My World With Words

Today’s Bloganuary prompt is “What do you complain about the most?” I’ll be so glad when Bloganuary is over.

Okay, that’s one complaint. But really, I don’t complain about much. I figure if I have some control over it, do something about it. If I don’t have any control, then complaining isn’t going to do me much good. So I don’t gripe about the weather, although like anyone else I’m not always happy about it.

I do, of course, have my pet peeves. Like people who drive too close or too fast. You’re not going to get me to go any faster by riding my tail. In fact, if anything, I might slow down to compensate for your reckless driving.

I don’t really like to put the things that make me unhappy down in print. I don’t think it reflects well on me. Not that I’m trying to hide my true nature, mind you. But seriously, who wants to hear someone else complain?

At my local grocery store, as you’re checking out they ask how satisfied you are with your visit that day. If one of the workers treated me well, or if I could easily find everything I wanted, I mark five stars. If I’m upset, I don’t mark anything at all. I think the better way to deal with a problem is to talk face-to-face with the person who can do something about it.

I don’t think that sort of rating system is effective. Someone might be in a bad mood and mark one star, just out of spite but not because anything really negative happened. When I bought my current car, the sales person let me know I’d get a survey if I took my car in to the dealership to get it serviced. He also told me anything less then a rating of ten out of ten is considered a zero.

There is the flip side of this, of course. I frequently look at ratings if I plan to buy something or am interested in finding a good book. I rely on the opinions of others in those situations to make a decision. I’m looking at buying a mattress right now and those opinions matter to me. If others have complaints, I want to hear them. I should add that the more people who’ve weighed in, the better.

But whining doesn’t do it for me. So for now, I’ll work on not being a complainer and instead, being a doer.

Image Credits: Complaining Egg © flowertiare–stock.adobe.com; Ratings Stars © Sergey Kolesov–stock.adobe.com

This is a post from almost nine years ago, and I was happily surprised to see some of you in the “likes” and “comments” sections. Thank you for your loyalty to my blog! Anyway, today’s Bloganuary prompt asked what sports I like to watch and play. The answer is simple: I like to watch football and I don’t like to play any sports. Hope you enjoy my take on things!

Image Credit: Football © Sergey Nivens–stock.adobe.com

how to pretend you care about football

Today’s Bloganuary prompt: “What would you do if you won the lottery?”

Well, I’ve written about this before in two previous posts, so excuse me if I’m repeating myself. The simple fact of the matter is, I don’t want to win the lottery. Maybe a million dollars. That would be about what my financial experience could handle.

I have a co-worker who dreams of winning big–like the two billion dollar winnings. “Oh,” she says, “I’d spend it on homeless animals, and my daughter wouldn’t have to work.” What she doesn’t realize is how difficult it is to manage large amounts of money. I tried telling her, and her response was, “I’ve got a good accountant. She does my taxes every year.”

The sheer naivety of that statement tells me she’d be one of the 70 percent of lottery winners, including those who win tens of millions, who end up bankrupt within five years. Most winners aren’t good financial planners, and many see their winnings as endless. Fortune magazine described it as seeing those millions like Monopoly money.

I should add here that my co-worker is currently in bankruptcy and has a terrible history of money management. Winning big wouldn’t change that.

Friends and family members will sue for a portion of the winnings, and don’t think that a baseless lawsuit on their part means you’ll win. Scammers come out of the woodwork. Greed can become the law of the land. In short, winning the lottery creates more problems than it solves.

It makes you a target.

So what would I do if I won the lottery? I don’t play.

Image Credit: © Minerva Studio–stock.adobe.com

I hope you are happy and healthy and enjoying life. Have a fantastic day and a marvelous year! Take care,

Love, Belinda

Image Credit: © yournameonstones–stock.adobe.com

Today’s Bloganuary prompt is “Write about a few of your favorite family traditions.”

Jiminy, I can’t think of many family traditions, let alone favorite ones. We celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve, a tradition that started when we lived in the same state as both sets of grandparents and had to divide our time between the two families. Actually, it may have started in my Mom’s family when she was growing up, perhaps for the same reason. At any rate, when we moved to another state, we continued with the Christmas Eve celebration, although Santa came during the night, filled our stockings, and left one big gift.

My maternal grandmother was a notoriously bad cook, but there was one thing she made well, and she made that every Christmas Eve. I’m ashamed to say I can’t remember exactly what it was, some sort of beef sandwich, I think. She served it with mashed potatoes that my grandfather made and creamed corn from a can. My mom hated that meal, but I kind of enjoyed it.

In sharp contrast to her mother, my mom was an excellent cook, a gourmet cook, really. Never did her talents shine quite as bright as on the Thanksgivings of my 20s, when my stepdad was alive and shared in preparing a meal. They loved to invite people who had nowhere else to go for the holiday, including a family of Russian immigrants. There were three of them, father, mother, and daughter, and I loved talking to them. They didn’t like to talk about Russia, but the daughter, who was about my age, was a great conversationalist and we always had something to chat about.

My mom was also a talented seamstress. Back in the day, girls were required to wear dresses, and she made several for both my sister and me at the start of every school year. We’d go to the fabric store, pick out the patterns, then select the fabric we liked. I remember then we’d have to wait while Mom found the thread, zippers, buttons and everything we needed for those dresses, and that got a little long, even though she did her best to speed it up.

When we were very young, she made some matching dresses for us, but as soon as we were old enough to display our very different personalities, she stopped doing that.

So I guess we did have a few family traditions I remember fondly.

Image Credits: Santa in his sleigh © vectorfusionart–stock,adobe.com; Santa © Елена Фаенкова–stock.adobe.com; Sewing © Vladimir Polikarpov–stock.adobe.com