Shopping...

Well you know that it's going to be alright.        

I think it's gonna be alright.        

Everything will always be alright.            

When we go shopping....       

I used to be a champion shopper. I liked them all, from the department to the discount stores. My car seemed to automatically swerve towards a WalMart if there was one on the way to my destination. I knew the layout of the mall and every store within. I don’t know when it changed but something happened and shopping didn’t seem as much fun anymore. It could be the lengthy lines of people waiting to get out of the store. Often it takes longer to get out of the store than to do the whole shopping tour. Or maybe it’s the apathy of the store personnel. Then again, it could just be the rudeness of people in general. Whatever the reason, I just don’t like to go much anymore.

This year most of my Christmas shopping was done online. It was so much easier to sit in the chair, click a few times then have whatever delivered to my door, or at least to my husband’s office than to go out hunting and fighting the crowds. It worked really well until I messed up and accidentally had things delivered to an old address on one account. The stuff went to another town. Luckily, the people living in the house knew my name and delivered everything to my daughter!

Maybe not having a willing shopping partner has taken some of the joy out of my quest. There were times, years ago, that my friend Debbie and I could stay in a small town WalMart for two or three hours, just looking at ‘stuff’! But there’s nobody to shop with nowadays. My husband would rather go to the dentist than take a trip to a mall! Now make it Academy or Tractor Supply and he’s a world class shopper! Sometimes my daughter will go with me. Otherwise, I’m on my own. I really don’t mind shopping by myself, most of the time. I can take my time, look at what I want, for as long as I want, try on, dawdle, and generally, just do my thing! But it’s fun, with the right companion, to shop away!

After all the Christmas visitors left, we (my husband and son and I) decided to take an impromptu shopping trip. My oldest son is a great shopping buddy. He could win a prize in the shopping Olympics! So we got a hotel room, piled in the car and took off to San Antonio for a shopping day. We were up relatively early the next morning and headed to an outdoor mall called The Shops at La Cantera. It’s semi upscale, with Neiman Marcus (a good store for me to walk right through) to Macy’s. In fact, we even saw a Payless Shoes there so there’s something for everyone. There happened to be a Bass Pro Shop down the way and an Omnimax theater, so Alan just dropped us off and our fun began. We were looking for bargains and we found a few!

The Shops at La Cantera

Perhaps my favorite treasure was a faux fur coat in a leopard print. Why? Because I could I guess! It was 85% off the regular price. As my sister always says, I couldn’t afford not to! Bryce thinks it’s hideous. And it could be, but I’ll wear it anyway. It’s just for fun. And when I’m in the nursing home I’ll make sure to wear it whenever he comes for a visit!

Fake leopard and I love it!

Quite the haul!

We found a lot of things and had a good lunch. That was our recharge and we went until we couldn’t go anymore. There were so many stores and not enough time! Seriously, even if we had taken another day and night, we still would not have seen everything. Finally, with both of us near exhaustion, and Alan Bass Pro’d and Imaxed out, we headed home. One stop at Rudy’s Barbeque and four and a half hours later, we were snuggled deep in our beds with visions of bargains floating in our heads! It was a good trip.

So shutup 

And never stop. 

Let's shop 

Until we drop...

After that little jaunt my shopping interest is renewed! Of course, I’ll have to wait until I’m in another town because Odessa is severely lacking. One thing I did (sadly) miss out on is the “Happy New Year and Sale” at The Tinsmith's Wife in Comfort, Texas. All their yarn is discounted 25% throughout the rest of 2011 (Wednesday, 12/28, through Saturday, 12/31). That place is one of my all time favorite yarn shops. Their selection is unbelievable. But I really don’t need any yarn anyway. (What? Who said that?) So it wasn’t a big deal. I didn’t have a project in mind and I would have bought yarn so it saved me some money! (Insert a small sob here.)

Speaking of projects, I had a Christmas knitting success! Ty’s friend Jenni, came home with him for the holidays. He had requested a rainbow scarf for her so I knitted one. It was fun and turned out pretty nice. I decided to add buttons on the end so that she could button and loop it, making an infinity or eternity scarf, or leave it unbuttoned and wear as a regular scarf. That’s about the only Christmas knitting I did this year and I’m sure glad I did! She liked it.

Wrapped three times

Up close of buttons. Crocheted loops to fasten

Worn like a regular scarf

Buttoned and looped twice

It's never enough 

Until you've got all the stuff.

When the going gets rough 

Just shop with somebody tough...

