Once again, I took one of those Blogthings quizzes. That "Choose your Colors" quiz caught my eye, so I clicked which group appealed to me. I got this:

You Are Colorful Because You Are Sparkling

You are witty and clever. You may not be the most outgoing person in the world, but you speak up when it matters. You know create an aura of mystery surrounding you. You enjoy having people wonder about you. You never over share or dominate a conversation. You only inject yourself when you know it's your time to shine. You are classy and elegant. Making a good impression is important to you, and you love to leave people wanting more.

I'll have something more serious to post than these blog thingies later this week. I've not been in the writing mood since Christmas. Writer's Block is a big pain in the butt.

Another of those Blog Things quizzes thsi time asking what state I am. Born and bred Hoosier who sometimes feels I was born in the wrong part of the country. Even my aunt said I talk like I'm from the North East. Well, I have proof she's right!

You Are Massachusetts

You are smart, serious, and quite traditional. You don't have a lot of time for junk in your life. It's likely that you're well educated and hard working. You live a very goal oriented life. You are probably socially liberal, but personally quite conservative. You would never be described as wild. But you're more diverse than people give you credit for. You're equally comfortable at a business meeting and at a rowdy sports game!

Christmas is a few days away, and I haven't bought one gift, baked one cookie or pie, dipped one chocolate, not even trimmed the tree because there is no tree. The thought of dragging that 6-foot fake evergreen upstairs then rummage through my mom's idea of "everything in its place" — There is no such thing — looking for ornaments and lights is just too daunting. Besides, I have a pre-lighted tabletop tree, and that should do it.

My money is really, really tight this year. IPS, due to budget shortfalls, cut substitute teacher pay. OK, so it's gone from $75 to $100 for non-licensed, and up to $125 from $85 for licensed. It's the latter that took the big hit. In the past, a guest teacher with a state teaching license, earned what beginning teachers earned, that is if she/he stayed in the same assignment more than 10 to 15 days. I've had many long-term jobs like that, and the big jump in salary was so welcome. Now, after the 10 days, we're getting a measly $25 to $50 extra per day. That's way down from last year's $250 to $290 per day. Unfortunately, my license expired, so I'm on the $100/day. I don't get it. Why cut the lowly sub's pay (who work just as hard as regular teachers if not more so) when the fat-cat administrators see nary a reduction in their salaries? IPS' rapidly dwindling student population doesn't justify its overly bloated downtown administration.

Our current pay is not much if I'd like a little extra to buy my niece some nice Christmas gifts. As of today, I haven't the extra cash, so I'm making her gifts: A nice, warm, crocheted hat and mitten set. Those and a homemade CD of ripped and burned classical and jazz that sounds "So Ella." I looked at various toys and decided not to buy. The kid's three years old and getting loads of toys and other pre-school stuff, so my little gifts won't make that much of a splash.

Of all the years of tight budgets and slim wallets, this has to be the worst. Even my baking and candy-making took a hit. I might whip up a batch of Mexican wedding cakes or some of those little chocolate dipped shortbreads. A batch of toffee or pralines, but nothing else. My mom hates mince pie, can't eat anything spicy, doesn't like chocolate too well... Heck, she doesn't like most of what I prepare year 'round. My dad was the one to make goodies for, and he looked forward to the candy and other delights.

I haven't been to church in weeks, and I'm missing all the wonderful Advent and Christmas music. Usually I'd have The Messiah and other seasonal delights loaded in the CD player. This year I haven't heard one note. I suppose it's all depression, seasonal affective disorder, ADHD (Yes, I had a special education teacher test me for this). All the treatment has not been very effective, but I'm still seeking out help even if it's alternative medicine. Still, I'm trying to be happy, finding joy in little things that don't come with a price tag or ultimatums. Unfortunately, some of my family and friends don't see it that way. Apparently, Christmas has to be what the magazines show, what the TV shows us. Oh so perfect but devoid of any spirit or meaning.

I'm just praying to make it through next weekend. For the first time in my life, I'm spending Christmas Day away from home. Happy Holidays.

I have big issues with customer service. It must be better than good, or I no longer patronize that business. Scores of stores, banks, consumer goods manufacturers, web hosts, site add-on companies, and other consumer services have seen the back of me because of poor customer service. At times the service was non-existent. There have been times when ongoing problems took far too long to resolve. Why? The owners and/or managers were not available for several days, weeks, months even. No one to take phone calls, answer emails, nothing.

Recently a service(unnamed for now) I rely on heavily is on the brink of getting the boot from me. The service is great when things run smoothly; however, too many problems happen too often, that don't get resolved for too many weeks. When I call the 800 number I can't get past the canned receptionist. This has been going on since last spring when I actually spoke to a CSR who vaguely knew how to resolve my problem. Why I've put up with such shoddy behavior is more reason to get out and find a more competent service.

So all those guys who take our money only to go AWOL on us, never answer our questions, barely solve problems, or make lame excuses why things aren't running the way they should, maybe a mass exodus of paying customers is in order. Don't worry, there are other, comparable services out there which actually value their customers by actually available, minding the store. And in these tough economic times, most businesses lucky to be alive cannot afford to disrespect their customers.

I was to blog about my two-year old niece (almost 3 years old come November) and how smart and funny she is. I was also going to blog about the month-old school year and no so great ISTEP scores released last week. However, things in the neighborhood have taken a dramatic turn, and for the worse.

Early this week, I found a flyer stuck in my front door. It listed all houses recently broken into, many within a five-block radius of our street. So far, the burglars have hit more than a dozen homes within the past two weeks. How sad since my area, the Watson-McCord neighborhood, just south of the state fairgrounds, has been touted as one of the safest in town. Not so these days, and I highly suspect the culprit(s) live nearby, probably and literally under our noses. We think it's probally someone looking for quick valuables to snatch and hock for drug money or it could be prospective gang members' initiations. Whatever the cause in this sudden spike in break-ins in what is usually a peaceful area, the local police don't seem all that concerned.

When we moved in here more than 40 years ago, we enjoyed regular police patrols. By regular, I mean we'd see them on the streets at least once, maybe twice a day and at night. Now we're lucky to see a patrol car through here once every other month, sometimes not even that often. My father always said a visible police presence does help deter criminal activity. He'd also say that if one calls the cops on whatever matter then gets the usual runaround, the caller could always say, "Well, I have my big shotgun here and I'm not afraid to use it." That ususally gets the police off their butts and into the neighborhoods. Maybe it'll come to that; people who have firearms will have to resort to protecting themselves and property, even it means injuring or killing a would be burglar. Then we'd see some cop action. Somehow, I'm tempted to head to Don's Guns this week and pick up a small handgun to keep on hand, just in case. I really don't want to resort to such things, but something has to give. When my own next door neighbor scared away some guy who was peeping through her window last week at 5AM, maybe getting that gun is order.

My mom is the skittish sort, always fearing the worse that could happen. I refuse to feel that way. Since that notice went out, I've turned on all outside lights from dusk to dawn, locked every door and window, even positioned items on the front porch so I could tell if someone's been snooping around. If so much as a flowerpot or that old broom in the corner is out of place, you can bet I'll call the police about our unwanted visitor. All it takes is some common sense, not fear. Any criminal can sense fear and takes advantage of that, and I refuse to barricade myself inside 24/7.

Does anyone reading this have similar problems in their neighborhood? How are you coping and what are you doing to prevent a potential break-in?