The Downtown Women's Club womensDISH blog

Wake me up when December is over

This article was originally published in 2006.  But, since I'm exhausted and counting down the days until Dec. 26th, I thought you all wouldn't mind if I re-ran a slightly updated version.

As I sat down to write a holiday post, it struck me.  I had actually OD’d on Christmas with still one more week of Lifetime holiday movie events to go.   I suppose that’s what happens when Christmas ads begin around Halloween, and by Thanksgiving that toy your child would absolutely die without is already on the “you’re too late now, chump!” list.  But, cookie-cutter holiday movies and stores aren’t the only culprits who push us to the edge during this season of good cheer and forced merriment. Sometimes, it's the very friends and family with whom we're supposed to be celebrating, like the following:

Polly & Peter Perfects. We all know them; the families who take their holiday photos in June and even Edgar, their prized English bulldog, is well-groomed and smiling despite the big red bow on his collar.  While I contemplate whether I can recycle last year’s photos, their newsletters detail the numerous awards won by Johnny, Susi and little baby Timmy.  Who knew a two-year old could accomplish so much in a single year? When their epic of family over-achievements arrives in my mailbox the day after Thanksgiving, I know I’m supposed to think “How lovely;” but what I’m really thinking can’t be printed in a family-friendly blog.

Ted & Trina Traditionalists.  Each year they enjoy long-established family traditions like cutting down their own tree or baking cookies while singing Christmas carols.  Then there are the rest of us, who can’t remember what traditions we started the year before, let alone the words to anything other than “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” Maybe we’ve moved, divorced, remarried; or simply decided that we can’t handle our own families during the holidays. So we tend to make things up as we go along.  (Yes, son, other people really do eat take-out Chinese on Christmas.  Well, I’m sure they do in China.)

Sam & Sally Spirits.  These two seem to have an unending supply of holiday energy and attire.  You run into them all over town and they’re full of Christmas cheer and good tidings because they actually enjoy holiday shopping and even have the panache to pull off blinking lights on various articles of clothing.  You briefly marvel at how you can’t even get your winter wardrobe out of storage, yet they manage to dig out reindeer sweaters and Christmas tree neckties.  Then you try not to think of what you could do about those blinking lights if you only had a Red Ryder BB gun.

Checklist Charlie & Trudie To-Do List.  Christmas tree up?  Check.  Cards mailed?  Check.  Presents wrapped? Check.  Letters to Santa?  Check.  For this crew, the entire holidays are all about making a list and checking it twice to make sure they’ve got everything covered.  As your child watches their family race from one holiday event to the next, they inevitably turn to you and whine, “Mommy, why don’t we make gingerbread houses from scratch? String cranberries for the tree? See the Nutcracker? Do the Holiday Stroll? ….”  Which leads you to look down and say, “Hey, why don’t we go to McDonald’s?”  It works like a charm every time.

With the holidays spinning out of control (well for us normal people, anyhow) and taking on more manic proportions each year, we all have to come up with coping mechanisms, or at least little forms of rebellion.  One year, I didn’t send out holiday cards. I can’t tell you how great it felt not to pull an all-nighter licking envelopes. Another year, I let my seven-year old decorate the tree all by himself. So what if the ornaments were all at knee level? He thought it was the most beautiful tree ever. And you know what?  So did I.

Now can someone please pass me another egg nog while I try to find some last minute online deals from vendors who swear they will deliver by Dec. 24th.  Oh yeah, in case I pass out on my keyboard again, please wake me when December's over.

Diane K. Danielson is the founder of the Downtown Women's Club and hopes that if she gets a full night of uninterrupted sleep at some point between now and Dec. 24th, she might actually enjoy the holidays this year!

How to save money by shopping online this Holiday Season

Does the thought of going to a mall during the holidays give you a headache?  Simply thinking about stalking people for their parking spaces, the overly cheery holiday tunes blaring, and waiting in lines for people to pay with checks can turn me into Ms. Scrooge (and it doesn't have to even be a holiday).  This is why I've mastered the art of online shopping.

Step 1:  Start shopping right after Thanksgiving.  Cyber Monday works well - this year I saved $50 on an iTouch.  But another reason to start early is so that you still have enough time to get free shipping from most places.  Or, if something isn't right, you may even have time to exchange/return it. If not, there's nothing wrong with wrapping it up and telling the individual that you can exchange it after x-mas - but check on the company's exchange policies.  This is why, when in doubt about a gift, if I can buy the item at Nordstrom's I will.  They are seamless in their online/in-store return policy.

