Overbooked and Underpaid: Notes from a Yes-aholic

Deck The House From Top To Bottom - Fa La La La La........

Thanksgiving is our kickoff for the Christmas season. We used to wait until the middle of December or later to put up our Christmas tree until we discovered that A) all the trees on the lot are cut at the same time and the longer you wait, the dryer and deader the tree is by the time you put it up, B) the trees by us don't get any cheaper as the season goes on so we weren't saving any money, and C) Thanksgiving is our only weekend off before December madness. As a harpist, December is the month where I earn my income for January and February as well.

Plus, we never go out and shop on black Friday and choosing the tree and putting up the decorations is some nice post turkey stupor family time. And now that we have a son in college that we see 3 times a year, it feels even more important to spend that time bonding over something traditional.

But, the tree is only the beginning. As I mentioned last week (or the week before that..... or some time before today - my days are all smooshing together) we have a big Christmas party that ranges all over our house. So Thanksgiving weekend has sort of evolved into "decorat-a-palooza"

For some of it I cheat. I have a number of embellished fake evergreen garlands above doorways and, about 5 years ago, I got fed up with all the embellishments falling out and getting lost every time I took the garlands down (I just stick stuff in there, I never take the time to wire things in or anything) and I started just leaving them up there year round.

Which works pretty well in that, A) most people don't look up there very often anyway and B) my social life has dwindled to such a trickle that I don't have anyone over the rest of the year. And I don't think my students care that much.

This one really only gets noticed when I plug the lights in.

And this one is particularly sneaky as it is surrounded by some stenciling I started several years ago because I liked the look of the garland. The unfinished painting around the door frame is a tale for another post.

Then there are the three, yes three, Christmas trees. 

Tree number one is the main tree in the living room. This is the live one we shop for on Friday and holds all the glass ornaments. A word about ornaments - I have so many ornaments, I have to do a completely separate post about them!

Tree number two is a small fake tree in the family room that holds primarily home made ornaments.

And tree number three is a teeny, tiny tree from John's childhood that we move from place to place. This year it is in residence on the ugly avocado green piano in hopes that folks will look at the charming decorations on top of said piano and fail to notice that it is, in fact, avocado green. What were people thinking in 1947? Who ever thought this was a good color for furniture or instruments?

(I also have these charming little village bits that I keep out year round (except for the Santa) for my students to fiddle with while waiting for their lessons)

Other attempts to divert attention from the color of the piano include the Angel Chimes  from both John's and my childhoods - you can tell we're children of the 60's - I know of practically no one that grew up at a certain time in the midwest who did not have a set of these......

(Thank goodness for the directions - every year I forget how to put the thing together.)

 

 - and, a relic of the 70's - John's Charlie Brown Christmas pop-up.

Which is probably worth something, nowdays. If you wait long enough, your entire childhood becomes collectible.

Next post: Ornaments Ahoy!

 

A Slightly Preachy Thanksgiving Message

 

I hope this Thanksgiving finds you celebrating with friends or family or both over a lovely home cooked meal.

And, if so, please consider all the folks who will be unable to celebrate in kind, but will be dependent on the local food pantry for their holiday meal. I know there are many, many food drives at this time of year - I hope you have been able to donate. If not, there's still time.

Below is a piece I wrote about our experience giving to the food pantry. I don't know if we'll be in a position to do quite as much this year, but we're going to try.

Excuse me, it's Sunday and I'm going to take a little time to Sermonize.

I don't know about where you live, but here it's cold. Bitterly cold. 

And we have homeless people - many of them families with young children. 

We have several programs for the homeless in our community, both for food and temporary shelter and round about November and December, every time I turn around it seems there is a food or clothing drive for the food pantry and the shelter.

This is a good thing.

But now it's January and the time of year that the eyes of the public tend to stray from such drives. Especially with the crisis of Haiti to take up the media's attention.

Don't get me wrong - I am in no way suggesting that we should not be reaching out to the Haiti earthquake victims in their time of such great need - I am just reminding you that you probably have many many people who need your compassion as well in your own back yard.

