Category Archives: Random Thoughts

I love a bargain!

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La Petite forgot to pack a few essentials last time she visited, so we headed to Kohl’s to take care of her needs and (of course) browse the clearance racks. My take-home was amazing.

La Petite bought a few basics and a pair of shoes. I bought – well, you can see it here.

Two sweaters, two shirts, and a dress

Two sweaters, two shirts, and a dress

The sweaters were hanging on the wrong rack to begin with. La Petite picked them up, said, “Oh, this isn’t my size. It’s your size, Mom.” If they shrink, she has dibs. The sweater on the right had a snag in the hem. As for prices:

Bargains galore!

Bargains galore!

I got an additional 20% off the sweater with the snag. Then, after adding it all up, I handed over my 30% discount coupon.

My bag with its five items cost less than La Petite’s two. In fact, my bag full of new clothes cost about the same as the steaks I bought for supper at the meat market.

They practically paid me to shop. Readers, have you had bargains so good you had to blog them? Leave a comment. I’d love to hear about yours.

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Unite or Divide and Conquer?

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I laughed out loud – almost snorted coffee out my nose, to be honest. It wasn’t funny, though. It was…highly ironic is the best I can do. Ridiculous? Unbelievable? Illogical? Unreal? All of the above.

Governor Walk-a-Mile-in-my-Shoes, according to one of his top advisers, is running as a “Uniter”. His campaign managers have decided to market him as one who cooperates, reaches across the aisle, and works in a bipartisan fashion.

Let’s see. Gov. Walk-My-Way introduced what he called a budget repair bill that was really a union busting bill. He knew the votes would be split right down the party aisle with a win on his side, so he wanted to rush it in for a vote. Did he reach out to the Democrats in the Senate? Hum the Jeopardy theme while you mull this over.

Time’s up! He couldn’t reach out to the Democrats. They left the building to delay a vote because without them, there would be no quorum, and without a quorum, budget bills cannot come up for a vote. Meanwhile, he reached out to the Democratic Senators by threatening to send state troopers to round them up. Instead of waiting patiently, those on the left side made a run for the border: the Illinois border.

Enough about the rapid evacuation of the Senate. We were talking about Mr.Walker as peacemaker, one who unites. Let’s see: anyone remember the video of Walker with his billionaire sponsor, telling her how he would handle the union busting bill? “Divide and conquer,” he told her. He must have had different campaign advisers then because divide and conquer doesn’t mean the same thing as unite and concur.

How about name calling? I keep hearing the term “Union Thug” tossed around, but it seems the only time Walker actually used the term was when he was asked how he would deal with the terrorist group ISIS and he drew a comparison to his “handling” of thousands of public employees marching on the Capitol. I won’t blame the gov for creating the phrase until I can find a reliable source that quotes him, but the point still stands. Scott Walk-my-way-or-the-highway is not one who unites. The Gov. is not one to reach across the aisle or pursue bipartisan cooperation.

Back to my first reaction. Ironic, at the least, this vision of Walker. Ridiculous? Unbelievable? Illogical? Unreal? Yes. All of these, at least, and more.

Feel free to leave more reactions in the comments, folks. I’m listening.

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A Park full of Art

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A sizable park in the middle of our medium-sized city is within walking distance of the O.K. Chorale. This park, due to its location and size, plays host to a number of special events. Fundraiser Run/Walks sometimes start and end there. A nearby church hosts Bring Your Own Lawn Chair style worship services in the park. And at the end of each July, Art takes over the park in a big, big way.

Our routine is to leave the cars in the garage and walk the half mile or so to the Annual Art Fest. On-street parking reaching almost all the way to our home as it is. I throw a few collapsible shopping bags into my purse, load up my wallet at the ATM in advance, and as soon as the Artists open their booths, we’re there.

Here’s a taste of ceramics:

garden stakes posing with my hat

garden stakes posing with my hat

I have several others from this artist. Last year I suggested a few, and she made a list. The Thai Basil was one she made at my suggestion.

I hope I put the stake in the right pot.

I hope I put the stake in the right pot.

My wallet, my favorite in a long time, started wearing out last spring when the snap came off. It was still usable, so I made a plan to replace it at the same place I’d bought it: Art in the Park.

Left - new. Right - old, but still beautiful.

Left – new. Right – old, but still beautiful.

Hmong needlework is very precise and very beautiful. The wallet on the right has more traditional Hmong shapes and designs. The needlepoint flowers on the left just caught my eye right away. I knew it was my new wallet. It even has a change pocket, one feature lacking in the old one.

Oh, and by the way, the man at the booth smiled when I took out my old wallet to pay for the new. I think I’ve made purchases from his booth in the past.

We bought more – quite a bit more! Chuck carried the bag of purchases and the bag with our lunch in it (grilled pork sandwiches and egg rolls) while I carried my smoothie and the few things that fit in my purse. I can’t show you the other pieces, though. I’ll just say this: I’ve officially started my holiday shopping.

Readers, do you visit local and regional art festivals? What kind of art do you buy?

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Harvest Monday – beans

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Beans! 3 pounds of beans. I started picking a few and then just kept on picking until the bowl was close to overflowing. I weighed it on my tiny kitchen scale and found my first official bean harvest to measure just over 3 lb.

Beans! All from my backyard kitchen garden!

Beans! All from my backyard kitchen garden!

As for other clutter in the picture, the tomatoes were “scratch and dent” at the farmers’ market, and I wanted to make a scratch tomato sauce. Perfect. The odd looking green thing next to the cutting board is a lettuce cutter.

