The Month of New Subjects

October 1 and thus begins The Month Of New Subjects.

As blog fodder, I realize that the odds of me desperately begging to be allowed to buy postage stamps has decreased dramatically, but we're actually very excited about this one. For one thing, my mother-in-law is playing too, choosing to study the geography of the Middle East. I admire her goal--trying to figure out where all these "stan" places actually are on the map, but as they change so frequently, it might be a bit more challenging and she might have to do it all over again in November.

Andy has chosen George Washington, and about 2 weeks ago this
showed up on our doorstep. 5 volumes of George Washington! Not only do I love old books--which I do--these were written by none other than John Marshall--arguably the most powerful Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Be still my little history-loving heart! Andy's mother sent them to us. Is coveting your husband's choice of subjects bad?

It turns out, "Sociology" is rather a wide field--meaning quite literally the study of associates. So, anything involving more than one human being is fair game. Fun, but not exactly what I was after. I have reserved a sociology text book at the library which should be nice and dull. I would really have been in a bit of a sulky mood had I not remembered this
which I picked up several years ago. The title is The Making of Society, and on the cover page I found the words "An Outline of Sociology." Published in 1937, it is a collection of articles and essays attempting to trace the history of societal development. The fact that it was published during the Great Depression makes it even more interesting. As students, we were taught that the stock market crashed in 1929, and the Great Depression ended around 1941 when we entered WWII. That's a 12-year gap that is pretty thoroughly glossed over and there was a great deal of social unrest and could be considered the closest the US came to falling apart. With all the economic turmoil going on today, this should be rather fascinating.

And in case I get through all of that before the month is over, I also found this
a nifty little volume called The Sex Problem in Modern Society. It is also a collection of essays, and was published in 1931. Whatever else was going on during the Great Depression, people were having sex and other people apparently didn't want them to do so.

Lesson one in my study of sociology: Some things never change.

The October Project

The thing about the "Month Of" projects is that they are addicting. Really, think of all the things you have always wanted to do. You may not actually want to do them on a permanent basis, but what if you could do them for 30 days at a time? I tell you, it gets addictive.

The October project will be: Picking one subject to study in-depth for one month.

Andy and I each get our own subject and it can be anything. Andy chose George Washington, as that whole cherry tree thing is the one thing most of us remember being taught about our first president while in school and it isn't even true. I have chosen sociology. I had friends who took sociology in college, but I picked other electives and to be honest, I could only come up with the vaguest of answers as to what sociology is. And part of me is a little bit hopeful that studying sociology will finally explain to me why so many Americans don't vote, why some of the ones that do vote only care about the (R) or (D) behind the name and nothing about the issues, and why others vote only based on the fear-mongering that the opposition is doing. Do you realize we have people in this country who know more about the fiasco that is Britney Spears's life than they do about the people who will lead our country for the next 4 years???????????

A Weekend in Sin City - Technical Difficulties

(Alright Google--do your best with that title)

I would be showing you pictures from the weekend in Vegas, but Blogger still isn't working, so we'll save that post for later.

Today is the 11th day of being able to eat whatever we want, but knowing how much of a difference it has made, we haven't gone back to "normal." Don't get me wrong, white chocolate martinis are SOOOOOO allowed again and today I had a southwestern chicken wrap without a second thought about the preservatives that might be in the flour tortilla, but tonight's trip to the grocery store still stuck to the perimeter of the supermarket. Last month was really a "test run" for us--we wanted to know if it would be possible to have no processed foods for an entire year. The short answer is a definite "no." If you were truly to let no processed food pass your lips you would A. starve to death if you work full time and B. have no friends (dinner guests have started checking in to see what the current "month of..." project is before agreeing to come over. Can you blame them?). However, allowing for one "grace" item per week......???

Don't you just feel sorry for Andy sometimes? :)

The Aftermath

And what have we been doing with ourselves since the spending ban lifted? Have we been left laying on the floor, panting and exhausted, after a frenzy of retail activity?

OK, there has been a bit more spending. We needed a few items to finish Christmas gifts--most notably google-eyes and fabric paints for the puppet kits. Then the mad wrapping binge, which I am proud to say was done without tempting purchases like gift boxes, gift tags, and gift bags. Four hours later and:
At least we are doing our part for the economy via the United States Postal Service.

I thought there would be a huge temptation to buy lots of "impulse items," and though it has been fun to look knowing we could buy things, when you look at something and have to ask yourself, "Is this worth waiting a month for?" the answer is invariably "no." So our spending has still been quite moderate--with one exception:

New tires for Andy's truck.

We are wild, I tell you--just wild.

We Rejoin Capitalism!

The spending ban is over!!!! We are capitalists again!!!

I started the day with these two gentlemen:


First thing on our agenda:
They're even knitting stamps--it just doesn't get better.

Then I went hunting for the missing material for Andy's Christmas present:



Nada. Nothing. Zip.

Not just one store--I checked all the local stores. At the last one, a clerk asked if he could help, so I described what I was looking for, that I'd been to several stores looking for this particular material, and that this was the very store the material originally came from, hoping for something.

"Yeah, that happens."

OK, I should have been more specific--I was hoping for something HELPFUL!

My next call was to "America's Best" Eyeglasses--heavy stress on the quotation marks--asking if they could order another set of frames for my glasses, as the lenses are still fine. Not only did they not still carry them, they do not fix, take special orders, or in any way do anything helpful except sell new glasses. Long live the capitalistic spirit.

The next call located a lovely gent, who for only one of my Mr. Hamiltons, restored me to a working, somewhat less attractive, set of glasses:


The picture is a bit blurry, but my last few days have been pretty blurry, so it seems fitting.

The next purchases are surprise Christmas gifts for Andy, and cannot be pictured here....

but after a soda, I ended my evening with


$1.09.


How Andy spent his $40:

The gloves are for me (how sweet is that?!), THE EPOXY, headphones for his iPod (his last ones stopped working a few days ago), hinges, a switch box, a light switch, superglue, a plug in, and a switch plate. As he was positively gleeful tonight, these things are apparently of high interest to the male population--go figure.

Side note: I got home tonight to find this from Joann's Fabrics:

I have news for them--I tried REALLY hard to buy something from them today. If their sales are down, they have no one to blame but themselves.