Window Shopper

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I have no idea what most theaters that show movies look like inside now because I do not attend movies at the theater anymore. For one thing, I really do not like the seats. Most of them are too small. If that isn’t the case, they have gum on them, popcorn from the previous showing or whatever else the cleanup crew did not bother with. When people around you watch these things, they want to talk through the movie. If it isn’t that, they move their heads around so you cannot see at all. So I no longer go. I buy DVDs.

But, in my hometown, there was this awesome theater. They showed movies there but they also had live shows with celebrities coming in and entertaining people. I had the honor of being an usher in those days. We had a lot of good entertainers come to our town. For instance; Bill Cosby, The Smothers Brothers, Bobby Vinton and many more entertained us.

Now the thing I loved the most about this theater that I actually have not seen since, was the chandeliers they had. Those were awesome. They were hanging in the lobby of the theater and in the theater itself. Beautiful crystal that must have weighed hundreds of pounds each were hanging from the ceiling of the lobby. Smaller but equally beautiful chandeliers were hanging inside the theater. The only time you saw those was when there was a live act on stage. They would glisten in the spotlights. Sometimes, I wish that those days were back…if only for a little while.

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This blog is about shopping. Lately, not everything has been about shopping in the normal sense. But it really has been if you look closely. Today, the post is going to be about trends in this country. That, too, is ultimately about shopping or the lack of it if you have no money. These days, many people have no “extra” money to spend on anything less than essentials.

I am very concerned which way this country is going. The housing market is bleeding out because of bad advice to homeowners on what types of loans to acquire. I realize that many of those people would not have homes were it not for the creative mortgages they got when they bought the house. The problem is that now that same creative mortgage is costing boatloads of money and most people are having the problem of not having the money to pay for it. Those lovely lending institutions that thought those creative mortgages were such a great deal for the people are now facing bankruptcy themselves.

Today is a good example of that. Bear Stearns was sold because they were getting so shaky that they would have gone under. The government helped to bail them out. The question here is: how often can the government do this before that hugemongus debt being carried by the government gets so big that even the government can’t handle it? How many more lending institutions and banks are on the chopping block in the near future because of bad judgment on the parts of the loan officers and the public who just have to have homes of their own?

Everyone who owns a car or truck is feeling the pinch of the prices of gas and diesel fuels. If you are not yet feeling it, wait for the prices in the stores to go up, up, up. They will if they have not already. Here in the backwaters of the state, we are definitely feeling the effects of that. Our local superstore (ha ha) has hiked many of the tags on goods and food just recently.

The local price of gas, while it may seem quite low compared to other areas, is quite high for those of us who are on fixed incomes, for those who have those low paying jobs that are the only thing available around here. For comparison, our lowest price of gas is $3.07 as of today. Yes, I know. Not as bad as yours. Please read the above problems here before you tell me how we have it so good. Most of the people who can even find a job around here get paid minimum wage and are part time. Live with that.

I am very concerned with the path our country is on. If we do not change that path, our very sovereignty may be at risk. At the moment, we are still a world power. Some day soon, we will not be. Why not? Because we are being attacked. Yes, attacked. From within and outside of our country. Attacked as in…the oil producers are not sending out as much oil as they could. There is a country that sends us poisoned items, things that are dangerous to us and our children, recalled items galore. What bothers me is that this is so blatant and the government will not shut them down!!! They should. We need to regather ourselves. We need to get a clue and fast or our country will be one of those that no one ever hears about anymore. Do you want that? I do not.

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I love grab bags. Of course, I have gotten some real junk in them at times but there have been some really great stuff too. As you may already know, grab bags are those things that the stores cannot sell so they pack them up and put the bags out in a barrel or box for people to purchase. The price is usually pretty good. Most grab bags that I buy are about a dollar, sometimes two dollars. Yes, I know. Big spender.

But there was this one time that I was in a jewelry store. I wanted to find a nice ring but I got so interested in the gold watches that I just about forgot to look for the ring I wanted. Eventually, I saw the grab bags. Now, this was in a jewelry store. How bad could the items be? So, I bought one grab bag. I figured that if it was good, I wouldn’t have to buy another one. If not, I could buy a few more. Not bad. In fact, great. That way, I get some good costume jewelry, if nothing else.

