Window Shopper

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

It’s really hard to get noticed in the world of music since there are so many good singers in the world. But it takes someone who is special to grab us with their music. It looks like Alisa Apps is one such person. Having grown up in difficult circumstances, rising out of the negative into the positive, she has begun to make a name for herself.

Most recently, she was seen at a top shopping mall in the country, Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade, challenging people to sing with her. The song was Jingle Bells. How many people do you think actually sang with her? Would you? Here is a video of Alisa Apps and shoppers singing Jingle Bells…well, they try.

Did she really have to chase people down to sing? Come on, folks. It’s just Jingle Bells. Who doesn’t know Jingle Bells? Well, apparently a lot of folks. Hey guys, don’t quit your day jobs!! Alisa Apps, you go right ahead and sing away. Great voice!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Have you noticed that when it gets to December that Christmas shoppers get a distinctly negative attitude? Did you wonder if they went home to see Marley floating around? When did it become a trial to shop for presents for someone else? Is this the attitude most people have around this time of year?

The answers to those questions may never come. But I can tell you that where we live, the attitudes are as varied as the people. Some are so negative that you just know in your heart that if Marley does not visit, it will be because he got stuck in traffic. Once the ghost of Christmas past shows up, it’s all over but the shouting!

Other people are so merry that you wish they would go home and be surprised and merry with the ghost of Christmas present. Maybe he can help the “too merry” person to get a perspective on life. And then there are those that you know have already seen the first two ghosts and could care less. You hope that they will see the next guy but this person might actually scare the crap out of the ghost of Christmas future.

But I believe that most people are actually happy and enjoying the season whether they enjoy the shopping or not. But the shopping is going to happen, at least for the rest of today and the next 4 days. Isn’t it sort of awful that after that, it’s all over. Well, not here. We have to start planning next year’s presents. Don’t you?

Merry Christmas from the Window Shopper!!! Happy Shopping, at least for the next 4 and a half days! Ho Ho Ho!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

At this time of year, it is not strange to see many Christmas displays on the houses all around where you live. I love looking at those lights and scenes. They are sometimes an inspiration for the season. Many have the Santa Claus statues and the reindeer. Others have the manger scene with the baby Jesus. Still others will have combos of both. But there is one thing that is the same with them all, they are beautiful exterior lighting displays that show the season of Christmas.

Do you have a tour of lights or displays in your area? It would be fun to take the family and just tour the displays. I know that gas is expensive so make it a gift for Christmas to the entire family. Just get out there and see the sights. This only happens at Christmas. All other displays are for other reasons and not nearly as plentiful. Don’t miss this!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

What I love about this time of year are the songs that are always being sung and played in the stores, on the radio and on the television. So many favorites from a long time ago are the ones I love the best. Each time I hear them, it puts me more and more into the Christmas spirit. The first one I came across was by the Gaither Vocal Band singing The Christmas Song. Featured are David Phelps and Mark Lowry.

And one more for your pleasure. This time it’s David Phelps alone singing Oh Holy Night! I hope you enjoy these wonderful videos of Christmas songs.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

We have been watching television this weekend. I cannot believe how many really good Christmas shows there are and have been on lately. One of the networks, Lifetime, has been running a 25 days of Christmas. The movies have been awesome. All the way from A Diva’s Christmas Carol to Deck The Halls.

Then, on other channels I saw one that I had not seen in several years…Dudley Moore in Santa Claus: The Movie. He plays an elf who simply wants some recognition from the Big Guy but cannot seem to get it so he heads to a big city and hooks up with a toy company owner. Problem is, the owner is greedy. He finds out that the elf IS an elf and can make certain substances that make a candy for the kids. When they eat the candy, they can fly. Mr. Greedy wants more. He wants to take over Christmas without the elf knowing this. It’s a good movie for the family.

Tune in to the Christmas movies while you can do so. They are entertaining, uplifting and just plain fun.

Happy Shopping!!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Christmas shopping is worse than ever before, in my opinion. Things are flying off the shelves in the one discount store we have in our area. We do have a second store but often the prices are higher or they do not have the items that I wanted in the first place. I do feel sorry for those of you who are looking for toys this year. What with the recalls and the mobs at the stores, it’s a wonder anyone is bringing anything home at this late date.

Make no mistake, it is getting quite late to find any good toys. The stores do carry some that they put out during the last week and, yes, they do have deliveries but I would not want to risk the thought of not finding the one thing my kid wants for Christmas because I waited till the last few days to pick up the most popular toys for the season.

This year, I have no idea what the popular toys are because I have no small children anymore. But I remember in days past what it was like. The biggest item I can recall was the Cabbage Patch kids. Oh brother. Those things sold for monster amounts of money and they were not available anywhere after a certain time in early December. Now, you can buy a Cabbage Patch Kid for about $15 at your local discount store. Where is the justice here?