Step 2:  Find the lowest prices for your major items.  Google Shopping is one way to do this quickly.  If you know the name of the item, just go to Google, put in the item name and click on the Shopping link at the upper left top of the screen.

Step 3:  Check the reviews.  Before you buy, google the item name and the word "review" to find out what's being said by others.  I've discovered really important things like "item does not come with the $30 special battery that has to be ordered separately."  Now that would've been a sad Christmas morning.

Step 4:  Compare shipping costs and automatic rebates - before you commit to buying a major item through an online site:

• Go through the process of ordering to see what the shipping costs are.  Just don't hit "complete sale."  This year I ordered something rather large for outdoor play.  The shipping costs varied from $18 at one place to $75 at another. 

• Next, check a site like eBates which has a cash back program for purchasing at one of their partner stores.  eBates covers a wide variety of online stores, i.e., I even get cash back from them for ordering my contacts through VisionDirect! (My eye doctor was going to charge me $400, but through this process of shopping, I got my costs down to $250).

• If you find the store listed on eBates, then click through that link to the store you want.  Just be wary that if you already had a window open to that store, it should already have your purchases in the shopping cart in the new window.  (I've had a few scares when I re-added items that were already there).

Step 5: Search for Discount & Promotion Coupon Codes. 

• Before you hit "complete sale," open a new window and google "store name + coupon code".  About half the time you'll be able to find a working code which may get you free shipping or 5-10% off.  If I can't find one within 5 minutes, I tend to give up.  

• If you know in advance what you are going to buy, you might sign up on Twitter to follow that company because many were giving out coupon codes via Twitter this year (DellOutlet does this year round).

Other thoughts: 

• No matter where I find an item, I still check for it on Amazon.  Their one-click shopping and being able to track my orders easily may be worth a few dollars more, and sometimes due to free shipping, they end up costing a little bit less.  Note: when shopping on Amazon, if they are using outside sellers, you might want to check their retailer ratings.

• One final reason I really appreciate the online shopping is that I can have the packages sent directly to my parents, thereby avoiding the post office and/or having to carry them on the plane with me. Now that airlines are charging for baggage, who wants to add the extra cost?

Anyone else have some online shopping tips to share?

 

More reasons why women's magazines are dumb

An astute reader of my earlier post Why do women's magazines do dumb things?, wrote in about this clip from Australian comedian Adam Hill.  Have to admit the guy makes some good points!

The year of living nicely

Last year at this time I made a pledge to live "nicely."  That meant: Be nice on the internet. Be nice to telemarketers.  Be nice to people who don't drive exactly the way I'd like them to.  And, even be nice to those people whose views differ from my own to such an extent that it takes away mine and others' basic human rights (she writes with a smile and clenched teeth).  Why live nicely?  Because I OD'd on the negativity in the 2008 presidential campaign when I found myself spewing negativity along with everyone else.

After the election I decided to try an experiment: Could I go through a year of living nicely, where I did not spread negativity or support those who do?  Now this doesn't mean I didn't give constructive criticism when asked, or stated my opinion even when it was in direct conflict to others.  It also doesn't mean that I didn't rant and rave in private to a select group of close friends about people who may have wronged me or people I care about.  I'm no Mother Theresa.

My goal was simply not to be responsible for putting anything unnecessarily negative into the public blogosphere, twitterville, facebookland or the "real life" world.  In other words, if I couldn't say anything nice, then I would walk away from the keyboard and/or keep my shut my mouth.

It's now a full year later, was it worth it? Yes. 

1. It takes way more energy to be negative than it does to stay silent or be positive.
2. I'm not a fan of the book "The Secret," but I do believe in the law of attraction; and it appears that I have attracted many more positive people into my life and no more "Negative Nellies." 
3. Despite an increased stress load due to the economy, I also seem to be happier this year than last.

Was I perfect?  No way.  I'm sure I slipped up (like when airlines lost my luggage or a certain PR company would not take me off their mailing lists) and as a result I did argue with customer service people and publicly slam a few companies via Twitter.  However, those tweets only took place after I had exhausted all other channels of communicating with those companies.

