On New Years Eve I will be wearing red underwear and sleeping with a cabbage leaf. You'd think I could do better with the red underwear and all, but hey — I'm banking on 2010 to be a better year.
According to my “legendary'” socialite gal pal from Texas, Jeanette Longoria, if you want love in the coming year, wear red panties on New Years Eve. If you want to ensure money all year long - wrap money in a cabbage leaf and put it under your pillow on Dec 31st. If you want both - well then do both. I'd just be a little careful not to confuse where the two items go as things might turn out very differently.
Why should we listen to Jeanette? At 82 she's still hot, hotly involved, and lives like royalty.
Speaking of royalty, she once took two heads of cabbage with her to Morocco when she spent a New Years Eve with the King. She swears everyone in the Palace was clutching a cabbage leaf at the stroke of midnight that year. As far as I know, money hasn't been a problem for the Kingdom since.
If I followed my heart I would be divorced already. It's been a long time since I felt as though my marriage was working, and when I daydream about being happy it doesn’t include my husband. I make enough money to live comfortably, although it would be in a small apartment instead of the house I live in now. I could make it on my own if I had to, and I think it would be a pretty good life.
That thinking comes to a screeching halt when I bring my kids into the equation.
I'm not even talking about the psychological trauma my kids would deal with as a result of a divorce, although I'm certainly not discounting that by any means.
This year, for the first time, I wouldn’t have to face the nightmare of dealing – alone, since Jake is, as always, in China – with the complications of joint filing with someone who owned a business.
Finally, I could file single. Finally, the process and paperwork would be straightforward. Finally, I could get this done in February. I was even looking forward to the tedium, since the tedium would be all mine.
I have long believed in the good people of H & R Block. They have, for years, led me safely through the complexities that are Jake’s forms with nothing but kindness and sympathy. For this, my first solo tax return, I wanted to trust in them again.
I am a single businesswoman often in NYC, and the restaurant called Salute! on the corner of 39th and Madison Ave is my happy place of choice to go by myself — to eat, drink, and chill out in between or after business.
On Wednesday, with temperatures below bearable, and me wearing earmuffs for the first time since 6th grade, I decided while walking on Madison Ave after a business meeting, to pop in to Salute! for something warm to eat.
I always prefer eating at a bar, and there I like sitting in their big chairs in the bar area because I like the casual but classy buzz of the place. Women alone can feel comfortable doing that at Salute! which is why I keep going there. That and the food and wine and espresso, of course.
Because I know how much energy goes into running a business, I am always amazed at how the owner Jerry (Gennaro Sbarro, yes you know that last name) keeps the whole fabulous thing going at such a high level. Jerry and I have come to a place of great affection for each other and we enjoy entrepreneurial business banter when we see each other.
Last time I told you about my new ambition, to become a grocery store cashier. Maybe you want something like that, too, for the health insurance that goes with the position, as well as the wee stipend for stuff like rent, pet food, and gas for the car.
I was surprised to find no line of hopefuls wrapped around the store when I arrived shortly after sunrise, but a steady stream presented itself: men as well as women, some my age, some young enough to be my children.
I found myself hoping that the polite young man who got there just as I did would get the job, or that it might go to the young woman with the beautiful smile who held the heavy door back for us to enter as she exited. These kids need a good job with benefits, I thought. It could be a great start for them.
Maybe that's why I, uh, forgot to mention my previous cashiering experience on the application. Or maybe it was because I really just don't want to be a cashier again.
Imagine.
Never expected to be doing that now, as a 48-year-old divorcée. Never expected to be a 48-year-old divorcée.
I think I want to become a cashier. In yesterday's classifieds I found an ad seeking Cashiers — yes, with a capital C. One of the grocery stores I frequent is looking for cashiers (who also will get to stock shelves and clean floors) to start at $10.80 per hour.
That's a lot more than I made last time I was a cashier.
This company appears to treat its workers better than everybody I cashiered for in my misspent youth, too. The people at the registers sit in chairs and customers bag their own purchases.
But, and this is what really got my attention, employees are eligible for insurance covering medical, dental, and vision after 90 days.
Wow. That would've been enough to get me excited, but wait, there's more: The company also offers a retirement income plan and 401(k), paid vacation after six months — and an extra dollar an hour for working on Sundays, when they don't open until noon.
"Going to a junkyard is a sobering experience. There you can see the ultimate destination of almost everything we desired." —Roger Von Oech, A Wack On The Side of the Head
I read this the other day and have since been trying to keep it in mind as Christmas creeps closer and closer and my bank account gets lower and lower. It seems that once you have a child there is so much pressure on you as a parent to perform in many areas, and acquiring "stuff" is a big one.
It was at the mall last night, where I was desperately searching for "stuff" to buy for Adrian, that this quote helped me the most.
Looking at rocket ships, dinosaurs, train sets — all overpriced — and parents stumbling over one another to have them; I thought about all of the toys that Adrian has had since he's been born. Then I thought about where they all ended up: either broken and in the garbage or outdated and donated.
We don't have tons of money, at all. Levi is still not contributing and as Adrian's birthday is so close to Christmas I'm still stuck playing a little bit of catch up from that.
