Hi. I'm updating my blog because I've been travelling around the personal finance, simplicity and minimalist blogs leaving comments this week and I wanted anyone who tracked back to me to see that I really am a going concern.:~)
National Novel Writing Month starts in about 10 days and I'm getting ready for it. I've got a title: "The Distancing Effect of September," which was inspired by photography by Laura at Rabbit Hole Says Hello. I've got a theme: personal morality and ethics. I've got a tone: pretty dark, but with the intellectual humor that I cannot help but include. I have time: the temporary job did not work out as a permanent one; the interviewed job went to someone else; I have to be around at home for the first half of November to expedite Child 2's drama troupe performance and the second half of the month to receive out-of-town visitors.
Until tax season starts in January, I am planning on focusing on writing, spending no money and getting rid of more stuff from my house. More on all of these subjects later as I have to go get the Princess from rehearsal now. (Have I mentioned how much I like to write? Damn it, I need to do this more often.)
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
What I'm doing
Hello to you if you found my blog through Facebook. I go back and forth about how public I want to be with my opinions and writing and right now "more public" is on an upswing, based a lot on the experiences I've had with comments re: President Obama's speech to the kids and before that the idea of basic healthcare being available to everyone, inexpensively.
I have been at home, collecting unemployment (which yes, the IRS defines as unearned, but taxable, income) since December 1, 2008. I've been diligently job searching: job boards, recruiters, networking activities, etc., but I have not yet been offered a position that comes anywhere close to my previous pay or even to the weekly unemployment check - I'm at the state maximum and that's about a third of what I was making before. So, since there is no incentive to go get a minimum wage job until some time in mid-October when the stimulus unemployment benefits run out (I am an example of that being useful - both the income and the significantly reduced COBRA prices), I have been working mostly at home on the aforementioned job search and other personal projects.
I've been doing some bookkeeping for a few small clients (note to GA DOL: I haven't been working for pay; I'll start getting paid when the unemployment runs out). I'm now taking the H&R Block tax course and its attendant homework. I'm closely monitoring the homework and grades of my children.
I've been working on the neverending process of getting my house to a more minimalist condition. (Hold on: I had to stop to laugh out loud. I have a pre-teen, a teen and a husband with extensive collections of media. It's a dream, but a persistent one.) I'm trying to manage my household, laundry and dishes never end, and my health, which has been a little turbulent this summer and fall. I've been writing, but not enough, although here you are witness to some more progress.
Lately, I've been reading, which is really the best part of this whole deal. I had been feeling so guilty about not getting a job that I didn't read much for the first six months or so after I got laid off. This summer, I finally got over that. I've got a ton of time in my day, way more than the conventional working eight hours, now that I don't commute anywhere or take a lunch break. Even after I do every possible thing in the above activities, there are still large expanses of free time in my week. I've started reading or re-reading the books in my collection to see if I want to keep them or sell or donate them. I've been reading suggested books out of the library, too, mainly that I find suggested on the several blogs I follow. I'm afraid I may not get a chance like this again and I'm trying to exploit it for all it's worth.
~Noelle
I have been at home, collecting unemployment (which yes, the IRS defines as unearned, but taxable, income) since December 1, 2008. I've been diligently job searching: job boards, recruiters, networking activities, etc., but I have not yet been offered a position that comes anywhere close to my previous pay or even to the weekly unemployment check - I'm at the state maximum and that's about a third of what I was making before. So, since there is no incentive to go get a minimum wage job until some time in mid-October when the stimulus unemployment benefits run out (I am an example of that being useful - both the income and the significantly reduced COBRA prices), I have been working mostly at home on the aforementioned job search and other personal projects.
I've been doing some bookkeeping for a few small clients (note to GA DOL: I haven't been working for pay; I'll start getting paid when the unemployment runs out). I'm now taking the H&R Block tax course and its attendant homework. I'm closely monitoring the homework and grades of my children.
