Simple Solution!

Could this be a chance to save trees, and at the same time let it be known that we will not tolerate the way we are being mistreated!


Perhaps I should start at the beginning. The beginning is the Blog I wrote some time back about the toilet tissue roll being smaller! That provoked a letter from an old friend and I will share it with you:
“Dear Gigi,

I read your blog about “Toilet Tissue and Broccoli” and thought about what you wrote and got to thinking about a way to get back at those tissue manufacturers. I had also noted that the price keeps going up and the size of the rolls are shrinking and it made me so mad. I added up about how much money I had spent on tissue in a 6 month period of time. There are 6 of us in the family so you can imagine. Three of us, female!

So, here is what I did!

I went out last month and bought 4 yards of white cotton knit fabric. I cut it up into squares about 6 by 6 inches. It took me a while. It made a nice little stack and I put them in a drawer beside the commode, but you could just stack some on the back, on the lid, you know. I fold them in half and …..blot. It works just fine and dandy.

The knit does not ravel so you don’t even need to hem them and the great thing about them is you just toss them in with any of your laundry because they don’t take up much room. I put them in my bathroom, and now all I ever use toilet tissue for is for is what the kids call “number two“.

I convinced the girls to use them in their bathroom. No need to suggest it for the boys bathroom. And my husband nearly laughed his head off when I told him what I had in mind doing. But you know him and as soon as I pointed out how much money I would be saving him each year well he began to see the value of my little idea.

I know you may think this is not a great idea but if it would catch on and every woman in the USA would do this, just think about how many trees we might save. We would probably put all those tissue makers out of business too. It sure would teach them a lesson.

As ever, Jeannine”

Interesting idea! I would point out what a mistake it would be to put them out of business. What would all the males do then? We still need that particular product. But you know what, some enterprising soul out there could take this idea, give the squares a jazzy name, and package, and sell them and make a fortune. Maybe you and Phil could do it!  Perhaps that could be the solution for the tissue makers to have as a side business, to make up for loss of income if this idea should catch on! Thanks for writing Jeannine, I am passing your letter on to someone who might present it to an ecology club!

My Own Time Change!

Some days TIME seems to stand still, or hardly moves at all.  Some days TIME seems to fly by.  I can manipulate time!  To a degree!  I can make it really speed up.  There are a few things that make it go faster and faster!  One is watching something very interesting on TV, like “America’s Funniest Home Videos.”  Another thing is the “Free Cell” game I mentioned in an earlier Blog.  That is a game that literally eats up the clock!  Genealogy is a hobby I picked up a few years ago, and that has made time fly by.  I remember, when I first started putting a family tree together, I would get so absorbed in running down a lead, on the Internet, I missed many meals.  I would look at the clock and think that it was nearly noon and I should stop soon and grab a bite to eat. Then what seemed like “30 minutes” later, a glance at the clock told me that it was now time for supper!


Speaking of the Internet reminds me of another method of speeding up time.  Face Book!  Often I get so involved in looking at the pictures posted by family members, all over the country, and have no control on time….It just runs away from me!

I can make time slow down too.  For instance, when I am supposed to be ready to go somewhere at, say 7:00, and I get ready early and then sit and wait for my ride to come pick me up……time then just crawls by!  Also, and this one hurts……..when I happen to doze off in the late afternoon and then when bedtime comes, I can NOT sleep!  I stare at the clock all night, and I keep thinking it has stopped as the minutes seem to just drag by so slowly!

Daylight Saving Time is here again.  It does not mean a thing to me!  My life does not change one iota.  The only TIME CHANGES I regard, are my own!

I Won The Lottery!

No, I really did NOT win the lottery.  I do, as so many people, wonder about what I would do with the money if I did actually win the lottery.  I have heard that your chance of being struck by lightning are far greater than winning!  The first thing I would do (if I ever bought a lottery ticket, and won,) would be to hire a lawyer!  Then I would see how fast I could rid myself of that money, as I happen to have a phobia about money.  I believe it is called Plutophobia, fear of wealth! Rightly so, as no one ever kidnaps children of poor families, and when you are not wealthy you can be sure your friends are not just after your money.

A million dollars does not go as far now, as when I was a kid.  A good size winning, would have to be anywhere from 100 to 150 million. Naturally, I think I would be sure that my family would receive some of it, but not enough to ruin them.  (Or cause someone to consider kidnapping their youngsters!)

Then I would set up very generous annuities for my School system for my City to use!