 

We are regular contributers to our local food pantry. For years, my oldest son used to have  a carnival in our yard for all our friends and neighbors. He started it when he was 5 with the express purpose of donating the proceeds to the pantry. (I think he got the idea when I told him how, in my childhood, we were always having carnivals for MS) Anyway, every year, he and John would build a contraption for the carnival - there was a complicated "sucker push"  (I can't remember how that one worked exactly), a skeeball, a sponge throw (with a face cut out for the willing victim) among others, as well as a variety of games. 

By the time we shelled out the $ for all the prizes and game materials, I think we were usually about $75 in the hole, but that was beside the point. The neighborhood turned out and had a good time and the pride my son took in taking the proceeds to the pantry was immeasurable.

We stopped the carnivals when he was about 14, I think, and took to just sending a check every November and food to all the church and school drives. And we felt we were doing our part.

But something was missing. That engagement  our kids got from doing something themselves was lacking.

So, a couple of weeks ago, while Alex was still back from college, I took all three kids down to the local grocery store, gave them each a set amount and a calculator, and challenged them to see how much food for the pantry they could each buy. To the winner would go a homemade apple pie. (My kids kill for these pies).

It was interesting to see the choices they made - and how much they've learned from me over the years when it comes to stretching a dollar. While the oldest, had the largest number of items by far - 158 - the youngest easily made the most nutritious choices and the middle one probably won the most points for food homeless kids would like most to eat. Because I set the prize on the amount of food, the oldest won - but I may have to rethink my definition of winning for next time and include healthfulness.

I devised a system where, each kid got their own cart and, as they checked their groceries through and they were bagged, I took a sharpie and put their intitials on the bag so we would be able to compare it all later. I also used the grocery receipts. 

My mother, who was visiting, also got into the act and bought 25 can openers to donate. I would never have thought of this, but she works regularly at the pantry in her town and she said they never have enough can openers.

It was a terrific experience. Not only did my kids get into it, but, as we hit the checkout the employees got really into it. The next time I came in shopping, several people came up to me to ask who won :-)

The thing that astonished me as we did this, was the real amount of food we were able to amass for roughly what I would pay for two weeks of my regular grocery budget. The kids dropped off 399 items in over 70 bags. My van was full to overflowing.

So I'm asking you today to take a little time and remember those in your community who need your help. I know that, in our area, the job losses have more than tripled the number of folks who are using our food bank and related services. 

If you have old coats, gloves and mittens, and you live in a cold climate, take a minute to drop those items off at the appropriate collection site. If you can see your way clear, pick up 10 extra items when you buy groceries and set them aside for a monthly drop off to your local food pantry.

And, if you happen to be a cartoonist, find out if your local shelter needs any artwork for their fundraiser. John currently does not sell original strips but he has donated some to charitable organizations.

Hunger knows no holiday - it doesn't disappear after Christmas.

 

 

 

Pic of The Week: More Rust

To see the original sculpture from Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin and more examples of how my mind works when I'm framing a shot, click here.

Pic of the Week - Unintentional Smiles

Politics and Why We're All Cubs Fans

The Mantra of the Cubs fan: "There's Always Next Year!"

To be a Cubs fan is to be eternally disappointed. With no trip to the World Series since 1908, an entire generation of folks like my neighbor George have been born into the world, lived out a 90+ year life span and died, never having seen the Cubs win it all. 

They've come close. 

Who can forget the tragic Steve Bartman incident in the 2003 playoff series against the Florida Marlins.

To state for the record - while my husband and I spent 4 years living in the Windy City, we are not truly Cubs fans. We've been more like Cubs observers. So, on that fateful day in 2003, we were hardly surprised at the turn of events. My husband always likes to say that if there is a way to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory, the Cubs will find it.

But the story of the Cubs isn't really about whether they win or lose. It's about that eternal optimism every Cubs fan fires up in about April. The idea that, somehow, this year is going to be different. This will be the year. This is the pitcher that will take them all the way. This is the manager that will make all the difference.

And, often, the Cubs seem on the verge of delivering. It is not at all unusual for them to start the season quite strongly - tantalizing their fans with that possible October run for glory.

Generally, about August, it all starts to go to hell.