Will I keep going?  Yes. I plan on continuing living nicely.  Despite the fact that it's hard to bite my tongue when I have the perfect quippy comeback to something a political pundit says, or I find out someone is trying to throw me or someone I care about under the bus.  However, I remind myself that if being positive brings positive people with good intentions into my life, then I can simply feel sorry for the "under the bus-tossing" Negative Nellies because they have to be constantly wondering which of their "friends" will do that to them next. 

I also remind myself, that my pledge was to follow the golden rule where if I didn't have anything nice to say, I wouldn't say anything at all.  It doesn't mean I have to be all "Ghandi-like" in my mind. Although, it's getting easier.

This year, I am tweaking my goal a bit.  I'd like to encourage others to live nicely too. Just in case you want to take me up on this offer, here are a few steps that helped me.

1. Think "is that nice?" or "does this add value to the conversation?" before you  speak, type or retweet. (It's now a habit).
2. Answer all ranting emails, especially the ones that are the harshest, with a first sentence: "Thank you for writing."  Not only does it show appreciation for the person taking the time to put their thoughts down in writing, it puts you in a nicer frame of mind.
3. Realize that the people who are the most negative about you, your company, and/or someone or something that you care about, are unlikely to be swayed by anything you could possibly say, so why waste your valuable time.
4. Have a few close friends who allow you to "vent" as we're only human.
5. Draw boundaries between yourself and any Negative Nellies who are already in your life.

Anyone have any other suggestions?

Diane K. Danielson is the founder of the Downtown Women's Club and the author of The Downtown Women's Club Beginner's Guide to Facebook.

Road trip to relaxation

With all we have going on -- and for many of us vacations are anything but relaxing these days (especially when they involve airplanes /andor traveling with children) -- we often forget to take time for ourselves. I hadn't quite realized how non-stop my life had gotten until I took a little road trip up to visit the Downtown Women's Club Boston North chapter.

The DWC-Boston North group has monthly cocktails in Newburyport, MA, a gorgeous harbor town up near the NH border. I live south of Boston so it's still a bit of a drive. Worried about traffic, I planned a late lunch meeting in Boston before heading out at 3:30 pm. I ended up in Newburyport well ahead of time and found myself with nearly two hours to kill. Wow. When was the last time I had two hours where no one really knew where I was?

I grabbed my backpack, changed into a better pair of walking shoes and headed down to the harbor walk. After strolling for a bit, I found a great bench and pulled out my Dell Mini. I know, I should've pulled out the novel I shoved in my backpack, but, when was the last time I had a chance to write with no distractions other than a gorgeous view and a parade of cute puppies enjoying the harbor walk? I wrote for a while and then decided to test out my new iPhone by snapping a picture and uploading it to Facebook. Minutes after posting I received recommendations via Facebook as to where to get coffee and ice cream. Ice cream! That would be perfect.

I packed up my stuff and headed up State Street to Grams to get ice cream. I then spent the next hour enjoying an ice cream cone and window shopping. When was the last time I wandered around without having to be somewhere? While I couldn't help thinking how much fun it would be for the kids or even to have my husband with me, I realized that it was even more fun just being by myself. But, then again, I wasn't really by myself for too long ...

 

I topped off the night by reconnecting with girlfriends at the DWC cocktails. A couple of pals I hadn't seen in person in probably 5 years came. We had stayed close through the wonders of email and Facebook, so it felt like we never lost a step. I even made some new pals and ended the evening at the home of one of our DWC-Boston North directors sipping wine, laughing and catching up on her porch on a perfect summer evening. When was the last time I did that?

It's now morning, and I have my friend's place to myself as I wait for the traffic to die down before heading home. I have to admit, the serenity of a single gal's condo is a stark contrast to my house (husband, 4 kids + dog) and exactly the calming influence I needed. I feel like a new person. OK, maybe it was the leisurely shower I took in her Italian marble over sized bath or the cut flowers and lack of clutter. But, whatever it was it was exactly what I didn't know I needed ... time alone.

I want to give a special thanks to all the DWC members in Newburyport for encouraging me to road trip. And I recommend that all you busy women out there (and men) take some time to wander by yourself this summer, it'll do your body, and mind, some good.

Diane K. Danielson
CEO, www.DowntownWomensClub.com

Trump: Take your role models and shove it.

