather spend hours listening to you cry about your life, than thirty minutes at your funeral, so if you are feeling suicidal or dangerously depressed, please please please reach out.

I’m an interfaith minister, among the other zillion things I do. I’m not a psychologist or a shrink, but I know how to listen. I can give advice, if asked, but I usually just listen.

I don’t ask for anything in return. If you find yourself in a place, sometime in the future, where you have the ability to give back… Well, you pay it forward. Go help the next person who needs it. M’kay? I don’t have much… but I have enough. My fridge is full, and so is my freezer (so full that we’re not buying meat for a while because I desperately need space in there in case we get a deer this year). My pantry is bursting with canned goods, which aren’t our favorite, but which will see us through if we can’t afford fresh. I have everything I need to bake bread and treats for the holidays and the holy days. In all that, I’m rich.

There are *some* things wrong in the top part. There is nothing right about the bottom part. The temper tantrums being thrown are epic and ridiculous. This is what happens when you “gentle parent” your way through life.

So, let’s break it down. SNAP is a benefit, something lower income families are supposed to get so that they can purchase groceries without being bankrupted. The idea of doing a monthly check in isn’t a bad one, on the surface. It would allow those administering the benefit to offer aid when needed, keep up to date on abusive exes, changes in income, and other important stuff. On the other hand, having monthly check ins would mean a CRAP ton of government workers spending all their time processing the information. Yet another drain on the government. Yet more money taken from those who need it (truly need it) and given away as overhead. So while the idea isn’t a bad one, I can’t see how we implement it.

Revoking someone’s benefits for having a new tattoo is stupid. My last tattoo was a gift. It was a gift from someone I wouldn’t have been willing (at the time, at least) to just ask for food instead. Sometimes, you get gifts like that, or new phones. Even destination vacations, although I think that’s pushing it, but still. If your income hasn’t changed and your living situation hasn’t changed, the fact that someone gifted you something shouldn’t cause the revocation of your benefits.

There is a direct correlation with being poor, being on food stamps, and being fat. The cheapest foods tend to be overly processed ones. When we were hard up for cash, we ate a lot of pasta, because it was cheap and plentiful, and filled our bellies. We also gained weight. A lot of it. That’s what happens. Also, what about the person who has a thyroid problem? What about the other medical conditions that can cause someone to be overweight? It’s asinine to suggest pulling food benefits away from someone because of their weight.

Failed drug test? It depends. If you live in a state where pot is legal or you’ve got a prescription for it, that should not prevent you from getting your benefits. Illegal drugs, yeah, that’s fine. I will say, though, if we’re going to drug test people getting food stamps, I want to drug test all the people in the government, too. Congress critters, Representatives, etc. Fair is fair.

The other side of the meme, that’s just stupid. “I spent my money, so I should lose my tax write offs.” No. I do think that there is something to be said about companies that hire people in ways that prevent them from getting health insurance or full time hours, but also are making record profits. I understand places like Amazon and Walmart have a bottom line, like all other companies… but we’re seeing a lot of their employees also being on food stamps because they aren’t making enough. Maybe it’s time to give a good look at those kinds of business models, and see if there are ways we can help workers and companies alike, or incentivize using full time employees rather than bunches of part time ones. I’m not saying we should tax them higher or shut them down; just that we should see if there are ways to make it more likely that they’ll be good employers to our citizens.

The left wants to hit back because they’ve been hurt. The problem is that we didn’t hurt them. They did most of it themselves, and the rest is “just life.” They want the Star Trek universe and future without having to go through the Troubles that they did in that universe. It just doesn’t work. It never will.

Of course, they’re starting to make their own Troubles by electing a socialist, but… oh well. I just look at it, and hope that it becomes a good bad example.

Cold, wet weather practically demands chili. I love all kinds of chili. This is one I make around this time of year, because I can use fresh pumpkin rather than the canned stuff. It makes a huge difference!

Ingredients:

• 2 cans navy beans* OR 1 bag (soaked overnight)
• vegetable or chicken broth
• butter or margarine
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 can fire roasted stewed tomatoes
• 1 small can tomato sauce
• 1 tiny can chopped green chillies
• 1 “pie” pumpkin (small), roasted and the meat scraped out
• spices: coriander, cumin, garlic flakes, rosemary, chili powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, salt, pepper

If you want to make this vegan and gluten free, dump all of the above into a crockpot, put it on high, and cook for about 6 hours. Check the beans at the 4 hour mark and every hour thereafter. Cook until the beans are soft but not too mushy. Add in extra liquid if necessary. You can add heat to it with a hot sauce, or simply sprinkle with more red pepper flakes at the table.

If you want this to be meaty, I actually recommend ground turkey or chicken rather than beef for this one. You don’t want to overpower the flavor of the pumpkin, which ground beef will do. Instead, brown up your ground turkey or chicken, then add it in with the other ingredients.