I opened the bag at the store because the clerk suggested I do that. The bag was really light. It had a card in it. For once, I picked up a light one because it just seemed right instead since most people would likely think something great was in the heaviest ones. The card said I had just bought a GOLD WATCH. The watch was worth a WHOLE lot more than I paid. It was awesome!! Grab bags are fantastic!

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It’s one thing to slam the veggies I like to eat. It’s another thing entirely to slam my fast food. Now they have a study out that says that fast food can cause liver damage. Well sure if you eat it 24/7 but who does that???? What the study said was that if you eat a burger, fries and coke and have no exercise at all, you will get liver damage if you eat that menu for thirty days. BAH!!!

For one thing, no one in their right minds actually would eat that much fast food. Or at least, I don’t think they would. Maybe I live in a dream world. When I was much younger, I would have eaten fast food most of the time so maybe they would do that. But after a while, ya gotta take a break from it. It gets really boring. At least with me, it was a variety of fast food. See, the study had people eating at the SAME fast food joint every time. Why??? Variety is the spice of life. You know, I do believe that except for people who are married. They do not need that much variety…except in eating fast foods, of course.

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I know that some of you have not gotten your Valentine anything yet. There is still hope for you! Do not despair. The Valentine’s stuff is still there at the stores. Do not go home without it!!! Of course, the best things to get are the roses, the chocolates and the teddy bears for the wives and girlfriends. Hey, the guys love chocolate too. Ask me how I know. You might need a bit of imagination to get just that special thing for the guys……a beautifully prepared meal and candlelight would work.

For now, just get out there and get that special person something that shows that you care. Get a mushy card. Make that call. Tell them you love them. This is their day!!!

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My dispatcher told me that I had a load that went to Nevada. Then, I had only been in Nevada a couple of times. Apparently, the company I worked for trusted me to go there (They did not always trust drivers going into Nevada so those people did not get a money draw when headed in that direction). But this load was going to Vegas, baby!

I really do like Vegas. After a while, I do get bored though. At first, I loved every blinking light I saw, every casino, every wedding chapel around. Before that, I had only seen the Strip on television and in movies. It was amazing. The Vegas hotels were all over the place, up and down the street. If you did not know where you were going, you would get lost in the lights and signs. Of course, I stayed in a hotel with a casino. It had parking for trucks. Very smart of the owners. The hotel was really cheap because they wanted you to gamble and see the shows. I did. It was awesome. And when I left, I still had my money in my pocket because I decided before I got there just how much I wanted to spend. That was all. I was happy. I had fun.

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We are living in an area that is very peaceful, nice, has loads of trees. The neighbors on one side are sort of noisy but not all the time. It’s a rental property. People come and go, sometimes in the middle of the night. We don’t even hear them moving in or out. No, we are not deaf. They are simply quiet…well, until they get moved in. Then they like to bang, bang, bang the doors on their cars, the house…whatever. We have had shots fired next door a couple of times. Those times, the police came and hauled someone away. That was a few months ago. After that, the people moved out and someone else moved in. Sigh.

On the other side, those folks haven’t been home for at least a couple of years. I hear that they moved about 150 miles away. The house stands empty, no one there at all. The people across the street are relatively new. They have only been there about a year and a half. There have been shots fired over there too. The junior high aged kid shot fireworks at our house, hit our door and walls a few times.

We don’t talk to our neighbors anymore. When we first moved in, we did talk to them but no longer. In fact, the ones next door and across the street are complete strangers to us. We like to keep it that way. However, I do find it to be a problem if we actually needed someone or some help of any kind. I am doubtful that they would be pleased to help us. You know what? If it gets any worse, I think we should call a real estate agent and find a way to change our location, sort of like in the witness protection thing only we won’t be protected, just moved. Yes, I like that idea. Wonder what it will be like in the new neighborhood.

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Recently, there was a report that the FDA has decided that cloned meat and milk are okay to sell without any type of packaging information concerning the fact that it is cloned meat or milk. I have a problem with that. Frankly, I believe that the FDA needs to be in our corner, the consumer, not in the pocket of the meat and milk industry as it currently appears.