I’ve been an Apprentice fan from the beginning and even liked the Celebrity Apprentice series.  I love the tasks and over the seasons Trump had won my begrudging respect.  I knew he had a spotty business record, but his ability to self-promote, create a new genre of product placement, and generally fire the right people for the right reasons was impressive.  I was even willing to overlook his blatant sexism and nepotism because, for the most part, women were treated fairly.  In addition, Ivanka is fairly impressive in her own right.  So, while I loved Carolyn and George, I was willing to accept Ivanka (as for her brother, …well, the jury is still out on that one).

In the grand scheme of things – as a business move, I have no problem with Trump picking Joan Rivers as the winner of Celebrity Apprentice.  It’s his show, she’s his friend, he won huge ratings and got his show picked up for another season.  That’s just business. People in charge get to pick who they want even if they have to create bogus reasons for doing so.  This happens in business and politics and even on the school PSO.  So, no, I don’t have a problem with that.

What I do have a HUGE problem with is Trump saying “Joan Rivers is a role model.”  FOR WHO????  In no particular order, here are the absurdities of Trump’s statement.  Note, I have to include Melissa in here, too, as the two are inseparable.

1. Not only was Joan Rivers rude and insulting to Clint, Brande and Annie, she went far beyond that.  Calling people “worse than Hitler” “stupid blondes” “white trash” “whore pit vipers” and accusing them of “mafia ties,” and so on is reprehensible.   But, why is it ok for Joan to do that, yet had anyone uttered an anti-Semitic slur or traditionally racist remark (“white trash” is racist as it does refer to someone’s skin and background) the show would’ve been cancelled (and rightly so). Yet, these women are role models?
2. In every other situation Trump has fired people who quit.  Joan walked out when Melissa was fired, but Trump let her back.  OK.  Smart move for Trump’s ratings, but again … for role models?  It’s ok to have a tantrum and quit? It’s ok to accuse everyone of scheming against you or your child with no proof whatsoever?  And, so what if they had?  Throwing tantrums is role model behavior????
3. Trumps inability to chastise Melissa for her meltdown was a disservice to Melissa and the viewers.  This is a child who has clearly been raised with “no consequences.”  She was not even slightly apologetic for her offensive behavior.  I found it totally bizarre that Trump let it slide, yet jumped down Jesse’s throat for calling Rodman stupid.
4. Trump’s sexism.  I’ve been willing to overlook this for however many seasons the show has been going on, but this time around you could literally see the damage it wrecks.  Every time he referred to Brande as “beautiful,” he was not only belittling Brande, but putting another nail in the coffin that was Melissa’s self-esteem.  He did more damage to that girl (and yes, Joan, I’m referring to Melissa as a “girl” because she seems to have stopped her maturity at age 13), with his fawning over Brande, than Brande and Annie could have ever done with any real or imagined “back-stabbing” of Melissa.
5. The Joan/Melissa co-dependency.  Many therapists say the “mother/daughter best friend” relationship that the Gilmore Girls had is not a good role model for mothers and daughters.  There needs to be boundaries between mothers and daughters. The Rivers duo is way beyond bizarre and clearly not healthy for either party, or as a role model for mother/daughter relationships.  Next stop … Grey Gardens. 
6. Trump changed the game.  Again, I’m ok with this.  It’s his show, he can look like an a*s if he wants to.  Nevertheless, the entire show was about raising money for charity (in fact, I’m waiting for The Daily Show-type montage of all the times he said that, then flashing forward to the final episode when he says it’s not just about raising money). So, Joan Rivers is a role model for winning a game that was changed to ensure that she won?  Gee, that’s a tough thing to do.  And while we’re at it, we never got the details about the three categories that she won.  No count-up/comparison of celebrities present, no details about what constituted a “better event experience,” etc.  They glossed right over those things.
7. Trump let Joan embarrass herself by going on about how Annie was a liar about why the designer quit.  Clearly, he must have known the truth, yet he let Joan berate Annie and then anointed her the winner. I’m actually embarrassed for both Trump and Joan.

Reading the tweets and blogs during and after the show, I was amazed to see all the Joan Rivers fans and the absolute hatred for Annie Duke.  I found this surreal and wondered whether I was watching the same show others were. 

