Image by Roby72© via Flickr 2,160. That’s the estimated number of times the word “money” turns up in the 360-page novel Money, by Martin Amis. And the word never loses its thrill. What was narrator John Self thinking or feeling about money right now? What would happen — good or bad — because money was [...]
Entries from March 31st, 2009
The Money See-Saw: Trending Up?
March 31st, 2009 No Comments
Tags: Martin Amis · money psychology · Steve Almond
School Change: Seeing the Big Picture
March 24th, 2009 6 Comments
Here’s the problem with the Minneapolis school change process: The administrators are ready for us to all move on together, while we, the parents, are still in the early stages of the Kubler-Ross model’s stages of grief. Denial, anger, and bargaining were paramount tonight at the F2 (Kingfield and East Lake Harriet) neighborhood meeting: “At [...]
Minneapolis Public School Changes Rattle Parents
March 20th, 2009 1 Comment
Politely pissed. That was the vibe in a standing-room-only community meeting at Lake Hiwatha Community School, one of two gatherings last night (March 19th) for citizen input on massive coming changes to the Minneapolis Public School system. If you’re a parent and didn’t get word of this meeting, you weren’t alone. Even though the district [...]
Big or Small? Sorting Out Your Financial Priorities
March 16th, 2009 5 Comments
If you’re looking to save money, do you sacrifice some big things in your budget, or do you look for ways to save $20 or so here and there? A few weeks back a friend asked me this. He opts for the big line items, while his wife haggles over the price of peanut butter, [...]
Tags: freedom
And the Bead Winner Is…
March 16th, 2009 No Comments
Image via Wikipedia Claudine. Her Tassimo coffee machine cost her about $169, she thinks, and was an impulse purchase born of desperation that still brings her joy every day. Much as I hope our beads will. Claudine, I will talk to you by email about what kind of bead package or creation will be in [...]
Tags: contest winner
So Wrong It’s Right: Impulse Purchase at the Bead Monkey
March 11th, 2009 20 Comments
Image via Wikipedia “I just spent $69 at Bead Monkey” was a sentence I never thought I’d utter. My husband and I took delight in the fact that a) such a store existed and b) we couldn’t figure out why. I am not a crafty person. When a fellow preschool parent recently asked me, “What [...]
Tags: impulse purchase
Who Needs to Get Organized?
March 9th, 2009 No Comments
I can’t help it. It’s the perfect day to link to this comic — my brain never functions well on a groggy gray day like this. And I’ve been tallying my tax info over the weekend, which involves adding up every tedious little business expense like: “$1.67 — coffee.” Which could make anyone’s brain take [...]
Random Notes: ReFi, Toilets, Money and Mourning
March 3rd, 2009 2 Comments
Image via Wikipedia Because I still don’t have time to write a real post, but miss you enough to ramble: We had the appraisal for the re-fi last Friday. It took him 4 minutes! That’s good, right? A plumber also visited last Friday, and pronounced that we need a new toilet. Also, some of that [...]
Tags: Martin Amis · plumber · refinance