Why can’t we have the truth in labeling work for us on this too? I believe that the reason is that the consumers might not want to buy the product. I think that the meat and milk industry cannot take the chance without first putting the product out there so that people can try it to see what happens. PROBLEM!!!

Is there a problem? You bet. First, they have no idea whatsoever what effect, if any, there will be on people because they would have to have years of testing and they do not. What happens when the people who eat this stuff start having more cancer, more other devastating diseases? Oh wait! We already have that. Imagine that. Is it possible that we are already subject to the problems caused by this type of food? Maybe so.

Are you aware that you are already eating genetically modified food? That you are likely unable to get away from it? That there is absolutely no labeling for it and that the FDA does not require that? Are you aware that this modified food has not even been tested at all on humans? Are you aware that the FDA doesn’t even require the companies to notify them of such products going into the market? Oh yes! Genetically modified foods have been on the shelves for some time now. They are there in the form of grains that were modified to make the sale better.

The FDA does not require labeling for the genetically modified foods already on the shelves. Now they want to have cloned, or genetically modified, meat and milk on the shelves too. Also without labeling. Why? Because you might ask questions they do not want to answer.

So, what foods contain genetically modified foods then and how can I find them? Hold onto your hats, folks. Anything that has soy or corn in it is probably genetically altered. That’s actually about 70% of the foods on the shelves at the store right now.

The FDA is allowing companies that do NOT sell genetically modified foods to label their products as such. How big of them! So, if you do not want your family to eat genetically modified or cloned foods, you can do one of two things.

1) You can grow your own food or raise your own meat.
2) You can watch the labels and only eat those products that are labeled NOT genetically modified.

Nice. Doesn’t look too good, does it? I didn’t think so either. And the worst part is that the companies that do alter the foods are getting away with selling us that stuff without our knowledge. How much damage have they already done? How much??? Are our children safe? And people wonder why we have so much more of those nasty diseases out there and getting worse. DUH!!!! Where is the morality in this??? There is none. None at all.

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I know that you have gripes about your job. Don’t we all? At this point in time, I am at home working instead of out there but I have had a number of jobs there and it ain’t pretty. What do you hate the most about your job? The boss and their attitude? Co-workers who steal your lunch? Or possibly gossip at the water cooler? I have to tell you that in my case, it was those performance reviews. ACK!

What am I talking about? Work evaluations to see if they want to keep you. I could not stand those things because they were always a bit slanted either for or against you depending on what your immediate supervisor thought of you. If you make nice with them, they either grab and keep grabbing credit for what you did or they simply hate you because you do a better job than they do. They know you want their job so they do what they can to discourage you. BAH!

Why not have your work speak for you in the numbers or the product, service or whatever you do. Why must we go through that nasty every month, two months, each week or whatever time of torture the company wishes to throw at ya. Nope. I want to say that I no longer have that problem. Well, except for the people who read my blog and give me a bad critique on it. And then there are my family members who think….well, that’s for another time, right? What’s that? You don’t like my post? I really can’t help that, you know. I simply write what I think, you see. What? You don’t like that? Sigh. Okay. (She mutters and walks slowly into the corner. She pouts. She sighs. She yawns. She goes off to bed. In the distance, you can hear snoring, a bark, a couple of meows and then it gets really quiet.)

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Despite the beautiful cars that roam our country, when you get into a rural area, it’s all about the pickup trucks. Did you notice that? We have. For instance, if I were living in a city, pickups might sell with a good price. Cars are more expensive, especially the ones that look really great. But you get into the country and try to buy a pickup. WOW! The price is way up there and the cars aren’t too bad. The secret appears to be that you go find the trucks in the city and the cars in the boonies.

Now, if you check out the pickups, you will find them decked out with all the goodies a guy can put on them. Are they working trucks? Not if the guy can get away with it. LOL! Yes, in a rural area there are farm trucks but I really do not think we’re talking about those, do you? Nope. The good ol’ boys around our area are buying the big, shiny dual cab pickups with all the truck accessories they can pack into the pickups. Why? To impress a girl, of course! Why else? Oh yeah, to feel manly. Sigh. Maybe they could find other, less expensive ways to do that, ya think?

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