As I watched NBC Nightly News last night I was once again gripped with the thought that I am a lousy patriot. I was weaving a potholder with my new "Metal Pot Holder Loom & Loops" received from my sister for Christmas a few days late because they were concerned if I received it early I would open it (which I would have) and proceed to make everyone potholders for Christmas. (Now why do that when there are so many birthdays coming up?)
(Note: The dictionary I just consulted lists "potholder" as one word; my loom & loops box makes it two words. Except where directly quoting the box or committing a typo, I will use the dictionary spelling.)
I watch NBC Nightly News because 1) I like Brian Williams; 2) I like his substitutes, Lester Holt, whom I remember from Chicago TV news days, and Ann Curry, who recently reported from a trek she was making (or attempting to make) to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro; and 3) NBC is the only station I receive that is not at all fuzzy. Quite a while ago I quit paying to receive TV stations and settled for what was coming in for free, which would be NBC, a slightly lined CBS, a mostly snowy ABC, and the usually clear-pictured, but I feel somewhat dull, local PBS. So NBC Nightly News it is. (Of course in February that might change, as I still need to buy a converter for my non-digital-ready TV set.)
If I were not weaving a potholder while watching the news I might not have been troubled by my patriotism. We all know the economic news, and I'm sure most of us now know that the holiday shopping season was a bust, and of course this is causing stores to close, and somehow, if you didn't go out and do a lot of shopping in December, you feel, maybe, as if it's partly your fault.
But didn't the whole mess start because we weren't living within our means? Now that we've cut back and are trying to be sensible stores close and people lose their jobs. Again it's our fault? Or do you blame somebody else?
The nightly news is a funny thing.
My sister also purchased and sent a pack of 150 refill loops (100% polyester), so she was not being at all chintzy (as I originally thought, because the refill loops arrived before the loom, and I thought maybe that was all I was getting), so the fact is now I am able to make next year's birthday and Christmas presents and stay out of the stores, which are closing anyway. Of course, not even 300 loops (150 loops came with the loom) will make enough potholders to cover everyone, so I'll have to purchase more. Unless the idea I have of making my own loops pans out ...
They will tell you, well, she never sent birthday presents anyway, and they are right, so what am I worried about? I'm not causing these stores to close; I never supported them in the first place. I am not a shopper, except for the necessities and a bauble here and there. I do not buy the latest electronic gadget or fashion apparel. I don't have a microwave or a cell phone or a snow blower or an iPod. I do have a truck and a computer and a DVD player, a $5-a-month subscription to Netflix, and "Astaire and Rogers: The Complete Film Collection." I don't have a mortgage, but I do have two dogs and a cat. I try hard not to spend a lot of money and I wonder: Does that make me a lousy patriot? Stores are closing and people are losing their jobs and what am I doing about it? I'm sitting here weaving potholders so I won't have to shop, won't have to spend ...
My new "Metal Pot Holder Loom & Loops" is for "Ages 5 & Up." The girl on the front of the box looks clean and happy as she stares off into space, working on her weaving. "AMAZE Your Friends!" I had this same loom & loops toy 40 or more years ago, but the loom was blue - my new one is red. And I recall it being adjustable, with some type of screw arrangement at the corners that allowed you to change the size of your potholder, or maybe that was just how it was held together. My new red loom is one solid piece. And it is metal, which is nice. How disappointing if it were plastic ... But of course, it's made in China. Once again, my patriotism ...
But enough. I have a hankering to get back to my weaving. A lot of birthdays coming up in the next six months or so. Just for the record, another sister sent me books for Christmas - all used. I prefer a used book and the feeling it carries that somebody somewhere some other time read these same words right on this very page. My first pick from the bunch is Robert Heinlein's science fiction classic: Stranger in a Strange Land.
(Note: The dictionary I just consulted lists "potholder" as one word; my loom & loops box makes it two words. Except where directly quoting the box or committing a typo, I will use the dictionary spelling.)
I watch NBC Nightly News because 1) I like Brian Williams; 2) I like his substitutes, Lester Holt, whom I remember from Chicago TV news days, and Ann Curry, who recently reported from a trek she was making (or attempting to make) to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro; and 3) NBC is the only station I receive that is not at all fuzzy. Quite a while ago I quit paying to receive TV stations and settled for what was coming in for free, which would be NBC, a slightly lined CBS, a mostly snowy ABC, and the usually clear-pictured, but I feel somewhat dull, local PBS. So NBC Nightly News it is. (Of course in February that might change, as I still need to buy a converter for my non-digital-ready TV set.)
If I were not weaving a potholder while watching the news I might not have been troubled by my patriotism. We all know the economic news, and I'm sure most of us now know that the holiday shopping season was a bust, and of course this is causing stores to close, and somehow, if you didn't go out and do a lot of shopping in December, you feel, maybe, as if it's partly your fault.
But didn't the whole mess start because we weren't living within our means? Now that we've cut back and are trying to be sensible stores close and people lose their jobs. Again it's our fault? Or do you blame somebody else?
The nightly news is a funny thing.
My sister also purchased and sent a pack of 150 refill loops (100% polyester), so she was not being at all chintzy (as I originally thought, because the refill loops arrived before the loom, and I thought maybe that was all I was getting), so the fact is now I am able to make next year's birthday and Christmas presents and stay out of the stores, which are closing anyway. Of course, not even 300 loops (150 loops came with the loom) will make enough potholders to cover everyone, so I'll have to purchase more. Unless the idea I have of making my own loops pans out ...
They will tell you, well, she never sent birthday presents anyway, and they are right, so what am I worried about? I'm not causing these stores to close; I never supported them in the first place. I am not a shopper, except for the necessities and a bauble here and there. I do not buy the latest electronic gadget or fashion apparel. I don't have a microwave or a cell phone or a snow blower or an iPod. I do have a truck and a computer and a DVD player, a $5-a-month subscription to Netflix, and "Astaire and Rogers: The Complete Film Collection." I don't have a mortgage, but I do have two dogs and a cat. I try hard not to spend a lot of money and I wonder: Does that make me a lousy patriot? Stores are closing and people are losing their jobs and what am I doing about it? I'm sitting here weaving potholders so I won't have to shop, won't have to spend ...
My new "Metal Pot Holder Loom & Loops" is for "Ages 5 & Up." The girl on the front of the box looks clean and happy as she stares off into space, working on her weaving. "AMAZE Your Friends!" I had this same loom & loops toy 40 or more years ago, but the loom was blue - my new one is red. And I recall it being adjustable, with some type of screw arrangement at the corners that allowed you to change the size of your potholder, or maybe that was just how it was held together. My new red loom is one solid piece. And it is metal, which is nice. How disappointing if it were plastic ... But of course, it's made in China. Once again, my patriotism ...
But enough. I have a hankering to get back to my weaving. A lot of birthdays coming up in the next six months or so. Just for the record, another sister sent me books for Christmas - all used. I prefer a used book and the feeling it carries that somebody somewhere some other time read these same words right on this very page. My first pick from the bunch is Robert Heinlein's science fiction classic: Stranger in a Strange Land.
