Just a couple of interesting tips that all my travel-loving readers MUST know. Jeff has lots of tricks in finding a great fare and getting fares reduced for travel-both tours and cruises.

He booked a tour several months ago for a tour that goes to China and Thailand. It’s a Group-on deal that spans 11 days. It includes air fare, lodging, food and some excursions. Jeff added riding elephants on the River Kwai excursion and one to the Great Wall. The sum total for the whole trip is about $1400 apiece! 

The last cruise we took, he booked the Mediterranean for a decent price off of Cruise Compete.  But as time went on, the price dropped. So Jeff asked the travel company, Best Price Cruises to reduce the fair which they did, TWICE! Right before we left, he saw that they were offering a last minute deal for a balcony room for the price we’d paid for an inside room. So he contacted  the cruise line one more time and asked them if we could have a balcony room instead. They agreed! Luxury room for an inside, last minute price.

  Me at the Acropolis in Athens Greece

But we’ve been permanently trumped by our daughter-in-law Kelsi. She surprised our son, Brian with a trip that goes to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Athens, Tel Aviv, Rome and Morocco. It flies out of LA and the total airfare is $300 each. YES that’s round trip! She got a night in the Hilton in Copenhagen for $25.

So how did Kelsi the travel superhero do it. She used Kayak and went to the button at the bottom of the page marked “Explorer.” It brings up a map and you can pull back and get the whole world. If you change your “home airport” to one of the major hub airports, you’ll notice the fares drop dramatically.  When we went on last night, there were fares to a Scandinavian country, for less than $400. There was a fare from SFO to London for about $450. Some of the fares were truly amazing. So if you’re flexible and want to explore all the world, (without a certain destination that you MUST go to), you can get some astonishing deals. There were fares from the west coast to Hawai’i for less than $400 round trip!!!!!

My world just got smaller! Where are we going to go?

I’ve been listening to a bit of the news. Millions of women gathered to demonstrate their angst over the condition of women’s rights. Who can blame them? Obama promised to fix all of that. He was the man who would bring equal pay for equal work, pay for any and all desired medical procedures, and provide world peace.

The only thing that happened was the equal pay for equal work. Women on welfare get the same pay as men on welfare for doing exactly the same work.

The irony  in marching AFTER Obama has finished his term, AFTER the democrats lost both houses held at the beginning of his reign is stunning.

Now, women are protesting Trump? He has stated his intention of fixing as many of America’s problems as possible, and they protest the fact that he’s actually moving to do something? He’d been on the job for one day and they’re blaming him for everything they see as wrong in America?

I am ashamed of my American sisters. Here is the REAL state of womanhood in America.

I can get a free mammogram every year. I can get any medication I need at Walmart for $6 or less. I can eat anything I want and as much of it as I want and when I get fat, the US government provides me with a  FREE app to reduce weight and get in shape.(It’s called ‘Livestrong’. It’s very similar to Weightwatchers only it uses calories instead of points.)

I can live in any state in any town that I want to live in.

I can learn a language for free with Duolingo. Being bilingual will enhance any business opportunities I may seek.

If I’m hired for a full time job, my pay is the same as any other new hires. The pay discrepancy claimed by feminists is an artificial number that is created by the fact that women are FAR more likely to take low paying jobs like teachers or social workers. If compensation is compared directly between males and females in the same job in the same location  with equal education, equal performance rating and equal seniority, I challenge ANYBODY  to show me ONE SINGLE EXAMPLE of pay discrepancy based on gender.

I heard one woman marcher declare a discrepancy between medicare and medicaid coverage between male and female sexual dysfunction treatments. Her statements were blatantly false. Both are covered under certain plans if prescribed as medically necessary with the disadvantage going to males who must have some condition (like pulmonary hypertension) other than erectile dysfunction in order to qualify for medicare/medicaid benefits.

I can start a business. Did you know that 80% of the world’s 145 women billionaires are American. While it’s true that only about 18% of the total globally earned their wealth personally, it’s proof that if a woman wants to obtain tremendous wealth, she can do it.

I have never felt oppressed. In fact, the most pressure I feel to go against my preferences is the pressure from feminists and liberals who discount the work I do for my home and family as insignificant and imply that a successful woman must work outside the home.

I have always spent a fair share of my time in charitable work in my church. I have time to do this work because I’m a woman in a traditional family.

