Forward into the 20th century

24. October 2009 · Write a comment · Categories: in general · Tags: ,

Our house was built in 1930 and has been only minimally remodeled since then.  In most cases, this is a good thing, given the fact that one idiot former owner took out the beautiful original wood framed windows and put in cheap aluminum framed jalousie windows, all of which are now falling apart.Actually, THIS is the way parties are meant to end :( - 206/365

But the kitchen is still pretty much original.  And in 1930, kitchen usage was a whole lot different from what it is today.  Looking at the size of our kitchen it’s obvious only one person was expected to work in at at a time, and of course the dishwashers were all humans.  There’s no way to install a dishwasher in there, because the counter is a different height from what we have today, and putting in a dishwasher would mean destroying one of the only two lower cupboards in the room.

Next to the kitchen is a very small room that we use as a laundry room and pantry.  I’m not sure what the purpose of that room was, originally.  It seems to have been set up so that people could walk into it from the outside, but be stopped from going further into the house by interior doors that locked from the house side.  I think the water heater was in there at one time, and there’s an electrical box that’s no longer being used.  The space is just large enough for our washer and dryer, some Elfa shelves and a bit of floor space.

It occurred to us a while back that if we got a stacking washer and dryer, we would then have room to put in a dishwasher.  We were figuring on buying a regular dishwasher, because they’re less expensive, and putting it in an enclosure from IKEA.  But we just hadn’t seen the washer/dryer stack we wanted to buy at a price we wanted to pay.

Last weekend in one of those “aha!” moments we spotted the perfect washer and dryer on sale at Orchard (which is owned by Sears).  Instead of being an all-in-one unit it was two separate front loading units.  And while we were talking about the purchase with the saleslady, I mentioned why I wanted stacking units and she pointed to a Kenmore portable dishwasher that was a floor model being sold for almost half price.  She offered to cut the price even more and I said “Sold.”

So, now we have a dishwasher for the first time ever in this house.  I’m sure the joy of letting the machine do the dishes will fade, eventually, but for now we’re all eager to run it and the amount of unoccupied counter space in the kitchen is downright unreal.

Tomorrow the new washer and dryer are being delivered, which means I better go get busy cleaning up the space where they’re going to go.  You know how it is, wanting to have the place not embarrass you in front of the delivery people.  :)

Oh, and we can now efficiently unclutter that whole space, too, and put things away on the shelves that were always blocked by the washing machine before.  Good thing I got the new book from Erin Doland on order:   Unclutter Your Life in One Week !
Creative Commons License photo credit: tranchis

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Life, and kittens, happen

19. September 2009 · Write a comment · Categories: family follies · Tags: , ,

When we lost Zoe, I felt too much battered by life to consider getting another cat.   I did say, however, that while I wouldn’t go looking for a cat, if a cat found me it’d be a different story.

Well, apparently Someone out there who looks after tiny kittens was listening.

Wednesday night, my son and his co-workers rescued a very tiny, terrified kitten from under a car.  He knew who to call.  I certanly wasn’t prepared to take on the care of a kitten this small, but I didn’t want her to go to the shelter, either.  So, home she came with us.

We had her checked by the vet yesterday and she’s fine, and about six weeks old (older than I had guessed).  She’s had her worm treatment and she needs a bath, which I’ll take care of as soon as I get some kitten friendly flea shampoo.

I’ve named her Jenny Linsky, after the feline heroine of a series of books I loved as  a child.

chair1

Here is the fictional Jenny Linsky, and here is the real one.

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Give thanks for the liberals

27. November 2008 · Write a comment · Categories: commentary · Tags: , , ,

Since the presidential election in the USA, there has been more than the usual (if you can imagine that) grousing, thundering, and carrying-on about “the liberals.”  Mostly from the same blowhards who crowed like Chanticleer back in 1994 when they used clever PR and glittering generalities to fool the American public into thinking they had the answers.

And, unfortunately, the teaching of history is so boring in so many American schools that the people who listen to blowhards don’t have any foundation for telling them they’re full of manure.

So let’s consider the liberals.

Without the liberals, the USA would not exist.  The liberals of the day believed it was their duty to overthrow the established colonial governments, and they put it in writing.  Can you imagine today’s conservatives, fuming about the election of a “liberal” president, gladly throwing in their lot with a bunch of radicals who wanted to dump the King?

Without the liberals, women would not have the right to vote.

Without the liberals, slavery would have lasted a lot longer in the USA.

Without the liberals, contraceptives would be illegal (dispensing them to unmarried people was still illegal in many states well into the 1970s).

Without the liberals, Barack Obama Sr. and Ann Dunham could never have married.  The year their son Barack Jr. was born, interracial marriage was still against the law in sixteen states.

