Marker

Yet another birthday for my eldest. Sweet sixteen this year! She's moving towards independence at a slightly faster clip now. Hope we can keep enjoying our times together!

Visions of Sugar Plums

Went Christmas shopping on Saturday, including a visit to a Toys R Us. I can totally believe that Christmas spending will be down this year, just based on the state of the economy, but the stores are still busy and traffic is still heavy around here. Maybe people are buying less? Also, many of the people I saw at Toys R Us appeared to be grandparents, with glazed expressions and a list of what the grandkids want clutched in hand. Grandparents will always want to give something to the grandchildren. It just might be something smaller this year. Not that I am happy about this state of affairs, just trying to explain what I am seeing versus predictions. And lots of people out there are hurting economically, just based on the employment numbers and the demand for food stamps, etc.

I was also surprised and a little irritated by the emptiness of some of the store shelves. I've heard that stores are cutting back on how much they have in stock at a time, due to, you guessed it, the slowdown of the economy. I would think for Christmas they would ramp it up just a bit.

Living Under the Law

Let me say from the start that I hate neighborhood covenants. However, we were rather limited when we were forced to look for a place to live. The girls were thriving in their current school district, and had made some friends. We were determined not to make them start over in a new district, so we had to find the best place we could in this town. Which is why we wound up here.

All of my readers who are Christians should know about the difference between the Law and the Gospel. And what I'm about to write should make perfect sense to you. The Law, in this case the neighborhood covenant, has turned some of the people in this neighborhood into Pharisees. Even I am becoming nitpick-y. Because if we're going to get "busted" for having our garbage out on the lawn before 5 PM on the day before collection day, or sniped at because we still have our Christmas lights up (although not lit) in late January, than yes, I'm sorry to say that I have started watching like a hawk, and recording all of my neighbors' transgressions, at least mentally. Because that's what living under the Law begets. "Thank you, God, that I am not like this tax collector." Point out the mote in my eye, and I'll be more than happy to show you the beam in your own. How much better to live under the Gospel! To bear one anothers' burdens, to forgive others' faults even as they forgive you yours. Lord, save us from the burden of the Law.

Starting Over. And Over.

Crazy week. Not more actual activity going on, but being slightly sick for a good part of the week made things tougher. Actually, we got fewer things done. But the week is almost over, which is a relief.

I consider it rather Providential how many opportunities we are given to make a "fresh start." A new day, a new week, a new month, a new year. Because there are chances for self-improvement. Not in the theological "God wants me to be a better person" kind of way, but people can make positive changes. Eat less. Stay off the computer more. Spend more time with the kids/spouse. And every day, His mercies are new, and we have a chance to change something. Even if it was messed up the day before.

Unintended Consequences

eBay has apparently started charging ten percent on shipping costs that sellers charge, as well as taking its cut of whatever the item itself sells for. Supposedly they are trying to get people to offer free shipping. But you know that crazy law of unintended consequences. What some people are doing instead is jacking up the shipping costs to cover the ten percent extra, and informing the buyers as to why. And I don't blame them.

Yes, shipping items can be a pain, because the Postal Service can get expensive, and unless you go flat rate, it can be hard to tell how much an item will cost to ship. And flat rate has become outweighed by cost over convenience, especially when you're selling items, and buyers want to pay as little as possible. Is eBay trying to avoid the hassle of buyers overpaying for shipping by "encouraging" sellers to offer free shipping? Or just taking another slice of the pie? I don't know. I do know that by offering free shipping, most sellers will end up tacking the shipping cost onto the selling price instead, and that creates issues of its own. Simply because of the difficulty in estimating shipping, how much easier just to be generous in your estimation and raise the selling price a little bit higher than your guess. Whereas lots of sellers, including myself, pride themselves in providing accurate shipping costs and refund any overage.

When it comes to my particular eBay interest, dolls, there seems to be a particular price range for various items. If you're charging more for your item, but offering free shipping, will buyers be astute enough to do the math and realize that the cost evens out? I don't know, because I've become cynical and think its hard to underestimate the intelligence of the masses. I also hate overtinkering to manipulate others. It generally doesn't end well.

The Writing Experience

Every time I begin a blog post, and look at the last date I posted, I chide myself for not writing sooner. The thing is, I think about writing something, and I talk myself out of writing it, for fear that it is stupid, or I can't put together some thoughts in my mind, so I drop it. But what I am remembering is my college experience. When I had a paper to write, I always, but always, put it off until the last minute. Even in my freshman humanities classes, where we had to write a rough draft and go over it with a classmate, I never used the rough draft when I wrote the final paper. Instead, I usually became inspired around eleven or midnight the night before the writing was due, and pounded out a paper on my electric typewriter, which usually got a pretty good grade. I don't have to have The Great American Blog Post planned out in my head before I start writing. As in other areas of life, maybe the most important place to start is by just showing up.