I've been working on the neverending process of getting my house to a more minimalist condition. (Hold on: I had to stop to laugh out loud. I have a pre-teen, a teen and a husband with extensive collections of media. It's a dream, but a persistent one.) I'm trying to manage my household, laundry and dishes never end, and my health, which has been a little turbulent this summer and fall. I've been writing, but not enough, although here you are witness to some more progress.
Lately, I've been reading, which is really the best part of this whole deal. I had been feeling so guilty about not getting a job that I didn't read much for the first six months or so after I got laid off. This summer, I finally got over that. I've got a ton of time in my day, way more than the conventional working eight hours, now that I don't commute anywhere or take a lunch break. Even after I do every possible thing in the above activities, there are still large expanses of free time in my week. I've started reading or re-reading the books in my collection to see if I want to keep them or sell or donate them. I've been reading suggested books out of the library, too, mainly that I find suggested on the several blogs I follow. I'm afraid I may not get a chance like this again and I'm trying to exploit it for all it's worth.
~Noelle
Friday, September 04, 2009
Letter to Editor re: Obama's speech on 9/8
I am MAD! Following is an email I sent to the Cobb County School Commissioner and the principal of my childrens' middle school, then on to the editorial page of the Atlanta Journal-Constition - my first letter to the editor EVER.
Dear Dr. Sanderson and Principal:
I am the parent of two children at a middle school in Cobb County.
I writing to express my extreme disappointment that my children will not get to participate in the live, national broadcast of President Obama's speech to school children next week. Their opportunity to hear the speech in school, with their peers and teachers available for discussion, seems to me an excellent chance for our children to participate in civil, public discourse as practice for one day becoming responsible citizens of our country.
Based on the rhetoric flying around the social media sites, I believe this decision was based on a few loud, panicked parents who somehow got the idea that this was going to be an "indoctrination" message from the White House. Unless you know of some new technology to make children behave (and if so, can I use it to get additional help around the house?) and/or influence their parents' behavior, this is clearly a lot of sound and fury about what should be a special event that brings all Americans together for discussion. Instead, it has become some sort of "mental safety" issue and completely without merit.
This level of irrational rhetoric did not surround any of the Inaugurations that my children watched in school in previous years, nor national addresses from Presidents Bush and Reagan in the past. When 9/11 happened, the children watched or discussed this issue in school as well - as appropriate to their ages - and there was no question about "opting out" about discussing this important event.
Will this be a new trend, that if a small, vocal group does not want their children to hear about a period of our national history, or some aspect of math or language arts, that the parents can "opt out" of it for their children? The answer is, yes, they can choose not to participate in the public schools by making other arrangements for schooling. For the rest of us, who participate in the schools by sending our children to the schools and participating as parents and citizens of Cobb County, this is a failure of leadership and thoughtful consideration for the education and welfare of all our children.
~Noelle Davis
Dear Dr. Sanderson and Principal:
I am the parent of two children at a middle school in Cobb County.
I writing to express my extreme disappointment that my children will not get to participate in the live, national broadcast of President Obama's speech to school children next week. Their opportunity to hear the speech in school, with their peers and teachers available for discussion, seems to me an excellent chance for our children to participate in civil, public discourse as practice for one day becoming responsible citizens of our country.
Based on the rhetoric flying around the social media sites, I believe this decision was based on a few loud, panicked parents who somehow got the idea that this was going to be an "indoctrination" message from the White House. Unless you know of some new technology to make children behave (and if so, can I use it to get additional help around the house?) and/or influence their parents' behavior, this is clearly a lot of sound and fury about what should be a special event that brings all Americans together for discussion. Instead, it has become some sort of "mental safety" issue and completely without merit.
This level of irrational rhetoric did not surround any of the Inaugurations that my children watched in school in previous years, nor national addresses from Presidents Bush and Reagan in the past. When 9/11 happened, the children watched or discussed this issue in school as well - as appropriate to their ages - and there was no question about "opting out" about discussing this important event.
