Tea for Two Equals Three?

I am SO woefully mathematically challenged. That's why I work with words and fiber, not numbers. And that's why my recent jaunt to a tea parlor left me with egg on my face, so to speak.

A group of ladies from my Sunday School class decided to hold our planning meeting for an upcoming progressive dinner social at the wonderful Victorian Parlor in Spring Grove. Not only do they have fantastic food, but they also have a great collection of old hats that guests are encouraged to wear while enjoying the repast.

We all enjoyed a six-course tea and did manage to do a little planning in between courses and lots of pots of tea before the inevitable time came to pay the bill and leave. You KNOW what's coming next, don't you?

Have you ever seen a group of people try to divide a restaurant bill? It's not a pretty sight. But hey, we weren't anticipating any trouble because we all owed the same amount so all we had to do was figure out the tip. Amidst the general murmuring, I was doing some quick calculations in my head. Let's see.....if the bill was $20 apiece, then you'd just have to figure out what 10% was and then double that and you'd have a 20% tip. We'd had excellent service so I really felt the tip should be 20%.

My friend sitting next to me leaned over and asked, "What do you think I should leave for a tip?"

"I'd leave $2.00 if I were you," I suggested. "That's what I'm going to do. I know that some would say leave a 15% tip but I really think we should leave a 20% tip. So just put $22 into the pot and you'll be fine."

"Great," she said, as she fished out her money and handed it over to the cashier in our group. I added my $22 to the pot.

Our "cashier" friend, who works for the Department of Banking, I might add, looked at the money and looked at me and said, "Do you need change?"

"Nope, it's all there. We're fine," I assured her.

"You're sure?" she replied, dubiously.

"Oh, yes...just add it to the pot. We've put the tip in and everything."

"How much should we put in?" asked several other ladies at the table.

"Well, we each put in $22 to include the tip."

"Oh, great," they said as they fished in their purses.

Before we left, the owner was nice enough to take our group picture AND give us a guided tour of several rooms in the beautifully restored Victorian home. What a gracious hostess!
Two days later, my husband and I were eating out and when the bill arrived, the total was right around $20. I quickly did a little calculation in my head to figure out the tip. Suddenly I had a VERY sinking feeling.
"George," I said. "Twenty percent of twenty dollars is four dollars, isn't it?"
He looked at me as though I was daft and nodded. "I was afraid of that," I said.
As soon as I got home, I called my friend Linda, who had been collecting the money at our tea party. Mortified, I explained how I was afraid that I might have shortchanged our waitress by giving her a $2 tip instead of $4.00.
"Well, yes, you did. I wondered about that but you were pretty adamant that it was supposed to be $2.00," Linda replied.
"But Linda.....you KNOW I'm terrible at math. Why didn't you say something to me?" I wailed.
"I considered saying something but you seemed so sure that I figured you must have your reasons," was her answer.
"Oh, I can't believe I did that! That's not even 15%. It's 10%. And they gave us such great service. I feel terrible! At least the others gave her a decent tip," I said.
"No, they didn't. Everyone put in $2 after you suggested that amount," Linda continued.
Such is the blessing (and curse) of the gift of persuasion. Sometimes we don't even know our own power. And when it comes to math, sometimes we shouldn't even open our mouths.

Awash in Paper No More

Last weekend I met my daughter, Laura at a local motel for a Fall Scrapbooking Retreat. We joined a group of diehard scrapbookers on Friday afternoon and scrapped our little hearts out until Sunday afternoon. I love these retreats because I get to see so many of my friends AND I can get so much done. We have a room reserved just for our scrapbooking where we can leave our supplies and projects out 24 hours a day and come and go as we please to work on them as we will. Some folks stay up scrapping into the wee hours of the morning. (I made it to 2 a.m. the first night.) Others are much more sensible and rise and retire according to a more normal schedule.

I tried a new experiment at this retreat. Instead of lugging all my supplies over to the motel, I decided to spend the weekend doing digital scrapbooking on my laptop computer. Consequently, I really only needed to bring my laptop, some extension cords, my small external hard drive, and my wireless mouse. My daughter scrapbooked the more traditional way, bringing her albums, paper, adhesive, trimmers, etc. Oh, that's my almost 60-year-old bear, Elizabeth supervising things (or trying to).

So compare the work area shown in the photo at the right with the photo on the left, which is my work space. It was just me, my computer, an idea book or two, and occasionally, Elizabeth.

I'm telling you, it was great. I'd work on my digital albums and pictures and, when I'd get tired, I'd read my email or surf the Net. If I needed to refresh my memory on some place I'd toured for a bit of journaling, I'd go up on the Net and Google the attraction to doublecheck things like "what year was Edgewood Plantation built?"

Occasionally I'd get up to stretch my legs and wander around to see what others were working on or I'd go grab another cookie from the snack table to keep my energy levels up. Elizabeth contented herself with checking out the new products on the display tables. I'm amazed at the options that we now have with Creative Memories for either the traditional scrapbooking or downloading the same paper designs or embellishments for digital scrapbooking. The digital versions sure solve the storage problems in my craft room, making more space for all my yarn.