Roadblocks

Hope today's sewing adventure goes better than yesterday's. Spent a good bit of time cleaning up after the last project, thoroughly cleaning the lint out of the serger, getting the cutting table re-organized to get space to work. Only to have the serger stubbornly refuse to serge. The threads kept getting snarled and breaking, and I couldn't really see a reason why. So I pulled all the threads, and I'm going to try to absolutely thread it from scratch. I really hope it works, or it's going to kill the positive, productive mood that I'm in.

ETA: I did get the serger working, and I got some sewing done! One or two of the tension discs feel a little bit loose. Wonder if that is normal, or how they could be tightened. Yes, the machine could use a tune-up, but I'd like to wait until after the holidays, and until our financial situation improves.

Okay, Not So Up

So much for getting my netbook back. Linux seems to running fine on it, BUT there is something wrong that makes the computer shut down unexpectedly. Don't know if it needs a new battery or what, but that kind of stuff (that costs money) will have to wait. Trying to be more careful when I use Mr. BTEG's computer, since I am using it in his personal space, his den.

After seeing all the tragic stories coming out of the Penn State scandal, I am more than ever confused about why anyone thinks a larger government is a good idea. In cases like this, trying to put a stop to such illegal and disturbing activities would have been as "easy" as calling the police. For various reasons, a whole network of people did not do what would have been the right thing. I am not naive enough to believe there is any group of people in power with complete immunity to corruption. So in something as large as the federal government, what do you do when people are misusing the power with which they have been entrusted? Who are "the police"? Will everyone behind Solyndra and Fast and Furious, for example, be brought to justice? Will money funneled from the public till be restored? Lives that were lost can never be given back. So why entrust anyone, ANYONE, with so much power, prestige and privilege, that they are willing to, at the minimum, look away from evil to keep what they have?

Up and Running

Finally have my netbook back, although Mr. BTEG still needs to get my email client running. Getting used to all the different fonts. Do different fonts in software, from the ones that you're already used to, bother anyone else? I'm not liking the font I'm seeing while I type this; I like it the least of everything I've seen so far. It's very much like a plain old electric typewriter font. Boring.

Mr. BTEG pointed out to me, and I had meant to say, that the title of my last post was very Dr. Who-ish. While I was referring to the idea of "Don't blink or you'll miss it," in regards to how quickly days and weeks can slip by; still, a little Dr. Who reference is always fun. :)

Don't Blink

The days are going by incredibly quickly! It's fun, until I look around the house and see what's not getting done, while I'm out running errands or going places for the girls. Ach! Definitely can't have it all, so I might as well have fun with what I have.

On a related note, sometimes bipolar people, when in their manic state, will do crazy things, like go on a shopping binge for shoes and clothes. Mr. BTEG showed me something I hadn't seen, which was that while I don't go on shopping sprees to that extent, I do have my shopping weakness. I occasionally buy some organizational bins, drawers, etc. on a quest to organize. Could be worse!

Merry What-Mas?

I am aware that secular families put up a Christmas tree at Christmas; many people who are not Christian do indeed celebrate this holiday. However, I found it interesting to see a Buddha ornament among the Christmas ornaments at my local World Market store. Celebrating Christmas as a "generic winter holiday" is one thing. Throwing another religion into a religious holiday is... different. Maybe something like adding Shinto practices on to Rosh Hashanah. But I suppose once people start redefining Christmas, they can just go on redefining it. I'm happy to be celebrating the birth of my Savior at Christmas.

I would have taken a picture, but the picture gallery on my phone is acting strangely.

Climbing

Well, my netbook is still being worked on. I'm going to have to sneak on to Mr. BTEG's computer more often and post. I have to admit that I love the giant monitor and full-sized keyboard. I just wasn't set up with all my own things on this computer before.

I've been pretty down lately, and I'm trying to climb back out. I would love to have a local friend, someone with whom I could talk just about every day, besides Mr. BTEG. No matter how often I "reset" my attitude, it's easy to fall back into negative thinking when the only ones I have to talk to are the voices in my head (grin.) This month has been incredibly busy, with marching band season in full swing, but I haven't developed any friendships or even good acquaintance-ships with other parents. Sometimes it seems like the luck of the draw. The moms whose daughters are in the dance class the next step up from the Dancer's, for example, all sit around and talk while their daughters are in class. With the girls in my daughter's classes, most of the moms aren't even around; they drop their daughters off at the beginning of class and arrive just in time to pick them up at the end.

