Dorie’s Different Reality

Well, the warm weather didn’t hold! Still, it was way cool to have all the doors open. We gave Vera a bath because she could go outside and air dry. Shar-peis hate water. Vera has skin allergies, so bathing gives her some relief. It’s a stealth mission every time. But now she’s all shined up and lovely! Later in the afternoon, it clouded up, rained and got windy and that cold front came in to where it feels like November again.

Dinner of Thankfulness: We had a nice feast for two. Ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole (hello Joan!), cranberry sauce-yummy with ham!, rolls and dessert(s). It could have been much worse, calorically or sodium-wise.  I made a little Smithfield ham and though it’s not proper country ham- that little hamlet is salty! If I’d known, I would have given it a boil before baking!  And hope you had a lovely day too!

I’m up early. The radio came on at 5 as usual, so I turned if off quickly so’s Mike can get extra sleep on his day off.  Fact is, he’s off the whole next week. I offered to compose a list of projects for him, but he said something like“Mighty Kind of you Little Lady, but I got mah own list of projects” Well, okay. He’s got a basement with stuff in it. Lots of wires and things. And a lathe; I hear a lot of high-pitched machine noise. He better not be building an android woman down there!
Got some coffee made and now I’m typing very quietly….  We live on a state route that gets a lot of commuters in the morning and it sounds like a regular day out there. I guess not everybody got the day off.

I hope you didn’t get up at 3 to go shopping! Please tell me you weren’t standing in front of a store at 4 a.m. As a former shop girl myself, trust me, if people wouldn’t come out early they’d offer the same sales price at 10 a.m. They offer that fabulous price to you like a worm on a fish hook. They’re hoping that once you’ve snagged the $139 KitchenAid (great price, btw) you’ll continue to fill the cart with items to make up for the big cut they took on the item that led you through their door. If you can get in and out with just your big bargain- good for you! You get an A in retail today!
I’ve seen some stuff though. For a couple of years, my now out-of-business retailer would advertise “$15 gift card to first 200 shoppers” What they wanted to happen was the shopper doing her holiday shopping, spending a couple hundred bucks, would be happy to use that card for extra discount. What the reality became was, we had a whole bunch of people crowded at the doors. They’d get their card, and then literally run across the store to go out an entrance and come in again to get another card. Then they’d use the cards to “purchase” small items the value of the cards: gloves, earrings, small gifts- not a dime more than the value of the card! So much for sales incentive! I’ve noticed now that some stores offer a discount like “$10 off with every $50 you spend”. Must cut down on the stampedes in the stores- good idea. Some retailers (apart from grocers) were open yesterday. They’ll be open Christmas Day if customers show up! (NO- don’t do it!)

One Month At A Time: I read an article about a book, A Year Without “Made in China” about this family’s experience intentionally not buying Chinese goods for a whole year. I’d like to do it, but I think I’d end up barefoot and nekkid by next December. I’m starting with January, month of resolutions and all. I just want to experience how much one country’s manufactured goods occupy the market in this country. I just checked a couple of things on the desk here. The ancient plastic coffee mug says “made in USA” The digital camera says Malaysia. The gel pen is from Japan. So far, so good! I’ve already thought of a way to “cheat”  Say I really want something, like a new set of glasses. (Mike and I each had a cocktail last night and had to serve them in coffee mugs!) We have a good-sized antique mall down the road. I’d head there first. All kinds of stuff in good condition. So, I’ll try one month and see what happens.

It happens every year: Late in the evening, after Thanksgiving or Christmas, I’ll turn on the news and there will be a story about a murder-suicide. There seem to be 2 or 3 around every major US holiday. Usually it’s a man- husband, brother -gets out a gun and wipes out his whole family. The first one this year happened in this state, about 25 miles from here. First they found a woman and three children slain and some distance away the husband/father who took his own life. I’m sighing thinking about it.  There are always  families  that get together, add alcohol and old grudges, or  money problems and that perfect day ends with a Family Fight.  Or it ends even more tragically.

An Idea Whose Time Has Come? Amazon.com has launched a digital book reader called Kindle. Not much bigger than an average paperback, it downloads books, the way an IPod gets loaded with music. It’s not something I need, but wow, if they get on the stick and digitize college textbooks!  Textbooks are so expensive; a digital download would be so much better! The Kindle should be offered as a deal- like buy 10 e-books and get it for free. At $399 it’s still too much for me, so get that price down Amazon! I’d love to try it! Not to mention all the trees that won’t die in vain.

 Green Bay is now 10-1. It won’t end global warming or violence, but there’s joy in Packerland (and points East!)

This entry was posted on Friday, November 23rd, 2007 at 7:31 am and is filed under Books, Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.