Come September

Each year I mourn the end of the summer. This year it has been a blur of fun and sun. We have had Girls' Camp, family visitors, trip to Nauvoo, waterparks days, shopping, and a bit too much fast food. I see, however, that it is coming to a quick close, regardless of the fact that the temperatures won't be dropping for quite some time.

I will have a junior, a sophomore, a 1st-grader, and a preschooler. Where has the time gone? My Junior was just in Kindergarten a few years ago, I am quite sure of it.

And so the buying begins. Pencils, markers, index cards, notebooks, scientific calculators... do they really have to cost that much?? And then for the little ones: watercolor paints, glue sticks, backpacks, lunchboxes... Oh, the lunch box purchase days! How fun it has been have them back. Sheer glee and I was a hero for $9.99. Watch for cheesy first-day-of-school photos with lunchboxes and backpacks.

As I look outside my window, even the sky is mourning. It is warm and muggy, to be sure, but it is ever-so grey outside. It's time. Time to dust off the alarm clocks, wind back the bedtimes, and go back to school, come September.

Powerful

I was so moved by this beautiful video that has been making its way around the nation. 

It is so easy to get caught up in all of the money that we are losing in our 401Ks and everyone just wants the money loss to stop... so much so, that we are distracted and are only thinking about the economy. 

There is much more at stake. The freedoms that we often take for granted (which may become more limited in the near future) and the freedoms of those americans yet unborn.

Thank you to the catholic dioceses who have distributed this wonderful reminder.

God Bless America. Please.

A Brand New Year

I can't believe that it is 2008!

I remember when I was a little girl and using all of my math powers to figure out that I would be a whopping 31 years old in the 'Year 2000." It sounded so far out there, and I thought that I would be an old lady!

Now we are just 2 years away from the 'space odyssey' year of 2010. Unbelievable.


So, it is both comforting and disappointing to know that not much has changed, and then again everything has changed in the 'new milennium.'

I remember when the pocket calculator was invented. (my kids laugh at this)



I remember seeing the rooms full of computers on tv and being told that one day there would be a computer in every home. No one believed it, I mean who has that kind of room?


I remember going to the computer lab to type out papers in college and printing them out with the lovely dot matrix printer-- yes, I am aware that most of my audience isn't quite sure what that is... but maybe there are a few out there who are dinosaurs like me.


Our first video game system was ATARI and we absolutely loved PONG. I mean, get a load of those graphics!




I remember when the key fob was a novelty, no, a LUXURY.



When I was a kid, we just bounced around the car on road trips. There were no seatbelts in back seats.



Back in the Stone Age, we would run around the neighborhood for the entire day and our only rule was to come in when the street lights came on. If mom pulled out the whistle because you hadn't shown up yet, then you were in BIG trouble.



Our first cell phone was the thickness of a few decks of cards.



I think this might actually be it. It was the first 'flip phone'. Very cool. Our kids laugh at this, too.

But some things haven't really changed.

Kids still mimick daily life in their play. There are a few differences, though. When my older two girls played 'telephone', they would stand it up on the table or pretend to hang it on the wall when they were through. My younger kids, however stick it in their pocket or purse!

Kids still try to pull the wool over their parents' eyes, but now we are the ones with eyes in the backs of our heads. I didn't even notice them growing there!

Technology still dates us. I mean, Maddy's first cell phone didn't even have a camera, hello! Wait till she tells that one to her kids!

Girls still hang posters of hearthrobs in their rooms. They get giddy as they get ready for dances, and can talk and giggle into the wee hours of the morning. (can you tell that we just had a house full of giggling teenage girls here last night getting ready for the New Year's Eve dance and then talking about the results of said dance for hours?)

So the point of this post? None really. I am just amazed at the year. This is the year that I turn 40. The year that I would be really old according to the childhood me. And it is here.

Bring It On!

Re-gifting: Taboo, Tight-wad or Totally Fine?

