“You have a tendency to be the interest of many men. You’re beautiful, intelligent, extremely powerful, but also extremely caring. The perfect woman!” Well, that IS me. And Jean Gray, a superhero I’ve actually heard of! ***
You Are 83% Burned Out
You are extremely burned out. You work too hard, and you’re not getting the results you deserve. It’s time for a life change, as soon as you can manage it. You’re giving away most of your energy to something you don’t even enjoy.
My mother really didn’t want anything for her 80th birthday. So we didn’t give her anything. Instead we took things away. My sister Leslie flew in from San Diego to Charlotte on Tuesday the 13th and I from Albany on Thursday the 15th. The mission: to get rid of stuff, specifically from the shed, which is the size of a small trailer home, that’s in the back yard.
Part of the task was to ascertain just what was there, so there was a lot of sorting of papers. But we were able to put all those canceled checks from 1983 in the “to be shredded” pile, and Avon catalogs for the last decade of the 20th century in the recycle pile, except for the back page stamped with Mom’s name and phone number, to the shred pile.
We also had to deal with a nasty little infestation of ants, hundreds of these large black insects eating away at everything in one corner of the structure.
We did keep photos and references to my father’s 39 (or more) businesses. And there were things we kept of sentimental value. But lots of stuff went, including, unfortunately, a box of FantaCo publications that had gone to mold.
All told 562 pounds went to the shredder. I’ve discovered that there are companies that will come to your house and for about $90 for the first 500 pounds, shred the stuff right there. Some of the companies even have cameras inside the vehicles where you can see the shredding take place. We opted to go with a company that was a member of the NAID®, the National Association for Information Destruction. This process beats the heck out of doing it yourself with some $30 shredder from Office Max, since the cuts are more precise, and the time savings is ENORMOUS.
Additionally, 14 Avon boxes of recycling went to the recycling place and 13 contractor bags went to the garbage. My sister Marcia held a garage sale for some other items, and while not much of it sold, not much of it returned either, since Leslie found some medical charity to pick up the unsold items after the event. Marcia also took a few things to Goodwill.
So, I think it is not a reach to think that we got rid of 1000 pounds of stuff before Leslie and I left a week ago Tuesday. And Mom’s happier with things going off her property than coming onto it.
If you’re tackling such a project, consider latex gloves; we occasionally used hospital masks as well, though not as often as we should have. Also, drink PLENTY of water to wash out whatever toxins you might come in contact with.
Politics, Race, Comics, Music, Sports, Weather – we do it all
U.S. Thanksgiving Day, we drove from Albany to Oneonta, and saw the temperature rise from 44 and fog to 52 to 68F in a little more than an hour. Then that afternoon, the temperature plummeted, where it’s been ever since. *** I received this question, as did a number of other bloggers: “I’d be interested in your reaction to this: An effort underway to remove Pelosi as Speaker, and make way for impeachment. Details. What flaws do you see with this plan; and is there a way to block this?”
As I’ve made abundantly clear, I favor the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. But the idea of impeaching Pelosi for her “high crimes and misdemeanors” of NOT impeaching them in order to impeaching them seems a bit surreal. Actually, it reminds me of a maneuver of my former church whereby the associate pastor was removed in order to make way for removing the senior pastor, except that it took 10 years to actually remove the senior pastor.
