Monthly Archives: December 2015

The To-Do Pile

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To do is to be. -Socrates

To be is to do. -Jean-Paul Sartre

Do-be-do-be-do. –Frank Sinatra

Here is my regular view at work. Course tree, student curriculum, and a lot more on screen. The computer and cubicle await my return after break, on Monday.

My students call me Mrs. O.K. The mug is awesome.

My students call me Mrs. O.K. The mug is awesome.

If I turn my head, I’ll see what replaces a to-do list in my cubicle: the To-Do Pile. Textbook teacher’s manual, student work waiting to be graded, file folder and sticky note instructions, and more.

The Dreaded To-Do Pile

The Dreaded To-Do Pile

Later in the day, I turned to reach for something in the pile, only to find out it had grown while I wasn’t looking!

Where di this second textbook come from?

Where did this second textbook come from?

In case you’re thinking “That’s not very big, Daisy” let me remind you that the majority of work I grade comes in online. This is only a tiny fraction of my workload. Some of my students worked during their break, too, so I know there will be tests, quizzes, and essays awaiting my virtual pen.

I think I like the first view better. At least that view includes coffee. Happy New Year to all, and may your to-do lists and piles be reasonable.

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So far, yet not far enough.

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While shopping in a small kitchen specialty store, I pulled out my own reusable shopping bag. As I unzipped and unfolded it, the young clerk remarked, “Ooh, are you being green this holiday?” I took a deep breath to prevent saying anything rude or stupid, and just said, “I’ve been carrying my own shopping bags for years.” I mean, it was 2009 when I posted my conflict with a local Sears store that wouldn’t allow me to use my own bag, despite the irony of it being Earth Day and that the Target store down the hall was actually giving away reusable cloth bags.

So here we are, six years later, so I’ll offer a few observations as noted in the archives of Compost Happens.

Here’s the historic post from the Earth Day not noted by Sears.

The long day of teaching that ended with me not using my own lunch bag, something unusual for the eco-conscious Daisy.

A couple years after that Earth Day conflict, La Petite and I went out late in the day on Black Friday armed with our own bags.

Some things stay the same. Here’s an example of a midweek farmers’ market, complete with pictures of my usual bags.

The Pharmacy That Shall Not be Named has gotten better. They ask me if I need a bag, and when I say no, they also remove the unnecessary papers. These papers still end up in the recycling, though. The staff at the pharmacy could make improvements.

My thoughtful analysis is this: if I was already carrying my own bag often enough to be shocked at the refusal at Sears, I must have been providing a reusable shopping bag long before Earth Day, 2009. If this young cashier thought it was unique and cool to be green this holiday season, she’s a bit behind the times, but she’ll catch up.

Readers, do you run into resistance or disbelief when you provide your own shopping bags? I hope the comments will show that it’s getting easier to be green.

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The Wrapping Battle – the prequel

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A big box store ran an ad in the Sunday inserts: Buy $20 worth of merchandise and get a $5 store gift card! I almost bought it – er, bought into it. Then I read the ad again. To get the $5 store credit on a gift card, I would have needed to buy $20 worth of gift wrapping material. What?!? Friends, if you’re spending $20 on gift wrap, you’re spending too much. When it comes to wrapping paper, a green philosophy is also frugal.

Now that the den floor has been cleared, the tissue has been stored, and the boxes are stacked awaiting their turn at recycling, let’s look at my other attempts to minimize the use of commercial wrapping paper.

Wrapping Tip: Look for opportunities to reuse.

Wrapping Tip: Look for opportunities to reuse.

The large bag is festive on its own; I brought home supper in it last week. The red and white and fun tissues are all reused. The only part of the wrapping that was purchased new? The curling ribbon holding the tag (made from last year’s holiday cards).

Box decked with bag

Box decked with bag

I covered the Popcorn Factory logo with a seasonal logo cut out of a paper grocery bag.

Center: wine bag repurposed

Center: wine bag repurposed

Another wine bag - repurposed with grocery bag cutouts

Another wine bag – repurposed with grocery bag cutouts

another wine bag, sitting beside a reused bucket

another wine bag, sitting beside a reused bucket

I could buy a large quantity of bows, curling ribbon, or maybe clear tape. It would take an awful lot to reach the $20 minimum. I think I’ll stick to my green and frugal wrapping habits. Readers, what’s your preference? Do you reuse and reduce, or do you go for the trappings and trimmings of wrapping?

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The Wrapping Battle

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I keep trying. Wrapping paper, to me, resembles a single use plastic bag. That is, wrapping paper is a waste of money and creates massive amounts of trash destined for landfills. Almost none of it is recycled or recyclable. Very little can be burned in a fireplace due to the chemical content. Unless it comes from a thrift store or the dollar aisle, wrapping paper is not cost effective, either.

