Blondecisions

Christmas vs. Holiday

I personally think everyone should knock it off altogether.

All the pushing back and forth makes this insanity .. and someone pinned the tail on the donkey when she said this year seems the worst.

I just wish it would stop. This isn't the Christmas spirit I knew as a child. We feed off of the negativity and the fight and for what? What good can come of fighting over religions and religious words? That kind of fighting has gone on since before Christ and hasn't stopped, so we're certainly not going to get anywhere with it.

If you celebrate Christmas then GREAT. If you don't, then GREAT. Say what you want (Holiday, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, etc...) when you want and how you want and start focusing on the important things that need to be SEEN.

This whole holiday vs. Christmas in the US is absolutely driving me batty. There's no tolerance, no peace, and no understanding from either side.

Money, time and emotions being spent on such a piddly argument. Christ is in the heart and doesn't have to be on my catalog or my McDonald's sign. We're not supposed to worship a false idol anyway, so we don't need all the commercial recognition. Neither does HOLIDAY for that matter.

Next we'll start fighting over "Season's Greetings" instead of finding peace and warmth and love and joy and family time and all the other reasons for the season.

I swear, we're so good at tearing each other apart over religions and semantics. If the US population spent HALF the time, money, energy and emotion on spreading the faith in ways OTHER than fighting for the word Christmas, we would have a lot more healthy, safe, warm and happy people and children this year. A Christmas song as school really doesn't matter in the end, does it? It neither helped nor hurt anyone. A sign on the McDonalds or a word in Land's End catalogue isn't going to do a BIT of good for a homeless or sick child... whether they're Jewish or Christian or nothing at all.

And none of it is spreading the faith we were raised with. The one that said we should be kind and loving and forgiving and SHOW our faith through our actions towards others. I would venture a guess that Christ wouldn't be interested in CHRISTmas for the word. He was too humble. He would be interested in what we DO as a people together to help others and get along and celebrate the faith. AND he wouldn't care WHAT faith, so long as we were good to each other. He would forgive. So WHY are people fighting it for him?

Sorry, I'll step off my podium now, but this REALLY drives me. All this fighting and energy spent on what?! Next year will be the same thing only worse because we'll have a year to gear up to hurt the next guy.

He DOES love me, dirty mugs and all!

I was searching in vain for the second dirty, lidded coffee mug that I knew would be cleaner than the first one that’s been sitting half full on the back of the sink for a week and … and… and… I found it in the DISHWASHER!

I knew then that even when he’s mad at me, my husband LOVES me and will put my coffee mug in the dishwasher for me. He ignored one mug, but #2 made it in for the first time ever after asking only once that he puts my mugs in when he does dishes.

I am loved.

*sigh*

The FedEx/LL Bean Fiasco

My town made a terrible boo-boo in planning when they put Dutchess TERRACE one block over from

Dutchess AVENUE

.

FedEx delivered a $100 LL Bean package to my neighbor and so the kids have been playing in the snow in their soccer cleats while I wait on the boots. 5 days after they were delivered I finally looked it up to see what was taking so long and realized it was marked as delivered.

I called LL Bean and they’ve issued a new shipment. I called FedEx and they said they would call back (and haven’t). My hubby went to the neighbors who wouldn’t open the door and growled at him. He wasn’t all that sure it was a MAN or a WOMAN. We don’t know for sure, but I assume if FedEx SAYS it was delivered, then my neighbors stole my package. I want to file a report but don’t know if I have enough to do so.

I noticed a police car on that block next to the house yesterday but don’t know if it was THAT house and about the package. I wonder if FedEx filed a report.

This leaves my kids in the cold, literally and my first order with LLBean goes on record as a flop so if anything else ever happens… blahh.

PLUS now I wonder what ELSE has gone there and never been given to me? I get stuff all the time for them… cable guys, pizza guys… and I get packages all the time that I wasn’t expecting due to NFO.

I want to move-- and fast :)

Right after I wrote that, I refreshed the tracking page and it was delivered! Except there was NO package. I walked around the block and STOLE my box off their porch. Is that legal, even if it's mine? I see he just pulled in too... thank goodness I missed him.

Now imagine my embarrassment as I am skulking over there, checking out a box on the porch and carrying it off.

I called FedEx and am calling LL Bean now. FedEx said this has been a problem with our local terminal so the driver's being reported :(

There was a note on the box to deliver to TERRACE, not AVENUE too. He ignored it.

Thing is, my husband gets FedEx stuff a lot. I wonder if some haven't shown up... he doesn't know when work is sending things.

I may put in a report with the police after I talk to hubby about the "lost" package #1.

Would you?

Penny of Problems

I am wracked with guilt and shame over a penny these days. When I stop at the deli some mornings, I pay $1.49 for a 20 ounce soda I’m not supposed to be drinking.

If I have two dollars on me, I’m ok. But when I have $1.50, the problems begin. One might say I have plenty of problems with the penny of shame.

Now if I stay for my penny return, do I look greedy? Like who needs a penny, right? The lady behind the counter won’t meet my eyes because I’m a greedy slob who wants her penny.

If I wave my hand and tell her to keep it, or I reach across the counter to plunk it into the penny jar, I look like I am giving charity. I swear I’ve seen her roll her eyes. Her creed is not a penny saved is a penny earned in this case.

I think they wonder what I am doing at the deli after 9am. I mean, most people are at work, right? After all, they’ve been up since 4am to have the deli open by 5am. I’m a worthless gob of humanity with too much money that I don’t need to work if I hand that penny back.

This reminds me of the new slippers I bought this season with the cushioned gel soles. Nevermind that I got $20 slippers for $5 and change! It was pure genius. Nevermind that the truth is I work my butt off every day, but I do it from home.

No, let’s focus on the fact that I slipped up and told the girl I wear them all day. What did that tell her? It was clearly written on her face. ‘This waste of humanity is a non-working sloth who wears slippers all day. The same slippers I spend hours shelving and straightening.’

So what a conundrum this penny has been. I’ve tried to just leave $1.50 on the counter and she yells after me that I’ve got a penny returned. Suddenly it’s ok for me to make my own decisions about the penny? Not likely. See, if I tell her to keep it, we go into the charity area. If I come back for it, well then we have a greed situation.

One would think I would give up soda or never use $1.50 again. I think I should just find another deli with a different price. I don’t think you run into the same problem with TWO pennies, do you?