Window Shopper

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Hey, I realize that this is way overdue and late to boot. But if you can remember it for next year, that works too. In this amazingly bad economy, it boggles the mind that anyone would want to go to such places in the first place but if you do that, you need to know a few things that might help you. This particular subject and post are happening due to someone who commented on another post here. So, I will try to help in any way I can. That person said that they wanted to spend as much as they could when going to the fair. Yes, I understand that. However, there are things unseen going on there. One really big thing here, I am not talking about permanent amusement parks. This is about traveling carnivals only.

For instance, that carnival that has all the rides and games is only there for one thing, to separate you from the money in your wallet. That is it. No other reason. They do not care whether they entertain you or not. That is a side benefit since it brings people back for more. The food is high priced but you will probably eat it anyway because it’s unique to that time and place…more or less. Most of those things can be fixed in your own kitchen but I suppose it’s not the same. One thing here, a foot long hot dog is only 9 inches long. Thought I would share that.

Games are there so you can lose. Yes, people do win occasionally. And if they win a large stuffed animal, unless they had whatever they were tossing right on the mark, it took them much more money than it cost for the thing in the first place. Most games are rigged for the house. Big shocker. All of them are rigged to not lose much at all. Little kid games will get you little bitty prizes. Big kid games almost always get you little bitty prizes. The trinkets cost less than a few cents. The stuffed animals cost much less too. Often, the win or lose is a judgment call by the person in the game booth. These people have to pay the boss if they lose some of the “plush” so they try very hard not to do that.

Rides in most states are not regulated enough to be safe. Some states or local governments do not have rules in place for the safety issue. Some do. Some are very strict but most are not. There are no real regulations on the games either. But let’s take a closer look at the rides. These pieces of machinery are painted, repaired and packed up at the beginning of the season, carted around the country, set up temporarily at the site where they are going to operate for a few days up to ten days. The people that the owners use to assemble these large, heavy pieces of machinery are usually from the town or city where they are setting up. These folks have zero clue what they are doing. That is not safe. But the carnivals rarely have enough people to do the job themselves. At the end of the stay, the rides are torn down in less than 6 hours usually, packed up and heading for the next stop.

In the beginning, they are well repaired, look fresh and crisp. Don’t let that fool you. Those rides are usually pretty old. They have a new paint job. After they have been on the road all season, are usually in need of repair they will likely not get until they go back to winter quarters. They are dangerous in the beginning and worse at the end of the season. And those who love carnivals will not pay one bit of attention to me on this but they should. It might save a life or some injuries some day.

Just my two cents worth for today.

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I can’t believe I wrote that title but it appears to be true, nevertheless. What I have found is that for those who own a Wii (you lucky dogs…well, I don’t believe in luck but..) getting fit is a whole lot easier. See, I am looking for Christmas presents and I ran across this thing. No one in our family has a Wii so it won’t work for us but I thought I would pass this along to someone who might just have one and want to get fit. It’s called a Wii Fit. Go figure. So, do your research here because this item is apparently in great demand. If you are going to get one for Christmas as a present, I would strongly suggest getting it now and before the supplies run out.

Now, what is it? I can best describe it as a platform that you stand on to play the games. I cannot tell you that the thing will make your breakfast for you but it sure does a whole lot of other things. You get to do aerobics, sports, muscle stretches and balance games. Uh, that one would be a problem for me but hey, I don’t have a Wii so no problem there. Now this is a list of the balance games available with this board: Soccer, Ski Slalom, Ski Jump, Table Tilt, Tightrope Walk, Balance Bubble, Penguin Slide, Snowboard Slalom and Lotus Focus. And the Wii Fit has the ability to keep track of your fitness progress. Not bad at all! I’d like to point out that for those who live in areas that see a lot of cold and snow or ice, this combined with the Nintendo Wii would make one heck of a good exercise program in the winter time.

The product description says this is great for the whole family. Looks to me like it would be a great way to have some quality family time together. I took a look at reviews on this product from some buyers. The over all ratings are good. One complaint I guess you would call it is that they stated that it is not really a game but a way to do your exercise. The thing does ask objectives and it would be unlikely that your child under the age of 11 or 12 would care about that part. However, it is still a fun way to lose weight plus the kids would still like the skiing and soccer, I am sure. Looks like fun to me.

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Yes, I admit it. I watch Texas Holdem on television. Frankly, I love the strategy of the professional players. This is high stakes poker since many of the tournaments have over a million dollars as prize money. They start out with 2000 players and narrow it down to the last nine. Then they take it to a final table. The play is fantastic. I love it.

When you see these men and women dueling it out for the top prize, it gets exciting. And the thing is, they hold these tournaments in all sorts of casinos with all the glitz like all those las vegas hotels. I saw a tournament recently where the last man standing (yes, man since a woman has yet to get to the top prize. They have made it to the final table though.) won a cool 12 million. That’s a lot of chips!

I asked myself what would I do with 12 million dollars. Easy, give a lot to the ministries that feed the hungry, then buy a house and new car. Very necessary right now. Share with my extended family. Invest so that my dollar can work for me. And last but not least, have some fun. I think that would work nicely.

