Re-gifting

What do you think of the practice of re-gifting? Do you approve or disapprove? Have you ever re-gifted or been the recipient of a re-gift (that you are aware of)? I have been on both sides of re-gifting.

A re-gifter should not be confused with an Indian giver. (Note to self: never use that expression…very offensive.) A person who gives a gift doesn’t ever expect to receive the same gift back…although sometimes it finds its way back. I call that the “boomerang gift.”

Years ago, I mailed a child's birthday gift…and low and behold…it came back 3 months later. The boomerang gift…the gift that keeps on giving.

So what is the etiquette of re-gifting?

Do NOT re-gift anything monogrammed…especially when the initials don’t match up.
Do NOT re-gift something you have opened or licked.
Do NOT leave old name tags attached.
Do NOT re-gift something out-dated, dirty, or dusty.

I would like to add:

Do NOT re-gift partially used gift cards…especially with odd amounts ($37.09)

Do NOT re-gift half eaten food items.


Anywhoooooooooooooooo…………………….

My own re-gifting incident didn't involve an unwanted gift I was pawning off. It was a bottle of wine and all gifts involving fruit-of-the-vine (NOT LOOM) are wanted by this Kat…Honest Injun. (Sorry. Again, totally unacceptable expression.) I was in a hurry and needed a hostess gift…so I re-gifted. I actually didn't want to give the nice bottle away. Too bad I don't practice Indian giving, I could have gotten it back. (Like I said before, very offensive.)

I do admit, however, of thoughts of re-gifting my dusty, dirty wok…cracked crystal bowl...and Whitman’s Sampler (Minus the caramel.) Ahhh, caramel…my favorite.

Christmas Countdown – Day EIGHT

Hmmm…What did I do to get ready for Christmas today??? Absolutely Nada.

A Slow Death

OMG. Alicia Keys laid out in a coffin. Lady Gaga outstretched in a pine box. Justin Timberlake horizontal in a casket. Kim and Khloe Kardashian...sarcophagus bound?

This might sound like the Living Dead, but it is Alicia Keys's way of bringing attention to her charity..."Keep a Child Alive." In an effort to put the spotlight on her charity, she recruited other celebrities to join her in a digital death. Their plan was to "sacrifice their digital lives" in order to raise money to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa and India.

On December 1st the celebrities swore off social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter and signed off until they reached their goal of 1 millian dollars in donations. When I first heard about the publicity stunt...I wasn't sure if it was a threat or a promise. I had hoped it was a promise.

Apparently there are many others who felt the same...because Alicia and her friends are still ding dong dead. It is December 6th and they have raised 300,000 dollars. At this point her stunt to raise money appears to be dead in the water. I'm still laughing....and I'd be rolling over in my grave if I, too, had died a digital death. But I'm happy to report I'm blogging, facebooking, and tweeting.

Anwyhooooooo...........

Alicia Keys is doing the right thing by bringing attention and support to her charity, but she went about it the wrong way. The problem lies in the fact that she made it more about her and her friends than the act of giving and her charity. That's the problem with brain dead celebs who have over-inflated egos....it's always about them.

So...her campaign backfired...probably because people are dead tired of being manipulated. In the end, she will raise the money...but probably after she gets a big donation from "Anonymous"....who you just know is gonna be her husband...because he feels sorry for her and doesn't want her embarrassed anymore. Especially when she thought they would be resurrected and back online in a matter of hours.

Alicia would have been better off donating the money with all her celebrity friends...and been a good example of generosity and goodwill.

I love Alicia Keys and her songs...but she was dead wrong with this one. "Noone" was "Fallin" for this publicity stunt. It is so hard for me to keep a straight "Poker Face" and not die from laughing.

ps. Just as I finished writing this blog...a pharmaceutical billionaire with a dead pan look gave $500,000 ....to help raise them all from the dead.

Countdown to Christmas....Day SEVEN

Today marks Pearl Harbor Day and Aunt Mary's birthday....one day is a bomb and the other is da bomb! ShoutOUT to Mary,"Happy Birthday." I finished decorating the house...and it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. We don't have a tree yet...probably get one this weekend....but I hear Big C has one in Hotlanta!!!

What are you in for?

I love a laundry mat…especially a clean one without broken down washers, dryers, or people. Granted I don’t go all the time. I’m sure if I had to schlep my butt and basket of clothing every week I wouldn’t be as excited.

