Window Shopper

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In our world, you never know what is lurking in your house. At this time, we have some resident aliens in the form of fur critters. They certainly qualify as strange if nothing else. These fur type people do some of the weirdest things I have ever seen.

But the weirdest one of all is our little boy cat, Gizmo. He came to us about 5 years ago. He still looks like a kitten since he is much smaller than our other cat, Kitty (Yes, I know. Very imaginative name, right?). Gizmo is very particular where he sleeps (he IS a cat…an alien cat. Anyone else seen the Cat From Outer Space? You just never know).

In the winter, Gizmo goes into the bathroom, shuts the door (he loves doors), parks directly in front of the heating vent, bunches and nests up the throw rugs. There is usually evidence that he has been in and around the sink as well. You know, one of these days, I want to get one of those bathroom vanities because I really think that would throw him for a loop, at least for a little bit. Right now, the mirror is not low enough for him to notice it. But if we had a vanity, he would have to look straight into his own eyes. That would be a treat to see his reaction. We have to think about doing that!!

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The kids were out from school for the summer. It was getting hotter and hotter. Such was the beginning of summer at our house. The usual and customary yelling and screaming happened every day without fail. Yes, I was sure that we had a parrot in the house but, really, it was me. Why was I yelling and screaming? First, the dog decided that she just had to tear up the latest copy of the paper. Then the cats, one at a time, needed to come running through the house..back and forth until the carpet almost had a path in it.

But did that do it for me? Nope, I was still sane, sort of. The computer refused to work properly. Of course, that happened just as I needed it because, at the time, I was a seller on a rather popular auction site and I had to track my auctions. In those days, I was truly sure that if I did not watch them, they might disappear or something. No real idea what the heck that was about but there you are.

My husband was away at work so, although I could always call him since his was a one person shop, I did not feel that it would be good to do that too often. But my computer was down. Sigh. I knew if I did not get that thing going, the cats didn’t stop running through the house, the dog didn’t stop shredding my newspaper, if the kids didn’t stop……..actually the kids were pretty quiet. Hmmm, that can’t be good.

The truth is that I knew the migraine would start soon. It always did when things started to get out of hand. Still, it wasn’t completely out of hand yet. I still did not know what the kids were doing though. As I walked back to their rooms, it occurred to me that quiet in our house was not good, really not good. Looking in, I saw angelic children. Uh oh. “What have you two been up to this time?” I asked as kindly as I could. They began to get red. ACK! But, this time it was only that a couple of the stuffed toys had not cooperated and were residing in toy hell, the box. Somehow, one of them seemed to have lost it’s arm and the other some stuffing. Not bad considering the rest of the day so far.

Blasted computer. It still will not work right. Okay, I am biting the bullet here and calling my husband. As cheerful as he always was about these things, you just never know. When he answered, I explained the problem. No soap. He had to see it to fix it, if possible. Sigh. My auctions were ending without me!!! NO!!!! (It was actually an easy fix once he got home. My life was more or less a total wash until then. At this point, I have no idea why that was true but it was.)

My life has returned to normal. Well, except for the kids’ toy box. It might need a cleaning out soon. Toy bodies do accumulate. The cats are not going to stop their running back and forth through the house. Thing is, they really never bump into each other. How do they do that? As the sun fades into the west, I pick up the remains of the newspaper that used to belong to me. And so it goes.

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From now until Christmas eve, the sales are on and so are all those folks who are out today grabbing up the super sales. Despite higher gas prices, toy recalls and a host of other things including bad weather in a place or two, people are flooding to the stores to snag the best items for the best prices that show up only today or Saturday.

The unfortunate side of this is that most retailers, like Wally World, only put up a couple of those items for sale. The rest are at regular prices. To me, this is somewhat deceptive in their practices. I suspect that old Sam Walton is rolling in his grave at this moment because of some of the merchandising methods that he would never have used. Why? Because the man was honest, pure and simple.