Then I would have a big time giving it away, anonymously!  I would be on the lookout for people in need and donate to them, in an amount that would get them back on their feet. (I think I would want to hire investigators to see how these gifts were handled.  I just have that kind of curiosity! Like the people who bring a gift, ring the doorbell and then hide, so they could watch the reaction of the person receiving the gift!) I have a feeling that some people would take care of their problems and never get back into financial trouble again. But I think there might be some who would not learn from their past, and would soon be in the same situation. I doubt I would help them a second time. That would be like putting the money down a rat hole. And I do believe there would be a better use for it. Some people you just can not help!

I like the idea of giving scholarships.  I would probably do a lot of that sort of thing.  Perhaps set up large annuities just for that purpose.  Fun to think about.  As I said, I would have to hire a lawyer first, because I am not sure about the legality of some of my ideas!  Perhaps one could not legally give a School system or a City a large annuity with strings attached.  Certainly, I would want some restrictions as I surely would want to avoid the possibility of greed allowing people in charge of the funds to use them unwisely or taking possession of sums for their private use!

Lots of ideas roam around in my head.  But while I am on the subject of “Lotteries”, I have begun to wonder about the Texas Lottery.  Recently one of the Dallas News broadcasts, aired a list of school districts, in Dallas and the surrounding area, that are deeply in debt, amounting to many millions, and the inevitability of cutting back on teachers, and other personnel, some pay cuts and enlarging the number of students in a classroom.

I scratched my head and thought about this.  It seemed to me that I recall when the “Texas Lottery” was going to benefit our schools. You know what I think?  If instead of purchasing those tickets, everyone would just donate that much money directly to their schools we would all benefit from that. People are funny!  They would balk at raising school taxes, but give no thought to the amount of money they waste each year on things like the lottery!  Just a thought!

When our schools are in trouble, we are all in trouble. 

Hold on a minute!

I had one devil of a time last week trying to get in touch with my electric company. When I called customer service I received the computer service!………..You just can NOT talk to a person any more!  First, after going through the menu of numbers to press for each category, I found that none of the categories covered what I wanted to inquire about.  So I punched one, hoping for a person.  Got another recording and given another menu.  Again, none fit my needs, so I punched another number and was told that I would be put on hold for, the computer voice said, “ 37 seconds” and that sounded good enough to me.  I really thought I was getting somewhere.  Computer voice broke into the elevator music that was annoying me and said that my call was 2nd in line and that, I would be on hold for 56 seconds……..I am loosing ground here.  But, I waited, and the third time the computer informed me that I would have to hold only 37 seconds, I blew up.  I also hung up.


I spent more time on the Internet trying to get to a site that could handle my problem………No luck there either. (Did, however, find a site that listed a myriad of complaints against the company! That was interesting reading.)

Day 2. So, I started all over and pretty much the same thing happened when I called the Customer Service number.  I finally pressed 0, and the computer voice came back on the line and asked me to hold while a representative could come on the line.  Wow, I thought, finally going to talk to a real person.  WRONG!  The phone for the rep. rang one time and then silence.  I waited, nothing happened!  I waited some more, then pressed 0 again.  Well of course that was useless.  I got a dial tone!  Tried the whole routine again later and got the same result.

I decided I would try to find a number in the Phone book and see if I could get somewhere that way!  I called the 800 number that was listed and the operator told me that that number had been changed!  It is the same number that is printed on my statement, so I did not know what to do next.  Decided to write a letter to the address of the Company located in Dallas.  Snail Mail!  But perhaps that old fashioned method would get some results. However, by this time I had forgotten what it was I needed to talk to them about.  But, I do have an envelope addressed to the company, in case I remember what was so urgent a question I had wanted to put to them, earlier.

Funny Thing About Humor!

Practical jokes are humorous to some people!

I remember when, on the 4th of July in my home town, it was a custom for the men to grow a beard, and there was a contest for the best beard. One fellow had grown a beautiful red beard and some of his “friends” caught him sound asleep and shaved one side of the beard and mustache off! You know they thought that was very funny.

Also knew of a fellow who planted turnip seeds in his friends newly seeded lawn. Pretty funny, huh? Probably not, if you are on the receiving end of that kind of humor!

I don’t like ethnic jokes! Remember when (or maybe you don’t) little moron jokes were all the rage, and then they became Polish jokes. I am not fond of jokes that belittle someone.

