Morning! It is a quiet morning here in the forest. The school bus just went down the road to pick up the neighborhood kids…it is still dark out there….
I have an event today. Already on P’cola. It will be a long one. Me P has knee replacement surgery tomorrow. He is going to end up being the Six Million Dollar man. We had “the talk” Saturday about what to do if something goes wrong.
I called George this morning and told him he owed me an apology. He agreed and we had a chat about Precious
Resting after a weekend of work. My student is turning out to be helpful, so a stressful time was made a bit easier.
Still adjusting to my new room. My upstairs room was never very warm in cold weather, but there is a dampness to the cool of the basement that I am finding challenging to adjust to.
Roscuro, I have been reading about bubble wrap being used for window insulation. I don’t know if that could help you in any way, but it is fairly inexpensive or might be free for pickup if someone receives a lot of packaging.
Kizzie reminded me of the ‘free’ bookshelf that came with out encyclopedias. Yes, we still have ours also. That is 47 years old, so I guess it was a fairly decent one.
Question of the day might be the most foolish thing you ever bought or bought from a door to door salesmen? Or perhaps the best kitchen gadget or helpful tool for around the house?
Sorry, mumsee, I didn’t give you that tip earlier. 😉
Going home to put my life back together later today.
I have vowed not to put the photo albums back on the shelf until they are scanned. Maybe I won’t go upstairs this week?
First I need to fine tune the cleaning here, check for puppy damage in the manicured yard, take a walk by the beach, and continue with laundry. (Plus go into town for more specialized detergent).
It’s all good. Normal is no longer possible in this life, so I’ll become more flexible— just like when I ran a five-ring circus when all the kids were home, and my husband. 🙂
I don’t like that plant in the picture. Ouch! It is a fight to keep pickers out of the yard. Mostly matters if grandchildren are around and going barefoot. That only happens when a swimming pool is out for the littles. I hope they can be around when that season comes again. Totally missed out of them being here this summer. Like Michelle, we will learn to live with it. If that is the worse, we are incredibly blessed.
This is the scripture verse that popped out at me today, “I (Paul) pray that you might be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.” Philemon 6 I have all of Paul’s prayers on a sheet together. They are so good and helpful in praying for others. The concept of sharing our faith leading to this is something I missed before, however.
That photo looks like a purple sunshine in a gray green world. The flower is outstanding in its field. I do enjoy the color of the flower and wonder what it is. An aster? Maybe Cheryl can tell us. My phone wrote, “An asteroid?”
Miss Bosley just sneezed about 5 times in succession! Now you know who Anon is.
Over the summer I posted on Facebook that the problem with a granddaughter who wants to know everything about everything is when I tried to serve hot dogs for supper. The other problem is that she never wants to be something “normal” for Halloween. I am now in the process of making an outfit for her to be Malala Yousafzai.
I had a restless night that included getting up at 5 a.m. to clean up where the cat threw up. I also was anticipating the launch today of the car project, I need to call the CU first and hope they can put me in touch with the car service that helps you search and bargain. And I need to get over to clear the remaining things out of the old Jeep which will probably make me cry again.
I’ll call my editor and let him know I need to take the day off, at first I thought I could “juggle,” but that will all take too much time and be too much of a distraction.
The header is some kind of thistle, perhaps a bull thistle (which is indeed a nasty weed–dig it up by the time it’s a couple inches tall or you’ve lost your chance forever, with a thick, thorny plant on a hard-clinging root).
Michelle, I admire your flexibility in all this. As I have been experiencing, it is not easy readjusting your living arrangements.
I hadn’t realized how settled I felt in my tiny room upstairs. Already, a couple of times I have caught myself absently walking up the stairs to go to my room. I have slept in an upstairs bedroom all my life in this house. I feel more out of place in the basement here than I ever felt in all my temporary dwellings in the city or West Africa. I guess that is because I knew they were temporary.
There is a dehumidifier in the basement. There is also a woodstove. But, I do have the basement to myself, and my father has a completely different internal heating system, and has very energy conservative views on both heating and dehumidifying. It is not that he won’t put on a fire or allow the dehumidifier to run, but that he complains about doing it, in a way that makes you feel bad that you asked. Yes, in many ways my father is a dear sweet man, but years of paying heating and electric bills on a low income have made him a bit controlling about those utilities, even though now, the Seconds and I both contribute to the paying of those bills.
If it is a bull thistle, it is edible. Though you will want to remove the prickles first. But it is very pretty. From a distance. And many birds like the seeds.
