Score!

Yesterday while K and I were out working off our Saturday "to do" list I realized we were just a block from REI and my car, as it's wont to do, went on auto-pilot straight into their parking lot.  Fortunately for me as I discovered they were having a store-wide "garage sale".  Some of it was returned items on sale for cents on the dollar, but they also had tons of new stuff marked down 50%, too.

I found this $180 Primaloft-insulated mid-weight REI jacket for $83.  Now I just have to fight Luke for it.  (He looks "ready to rumble."  Grrrrr!)

I don't understand clothes merchandising.  Here it is barely a week into winter, there is still snow on the ground from last Tuesday's storm, and already stores are clearing out their winter stuff and making room for....what....summer shorts and t-shirts?  It seems like they start earlier and earlier every year trying to sell us the upcoming season's styles.  I'm thinking someday they'll actually get ahead of themselves a full 12 months and put next winter's stuff on sale at the start of this winter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My banana pudding is in demand again....by ME!  I took a huge bowl of BP I made to the in-laws for (part of) our Christmas dinner dessert, and as we left K said, "Y'all just keep the rest and enjoy it."  DOH!  I got one modest-size bowl for all my effort.

This afternoon we're going to have Christmas with two of my daughters who live in the area and grandkids Parker and Blakely, plus grand-daughter Reese still "in the oven".  I made another banana pudding to share with the family, with the understanding I'm bringing back at least some of what's left over.  I mean, one serving is just a teaser!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'Tis the best of times....it's college football bowl season....and the worst of times....after January 7th I won't have any more NCAA football for eight months.  Oh, the horror!

So far we've only had some of the minor bowl games like the Boudreaux's Butt Paste* Bowl (or something like that) where my Texas Tech Red Raiders lucked out and beat Minnesota as the clock ran out.   Hey, it's still a "W"....I'll take it.

Now I'm gonna go check the newspaper to see which NFL players added to their police rap sheets over the weekend.

Y'all have a nice Sunday.

S

*Yes, there really is such a product.  (I don't make this stuff up, folks.  Well, not most of it.)

The End is Near-ish

So how is this "End of the World" thing gonna happen?  If I understand it correctly, the Mayans in their infinite wisdom have it figured tomorrow is "the day".  "Turn out the lights, the party's over".  It sounds rather silly to me, but then again, who knows?

If it turns out to be true I'd hate for my last meal to be a grilled cheese sandwich.  And I wouldn't want to spend my last day on earth rotating the tires on my car.  And why ruin my last day by balancing my checkbook or going grocery shopping?  To the contrary, I'm thinking about blowing all I have and then some on something really decadent.  Maybe I could drive my new Maserati to III Forks for a juicy, medium rare steak.

Do I dare chance it?  What if the Mayans were wrong?  I can't afford a new freakin' Maserati!

OK....OK....I'VE GOT IT!  We should be able to see this end of the world thing coming, right?  Wouldn't it start over in the western Pacific at the International Date Line?  Then it would work it's way around the world one time zone at a time.  Yeah, that's it.  By the time "the end" made it to Hawaii I would be behind the wheel of my new dream car.  By the time the lights went out in LA I'd be savoring my last bite of steak.  

As things got quiet in Denver I'd be assembling the kids and grand kidlettes in order to watch them open their Christmas presents.  Then we'd be off to the airport (no need for luggage....security should be a breeze!) where my private (rented) jet would be waiting to take us to maybe Paris....no....MONACO!  Wonder if we'd have time for a stopover in Switzerland?  I've never been there and it sounds pretty cool.

Hmmm....maybe I should have been accepting all those credit card offers I get every day in the mail that I've been pre-approved for.  We could've had one epic "Going Out With a Bang!" party.  Oh well, too late to worry about it now.

We could wind down the day in Singapore.  (Is that east or west of the IDL?  I'd better research it.)  Then we could sit and rest a while and thank God for all He's done for us and tell Him again what a great Boss he's been to us all.

Yep, I think I'll take today off work.  I have some shopping to do.  (But I'll keep the receipts just in case.)  *wink*

S

What if they threw a party and nobody came?

The Christmas season just gets more and more absurd.  Isn't this (especially) the season where we're supposed to display peace and love for all, just like Jesus did?  Apparently Walmart didn't get that memo.

In their headlong chase for the Almighty Dollar Walmart has decided that Black Friday, that absolutely insane first official day of the Christmas shopping season....the day after Thanksgiving....will now begin at 8 pm ON THANKSGIVING EVENING!  That's when they will open the chutes and let the cattle stampede in.  So much for letting their "valued employees" spend the day with their families.  

I contrast that (here in Dallas at least ) with Weir's Furniture.  They are closed EVERY Sunday.  The Weir family is very religious and they close for that reason, but the bottom line is they allow their employees to spend their Sundays doing whatever they want.  It's their time for family, church, football, picnicking, or whatever.  Here's my point:  people know that if they want to buy a sofa or chair or bedroom furniture from Weir's they'll have to buy it on Saturday or Monday, but NOT on Sunday....and their business hasn't suffered a bit.  If fact, many big-name furniture stores have come and gone in the past 64 years, but Weir's is still here.

