Honeymoon Garage Sale

Since I've had some free time, I've taken to regularly checking websites. Some blogs I like to read, hometown Iowa newspapers (both for news and entertainment purposes), job sites (thank goodness that is over), friends' photo sites, craft ideas (I am working on some coolass shit), and of course Craigslist. It's good to know when there's a garage sale that might be decent, a pet forum worth reading or some other surpise. So, given the time factor, I've been hitting not just my local site, but I am always researching apartments to rent and jobs available in what you might consider a more trendy locale than where I live. Considering that I check out New York, West Coast Locations, even Omaha and Boise, I would have never guessed that the most ludicrous post would be from right here in my Capital City. Are you ready? Get ready...

GARAGE SALE!!
Help us pay for our honeymoon...come buy our stuff!
*Donations also welcome!*

I am all for the spirit of entrepreneurship, but doesn't that just seem like taking things a step too far? To advertise that donations toward your honeymoon are welcomed at your garage sale? Honey, can you cancel that check for the refugees in Darfur? I want to donate to a HONEYMOON. Puh-leez.

And based on the results of my garage sale, which I would sale was overwhelmingly successful, I would like to wish the new couple well as they ride off in the sunset, toward a rural North Florida Motel 6 (and probably to a movie and Barnhill's all-you-can-eat buffet). As a special treat, stop for some boiled p-nuts on the trip. Here's to you, happy couple. Let's hope at some point in your marriage you discover something the rest of us call good taste.

This man is brave.

A colleague of mine recently had a brother severly injured in Iraq. Her family is keeping a blog to post his progress. Whether or not we agree with the mission, it seems to me that we are able to forget that the men and women killed and injured everyday are real people with real families and real lives. I'd encourage you to read Josh's blog to really put a human face on things and remind us of all we have to be thankful for.

Things to love, Monday edition.

Employment. Soon I will be working here.

Fun. Was I the last person on the planet to discover Richard Cheese? Check this guy out.

Family.

A fenced backyard.

A new week.

Cheers ya'll.

Toys these days...

As I child, I enjoyed some toys. My favorite was a Discovery Toys marble maze thing where you could design different ways for the marble to run. I was a lover of dolls, that not so much for Barbie. I loved a good hula hoop and had quite a fondness for my baton. Not baton in the musical sense - good guess though. Baton as in what you might carry if you were the featured twirler with a marching band.

I found a great costume for a baton twirler months ago and have been on a bit of a quest to find a baton to accompany the good ol' outfit since May. My search has intensified since my Halloween party is tonight, in two hours... Not a baton to be found. Not for lack of trying, though. I've been to the mall toystore, Toys-R-Us, three Halloween shops, K-Mart, Wal-Mart, Target, CVS, Walgreens and a sporting goods store. No baton to be found.

Toys these days are lamentable. They all come in those stupid plastic bubble containers - you know, the kind you could kill yourself on. There is plenty of Easy Bake shit, no shortage of branded toys (like a look-a-like Subway-make-a-sub-kit, just what you need for a better life), dolls like Bratz (which would be more aptly named Slutz) and plenty of make-up stuff. But no batons. Mommas, don't let your babies grow up to be baton twirlers. Instead, I'll be carrying a pair of K-Mart poms poms and pining for the '80s, when being a baton twirler was easy.

Simple pleasures.

Chocolate milk, sleeping in, fried eggs, warm blankets, sleeping pups, candy corn, surprise phone calls, possibility, fun. I like this stuff.

You deserve it.

I've been thinking lots about entitlement lately. It's something I struggle with. I abhor comments like "Well, I bought it because I only deserve the best, so I thought I should have it." I think inner-city children deserve the best education, but we don't see that happening consistently. I don't understand why musicians show up late too a rehearsal, how you can question a plan different from your or rationalize inconsiderate behavior on the basis of selfish entitlement issues. As we approach the slothful holiday season and the haves and the have-nots become visible, as the American dream is squeezed by the pressure of a shrinking middle class and as those around us nearly drown keeing their heads above the water, I'm going to try and remember that I'm not entitled. Maybe Garrison Keillor and the Midwesterners were right and we're not so different and special after all. Seems we all deserve the best. Now, on with how we achieve it.

What's ordinary?

I hate even the thought of being ordinary. I think I have a pretty interesting life - not the usual, that's for sure. There is the (sometimes lamentable) absence of two full-time gainfully employed people in my household. In fact, at the moment we lack even one full-time gainfully employed person. But so far, so good. I guess that is not very ordinary. I do not many people who have husbands that spend the summer in Africa while the wife had crazy American adventures on this continent. (Hello? Car purchase, cat death, two broken-down cars, nutty job to name a few.) So that doesn't seem very ordinary at all. My career field is interesting, and I love it, which doesn't seem very ordinary. But somehow it's still not very attractive right now.

