Window Shopper

We have a new puppy in the house. You may have already seen the picture along with our suffering boy cat. He is putting up with her “exuberance”. And she is adorable. Well, adorable when she is not getting us up at 2, 3, 4 or 5am, that is. We have tried to stop that nice little habit. It is getting to be thoroughly annoying to the max. For a while, pre-puppy, we had been getting some sleep. Before that, our aged doggie was needing out quite a lot especially during the night.

The problem is that our new puppy is very stubborn when it comes to changing her ways of doing things. Before she came to live with us, she was an outdoor doggie. We got her when she was about 5 weeks old so it wasn’t that ingrained in her, at least I didn’t think so. She is now almost 9 weeks old. At this point, she needs to change her ways or take out whole life insurance for her future, however brief it may turn out to be. GROWL! Seriously though, we do need to get her to stop waking us up. Most of the time, she just wants to play but some of it is to go out. We are unsure which is which so far. Sigh. Some day, we will have an animal that does not do things like this. Boy, will that one be boring!!

Before the world gets to be too crazy, take some time to relax. Enjoy yourself for a while. Make peace of mind your personal goal for the day. People who do that live longer, for one thing. For another, the stress level goes through the floor when you take the time to simply relax. I love the idea.

That reminds me of something. Last year, my Mom was needing to fill a prescription in a town over 60 miles from home. We went into their nationally known drug store, walked all the way to the back of the store. Quite a trip for someone who has problems walking that far like both Mom and I did. After putting in the order, we were told that it would be a few minutes. Uh huh, we thought. It’s going to take a while. Of course, we had been used to a local discount store that has a pharmacy that takes half of forever to fill a prescription even if they didn’t have any to do.

There were some chairs along the wall so we both sat down, talking, not looking at the chair right next to us. When I finally noticed the thing, it surprised me because I had never seen one like it before. You could sit in it and relax for free. I say “for free” because it was a massage chair. Little rollers went up and down the back and made things so happy, happy I did not want to get up. Not long after I got a turn (Mom did NOT want to give up the chair), they called her name for her prescriptions. I still did not want to get up. Of course, I was the driver so when Mom wanted to leave, we left. I wish I had that chair at home right now!!! They could always just give me my meals there, ya know.

A college just 70 or so miles from us recently went through the big ordeal of changing it’s mascot. Why? Because the original mascot was an indian. Now, that particular mascot had been with the college for many years and many of the alumni were quite fond of the indian mascot. They even had the “Indian family” go to the football, basketball and baseball games. It was tradition.

But something happened. Some folks started objecting to the mascot as “politically incorrect”. It was hurting the native American. This would be the same ones that had never had a problem with it in years past because of the reverence that was shown the Indian family. But that did not stop them. And so, the officials at this college needed to change the image so that others would not object.

Finally, they came up with a great new mascot. It’s a red wolf. For days, on the news, we heard about how the college needed to and were actually changing all the signs to the red wolf signs from the Indian signs that had been standing for years. They could not seem to find them all for a while. But, at this point, it appears that they…the officials…have finally found all the offending Indian signs. And now, the red wolf stands for the college. The unfortunate fact is this red wolf appears to need drug rehabilitation because he appears to be on something. I wonder why the college allowed such a picture for their mascot. But they do seem to be proud of what they have accomplished.

My niece had been attending this college this year. She came home because of being close to birth time. It would be better for the baby, certainly, that she not have to see those really angry red wolves everywhere. It is a bit more peaceful at home.

I hate the time when we need to get tags because you have to stand in the line for so long. This year, there was no line. I thought it was much better especially since we had to actually replace the tag for our car this year. It’s had too many years. And of course, you no longer have to actually have the insurance card anymore either because the almighty computer takes care of that too. It’s great and not so great.

We are probably insurance poor. That used to mean that people were spending too much money for it. Now it also means that you do not have enough. In our case, that is so very true. For instance, there are insurance types out there that are a mystery to me. This may seem really simple to you but it appears to be a lot more complicated than it looks on the first peek. What does the term life insurance really mean? Because sometimes it’s just that. You spend X number of dollars, you get X amount of coverage. I have seen those commercials on tv. But they leave a lot to be desired.

Then, there are the ones that give you some type of borrowing power but I am not sure about those either. Obviously, you have to pay into that type of policy for a long period of time before you have any ability to borrow against it. And isn’t that a bit detrimental to the thing too? Also, that type appears to need a doctor exam. The ones on tv don’t need it. That means that they will probably not want to pay it out either. I don’t know. Insurance is now and has always been a mystery to me. Guess that isn’t going to change.