Now to call the vet’s office, I need to reorder dog meds, too.
Michelle, so relieved the house stands, that all came way too close to you.
Roscuro, hope the basement/room can be adapted easily into your own special space and will be comfortable. I can see where dampness could be an issue.
I’m thinking I need *something* (affordable) to help keep the sun’s heat out of my largest south facing windows during these heat waves next year. But today should be the last day of unusually high heat (87) then we should get back into the 70s by Wednesday or so.
Too much humidity can cost you more in the long run. Difficult to get someone else (who doesn’t want to hear it) to believe. Dryer weather is coming so that may be a plus for you, roscuro.
Linda, I rather like the Pakistani/northern Indian traditional dress of salwar kameez and shawl. There is a significant population of Punjabi Sikhs in the city, and I still remember sitting on the bus, going home after church on a sunny late summer afternoon, and two young Punjabi, brother and sister I think, running to catch the bus. They looked like they had come from a wedding or party, the young man with a colourful Sikh turban and the young woman with a beautifully embroidered salwar kameez, the ends of her gauzy shawl fluttering behind her as she ran. They caught the bus.
I always dread colder mornings during November-February due to the gas bills that come with it. Gas bill is nominal the rest of the year but I tend to get “used” to the heater in the mornings through winter and then pay for it. I think last year I managed to keep it running for less time, though, and that helped. The house heats up pretty quickly so a fairly short blast usually does it most of the time. (My 1923 house tends to reflect the outdoor temperature and then some — so it tends to really heat ups lot in the summer and get cold in the winter; Southern Calfiornia cold that is, I won’t probably freeze to death, but it can be uncomfortable; the first year I was here the old heater went kaput and it was a rather cold, rainy fall and winter; I tried using a space heater but it tripped the fuse box it was using so much juice.)
I had taken dampness into account for my furniture and finishing materials. We have had black mold problems whenever wood furniture or structures are against the outer brick walls, so I determined to prevent that. I had an antique four poster wood bed frame that I left behind (it was Eldest’s before her marriage and she has the matching bookshelf, so she will take the bed frame), and stripped down and repainted the old metal bedframe with casters that I had as a child. I also purchased one of those wire metal shelves, with wheels, to use as storage space. I left the chest of drawers I purchased last year upstairs, as it was too closed in, and built an open frame to hold my dollhouse on top, with a shelf for crates to hold my clothes and a space underneath to wheel the wooden chest I restored and now use as a linen chest. The vanity I refinished already had wheels, and it stands against the inner stud wall (other side is stirage/furnace/pump room) that I finished with pine plywood. The wall I made to seperate my end of the basement from the area where my father has his desk and shelves, is made from four sliding doors, also pine. But I have two cement brick walls (painted) and a cement floor, and as I described to my mother, the effects is like living in a room made of windows – the walls are always cold to the touch, with the slightest hint of condensation to touch.
The only thing I have bought from a professional door to door salesman was some Fuller brush products. They seemed high quality so it was not a silly purchase. In a store demonstration I bought some of those ‘magic cloth’ products, the cleaning cloths and a mop. Those have been good for my purposes. I always liked the gift wrap I bought through the children selling for school fundraisers.
Now thinking back further, probably the most useless product might have been some kind of Avon collectible dodad or cologne that held its fragrance for about five minutes. I did enjoy getting those tiny lipstick samples.
Lest you think everything is chilly and gloomy for me now, there are things I live about my new room. I had a former window in my old bedroom, facing the front yard, and I liked it, but I have a larger window now, and when the leaves are off the trees on the far woods on the other side of the field across from our house, I can see, from this basement window, to the other side of the lake that is a mile from our house – incredible, but true, my mother says she always loved this window. The window, which is six feet wide, is covered by one of the old retractable school maps that my parents picked up from somewhere (my mother was a schoolteacher) to use as blinds for their wide windows. The map I have, by request, is a physical one of Eurasia, so at night, I can look at the rivers of China and India and the mountains of the Himalayas.
I also have more open floor space than in my old room. This enabled me to get something I wanted since I was in West Africa. In West Africa, a former missionary had left a bentwood rocking chair, that I lived to sit in when I was in my house. So, when I was preparing for this room, I went to one of those ReStores, and found, for just 35 dollars, a bentwood rocker, and it even has the original cane back and seat. I am sitting in it right now.
NO response, and I also had the initial thought that I never bought anything stupid.
But I immediately recalled that I once bought a Datsun B210. A small 4 cylendar car for those of you who don’t know.