I can't think of one thing that will be in Walmart at 8 pm on Thanksgiving Day evening that won't still be there at 7 am on Black Friday morning.  Quit being such dicks, Walmart, and let your people have the day off.  

Rant over.  Now go out there and have a nice weekend.  ;)

S

Spewings from my odd mind

Ever wonder about the origin of holidays?  Some are obviously religious....Easter, Christmas, Hanukkah.  Some are obviously contrived for commercial reasons, like Valentine's (thank you Hallmark Cards and FTD).  Some are to recognize the sacrifice of our armed forces....Memorial Day, Veteran's Day.  But Labor Day?   Yes, it is to honor those who "labor", and it was pushed for by the early labor union movement, but it wasn't until 1894 that President Grover Cleveland made it a national holiday after a particularly bloody fight between the military and federal marshals and strikers at the Pullman Co. (railroad car mfg.) ended in a number of deaths.

Fearing more labor violence, Labor Day was a bone thrown at workers to calm things down and prevent further unrest.  The Prez was careful, however, to NOT have it the same day as International Worker's Day so as not to give any credence to the growing communist movement.  Now you know.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I heard a quote today that resonated with me:  "Don't have an opinion where you have no responsibility."

This as opposed to the way things are now, namely, "Opinions are like a__holes....everybody has one."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I also read something interesting written by a journalist covering the Republican convention last week.  He observed, "There is no organic connection between Romney and the GOP base.  He is renting the party to fulfill his dream of becoming president, and they're renting him to get rid of President Obama."  Good point.  It really doesn't feel like they belong together, but they're trying to force it, sort of like an arranged marriage.  It's just an odd chemistry.  

The Democrats start their convention this week.  Now it's their turn to bore us to tears.  Football season couldn't have come at a better time, for me at least.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We're forecast to have triple-digit heat most of the week in Dallas, but a weather front comes in for the weekend cooling things off into the 80's.  Do I dare hope?  Is this "it"....the first stirrings of Autumn?  I even like the sound of it....."Autumn".  :)

S

I liked the old way better

It never really dawned on me until now how much my holiday plans revolved around my dearly departed dog, Emma Belle.  Every major holiday....that would be the Big Three: Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas....K and I drove the 75 miles to spend the day with her parents.  We timed things so that we could make the round-trip drive and visit and still be back home within 6, maybe 7 hours.   I just didn't want to make Emma "hold it" longer than that.  Now we no longer have that time constraint.  It feels weird.


This evening my family will assemble at my daughter Erica's home to have our Christmas.  With married daughters come dual families (in-laws) for them to spend time with, so I just get in line and take my turn.  I'm not real picky.


For that matter, and I write about this every year, I'm not a "Christmas" person.  I'm just not.  It's just weeks and weeks of going to places I don't want to go to, seeing people I don't want to see, doing things I don't want to do....but of course I do it anyway because it's "Christmas".  With my family we agreed years ago to just have gifts for the kids, but not the adults.  We're all relatively affluent and can just go out and buy what we want/need, so please, spare me another shirt.  As for K and I, she's getting a new Kindle Fire and I'm inheriting her almost-new old-style Kindle.  Fine with me.  (It's OK, it's not a secret.)


Shame we can't just all sit down and think about why we celebrate Christmas and forget about all the hoopla that its become.  And personally, I'll think about how blessed I am and about my late Emma Belle and how much fun she made my life for all those years. 


Merry Christmas, everyone, and Happy Birthday Jesus.  And a special Merry Christmas to you, too, Miss Belle.


S

What a difference a day makes

Friday evening, our normal "date night", we celebrated our anniversary with dinner at Seasons 52.  Crab and shrimp stuffed mushrooms, fillet cooked just right, veggies, all advertised to be very calorie-conscious.  Then yesterday I gave back all my good eating habits and then some.  For lunch K and I split a BLT w/avocado pannini, then the rest of the day I had ice cream, 2 hot dogs, chips, peanuts, more ice cream, and several cokes.  Ugh!  It was one of those "do as I say, kids, not as I do" days.


Poor Emma Belle can't buy a break.  She's pretty much gotten over her episode with pancreatitis, but now she has a bum leg.  I think she jumped off the chair where she sleeps and somehow jammed her shoulder/leg when she landed.  The symptoms are the same as they were a year or so back, and that's what we deduced happened then.  Not much I can do for her...it just heals itself over time.  Poor little mutt.  :(


I mentioned to K that the week before Christmas will be a blow-off week for sure.  Always is.  Productivity slumps to near-zero.  So what if employers were to make their employees this deal:  If they go the 3 or 4 or 6 months (TBD) before Christmas absence/tardy free, they can have the week of Christmas off. They would get to keep employees working full speed during normally productive times of the year, but lose very little actual work around Christmas.  Would you go for something like this?  Just another odd thought from my warped little brain.


Have a good day, y'all.


S