I love that the washers are so big…you can get a lot accomplished at one time. But the bigger the washer, the more quarters they eat. Luckily laundry mats these days can make change for bills up to ten bucks. I put in a ten dollar bill and I felt like I won at the slots when 25 quarters fell out…which is waay better than I do at Mohegan Sun.

Anywhooooooooo…….........…

The big question when doing your laundry at the Mat is: “What are you in for?”

I was in for a couple of comforters. I looked around me to see what the others were in for.

There was a woman in for scatter rugs. A young man in for tons of blue jeans. Another woman in for blankets. And an old man in for some towels and white handkerchiefs. (Someone needs to tell him about disposable paper tissues. This is 2010.)

After I put everything in the wash I sat down and listened to the machines working all around me.

……….filling, agitating, spinning, rinsing, tumbling, drying………

I loved the sounds they made as they hummed and whirled away. The Mat was quiet except for the sounds of the machines. People were either dozing, reading, or thinking….

…..Until a man walked in with a hands-free phone head set…talking loudly, like he was Mayor of the Mat. “Can you hear me now?” I almost stood up and said to him… "Hey, I can hear you now. This is a zone-out zone…so zip it.”

I think The Mat should be kept as hallowed ground for man and machine…a quiet place where man becomes symbiotic with machine…where people are permitted to go deep in thought without interruption.

Obama might want to think about doing his laundry at a Mat in DC. The quietness and solitude could be beneficial to him. Maybe it would help Obama to arrive at better policy decisions. One thing for sure: The Mat definitely is a good place for dirty laundry to be exposed…waaay better than WikiLeaks.


Countdown to Christmas – Day SIX

I hung the Advent Christmas tree calendar…which serves as a constant reminder of how little time I have left before Christmas and how much I’ve procrastinated. I miss having Wishy home to move the little ornament for each day onto the tree. I hung the wreaths on the doors...and started to put up decorations from the boxes that PaulA brought up from the basement in-between plays during the Giants game.

Face This

I have mentioned before that I’m on Facebook, but without a face. So technically, I’m not Facebooking. (Isn’t it amazing how words like “Google” and “Facebook” first started out as nouns and morphed into verbs. I find that fascinating…but it doesn’t take much.

About a year ago, I set up a Facebook account, but then I chickened out and didn’t use it…for two reasons. (Chickened is also a verb. Which came first the chicken or the Facebook?)


The first reason I chickened out: I didn’t want a cool social network thing to be ruined by a fart of my age.


The second reason I chickened out: If I started farting…I mean Facebooking, I might turn into a Facebook addict and then I might end up mainlining Facebook more than mainlining my blog. (BTW, a Facebook addiction or blog addition is more socially acceptable than a fart addiction.)


Anywhooooooooooooooo…………..


After a year, I signed onto Facebook and saw that I had some “friend requests pending.” I hope the people “friending” (also a verb) me didn’t think I was snubbing them. I just hadn’t committed myself (interesting choice of words)…to the Facebook culture.


Anyway, I’ve decided to do an about face…and put my face out there. I think it might actually help me with my blog addiction…Facebook is very ripe with material. Plus I can easily pull the face off my book if anyone from my past shows up online to stalk, bully, or even the score.


It looks like I’m gonna be kept very busy from now on with all this…blogging, facebooking, texting, googling, and friending. Sure makes me wonder what the hell I did before all these nouns became verbs.


Christmas Countdown -- Day THREE


I designed our Christmas card online through Shutterfly and I hope the Fam approves. I know I’ll hear about it if they don’t. But it will actually be too late…they are ordered. Sorry Mateys.

So Boring...

“I’m so bored.” “I have nothing to do.”

I remember when my kids would mope around the house…head hanging…feet dragging…voice moaning. Bored to tears.

So I’d try to help by thinking of things for them to do...of course, a chore was never high on their list. Emptying the dishwasher wasn’t a viable suggestion. It was a life sentence.

So I’d rack my brain for ideas…and they always had an answer.

“How about going outside and play?” “It’s raining.”

“How about playing something with your brother or sisters?” “Colin won’t play with Ken.” “Bri and Chels won’t be Ninja warriors.”

How about playing a board game with each other?” “Games are boring. Wishy cheats at board games.”

“How about playing cards?” “Cards aren’t fun.” Wishy cheats at cards.” (hehe)

“How about reading a book?” "I don’t have a book report due."

“How about I take you all to Disney World, go on all the rides, have meals with the Disney characters, visit the water parks, and I buy you lots of Disney stuff?” “That sounds pretty good.”

