Jeremy Herndon Blog

My wife asked me what I want to buy for a gift for my father for Christmas this year.  I told her that I was thinking about buying him a new watch.  Dad is very frugal, and has been wearing an old beat-up watch for way too long.  The crystal is scratched, and the plating on the band is worn off.  It just plain old looks nasty.I’ve asked him a few times why he keeps wearing that old watch and he keeps telling me that he just doesn’t see the point in throwing it away.  Having lived through the depression, he likes to quote the old “Wear it out, use it up, make it do or do without” mantra that we grew up with!

My biggest concern about buying Dad a new titanium watch that he might be sentimentally attached to that old watch, and really does not want to replace it.  Now he is not the kind of person to admit that he is sentimental about anything, so that is a hard call.  But my wife suggested that we buy him a watch stand for him to put his old watch on, and he could display it on his bedroom dresser in a place of honor.  I think that is a fine idea, don’t you?

I didn’t believe the weatherman yesterday when he said that we were going to get a snowstorm today. He has been wrong about our weather so much over the past couple of years! There have been so many times that school has been cancelled because the weatherman said it might snow (and it didn’t) that I just laughed when I heard yesterday that we were going to get at least an inch of snow today. Well, the joke is on me because we really are getting the first snow of the season today! And it is a beautiful storm; the flakes are very large and fluffy. It has been snowing for at least the last four or five hours now, which is very unusual for around here. We usually only a dusting. And yes, we have over an inch of snow. It is very pretty, and it IS making me think about Christmas being right around the corner!

I love the feel of real leather.  And I love the durability of leather.  It’s easy to clean, and with proper care it will last for decades.  Caring for it is easy, too – you can wipe up most spills easily without fear of the leather being ruined.  When given the choice of leather versus “pleather” I will take the real thing every time (if it’s within my budget to do so!)

Yes, leather can be expensive, but as with just about everything, you get what you pay for.  I consider leather purchases when durability is an issue. 

Do you have any leather briefcases?  My wife gave me one many years ago when I got a promotion at work from a non-management job to a management job.  It was a really nice gift, and I used it every day for many years.  That briefcase was my constant companion whenever I was doing anything work related.  It made me feel important and efficient! 

So when my youngest son graduates from college next spring I plan to buy him a leather briefcase too, as one of his graduation gifts.  I know that he is planning to pursue a job in policy making and I think that he will appreciate a gift that will last a long time.

We have been inundated with fruit flies over the past couple of weeks.  They started out in the kitchen, around the compost bucket.  So we’ve been emptying and washing the compost bucket every day, and put all of the fresh produce in the refrigerator, thinking that would get rid of them over the course of a few days.  Well, those little buggers have continued to multiply and are now in the bathroom as well as the kitchen.  They are driving me crazy!

This family sure does use a lot of address labels!  My wife likes to take an entire box of new blank envelopes and prepare them in advance by putting the address labels on the envelope, then tucks them back into the box.  She says that way they will be ready to go when we need them.  She also uses them on the envelopes when she responds to some kind of offer that requires a self-addressed-stamped-envelope.  She belongs to several clubs where she can get free instructions, or recipes, or booklets if she sends in a SASE.

We also keep our postage stamps right beside our address labels – it makes it a lot easier when everything is in one place!