Just One Perspective on Garage Sales

I know there's a theory that holding a garage sale is a good, clean way to get rid of unwanted junk and make a little money in the process. That's just never been my experience. Today I've been invited to guest post on the subject over on "Four Perspectives," a sweet, soulful blog that combines the worldview of four different writers in a way that recognizes that "no one ever sees things quite the same way."

But I know: it's Friday and we all need our music moment, so don't hop on over there just yet… apropos of Four Perspectives, I wanted a song that showcases a different point of view. And until this week, you just didn't hear much on the airwaves from a Wiener Dog's standpoint. Yes, for Bay Area residents who listen to KFOG, you will recognize this as a staple of "Acoustic Sunrise" on Sunday mornings. For the rest of you: enjoy the heartfelt interpretation of a Dachshund's lament, as written and sung by Peter Himmelman in his classic and hard to find "Dixie the Tiny Dog."

Then go read about the great redistribution of wealth that was the 1970s era Virginia Colony garage sale. May you give as good as you get this weekend.

Child Employment and Character Building

I recently unearthed a diary from when I was 12 and planned to open a beauty spa in my parent's house. What I later learned in B-school was called the "Unique Selling Proposition" (USP) was that, after the neighborhood ladies had paid me to apply wet oatmeal to their faces, do their makeup with the Lip Smackers line, and french braid their hair, I was going to invite them to lie on chaise lounges in my backyard with Fleetwood Mac album jackets that I'd covered in tin foil. You know, to boost the skin-cancer properties of unprotected tanning.

It may sound like a pre-teen's fever dream, but in fact the spa was just another in the series of childhood businesses I started, each with their own USP. Yet people say "Child Labor" like it's a bad thing.

Today I'm over on "It Builds Character…And Other Parenting Clichés" with a post lamenting the loss of childhood entrepreneurship.  The team of contributors there tackles everything from home décor during the potty training phase to why Gwyneth Paltrow is never going to convince us that her life is as bad as ours. Clearly, I've found some like-minded ranters; I'm thrilled they invited me to guest post!

Hope you'll click through here to read more (and to see a picture of me in my Business Bandana when I was nine and co-director of a thriving neighborhood preschool.)