Coming to you: Friday, Dec. 16th

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"Blog Hop"

Read about new books

Read about new authors

Get ideas for your holiday gift list

Visit some new, quality blogs

Enjoy!!



Heifer International

I know, I know. Friday was Black Friday. Today is Cyber Monday. I know, I know, I know. I shake my head at merchants putting up Christmas trees during Halloween, cringe to hear Christmas carols playing on the radio while I’m making my Thanksgiving pies. “The Season” has arrived and, at least during these weeks, it doesn’t have much to do with anything but retailing. Merchandising. Materialism. Capitalism. You label it how you want to.

Now, of course, I don’t want people to fail in business and I’m all for a recovered economy, but it seems that the glitz and hoopla descends earlier and earlier, crashing through any meaningful attempts at peace and renewal the season might offer. 

Don’t get me wrong.  I like presents. And, yes, I like giving other people presents, too. But, I’m trying to regroup, simplify, make more conscious choices. In the process, I’ve discovered (through a gift given to my husband and me), the world of Heifer International.

Heifer International takes your tax-deductible donations and purchases chickens, goats, cows, vegetable seeds and other goods for impoverished families to help them start businesses that support themselves and their communities. Through your donations, you help to pull people out of poverty and give them the greatest gift – the gift they really want – self-reliance. The best part? You can make donations in someone else’s name and give two gifts at once.

For the people on your list who really don’t need anything – and you know who those people are – why not explore Heifer International, or one of the other many charitable opportunities out there?

Check out Heifer's website:  Heifer International

What are your favorite charitable organizations? Do you have suggestions for charitable holiday giving?

Supermarket No-Nos

A friend recently confessed to me that he is bewildered by the shelves and shelves of toothpaste offerings.  Each time he goes to the store to pick out toothpaste, he forgets the exact branding of his favorite one.  He knows the manufacturer – but they make dozens of varieties.  He knows he wants mint, but doesn’t know which version.  He likes peppermint, but doesn’t know if peppermint translates to cool mint, fresh mint or ultra mint in toothpaste-ese.  The other day, he said, he opened the box of what he thought he wanted and tasted – to make sure!  He had to, he said.  He had no choice.  If the labels made more sense, he would be able to figure them out.

I’ve had my own supermarket no-no.  Sometimes, I need more twist ties than I seem to be able to collect from old bread packaging or from buying produce.  I hunt and save and collect twist ties at will, but every once in a while, I run completely out.  I know this shouldn’t matter, that there are greater issues in the universe to worry about, but when I don’t have a single twist tie in the drawer that should house them, I am unsettled until I can go to the produce department and tie a few extra ones around the plastic bags of potatoes or oranges I buy.  Home, I put the extras away feeling guilty and relieved at the same time.

What are your supermarket confessions?  Do you sample the grapes?  Open packages?  Pocket a free sample to take home to your pet?  Go ahead and let us know.  We understand . . . sort of.