Without the liberals, Barack Obama Jr. might only have had the option of a “separate but equal” segregated school.  He might have been prevented from voting.  He might never have been able to run for public office.

Without the liberals, girls would still be second-class citizens in school and it would be legal to give all the benefits to boys and stick the girls with the leftovers because they were just girls.  Women could still be legally barred from most occupations.

Without the liberals there would have been no tax cuts during the Kennedy administration. The conservatives of the day fought against them tooth and nail, because they were adamantly against deficit spending.

Would you really want to live in a place where the liberals never pushed for human progress?  There are still such conservative oases out there–only problem is, most of the people in them hate Americans, even the conservatives, and it’s anyone’s guess how long any American seeking to escape the liberals would live.

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An end to the butts

14. November 2008 · Write a comment · Categories: just thinking... · Tags: ,
Niedopalek papierosa

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As I walked across the incredibly littered campus today, it occurred to me that what the world needs is a deposit on cigarettes.

Charge a deposit of a quarter per cigarette (or the worldwide equivalent).  If you want to avoid paying the deposit, you have to bring in 20 butts per pack.  Whoever collects the taxes on cigarettes would provide retailers with appropriate containers and empty them out periodically.

Just think how fast the ground would be de-littered if the butts were actually worth something.

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A time to grow

09. November 2008 · Write a comment · Categories: just thinking... · Tags: , , ,
Mr Yuk

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In the aftermath of the election, I have seen people who normally are even-tempered and courteous writing messages that ought to be labeled with a skull and crossbones or a Mr. Yuk symbol.  These folks are livid that Obama won the election and they are predicting dire consequences for pretty much the entire universe.

Where on earth do they get this sour point of view?  Judging by what I’ve seen, Fox News is a primary culprit, but there are other “conservative” news sources contributing to the flow of bile as well.  When Chris Wallace appeared on the Daily Show the other night, they played some clips of his Fox News colleages snickering about Obama’s aunt, the alleged illegal immigrant, and cattily wondering if she’s registered to vote.  Chris Wallace had the good grace to look embarrassed.

Many of these same people greeted Dubya as a newfound saviour and gloated that their guy won, and told those of us who predicted he’d be a disaster to suck it up and get with the program.  Now that the predictions have come true, they’re telling us Obama will be worse.  Buh?

Oh, if Molly Ivins were only still with us.  She’d set them straight in short order.

Last year, I wrote a series of posts titled “Ten ways to take a stand against ignorance.”  There is a prologue of sorts here, and the main series starts here. One of the things I suggested was that we learn something new every day. In today’s Productivity 501 blog, one that I read every day precisely because it’s a good way to learn new things, author Mark Shead says much the same thing: Stretch yourself.

We now have an opportunity to make progress and rectify some of the wrongs of the past.  It won’t happen overnight, but if we-the-people pull together, we can prove to the naysayers that it’s long past time they pulled the plug on Fox News.

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Resolve and resolutions

03. January 2008 · Write a comment · Categories: in general · Tags: , ,

I can never make up my mind about “new year’s resolutions.” While the start of a new year is a logical point to make a new start on all kinds of things, the “geography” of the first day of the year is pretty much wrong for most people. There really isn’t anything to mark it as a special new day, other than usually getting the day off work and watching the Rose Parade.

And I tend to cut myself some slack during that time of year, anyway. I figure the weeks surrounding Christmas and New Year’s Day are just flat-out bad times to start something new.

The week after the week New Year’s Day falls in, however, is fair game.

One of the best ways to make a change is to make the new way of doing things a habit. And the best aid to doing that I’ve yet seen is the Habit List from the Productivity501 blog. It’s far better than a to-do list or a simple resolution, because it helps you keep track of your progress in whatever category you choose.

I’m starting a new Habit List next week. I plan to write more, exercise more, and get a lot more done at work. Should be easy to keep an eye on myself and see how I’m doing.

How about you?

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We can’t all be Scrooge McDuck.

19. February 2007 · Write a comment · Categories: commentary · Tags: ,

In response to one of my favorite blogs, Dumb Little Man, (which isn’t in the least bit dumb!)

I keep hearing ads on the radio for that “keep the change” credit card. You know, the one where you spend money on something with your card, and the card company rounds the amount up to the next dollar and puts the change into a savings account for you. The premise is that you then are astonished to find out that you actually have more money than you thought you did, and it was all so easy because the credit card folks took care of it.

