Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.....

...or is it the Grinch?

I just left a Comment posting on my Baby Bond Grrl's website (referenced on my righthand nav bar), and it got me to thinking -- I should post my thoughts on my own website.

As a Bond grrl, you are Resourceful. Right? That's your middle name! And you haven't even been trained to be Resourceful, you just ARE. Think about James. He went through all sorts of training -- and he even gets all sorts of gadgets that Q sets him up with, to do his business. I bet that Moneypenny, if asked, would even go out and do all his Xmas shopping for him.

BUT, you see, you are a Bond Grrl! You don't get all this extra help...and we all know that you can do it, even so.

This year is a Bad Money Year on the Solitaire front. All sorts of things are conspiring against me. One of the many jobs that I have is I am an attorney (what? yeah, really, don't hold it against me). And I am getting hit by a $2.5 million totally baseless lawsuit. What happened? 3 guys started a company. One guy decided that things were not to his liking...and sued the other 2. It went on for over a year (and nearly a million in all the attorneys' fees, put together). He LOST. So who did he turn to, to sue NEXT? That would be me -- Solitaire -- who did literally like 2 things for this company...I set them up (filed their incorporation papers) and did one contract for them. Sha-ZAM, of course, he and his attorney assume I have a million dollar malpractice insurance policy (if you must know, it's $100,000 and I had to pay the first $5,000 in legal fees already...hence the Slim Xmas). In short, this guy flikely ound some attorney to take it on contingency, assuming, of course, they're going after millions.

Um, no. No no. No millions here.

So what does that mean? It means that I am trying to rent out my house -- both to move in with my James (who is now my fiance), and also to save some $$. HOWEVER, if I rent the house, then they might prove that I don't have it as my "residence" -- and then try to get me to sell my house to pay for the lawsuit. The hope, of course, of my attorney is that they will find out that I have a $100,000 policy and then just settle for what's left of it (he's racked up $20k in legal bills so far)...but you never know. What else does this mean? It means I can't get married. Because they would come after my James' assets.

So I am sitting here typing on my blog, in my house (my "old" house, as I've mainly moved in with my James) -- basically surrounded by boxes, and without any clients to bill, to pay for Xmas.

Hmmmmm.

SO, what I have been devising is "schemes" to "re-gift" things I already have. Beautiful coffee table books, for example, that a friend would love. Or, as another idea, somehow I have a TON of wine glasses....so, as I put in my Baby Bond Grrls' Comment section on her website, I tied up 2 to a bottle of wine (also one I already had), and gave it as a present with a note that explained the "scene" for some friends...of dropping off their kid with Solitaire to watch for a few hours, and then going to enjoy that wine. They get some free babysitting, some wine, and it's fun. Ham it up in the cards you give people, if you are trying to "set a scene" for your gift (like 2 glasses and a bottle of wine). If you have some extra unopened olive oil, or spices (which go bad after 6 months -- so if you have some that look good -- get rid of them), then go onto a website like epicurious.com and put the oil/spices/etc. into the recipe that you write yourself (copying it from the website)...and then give over your stuff to the friend.

Again -- people really don't care about gifts per se. They want your "effort." That's the truth of all this. If you show that you made an "effort" related to them, then they are going to remember that way more than if you pick up the $100 "Pamper Day At the Spa" with your best Bond homegrrl. I'm not joking about that -- it's true.

So start looking around your house -- what do you have that you LOVE but can part with? Can you make up a story to go with it -- so that the story can make the person really excited to have that re-gifted thing? It will show that you were really THINKING of that friend, when you came up with the gift. How's about that candle holder that could somehow have a story from the Casbah....how about some lotion that you haven't used, that with a little effort and a story can transport your friend to a fantasy where her James is rubbin' it all over her...?

I have gifts like this, that I was given long -- even decades -- ago. Gifts that were fun, but didn't cost that much. I will give you an example, because it's sitting right here in my office. It's a toy hammer (the kind where if you bop the hammer end on something, it honks). It has, pasted to the side, a label that says "The Hammer Of Knowledge." I bet the whole thing cost $2.95.

I got this a long, long time ago, when I went about something "the hard way" and a boss gave it to me when I got out the other end. It made me laugh so hard. When he gave it to me and I opened it up, he bopped me on the head with it. The funnier part is I also have the other 1/2 of this gift -- which was a witch's hat with stars on it. Again, this probably cost about $2.00 at a Toys-R-Us. The thing was, that by going about the project "the hard way," I had come up with an idea that even my boss hadn't thought of -- and I totally saved the day. SO I had the "Hammer of Knowledge" -- but also the "sorcerer's hat" because I had "magically" gotten this problem buttoned up in a way that really saved the day.

And look -- I still have it all. I had things that are worth 10x as much, that have somehow gone by the wayside....but The Hammer of Knowledge still resides on my desk, and that witch's hat is in a box in storage (because I saw it and made my James pack it up to keep, when other things were going to Goodwill this weekend).

I also have a papier mache chicken, that a study buddy and I got for each other after we passed the Bar Examination to become lawyers. That has a big long story to it. And he's a big bad executive now (got out of the law), making TONS of money (definitely the "James" type, in his fly Lotus Elise sports car!), but in an email I got for him a while ago, he ended it with "P.S., I still have my chicken, do you?"

These are the things that people remember. These are the best gifts -- because they tie to your time and effort. They somehow show, in a little typed label and a Toys-R-Us hammer, that you care, more than even a pearl necklace. Not quite sure how that is, but it's totally true.

So when you're looking at this season -- don't reach deep in your pocket. You're a Bond grrl -- you're resourceful, smart, and full of bright life. Reach instead into your mind, and make up some stories, that are tied to small "dollar value" gifts. I am almost going to promise you that these will be the ones that wind up on someone's desk or dresser, 10 years from now, giving them a smile, when your $100 Spa Day is a long forgotten memory.

Solitaire