Window Shopper

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I confess, we have ratty chairs and the couch has gone “boing” at least a few times. That was not pleasant. Yet, we have that really lived in look in our livingroom. I know. It sounds more like a trailer park. But no, we live in an actual house with an actual foundation. What we really need is more modern furniture. Not likely to happen these days, of course. Why? The Google mess, of course.

See, Google slammed those of us who like to earn money at home working on our computers. So, now my income has dropped and we no longer can think about new furniture. Sigh. Some day soon, we will rise up again, sort of like the machines in the three Terminator movies. ROFL!!

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Are you in the after Christmas blues? Maybe you got some stuff that simply is not going to work, no matter what you do. Hey, I heard about this woman who got a DVD player for Christmas. The tray wouldn’t come out. What do you do with that?? You take it back.

If Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) wasn’t good enough, now we have the day after Christmas when the stores reopen and the reverse rush begins. Sigh. Isn’t getting a tad ridiculous here? First, you have the after Thanksgiving sales. Those take care of the people who are willing to do their shopping early enough to actually get the items on their lists. Next, you have the middle shoppers. These are the ones that shop all December, getting the best deals they can find but the real sales do not start until closer to Christmas.

The next set of sales comes during the last few days before Christmas. This is the time that you really cannot find the one thing you really, truly wanted to give a person because you waited entirely too long. However, they have excellent sales on things like big screen televisions and you could get that instead. Your spouse is likely to never speak to you again but, what the heck, it’s Christmas.

The last day before Christmas is the worst. That’s when there is little that you actually wanted left in stock. However, you find quite a few sales and a number of people you know that are as ridiculous as you are..waiting to to the last minute.

Then Christmas day happens. All the paper is stacked up to be burned or picked up by the garbage guys. The presents are all opened, some to be played with until they break, some to be used sparingly because you really didn’t want it but you won’t hurt the person’s feelings. Then there are the ones that you just know you have to return at first light on the day after…after what? After Christmas, of course.

The day dawns bright and clear and you are ready to go at 8AM. You get to the store and there’s a mob scene. Everybody has something in their hands that they simply cannot use or do not want. Some of it is broken, some not the right style or size, some is just not you…like the lamp from the movie..The Christmas Story…you know, the one with the lamp shaped like a lady’s leg.

The doors open and it’s a stampede to the customer service desk. The line is already so long it’s going to take the better part of the morning to get to you. The item you brought is a DVD that is not working. You have no receipt, nothing to show it was bought here. The store clerk looks at it and wants to know what’s wrong with it. You tell her that it does not work. She scans it and…. nothing. Are you kidding me? Nope. This item does not come from this store. You groan and think of the hours you have wasted already, standing in a line you did not even need to be in for this item.

Outside, you call the person who gave the DVD to you. They claim they did not give that particular movie to you at all. They have no idea who gave it to you. This is not working well. Is this a nightmare or what???? Actually, yes. Time to wake up! There. Now wasn’t your day better than that? I thought so.

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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!

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I love t-shirts with sayings on them, all sorts of sayings as long as they aren’t nasty. So, when I saw this website that sells custom t-shirts, I had to take a look at it. What I did not expect was the variety of the political t-shirts they have available. And of course, you do have the option to customize your shirts.

Actually, I think custom political t-shirts in an election year are great! They will give your message faster than any speech or comments made out in the world. Custom t-shirts tell what you want them to say in a way that is silent but gets the point across quickly and without argument. I love the idea.

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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.

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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!!!

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I have to tell you that I could not believe this particular game, although I should since so much out there in the market is crazy anyway, was available to sell. Now, I am not going to give you the link. You have to find that yourself. But this is great. The only problem I can see is that the thing would make me so hungry for chocolate while I was playing that if I did not have a fresh supply of chocolate, it would be time to head for the store…hopefully BEFORE the game started. If not, that game could be called because of chocolate lack. LOL!