If you haven’t already heard, Starbucks has been ordered to pay out over $100 million in tips to the baristas. You know what they are, right? These are the people who do the work making the fine, great tasting coffee that you buy at Starbucks each day. The problem is that instead of paying the shift supervisors the wages they deserve, they required the baristas to share their tips. How cheap can they actually get???? Are they serious???

I know that Starbucks is a well loved name in coffee places but this is ridiculous. The judge in California awarded the baristas their tips back plus interest and that was as it should be. And when I got to the news story on this, I was appalled that many of the comments were against the lawsuit. Come on!!! The company was stealing the tips from the guys and gals that actually did the work and giving it to the shift supervisors who should have been on salary anyway. Why on earth are people against the baristas who make the coffee that they drink in the first place? They were the ones stolen from, after all.

The question I continue to ask is…how cheap can a company actually get??? Well, now let’s see, the company took in $9.4 billion dollars last year, profits of $672 million. HELLO!! I think they could afford to PAY their shift supervisors, don’t you? Frankly, I do not see wanting to go into a Starbucks after that. SHAME ON YOU, Starbucks!!! Shame!

Yes, I did say beaches twice. That’s what those are worth in January, February and March!! I do remember when we went to the beach in January in Palm Beach. It was great. The surf was up and there were less people about that day. We took the dog. He was a big black lab-looking dog with a huge opinion of others, both dog and human. I’ll get to that later. But Palm Beach in the winter is awesome. Not only is the beach a bit less crowded but the beach itself is awesome. Very pretty and when the surf is up, it’s breathtaking.

The first thing we always did was to head straight for the water. At the beach, why not? As I went in, I noticed some guy fishing up north of us. That wasn’t really registering at the time though. One of the first things that did register, after I was neck deep in water, was that my watch was still on my wrist. And, of course, it got drowned. Never worked again. BAH! I knew I should have had a Technomarine watch. Ever seen one of those things? Diver’s watch. I love it.

Then, I noticed that our dog went in with us. As I said, he looked like a black lab but was actually a combo of German shepherd and cocker spaniel. Do not ask me how that happened! He loved to swim with us and went in all the time. But sometimes, he decided to get out before we did. That’s when he would place his opinion on someone else. It was just a leg lift away. ACK! He targeted a German Shepherd who looked at him like he was nuts. Nothing else happened, thank goodness.

About that time, it finally registered about the fishing guy….when his hook got into my foot. OUCH! I got out of the surf, got my sis to get it out. I am certain that the guy thought he had a big fish on the line. Must have been a huge disappointment when all he got back was a line. We took the hook. That was the last time I recall that we actually went to the beach. I miss the beach!!!

Like you didn’t already know that, right? But from what I have heard, the price is not heading down anytime soon either. We have been learning how to save money for some years now. It looks to me like all of those things that we learned are going to have to be put into play right now.

If you have not learned how to save money and shop cheaply now is a great time to learn. In our case, we live on a semi-fixed income. That means that we have a fixed income and have learned to do some things that give us a little…stress the LITTLE….income from home. It is not enough to have a street dance over but it does help us in times of financial stress, like when we get an unexpected medical bill that is only partly covered by medicare. It helps that we are able to pay the co-pays with that.

Sometimes, we have a little bit so that we can have a treat now and then, something we could ill afford if we only had our fixed income to go by. And now, gas prices being what they are, we would be in deep doodoo if we did not have that extra income.

I guess this is sort of a rant on gas prices because once those prices filter down, which they already are, you will see higher and higher prices in the stores. Food prices will be way higher than they ever have been. Do not look for dropping prices anytime soon. My guess is that when all of the dust settles, the prices will go up and down a bit but mostly up. We will never see prices on goods and food be lower than they are right now ever again, except on some loss leader sale. Never again. Isn’t that sad? More than sad, it’s a disaster.

For those of you who are getting that stimulus check, I would think long and hard about how to spend it. That would be contrary to what the government wants. But here’s the thing. The government wants us to get it, spend it and wave goodbye to it. That way, the economy will be stimulated. Good. That works. BUT, those awful gas prices will not go down when the people who are controlling them are living in the middle east. That means that when you spend it, it’s gone. Yes, it will help stimulate the economy to a certain extent. But not as much as it might appear.

These people want to see our country fall so they are doing what they can to accomplish that. It began long before this in the 70s when they tried out the gas shortage deal. I was there in those horrible gas lines waiting to get to the pump before the car ran out, before the station ran out, before they told you that if you had enough gas for today, you didn’t need any there. People were pushing their cars into a station to the pumps and finding out that the gas was out at the pump too.