I get my biggest laughs, sometimes, from the news. For instance, one day it was reported that a boat on the river was overturned when all the passengers rushed to one side to view a nude beach! I thought that was pretty funny. I still get a laugh out of that when I think about it.

Or the time when we read in the paper about a man who had been found, in bed, dead, with 5 bullet holes! (That is not the funny part!) A week later there was a follow up to the story. It had been ruled a “suicide“! Wow, I have heard of some really bad shots before! But nothing like this!

Some cartoons are very funny. My daughter loves the cartoon showing a snail riding on the back of a turtle yelling “Wheeeee!” And recently I saw one called the first “Senior Moment!” Two dinosaurs sitting on a small island, Noah’s Ark was sailing off in the distance and one of the dinosaurs said “Oh Darn, was that today?”

Naturally you can not talk about humor without thinking of some very funny commercials! Right now, my favorite is the rattlesnake with a baby’s rattle attached to it’s tail. He approaches a rabbit, and when the rabbit catches sight of the rattle he falls over laughing! The Rattler with a look of embarrassment slowly retreats and hides his face. I have seen that so many times and still laugh at it.

I love what I call “O Henry’ type jokes. Typical one is about the timid soul who had gone Lion Hunting for the first time. He was telling a fellow hunter about it and the conversation went like this: “I was walking along in the jungle and it was getting dark, suddenly a lion jumped up in front of me and went ‘ROAR’. You know what? I just messed my britches!” His friend patted him on the shoulder and said he should not feel too bad. “That was a very scary moment and I am sure others were affected the same way.” The timid soul said, “No, I mean just now, when I went “ROAR”!

Now, with the Internet, I receive a lot of fwds. from my cousins in California and from friends. Usually very funny stuff. This week I got a list of interest to the elder citizens! This one I decided was the funniest of all. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night!

Hair Today, and Gone Tomorrow!

Fads come and go and normally I don’t mind, knowing they usually don’t last long. I remember some fads from my youth. Modes of the day, a style or fashion that is perhaps one generation’s rebellion against a tiresome tradition of the previous generation, or just the desire for something new! In fashions, it is a must, for it generates a whole new spending spree and is necessary to keep the clothing business flourishing! Some style changes, though, can damage an industry. Remember when, during the Kennedy years, men stopped wearing hats? That really did put a lot of hat manufacturers out of business. 

 

And of course, getting to the point of today’s Blog, hair! The changes that took place in the Barbershop business when men (boys) stopped getting haircuts. Oh I well remember the uproar by many parents and even most schools, when boys began to let their hair grow long.  I, for one, did not think that it was worth worrying about, and I thought it was nice to be rid of the “flat top” and peeled onion look that had been a popular earlier for youngsters.

 

Now to my point:  I have nothing against facial hair on men! In fact, my husband had a beard. It was a beautiful white one, and he kept it neatly trimmed except when he let it grow out a bit in order to play “Santa Claus” for the children of friends and relatives at Christmas. I have always loved to see men wearing a beard. Even like the “Fu Manchu” or “La Souvarov” or “Van Dyke” on some men! 

 

Currently, though, I am more than a little put off by what is going on with men regarding facial hair! I am referring to the quarter-inch growth that a good many men consider to be good looking. This is one fad that I will happily see go by the wayside! To me, it simply looks like they were too lazy to shave! It looks careless, and inconsiderate of the people they are in contact with daily!

 

In my way of thinking, “If you are going to grow a beard, for heavens sake, grow a BEARD!”

Otherwise, to me, the style ranks right up there with not brushing your teeth! Or wearing dirty clothes!

“One for the Road”

I was chosen for jury duty once, regarding a man who was fighting his 5th DUI charge, and his lawyer got his case thrown out on a technicality. I wanted to jump up and ask him how his lawyer was going to deal with his murder charge after he "kills" someone while driving drunk! 

 

I think it is possible that most people who drink have probably driven while drunk, or “tipsy”!

I have been a passenger, several times, when the driver had “had a few too many“ and fortunately we did not have an accident! And we were not even stopped by a patrolman. I dare say, most of the people I know, have been in a similar situation sometime in their life. 

 

However, we are all very aware that rarely a week goes by without the news reporting of one or more deaths on our highways and drinking was involved. (“That only happens to other people!”) Right? Seems we never consider it could happen to us. Never consider reputations, or jobs, or worst case, lives could be lost!

I really do believe the reason we do not punish DUI more severely is because……….

Drunk driving is so much more socially acceptable than getting drunk and waving a loaded gun around and firing it at random!