grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

7 Life Lessons from Charlie Brown

By

There are many life lessons to be learned from Charlie Brown. For starters, Charlie Brown is certain proof that a little chevron goes a long way.

Seriously, am I the only person who thinks we’ve gone a little overboard on the chevron look? Don’t get me wrong, I do have one zig-zag blouse, and I love it.

But…

Charlie Brown chevron

 

IT IS EVERYWHERE!

And not only that, do you remember when we called the pattern zig-zag because Chevron was known as a gas station? I do. Because I’m oldish.

The fashion of Charlie Brown is only one such lesson. The Peanuts gang taught us many life lessons. Here are my favorites from A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. We would all do well to remember them.

7 Life Lessons from Charlie Brown

 

Mark your calendar! Next week, ABC will air A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on Wednesday, November 26 at 7:00 Central. Yay.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]7 Life Lessons from #CharlieBrown #Thanksgiving. [/tweetthis]

Musical Pairing:

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving – Opening

“In the Book of Life, The answers aren’t in the back.”
― Charles M. Schulz

Simple Pleasures #7

By

Saturday morning, Lucy woke me early and I dragged myself downstairs. After staying up well past my normal bedtime, I felt groggy and annoyed at having my warm and cozy dreams interrupted. A few minutes later, I was thankful to see the glorious sunrise. According to the pink sky peeping through the trees, we were in for a “red sky in morning, tigers take warning” sort of day. And the old proverb held true with winter weather and LSU headed our way.

Red Sky in Morning...

25 degrees and I forgot to put my car in the garage…but see that pink sky?

 

Game day is always a simple pleasure. Especially with friends. And to shut out LSU? Now THAT was a thrilling pleasure.

ARKvsLSU tailgating

Mississippi County Peeps. Donna Slaton Vincent, me, Craig Barnett, Lori Barnett

 

Later the snow fell.

I love the tranquility of snow, the quiet, cold landscape, the way it transforms ordinary into art.

snow in birdbath

What’s better on a frigid day than leftovers? Not much.

the joy of leftovers! Tortilla soup.

And yay for my Sorel snow boots! I walk Lucy and Annabelle no matter how frightful the weather.

Sorel snow boots

Here’s wishing you a week filled with warm memories and yummy leftovers!

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

“My last refuge, my books: simple pleasures, like finding wild onions by the side of a road, or requited love.” ― Tracy Letts, August: Osage County

[tweetthis]A huge #Razorback win + warm #Sorel snow boots. #SimplePleasures I’m loving right now. You? @sorelfootwear[/tweetthis]

Musical Pairing:

Belle and Sebastian – The Fox in the Snow

2014: An Insurance Odyssey

By

For the past several weeks, we have been living an insurance odyssey. An odyssey brought on by zero common sense in business. That’s how I see it anyway.

This is the front of our house.

Our House. Insurance cancelled by Nationwide due to flat roof.

And here is the back.

the back of our house

How would you describe our roofline?

Go ahead and brainstorm.

Peaked? Steep? Pitched?

How about flat? As in flat enough for our homeowner’s insurance policy to be cancelled?

Yep.

Apparently the portion of the roof over the porches doesn’t meet “slope guidelines”. Unless we want to hire a roof inspector to warranty our relatively new roof for another two years, we will be dropped. On Monday.

It doesn’t matter that we’ve been customers of this particular insurance company for twenty something years. Or that we have four vehicles insured with them too. Or that in the process of buying this house just two months ago, the house and roof passed a thorough property inspection. Since the property inspector wasn’t specifically a roofing inspector, It.Does.Not.Matter.

This insurance company is not on our side after all.

“Those are the rules.”

Don’t you love hearing that?

Well, my rule is not to waste money on a ridiculous inspection for no reason.

But now I’m sweating it.

As of yesterday, a second major insurance company declined to cover us. We won’t be in their good hands because the house was built in 1875. Never mind that it was taken down to the studs and rebuilt in 2008. (FYI, they didn’t have an issue with the roof.)

The human element has been removed from corporate America. People have been replaced with alien robots. Dial “1” for billing, “2” for claims, “3” for other nonsense. Common sense has disappeared in favor of rules and more rules. Government regulations. Ridiculous guidelines.

In other news, did you hear a spacecraft landed on a comet three hundred million miles away from the roof of our uninsurable house? I repeat, while I’ve been begging someone to insure us (we are good paying, creditworthy folks I swear), a spacecraft landed on a comet. Like something straight out of a sci-fi movie. Really, this amazes me. Comets travel fast. I wonder who insured the spacecraft?

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

First for Mankind: Spacecraft Landing on Comet

P.S. I have two more insurance companies working feverishly to provide coverage. Meanwhile, I’m afraid to build a fire during the arctic blast. Nothing like a little drama, but like my friend says, this is a first world problem.

Musical Pairing:

2001: A Space Odyssey

[tweetthis]What happened to common sense in corporate America?[/tweetthis]

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

THANKS FOR READING!