So, for those of you who still can’t get a clue and shop sooner, I give you my best blessing hoping that you are fast enough to snag the item before that really large woman over there comes after it. Oh wait. That’s me!!!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

My Mom loves flowers. Every year, we are able to give her a few of the roses that pop up on our rosebush. But that happens around April or so. Sometimes, it lasts until Mother’s Day but that’s about it. She loves the look, the scent of the flowers. So, I thought that I would have the idea of just giving her mountains of flowers to put all over her house. Of course, that would smell like…uh, no I had better not do that.

But since I brought it up, I might just want to give her some after Christmas because then no one has them until spring unless bought through a florist or buying from a place that sells wholesale flowers so that they would come in bunches instead of one or two at a time. Well now. The price would certainly be right for doing that and you certainly get more than in a conventional florist shop. I might just do that after the holidays. January and February are some of the gloomiest months of the year. Something has to make it better.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

The truth is that I have never known what a “guffaw” was until tonight. It’s totally crazy. I mean, I knew what it was supposed to be. I did see Mary Poppins. Remember the scene when Dick Van Dyke’s character was telling about laughter and what it sounded like? Well, he did cover a number of them at the time.

However, my experiences have taught me many things but the guffaw was not one of them. Tonight, I found out. See, I wrote a story about our dying television set. It isn’t gone yet but it will be some day soon. And I mentioned my husband who really likes gadgets, all kinds, so I mentioned a few of the gadgets.

That wasn’t what did it. What really did it was when I specifically said something about needing a technoweenie to do the work on putting everything together when buying a new set and accessories. I knew when my husband had read the story. There was this silence, then what sounded like choking, then the “guffaw”. You know, laughter. It took me a minute to figure out that’s what he was doing. I actually thought he was choking. Must have been the cough drop he usually has in his mouth. Musta swallered it.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

The gist of it is that we are in need of a new television set. We have tried for a few months now thinking that it would last a few more years but the fact is we are running out of time. The set is about to go down the tubes, so to speak. It has been in our family now for about 10 years. Not bad for a television that runs far more than it was meant to run. And, of course, the fact remains that in less than a year, the analog television will pretty much be history, at least for the purpose of getting signal without help from a converter.

Okay, so we should go out and get a new set. Not as easy as all that. For one thing, it’s Christmas time. The funds are going out for presents for the family, something I look forward to and dread at the same time. LOL! Nope. We do not have the money to be using on a television right now. But I had my eye on one that is really not that expensive. But then, you think about all the extras that we are probably going to get too. What extras? Well, our vhs player is almost shot too. Then, we could use a new DVD player. But what is really intriguing to my husband are those little boxes called HDMI switches. He wants one of those to make it all work together. Now, my idea was to keep it simple, right? Not these days. No way. You have to bring in the techoweenies to get the job done in a sensible way. That’s why my husband is fixing the whole thing when we do get the set and accessories, not me. I have no clue. So there you are.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Our webhosting service had some problems but we are back up and running again with a small gap in our blogging.

All of our thoughts have turned to Christmas. Have you noticed the date? Have you noticed how close Christmas really is already? I still have shopping to do. It’s sometimes difficult because what I want to get is usually hard to find. The online stores are great for the hard to find stuff IF I can think about it in time. I took a chance today and bought three things that I am not truly sure will make it here before the big day. And of course, there are a couple of things that must be sent out of town too. That cannot be good with only 15 more official shopping days left before Christmas. Obviously, we do not have nearly as much time for mailing things. Sigh. Sometimes it’s a real chore getting things to their destination on time and in good shape.

Have you had problems finding what you were looking for? I have. For instance, there are some movie titles that just are not available. But I did find a really rare title quite recently. It is supposed to be shipped out already but it might not make it here on time. Since our family celebrates a day early so that those of us who travel can be home on Christmas day, we even have less time.

I usually figure the cutoff time for shipping things, to be safe, is around the 7th or 8th of December. I usually do not order anything else that has to be mailed to me. After that date, I have to depend on the local (Hahahaha) stores. All that does is spur me on to getting my shopping done earlier in the year most Christmas seasons. This year was a tad late getting started because of money…yes, money again. It’s always about the money, isn’t it. But blogging has been a real saving factor this year. Because of our blogging for payment, we were able to actually HAVE Christmas presents. If we had not had this, there would have been a serious shortage for the kids and the adults. We are grateful that we can do this. And this is not the post to lambast the big g for what it has done. This is an upbeat post.

So, what is happening with you? Are you getting your shopping done or are you one of those who figure that it’s just as easy to shop at the last minute? Did you learn nothing from “Jingle All The Way?” Arnie was desperate and so will you be if you wait that long to buy your presents, especially for your wife or husband. Oh, not good.

We can talk about this after Christmas and share what we got, okay?

Happy Christmas Shopping to all and to all a good night!!!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!