Regardless, the impeachment of Nancy Pelosi is highly unlikely to happen. And even if it did, impeachment of Bush/Cheney won’t happen. The Democrats are too risk averse. And oddly, from everything I’ve read, impeachment might very well STRENGTHEN the Democrats as it did in 1974, and as it did for the Republicans in 1868. *** The current TV Guide lists the current Presidential candidates’ favorite television programs. Will Fred Hembeck support Barack Obama, now that Obama’s come out in favor of SponngeBob Squarepants? And speaking of Fred, read Hembeck: Court Jester of Comics, an interview by Peter Sanderson in Publishers’ Weekly. *** A couple things I learned from ADD, one directly, one indirectly: Tom Spurgeon’s Holiday Shopping Guide and an interview with David Michaelis, biographer of Charles Schulz. Oh, and Gordon says nice things about the book about the creator of the Peanuts comic strip. *** I don’t really follow college football, and don’t like how the polls determine rankings; I’m more of an NFL fan. Still, I prefer the way cthe college game settles ties, with each team getting a chance or two (or three, in the case of Arkansas’ upset of LSU last week) to the randomness of the coin toss to determine who’ll get the ball first, and quite possibly, score and win. *** Cracked.com shows video clips of 8 of The 9 Most Racist Disney Characters: #9. The Merchant from Aladdin #8. Sebastian from The Little Mermaid #7. The Crows from Dumbo #6. King Louie from The Jungle Book #5. The Siamese Twin Gang from Chip n’ Dale Rescue Rangers #4. Sunflower the Centaur from Fantasia #3. The Indians from Peter Pan #2. Uncle Remus from Song of the South #1. Thursday from Mickey Mouse and the Boy Thursday (Book) The Little Mermaid clip surprised me, but I see its validity on the list. Even though I feel uncomfortable with Song of the South – I do remember it in re-release c. 1960, I think, the movement to get Song of the South released on video doesn’t bother me. Not to say that I’ll buy it. *** Also from Cracked.com: Ridiculous Overseas Rip-Offs of American Films, including a hysterical “Thriller” from India, a cheesy “Star Wars” from Turkey, and this Beatles Indian riff featuring, of all people, Mark Cuban:
In the room where Lydia had been sleeping, there was a large closet that really limited the space a growing girl would need. So, while I was on a business trip, Carol, her father and our contractor had it taken down, which was fine. The trouble is that it left big holes in places that will have to be patched before the room can be reoccupied, mostly to avoid the dust.
This meant that Lydia had been sleeping in the guest room, in a very large bed. While she was comfortable sleeping alone in her Lydia-sided bed, she’s loath to do it in the big bed, but “needs” someone to sleep with. This is normally my wife, who I wake up 30 minutes after we they go to bed. But sometimes, I can’t wake her, and end up sleeping alone. When Carol has evening meetings, I’m the one who ends up sleeping with the child, and apparently, I cannot be awakened, though I generally wake up on my own and go back to my bed.
Once the room was repaired, then the room was repainted, for the former closet area was totally a different color from the rest of the room. I’m thinking, “I cannot wait. My daughter in her room, in her bed. My wife and I in our bed, all night. I can’t wait.”
So the room is ready, but the girl is not. As I feared, she got acclimated to the guest room, and finds her nice new room foreign, even with all in there. I hear patience is a virtue; I must be a virtuous soul. ROG
I used to do this once a month, but haven’t since July; if I’m ever going to get to movies that came out after I was born, I’d better get to it.
Picture: THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA, “The Awful Truth”, “Captains Courageous”, “Dead End”, “The Good Earth”, “In Old Chicago”, “Lost Horizon”, “One Hundred Men and a Girl”, “Stage Door”, “A Star is Born” Actor: SPENCER TRACY in “Captains Courageous”, Charles Boyer in “Conquest”, Fredric March in “A Star is Born”, Robert Montgomery in “Night Must Fall”, Paul Muni in “The Life of Emile Zola” Actress: LUISE RAINER in “The Good Earth”, Irene Dunne in “The Awful Truth”, Greta Garbo in “Camille”, Janet Gaynor in “A Star is Born”, Barbara Stanwyck in “Stella Dallas” Supporting Actor: JOSEPH SCHILDKRAUT in “The Life of Emile Zola”, Ralph Bellamy in “The Awful Truth”, Thomas Mitchell in “The Hurricane”, H. B. Warner in “Lost Horizon”, Roland Young in “Topper” Supporting Actress: ALICE BRADY in “In Old Chicago”, Andrea Leeds in “Stage Door”, Anne Shirley in “Stella Dallas”, Claire Trevor in “Dead End”, May Whitty in “Night Must Fall” Director: LEO MCCAREY for “The Awful Truth”, William Dieterle for “The Life of Emile Zola”, Sidney Franklin for “The Good Earth”, Gregory La Cava for “Stage Door”, William Wellmann for “A Star is Born”
I’m sure I saw, on TV, Captains Courageous and The Good Earth and quite possible Emile Zola and Stella Dallas, but none of them since I used to watch movies on Saturday and Sunday afternoons as a kid, and none of them have stuck, except The Good Earth; I found the struggle to survive on the farm quite moving. *** 100 Movies, 100 Quotes, 100 Numbers