When it comes to the *beans, you don’t have to use navy beans. Feel free to use whatever type or combination of types that you like. Because I want the pumpkin to shine through, I went with navy beans. You could use little white beans, kidney beans, black beans… it’s up to you. One bag of dried beans, soaked overnight, is equivalent to 2 of the big cans of beans, rinsed and dumped into the cooker.

Serve your chili with a side of cornbread, and top it with green onions, parsley, sour cream (or a dairy free alternative), and/or cheese. Enjoy!

We’ve talked elsewhere about making sure you don’t go shopping over the next couple of weeks, because some people have made what we consider to be credible threats. So here’s the thing… if you’re not already stocked up on canned goods at this point, you’re not ready.

Going out today to pick up a few things, that’s fine. I’m picking up “milk, bread, eggs” on Monday, in the morning when I can have Chris ride shotgun (literally). If something violent happens between now and then, I’ll bake bread, buy eggs from the lady up the street, and pull out the milk powder. We have toilet paper, cleaning supplies, food (fresh, frozen, canned, and dehydrated), oil and wood for heating, gas for the stove. I just picked up a zillion candles for free, and we have 2 big jugs of oil for our decorative (and very useful) oil lamps. The world can go to hell; we’ll be fine.

If your cupboard is bare, you’re too late. If you don’t have things squirreled away “just in case,”  you’re too late. I need to hammer that into everyone’s heads. The only excuse for not having a stash, at this point, is if you just started prepping in the past couple of months. Even then, if you’ve been reading my posts, ignorance is not an excuse. You KNOW.

Head on a swivel is not enough. If shit is going down, you’re not going shopping. You’re going to tell your spouse she can’t have the milk and eggs she wants. She’s going to make unhappy noises, and your life is going to be miserable. The fact that it’ll be short lived doesn’t mean a thing when you’re actually living it.

If you want food security, you have to make it. That means long term stuff like planting a garden, knowing how to hunt and trap, understanding how to dress and prepare meat for canning or the freezer. It means having canned goods on hand, stashed in a back corner or under a bed. It means having enough toilet paper or equivalent on hand so that you don’t have to be concerned. If you truly want to be prepared, and today is a good day to be prepared, then starting now is not good enough.

I am hoping that the people calling for riots and stealing are just making noise. I am preparing for them to be telling the absolute truth. If that means I don’t go shopping this week or next, we’ll be fine. Instead of beef tips and chicken breast, we’ll be eating tongue and heart and lots of soup over the next couple of weeks. But we have the food. Do you?

A Right leaning friend of mine posted the above, and it made me think. This was my reply to him:

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Chris wants me to write about something else, but I just don’t have the words for it right now. I’ll get there… eventually. For the moment, SNAP and other food benefits seem to be the topic of the week, so I’m going to go with that.

So there are a lot of people doing a lot of things right now. There’s “rage bait” folks out filling carts with junk and claiming it’s with EBT. There are assholes who are scamming the system by making fraudulent claims. And then there’s honest, hard working people (and/or those who are disabled or otherwise unable to work) legitimately trying to make ends meet getting caught in the SNAP shut down, who are actually going to suffer. This last category is the only one that I actually care about.

Different states have different rules for SNAP. To my knowledge, all states have work requirements for eligibility. There are also new rules for ABAWD, or Able Bodied Adults Without Dependents, who are those between 18 and 54 who otherwise have no reason not to work. The ABAWD requirements do not apply to those who are not able bodied, or those who have children under 14. For the most part, I don’t have any issues with those rules, as written, with the sole exception of pregnant women. Pregnant women are considered “disabled” for ABAWD and work requirements for SNAP. This means that a woman who keeps herself continually pregnant is fully exempt from having to work in any way. Before anyone gets on my case, WIC takes care of pregnant and breastfeeding women, so they do not need a special exemption for this. IMO, of course.

The name SNAP means “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.” The program, at its beginning, was meant to provide supplemental food for those who were working but not able to make ends meet. I know I’ve been there (though I’ve never been on SNAP). The important words here are “supplemental” (meaning “…provided in addition to what is already present or available to complete or enhance it.” – Oxford English Dictionary) and “assistance” (meaning, “…the provision of money, resources, or information to help someone.” – ibid). As most of us know, SNAP and the other helper programs were meant to be a hand up, not a hand out. They weren’t meant to be lived on, but instead were meant to help you get on your feet after something bad happened (death of a spouse or supporting guardian, loss of job/career, military families, etc.). That’s not what is happening now.

There are families who have been on SNAP and other benefit programs for generations. The reasons start out honest enough, with people being in low paying jobs and being unable to move or find better work, and going on from there. These generational problems are systemic. The current means of helping people doesn’t actually help them. It traps them.

