Well. Today is not going to be an “everything is normal” post in light of what has happened / is happening this week.

Russia invaded, unprovoked, a sovereign nation.

I do want to say, though, that while we like to throw around the word “unprecedented” a lot these days, there is a lot of precedented stuff happening. Just more historical type precedents than what we are used to in the last few decades (or really, pretty much all of my life).

But a company invading another sovereign nation? Very precedented. Trans, LGBT, Black, Women’s rights being attacked? (I’m looking at you, Florida and Georgia). Very precedented. We’re just not used to thinking they’re things that would be happening in our time.

But calling them unprecedented ignores the long history of our world that used to see a lot more war, famine, plague, and human rights violations. We just unfortunately appear to be sliding way too far too fast these days. But no, they’re not unprecedented.

Friday’s Frugal Five

*I almost didn’t blog this week, but like early on in the pandemic, I pushed through to have a public diary of sorts of this time. So for future me, and whoever else, these are my words for today.*

1. I’d have to say I was very grateful not to work Thursday after being up far too late doomscrolling Wednesday night (was night for us during the predawn attack of Ukraine). The kiddo and I along with a friend went for a couple hour walk along the river in the sunshine, which was absolutely needed.

I’d like to say that I was able to think about other things and just enjoy the walk, but my brain was filled with worry and heartbreak. In a lot of ways, right now feels a lot like early March 2020 – a weird surreal, terrifying feeling that hasn’t quite sunk in yet.

2. You know the head/heart comic where heart is carrying all the existing trauma and a small stone lands in their path and it’s just too much? Well, let’s just say that my phone broke Thursday morning as well.

Clearly, in the grand scheme of things, having to deal with a phone replacement is super, super minor, but it just felt like the extra topping that made for a really overwhelming, anxiety filled morning. I do have a nice new phone though (I actually didn’t go for my cheapest option!) and of course the first photos I took were of my chickies hanging out in the dusting of snow.

3. Remember when I mentioned that we ordered a new chest freezer double the size our existing one? Back in August? Well, it finally arrived this week.
Moving all our food from the old freezer made it clear just how much bigger it is – we have so much space now! Hooray!

And good timing, I suppose. While we aren’t needing to worry about anything remotely like what people are dealing with in Ukraine right now (or even in other parts of Europe), but I do expect food prices to go up even more. If you’ve let your preps slack a little as things have gotten a little more stable, now is a good time to review this list I put together in early 2020. And if you haven’t considered it at all, perhaps now you will?

4. Along these same lines, this is a great week to update your passwords, set up two factor authentication, and otherwise pay attention to they way you connect up online. We had a great conversation in WPF Insiders with Jennifer Mah on cyber security earlier this month, and it sure seems even more relevant now.

There is a lot of this that costs zero money (better passwords, 2FA, etc), but as the United States continues to push Russia with sanctions, it seems very wise to be as ready for cyber attacks as we can be.

5. I don’t think I have a #5 this week. My brain is tired. Be kind, folks.

I’ll leave you all with this:

I’m thinking today about

Ukrainian lives

Trans lives

Black lives

Gay and lesbian and bi lives

Women’s lives

The lives of everyone threatened by all the things going on this week/month/decade. It’s a lot. But I’m thinking of you all. And I hope and pray we get out together.

But. You know what I’m not thinking about? The impact of all this on the stock market and my retirement funds.

Be kind to each other right now. And let’s think of people first, and money later.