Weekend Activities

I've been busy tonight baking some of the roughly 1,000 cookies needed for a men's conference at our church next weekend. While doing this, I was pondering the wonders of parchment paper. I did a lot of baking as a kid...how did I not know about this stuff? Which leads me to wonder what other simple things are out there that I don't know about? Oh, the possibilities!

I've also been working on getting my Sonlight books and folders in order. (Sonlight would be the curriculum I use.) I made a small mistake last year when I was putting the color coded stickers (for easy identification) on the books and I somehow managed to switch them around. So I ended up googling a chart for which color should go with what level, and I came upon this blog post. Look at this woman's Sonlight shelves!
http://roadstolearning.blogspot.com/2009/03/my-sonlight-shelf.html
I thought I was doing good to get the stickers at the same height on the book spines and possibly just a little nutty to use binders that match the stickers. It turns out that I may not be as uptight as some people think I am!

I'm Glad That's Over (For Now)

This round of layoffs is done, and my husband still has a job. Hallelujah!

Traverse Review

Well, we should know something by the end of today.

In the meantime, here's a mom's review of the vehicle I'm trying hard not to covet:

http://www.motherproof.com/car-reviews/new/2009-chevrolet-traverse/#When:17:15:25Z

Here We Go

Notice has been given that there will be another 1,600 white collar lay offs at GM this week. This is scary for us as we're now forced to confront the future. Please, if you're so inclined, join us in praying that God's will would be done in our family, that we will have peace, and that we would trust God to take care of us no matter what happens.

And even if its not my husband, its still going to be someone. Even if we're "passed over" in this round, it will still be hard to rejoice at the end of the week, knowing that many were not so fortunate. There's really no good outcome.

At the moment, many of the small annoyances of my life don't seem so important. I'm thankful for a house and a working furnace, cars that run, healthy children, food to eat, and friends that come alongside to help bear the burdens.

For those of you who call me every time you see a reporter standing outside a GM facility on the news (you know who you are!) I'll try to update as we know something and save you a phone bill. I appreciate your concern!

And We're Back

We've returned from our annual Easter roadtrip to Minnesota. Let me just say that its good to be home!

We rented a larger vehicle this year to make the drive more comfortable, which worked out really well. However, I have yet to figure out the Rental Car Reservation System. I called Enterprise weeks ago to reserve a GMC Acadia. (Let me just say up front that our Enterprise up the street has had great customer service every time I've dealt with them. It's not the people or the branch, it's the whole system in general that I can't figure out.) The Very Helpful Person on the other end of the line told me to call a couple of days before we were leaving to see if we could actually get the Acadia. What? I thought that was what a reservation was for?

So sure enough, when I called two days before the trip, they couldn't find an Acadia. Something about the basketball tournament. Once again, I thought I had a reservation? So I told her that we'd only drive a GM product, and she said she'd look around and see what she could find for us. The next morning she called with an available Uplander that they'd give us for the same price. Yeah! And when I dropped it off yesterday, I told the guy at the counter that a couple of service lights had been blinking (ABS system, no big deal) and we had topped off the wiper fluid. So he gave me an extra 10% discount. Yeah again!

I can't say I'm sold on owning a minivan, but after this trip, I can certainly see the functionality of the thing. You can tell you're getting old when function starts to outweigh form!

Thank you, Mr. Ilitch

Here's a man who puts his money where his mouth is. I have a sudden hankering for a Little Caesar's pizza!

Detroit Three Find Hope in Centerfield

BY MITCH ALBOM
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

When the Tigers open their season this week, fans will look to centerfield at Comerica Park and see the greenery, the flagpoles and the giant fountain. And, as usual, every time there's a Detroit home run, those fountains will erupt. That spot, in the stadium business, is what they call prime real estate. Companies pay big money to have their logo smack dab in the middle, so that every time fans gaze out there, the brand is what they see. For the last few years, General Motors has sponsored that fountain, and paid a substantial fee to do so. This season, with all that has happened in the auto business, GM's folks called the Tigers and said, regretfully, they could no longer afford it. Given the layoffs, the bailouts, the threat of bankruptcy, well, owning centerfield was too great a luxury. GM had to step aside. Which is when Mike Ilitch, the Tigers' owner, stepped in. There were other bidders. Other offers. Who wouldn't want that real estate? A deal of three years worth between $1.5 million and $2 million was on the table.
Ilitch said no thanks.
He was going to give it away.
Or maybe "give it back" is a better way of putting it.
Chalk up an outfield assist "It just seems strange to have the car companies in trouble," he told me this past week. "The Big Three, where would this city be without them? I mean, my father came from the old country and got a job at Ford's. It put food on our table. "It's scary to think that any of those carmakers could go away."