And the stupidist thing I ever did was put it on the Washington Beltway. That car would do zero to sixty in 90 seconds flat. It was not a good Beltway car.
Most of you don’t remember when we had the serious gasoline shortage.
I vote for the dehumidifier. Worked wonders in Okinawa. Mold was horrible in Greece on the concrete walls when we refused to pay for heating the entire apartment building.
I can’t remember buying anything from a door-to-door salesman. But I think that form of “selling” has been out of use for some time, right? I don’t think folks were doing that by the time I was a young adult, but I do seem to remember my parents getting those callers when I was growing up.
I’m neck-deep in car stuff right now, feeling very anxious. I keep my cars for a long time and plan replacing them for up to a year in advance. I’ve had 2 used VW bugs, 2 new VW Jettas and 1 used Jeep Liberty in my lifetime.
But I’ve never, ever tried buying a car on the fly like this, within a week’s time.
I still lean to getting another Liberty, but have found a couple Foresters w/lower mileage as well. I still like the size, style and heft the Liberty offers (Liberty is a mid-size SUV, Forester is a compact SUV).
My next call will be to the ‘scout’ service offered through the CU to see how they operate and what her thoughts are for the search. She may have a better idea also on availability issues for a certified used car in the categories and w/options and mileage I’m look for.
Oh, I did have a guy show up trying to “sell” me solar, I sent him on his way. My neighbors entertained a similar pitch a few months ago, spent a couple hours with someone, but concluded the high cost up-front wouldn’t pay off probably in their lifetimes.
Got in touch with the car ‘scout’ rep, gave her a number of things I’m looking for, price / payment range, said I’m open to ‘other’ mid-sized SUVs of the same eras. (early to mid ‘teens in the 2000 era).
She said they often can find something within 24-48 hours which is encouraging, and they only work with certified used car dealers to ensure the car is thoroughly inspected and any issues addressed.
It feels good to have someone else who’s way more knowledgable than I am working on this on my behalf.
So I think now I can quite burning my internet and printer up with my own slap-dash car search. But it was worthwhile, I know a lot more about the models I’m looking at than when I started
My sister did some door-to-door work, not selling encyclopedias but selling Bibles and books for children, a program (mostly for college students wanting summer jobs, I think) offered at the time by Thomas Nelson publishers. She actually met her husband as an indirect benefit of that job. She did the job at least two summers (maybe three), but the last summer she didn’t take it at all seriously and I think she ended up owing more to the company than she made. (Meaning she bought books from them to keep or five as gifts, but she didn’t sell any to other people.) This would have been early to mid-nineties, in the South.
When the student employees got to a new region of the country, they were supposed to scout around for a place to live for the summer. I think they were encouraged to rent bedrooms from local residents, and they encouraged student employees to go to local churches and ask “Who might have a room to rent?” In this instance, she asked at a church, and they directed her to the elderly lady who lived across the street, since she knew everyone in town and she would know who had a room. She ended up saying, “Hey, we have an extra bedroom–we can let you live here.”
Their son and adult grandsons lived next door, and when their older grandson heard about it, he said, “Grandma, that’s not a very good idea, taking in a stranger like that. You don’t know anything about her!” You can probably guess the rest of this story. 🙂
My sister would ride a scooter or moped around town selling books, and one day she rode into the driveway, pulled off her helmet and shook down her hair, a big grin on her face. The grandson definitely didn’t say to himself, “That’s who I’m going to marry!” but he was smitten, and they became friends. But my sister was afraid that if she returned to college in the fall, the relationship would never go anywhere (he’d been burned in a recent relationship and was slow to consider romance again), so she made plans to settle in locally instead. It was four and a half years before she got to walk down the aisle in a long white dress, but she got her man.
Before the summer that she wasn’t interested in selling books, she made some decent money in that job. She’d sell books to elderly women whom she felt couldn’t really afford the purchase and she’d feel bad about the sale, and she’d have southern hostesses invite her in to chat when they had no intention of buying anything, but she’d get a slice of homemade cake and some tea, and the whole family history. She fell in love with the South as well as a particular southern gentleman, and in visiting her I too fell in love with the South (and thought she made a very good match).
Said my goodbyes to the faithful Jeep, gathered up some other things left in it, including a CD, my FastTrack transponder for the 110 Fwy, the small cross that has hung from the rear view mirror in all my cars, and a couple other sentimental things (the spare tire cover (“JEEP” — I can hang it on a garage wall), the license plates (w/the “Sheedog Shuttle” frame in the back), and the blue-and-white Scottish “X” flag tow hitch cover.