Will this be a new trend, that if a small, vocal group does not want their children to hear about a period of our national history, or some aspect of math or language arts, that the parents can "opt out" of it for their children? The answer is, yes, they can choose not to participate in the public schools by making other arrangements for schooling. For the rest of us, who participate in the schools by sending our children to the schools and participating as parents and citizens of Cobb County, this is a failure of leadership and thoughtful consideration for the education and welfare of all our children.
~Noelle Davis
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Giving the kids some space
I posted this as a comment over on Becoming Minimalist and, since it was a pretty long comment, I decided it could become my own blog post. Of course, I've edited it a little, because the writing is never finished. :~)
My kids are 13 and 11 and I've purged their rooms about once a year for their lives to date, including twice for moves where I've gotten rid of multiple Hefty bags of stuff. Amazingly, stuff keeps accumulating.
I recently read a quote somewhere about letting kids have some freedom of expression in how they live, including a messy space if they want it, so this year I've decided to let them live in their own space with these caveats:
1. No food in bedrooms. Also, no old food wrappers that were left in pockets. If bugs might like it, it cannot come upstairs.
2. I only do laundry that is in hampers (I will *not* pick things up off the floor or go searching for dirty clothes). So, if you want it for school, get it in a hamper or wash it yourself.
The fact that I still do their laundry is mighty nice, I know, although I didn't start doing most of my laundry until college (thanks, Mom). This niceness may end if I get back to work full time.
3. The floor must be *completely* clear once every two weeks for the cleaning lady so she can vacuum, dust and make beds. I don't care where it goes, but the stuff has to be hidden. :~)
I tried living without Patricia for a few months, but I find I just do not have the physical ability (ask me sometime about my early menopause and my lousy back) to do serious housework anymore. Serious planning went into making budget room for her. After Scott, she is the number one person I want to make happy.
4. I just remembered another: Homework is done downstairs in the common area so that I can monitor it being done and watch it go back into backpacks, which also live downstairs. This will probably work as both are in middle school now, plus they both prefer to have company while doing almost *everything*.
To implement the above, I went through and cleared all the floors in their rooms by putting everything in clear bins and stacking them up in the closet and around the edge of the rooms. I offered to help them sort any time they want, but I warned them that my style is to toss A LOT a la Peter Walsh, so no one has taken me up on this offer yet.
I don't know yet how this social experiment is going to work. It's been almost two weeks and I have to just close the doors to their rooms (especially the girl with clothes EVERYWHERE) to avoid looking at the mess. I didn’t come to a simplified life until my late 20’s and minimalism until my late 30’s, so it may take a while until they drink the kool aid with me.
My kids are 13 and 11 and I've purged their rooms about once a year for their lives to date, including twice for moves where I've gotten rid of multiple Hefty bags of stuff. Amazingly, stuff keeps accumulating.
I recently read a quote somewhere about letting kids have some freedom of expression in how they live, including a messy space if they want it, so this year I've decided to let them live in their own space with these caveats:
1. No food in bedrooms. Also, no old food wrappers that were left in pockets. If bugs might like it, it cannot come upstairs.
2. I only do laundry that is in hampers (I will *not* pick things up off the floor or go searching for dirty clothes). So, if you want it for school, get it in a hamper or wash it yourself.
The fact that I still do their laundry is mighty nice, I know, although I didn't start doing most of my laundry until college (thanks, Mom). This niceness may end if I get back to work full time.
3. The floor must be *completely* clear once every two weeks for the cleaning lady so she can vacuum, dust and make beds. I don't care where it goes, but the stuff has to be hidden. :~)
I tried living without Patricia for a few months, but I find I just do not have the physical ability (ask me sometime about my early menopause and my lousy back) to do serious housework anymore. Serious planning went into making budget room for her. After Scott, she is the number one person I want to make happy.
