Here is Part 2 of the CERT articles.  In this one, you will learn several excellent reasons to be CERT certified and how you can have great peace of mind for everyone in your family who is over twelve years old to have this training.  Especially when it comes to inoculations!  Read the whole article here.

Many of you are gearing up to send your children back to school.  I’m not!  This is a new experience for me — one that I’m managing quite well, thank you very much!  However, when children go off to public school, college, or jobs, they still need a preparedness kit.  Read our Ready or Not #45:  Back to School article to learn what to put in a back to school preparedness kit.

(NOTE: As you might have noticed, the numbering of these Ready or Not articles are not sequentially in order. Well, they really are. Sort of. The current ones numbering in the forties are new articles. The ones numbering in the twenties, are articles that I have written for a local newspaper. We are slowly getting those older ones posted to the site. There are about 10 more to go and they will all be up and everything will be in proper numerical order. Hopefully . . . )

Have you ever heard of CERT? No, not the candy breath mints, but the volunteer emergency team. A lot of people get involved in our communities in a variety of ways. As a matter of fact, I sometimes think that our cities and towns would probably have to shut down a good share of their services if it weren’t for those that volunteer their precious time to make our communities a better place to live.  Read our Ready or Not #27: CERT (Part One) article to learn more.

I’ve previously talked about gathering all of your important documents together in one place.  Now it’s time to document the items that you own.  In the event of a disaster (fire, flood, earthquake, mudslide, or robbery), you will have this information ready at hand for your insurance agent and the police.  Please take a moment to read Ready or Not #26: Documenting Your Treasures.

One of the things that I inherited when my father passed away last month was a Searchlight Cookbook.  It has great information - cooking terms, general helps and guides to cooking and baking, and great recipes such as pickled pigs feet.  Read all about it here.

If somebody came to your door and said that you were on a radio spot competition and that if you could produce your youngest child’s social security card within 30 seconds you would win $100.00, could you?  Read the latest Ready or Not article to find out how to collect and organize your important papers.

You plan and prepare and plan - and then you find out what you really need. To save time and frustration (and possibly a life), please read the new Ready or Not article Emergency Information Packets.

Ta da! You’ve reached the last step in the food storage worksheets. You can read here about the sixth step — the food storage balance sheet. Congratulations on all of your hard work! Doesn’t it feel good to be so prepared?