• I still can’t understand why women hate Annie so much.  Here was one of the smartest women I have ever seen, handling herself professionally in some pretty extreme circumstances and beating the guys at a game they were always better at – raising money.  Sure she said, “I, I, I” and “Me, Me, Me” a lot, and that’s something she needs to work on.  But, she was probably edited to look worse than she really is.  And, if you approach this with the view that Trump was trying to ensure Joan won, he obviously did the worst hatchet job possible on Annie when it came to editing.
• Yes, she did say that she wished Joan would die.  Clearly this was inappropriate, but why Trump found something said in a private conversation (as private as one can get on a Reality Show) out of sheer exhaustion and frustration far worse than Joan’s public attacks, still doesn't make sense to me.
• Is it just me, or is everyone else still waiting to see the basis behind everyone's claims that Annie is "two-faced" and a "liar?"  I must have missed something this season, but it seems that there are a lot of folks tossing this around without any examples.  In fact, the only person who blatantly lied on camera is Joan Rivers. Besides, Annie is not two-faced at all.  You know she's about winning and all about Annie and if you can figure out how to work with that (as Brande did), then you have a winning team.  Unless you have Trump making the decisions.
• As always, I have to wonder if Annie had been a man would women have been as hard on her.  Admittedly, none of the celebrities other than Brande really came out as huge Annie supporters, and that’s likely due to the clash of Type A personalities, but one thing in Joan’s favor.  However, I noticed Natalie the golfer wasn’t on the final show; yet, I believe she donated an item to Annie’s auction.  She’s also probably one of the few “celebrities” on the show in which Joan Rivers could never factor into her future earnings.  Maybe Trump didn’t want any more Annie supporters around for the finale than he had to?  
• As for Brande, I agree with Trump - she is fascinatingly, captivatingly beautiful.  Regardless, I thought she handled herself well in the face of Trump’s sexist comments and while not a rocket scientist, she was no dummy when she chose to buddy up with Annie.  She could never have won Joan and Melissa over as they would never get past the fact that she looks like she does, and they pay a plastic surgeon to mess up what good looks they had in their own right.  I found Brande engaging and hope she ends up getting a talk show or something out this.   And, yes, I will now rethink any prejudices I may have had about Playboy bunnies.

Other random parting shots …

1. How come Herschel Walker didn’t get credit for what he contributed to that final event?  He was the brains. I had no problem with his selling all the tickets to a single buyer who then donated them to "the man/woman on the street."  This was a Trump attempt to level the playing field and to keep Annie from doing something similar. But perhaps the potential for protest was why it was overlooked. 
2. And, do celebrity impersonators = celebrities? So, again, maybe they slid this one under the carpet too, but Herschel, I'm impressed.
3. Kathy Griffin, I’m glad Trump counted your celebrity appearance as far greater than all of the celebrities at the other event - maybe you're now on the C list? But man, you’ve lost a few respect points from me for hanging out with the Rivers sisters (oops … mother/daughter team).
4. And, Piers Morgan, you let me down.  You clearly were in Annie’s court the week before, but maybe Joan Rivers can affect your career in some manner – and that’s what the show is about, saving, salvaging or sabotaging your career.  It’ll be interesting to see the fallout from this season and who is “stupid” enough to participate again next year.

But, you’ll have to tell me about it, because I sure as heck won’t be watching ever again.

Want to give to Annie Duke’s charity to make up for the travesty of the Rivers’ win?  Visit Refugee International. 

For more interesting thoughts on the travesty of Joan's win, including the possibility that a Trump sits on the board of Joan Rivers' charity, click here.

The dog who ate my checks

It's Friday and not raining so time for something a bit more fun.  As some of you know, I had an incident last week where my dog rifled through my mail (because he was mad at me for leaving him for a full day), and ate all my checks I had to deposit.  Now, why he couldn't have eaten the bills is beyond me.  But we recently tallied up the destruction:

• Value of checks eaten: $350
• Storm door destroyed:  $400
• One hardback library book consumed: $20
• One lamp: $150
• Numerous missing socks and undergarments eaten or buried around the garden:  $20
• One wallet used for a chew toy: $0 (credit cards now have toothmarks; cash was mouthed but not consumed).
• One retractable leash: $24
• Mittens and gloves: $50
• Random gardening equipment (gloves, rakes, spades): $75
• One homework eating incident involving a math book:  $0 thanks to a dog-loving 3rd grade teacher.

However, as they say, watching my son's face light up when Brodie bounds up to greet him off the school bus:  Priceless.