I *am* enjoying fall; it's my favorite season. I've been doing a little bit of "nesting," wanting to get our place organized better for the holidays and birthdays that are approaching. A less cluttered environment would probably be a big mood booster.

(Waving Frantically)

I'm still here! Mr. BTEG took my netbook and updated it. Windows was being a memory hog to the point where I couldn't even run my virus checker anymore. Mr. BTEG installed a flavor of Linux on there instead, so now the computer should work much better. This does provide an example of why so many people love Macs, though. Not everyone has live-in tech support, like I do. :)

I Will

No, Sheila Jackson Lee, I will not shut up. I will not go to hell, Maxine Waters. I don't blog about politics often, but I blog about whatever I feel like, whenever I feel like it. If I want to say that people only vote for you out of greed and stupidity, I will. If I want to say that America should come first, and not the color of our skin, I will. If I want to say that I hope the voters kick both of you out on your asses and send you to the unemployment line where your policies have already sent so many, I will. I won't be intimidated by the likes of you.

Getting It Done

To do a to do list or not to do a to do list? :) I go back and forth. If I have a list, I can start to feel pressured and overwhelmed. If I don't have a list, I often forget things that I wanted to accomplish for that day. Getting into better habits might help overall with not forgetting things, but one day isn't like another around here anymore! I'm liking this stage of my life, though, however busy. I really enjoy being around my girls.

How the Other Half Lives

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week, I spent a lot of time away from home because of various responsibilities. I wasn't a working mom, but I did feel a lot like it--the extra stress, not being home to do chores or cook meals, less sleep. We did eat out and eat take-out. When no one is home to cook, you have to eat somehow. The dishes we did use at home piled up. By the end of Thursday night, I couldn't think straight. I missed casual times of talking with the girls. I even missed running the dishwasher! I don't think juggling a 40-hour work week would be for me.

Goodbye Sunlight

I may have to up my Vitamin D intake; I really crashed hard today. Mr. BTEG and his sister both suffer from levels of Vitamin D that can get low enough to be dangerous. It may have a bigger impact on our health than we think. It would help explain why people in third world countries don't seem to get autoimmune disorders, if the Vitamin D were a cause and not just a symptom.

Telephone

I'm finally getting around to expressing my concern about the lack of reading comprehension in our society. If someone can't read a simple sentence in a newsgroup correctly, what are the odds that they will be able to understand all of the facts given in something important, like an article or blog post sharing serious news?

Today, I'm reading the latest messages on a doll newsgroup. First poster talks about a certain doll just featured in a magazine. First of all, she gets the last name of the doll mixed up with the adjective used to describe the doll on the magazine cover. Okay, not going to quibble about that too much. Both words are commonly used in talking about sewing, and she got the name of the magazine right, so you can always go look for yourself. But then she says that the face paint on the doll looks like it was done by a kindergartener. To which the next person responds, yes, she does look like she could be in kindergarten. Um, what? I really don't think that's what person A meant/wrote. It's like that game we played in grade school; the farther along the road you get, the more "off" things are.

The Modern Sewer

Anyone else have an Android phone and not an iPhone? I got an issue of my sewing magazine the other day, and one of the features was ten sewing apps. Before I even turned to the page, I said to myself, "I bet most of them will be for the iPhone." Well, I wasn't *entirely* right. In actual fact, 9 out of 10 were iPhone exclusive. Mr. BTEG tells me that there as many apps out there for the Android as there are for the iPhone, but not for the stuff that I'm interested in. I have found one knitting app, called County, which helps you keep track of which row you're on. I can't even find a grocery list app that I like.

Another problem I have with sewing magazines is that too many of the projects assume you have an embroidery machine. And the embroidery is a big part of what makes the project. It just makes me feel poor and out of the loop, and I hate that.

On the other hand, there was a "survey" about how much fabric people have in their stashes. I'm a total piker compared to a lot of these women, but that, I'm totally cool with. I feel guilty about how much of a stash I have as it is. Although I'm getting to a point where more and more of it is leftover bits that are big enough that I don't like to throw them away.

Quick Complaint

I hate it when people are more interested in riding off on their hobby horse than actually listening to what you are trying to say. Especially people whose job involves listening, ostensibly.