The people who are running the majority of the crude oil in the middle east right now are happy that our country is having problems with it. They want this. So, what can we do to change that? For one thing, use less gas. Yeah, I know. Tough thing to do. We have that problem too.We live in a rural area with no public transportation. We must rely on ourselves and family to get around. We live 18miles from the rest of our family. That means that they cannot help us too much either. We have learned to conserve.

It’s a tough thing to have to learn right now. But it is necessary before the government thinks to make it mandatory….and eventually, they will. Only those people who lived during the second world war and know about ration cards can get a tiny clue what it will be like but it is coming, count on it. Learn to deal with that now while you can.

It has been a hectic month so far. I really do think that it’s a good thing February is about to go away. Recently, our area suffered a pretty devastating tornado, an EF3, which took out a large number of businesses and homes. The businesses were the lifeblood of the community. The small town of Highland, Arkansas, simply does not have that many businesses. When the storm hit, it dug a path of destruction for some time. This particular storm started in Atkins, Arkansas, and traveled 123 miles before ending it’s destructive path.

I talked with a couple of people who saw, first hand, why you want to stay out of the storm path if you are able to do so. One lady was standing in her back yard only a few hundred feet from where it continued it’s damage. She said that her ears were hurting and popping. When she looked up, she saw headlights from cars swirling around up in the air. That’s how she was able to see where the tornado was.

My husband’s brother saw the storm first hand as well. He thought the storm was still a ways away and was driving straight into it. It picked the van up into the air and tumbled it before setting it down upright with only some dents and the windows completely blown out of it. He walked away with a couple of scratches on his forehead.

Frankly, I do not know about this for sure but there were rumors that people were calling their insurance agents to get life insurance quotes before such a thing could happen again. The problem with this storm was that it was a freak. Our tornado season is not upon us as yet. This was a total freak of nature. Before that, about a few days, it had snowed. The kids were out of school for a day because of it. It was cold. Then, warm air came up and we had spring type weather. It was strange.

And now, the people in our area will not allow this to defeat them. Businesses are in temporary quarters, already back in business. Some are fixing the damage and opening up in the same locations. Others will have a slightly tougher time but will come back better and brighter than ever before. And that’s saying something for the willpower of those who live here in our community.

One of the things I love about the internet is that you can shop and find the best places to purchase those things that normally you do not have the bucks for if you shop at the local stores. That’s what I love about why buy.com rocks. It rocks because they have thousands and thousands of products that have slashed prices. You can save so much money going right to buy.com.

They have amazing prices plus FREE SHIPPING offers. I like their price comparison search engine that shows you the competitor’s prices along side buy.com prices. Their prices win, hands down. And how about the coupon for new customers…All brand new customers receive an exclusive $10 off of their $10 order coupon which is valid on any purchase. Add that to the huge selection of products, the free shipping offers, the price comparison engine plus much more and you already know why buy.com rocks, don’t you.

Now if that is not enough for you, Howie Mandel will give you the “What’s Shakin’” feature and Ryan Seacrest will show you the Deal Of The Week! Awesome. For just a bit more about why buy.com rocks, I have prepared you a small video. Enjoy!

Okay, this story is from so many years ago, many of you were not even born when this happened. ROFL! I was at a carnival in Michigan at a time when the weather was really getting bad. I was working there selling tickets for a double ferris wheel, two in fact. What that looks like is a ferris wheel on each end of a long pole, smaller wheels that turned and the whole thing turned as well. They were side by side and very impressive.

The rides were going very well during the day but in the evening the rain, which had held off all day, suddenly started to get very serious. Usually, when that happens, the owners shut down the rides until the bad weather is over, sometimes closing the midway altogether. However, this time, they did not have the time to do so. All of a sudden, I heard a cracking right overhead. Then, a rain of glass on top of my ticket booth. It was getting pretty bad. I wanted to run to get away but the glass was too intense.

Then, I heard the brakes on the ride start to seize up on both ferris wheels. The brakes were wet and when that happens, the brakes sometimes stop and sometimes do not. In this case the brakes were on both sides of the ride, one was working and one wasn’t. The ride tilted sideways, then the other one did the same. The glass was coming from the florescent bulbs that were numerous on the sides of the rides. About that time, some cables began to give away. I was so scared that the people on the rides wouldn’t be able to get down in time.

The ride jock was working as hard as he could to get the people out, many of them children. Slowly but surely, the rides were becoming empty. They had another threat that no one wanted to think about but was extremely possible. The storm was bringing in lightning and the rides are so tall that they would make excellent lightning rods. We were blessed and so were all the people. A couple of them had some glass on them but everyone got off the ride without injury thanks to the ride jocks who knew their jobs.