4. I just remembered another: Homework is done downstairs in the common area so that I can monitor it being done and watch it go back into backpacks, which also live downstairs. This will probably work as both are in middle school now, plus they both prefer to have company while doing almost *everything*.
To implement the above, I went through and cleared all the floors in their rooms by putting everything in clear bins and stacking them up in the closet and around the edge of the rooms. I offered to help them sort any time they want, but I warned them that my style is to toss A LOT a la Peter Walsh, so no one has taken me up on this offer yet.
I don't know yet how this social experiment is going to work. It's been almost two weeks and I have to just close the doors to their rooms (especially the girl with clothes EVERYWHERE) to avoid looking at the mess. I didn’t come to a simplified life until my late 20’s and minimalism until my late 30’s, so it may take a while until they drink the kool aid with me.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Some of the thrill is gone
Warning: possible triggering content follows.
Chips Ahoy! cookies (insert trademark symbol somewhere here) do not taste as good as they used to.
I had thought this the last time I bought them - maybe two months ago - and I reconfirmed it today when I broke into the new bag that I bought yesterday. The "base" of the cookie - not the chocolate chip part, the main cookie part - has an odd "fake" taste that I don't remember - like the sugar or the flour have been substituted for, which I'm sure it has since this is a mass-produced and -marketed product, but it tastes worse than I remember.
And before you say anything, I don't think it's a function of maturity and knowing how "real" food tastes. Even when I lived with Sharlys the Amazing, who cooked great stuff from scratch, I still enjoyed Chips Ahoy! (love the exclamation mark, makes me feel like a pirate) cookies on their own merits.
And they're thinner than they used to be, based on my recollection from about 1989 when I used to methodically consume one or two entire sleeves - a half or whole package - on a lazy Sunday afternoon with a book in my dorm room at college. I think I probably continued the tradition until my late 20's, until the time when what and how I ate became politicized (sp?) at my house.
Now that the pressure to eat "right" is gone, I tried bringing the Chips Ahoys! back, but it's not the same. There is nothing I can do about this decline in food quality and taste, other than stop buying them, but that prospect makes me a little sad and nostalgic for the old habit.
Chips Ahoy! cookies (insert trademark symbol somewhere here) do not taste as good as they used to.
I had thought this the last time I bought them - maybe two months ago - and I reconfirmed it today when I broke into the new bag that I bought yesterday. The "base" of the cookie - not the chocolate chip part, the main cookie part - has an odd "fake" taste that I don't remember - like the sugar or the flour have been substituted for, which I'm sure it has since this is a mass-produced and -marketed product, but it tastes worse than I remember.
And before you say anything, I don't think it's a function of maturity and knowing how "real" food tastes. Even when I lived with Sharlys the Amazing, who cooked great stuff from scratch, I still enjoyed Chips Ahoy! (love the exclamation mark, makes me feel like a pirate) cookies on their own merits.
And they're thinner than they used to be, based on my recollection from about 1989 when I used to methodically consume one or two entire sleeves - a half or whole package - on a lazy Sunday afternoon with a book in my dorm room at college. I think I probably continued the tradition until my late 20's, until the time when what and how I ate became politicized (sp?) at my house.
Now that the pressure to eat "right" is gone, I tried bringing the Chips Ahoys! back, but it's not the same. There is nothing I can do about this decline in food quality and taste, other than stop buying them, but that prospect makes me a little sad and nostalgic for the old habit.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Separating the art from the artist
This idea has been in my head since I watched a "Penn Says" on Crackle (if I get around to it, I'll add the link) where, in a story about how he was having to shill his "Bullshit" show on a Chicago radio station the same day that the news about Michael Jackson broke. And Penn Jillette, who I admire but don't always agree with, mentioned that he was okay with the mourning of MJ because he separated the art from the artist.