My family disagrees. This year, they took pleasure in making a mess of any wrapping paper they could. Their goal: prevent mom from saving big sheets of paper for reuse.

the chaos after opening gifts

the chaos after opening gifts

Well, I did what I could.

garbage, below salvaged tissue for reuse, above

garbage, below
salvaged tissue for reuse, above

Given the sizable stacks of gifts, I can’t feel too bad. The stack of reusable tissue is almost as big as the bag destined for the garbage bin. I also managed to set aside this collection.

cute box filled with gift bags

cute box filled with gift bags

Despite the family’s efforts to undermine my green goals, I managed to save more than we threw away. And that, my bloggy friends, is itself a gift.

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And then life happened.

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I was planning on blogging, and then —

Work exhausted me. ‘Nuff said.

I prepped my usual staff meeting night chili and had Amigo add the noodles. I almost forgot to plug in the crock pot before I left for work.

I graded a megaton of final drafts. The student who submitted the wrong document (again) asked me to send it back to her because she’d accidentally deleted her draft – again. Nope.

My boss was followed, road rage style, on her way to school by someone with a vehicle that looked exactly like mine. (It’s okay. She knows it wasn’t me. I just happened to pull in the parking lot right behind her and wonder why the liaison officer was glaring at me.)

I still can’t find my zip-up Packer sweater.

I brought my laptop to the computer store for diagnosis and repair, and was told that it might take almost a full week to get parts shipped in and fix it. A week? My holiday shopping spreadsheet

And then my luck started turning around.

I arrived at school early this morning, Kwik Trip coffee and muffin and cranberry juice (never mind why the cranberry juice) in hand, turned on my Canadian Brass Christmas CD and graded papers like a machine.

I spent the afternoon on a field trip — a tour of Lambeau Field and the Packer Hall of Fame, ending with a “tour” of the Packer Pro Shop. I wore my “ugly” green and gold sweater, and all the families on the tour loved it.

Computer store called. My laptop did not need repair after all. We took off our cozy slippers and drove to the store immediately. We bought a spare power cord, just in case the current cord is wearing out but wouldn’t show it to the wonderful geeks who fix things. That totally happens, people. It’s like the kid recovering miraculously in the doctor’s office.

We received a package with a big tin of popcorn in it. I think I’ll eat some for breakfast.

I now have my holiday shopping spreadsheet again. No one will be forgotten for Christmas.

Life is good.

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Light! More light! Mason jar light!

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That was our college motto: Light! More light! These are lights we saw at a local vintage store. They’re made from canning jars, hanging on chains that are a nice shade of blue, much like my kitchen.

Jar lights

Jar lights

We looked at them closely and decided they would be better with a more original shaped bulb, but we could do that. Then we walked a little farther down the row and saw this one.

More light!

More light!

This one is more of a plain color scheme and has no chain. It would work in our dining room, though. Then Chuck had an idea.

“Let’s call the booth owner and see if we can contract him or her to make a set of hanging lights to replace the chandelier above the dining room table. Take a wagon wheel, for example, and hang four of these lights from it. That would look awesome.”

Well, the booth owner didn’t have anymore mason jar lights, and she wasn’t interested in doing custom work (party pooper). I do know someone who might, though. She makes and refinishes custom furniture. If she’s not interested in the electrical part of it, Chuck can do that.

Think. Think. Think. This has possibilities.

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Music soothes.

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Like the rest of the world, we had a hard time last week, listening to the news coming out of San Bernardino, California. Two circumstances brought it close to home: that the shooting was in a center that served adults with developmental disabilities, and that a school for the blind was directly across the street.

News folks talked to a leader at the center from the blind, announced that no one there was hurt, and they had in fact sheltered some who ran from the shooting site. We felt a small amount of relief.

Then we took a collective deep breath and went on with our lives. Amigo put on his costume for the Barbershop Bistro show, and we headed out of the house. Chuck and Amigo left their phones behind. I set mine on vibrate and tucked it deep in my purse. When we arrived, we set the sad world news aside for a little while.

The show had a 1940s theme. Here's Amigo.

The show had a 1940s theme. Here’s Amigo.

Just a few weeks earlier, we’d been at the local museum for the Festival of Trees. Can you find Amigo in the group? At first, neither could I. He fits in very well.

Jingle, Jingle, Jingle!

Jingle, Jingle, Jingle!

Music soothes. It can’t take away the violence, but it can take us out of the big bad world for a little while, lower our blood pressure, and celebrate being together with those we love.

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As Seen On TV

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I had to read this three times before I really believed it was on the air, in the crawl at the base of the screen on a local shall-remain-nameless evening news show.

The Wisconsin state assembly passed a bill doubling the limit on campaign contributions and allowing candidates to coordinate with shadowy special interest groups without debate.

I’m not sure which is worse: the obvious bias or the split-all-to-heck descriptor. No, I take that back. The worst part of this sentence is that it’s true. The state assembly passed, without debate, a bill raising the ceiling on campaign contributions, among other changes. Meanwhile, voters are still waiting for a response to Russ Feingold’s proposal, The Badger Pledge.

I guess I’ll just keep going to work, grading essays, teaching students how to coin a phrase better than our local news folk.

Grammar Police

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