It served me well, the dogs and I had great fun in that car over the course of 12 years. And yeah, I shed some tears over it again.
I asked the guy who was helping me out what happened if a car goes to “auction” and he said it’s up the insurance co (the car goes back to them) but usually they’re auctioned “as is” and guys pick them up either to restore or use for parts. So tracking it wouldn’t be very practical. I hope they restore it (I think they will, it’s otherwise in good shape and Jeeps are popular) and someone else is as thrilled with it as I was.
QoD: I cannot remember my stupidest purchase, but in my childhood, I often made poor choices of what to buy.
My parents nearly got a vaccum cleaner that way, we were so impressed by the spiel of the salesman, but he never came back, so my parents never made the purchase.
We lived in a relatively isolated patch, in a lite know of houses, but salespeople occasionally found their way to us. Every year, a Raleigh’s salesman would come. An elderly gentleman with suspenders, driving a yellow Volkswagen Beetle. He was a true traveling salesman of the old type, full of interesting topics of conversation. His visits lasted over an hour, with all of we children listening to his every word. My mother often offered him refreshment, and we always bought something from him.
My mother also struck up a friendship with the Avon saleslady. In the end, I think she became something of a mentor for the woman, but many people befriended my mother because of her wisdom and kindness.
One salesman who came selling frozen fish one summer, left without selling anything, but was given a rose. My father had brought rose bush cuttings from his home in Nova Scotia, and old fashioned rose with a sweet smell. When the salesman, an immigrant from Eastern Europe, came into our driveway, he was so overcome by the beauty of those roses that he begged for one. He seemed to forget he had a product to sell and went happily away with his rose.
Donna. I had clean forgotten. But your post reminded me.
I felt the same way about my ’50 Chevvy club coupe. I bought it for $1500 in 1952 while I was in the AF, and just after I made my third stripe and just before I was shipped off to Arabia. Dad put lots of miles on that car while I was in Arabia.
. But it was s real neat car for a young man to have. I kept it through m y college and seminary days.
I took the “crew” places in it.
I dated Elvera in it.
I brought Chuck home from the hospital in it.
I remember dealing with the used car salesman who sold the car.
I laid out my resources and income, etc. to buy the car.
He looked at my assets, salary, and said (I still clearly remember this)
“Man, you are a cash customer.”
I just looked at him.
It was there that I learned that a salesman will find a way to make the sale if he has a willing buyer.
I’ve always bonded with each of my cars, they represent a period in my life (and I do keep them for at least 10 years). Every time I’ve traded one in or sold one privately when changing cars and getting something else, I’ve cried.
I remember how pleased I was when I saw my first VW Jetta (1984, traded in 10 years later for the new version) at one of our local parks. Someone bought it, obviously—and I knew it was mine as it still had the Holy Spirit “dove” metal thing-y on the back of it. lol
I was really excited, in fact, and actually hung around hoping to see whoever got into it; then I thought, well, maybe not, they might not be happy with it for some reason and I had been the sole owner, bought it new.
But I love the thought of someone else enjoying my cars that I’ve loved so much.
I s CV rolled to the end of the thread without noticing the name of the last person to comment. I read the ending line of the last comment, “I know, I’m weird.” My thought was without reading anything else was that DJ wrote that. When I saw it was DJ who did write it, I wondered, “Why did I think that?”
I know, I’m weird.
Mentioned this on the news thread but believe it belongs here. Interesting to see Iranians praying for Trump’s recovery. Thought the sanctions have been hard, they view Trump as being decisive enough to hold their leaders to it until they fold and make the nation a bit more people friendly. God works in amazing ways.
Wandering Views 
Good morning AJ, et. al.
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Good morning, Chas! The garbage truck did its duty and now I hear a train whistle and the roar of a jet. Noisy morning around here.
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Morning! It is a quiet morning here in the forest. The school bus just went down the road to pick up the neighborhood kids…it is still dark out there….
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I have an event today. Already on P’cola. It will be a long one. Me P has knee replacement surgery tomorrow. He is going to end up being the Six Million Dollar man. We had “the talk” Saturday about what to do if something goes wrong.
I called George this morning and told him he owed me an apology. He agreed and we had a chat about Precious
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Resting after a weekend of work. My student is turning out to be helpful, so a stressful time was made a bit easier.
Still adjusting to my new room. My upstairs room was never very warm in cold weather, but there is a dampness to the cool of the basement that I am finding challenging to adjust to.