This is SUCH a dumb idea, on so many levels. To me, it ranks right up there with the old “Christmas Club” savings accounts that the banks used to hype the hell out of when I was a kid. (Those were savings accounts that had mandatory deposits and paid no interest whatsoever, just for starters.) Dangle a dubious reward in front of the financially naive, though, and they’ll go for it every time, whether it be a bit of pocket change siphoned off the top of a credit card that charges you interest, or a savings account that gives you your own money back at Christmas time. And don’t get me started on tax refunds.

Where does the money for the rounding-up come from? Is it a gift to you from the credit card company? Or are you paying it to yourself when you pay the credit card bill? They never seem to go into detail about this, either. I can’t picture a credit card company giving you free money. And if they mention the interest rate on these cards, it’s in that bit at the end that sounds like they sped it up about 50x. So, are you using a card that has a 15% interest rate (or more) to put a few cents into a savings account that pays… what? And what happens if you don’t pay the bill off in full?

Cue the sound of Robert Preston saying “Think, men, think!”

I’ve also seen people on message boards here and there talking about how they or someone they know do the same thing with their checkbook. They round up to the next dollar and write that amount down, and gee whiz, when the check statement comes in they’ve got more money in the account than they thought they did.

Unless of course they’d figured they had more money in the account than what the register said and spent it all, at which point they’d get a very precise overdraft charge from the bank.

And, of course, more and more people are using debit cards in lieu of checks these days, and keeping track of the balance in Quicken or MS Money or something similar. Sure, you can round-up a check you’re typing into your software, but what do you do with the checks you write with your software to pay bills? (Write it for the correct amount, print it out, then go back and round-up the amount in the register?) What do you do about amounts that you have deducted from your checking account automatically? For that matter, when you go to reconcile your account in Quicken (et al), what do you do with the “extra” money?

The easiest way to save money is to not spend it in the first place. The easiest way not to spend it is to convince yourself you don’t have it to spend. And the easiest way to do this is to have an automatic deduction from every paycheck, into a savings or money-market account. Some employers will even do this for you automatically, especially if there is a company credit union. But it’s easy enough to set up with your bank.

Start off slow, so you get used to having a smaller paycheck to spend. Once you’ve adjusted to that, raise the amount of the automatic deduction a bit at a time. Of course, you have to adjust your spending accordingly, but not having extra money to blow on stuff you don’t need is not such a bad thing.

And don’t transfer that money back out of savings for anything other than a genuine financial emergency. And if you do have to transfer it back to checking, try to increase the amount you take out the next month so the withdrawal gets put back.

You’ll have a lot more “change” to keep this way, and you don’t need a credit card at all.

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gimme a head with hair…

05. February 2007 · Write a comment · Categories: just thinking..., personal foibles · Tags: ,

I decided long ago that when I retired I’d grow my hair long again.

I wore it long for a long time. I let it grow till it quit growing, back when I was in my teens and early twenties, but in my mid-twenties I got a job that included a lot of public relations work and I thought that the “aging hippie” look didn’t go well with the job. So I got the name of my office mate’s hairdresser and went to see him, armed with a picture of the haircut I wanted.

I should have known something was up when he turned me away from the mirror to do the cutting. He snipped and shaped and combed and snipped some more, went over the result with a hair dryer, and turned me to face the mirror.

I was in shock. My hair looked like something a Marine barber would have loved. I went from having hair to the middle of my back, to having hair that was barely an inch long all over my head.

When I went to pay the man, I gave him the price he quoted for the haircut. He bristled. “In this profession, tips are expected,” he said. “Really?” said I. “Here’s a tip for you, then. If you ever come near me with a pair of scissors again I’ll kill you.”

After I left that job to become a full-time mom, I let my hair grow till it quit growing, again, and maintained that length till just before my second child was born. It was a long hot spring and I had long hot hair. I cut it short myself.

From then on, I kept my hair short, although I didn’t cut it again myself. Once I went back to work, the shorter hair style was much more practical. And once my doctor started loading me up on medications that made my hair thin out, it was even more practical. It’s a lot easier to make short hair fluff up and hide its shortcomings.

But now, I’m letting it grow out. It’s still thin, and this is undoubtedly not the most practical decision I’ve ever made. But I’ve decided to try the experiment and see what happens when it’s finished growing. I can always have it cut short again.

My hair is just below shoulder length at the moment. I can finally pull it back in a ponytail, for the first time in years. I can roll it up in back and clip it. My grey streaks now look like highlights, although I’m sure a hairdresser would have chosen a different color. While I used to have to do just one lather-and-rinse when I washed it, I now have to do two, and I’ve found some “volumizing” conditioner in hopes of making it look at least a little thicker.

Most of all, though, I’m getting used to feeling it on my shoulders again. I’d forgotten what that was like.

Back to the future? In any case, I like it.

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