The idea of putting up this great sale, advertising a huge discount for higher ticket items and then only having one to five or six of them is, at best, a dishonorable sales practice. I do realize that it is technically legal. And for the most part, most people understand that there will only be one or two of that particular item. However, I do know that there are folks out there that have to count on that type of price for things so that their children can actually have a Christmas. Why must they fight, and that would be literal, for what they need for their children?

Speaking of fighting, the retail stores are fighting to deal with the shoplifters who take full advantage of this particular day. Our local discount store has had many shoplifters today already. How sad is this and what kind of message are we sending to our children about Christmas?

Once more about the fighting, what message does it send to our children when we sit outside a store throughout the night, then fight others, LITERALLY, to get to a specific toy or item that’s on sale today? GREED perhaps? There are some things that I would just rather pay a higher price for than to fight in the dirt, so to speak, over some toy or item that the kids really do not need in the first place. (that includes the kids that will not grow up)

Either talking about the shoppers or the stores, this is out and out greed. For the stores, I suggest that there should be a renaming of many of them but the one that comes to mind is GreedMart.

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Today, we did have to travel to our destination. It was not that far but since we live in a rural area, what may seem far to some seems not that far to us. We went approximately 20 miles to Mom’s house and enjoyed the best turkey meal we have had in almost a year. Yep, you guessed it. We only eat turkey like that on Thanksgiving. Usually, Christmas is one of those days that no one wants to work so we have a ham and make sandwiches.

The problem I see is that on days like this, I do not really want to travel regardless of how far it may or may not be. You get this feeling of needing travel insurance or something because of the nutjobs out there driving around. You know what I mean. These people may normally be good but get them out there on a holiday and it’s like they have no clue what a steering wheel is let alone a whole car. Sigh. I absolutely hate to travel on holidays but I haven’t figured out how to build a transporter so I guess we will have to keep traveling until we get it figured out.

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When I play chess, it’s usually against the computer because I do not want to be beat yet again by either my husband or niece. So, I find a way to play the computer when they aren’t watching. The humiliation would be too much. LOL!

But, many folks would love to play online with other players instead of the unfeeling computer. Are you one of those people? Say no more. Play Chess Online at Yupgames.com where you have the option of choosing your opponent or just click on the button that says match. Then they will match you with somebody who is ready and waiting to play. I just got started looking around so I have not had the pleasure of playing there as yet. How about it? Your turn.

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This is a beautiful day to stop the shopping and just think about family and friends, enjoying each so much. Maybe your day is not this great but I do know that you can find something to give thanks for, even if only that you are reading this post because that means you are breathing.

One thing that has bugged me is that I believe in giving thanks every day but most people only think about this at Thanksgiving and Christmas. And when I was a kid, I thought everyone had Thanksgiving. When I found out that most countries did not celebrate it, it turned into a sad day because I believed that if you did not have such a day, when would you give thanks for the things you had?

We all grow up…well most of us do….eventually. Now, I do realize that most countries do not celebrate this wonderful day. However, you can give thanks for each and every day you are alive. That’s what I do. So, today, when everyone is sitting around the table, instead of thinking of the day that all the sales are happening, focus on those things and people that are in your life and give thanks that they love you and that you love them!! It truly is a blessed day.

Then tomorrow, you can get up with the chickens and go shop your socks off. (socks on aisle five)

Happy Thanksgiving and may your day be richly blessed from Window Shopper!! And once more: Happy Shopping tomorrow!!!

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No longer can we believe that toys are as safe as we thought. Now, more than ever, we want our children’s toys to not be a hazard or a safety factor but they are that. Many toys are found to have levels of lead that are not safe regardless of what testing had been done on them. The question now is…do the companies and manufacturers do enough to safeguard our children? The answer is probably not.

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This is quite likely going to be in the form of a rant, well, a funny one. I refuse to get upset, for real, over this sort of thing. Yet, it is so true. Every year, we go through the same dance. We ask folks what they want for Christmas. What we get is:

I don’t know.
I don’t need anything.
Get what you think is right.
I don’t want anything.

