Guard Down

We have left our guard down, as a country and as a world. We can no longer call World War II the war to end all wars. In letting our guard down we have lost our strength. The mindset of this administration is to be kind to the world. Our president has been quoted as saying that the people that are beheading innocent victims are poor and unemployed. If they had jobs they would have better things to do. This is a fact. He actually said it. There can be no kindness. We cannot try to understand. The only option is to protect ourselves in whatever way is deemed necessary. Last night was a tragedy for the French people. My heart goes out to them. The dead and injured were out for a night of entertainment. They were blindsighted by radical suicide bombers. They were sitting ducks. The last time this happened, at Charlie Hebdo, the world joined forces and marched arm in arm to show solidarity. The only missing country was the United States. We never showed up. We did not want to insult the terrorists. Again, this is a fact. You would think that after the World Trade Center attacks, we would have learned that danger is always lurking. This time when I vote for President, I want someone who can be feared by the world. Someone who knows how to run things. Not a cowering fool who works against the nation.

A Key Rule

There are certain rules in life that evolve from common sense. The key in a coat rule is one of them. If you have to hang up your coat in a public closet, you have to remove your personal items such as keys or wallets, before you leave the room. My husband never knew that rule. Last week he went to his volunteer job and hung his coat in the executive suite closet. It should have been a safe area. When he returned to get it a few hours later, his coat was gone. If that was not bad enough, his car keys were in it. He was frantic. How would he get home? He asked the secretary if she saw anyone take his coat. She said there was a conference, so maybe someone from there took it. She made a few calls and located the coat in College Point, Queens. A well intentioned woman saw a lone coat so she brought it back to her office. She then had to get back into her car and drive the coat and keys back to the hospital. Next time he will keep his personal belongings on him.

Conservation

Last night I saw a new commercial. It showed a man standing in front of a sink brushing his teeth. As he brushed, the water was running. There was a disclaimer on the screen saying that when you keep the water running as you brush your teeth, you waste four gallons of water. The commercial was from Colgate toothpaste. It made so much sense. This morning when I was brushing my teeth, I left the water running, as usual. Then the commercial popped into my head. I immediately shut off the water as I continued brushing. When I needed to rinse my mouth and the brush, I opened the water again. I probably did save three to four gallons of water. From now on that will be my new method.

Save The Date

I am very diligent about my yearly doctor visits. Last February, I visited one of my doctors during the worst ice storm. I never thought I would make the drive home safely. After the visit I booked my appointment for February 2016. Since it was so far in advance and I did not have a 2016 calendar, I took the appointment card and taped it onto the December 2015 page of my calendar. When it becomes 2016 I will mark it on the new calendar. Yesterday I received a call from that doctor's office telling me that they were already booking for May and since I was there in February, I should make an appointment as soon as I could. I told the girl that I already booked one. She said that my name does not appear on their computer schedule. I went to the December calendar and got the card. I told her that I have a card from her office staff saying February 1, 2016 at 2:40pm. She said that was last year's appointment card. I said that to my knowledge, we were still in 2015 and that February 2016 was months away. I then told her that she needed to call whomever was in that time slot and cancel them as it was my appointment. She paused a minute and said that I could come in at 2:25pm that day. I said okay. She asked me if I could fax her a copy of the appointment card so she could see who wrote it out but never actually booked it. I said I would do that today. Then I added that it was a good thing that I kept the card, otherwise she would have told me that I was 100% in the wrong and her office never booked that time. She was silent. I guess you really need to keep the "save the date" cards.

Packaging

We live in a modern world. Things are technologically advanced. We can talk on a wireless phone through a signal that beams from outer space. How come no one ever thought about updating the packaging of a bar of cream cheese? It is the worst packaging of any food. First there is a cardboard box that lifts open. Once you lift the flap, it never closes tightly again. If you open it from the side, it still remains unsealed. Once you get to the cheese, you need to fight with the foil wrapping. Lift two ends. Pull back from the seam. Now that you have accomplished that, do you cut the bar of cheese from the length or the width. Either way is sloppy. Once you have used the proper amount, you need to reseal the foil. Do you recinch it? Do you roll it? It never looks neat and it is never air tight. Now you have sloppy foil wrapped cheese being put into a floppy cardboard box. There has to be a better way.

The Cobbler

The other day my son asked me if I knew a good cobbler. I had to think for a minute. Did he mean a dessert? No, he meant a shoemaker. An old man that had a store that smelled of rubber cement. The kind of store that was in every neighborhood when I was younger. The shops always looked the same. They were dark and small and had tons of old shoes sitting on the floor and in the back. There was the wooden shoe that was attached upside down to his worktable. You brought in old broken shoes and they came out shiny and new. It was a spa for shoes. They were rejuvenated. When I moved into this neighborhood thirty years ago, there were three shoemakers. Now there are none. My son needed a new rivet on a leather case and only an old time shoemaker has the rivet machine. I will do a search for the closest cobbler. Somehow I think that there will be no items to match my search.

Business Dinner

Last night we went to dinner with our family. My sister in law and brother in law wanted to celebrate my son's new career move and they planned a great dinner at a wonderful restaurant. They brought a gift for the baby and he will enjoy playing with it for years to come. As usual it was a fun night. Great company, great food and great advice. The advice part was for me. My sister in law has an eye for art and a mind for sales. There are certain people who are always on target and she is one of them. I showed her some of my mosaic designs. Mosaics have become my new hobby. She gave me tips on what items would sell and how to price them. The item that she thought would be the best seller was so nice that my daughter in law took it home for herself. This morning I will be at Michael's rebuying the wooden plaque so I can recreate it and put it up for sale.