Anywhooooooo…………

I read online that THE most boring day since 1900 was determined to be April 11, 1954. On that Sunday, a Turkish academic named Abdullah Atalar was born, and a soccer player named Jack Shufflebotham died. That was about it. No major events occurred that day.

Apparently the computer programmer who used algorithms to determine the uneventful day, was bored and looking for something to do. So now that 4/11/54 has been given the distinction of “Most Boring”…it isn’t so boring anymore. Go figure.

If my kids were living at home and still bored to tears…I would say go surfing (yes, even in CT.) They could surf the net, surf hundreds of cable TV channels, sidewalk or street surf, and crowd surf at a concert. Oh and there is also a delicious Surf and Turf dinner at the Red Lobster.

Doesn’t everyone eat when they are bored?

****************************************************

Christmas Count-Down -- Day TWO

Received our very first Christmas Card of the season. Wow, some people really are on the Christmas ball. This got me thinking about different ideas for our Christmas Card…and then I hit the refrigerator. I do my best thinking on a full stomach.

Got another email from Wishy about her Wishlist. Keep Wishing....

Christmas Count Down - Day ONE

It’s hard to believe that Christmas morning will be upon us in 24 days. I’ve decided to write each day what I’m doing to get ready. Maybe it will help me to be more organized this year…or MAYBE NOT. So I’m writing a blog about writing a blog about counting down to Christmas ….Huh?

Thankfully, today I finished putting away the Thanksgiving/fall decorations. (Whaaat, you haven't done that yet, Kat?) As far as I'm concerned, Christmas is scheduled way to closely to Thanksgiving. I propose that there be an extra week in-between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Note to self: Get ahead of the game next year…decorate with Christmas décor for Thanksgiving. Call it: ThanksMAS.

I cleverly received an email from Wishy with direct links to order a few things for her for Christmas. I’ll forward the email to Santa and see what he thinks. I also found a list of “Things Chelsea Wants” on my iPad in my To-Do Notes. Hmmm…I wonder how that got there.

It’s raining Kats and Dogs, so today is a good day to stay home and bring up the boxes of holiday decorations from the basement. Hmmmm. I think I’ll wait until PaulA gets home……….

Gift-Giving Mandate

When buying gifts for your children…do you make sure everything is same-same, even-Steven, double-duplicate? Do you get out the ruler, scale, and calculator to make sure they each have the same in number, cost, weight?

Are you careful to be fair? Maybe you use the Distributive Property when applying gifts.…….a(b + c) = ab +ac. Therefore…Apple Computer (Bri + Col) = applecompBri + applecompCol. When the Law of Distribution is properly applied…both Colin and Bri get apple computers. And Santa is plum out of apples.

Sometimes it is hard to even the score when children are at different ages. Gifts for older kids tend to cost more… iPads, iPhones, iCars. Twenty-five dollars for a 4-year old can be stretched to buy…a Barbie, silly putty, socks, and a pencil. For a 24-year old, it might buy 1 mg of a camera memory card. The younger kid looks like they are getting a lot more. Let’s face it…younger kids are getting more…more crap.

Then there are those kids who get a lot of presents because they’ve been good all year…everyone knows Santa gives the “good” kids more...and the “naughty” kids less.

Sometimes it’s wise to set a clear MANDATE on gift-giving to your family. A DECREE. “This year we are sticking to a budget.” “This year we are getting only practical gifts.” “This year we are spending less on us and giving more to the poor children because Santa does a fly-by.”

Anywhooooooooooooooo………..

How much is enough when it comes to gift-giving at Christmas? I think we tend to overdo it…mainly because of the media and people like Oprah. Did you see “Oprah’s Favorite Things Show"?

It was nice that Oprah’s audience consisted of people who give to others…putting them at the receiving end this time. But...did Oprah need to give ALL those material things?

When she gave out Nike sneakers…she gave out 4 pair to each person. A Netflix subscription…for 5 years. Flat screen TV AND a Blue-ray player. New outfits, cashmere sweaters, etc. AND a new closet to put them in. Plus a 7 day all-expenses paid Caribbean cruise including flight.

I can be a material Girl…as good as Madonna…but Enough Already. Oprah makes it seem like gift-giving has to be OVER THE TOP to be worthy or fun. The audience went bonkers when she kept piling on the gifts…making us feel like we should be doing the same.

Wait, I think I hear voices in the distance. It's my kid’s making a MANDATE for Christmas: “This year SantaKat should be more like Oprah.”

PS. rabbit, rabbit, rabbit