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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*

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The long awaited Super Bowl Sunday is here! We have been actually looking forward to this since last year because we missed the last Super Bowl altogether. Gearing up for a game day is not the easiest in the world when you have thought of little else….well, other than the family, blogging, income, bills, pets and the weather, I mean….except the goodies and expecting the phone to ring right when the best play of the game comes on.

Ahem. So, we went to the store the other day to pick up the game day essentials like potato chips, dips, makings for the Frito pie we planned on making and a few other goodies that escape my mind at the moment.

The adventure was in Walmart, otherwise known as….if you love the product, don’t expect to see it ever again. We happened on an end cap that had a new form of Pringles! I usually do not get excited over potato chips. After all, they are just potatoes cut up into thin pieces, then dumped into grease to fry. YUCK! But I have a weakness for potato chips nevertheless. When suddenly, what to my wandering eyes did appear but a whole shelf of Pringles Extreme! Never having seen such a sight, I stopped and peered at the latest and greatest form…“Screamin’ Dill Pickle”!! Oh my!

If the product was anything like the name, I would be in snack heaven. I love pickles and add a favorite comfort snack food like Pringles, now that’s fantastic. So, we bought a couple of cans of the newest offering and took them home. These were supposed to be for the Super Bowl Sunday game. My curiosity would not allow us to let those cans sit. If we did and they were a disappointment, there would be nothing we could do about it. That would be the middle of the game when we opened them. NO! We had to do something and quick!

The plastic lid was removed carefully. The inner seal (which is the biggest pain to take off but I still am grateful since it means nobody has gone before us) whooshes off. There they are. Little chips stacked up nicely. I took one out, very carefully bit off a small portion and waited. It did not take long. BANG! Huge pickly chip taste straight to my mouth! It was as if a giant pickle was pressed into a potato chip, joining them together in a blissful taste.

Of course, we ate them already. Are you serious?!!! Yes, we did have to go back and get a few more cans. After all, we could then put them on a sandwich and be able to have the best of both worlds, pickle AND chip sandwich. WOW!!!

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Yesterday, the fight for the Super Bowl prize went a step toward the winner. The Patriots won against the Chargers and the Giants were the winners against the Packers. I wanted to see the Packers against the Patriots. That would have been an awesome game. However, the game that will be fought on Feb. 3rd is going to be as good, I am certain.

We will be gearing up to watch the show ourselves. It promises to be a great match. But we have to get the right supplies for the game. Watching this on television has it’s major advantages to being at the game, you know. There you are at the game. If you have nosebleed section tickets, you can hardly see anything. But if you happen to be at home, watching on your big screen TV, seeing those guys thrashing it out on the field just like they have been taking testosterone boosters, tackling the guy with the ball. Yes, I admit it. I am a female who loves football but doesn’t do that great a job recapping the game. Sigh. So, I’m just going to go get the Cheetos and Pringles to squirrel away for the big date.

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If you have waited until now to buy the toys, it could be a real stretch to get them. But, the top toys this year are varied but more or less predictable. First, the Wii is on top of the games list. Everyone wants a Wii this year. Hot item. Don’t forget to add the games! Next, you will find the PS3 console and the bundles that go with it. After that, XBOX and Nintendo with PSP coming up on them. These are truly hot items in the games department.

If you are looking to surprise the boys and girls with something a bit different, the word is robots. You will simply have to look for yourself because the list is rather long and varied on that subject. I will say that the stores have stated that they are down on sales this year so it is possible to get that really great robot toy at the last minute.

Learning and educational toys are hot as well. It’s a great idea to give your children something that will teach them what the schools will not. You can start with children 3 and up with the wonderful learning toys available.

Whatever you may be looking for, now is the time to get out there and find it. There are only a very few shopping days left until Christmas. As of this writing, only 5 days are left. Boy, time sure flies when you’re having fits fun, doesn’t it.

Happy Shopping!!!

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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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Yes, living is really easy in Arkansas, especially where we live since it is a beautiful area with deer roaming around in our front yard. But there is one huge danger if you are not careful, really careful. Golf balls. Yes, I said golf balls. Flying, dropping into your sunroof, clonking you on the head golf balls. Beware!

Where we live are a couple of golf courses, one that runs right across a major road in our village. Makes life interesting when you want to drive along on Sunday with your family. Bang!! A golf ball hits your windshield. No, it did not break it. This is my story and mine have happy endings, got it? The kids love to gather the golf balls so you stop and start gathering because the old duffers have been on the course again. The best part? Daddy can play tomorrow!!!

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Okay, we talked about Monopoly, about the biggest selling board game on the planet but there are and have been others too. For instance, we have Boggle. Not a bad game. Been around a while. How about Scrabble? Now there’s a game that you can get the whole family to play. It takes some know how and a good dictionary to keep the fights down. LOL!!

So, are you planning on getting any board games this year? I have more, ya know. Cranium, Cube, Clue, Chess, Battleship (always a great game), Sorry, Candyland (is that still available?? I used to play that with my friends), Backgammon, Baffle, Jenga, Kismet, Checkers, Mastermind, Risk (that was one that I vowed never to play again. It would make me so mad, I’d lose it. Fun game.)

I ran across a game that I have not played in a whole lot of years but I loved it so much. Mille Bornes is a card game that you can get hooked on and it lasts for hours. A lot of fun for the family.

Think about it. Board games will allow everyone to play, most of them. It gives you a chance to be together on the big holiday instead of having everyone in different places.

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