Window Shopper

I told you before that I hate moving. Frankly, it seems that I hate doing anything to change stuff. Even if it would make things better, I just hate to change because it means that my ordered world is in flux. Does that make sense? Probably only to me. But that’s all right. There was a time when everything was new and exciting. I think I was 6 years old. After a while, I did not want to change anything. Too much work? Probably. And then I figured out that it was going to take time to learn the new whatever. That was the problem. Its always a problem for me. If nothing changes, I can live in my nice little world and relax. If things change, there is no relaxing. Okay, I am very lame here.

So you can see what kind of difficulty it was when we started changing banks. We had checks from the old. We had to order checks for the new. New tellers to meet, new accounts to start. Getting known at a new bank when you are known very well at the old. It was all about getting the balance transfers done with as little problem as possible. I know. You are thinking, “What the heck is wrong with this woman?” She acts like the world would end if anything changes. That would be sort of right. I enjoy things staying the same. That’s a world I know. The unknown is out there but I want someone else to go look at it first. Captain Kirk, I am not.

The day was non-remarkable. We had to go to the store and some other errands. Because of where we live, the travel needs to be as short as possible. I wanted to go to several stores so that I could get all the food products we needed. We stopped at the first store and that is when the whole thing started.

Out of the car and walking into the store, I reached up to scratch an itch on my brow. It was right there….a ZIT! At my age! A zit, mind you. Of course, when I was a teen they did not call it that. It was simple acne and nothing more. All of a sudden I thought I needed a hat, a mirror and whatever else it took to get rid of the doggone thing before I went into the store. It was a nightmare!!!!

That was what went through my mind in the seconds after I felt it. And then it dawned on me. Why should I care? Nobody gives a hoot about zits these days anyway. Ah well. Some acne cream and it goes away. Poof. Problem solved.

At one time, I did ask myself that question. Those were the good ol’ days. No, I’m kidding. All days are good for me. But when I asked myself that question it came with several others that I had to ask myself as well. The truth is that I have been to California when I drove a semi-truck. And if I were not already living here in rural Arkansas and loving where I live, I might just think about it again. For a few moments anyway.

What do you ask yourself when you want to move to another place? For instance, where would I want to live? And in what type of place? Every time I think about California, the first thing that comes to mind is that kid in The Karate Kid. He started out hating it there but liked it much better after the conflict was over. But I think he lived in Los Angeles, right? So, if you wanted to move there, would you start looking for apartments? Do you do this long before you go there to check it out? I would. Heck, I would start by looking up Los Angeles jobs and go from there. Hey, if you can’t find that, the rest would be pretty difficult to do, right?

To answer the question in the title, nope. I really do not think I would live there now. Rural life is just too good for me. Nope. Never met the Beverly Hillbillys.

Some of you are not Americans so may not necessarily celebrate our holiday. But we must celebrate our freedom, such as it is today. And I have been celebrating my freedom to shop. But then, I do that anyway. I do love to shop. The problem is that I do not have the funds to do so. Guess that’s the same problem a lot of folks have right now. At some point, we need to see the brightest side of this we possibly can. Why? Because if we don’t, it takes the fun out of shopping. Then it becomes desperate shopping. I would hate that.

Yesterday, it was more or less desperate shopping for us. We had a recent drain on our supplies and needed to replenish. And now we have more month than money. WOW! That was so fast. Today, I sit here thinking about our situation and sometimes get a bit down about it. And then, I think that today is not the day to care about those things. Today is a happy day. Today we get to celebrate the beginning of our country. I do love my country even with all it’s problems, aches and pains. She is still a youngster. She hasn’t quite grown up yet but she is definitely working on it. We love her.

For those who love the American Flag or those who do not understand the American citizen, please take the time to read this post about our flag. Ya might just learn something about our American feelings. We are proud of our country and our flag.

So, HAPPY 4th OF JULY TO EVERYONE!!! Anyone out watching the fireworks tonight? We hear them but can’t see em. Too hot. Too buggy. And we are too used to staying inside for it. Yes, we are wimps. Yes, I have seen my share of fireworks before. I love watching them when I can.

The year I graduated, lots of things happened. The Prom. Dates to the park and the movies. Yeah, I know. Not all that exciting. Those were not the most exciting times…unless, of course, you are a girl who is finally dating the guy she wanted to date for years. That makes it pretty exciting, wouldn’t you say? We did get to the prom. I had an awesome dress! Beautiful night. We danced for what seemed like hours, then went out to eat with another couple to a great place. I say that with all the straight face I can.

The place where we went to eat requires a reservation so you might figure it’s classy, right? Thought so too since my parents and I had been there several times prior to my date there. It was always nice….until. After the waiter took our orders, we talked about the prom, well, we girls did. Frankly, I have no idea what the guys talked about. But we were interrupted several times by the guy vacuuming the floor next to our table. Are you serious? We could not believe how rude the guy was. But I guess he wanted to go home and we were stopping him. Not just us, of course. There were other diners. We laugh about that night now. Well, my husband and I laugh about it. Not the guy I went with. I have no idea where he is now.

Ya know, if I had known then what I know now, I would have taken that brand new luggage I got for a graduation present, gotten into a car and taken off to see the world or at least the portion of it that I could get to then. Surely there were some places out there that served good food AND had their vacuuming already done. Don’t you think so? The memories get a bit hazy over the years but I really do not think I will ever forget about that date and the night of the great vacuum caper. LOL!

