I think everyone probably remembers having a junk drawer in the kitchen when they grew up. For some reason it was always in the kitchen, usually one of those really shallow drawers, near a phone (in the old days, when phones were stuck to the wall). The junk drawer somehow accumulates all sorts of things, tops from pens that have disappeared, pens that no longer work, old rubber bands, receipts for things you think you might someday need to return, spare change, old rabies tags from the dog’s collar, odd pieces of string, and pieces of something that you can’t quite remember what it was, but are sure if you throw it away, you will find out and realize that it is really important.

Well, we still have a junk drawer in our house, but it has now morphed to keep up with the digital age. It is filled with chargers. Wall chargers – maybe, 20 of them, for cell phones we no longer have, cameras that have long been broken or stolen or both, old computers that have been relegated to the back of the closet by obsolescence (yet the charger still sits in the drawer), even a charger for an electric screwdriver that has long since disappeared into that place that tools disappear to, probably with the socks that never come out of the drier. These chargers have tangled themselves into such a mess that no one goes near the junk drawer anymore. Perhaps someday someone will have a “charger donation” drive and we’ll take the whole lot and feel better for it.

Speaking of wonderful causes – the week, eBay is featuring North Shore Animal League as their spotlighted charity. For those who don’t know, North Shore is a large no kill shelter on the north shore of Long Island, that has recently been rescuing animals from puppy mills.

I am going to put the link here – if you click it you will go directly to the event:

I sell on eBay under the name myohomom and am selling things to benefit North Shore this week, my items can be found through the link.
I also have some new items on The Treasure Tower, including a really cool new line called Spare Soles – which are leather-like ballet flats that fold up into a wristlet/tote bag, so you can have them with you when you wear heels, and change into them when your feet can’t take it anymore. They look great! Not like cheap slip ons – and actually have a heel. They are also good for airplane flights, hotel rooms, and anywhere that you need to bring a spare pair of shoes and don’t have a lot of room.

(Remember – if you want to go directly to the listing on my site – just click the picture – just like in the Wizard of Oz – it takes you “home”).
And please – I’d love to hear your “junk drawer” stories. What’s in your junk drawer? Come on – I KNOW you have one……

I remember, in the dark ages, when I would get so excited with the thought of back to school – with it’s required shopping, including clothes and school supplies. How many of you remember the smell of new books when you cracked them open, and pencils freshly sharpened, and the crisp pages of a new notebook.

Well that is over now for my two High School boys. First, there is the anxiety surrounding AP and Honors classes that ruined the excitement of a new year starting, anxiety that would have seemed as foreign to me as a child, as the “Tablet PC’s” that they were issued somewhere around the second week of school. My sons announced to me that they no longer need their notebooks and looseleaf paper, because the school had issued computers to all Juniors and Seniors, and they would take notes and write assignments on these wonders of technology.

Of course, like all wonders of technology, including the computer on which you are reading this blog, there are still a few “bugs in the system” as they say. I don’t know what genius thought that you could give 100 teenaged boys (and girls for that matter) a bunch of computers and think that simply putting cyber-”locks” on them would keep them from modifying (or “modding” as I believe it is called) these innocent machines.

Within one week, my 15 year old managed to download a virus, after completely over-riding all of the protective software that had been installed, and after changing the orientation, background and anything else he could change without “getting into trouble” (he did stop short of hacking into the Administration area). The computer rewarded him with the “blue screen of death”, taking with it two weeks of physics notes, all of AP English and US History and all of his math homework with it, into the blue oblivion. I did ask the obvious question “didn’t you back it up” to be met with howls of anguish and “I didn’t have time” (?????)

My 17 year old had his computer for one day when it (no fault of his own) decided to shut down after he had written an entire English assignment, making me long for the day when “my dog chewed it up” passed for a reason that homework was missing. Luckily it just as mysteriously rebooted and the English homework reappeared. And this is just the first month of school!

My 15 year did take his dead computer to the High School IT person who looked at him and said “I have 200 computers here that are malfunctioning, I’ll get to it when I get to it”, so he is back to doing homework the old fashioned way (on his own Mac). This is progress?

I hope your Back to School transition is going more smoothly. If it isn’t, perhaps you need a good luck amulet to help you – I have just the thing. I now have in stock the new “Evil Eye” pendants from Michal Golan, the New York based Israeli designer whose enamel and crystal encrusted designs recall Byzantine or other ornate styles. I loved them so much I ordered almost the entire line. Here are two to give you a taste:

For those who have asked – just click on the picture and it will take you to my site where you may purchase these items or see more pictures and styles.

And please, I would love to hear your back to school stories, it’s lonely here in cyberspace without comments or feedback