I was listening to the radio today and the topic of re-gifting came up. Is it cool or uncool? Well, blog-buddies, what do you think?

As a faithful Seinfeld follower, I remember the episode in which Jerry got a labelmaker that Elaine had given to Whatley. He was immediately named a 'regifter.' We have used the word ever since. Love those Seinfeld terms!

One of my fave sites is Wikipedia. Here is their definition:

Regifting
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Regifting is the act of taking a gift that has been received and giving it to somebody else, sometimes in the guise of a new gift. One example of a formalization of this activity are the white elephant gift exchanges, in which items can be regifted from year to year.
The term originated on an episode of Seinfeld (The Label Maker). In the episode, the character Elaine Benes calls Tim Whatley a "regifter" after he gives Jerry Seinfeld a label-maker that was originally given to Whatley by Elaine, although the practice pre-dates the term substantially.

Can you believe that they actually cited the origination as being from the Seinfeld episode!?! I always thought so, but I am a little Seinfeld-obsessed and figured that it was just me!

So back to the issue. Is it okay, taboo, or somewhere in between?

I have to say that I have re-gifted a few times, and have felt weird about it each time. My advice: if you are going to re-gift you have to have the courage to stand behind it and feel good about it.
If I received a regift, I don't think that I would mind. We have a lot of gift-swapping going on and it can be a bit taxing on the old pocketbook. Some of us have really neat things on our shelves that need to find homes-- and I might actually like to give them a home! Can I come and look in your closets?
I am waffling, can you tell? Either way, don't give junk. If you hated it, don't pass it on. If it is junk in the store, don't spend your $$ on it and give it as a gift. Feel good about a regift and fess up if it makes you feel better. ie: "I got this great thing from my mom, but it doesn't match my kitchen at all. I thought that it would look so great in your house!" I heard once on Oprah that it's okay to regift if you tell the person and if it is a nice item. That is my feeling on it.

My Research:

If you decide that you are going to regift, there are a few precautions that you must take. {taken from regiftable.com}

Is the gift regiftable? Never regift handmade or one-of-a-kind items. Signed books and monogrammed items are off-limits. Do you have to be told not to regift free promotional items? Some gifts that are good candidates for regifting include good (unopened!) bottles of wine, new household items and inexpensive jewelry.

How is the condition? Only new, unopened gifts in good condition should be considered for regifting. Never give partially used gift cards. Don’t give items that you have owned for a long time. A general rule of thumb: if you have to dust it off, it is not regiftable.

Is this going to work? Successful regifters use common sense. If you are going to regift, be sure you know who gave you the item, so you don’t return something to the original giver. Only regift items to people who are not likely to see the original giver.

Do you have good intentions? Don’t just give a gift to give a gift. Be sure that the recipient will appreciate the item. Remember, if you feel that an item is undesirable, the recipient probably will too. If you are regifting simply because you ran out of time, gift cards are simple to obtain and always well received.

How does it look? When it comes to gift-giving, go for show! While gift bags in good condition can be reused, wrapping paper is a one-time thing. Always spring for a new card or gift tag.

Can you handle it? If you don’t plan to announce the gift as a regift, ask yourself if you can keep the secret. Never feel guilty about regifting once you’ve done it.


Strange things do happen, though. Even the mighty Tim Gunn has made an etiquette slip. Do tell.

Tim Gunn on regifting:

"A situation that still makes me cringe: A colleague at Parsons was leaving to accept a position at another institution in another city. I had forgotten about her farewell party. I scrambled though the stuff in my office searching for an unopened box, the contents of which would be appropriate to re-gift it. (Why I have lots of unopened gifts is another story…) Voilà! I found a sterling silver Tiffany pen that had been presented to me after judging a city-wide design competition. I relished her gush at the sight of the signature blue box and white ribbon. She opened it, and looked at me tearfully and said, 'You even had it engraved.' Oh, no. 'Best wishes from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.' Re-gifting can be very dangerous, indeed."

OUCH!