This made me think that I have a very difficult time doing that: two examples that come to mind immediately are James Brown, wife-beater, and Mel Gibson, crazy religion conspiracy nut. A less severe case is Harrison Ford who, after I heard him sound just dumb as a stump doing an interview, is a lot harder for me to take seriously when I see him in a serious role. I guess he's a little different because I can think of him as a blank slate who "becomes" his role. But what about Mel? This guy is in maybe my favorite movie of all time, "Payback," but actively supports (supported? maybe he's changed) a wacko-Catholic, anti-Jewish agenda.
As liberal as I am, I am still a supporter of capitalism and I hate the idea of "voting with my dollars" for people I don't want to enrich. And what if they are dead, as James Brown is? If I acknowledge that I want to dance to his music, am I adding to his legacy of rock greatness and ignoring his bad behavior?
It's not about politics: I'm still all about Tom Selleck because when he's expressed his conservative political views they seem thought out and rational (for him) to me.
Another example: Tom Cruise and John Travolta. Scientology is crazy and dangerous and I'm not going to modulate my position on that at all. How much of what I spend at the theatre is going to end up in the coffers of that brainwashing machine?
This is all kind of tricky for me. I'd like to think of myself as a live and let live sort of person, but I think I'm moving toward judgemental or at least protectivist (is that a word?) against letting the more errant members of society, especially the ones with a large public platform, have a long leash if any.
I'm happy to have written my 500 words today and vented about this, but I didn't actually resolve anything. Guess I'll have to write some more. LOL.
~Noelle
This made me think that I have a very difficult time doing that: two examples that come to mind immediately are James Brown, wife-beater, and Mel Gibson, crazy religion conspiracy nut. A less severe case is Harrison Ford who, after I heard him sound just dumb as a stump doing an interview, is a lot harder for me to take seriously when I see him in a serious role. I guess he's a little different because I can think of him as a blank slate who "becomes" his role. But what about Mel? This guy is in maybe my favorite movie of all time, "Payback," but actively supports (supported? maybe he's changed) a wacko-Catholic, anti-Jewish agenda.
As liberal as I am, I am still a supporter of capitalism and I hate the idea of "voting with my dollars" for people I don't want to enrich. And what if they are dead, as James Brown is? If I acknowledge that I want to dance to his music, am I adding to his legacy of rock greatness and ignoring his bad behavior?
It's not about politics: I'm still all about Tom Selleck because when he's expressed his conservative political views they seem thought out and rational (for him) to me.
Another example: Tom Cruise and John Travolta. Scientology is crazy and dangerous and I'm not going to modulate my position on that at all. How much of what I spend at the theatre is going to end up in the coffers of that brainwashing machine?
This is all kind of tricky for me. I'd like to think of myself as a live and let live sort of person, but I think I'm moving toward judgemental or at least protectivist (is that a word?) against letting the more errant members of society, especially the ones with a large public platform, have a long leash if any.
I'm happy to have written my 500 words today and vented about this, but I didn't actually resolve anything. Guess I'll have to write some more. LOL.
~Noelle
Monday, July 20, 2009
Update on blog status
Hi, faithful blog readers. You may not have noticed (because you are on the approved list), but I have made this blog private for the time being. With the job search going on and possibly the new job at the very conservative place as a real possibility (second interview Tuesday afternoon), I thought it would be better to keep some of my more interesting posts under wraps. Plus, I want to be able to write here unrestrictedly (is that a word?) - in an unrestricted fashion. If you find someone else who you think should read along, let me know and I'll invite them in.
So that's what's up. I owe Joe an addition to the story in the comments and I'll work on that after this interview excitement is over. Other topics to be covered: separating the art from the artist; civility in modern times, or "same as it ever was;" mommy-lit; and other subjects to considered later.
~N.
So that's what's up. I owe Joe an addition to the story in the comments and I'll work on that after this interview excitement is over. Other topics to be covered: separating the art from the artist; civility in modern times, or "same as it ever was;" mommy-lit; and other subjects to considered later.
~N.
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