A month ago I bought new furniture. It’s pretty, durable, lovely furniture that qualifies as an investment. I opted to pay it off via a credit card instead of pulling the money out of my savings account. I did something similar last year and have nearly finished paying that off already.

Basically, I bought a new living room. A leather sofa/sleeper (queen-sized mattress), a coffee table and an end table. I also bought two chairs for my dining room set (which I bought last year), so I’d have the 8 chairs needed when I “extend” it. Obviously, I’m not going to need 8 chairs now, but I didn’t want them to discontinue the model before I bought the chairs.

These pieces of furniture replace a breakfast table, a futon, and some folding tables.

Anyway, I’ve received all my furniture except for the end table, which was on back order. Then it was in stock, but the furniture company forgot to tell me, and forgot to schedule delivery. Then we couldn’t schedule a delivery date and time that would work for me. Finally, after a lot of phone calls, we ended up with today as a delivery date. Yesterday I received a call giving me a window of delivery — 12:30-3:30pm.

I’m supposed to be at my apartment waiting for delivery. Instead, I’m at the office. Why? Because my youngest sister, Mom and the kiddo are all at my apartment waiting for the furniture delivery. They insisted on doing this for me when they found out I was going to have to work from home for a few hours to wait.

It’s a nice offer. In theory.

In reality, I had to meet them for lunch, which meant going to pick something up. My sister doesn’t drive “into town” if she’s not going to get a chance to eat out. So… she wanted Mediterranean. And I’m standing there taking her order, while she piles one thing on top of another and another. Then gives me $20 to “cover her food” — when the bill was $71. OK, so at least one item was mine. But this was money I wasn’t going to spend. I’d already prepared a turkey/spinach salad I was going to eat while waiting for the delivery. I wasn’t supposed to spend money today.

{{sigh}}

Exactly how was I supposed to say “no” to this?

Ragan.com posted “5 reckless tweets that can get you fired” and it has a cautionary tale of what can happen when you don’t think twice before updating your status.

The most recent Twitter debacle comes to us from CNN’s former Senior Editor of Mideast Affairs, Octavia Nasr. [snip] CNN felt that her comments compromised her credibility as a reporter and let her go.

So, what do you need to know to avoid the same fate?

1. Don’t tweet confidential information.
2. Remember, defamation suits are still applicable.
3. Don’t over-share; don’t forget that tweets are public domain.
4. Don’t share information too soon.
5. Don’t whine about work.

Have questions about the tips? Read the whole story.

Word of mouth is a great recruiting tool, so I am inviting everyone in Houston to help HISD recruit tutors for its groundbreaking Apollo 20 school turn-around project.

To join Team HISD as an Apollo 20 Math Fellow, a candidate needs to have a bachelor’s degree and strong math skills, and like working with young people. Successful applicants will work with small groups of sixth- or ninth-grade students each school day at HISD priority schools. For their 10-month commitment to helping students to be successful, Apollo 20 Math Fellows will receive a $20,000 salary and benefits (including health-care coverage). They will also be eligible for a performance and attendance bonus of up to $5,000.

Education is key to the success of Houston’s young people and the entire Houston community. This is a great chance for you or someone you know to make a difference in our students’ lives. We are waiting to hear from you!

Terry B. Grier, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools

I know because I’ll spend the wedding judging others.

I’m lucky I already had the dress I needed. I have a habit of buying dress-up clothes every once in a while, just in case, but always with the absolute knowledge I’m never going to need them. Then I do. The same goes with jewelry, for me and to give as gifts. If I see a good sale, and something catches my eye, I buy it and put it away for a rainy day.

So I was almost prepared. The one thing I didn’t have was the right shoes. I’ve been doing a bad job of buying shoes lately. The life of a shoe isn’t that long, at least not for me. It lasts maybe a year, then it has to be replaced. But I haven’t been replacing them lately. As a result, my shoe collection is diminishing.

I did have a pair of shoes that went to the dress I wore, but they weren’t the best choice (they pinched a bit and I’d worn them quite a few times). And, truthfully, I ended up taking them off by the end of the wedding… but I think that may have had more to do with the fact that I danced a lot than with the shoes themselves.

So, I wore a sleeveless black dress with beading around the neckline. I paired that with a lace wrap and some heeled leather sandals, both black. The jewelry was a set of blue topaz (emerald cut) in a nice sterling silver/marcasite setting. The set (necklace, earrings, bracelet, ring) was a present from my sister for Christmas a few years ago. It’s very nice, one of my favorites, and one of the ones I pull out for special occasions.

The most elaborate part of getting prepared to go out for a special event isn’t choosing your wardrobe and accessories. (And I know that I can only speak for myself in this.)The most elaborate part is the makeup. But I’m not going into that here.

For some strange reason, probably family obligation or something, I was invited to the wedding… and to the bridal shower… and the bachelorette party. I didn’t go to the pre-wedding events, and I had decided that I wasn’t going to go to the wedding either. I had already decided. But I went anyway.

What can I say? I’m a jellyfish.

I didn’t go to the wedding for the bride or the groom, neither of whom I care about in the slightest. (Was that harsh?) I went to the wedding because my broth-in-law was giving away the bride.

And so I went to the wedding.

And now I have my regular several posts coming your way about the different things I noticed about the experience. Because, as you may have imagined, nothing with my family is truly ordinary, not even a trip to a wedding.

But maybe that’s just my opinion.

8 AM — breakfast was a crunchy peanut butter sandwich on white bread accompanied by hot tea.

10 AM — no midmorning snack today. I didn’t pack anything.

11:30 AM — lunch was a lot of food at Maggiano’s for a luncheon.

3 PM — no midafternoon snack today. I didn’t pack anything.

7 PM — I had dinner at the House of Pies. It’s the second time this week.

Dinner was an event, a get-together with my mother, my brother and his new girlfriend. Have I mentioned that I don’t really know if I like her yet?

{{Written on my iPhone}}

8 AM — breakfast was one chicken tamal with green Tabasco sauce and hot tea.

10 AM — midmorning snack was a banana. A very yummy banana.

12:30 PM — lunch was the rest of the leftover chicken tamales. Three of them, I think. Also with green Tabasco sauce and a large bottle of water.

3 PM — midafternoon snack was a Granny Smith apple, beautiful and tart.

8 PM — dinner was homemade chicken in peanut sauce. I made enough for several days, ate some today and put the rest in the freezer.

{{Written on my iPhone}}

7:30 AM — half a peanut butter sandwich and hot tea.

Midmorning snack — I didn’t have anything for midmorning snack.

11:30 AM — lunch wad a visit to a salad bar, which means a very bad salad… plus bread.

7 PM — Dinner was leftovers from the dinner at my sister’s a few days ago. Basically, chicken and beef kabobs with A1 sauce.

{{Written on my iPhone}}

This new story reminds us that simply relocating these kids a few miles, even with a federally-protected border in between, doesn’t really make them safe.

[snip]

When black SUVs trail school buses around here, no one dismisses it as routine traffic. And when three tough-looking Mexican men pace around the high school gym during a basketball game, no one assumes they’re just fans.

Fear has settled over this border town of 1,700, about 50 miles southeast of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, epicenter of that country’s bloody drug war. Mexican families fleeing the violence have moved here or just sent their children, and authorities and residents say gangsters have followed them across the Rio Grande to apply terrifying, though so far subtle, intimidation.

The message: We know where you are.

[snip]

Scary. And I’m wondering how bad it’s going to get on this side of the border, too.