By the end of the weekend, I was amazed that I had spent so many hours on the computer and accomplished so much without feeling at all wiped out. Even better, it only took me about 5 minutes to pack up everything. Whee! Now the test will be to compare costs over the next few months to see if digital costs are comparable to traditional and also to see if I'm staying more up-to-date on my scrapbooking by going digital.

A Midwesterner's View of Fondue

My hubby and I drove down several weeks ago to help our daughter celebrate her birthday belatedly. Laura and her husband live and work near Washington, DC so they have had a chance to try out lots of neat little restaurants. We told her to pick a place she'd like and we'd all go there for dinner. She chose a restaurant that serves everything in a fondue pot.

The last time I had fondue was almost 40 years ago in Switzerland. I remember that it involved a lot of bread and cheese. This was nothing like I remember it. You had to pick out what sauce and seasoning you wanted to have your food cooked in and then the meal was brought out in stages......appetizers, then the meats, and finally, dessert.

Now I'm from the Midwest. Like most folks from the Great Plains of Minnesota, we like our food recognizable, reasonable, and in abundance. Oh, and a BIG helping of dessert at the end of a meal will really sweeten the deal. But the meal we had this time was one of those East Coast "artsy-smartsy" meals.

The buxom waitress was all dressed up for Halloween in a Little Red Riding Hood outfit that was so low cut that every time she came by to check on us, I kept thinking I should order a glass of milk. Once I got past that distraction, I turned my attention to the plate of appetizers that she set before us. It consisted of some mushroom caps, slivers of carrots, several broccoli and cauliflower tops, and some cubed potatoes. There wasn't a fried mozzarella stick in sight.

Following my daughter and son-in-law's lead, my husband and I stuck a veggie on little skewers and put them in the fondue pot. Then we sat and watched them .....and watched them. After several minutes of this, we wrested the skewers out which was like playing pick-up-sticks because they were all tangled together. Once we got out our veggie, we had our choice of sauce to dip it in and then "chomp".....one bite and the morsel was gone. Okey Dokey! Back to skewering and waiting. Occasionally we'd have to fish a vegetable out of the pot with a slotted spoon when our skewers got so tangled that food would pop off the ends.
Next course was the meat. Each couple received about 6 shrimp, a tiny mound of cubed raw beef and a similar amount of cubed chicken. The procedure was the same but the wait was longer. I found if I really nibbled, I could get about 3 little bites out of each piece of meat. That killed about 10 seconds of the 5 minute wait time between dunking the meat in the pot and pulling it back out.

By the time the waitress came around with a clean pot and the chocolate for our dessert fondue, I was contemplating running next door to the drugstore for a candy bar to tide me over. Our plate this time consisted of two quarter size squares of brownies, a one-inch sliver of cheesecake, 4 or 5 strawberries and a pair of one-inch squares of pound cake. I took one look at the plate and SERIOUSLY considered asking the waitress for a big spoon and a hot pad holder so I could just eat the chocolate out of the pot. It hardly seemed worth skewering and dipping.

My daughter and son-in-law loved the meal. What there was of it was tasty enough. However, I think you have to be young to fully enjoy such a thing. Was it worth the almost $100 per couple? Let's just say that at my age and for that price, we'd better be talking a buffet with a pretty spectacular dessert table. There's a reason why buffets are popular with "seasoned citizens." We know that life is too short not to "go for the gusto."

Every Vote Counts!

I was in high school and college in the Sixties. Like every other young female on the planet at that time, I adored the Beatles (Sorry, Ginnie! Trust me, no one will recognize you!). I wore love beads in college and participated in sit-ins on campus using the time to flirt with my boyfriend while others talked politics into the night. I offered to find a map to Canada for my brother when he became eligible for the draft during the Vietnam War. Then, keeping in step to my own unique drumbeat, I joined the Army. It's been an exciting life.

Amidst the twists and turns of that life, one thing I've consistently done is vote. It's been a privilege to do so. My generation is known as the "Baby Boomers." I only know that we're vast in number, we're getting older, and we still want to be heard. I like to think that we're still ready to rebel against the status quo if we think things need to change. I also want to think that we're older and wise enough now to realize that sometimes change has to start with us and that almost always, change will involve hard work and sacrifice, not handouts with "no strings attached."

So today I was up bright and early and out the door to vote soon after the polls opened. In fact, I braved the polls without makeup, coffee, or breakfast. From the looks of others in line, I wasn't the only one to do so. It felt good to greet my neighbor who always volunteers to log in voters on election days. It felt even better to hear her call out "New voter" to the fellow who watches you sign in. I heard that refrain at least 4 times just while I was waiting for an open booth. My husband reported that there were around 70 people in line waiting for the polls to open when he arrived to vote. There were about 30 in line when I joined the crowd.

And no matter who wins, I cast my vote and my voice will be heard. Groovy! What about you? Has America heard your voice today?