Why I'm not spending a dime today

Although it may seem that way to some people, Black Friday hasn't been around forever. The phrase was actually coined in my lifetime, and the whole retail circus really only began within the last 20 years. I remember when the day after Thanksgiving was a quiet, lazy day spent with family.

In my family, Thanksgiving is a non-materialistic holiday, meant for cherishing our blessings and especially each other. It is wrong for Target and other retailers to take that away from their employees and it is wrong for customers to fall in line with the materialistic greed that motivates such actions.

As a nation, we have gotten what we need mixed up with what we want, and we will go to any lengths to get it. I refuse to contribute in any way to the craziness, and will not spend a single cent, either online or offline today.

I've been told that's just a drop in the bucket, but at least I'm being true to what I believe.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Or rather, Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends and family, and Happy Thursday to my international friends!

I am grateful for so much:

My family, who love and support me even when I'm not very likeable,

My friends, who do the same thing,

My sense of humor, which has leavened some dark days,

Little Miss Piggie Pie, without whom I would be dogless, which is not a good thing to be,

Bigfoot and Littlefoot, for being such important parts of my life for a very long time,

The ability to learn,

That I am single and not in an abusive or dysfunctional relationship,

That I have decent if not spectacular health,

That I am gainfully employed,

That I have minimal debt,

And that even though I often take it for granted, I am surrounded by a wealth of good things.

What a day!

We have one client who is so stupid it's a shame he reproduced, and he was bugging me all day, two letters from different attorneys being all judgmental and pissy about things that didn't even happen, and two wards in the hospital from different nursing homes, plus all the crap going on with my neighbor.

On the other hand, I sent four kick-ass Christmas presents to Texas, and I have another great Flannel Jammies story to tell.

When my brothers and I were growing up, Captain Crossword did the best turkey impersonation I'd ever heard or have heard since. I thought of that a few weeks ago when I was in Target and saw a hat that looked like a turkey, with legs that came down and velcroed together under the wearer's chin. I bought it, and sent it to Texas with a note for my brother.

Mom and Dad had been there for a while when I remembered to ask about the hat. I was on the phone with Dad at the time, and said, "Did Mom give CC his hat?" Dad said, "I don't know about any hat" and the promptly yelled for my mother. Mom got on the phone and when I asked her, she said "Oh yes!" and handed the phone off to my brother, who told me that everyone had tried it on, they had taken pictures, and Tinkerbell had adopted it as a pet.

So my smart, savvy father failed to notice three adults and two children taking turns wearing a hat shaped like a turkey. *chortle*

*sigh*

Well, now I'm disillusioned and a bit sad--NeighborBoy was apparently busy cutting more wood today while I was at work. So much for doing a favor for a neighbor, if it was that, he'd have quit when I asked him to stop cutting. :(

A great big MESS

Last Tuesday, NE Ohio was hit with big storms--hail, rain, thunder, lightning, high winds, tornado watches, etc. I was trying to get the local radio station's streaming audio to work on my computer so I'd know if I had to grab the dog and head for the basement when I heard a huge CRACK! Since nothing hit the house and I didn't hear anything else, I figured a tree had come down in the back yard and didn't worry about it.

For reference, this is how my backyard looks in the summer:



This is what I saw when I looked outside on Wednesday morning:



When I got home from work and went to take a closer look, this is what I saw:




Forty to fifty feet of tree, in my estimation. Snoopy came out, said it was 90 feet, to which I said "Men think this *thumb and forefinger about three inches apart* is nine inches, so I don't trust your estimation." He hemmed and hawed a bit, then promised me he would do the work for the wood, as long as I wasn't in a hurry. Okay, I'd like the big tree out of my back yard, but I can't afford a professional remover, so yeah, thanks.

When I got home on Friday night, my feckless young neighbor was out back, cutting the tree apart with his chainsaw. While the cynical part of me suspected that he was planning to sell the wood and not tell me about it, I went out and thanked him for the favor, and explained that the friend who mows my lawn was going to take care of it, but he was welcome to the wood he cut.

When I told Snoopy about it, he was furious. Apparently, he thought he could sell the entire tree to someone and give me half the money. After I had repeated that I didn't ask NeighborBoy to cut up the tree, Snoopy gave up being mad at me and just pouted. I did tell him that even if I'd been home, I probably wouldn't have stopped him, because Snoopy hadn't told me about his plans for the tree. He rather lamely told me that it was supposed to be a surprise and he thought he had time to get the tree buyer out to my house.

While some money would be nice, I'm not so in need of it that I'm bothered by not getting any from either NeighborBoy or Snoopy's tree guy. I am irritated by the fact that neither of them elected to consult ME in their plans.

Men. Pffft.

New rule for Election Day

All polling place employees should be required to put their teeth in while at work.