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shopping with Dad

Sunday, February 19th, 2012

My friend’s daughter received a Target gift card for her birthday last week.  She had wanted to go to the new Target store ever so badly since it opened in her small town last December.  She had been begging her Dad to take her almost every weekend, until she had about driven him crazy.  You see, they live in a relatively small town, where shopping options are very limited and the new Target store had opened up a whole new shopping experience for them.  She and her parents knew that you can save money when shopping at Target, especially since all of the stores prior to this had been small, locally owned shops, where the prices were a bit high as compared to the larger discount stores in the larger towns.

He is not big on shopping, as most men are not, and he is a very busy contractor and really did not have the time to take her. There was a Target located about 40 miles away, and he didn’t want to drive that far to go shopping, gas prices being what they are, and now he had no excuses not to go, so he agreed he would take her.  It happened to be raining this particular weekend, and his crew was unable to work in the rain, so this freed up his weekend to take his daughter shopping.

So she finally got to go to the new Target store.    The gift card she had received was for one hundred dollars, which is a lot of money to a 10 year old.  She made a list of all the things she wanted to purchase and off to the new Target they went.

She was only able to get about half of the things on her list, one hundred dollars does not go as far as a 10 year old imagines that it does, even when you are shopping at a great discount store like Target.  She was able to get some new clothes, so that she could wear what all the kids were wearing these days, you know how kids are.  And she was even able to get some new jewelry and a new purse; she had to have the latest and the greatest.   Then there was the MP4 player and a few CD’s she wanted too.  She certainly got a whole lot for her money that day.  I was impressed.

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Posted in Economy Issues, Finance, Friends & Relatives, Girl Stuff, Life, Men, Shopping Around | No Comments »

Open wide and say AHHH….

Wednesday, February 8th, 2012

What is it with doctors these days?  I started seeing a doctor in a well-known facility in 2005.  Now, I am the type of person who only goes to the doctor when there is something wrong.  So, I went to the doctor because I was ill.  They ran blood tests, asked me when the last time I had my cholesterol checked, etc., etc.   Now remember, I just went in because I was not feeling well, not to have my cholesterol, blood glucose, A1C and all that other stuff checked out.  Well, the bloods tests came back fine.  So then they put me on the merry-go-round of coming back every 6 months for a check up and blood work (this is how they get you hooked).

So, a few years down the road they start checking my A1C and put me on a low dose of a blood pressure medication and need to do blood work every 3 months.  So now, I have to return every 90 days to get the blood work done.  I went on like that for a couple of years and just last summer the doctor said that my A1C was elevated and that she wanted me to start taking Metformin, a drug for diabetics that will aid in weight loss.  But, she said, that since Metformin causes gastric upset (I supposedly have IBS too), she would like me to start a daily injection of another drug that would have the same effect, but would not cause the gastric upset.  She also tried to place me on a cholesterol medication for an LDL of 89!!!

I had had enough!  I went to another family physician for a second opinion and I am glad that I did.  He checked my lab results that I had brought from the other doctor’s office and took me off the cholesterol medication, and said I did not need the diabetes drug.  Do all doctor’s do this with medications and tests?  Are they allowed to run rampant and order any test that they want and put you on drugs you clearly do not need?  I think that the AMA should monitor these so-called “doctors” a little more closely.

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Posted in Health, Life, Shopping Around | No Comments »

Off to the show

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011

I used to work in a comedy theatre in Tennessee.  I was the candy shop/concession stand manager and I also took care of ordering all the souvenirs for the theatre.  So, I finally got to go to a trade show to see what was new in the world of gag gifts, stuffed animals and other fine gift shop items that one might be inclined to purchase during intermission or before or after the show.

There was this one booth that I stopped by; they were selling stuffed animals, as I remember.  They had the most unique logo mat and logo canopy that I remember ever seeing.   Then I thought about the theatre I worked in.

What a unique idea for the lobby and candy shop:  A beautiful mat with our logo right in the middle for all to see.  I thought that it would be a good way to promote the show.  I thought we might even be able to place a few around town in different locations to remind people that we were right around the corner.

I realized that I see mats and canopies like that all the time and don’t even realize it.  They are in stores, restaurants, even in offices.  What a great idea!!!

 


 

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Posted in Business, Shopping Around | No Comments »

Shopper’s Frustration

Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

So, I went to the local WalMart the other day.  I bought a steam mop for easier clean ups of the kitchen floor after my Roo.  The tag on the shelf says it is $49.00.  I thought, a great deal, right?  Wrong.

I get the mop home, and use it and I loved it!!!   I was reviewing my receipt and see that I was charged $79.00 for the mop, not the $49.00 price that was on the shelf.  So, I load the mop back into my car and go and get the box that it was in, which had been left at a friend’s house (I demonstrated the new mop for them) and headed back to WalMart.  I hunted down a manager and explained my dilemma to him to which he said “Let me go back to the shelf and take a look.”  I then followed him back to the shelf where I had gotten the mop.  He looked around a bit, saw the $49.00 tag and compared the UPC code on the shelf tag to the product I had purchased and told me that I should have compared the UPC code on the box to the tag on the shelf!!!  I told him that it was not my job as a consumer to have to check UPC codes to be sure they match and that it was his job to be sure that the correct product was in the correct place on the shelf.  In fact, the product that was $49.00 was not even available!!

So, I came home and contacted WalMart corporate offices via the web.  I have not heard anything back from them yet, but I will say this:  I am currently refusing to shop at WalMart.  I think that they have gotten so big that the individual consumer no longer matters.

Posted in Economy Issues, House/Home, Shopping Around | No Comments »

It’s all urine, pee pee

Sunday, October 16th, 2011

My friend, Kathy, who lives in Austin, TX was telling me that she got a new puppy for the kids and she is having problems with house training.  The little thing is going everywhere in the house and not on the pads that she has provided for potty training.  Even though she takes her outside on a regular basis, the puppy will go outside, run around and play for awhile, not go to the bathroom and as soon as she gets back in the house, will go on the carpet.  She said the house smells like an outhouse and she did not know what to do.  So, she hit the yellow pages and the Internet (gotta love the Internet) and found a website that advertised a place in Austin that said they performpet urine odor removal from carpets, among several other services such as fire, water and smoke damage restorations.

Kathy said she called them and they gave her a reasonable quote and came out and did the job, just as they had discussed over the phone, and her house smells wonderful again and that the stains were even gone!    She said that she will use them again in the future if the need comes up.  She is also buying a crate for the puppy.

 

 


Posted in Animals, Shopping Around | No Comments »

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