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Roscuro, I have been reading about bubble wrap being used for window insulation. I don’t know if that could help you in any way, but it is fairly inexpensive or might be free for pickup if someone receives a lot of packaging.
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Dehumidifier, Roscuro? Please, if possible. We love you too much.
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Do you have a dehumidifier, Roscuro?
Kizzie reminded me of the ‘free’ bookshelf that came with out encyclopedias. Yes, we still have ours also. That is 47 years old, so I guess it was a fairly decent one.
Question of the day might be the most foolish thing you ever bought or bought from a door to door salesmen? Or perhaps the best kitchen gadget or helpful tool for around the house?
Sorry, mumsee, I didn’t give you that tip earlier. 😉
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Going home to put my life back together later today.
I have vowed not to put the photo albums back on the shelf until they are scanned. Maybe I won’t go upstairs this week?
First I need to fine tune the cleaning here, check for puppy damage in the manicured yard, take a walk by the beach, and continue with laundry. (Plus go into town for more specialized detergent).
It’s all good. Normal is no longer possible in this life, so I’ll become more flexible— just like when I ran a five-ring circus when all the kids were home, and my husband. 🙂
Just the flexing the muscles is all! Lol
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What is the email for the blog? Lost it when I switched to gmail. Thanks.
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I don’t like that plant in the picture. Ouch! It is a fight to keep pickers out of the yard. Mostly matters if grandchildren are around and going barefoot. That only happens when a swimming pool is out for the littles. I hope they can be around when that season comes again. Totally missed out of them being here this summer. Like Michelle, we will learn to live with it. If that is the worse, we are incredibly blessed.
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This is the scripture verse that popped out at me today, “I (Paul) pray that you might be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.” Philemon 6 I have all of Paul’s prayers on a sheet together. They are so good and helpful in praying for others. The concept of sharing our faith leading to this is something I missed before, however.
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That photo looks like a purple sunshine in a gray green world. The flower is outstanding in its field. I do enjoy the color of the flower and wonder what it is. An aster? Maybe Cheryl can tell us. My phone wrote, “An asteroid?”
Miss Bosley just sneezed about 5 times in succession! Now you know who Anon is.
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Over the summer I posted on Facebook that the problem with a granddaughter who wants to know everything about everything is when I tried to serve hot dogs for supper. The other problem is that she never wants to be something “normal” for Halloween. I am now in the process of making an outfit for her to be Malala Yousafzai.
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I had a restless night that included getting up at 5 a.m. to clean up where the cat threw up. I also was anticipating the launch today of the car project, I need to call the CU first and hope they can put me in touch with the car service that helps you search and bargain. And I need to get over to clear the remaining things out of the old Jeep which will probably make me cry again.
I’ll call my editor and let him know I need to take the day off, at first I thought I could “juggle,” but that will all take too much time and be too much of a distraction.
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The header is some kind of thistle, perhaps a bull thistle (which is indeed a nasty weed–dig it up by the time it’s a couple inches tall or you’ve lost your chance forever, with a thick, thorny plant on a hard-clinging root).
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Michelle, I admire your flexibility in all this. As I have been experiencing, it is not easy readjusting your living arrangements.
I hadn’t realized how settled I felt in my tiny room upstairs. Already, a couple of times I have caught myself absently walking up the stairs to go to my room. I have slept in an upstairs bedroom all my life in this house. I feel more out of place in the basement here than I ever felt in all my temporary dwellings in the city or West Africa. I guess that is because I knew they were temporary.
There is a dehumidifier in the basement. There is also a woodstove. But, I do have the basement to myself, and my father has a completely different internal heating system, and has very energy conservative views on both heating and dehumidifying. It is not that he won’t put on a fire or allow the dehumidifier to run, but that he complains about doing it, in a way that makes you feel bad that you asked. Yes, in many ways my father is a dear sweet man, but years of paying heating and electric bills on a low income have made him a bit controlling about those utilities, even though now, the Seconds and I both contribute to the paying of those bills.
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Correction: I do *not have the basement to myself
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Good morning,
If it is a bull thistle, it is edible. Though you will want to remove the prickles first. But it is very pretty. From a distance. And many birds like the seeds.
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Ok, editor was called, voicemail left.
Now to call the vet’s office, I need to reorder dog meds, too.
Michelle, so relieved the house stands, that all came way too close to you.
Roscuro, hope the basement/room can be adapted easily into your own special space and will be comfortable. I can see where dampness could be an issue.
I’m thinking I need *something* (affordable) to help keep the sun’s heat out of my largest south facing windows during these heat waves next year. But today should be the last day of unusually high heat (87) then we should get back into the 70s by Wednesday or so.