Yes! It IS a real game. The way this one works is buy favorite chocolate properties, sort of like the old monopoly game, you collect chunks of chocolate. You can trade them in for chocolate factories. It’s deceptive in how it sounds…real easy, but you also need to suppress your cravings or get sent to Chocoholics Anonymous. Oh NO!!! This can be a chocoholics dream or something dreadful. ACK! Looks like fun to me. Ah, go hunt it up and give it to somebody for Christmas!!!

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One thing that had plagued me for years was sensitive teeth. There were some products out there on the market but nothing that would really deal with my particular problem of sensitive teeth. In other words, I am certain it helped someone but not me. The dentist was no help. He had cleaned my teeth and that made them more sensitive than ever. Perhaps I simply went to an old fashioned dentist. The only way the teeth stopped being sensitive was to find something that would dull it for the time being.

Then I was given a sample of Biotene which is a toothpaste made especially for sensitive teeth and helps dry mouth as well. Actually, dry mouth brings on the sensitive teeth. I never knew that before. This is a one-of-a-kind toothpaste that will fight bacteria growth which is found in the infections in the mouth and gingivitis, which is a gum disease.

Applying the toothpaste to my mouth caused no problems whatsoever. The taste was bubblegum. Now, I am not a fan of the bubblegum taste and I think perhaps they could bring out the product with the minty version for those of us who want that “minty fresh” feeling. After several brushings with the sensitive toothpaste, the sensitivity does appear to be going down. Even a cold sore was reduced and not felt nearly as much. Dry mouth was not nearly the problem it has been in the past.

From sampling this product, I would say they have a winner for those who are interested in finally bringing down the sensitivity problem and getting rid of those nasty cold sores especially now that we are going into the winter season.

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One of the things that is developing into a family tradition is the strangely wrapped gift. My husband is trying to turn into a master at the craft. I must say that he has really done us proud in that endeavor. At times, others have tried..oh, they have tried to beat the mastery of the gift wrapper, but alas they have failed.

Well, maybe they have and maybe they haven’t. One year, my sister and her husband set out to try and fool us about our presents. For some reason, they feel the need to give multiples and this year was no exception. There were riddles. We had to guess just to open the next one. Frankly, we were terrible at guessing what they had for us but it was such fun. No, I won’t tell you. Na na.

Then, there was the year that my husband wanted to make a spectacular entrance over at my Mom’s where we always celebrate the day. We had bought her one of those “high/low” outside thermometers. Trust me, she wanted one so much she could practically taste it but there were none available locally and had not been for many years. Hers was broken. She had to “suffer” with an old ratty one she did not like.

My husband wanted to disguise the present because my Mom is really good at guessing what’s in the box. So, he got a long, thin box about 6 ft. It was less than a foot wide and about 3-4 inches thick. He had packing peanuts in it. The present was seated in the middle. It was approximately a foot long and about 2 1/2 inches wide. Obviously, the box was WAAAAAAAAY too big for it. When he finished placing the present inside, he started to wrap it putting plain wrapping paper on it, then decorating it to look like a STOP LIGHT!!! It was awesome.

We have had many more such stunts in the past years. Can’t wait to see what everyone has to fool us this year. It’s so much fun.

Now, if you want your Christmas to be a bit brighter, why not think of a way to keep them guessing? Wrap the presents in a much different way than what you normally do. Use newspaper, for instance. That is an excellent wrapping paper and costs a whole lot less. Decorate it. You could make it look like a scrapbook. The wrapping paper can be as much fun as the present itself. Have some fun!! What I found was that wrapping used to be boring and drudgy. I hated to do it. I loved buying the presents but pay someone to wrap things. Now, my husband does it but it’s much more fun!!! We both figure out the wrapping. A blast.

Try it and see. If you can’t get the husband to do it, find a friend and have a wrapping party. You might find that you can wrap their present under their noses and they won’t know a thing. LOL!!! Your turn.

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