TOP DRAWER INK NEWSLETTER

 

Here's the latest issue of Top Drawer Ink, the newsletter written by author HL Carpenter that's chock full of humor and common sense information.

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February 16, 2008
Volume 6, Number 4
ISSN 1554-6330

In this issue:

1. Carpenter Country
2. Top Drawer Article
3. Top Drawer Tips
4. Top Drawer Satire

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CARPENTER COUNTRY
What's Happening in Our Neck of the Human Experience

 

Happy Leap Year from Carpenter Country!

Yes, 2008 is a leap year. And Friday, 02/29, is leap day. The occasion was almost missed in the flurry of other February holidays. Something else nearly overlooked was that leap years play host to an array of old wives tales.

According to the Encyclopedia of Superstition, Folklore and Occult Sciences, years with 366 days are unlucky for ‘building, planning or planting’. And forget about having a baby unless you want to live with ‘a hard to raise child ... constantly subject to illness’.

There are also notions about love and marriage. For instance, if you walk around an old abandoned house four times scattering hemp seeds at midnight on the last day of February you’ll see your future husband or wife. But here’s the bad part: If you encounter a coffin you’ll stay single forever.

On that same day, you can ask the man of your dreams to marry you. Should he be foolish enough to decline, he owes you a kiss, a silk gown or a pair of gloves. Of course, while issuing proposals it’s best to recall this bit of Greek folklore - couples who marry during a leap year will have bad luck.

Wow, with all those double whammys flying around it may be prudent to change our ‘happy leap year’ greeting to ‘knock on wood’. It would also be a good idea to include a big thank you to the Julian and Gregorian calendar makers for fixing things so leap years only occur occasionally.

Otherwise we might be plagued with a hundred more bad omens.

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TOP DRAWER ARTICLE

Dollars and Cents
by
HL Carpenter

 

Maybe you do fine managing your finances when the economy is running smoothly. But what happens when a slowdown occurs? That’s when you need to dust off Grandma’s Money Plan: A penny saved is a penny earned.

Here are three tried and true penny saving strategies from the past.

Read the entire article here

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TOP DRAWER TIPS
Topics and Tidbits

 

Tip: Small savings really do add up. Put fifty cents in a jar every day for a month, and you’ll have $15. After a year, that’s $180. Put the $180 in a bank account paying 3% compound interest, and in five years, you’ll have $208.67. When you bump the numbers up to $1 a day, you get $30 after a month, $365 dollars in a year and $423.14 after five years.

Glossary Term: Compound interest. Compound interest is calculated by adding the interest earned in the current period to the principal and computing the next interest payment on the "compounded" total.

Financial Horoscope: Does the idea of penny pinching leave you grouchy? There’s good news! Today (February 16) is “Do a Grouch a Favor Day”. So grump your way into setting up that rainy day savings plan, and stick to it. Your chance of success is as bright as a pretty copper (or, more correctly, copper-plated zinc) penny.

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TOP DRAWER SATIRE

Poll Call
by
HL Carpenter

 

Don’t care for Congress? Turns out Congress doesn’t like you either. A recent poll of US politicians indicates that Congressional discontent with the performance of the American public has reached the highest level ever.

Read the rest here