What is in your first aid kit?

This is my first aid kit.  It is the one I use if there is an emergency.  It is what I take with me when we go on a trip and it is also the one I would take if we had to bug out of our location in a hurry for any reason.   Mine might be a little more comprehensive than most because of my years as a trauma nurse.  I just wish I had an AED to add to it and an Ambu Bag.
Left to right starting at the top:
Kerlex
4x4 gauze pads
gloves
Chlorhexadine surgical scrub
lidocaine and a syringe with a 30 gauge infiltration needle
Antifungal spray
tampons
kotex
Ace wraps
cotton balls
Field surgical kit (pen light, clamps, scalpal, needle holders, explorers, scissors)
scalpals and sutures
Bandaids
broad pectrum antibiotic
nasal spray
albuteral tablets
tylenol
ibuprofen
benadryl
triple antibiotic ointment
benadryl cream
cortisone cream
tape
alcohol preps
carmex
hydrogen peroxide
2 x2 gauze pads
Coban (for making splints)
albuterol inhaler
steroid inhaler
alcohol gel
eye drops
long cotton swabs
chest rub
18g needles for picking splinters or lancing boils
airways for all sizes from neonate to adult
non stick pads

Also not shown
Blood stop powder
trauma shears
dental floss
oragel
temporary tooth filling
super glue
blood pressure cuff
urine dip sticks

For at home use and prepping purposes I have a large plastic set of drawers with much more in them. Of course if I had to bug out then a bag of our prescription medications would also go with us!

Of course you would need the knowledge of how to use everything in your bag.  And you would always want to seek real medical attention if it were available!

Am I missing anything?

What NO TV???!!! What are we going to do???? Grid down entertainment

We all know the possibility of a grid down situation...   With that said we have wrapped inverters in foil made Faraday cages, bought solar lights, stored food and water and medical supplies but has anyone thought of entertainment?
Yes I said entertainment.  When the human brain has time on its hands many times it will become pessimistic and obsess over what it doesn't have...  Like no more Wednesday episodes of Survivor... So we are also prepping for entertainment.  My daughter bought matching fiddles for she and I for Mothers day and we are taking fiddle lessons to learn to play the American fiddle.

There are many other ideas such as board games, cards, outdoor sports etc.  You can be creative just please think about this one aspect of prepping that can be over looked.  What about a useful craft such as basket weaving or looming.  It could be quite entertaining to work on a piece of fabric with cool details.  The work will be hard and time consuming in a grid down environment so a little R & R will be required in order to keep the sanity!

And with that I will continue my lessons and soon I hope to be able to play something more than boil them cabbage down and shortnin' bread!  Sitting under a tree drinking tea or fresh made lemonade and dancing to fiddle music sounds like a good idea to me.  I just hope the little lemon tree that is part of my preps produces enough lemons!

Prepping on a dime... Or a nickel... Or nothing at all

Times are tough... VERY tough... Sometimes it seems like there is no way to be prepared when prepping supplies are so darned expensive... There are many ways though to prep without having to spend a small fortune... And for those of you that will just put it on a credit card, PLEASE think all of that interest you will be paying you might as well just take the cash and go use it to start your BBQ.  You would not do that now would you?

I worked as a RN for close to 20 years.  I brought home $3k a month or more.  I was in an accident and got hurt and can not work again.  My neck is now made of metal and I can not turn my head to look both directions to drive.  My arms constantly fall asleep because of nerve damage and I walk with a cane because of left overs from a nasty head injury...  With that said I had to switch really quick to a budget of less than $800 a month.  Because of that accident my preps got put into high gear.  It made a believer out of me in a hurry....

Here are some ways to prep on the cheap:

1. Freecycle     So many people would rather give away items that are still useful.  You can find the group for your area by visiting www. freecycle.org
2. Craigs list   This site also has a free items listing.  People will also sell things mighty cheap on here.  I recently purchased several hundred dollars worth of canning equipment for $100 and a brand new cheese press for $20 which would have normally cost me $50.
3. Spring or fall clean up in cities.  This is the time when everyone puts out to the curb the junk they do not want.  Drive around and pick up what you do want... Many things can be re purposed into something very useful.
4. Food pantry left overs.  Many food pantries get produce which will go bad if they do not give it away.  Call your local pantries and ask to be a "clean up family" Then you have lots of wonderful produce to can and preserve for free.
5. Icing buckets:  These are food safe buckets.  Many of the bakeries will give them away.  All you have to do is ask.  This makes a 5 gallon food grade bucket free instead of $8 to buy one.
6. Pickle jars, sour cream containers etc from restaurants:  These are quite handy for storing your food in and if you call your local food places you can generally get them free.  You also might be able to get leftovers if they have a buffet which can then be frozen or canned.
7. Dollar stores: These places are a wealth of prepping supplies for a dollar.  The quality may not be great but hey a cheap band aid is better than no band aid at all!
8. Make it yourself.  The Internet is full of plans for DIY things.  If you want a solar oven but can not afford the $100+ to buy one then make one yourself out of a cardboard box, black spray paint and aluminum foil.  Cost $5  Well bucket cost to buy $60 cost to make out of PVC and an old inner tube $5 or less if you can find the scrap PVC on the curb side.  Many times construction companies will throw away PVC, lumber etc and you can get it for free.  You can get an old inner tube from a tire shop for free if it is too torn up to be fixed and you only need a small piece.  Then the cost for the well bucket went down to $0.  The list goes on and on....
9. Don't throw it away, Recycle, Re purpose, Reuse... My husband has asked me many times "why don't you just throw that away" Then down the road I would salvage a part off one thing that I saved to fix another or re purpose into something else.  He finally quit asking and now he won't throw anything away either unless it truly is just trash.  For example.  The net on our trampoline (the part you jump on) ripped.  It is no longer any good for the trampoline.  He wanted to throw it away.  I said no and turned it into free weed barrier instead of going to Lowes and spending $20 to buy some.  An old aquarium with a broken bottom became a planter.. A pallet became a very nice back porch that you can not even tell I used a pallet to build it...  I think you might get the idea...

Be creative.  Learning to think outside of our boxes that our disposable society has put us in sometimes can be difficult to say the least... We have been raised with the mentality of "just go buy it".  We must train ourselves to think differently about it.  Once you can get your brain into a "what else can that be mode" it gets easier.  I look at things and can come up with many alternative uses.  My hubby calls me the "queen of McGyver". 

My motto "If they can then I can"

The state of our world... Are we going to get zapped? Are you ready?

Okay I don't generally blog on politics or current events but there is so much unfolding on the news right now. I usually try to keep my political views out of my blog...  BUT Every time I look at the news someone else has either blown someone away or are threatening to blow someone away. 

Are we on the Brink of WWIII???  All of our enemies are conspiring... Iran is threatening Israel, We are friends of Israel... China and Korea have made it clear that they will back Iran and we must by treaty back Israel.  China and Japan are fighting... Japans ambassador to China I understand was found dead... Will there be retribution?  Obama is talking about some kind of trade thing against China... (I just do not usually keep up with politics, I am much more of a math and science person, political mumbo jumbo is hubby's job)...Will they like it if he cuts any of their exports to us?  I mean really if you go to the store most of it is "made in China".  Korea and Iran will back China.  We will back Japan.. They have been our friend since we kicked their butts in the last war...  In fact they are one of our closest allies... Iran has already openly threatened our military bases in the gulf, but do you really think it will stay there?    And then heaven forbid there is that movie about Muhammed (forgive me if I spelled it wrong).  Everyone over there is going crazy and shooting people because of some silly movie.  I have seen many silly things being a parody on Christianity and I did not get offended enough to kill!!  Oh yeah thats right as Christians we "SHALL NOT KILL". So is our next world war going to be about religion?  I just wish everyone could play nice together in the sand box and quit fighting over the toys like toddlers!  Maybe we should just put all of the leaders into a boxing ring and then let them duke it out... That way there is no chance of collateral damage.

I have read that all of our enemies have EMP weapons of some kind...  This means they can blast one off and shut down our grid and kill all electronics.  I realize that the new fangled fighters and guided missle systems are cool and accurate but guess how much good they will be if an EMP weapon is used on us... We would be sitting ducks without even radar to see it coming...

I am not old enough to remember the last world war... I barely remember the Vietnam war and that stayed on another continent.  I do not think for one minute that they would keep it in the middle east... I believe that just like with 9/11 they would bring it here in a second and with the new weapons they have they would just knock out our power, detection grids and weapons and change our religion.

So I ask are you ready???  I will admittedly say I can still think of things I need to get.  I have a years worth of food storage, flashlights and batteries, a well to get water out of plus water stored, guns and ammo to protect us and animals a plenty to feed us BUT I am still lacking in several places

10 things I still need should our country get Zapped:

1. Seeds to plant next spring should we not be able to buy any
2. A solar generator or battery charger (12volt)
3. An inverter to change DC power to AC
4. I need to build a well bucket
5. Iosat tablets in case of nuclear weapons
6. a scythe to harvest wheat by hand
7. More kerosene for heaters and lamps
8. Pigs (I can not live without bacon and lard)
9. build a smoker
10. More ammo (hey everyone always needs more ammo, I went out and wasted 120 rounds of 5.56 yesterday playing with my AR)

I would strongly suggest everyone make a mental run down of your inventory and try to think of all the things you would need (not want, I have way more than 10 wants) should we get zapped!  Is any one else worried about us being caught in the middle of a war about religion?