And that, my friends, is the story of politics in my lifetime. Every election we think we have a chance to win it all. And by winning it all, I mean we think that the next batch of elected officials will fix everything that's wrong with the economy, national defense, health care, you name it. 

We pin our hopes on the election outcome to fix everything that is messed up in our lives as though the new guys are some sort of winning lottery ticket. As though that sudden infusion of cash is all we need to get our lives back on track.

Some statistics about lottery winners: approximately one third of lottery winners wind up filing for bankruptcy with a significant number losing all the money within 5 years, over 50% of lottery winners wind up committing suicide and 88% of lottery winners still play the lottery weekly. (Presumably this number is culled from the 49% of folks who didn't commit suicide.)

What can we learn from this? If you're life is colossally screwed up and you get a windfall but don't fix any of your systemic problems, you're still headed down the tubes.

But we, as voters, seldom seem to realize this basic truth. Instead, we pin our hopes on the new breed of folks heading off to Washington the same way we follow spring training. When the latest manager holds a press conference, juicing us up and preparing us for the brave new world in which we are World Series Champs, we fall for it every time.

Every single time.

And this election is not a whit different.

This batch of new guys heading up there - there are all these great hopes. We like to think we've got an allstar lineup of rookies of the year. Ready to knock a few out of the park and make us all feel better.

Except that's generally all it is - they make us feel better. For a couple of months. Maybe even a year. 

Like winning the lottery.

Or the World Series.

So, to those of you happy with last night's election results, dancing in the streets at the thought of the new world order, enjoy it while you can. Before the same old, same old sets back in.

And to the rest of you I can only say, "There's always next year!"

I Refuse To Take Orders From My Microwave

 

Edison Lee Comic from 6/24/12

Over the course of the last five years or so we have had what could best be described as an era of appliance transition. Many of the appliances or gadgets that we bought when we were first married have started to give up the ghost. Which isn't really too surprising when you know that my husband and I are about to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary.

Because of our habit of being underpaid, we tend to hang on to our gadgets until they truly, truly can no longer function or be repaired. And because we're frugal (read cheap) we get those babies repaired time and time again.

Aggravatingly, the era of the repairable appliance seems to have packed up and left to be replaced by planned obsolescence. 

Which is annoying in and of itself, but adding insult to injury is the rise of the "talking gadget". 

Thankfully, I don't really mean talking because my gadgets don't talk out loud. 

Instead, they converse with me via little digital messages, most frequently in red or white LED display tones.

I think the first was the DVD player. And it seemed harmless enough. Quite businesslike, actually - "Power On" and "Power Off". And informational, "Loading, No Disk". Stuff like that.

Next came the DVR with  a little personality thrown in - "Hello" and "Goodbye" when turned on and off. This filled me with pangs of guilt as I would shut it down.  The "goodbye" seemed a little forlorn - like the mother who sighs "you never call me anymore".

But this new guy - the microwave......

Him I'm already sick of.

Who does he think he is bossing me around all day? With messages like, "Close Door", and "Press Start!". And the manufacturers have thrown in a little feature designed for your convenience that is simply irritating. So that you won't leave your just zapped cup of coffee in there for the next two days, the oven now sends you warning beeps every 60 seconds after it finishes its heating cycle. And aggressively flashes "Done. Remove Food! Done. Remove Food! Done. Remove Food!" until you get your keister over there to open the door.

It's had a terrible effect on my husband. Hardly a day goes by that I don't come downstairs to find him actually arguing with the thing like a deranged John Cleese character from Monty Python.

And don't get me started on the GPS system for my car. I finally had to mute the thing. You can only spend so much time sitting alone in your car arguing with your windshield before you start getting funny looks. I don't care how charming that Australian guy's voice is supposed to be. My father in law has his set to the woman's voice and has taken to referring to her as "bitching Betty". He seems to like the company - says she keeps him awake.

I don't know how far this trend will take us - when my vacuum cleaner starts talking to me like C3PO from Star Wars, I think I may just have to clock out and go live in the mountains with a fishing pole and a cabin with a fireplace.

And no chipper, helpful know-it-all appliances.

I may be cold and hungry but I'll be damned if I'll be bossed around by a toaster oven with delusions of grandeur.