I can dress any way I want to. I can write anything I want to. I can voice my opinion or choose not to.

I have been a berry picker, a salon cleaner, a babysitter, a carhop, a factory worker, a waitress, nanny, home health worker, fabric store worker, home daycare operator, two multilevel marketing businesses, author, public speaker, columnist, and travel/ freelance writer. My current column, Americana,  is in one of the largest newspapers in the country.

I married when I was eighteen and then over the next 17 years, gave birth to 7 children. I CHOSE to stay home with them and create a happy home life for them and their dad. I had time to help in their schools and put on their parties. While it’s true that I am skilled at saving money and stretching a dollar to astonishing lengths, I chose my lifestyle.

I built a home for my family. Before I started, one contractor said that subcontractors wouldn’t work for a woman. That was absolutely untrue. I found the opposite. They were uniformly solicitous and willing to answer questions and explain what they were doing. They tended to underbid their contracts. I honestly feel that it was an advantage to be a woman because I wasn’t expected to know anything about the construction industry. I didn’t have to pretend. I had no trouble getting an owner-builder building permit, nor did I have to wait longer for inspections. Nobody cared that my name was Beth instead of Bob.

I did hire one dishonest company. They didn’t expect me to know any codes (for building a deck). When I stopped their  work, I was able to solve the issue with equal aplomb as any man. The authority of my check book was exactly the same. (I also had a dog that stayed with me every moment on the job site that would growl and her hackles would go up if ANY man other than my husband came close. I didn’t train her to do it, she did it naturally. As soon as the house was finished, she stopped behaving that way. Funny, eh?)

I went back to school and earned a bachelor’s degree in Literature, a subject I most enjoyed. I could do that because I was a woman and didn’t have responsibility to provide for my family. My husband would have preferred to major in something like literature himself, I think, but instead chose accounting so that he could provide well for our children and me.

I have visited sixteen countries, 48 states and two US territories. I can travel alone or with others. Nobody notices or cares.

My vote counts exactly the same as anybody else’s.

All of these opportunities are mine because as an AMERICAN woman, I can rely on my husband to provide for me while I pursue my own priorities. That is acceptable in our American value system.

Women are different than men. That’s not a discriminatory statement. I don’t want an equal number of urinals in the women’s restroom as are in the mens’. I don’t want to have a digital prostrate examination.

I love my life as an American woman. I love that I can concentrate on being a mom and a grandmother. I love the fact that I can write because I don’t need to make a living at it. I am not ashamed to have claimed my job to be a stay-at-home mom. To me ‘homemaker’ in the ’employment’ section of a form is at least as honorable as ‘CEO’.

In my opinion, American women have life better than any other class of people in the world, including American men.

I thank God that he made me an American woman.

Please share if you would like to defy the femi-nazis

It’s Christmas Eve. Children all over the world are wondering what tomorrow morning will bring.

I’ve long noticed that children are extra cranky and naughty this time of year. I’ve figured it out.

It’s the waiting and wondering. It is tough to wait and wonder. When we really, really want something, uncertainty is torture.

The same is true for adults

Sometimes, adults want or believe that they need something. We want “it” now! We get down on our knees and pray and then we wait, expectant as children on Christmas Eve. We’ve heard all the testimonies assuring us that our loving Heavenly Father hears and answers EVERY prayer.

But the waiting is tough. We want it SO much. Whether it be health or motherhood or fatherhood or marriage. It might be employment or the return of a wayward child. We beg and we plead and then we wait, wait and wait.  We lose sleep and pray harder and harder.

Our prayers become demands. When that doesn’t work, we begin to bargain.

Then we begin to doubt ourselves. Are we not good enough. Are we not worthy? Does He love everyone in the world EXCEPT me?

But God is not Santa Claus.

Santa only gives good things to good children. Santa gives us what we ask for without regard for what’s good for us. Santa favors rich kids, lavishing them with elaborate goodies. He pays little attention to poor kids.

Our Heavenly Father isn’t concerned about our timetable. He doesn’t care much for what we think we want. He invites us to trust Him and believe, truly BELIEVE that He will give us the very BEST think for us.

Sometimes the very best thing for us is. . .waiting. If we truly seek to trust the Lord, we accept that he promises us “All that He has”, “A fullness of joy,” “Celestial Glory.”