 

If you let me play sports ... I won't end up like Rihanna

When I read this article in the NYTimes about how teenage girls are supporting Rihanna standing by the man who beat her, my heart fell.  Earlier in the week I had been lamenting how girls my son’s age seem to be participating less in sports than their older sisters. Volunteering as a recess monitor last year, I only saw one or two girls ever play with the boys.  Yet, I witnessed more than one crying when they tripped and fell, and not because they skinned their knees, but because they got grass stains on their new designer jeans or mud on their Uggs.  Huh?  That's not the playground I grew up on.

I’ve also noticed that the only role models young girls have these days are pop singers – Taylor Swift, High School Musical, Hannah Montana, and even my favorite, iCarly ,has a catchy single.  Where are the girls who play sports on Disney or Nickelodeon? 

Admittedly, with no women’s soccer capturing the headlines, and the demise in popularity of women’s tennis and the Olympics, our daughters are seeing less female athletes than I did growing up in the Seventies.  Fortunately, we can still find movies like A League of their Own, Bend it like Beckham, Gracie, The Longshots, and She's the Man. All should be required viewing for young girls ... and boys.

But, I’d really like Nike to bring back the commercial “If you let me play sports.”  Because that basically said it all, didn't it?

If you let me play.
If you let me play sports,
I will like myself more.
I will have more self-confidence.
If you let me play sports.
If you let me play.
If you let me play I’ll be 60% less likely to get breast cancer.
I will suffer less depression.
If you let me play sports,
I will be more likely to leave a man who beats me.
If you let me play,
I’ll be less likely to get pregnant before I want to.
I will learn what it means to be strong.
If you let me play.
If you let me play sports.

Online Surveys & Market Research

What to do with the extra time.

During this recessionary time when people and businesses aren't buying you have extra time on your hands.  Here are some tasks you might consider undertaking:

• Renegotiate contracts with suppliers
• Rewrite the HR manual for your company including key job descriptions.  Better yet, get any idle staff that has not been laid off to write their own job descriptions for you to edit.
• Review what gets recorded in certain expense accounts like miscellaneous and office supplies. There's a goldmine waiting to be discovered.
• Attend more networking events after following Kathleen Burns Kingsbury's suggestions about the right way to network in 2009.
• Finish or update your business plan.
• Begin to prepare several scenario plans.
• Meet with employees individually and really listen to their suggestions.  Prior to doing this you might announce this is what the meetings are about so you don't create lay-off panic.
• Start writing the business book you've long thought the world needed.  We all have something to write about we just never make time.
• Learn the software applications you've been putting off for lack of time.

What are some other tasks people are undertaking because work is slow?

Web 2.0 replacing the holiday newsletter?

I've been printing my holiday newsletter all morning, in hopes of getting them done and in the mail before 2009 is actually upon us.  I confess, I was planning to forget the whole thing, or opt as I did last year for a funny picture of my kid under a "Seasons Greetings" header and be done with it.  But, I started to realize as the cards came in (forwarded from my former address), that I actually had to update people on a few things.  In fact, there was a good portion of my holiday card list who didn't know about the whole getting re-married, adopting a puppy, and moving thing. 

As I repeatedly changed ink cartridges and frequently had to unjam double-sided printing gone awry, I started to think ... if only these people were on Facebook, they would know all this and I wouldn't need to send a holiday newsletter.  Then at the same time I was cursing my printer, I noticed I was getting a bunch of emailed cards showing up in my in-box (other last-minute Nellies like me, rushing them out under the wire using services like www.smilebox.com and www.jacquielawson.com).

That's when it hit home and I realized that web 2.0, which has clearly hurt the greeting card business already, may eventually topple the holiday card tradition.  Guess Santa's gone hi-tech too, as kids can even email him.

I'm not sure what I think about this.  I like to see the pictures of everyone's kids, but half the time, I've watched their kids all year as they posted pictures on Facebook or sent me links to Picasa web albums.  And, I can honestly say that I feel more well-informed about and connected to more of my friends this year than any swap of holiday newsletters could have done.

It would actually be a lot less work to do things online, and cheaper, and better for the environment.  So maybe next year that's the way to go.  In the meantime, I have 75 newsletters to sign, fold, stuff inside envelopes, print and paste labels and finally add the stamps, so I better get going.  But for our readers I'd like to leave you with a holiday greeting courtesy of my new puppy.