Maybe then it’ll start to feel like fall.
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Linda, the one I have and don’t know if it is still good is:
wanderingviews at hotmail
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Too much humidity can cost you more in the long run. Difficult to get someone else (who doesn’t want to hear it) to believe. Dryer weather is coming so that may be a plus for you, roscuro.
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Linda, I rather like the Pakistani/northern Indian traditional dress of salwar kameez and shawl. There is a significant population of Punjabi Sikhs in the city, and I still remember sitting on the bus, going home after church on a sunny late summer afternoon, and two young Punjabi, brother and sister I think, running to catch the bus. They looked like they had come from a wedding or party, the young man with a colourful Sikh turban and the young woman with a beautifully embroidered salwar kameez, the ends of her gauzy shawl fluttering behind her as she ran. They caught the bus.
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Linda,
You can use the blog email…
wanderingviews@hotmail.com
or use mine….
allencjacks@yahoo.com
The second one probably gets a faster response.
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I always dread colder mornings during November-February due to the gas bills that come with it. Gas bill is nominal the rest of the year but I tend to get “used” to the heater in the mornings through winter and then pay for it. I think last year I managed to keep it running for less time, though, and that helped. The house heats up pretty quickly so a fairly short blast usually does it most of the time. (My 1923 house tends to reflect the outdoor temperature and then some — so it tends to really heat ups lot in the summer and get cold in the winter; Southern Calfiornia cold that is, I won’t probably freeze to death, but it can be uncomfortable; the first year I was here the old heater went kaput and it was a rather cold, rainy fall and winter; I tried using a space heater but it tripped the fuse box it was using so much juice.)
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Anonymous Janice….
It’s bull thistle. 🙂
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I had taken dampness into account for my furniture and finishing materials. We have had black mold problems whenever wood furniture or structures are against the outer brick walls, so I determined to prevent that. I had an antique four poster wood bed frame that I left behind (it was Eldest’s before her marriage and she has the matching bookshelf, so she will take the bed frame), and stripped down and repainted the old metal bedframe with casters that I had as a child. I also purchased one of those wire metal shelves, with wheels, to use as storage space. I left the chest of drawers I purchased last year upstairs, as it was too closed in, and built an open frame to hold my dollhouse on top, with a shelf for crates to hold my clothes and a space underneath to wheel the wooden chest I restored and now use as a linen chest. The vanity I refinished already had wheels, and it stands against the inner stud wall (other side is stirage/furnace/pump room) that I finished with pine plywood. The wall I made to seperate my end of the basement from the area where my father has his desk and shelves, is made from four sliding doors, also pine. But I have two cement brick walls (painted) and a cement floor, and as I described to my mother, the effects is like living in a room made of windows – the walls are always cold to the touch, with the slightest hint of condensation to touch.
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The only thing I have bought from a professional door to door salesman was some Fuller brush products. They seemed high quality so it was not a silly purchase. In a store demonstration I bought some of those ‘magic cloth’ products, the cleaning cloths and a mop. Those have been good for my purposes. I always liked the gift wrap I bought through the children selling for school fundraisers.
Now thinking back further, probably the most useless product might have been some kind of Avon collectible dodad or cologne that held its fragrance for about five minutes. I did enjoy getting those tiny lipstick samples.
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Lest you think everything is chilly and gloomy for me now, there are things I live about my new room. I had a former window in my old bedroom, facing the front yard, and I liked it, but I have a larger window now, and when the leaves are off the trees on the far woods on the other side of the field across from our house, I can see, from this basement window, to the other side of the lake that is a mile from our house – incredible, but true, my mother says she always loved this window. The window, which is six feet wide, is covered by one of the old retractable school maps that my parents picked up from somewhere (my mother was a schoolteacher) to use as blinds for their wide windows. The map I have, by request, is a physical one of Eurasia, so at night, I can look at the rivers of China and India and the mountains of the Himalayas.
I also have more open floor space than in my old room. This enabled me to get something I wanted since I was in West Africa. In West Africa, a former missionary had left a bentwood rocking chair, that I lived to sit in when I was in my house. So, when I was preparing for this room, I went to one of those ReStores, and found, for just 35 dollars, a bentwood rocker, and it even has the original cane back and seat. I am sitting in it right now.
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*dormer window in my old bedroom
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NO response, and I also had the initial thought that I never bought anything stupid.
But I immediately recalled that I once bought a Datsun B210. A small 4 cylendar car for those of you who don’t know.