So Ilitch told his people to thank the potential paying customers, but to say that the centerfield fountain this year was spoken for. It would be the feature site for General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.
For free.
No charge.
Not one penny.
"It's just a small opportunity to respond to what's happening," Ilitch said, embarrassed by the attention.
There's nothing small about it. Every business has been affected by the collapsing economy; baseball teams are no exception. Walking away from a couple million dollars is not considered a wise financial move. Who turns away paying customers? In this case, Ilitch did. Because sometimes it's about the where and the who, not just the how much.

A message from the ballclub "I thought for a few weeks before deciding," Ilitch admitted. "I didn't want to offend anybody. I didn't want to put off the foreign carmakers. And I didn't want people to think we couldn't sell the fountain. As a businessman, you do worry about those things. "But I finally said, 'The heck with it.' I want to do something to help." So starting with the home opener this Friday afternoon, the Chrysler, General Motors and Ford logos will be on an equal plane above the fountain. And beneath those logos will be a few new words: "The Detroit Tigers support our automakers." It may be as close to a social statement as centerfield has ever made.

Visitors in Detroit for this weekend's Final Four may think our small, thriving downtown looks a lot like other cities' downtowns. But there is something different beneath the surface. Here, we construct in the face of adversity. We build on hope. Pure investors will tell you a city with rampant unemployment, enormous budget shortfalls, a troubled school system and a laughable city council is not a place to put your money. We do it anyhow. We do it because we love our past and we believe in our future. We do it because the alternative would be to close shop altogether. We do it because last week there were stories about the gleaming new Yankee Stadium, which cost $1.5 billion and has seats as high as $2,625 a game -- and here is Ilitch giving away his fountain for free.

Detroit may be the new home of the bumpy ride, but as the Three Musketeers once discovered, it's a little smoother when you grab hands with others. Think about that the next time a home run sends that fountain shooting up to those logos. Sometimes it really is all for one and one for all.

Blowing Off Steam

I haven't updated in awhile because I haven't had anything nice to say. And you know what our Moms told us about that. But, for the sake of my own sanity, I need to vent a little. For those of you who have somehow stumbled upon this post accidently, my husband works for GM. This is not a pleasant time at GM, but we're riding out the storm and trusting God to provide, whatever may happen to the company.

What I'm tired of, is people (those I know, but also the yapping heads on TV) talking about GM (also Ford and Chrysler, for that matter) as if it were a big faceless blob floating out in space somewhere. Let me assure you that there are actual people who work for the domestic automotive companies. Lots and lots of people. People with families and mortgages. People who spend money and help keep the economy running. People just like you.

For those of you who feel the need to share with GM employees and their family members all about the problems that you or a friend have had with a GM product: Please Keep It To Yourself. We do not need to hear about it right now. It does not help. If you or your spouse were on the verge of unemployment, I certainly wouldn't slap you in the face and tell you that you/he/she deserve it.

Just for fun, let me tell you about my GM products: My Chevy truck is now 12 years old with 148,000 miles on it. I just drove is across the state and back 2 days ago. It runs beautifully and I'm hoping Big K will learn to drive on it. My husband's Oldsmobile is 8 years old with 179,000 miles on it. Also running well, with lots of life left in it. The Chevy car we traded in for it had 245,000 miles on it. We haven't made a car payment in years, and the money we spend for maintenance is minimal. The problem we're having with our cars right now is that we'd really like something with more seating, but we can't justify buying a new car when both of our old ones are running so well and saving us money.

There, I feel a little better. I'll have to do this more often.