Sigh. Is this helpful? Nope. I think that there are several kinds of folks that are really hard to buy for at all times. First, the older person who has almost everything and wants to have a garage sale to get rid of stuff. What on earth do you buy this person?? I am still waiting for a revelation on that one.

The next person who is difficult is the one who does need stuff but you could not pry it out of them for anything…tea in China, whatever. They won’t budge. Does this mean you are off the hook? Not on your life! You still have to come up with a fabulous gift that fits them but they do not have to help you in any way. GROWL!!! Big help, Irving!

Then there are those people who are teens but they want things that you have no idea what it is!! They are talking teenspeak and it will not translate into personspeak. But that’s okay with them because their cohorts understand them. That’s okay…..until Christmas morning when the day dawns bright and fair but the right thing is not under the tree. Woe to those who did not understand the teenspeak when they had the chance.

Of course, you cannot live without the younger teens and the tweens. ACK!! The young teens and tweens are too old for kid toys and too young to be adults, therefore making it easy to buy for them. Not only can you not get clothing for them…1) Your taste is nothing like theirs so forget it fast! and 2) the store does not carry their size anyway. Of course not, their tweens and young teens.

So, what do we get for those hard to buy for people? I have no idea. Do you?

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I have to tell you that I love the website I am about to talk about. It is so much fun just being on the site because of the fun stuff that they have to sell you. No, this is not just so you can go buy something. I really do love it. Recently, I was sent some samples to try out. Boy, was this fun. Vat19, with the strange name, has some really awesome stuff to play with on their site. I am going to tell you about a couple things but you have to go see the rest for yourself.

When I opened the package, I had no idea that I would get such fun stuff. First thing I did was smell the inside of the package because it had a fragrance like watermelon. And what do you know? There was this pencil inside a plastic holder that smelled just like watermelon. I LOVE IT!! Apparently, these SMENCILS are made from recycled paper and the fragrance was added for fun. The fragrance will last up to two years, with or without the plastic container. Just think. They were made with recycled products. Very nice.

Next, I saw a box of what appeared to be colored candles. They looked like birthday candles. We just had to get a picture to show you so look to the side and you can see the candles with each flame that has the same color as the candle itself. Now, it isn’t as noticeable in the picture but those candles are looking red, green and yellow. I love that! Someone is going to get some great looking Color Flames Colored Candles for their birthday!!

And finally, we got snow. Yep, snow. Of course, where we live, snow happens but not right now. Today, it was in the 70s for a high. So, no snow. But yet we have snow anyway. This is a powder called Insta Snow Fake Snow Powder that works great when you put some water on it. Looks like the real deal, more or less. I can think of a couple of pranks I could do with that stuff. LOL!!!

And just for the heck of it, I wanted to mention this other item that would work great for people who want to read at night but do not want to disturb others with the light in the room. It’s called LightWedge Book Light and works by putting the wedge on the book. It illumines only the area of the page you want to read. Not bad!!! Are you convinced yet?

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So what is your favorite holiday movie? Do you have one or are they all great? Today, I saw a review on one called ‘The Year Without a Santa Claus’. Looked pretty good. I have never seen it before. It’s animated for those of you who love cartoons.

Now for my personal favorites: We have both of the Santa Clause movies with Tim Allen. Both are great. We are waiting in anticipation of the third one coming out very soon. Also, we love ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ with Jimmy Stewart. Cute, funny, gets to the heart. There’s a bad guy in the picture, in case anyone has been in a cave for the last I-do-not-know-how-many-years.

We have more, ya know. The Miracle On Thirty Fourth Street…both the original and the remake. That one is great and ya just never know, do you? Then there’s the ones with Scrooge in them. We have a couple of those. Jack Frost with Michael Keaton who makes a wonderful snowman.

There are some others but I really cannot think of them right now.

So, what’s your favorite movie for Christmas? I really want lots of opinions here. I am always looking for good movies to watch, especially this time of year.

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