And the stupidist thing I ever did was put it on the Washington Beltway. That car would do zero to sixty in 90 seconds flat. It was not a good Beltway car.
Most of you don’t remember when we had the serious gasoline shortage.
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I vote for the dehumidifier. Worked wonders in Okinawa. Mold was horrible in Greece on the concrete walls when we refused to pay for heating the entire apartment building.
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Stupidest purchase? I could go on and on….
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I can’t remember buying anything from a door-to-door salesman. But I think that form of “selling” has been out of use for some time, right? I don’t think folks were doing that by the time I was a young adult, but I do seem to remember my parents getting those callers when I was growing up.
I’m neck-deep in car stuff right now, feeling very anxious. I keep my cars for a long time and plan replacing them for up to a year in advance. I’ve had 2 used VW bugs, 2 new VW Jettas and 1 used Jeep Liberty in my lifetime.
But I’ve never, ever tried buying a car on the fly like this, within a week’s time.
I still lean to getting another Liberty, but have found a couple Foresters w/lower mileage as well. I still like the size, style and heft the Liberty offers (Liberty is a mid-size SUV, Forester is a compact SUV).
My next call will be to the ‘scout’ service offered through the CU to see how they operate and what her thoughts are for the search. She may have a better idea also on availability issues for a certified used car in the categories and w/options and mileage I’m look for.
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Oh, I did have a guy show up trying to “sell” me solar, I sent him on his way. My neighbors entertained a similar pitch a few months ago, spent a couple hours with someone, but concluded the high cost up-front wouldn’t pay off probably in their lifetimes.
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Roscuro, yes, the outfit it actually quite lovely. Perhaps I’ll send in a picture when it’s complete.
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Got in touch with the car ‘scout’ rep, gave her a number of things I’m looking for, price / payment range, said I’m open to ‘other’ mid-sized SUVs of the same eras. (early to mid ‘teens in the 2000 era).
She said they often can find something within 24-48 hours which is encouraging, and they only work with certified used car dealers to ensure the car is thoroughly inspected and any issues addressed.
It feels good to have someone else who’s way more knowledgable than I am working on this on my behalf.
So I think now I can quite burning my internet and printer up with my own slap-dash car search. But it was worthwhile, I know a lot more about the models I’m looking at than when I started
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They also handle the negotiation part & can bring the car you’re interested in to your house or to the CU branch for an in-person look and drive.
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My sister did some door-to-door work, not selling encyclopedias but selling Bibles and books for children, a program (mostly for college students wanting summer jobs, I think) offered at the time by Thomas Nelson publishers. She actually met her husband as an indirect benefit of that job. She did the job at least two summers (maybe three), but the last summer she didn’t take it at all seriously and I think she ended up owing more to the company than she made. (Meaning she bought books from them to keep or five as gifts, but she didn’t sell any to other people.) This would have been early to mid-nineties, in the South.
When the student employees got to a new region of the country, they were supposed to scout around for a place to live for the summer. I think they were encouraged to rent bedrooms from local residents, and they encouraged student employees to go to local churches and ask “Who might have a room to rent?” In this instance, she asked at a church, and they directed her to the elderly lady who lived across the street, since she knew everyone in town and she would know who had a room. She ended up saying, “Hey, we have an extra bedroom–we can let you live here.”
Their son and adult grandsons lived next door, and when their older grandson heard about it, he said, “Grandma, that’s not a very good idea, taking in a stranger like that. You don’t know anything about her!” You can probably guess the rest of this story. 🙂
My sister would ride a scooter or moped around town selling books, and one day she rode into the driveway, pulled off her helmet and shook down her hair, a big grin on her face. The grandson definitely didn’t say to himself, “That’s who I’m going to marry!” but he was smitten, and they became friends. But my sister was afraid that if she returned to college in the fall, the relationship would never go anywhere (he’d been burned in a recent relationship and was slow to consider romance again), so she made plans to settle in locally instead. It was four and a half years before she got to walk down the aisle in a long white dress, but she got her man.
Before the summer that she wasn’t interested in selling books, she made some decent money in that job. She’d sell books to elderly women whom she felt couldn’t really afford the purchase and she’d feel bad about the sale, and she’d have southern hostesses invite her in to chat when they had no intention of buying anything, but she’d get a slice of homemade cake and some tea, and the whole family history. She fell in love with the South as well as a particular southern gentleman, and in visiting her I too fell in love with the South (and thought she made a very good match).
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I like “Lived happily ever after” stories.