In the meantime, we must learn the art of waiting. No matter how desperately we want something.  . .no matter how righteous our desire, how righteous we are, or even how thoroughly we bind the Lord, He teaches us to trust him. We must endure the waiting.

But we can have joy in the waiting. As our capacity to trust in the Lord increases, our understanding increases. We develop the divine characteristics of patience, faith, compassion and long suffering.

There is no naughty and nice list with the Lord. If we sign onto the naughty list, we can fix it. . .always. As long as we’re alive, it’s never too late.

Most importantly of all, our Father in Heaven promised us the best gift of all. He knew what we needed more than anything and His love was so complete that no sacrifice was too much to ask.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whoso believeth in him shall not perish but shall have everlasting life.

Believe that God will give you the best of everything for your eternal life.

Trust, BELIEVE, and happy waiting. . . In the meantime, Merry Christmas!

Here’s a link to this week’s Americana. I apologize if you’re already reading it and it loops back to this. But the cool picture of the cranberries I found growing wild in a swamp near the Maryland and West Virginia border is worth a peek, even if you’re not in the reading mood.

http://newsok.com/article/5527510

I have so much to be grateful for. In my old age, I have come to see my parents clearly. For many years I idolized them. I thought they were perfect. I grew a little older and recognized that they’d made some mistakes. Gradually they became real to me. Flawed people. That was painful. The process of stripping away my misconceptions hurt.

But that pain has worn off and I’m back to a better appreciation for all they did.

They taught me to love the Lord. They taught me to pray. They taught me obedience.

My mom has a good education. She had taught school after she and my dad were married. But as the number of children increased disproportionately to their income, she resisted the temptation to return to work. She could have earned more, but she stayed home and stretched my dad’s earnings to astonishing lengths. The concept of leftovers was introduced as a new phenomenon when my older brothers left home, but we ate a healthful, if simple diet.

She made all our bread. She prepared our meals. She taught me to bottle fruit. She took me Visiting Teaching.

She read to us. She instilled a love of great literature.  She taught us to speak properly. I still fight the urge to correct grammar (except in my immediate family, when I don’t resist and freely indulge the impulse.)

Most important, she was there for us. Not in any showy, facebook, gushy way. Just interested in us and our well-being.

Our Dad taught us to value moral courage. He did what was right and let the consequence follow.

He made most of our furniture. He fixed everything from our cars to our plumbing. He helped other people. He taught us to look outward for ways to help others.

Dad wasn’t afraid of big ideas. Dream big, achieve big.

They weren’t perfect. They made some mistakes. They had weaknesses that have affected their children.

But I know that they did the best they could.  That’s as much as anyone can ask of their parents.  I know that many people have not had these advantages. Some parents reallly don’t do their best.

Mom and Me at Cedar Breaks UT, in September.

So I’m grateful that I was born of goodly parents. They have blessed my life forever.

Mom on ol’ Bill’s lap. She always has been a flirt!

The labor went fast. There was no time to get to the hospital and the baby was born at home, attended to by paramedics.

But she didn’t breathe. Her heart had stopped. Only a week before, the doctor had said she might come any time and all was well.

The paramedics did all they could in the ambulance but it was soon apparent that the death had occurred a few days earlier.

Mom and Dad held their little girl that had flown home to heaven before they could get acquainted. Grandmas and Grandpas drove through the night to comfort their children.

They’re left with questions and pain but their faith is strong.

As they returned from the hospital they turned into their neighborhood. Every post, every pole, every tree, every house is adorned with a pink ribbon. Their home is festooned in pink ribbon. Today pink is the color of grief.

Make no mistake. The neighbors know that Baby Scout Lee won’t be coming home. They may have wondered if it was a risk to decorate the neighborhood. But the grieving parents understand the message. “We love you. If we could fill the hole in your heart, even just a tiny bit, we would do it. Since we don’t know what to do, we’ll do something that feels right.

The family will always remember the pink ribbons. Perhaps they’ll gather them up and make something of them, I don’t know.

This is what my nephew wrote on his facebook page.

From the Small One Flown

Mother, kiss me quickly,

For I cannot stay

Father, hold me for awhile

And I would smile if I could

I hate to hurry Dear Ones,

But I have been called before

I’ll wait there for you gladly

And hold open Heaven’s door.

BMS