Oh, I Think So

Happy Chanukah! Merry Christmas!

As I prepare to move, I've been getting rid of many things.  Just today I took seven bags of things to  Goodwill.  I have furniture I'd like to give to Goodwill but they don't pick things up, they only take dropoffs.  I am hoping St. Vincent de Paul will send a truck for the stuff I want to give away and if not then I know someone who may be willing to come and get it.  I've held onto stuff that should've been cleaned out years ago.  I should have moved from here years ago but my job was so precarious that I didn't want to move and be put into a deep hole.  However, due to my own improved money mangement and a very good credit rating, I am going to do what someone I worked with many years ago told me when she got her own place.  She said, "I decided to take a chance. " It's also a better idea than renting again in an area with very high rents. I am scared, I am anxious, I am discombobulated, but I have to both look and move forward.  Wish m...

And so it's Christmastime and my birthdaytime!  Because of my move and having to move things and shift things and redistribute things, I don't really want things.  What do I like?  I am like the Rachel Green character on "Friends."  I want credit, gift cards, cash.  (Rachel had a list and if you got something that wasn't on the list, she returned it and got store credit.)  If it's a gift card, please make sure I shop at that store. But I also like experiences but not lavish ones.  If I want a lavish experience, I will save my money for a good while and buy myself a trip to Japan or New Zealand or Iguazu Falls.  What I want are simple experiences that will help me enormously and let us spend time together. For instance, it might involve laundry.  I don't want you to do it for me; I like to do it myself.  If there's a bleach mishap, I've no one but myself to blame.  I will bring my own detergent and Bounce.  I'd love to come ...

We Americans have our weird foods and our good foods and our weird good foods and our good weird foods.  Someone on the internet had the great idea of giving American foods -- Hostess boxed desserts, Southern cooking, traditional Thanksgiving dinner -- to young, Irish people who've never been to America (and probably never wanted to visit America because not everyone likes to travel) and recording their reactions.  They're all well spoken, opinionated, and happy to share said opinions on camera.  As much as Americans might think that our foods are for everyone and that everyone can and will like them, the reality is much different, excluding Thanksgiving.  It turns out that traditional Thanksgiving really is awesome.