Here's the lettuce.

Here’s the lettuce. 

This is from the market. There’s more outside, ripe for the picking – literally. I picked about a pound of various lettuces Saturday; I smell BLTs in our future.

For more Harvest Monday, visit Daphne’s Dandelions. She has all the links for a productive week in more ways than one.

Note: Voter’s Voice will take its place on Tuesdays from here on out while I post my harvests on Mondays. Tomorrow: get reacquainted with Grandma Daisy, my alter-ego from the future who reflects oh so well on the past.

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Dear Facebook; you’ve got me all wrong.

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Dear Facebook;

Your algorithm failed mightily on this one. I follow several prominent progressives and local activists. One of them must have mentioned the issue below. Oh, Facebook, rest assured that I do NOT like and will NOT follow the page or group that posted this advertisement.

Facebook, WTH were you thinking?

Facebook, WTH were you thinking?

Shudder. Those key word searches are not doing a good enough job of filtering posts for my interests. Facebook, let’s make a deal. How about you stop sending me things you think I might “like” and just let me see what my friends have to say. Okay?

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Go Milwaukee Brewers!

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We took a day off from the grind and frazzled craziness and visited Miller Park in Milwaukee – all four of us. That’s Amigo, adjusting his armband radio. He listens to Bob Uecker call the game so he doesn’t miss anything, and he enjoys the atmosphere and excitement of the park itself.

Go Brew Crew!

Go Brew Crew!

The weather was awesome, the roof was open, and the Brewers beat the Pirates 6-1. Who could ask for anything more?

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What’s Common Core?

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“Because you’re common, Cinderella.” The stepmother’s line goes on. “Your mother was common and so are you. Only you can wash your face and put on a clean dress, but underneath, you’ll still be common.”

“Don’t you want our students to be more than just common?” -anonymous legislator proposing to repeal Common Core Standards in Wisconsin.

From Dictionary dot com:

  • belonging equally to, or shared alike by, two or more or all in question
  • pertaining or belonging equally to an entire community, nation, or culture; public
  • joint; united
  • widespread; general; ordinary
  • of frequent occurrence; usual; familiar
  • hackneyed; trite
  • of mediocre or inferior quality; mean; low

None of these examples or definitions really fit the Common Core Curriculum. The question remains: what is it? What does Common Core mean? What is the impact of Common Core on students? On teachers? On mandated  state tests?

When Governor I-Walk-The Party-Line announced he is running for president, he was firm. “No Common Core!” he shouted to the crowd. Here’s the big question: what does Walker think it is? Frankly, I’m not sure he knows Common Core beyond its usefulness as a sound bite.

Here’s my challenge, readers. If/when you have a chance to interact with the Governor, ask him to define Common Core. Let’s see what the man really knows – and what he really doesn’t know.

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A Garden with a White Picket Fence

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It started with a rummage sale or two. I hit the jackpot in a sale around the corner from my own house.

Chairs, "baby" gate, and plastic pieces of fence

Chairs, “baby” gate, and plastic pieces of fence

I bargained with the sellers, and they offered to include all the white fence pieces if I bought the chairs and the big circular collapsible “baby” gate. The gate is all one piece: there is no end to it. It collapses nicely, though, into very little space. I have it stored like that right now in the New Garage.

I’d turned up my nose a little when Chuck found a stack of this white plastic stuff at another sale. “It’s plastic! Ew!” I had to take back my words after buying a whole pile of the same junky plastic.

From a distance, it doesn’t look that bad.

Rather cute, almost.

Rather cute, almost.

You can admire the garage and its People Door (simple pleasures) or the rain barrels set up behind it.

Up close, it’s not so cute. However, If this white plastic discourages the wild furry ones from entering my green space, I’ll be happy.

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The War On Teachers Goes National

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“If Scott Walker sees 100,000 teachers & firefighters as his enemies, maybe it’s time we take a closer look at his friends.”  Well said, Elizabeth Warren. In my neck of the woods, we call them his “handlers” or his “sponsors.” Walker fools a lot of people, and he has a lot of help from some very deep pockets.

A talented and caring colleague told me, “I don’t tell people I”m a teacher anymore.” This was a few months after the misnamed Budget Repair Bill became the dreaded Act 10, the one that stripped away rights that had been negotiated over decades of negotiations. We teachers were singled out by the public, despite the fact that thousands of others were affected by the damaging bill.

Today, Scott Walker officially declares his candidacy for the highest office in the land. Don’t kid yourselves, people: he is all about himself and his millionaire handlers. Today’s children? He doesn’t care. And those children? They’re too young to vote — until it’s too late.

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Organizing the Disorganized

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Since “Unorganizable” isn’t a word recognized by spell check, I used disorganized in the post title. The shelves were not really disorganized, not so much, well maybe a little. The varied sizes and types of containers made it difficult to put things away or take anything out without disturbing the delicate balance and watching several tumble to the floor.

Step one in the organization process: Take a “before” picture.

Top Shelf

Top Shelf – before organizing

Step 2, if I’m completely honest with myself, went like this: forget you took before pictures and completely forget that the shelves need organizing. Ahem.

Step 3: remove the small and tiny spice and herb containers.

This helped a lot.

This helped a lot.

And finally, after sorting and stacking a little more, I could reach into the shelves without (much) fear of an avalanche.

Less chaos! Better access!

Less chaos! Better access!

The shelves still teeter a little, but they’re much more stable and I can find (almost) anything I need. Ah, the feeling of a practical project well-done.

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