At one point, I was a single mother. I left an abusive wusband, stayed in a women’s shelter until I could get to court, and eventually was given low income housing in a gated community and welfare to pay my bills. I had gone from being the breadwinner, when my wusband was staying at home with the kid, to being stuck at home for an undefined amount of time. I tried several times to get work. I WANTED to get work. I despised being on the dole. The problem was, the cheapest childcare I could get cost more than I would earn (as in, in its entirety… childcare was very expensive where I was living). I couldn’t get help paying for childcare, because a) if I could work, I obviously didn’t need help anymore and b) if I was at work, my wusband could take the kid. The fact that abuse was part of the pattern and an ongoing issue between us didn’t seem to matter. This is a social “help” trap. There’s no way to escape it without outside help, help which my father thankfully provided, at great cost I might add.

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I found this one on TikTok, and decided to try it!

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken thighs, skin removed (bone in or out, doesn’t matter)
• 1.5 cups cherry tomatoes
• 3/4 cup green olives (no pimento)
• 1 shallot, sliced thinly
• 8 baby potatoes, quartered
• 8 to 10 whole cloves garlic
• 2 to 4 tbsp white wine (or white wine vinegar)
• 2 to 4 tbsp good quality olive oil
• 1 large sprig fresh rosemary, minced OR 2 tbsp dried rosemary
• 1 tbsp herbs de provence
• salt, to taste

Preheat your oven to 375°F.

In an oven-safe casserole dish with high sides, place your chicken thighs evenly in a single layer. Add the cherry tomatoes (whole) and olives (also whole) around the chicken. Add the shallot in a layer over everything, and the baby potatoes above the shallot. Tuck the garlic in between the potato pieces. Drizzle the wine and olive oil over everything, and then add your spices.

Bake your Poulet Provencal in the oven for 30 minutes, then check. Your chicken should register 165°F, and the potatoes should be ready to eat. If not, return the dish to the oven for 15 more minutes, checking every 5 minutes.

Serve with a side salad, or a nice crusty French bread. Your choice!

I run into things on TikTok and Facebook that are funny, sad, embarrassing, frustrating, and the whole gamut of other emotions. This one, though, hit home. It talks about something near and dear to my heart: going hungry. You can ask any of my friends, even at my poorest moments in the past 20 years, I have ALWAYS had a full fridge, freezer, and pantry. Always. If that meant I had to visit a food bank, so be it. I’ve been hungry before, and I never intend to be there again.

Take a pause and watch…

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Truth hurts.
“If we aren’t being taught how to grow our own food, how to take care of ourselves and our families, and how to live without the need for huge governments, banks, or corporations — as our ancestors once did — then we aren’t being educated; we are being indoctrinated to be dependent and subservient to the system.” ~ Gavin Nascimento

That is the original text (above) that came with the image to the left. Below is what I wrote.

I will continue to point this out until the cows come home. Our forefathers knew that giant government, whether by senators or King, could not sustain itself forever. Eventually you run out of money.

First, you run out of general money. We’ve already done that. Then you run out of spare money, the stuff you tucked away in case of emergencies. We’ve run out of that too. Then you run out of other people’s money to spend. Believe it or not, we’re past that as well. Until we stop spending money we don’t have, we will never get better.

I wish I had better words to explain this. To me, it’s just common sense. You look at the budget and you go. I don’t have enough money to get that thing. It doesn’t matter how much I want it, or even how much I need it. If the money is not there, you just don’t get it. That is what our government needs to do.

I think that Musk started it, but then so much of it got reversed that it’s like it never happened at all. I’m horribly disappointed by that. And now, everybody still wants to spend money. While I think the Democrats are doing more of it than the Republicans, the Republicans aren’t blameless either. We can’t afford any of it. We can’t afford to pay for the very basic things in our country right now.

Do we all want to be rats in a drowning ship? I don’t. I’d like to see the government shut down until every last penny has to be pinched so hard that it screams. I want to see all of the people in DC not getting paychecks, maybe not even when they are in office. Definitely not when they’re not working. I know that terrifies a lot of you. It scares me too. I have aches and pains that I need to address, and maybe they’re not as bad as some of my friends, but I think I at least get the general idea. Those safety nets are really important. The problem is that those safety nets are full of holes right now and they have been for decades. I’m pretty sure you all know that, because you don’t get the help that you probably need. Some of that is because of bad spending habits on the part of the government, a very tiny part of it might be part of bad spending habits on the part of people receiving money, but the biggest part is people who are defrauding the government. And while I do mean some people who are getting safety net help when they should not, I mean looking at every red cent that our government spends. I don’t want any money going to other countries until we have made sure that our people are safe.

Some people might think that it’s horrible that I would say that, but I’m much more interested in seeing my disabled friends getting the help that they need without having to not get married or pretend or whatever. I just want them to be able to get help. And as long as there’s money going to people from other countries, whether it’s vasectomies for people in Iran or knitting lessons for folks in Scandinavia, it doesn’t matter. However useful or necessary or not necessary those out of country items are, none of them are more important than my friends and my neighbors.

From the Maine Wire, Mon. October 20, 2025:

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