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Said my goodbyes to the faithful Jeep, gathered up some other things left in it, including a CD, my FastTrack transponder for the 110 Fwy, the small cross that has hung from the rear view mirror in all my cars, and a couple other sentimental things (the spare tire cover (“JEEP” — I can hang it on a garage wall), the license plates (w/the “Sheedog Shuttle” frame in the back), and the blue-and-white Scottish “X” flag tow hitch cover.
It served me well, the dogs and I had great fun in that car over the course of 12 years. And yeah, I shed some tears over it again.
I asked the guy who was helping me out what happened if a car goes to “auction” and he said it’s up the insurance co (the car goes back to them) but usually they’re auctioned “as is” and guys pick them up either to restore or use for parts. So tracking it wouldn’t be very practical. I hope they restore it (I think they will, it’s otherwise in good shape and Jeeps are popular) and someone else is as thrilled with it as I was.
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QoD: I cannot remember my stupidest purchase, but in my childhood, I often made poor choices of what to buy.
My parents nearly got a vaccum cleaner that way, we were so impressed by the spiel of the salesman, but he never came back, so my parents never made the purchase.
We lived in a relatively isolated patch, in a lite know of houses, but salespeople occasionally found their way to us. Every year, a Raleigh’s salesman would come. An elderly gentleman with suspenders, driving a yellow Volkswagen Beetle. He was a true traveling salesman of the old type, full of interesting topics of conversation. His visits lasted over an hour, with all of we children listening to his every word. My mother often offered him refreshment, and we always bought something from him.
My mother also struck up a friendship with the Avon saleslady. In the end, I think she became something of a mentor for the woman, but many people befriended my mother because of her wisdom and kindness.
One salesman who came selling frozen fish one summer, left without selling anything, but was given a rose. My father had brought rose bush cuttings from his home in Nova Scotia, and old fashioned rose with a sweet smell. When the salesman, an immigrant from Eastern Europe, came into our driveway, he was so overcome by the beauty of those roses that he begged for one. He seemed to forget he had a product to sell and went happily away with his rose.
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Donna. I had clean forgotten. But your post reminded me.
I felt the same way about my ’50 Chevvy club coupe. I bought it for $1500 in 1952 while I was in the AF, and just after I made my third stripe and just before I was shipped off to Arabia. Dad put lots of miles on that car while I was in Arabia.
. But it was s real neat car for a young man to have. I kept it through m y college and seminary days.
I took the “crew” places in it.
I dated Elvera in it.
I brought Chuck home from the hospital in it.
Fond memories.
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I remember dealing with the used car salesman who sold the car.
I laid out my resources and income, etc. to buy the car.
He looked at my assets, salary, and said (I still clearly remember this)
“Man, you are a cash customer.”
I just looked at him.
It was there that I learned that a salesman will find a way to make the sale if he has a willing buyer.
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It may not seem like a lot to you.
But in 1952 $1500. was a big bunch of money.
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I’ve always bonded with each of my cars, they represent a period in my life (and I do keep them for at least 10 years). Every time I’ve traded one in or sold one privately when changing cars and getting something else, I’ve cried.
I remember how pleased I was when I saw my first VW Jetta (1984, traded in 10 years later for the new version) at one of our local parks. Someone bought it, obviously—and I knew it was mine as it still had the Holy Spirit “dove” metal thing-y on the back of it. lol
I was really excited, in fact, and actually hung around hoping to see whoever got into it; then I thought, well, maybe not, they might not be happy with it for some reason and I had been the sole owner, bought it new.
But I love the thought of someone else enjoying my cars that I’ve loved so much.
I know, I’m weird.
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How well we know each other!
I s CV rolled to the end of the thread without noticing the name of the last person to comment. I read the ending line of the last comment, “I know, I’m weird.” My thought was without reading anything else was that DJ wrote that. When I saw it was DJ who did write it, I wondered, “Why did I think that?”
I know, I’m weird.
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Crazy phone is still messing up what I write!
I know, it’s weird.
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Mentioned this on the news thread but believe it belongs here. Interesting to see Iranians praying for Trump’s recovery. Thought the sanctions have been hard, they view Trump as being decisive enough to hold their leaders to it until they fold and make the nation a bit more people friendly. God works in amazing ways.
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“Do Whites Need Corporate Repentance for Historical Racial Sins?”
Long but well argued (with theological and historical examples).
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Janice @ 7:15 That’s normal. I’m the only person I know who isn’t just a little bit wired.
er. Weird.
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My friends went to visit their daughter and I have the house to myself. Oh so nice
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