Today the quarterly Luther College alumni magazine arrived. I always enjoy cruising through it, reading about people I know and the happenings in their lives. (I.e. Brother-In-Law '05 is director of bands at County-Seat-Western-Iowa-Town High School or Classmate '03 gave had baby girl, Beautiful Nordic Miss, June 2006.) There are always lots of people earning law degrees, plenty in the Peace Corps, lots of people getting married (gay and straight are recognized in the publication, hurrah!), and the inevitable child thing that I just can't relate to. Somehow I really love reading about people and the things they are doing, though the accuracy of the information can occasionally be called into question. It's cool to see what classmates are up to, and also what people are doing who graduated 15, 20 or 35 years ago. It gives me hope for the future to read about people who are retiring or earning awards for their many years of service to their career field. None of that seems very ordinary, and it's all pretty rad.

My husband had a high school pal find him on MySpace. I kind of love it when that happens. Seeing that a long-lost Iowa friend graduated from college, worked in the UK, has pictures from a honeymoon in Portugal, lives in LA and is moving to Austin makes me feel really boring. I wonder what perfect strangers read when they see my info and read "unemployed, unbearably crazy work situation again" on my data sheet. Makes me feel... Well, ordinary.

But what's ordinary? There's nothing ordinary about living in Florida and knowing that it's going to be in the 30s tonight. There's not much ordinary about being miles and miles and miles and miles away from where I thought I'd be when I "grew up." It doesn't seem very ordinary that I don't know what my next life step is, and certainly not ordinary that I could somehow look forward to a part-time job interview at Macy's. No, my friends, that's certainly not ordinary.

Since I can't reach any conclusions about ordinary, I'm left to ponder normal. I suppose I can't classify myself as normal, either. But I don't think I've met one normal person yet that I actually liked. Sigh.

Life, or something like it.

Well, friends, it's weekend-time. For me it's been the weekend since the beginning of this month. Tons of free time, with unlimited constraints on TV watching, reading-for-pleasure, cleaning house (or not cleaning house), playing-with-dog-time... All of this sounds great and is for a short period of time. But now I am ready to go to work again. But work is not ready for me. I'm looking to find something retail or part-time to get me through and keep me busy while I look for something permanent, a good fit where I can spend my days working as a part of a team, and perhaps in the evening complaining about work, just like most normal Americans I know. That would be a delight.

Those of you know me know that I am pretty thrifty. This is not something that has come naturally, it is a trait I have honed since getting married, going to graduate school and as the bread-winner of my non-profit working/Ph.D. student married household. I think it's good that I have learned to find a good deal at Goodwill, know where to buy bras so that the 7th one is free, how to shop the grocery store circular, clip a coupon or two and eat out for lunch instead of dinner. But I am holding down my purchases even more than usual with my unemployment situation. I guess this is what it means to be a real adult.

This has been a learning experience, there are many things that I know: I could NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER be a stay-at-home mom or one of those work-from-home people. I like the physical act of going to work. It is nice to cook and have the time to clean it up. And last, but certainly not least, patience is a virtue. I'll keep working on that one...

Market this.

I turned on "Ugly Betty" not really because of interest but rather because I just needed some benign sound while I cleaned up a bit. I mean, I know the whole thing is improbable, but I do like the message that you don't have to be thin or beautiful or white or a man or from Manhattan or rich to make it. The whole dream-come-true while being-true-to-self is nice. But it's obvious what the demographics on this show are. Just take one look at the ads. "Ugly Betty" attracts an audience of women who don't think they're good enough. Contrasting the message of the show are back-to-back-to-back commercials for Jenny Craig, WeightWatchers and Curves. Sigh.

Time keeps on slippin'.

Another gray, cloudy autumn here in Tallahassee. Says nothing of the beautiful weekend weather we enjoyed at Cape San Blas. The temp was so moderate we sat for 8 hours on the beach and I didn't break a sweat or get a burn. Bay scallops for supper with slaw and cheese grits in Apalach. Snorkeling with the fishies. Fun with pals. Life is good.

Re-read In Cold Blood and then watched Capote this afternoon. May see Infamous on Friday, may start volunteering with the Florida Democratic Party or public radio or the Red Cross or something whilst I wait for a new job to pop up. Free time with the DVR has been nice but is getting a little more depressing. I desire a job to give my days some focus. I don't think I could ever be a stay-at-home mom, but maybe I'll be wrong. Seems like a stay-at-home dad might be a more likely scenario in our case (but not now, lest you get the wrong idea).

Hmmm, back to work on my mac and cheese and CSI: Miami episode. Like I said, life is kind of nice.

Been to 30 and counting.

[x] Alabama
[] Alaska
[x] Arizona
[] Arkansas
[x] California
[x] Colorado
[] Connecticut
[] Delaware
[x] Florida
[x] Georgia
[] Hawaii
[x] Idaho
[x] Illinois
[x] Indiana
[x] Iowa
[x] Kansas
[x] Kentucky
[x] Louisiana
[ ] Maine
[] Maryland
[] Massachusetts
[x] Michigan
[x] Minnesota
[x] Mississippi
[x] Missouri
[] Montana
[x] Nebraska
[] Nevada
[] New Hampshire
[] New Jersey
[x] New Mexico
[x] New York
[x] North Carolina
[] North Dakota
[] Ohio
[x] Oklahoma
[x] Oregon
[] Pennsylvania
[] Rhode Island
[x] South Carolina
[x ] South Dakota
[x] Tennessee
[x] Texas
[] Utah
[] Vermont
[] Virginia
[x] Washington
[] West Virginia
[x] Wisconsin
[x] Wyoming