I think I mentioned a while back that we had a new puppy. She was new at 5 weeks old. Now she’s over three months old and no longer new in the house. In fact, I’m pretty sure she decided to take the place over. We do have a problem or two since she seems to want to be in charge. Yes, I know. We are the humans and the adults here so we are naturally the ones in charge of the house. Got it. Well, we do have it until the puppy decides to whine. Believe me here. This pup whines with the best of them. And she does not simply whine for one thing. Oh no. She whines to go out, to get food in her bowl, to get noticed by any of us who are willing to play with her and whines to simply get attention.

Want to know what her last adventure was? Yeah, I didn’t either but that’s life. Now we have three computers in our house. All of the plugged into a wall socket. All of them have wires running everywhere. And she is a puppy. Starting to get the picture? Uh huh. When we caught her, she had been chewing on the latest edition of the CAT5e cable coming off the back of the computer. I’m not even sure how she got back there in the first place. She is getting really BIG! At three months old, I believe that she probably weighs in around 25-30 lbs. How can a puppy that weight get into the place she was in to do all that? I guess that’s another mystery of life.

When I think of all the things that I have been doing and all the things that still need to be done, ACK! Have we been busy this last few weeks. I’ve been a little short on the shopping trips this time. Too many other things going on. I am telling you that if this keeps up, I’m gonna be looking for a few cheap hotels to check out. That way we can have the rest we need and still be in the right place at the right time. Does this make any sense to you? Probably not.

See, we go at least 50 miles north of us into Missouri to shop at a store in West Plains that has a lot of things we need. But I hate to travel when it’s hot. These days, it’s been pretty hot no matter what time we go. But we only travel there once a month. I do realize that if we got the hotel room, we would really lose all the savings we get when we go there but sometimes it just feels like the right thing to do when the body is exhausted. Of course, at that point I would just give up on the whole thing and go home. The whole thing is beginning to sound like nonsense. I think I need a nap.

Trust me on this one. That is not a subject I am comfortable with at any time. I have no idea what looks good fashion-wise. I suppose that makes me a Neanderthal in some people’s eyes. I really don’t care. When I go to the store to shop, I wear something comfortable. After all, I’m spending our money, not their’s. You know who they are, right? The fashion snobs. Frankly, I have seen the snobs and they don’t look so hot especially in spandex. ACK!!! These people think that they look GOOD in that stuff. Sigh. Some day, there will be a law against people wearing spandex who look horrible in it, don’t you think? Only someone who is reed thin can get away with that. Or maybe someone with incredible muscles. But NOT some chunky monkey person who thinks they look hot when they look…….ack! Nasty. Listen, I’m fat so I can say that!

Frankly, I cannot see that these folks have any style at all. Now, you want style? Find someone who is wearing renaissance clothing. Okay, sometimes it could be a bit much but look at that style, that flair. No, I am NOT talking about “The Nanny” from Flushing. But I am talking about some really great clothing. Of course, you do have to want to walk around in things that are usually only seen in plays and movies but that’s the fun part. Uh, I still wouldn’t wear that to the grocery store though. Sweats. That’s where it’s at for the store. My Mom would not approve. She believed, like most folks when I was growing up, that you dress up to go to the store and out to eat. You were not casual about it at all. She still can’t stand to have on her “grubs” to go to the store or doctor. She is definitely more comfortable in her dressier clothes. I say she should do what she wants.

The fact is, I start out a whole lot of my posts here with “when I was a kid”, so much so that I do not want to do that here, this time. So, when my niece was younger….HA!…she wanted to win. It did not matter what, she just wanted to win. The problem was that her sisters were all older than she and they DIDN’T want her to win…anything. Quite often, there’d be crying because she didn’t get to win a game. It got to the point that her sisters didn’t want to play games with her anymore.

That was a tough time for her. Well, she was desperate to win something. After all, all of her sisters could do it with various competitions and games. Striving to get the best score on all sorts of things, she could win and some things. Over the years, of course, she got a lot better at these things and she does win now, sometimes. It’s as it should be. But back when she was about 8, I think, she got a Rubis, excuse me, Rubics Cube for Christmas. We told her how to work the cube and what it took to get the colors all in the right places. One day, she brought out her Cube and gave it to me. She told me proudly that she got it all right. I took one look and knew just what she had done. She had peeled off all the colors and replaced them so that she got all the colors matching where they should be. Trouble was that those stickers no longer were sticking. *grin*

Ever heard that phrase before? I have…all my life. Sometimes it was me that had someone saying that. The truth is that I am a klutz. That would be why when I go shopping, I do not pick up many items, especially the really breakable items. Yes, on occasion, I am having to pay for something that I would need to fix if I wanted to keep it myself. Not so much of that anymore but before, when I was a teenager….ACK!

Most teenage girls are so graceful you would think they were taught by the models of the world to stand, sit and walk into a room. Me? When I was a teen, I galloped into the room. If I could have neighed, most people wouldn’t have been able to tell. You know, that it wasn’t a horse. You had to make me say it, right?

These days, the klutz part is a bit dampened down, I think. I only drop the keys when we’re headed out the door, in the car and when I want to put them away. Not nearly as bad as it used to be. Still, the klutz part of me wants to be just like everyone else. Now wait a minute. I have to think about that one. I can tell you for a fact that I happen to be a super klutz. Oh yeah? Don’t believe me? Have you ever seen a Cobra golf? Uh huh. That bad. In one day, I probably wiped out several items treasured by people. I simply will not go into an antique store anymore…that is, if I don’t get banned.

Am I really that bad? I would like to think that this post is really just a spoof but I can’t tell you that. Oops, there goes my keys again. They sure are slippery today. Sigh.