I’m no different from you: Most of my mail is junk mailers and magazines.
Today was different, though, and my mail contained a couple of items I was really pleased to get, neither expected.
Clutter in one place is art in another.
Awhile back, Jim M., one of the people I follow of Facebook, offered this drawing to the person who wrote he or she wanted it. I said I’d like to be considered from those who wrote they were interested.
I was the vice president of Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union back in the late 1980s and the symbol of that organization is a burrowing owl. I mentioned this connection to Jim, then Jim selected me to get the drawing. I was and am delighted! So are Jim and Sandy, his wife and artist, because they are trying to relieve some of the clutter in their small Manhattan apartment by sharing it with others! Brilliant!
Jim and Sandy? Probably not, but I like to think it is!
The thumbnail ink sketch with watercolor is a bonus I think. I don’t recall this drawing in the offer. I love the whimsy of it so I’m delighted Jim sent it, too!
The other thing that came in the mail was a $50 check to relieve part of a large debt someone has with me for a telephone bill. She left town, leaving me with a $449.39 telephone bill since I’d co-signed for her so she could have telephone service. I wrote about it in the post I headed “a hard lesson”.
To her credit, she finally started paying me $50 a month in July, and now is $100 closer to having me off her back. Others predicted I’d never see a cent toward the bill so anything she pays me is well appreciated.
These are very cool.
I enjoy having things like this, so the mail was much appreciated! Jim notes (on Facebook) that he hadn’t thought of the two “critters” in the smaller sketch being him and Sandra. On second look, the one on the right does seem to have a tail! LOL! (Hope Ali is doing better today…)
(nods head wisely) I remember well the “hard lesson” post. I’m glad she is honoring her debt to some degree. Better than what Mom got from her adopted sister…and I love the artwork! congratulations! Woof!
I hope she continues to repay me but I have some concern about that. I’ll find out, won’t I?
Yes, the artworks are much appreciated and will get properly framed once I find someone who does this professionally. The woman who used to do professional framing retired years ago, then died.
Is there a craft store nearby? They often have framing services.
I hadn’t thought about a craft store doing that sort of thing. By coincidence, there is one not too far from where I live. Worth a look!
a good deed is never lost!
The drawing is funny.
In friendship
Michel
I was delighted to receive it, especially since I forgot I’d “won” it! several weeks ago. I got a collage from them one other time, so they had my address.
What a worthwhile trip to the mailbox you had today! I like the artwork, and really like that the debt is being repaid.
I agree totally!
only seven payments to go …
And here we say “Den Bürgen sollst Du würgen”- “the bailsmen you shall strangle” – which says all about why you should not warrant somebody else’s bills.
It was a lesson learned, believe me! Anyone else asks me to co-sign for them, and I’m not likely to be polite about my refusal.
I was very polite, but FIRM about my refusal to sign for my niece when she planned to rent a room for an apprenticeship. And funny, but she found a place where she could do the same but from home … I like to spoil her, but on my condition. I told her I’d pay for her driver’s license (driving school is expensive here) and I gave her my car (which was already 11 years old and I did not need it anymore), even had some new tires for winter usage … but I knew it ended with that. No warrant for an unknown sum …
That’s the smart way to handle things! I know better now. I was manipulated by a master manipulator, a user who has lots of practice getting what she wants from others. That doesn’t make me feel better about things, though it makes it much easier to end the friendship.
At least she is repaying you. So not all is lost. But I can imagine that over 400 Dollars were not that funny to pay!
She’s down to $349.39 to pay me back, and should have the job done by March if she sticks with the monthly $50 check. The last one is less by a few cents. At any rate, until I get that last penny, I am not counting on the debt being taken care of. She’s already established she is pretty flaky, not too responsible. I should have realized this would happen, given she wasn’t the only one on the contract, a fact that wasn’t brought up until the last second when I was at the shop looking at the contract to sign it….! You noted a German saying. Perhaps you’ve heard this one in English: “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me! I am pissed that I was used this way. VERY pissed!
There is another English saying – a fool and his money …
Yes, and so true!
You’re right one man’s clutter is another man’s art. We have found that items we find are no good in our mind go out to the curb….one at a time….and by morning these items are usually gone. It may say something about our neighbourhood too. If you want to keep it, nail it down.
Jean
I used to joke about how people would remove pens from my desk at work whether they worked or not. There is some truth to that….!