In The Year 2525

If man is still alive,
If woman can survive
They may find...

When I taught school, the first few days when there were no books, sometimes no computers, and lots of schedule changes, I let my kids watch cartoons. They didn’t watch just any old cartoon. First they would watch a Flintstone cartoon. They made a list of all the things they saw that were not automated that are today. Then they watched a Jetsons cartoon and made a list of the things they saw that we have and don’t have today. The object was to show them that technology had advanced even in fantasy and that is it constantly changing. It sounds kind of hokey now but it was a good lesson back then. Think of the changes.

Did you ever have to get up, off the couch or out of the chair, to change the channel on the TV set? If you were the kid it was your job. I remember being told many times to change the channel! Most places had three channels or maybe four, if you were lucky. I remember four channels where I grew up. There were the major networks, 4, 7 and 13, and the public broadcast system channel, channel 5. I don’t remember for sure what networks went with what channel, except for PBS but those four channels are still on as 4, 5, 7 and 13, today. Now it’s not uncommon to have access to over 600 channels.
One day when the kids were little, we watched the Andy Griffith show, in black and white. Perry Mason came on next and it was also black and white. We watched that too and afterwards looked at AMC to see if any good, old movie was coming on. I don’t remember which movie it was but it was in black and white as well. As it was beginning Bryce looked at the TV and said, “Please! No more gray TV!” It boggled his mind to think someone would choose to watch TV in black and white when there was color!

I am married to a channel changing fanatic. He watches, (and that’s debatable), two, three, sometimes even four shows at once. We don’t have one of those divided screen TVs either. He calls them his commercial shows. Something on the TV or satellite broke. Whatever it was caused the channel to not change automatically. Someone had to get up, scroll through the channels by hand and choose a program. It was tedious changing the channel. I guess it’s not as much fun watching just one show at a time because he napped in his chair quite a bit until the TV was fixed.

We are so used to automation it’s a real inconvenience (in our minds) to have to do something by hand. My grandmother was someone who served leftovers until there was nothing left. There were no microwave ovens. She got a pan out, put the two tablespoons of leftover corn in, warmed it, poured it into a small bowl and served it. There were also no dishwashers at her house. Except for me, of course, when I was there. Somehow my sister always managed to get sick come dish time! It doubled the amount of work to have to put the food in the pan and warm it then put into another dish. And it doubled the amount of dishes!

I turn on the oven. I push the button for the oven I want, push another button to adjust the temperature and push one more button to let the oven know I am through. It pre-heats itself to the ‘right’ temperature. When it’s hot enough to put the food in, there is a beep. I put the food in and push another button to tell the oven how long I want the food to cook. It seems we push buttons for almost everything. I think of the Jetsons. When the Jetsons eat a normal meal, instead of their food pills, everyone sits at the table. Jane, (his wife!), pushes the buttons for the meal on the Foodarackacycle. Rosie the robot maid might serve it or it might just fly to the table. We’ve got the button pushing down. I’m just waiting for the Foodarackacycle...or Rosie!

Now it's been 10,000 years,
Man has cried a billion tears.
For what he never knew
Now man's reign is through.
But through the eternal night,
The twinkling of starlight,
So very far away,
Maybe it's only yesterday...

It’s the end of July. Where has the time gone? Knit a year is still going strong. Day 117, July 26 was a day to stick to it just to get it over with. But the work went well so I can’t complain. I chose a greenish/gold ribbon. I was diligent and I’ll get to do it again tomorrow. July 27, day 118, was finally when I got to relax. I worked hard and I think I’m ready for tomorrow. I picked a variegated light green with sections of gold, pink and aqua. It seemed to be relaxing colors to me. Day 119 was the first workshop. I was successful! It went well. I chose a blue fancy fur. There are colored poofs throughout and it looks like a celebration. Can I do it again? I hope so! Day 120, July 29, was a little stressful. I was pressured to use material I didn’t like. But in the end, this workshop turned out well too. I can’t complain. Gold with purple twisted into it was the choice for this day. Day 121 was another workshop down. Another successful workshop! I chose variegated cotton, bright colors, for a victory! I felt victorious and am now ready for the weekend! We headed to Stamford after the workshop to spend time with friends. Day 122, the last day of July, was spent at Lake Stamford. I chose mint green cotton. It was a relaxing day and I mostly listened and watched. You can learn a lot when you are observant! It was a great ending to a stressful but successful week. And I was just thinking…only 15 more years until 2025…and 500 more after that…

In the year 2525
If man is still alive,
If woman can survive
They may find...