Dec 19, 2008 | Holidays, Rants, Shopping |
I can't tell you the number of stores I've gone to the past few days and found shopping carts all over the parking lot. What is wrong with people that they can't walk the darn thing the few feet it takes to get to the cart corral? I'm so fed up with lazy people unloading their carts and pushing the things between the vehicles and leaving them. I couldn't even park in one spot yesterday because it had become a de facto corral — and the corral wasn't full and wasn't far away.
Do people really not care if their cars get dinged with these runaway carts? Or do they feel that since they are leaving, their car isn't in danger? Of course there are legitimate excuses not to take the cart back — sometimes a person is sick or hurt and just wants to get in the car and go. It happens — but not to every blessed person at the store on the same day!
I always walk the cart to where it's supposed to be. I even walk carts into the store when I get out of my car and there's a stray cart perilously close by. I still have a huge dent in my door where some lovely person in Hawaii shoved a car door or a cart into it and then skedaddled. It's just a dent, not missing paint or anything, so I still haven't had it fixed (2 years later). But I think about it every time I see stray carts all over the parking lot. Irritates me.
So, it's the holiday season and I'm ranting. 🙂 But in this season of giving and goodwill toward others, why are people so rude about shopping carts? Why can't they return it? For most of us, there is no excuse.
What bugs you about shopping this time of year? Is the rampant outbreak of homeless carts merely an Alabama phenomenon, or is it happening in your corner of the world too?
Dec 17, 2008 | Celebrations |
Yesterday, I made a snap decision. I decided to throw my hubby a birthday party. Not a big blow-out or extravaganza, just a simple cocktail party with finger food and friends. He's never had a birthday party because the day is so close to Christmas. This year, I hemmed and hawed about having a holiday party. And then it hit me (late, admittedly): why not have a quick and easy get-together for his birthday?
So that's what I did. Before I could change my mind, I sent the invite. So now I'm thinking about party essentials, planning a menu, and worrying about if people can make it on such short notice. But I'm sure it'll work out. Sometimes snap decisions are the best.
What kind of snap decisions have you made? How did it turn out?
Dec 16, 2008 | General, Holidays |
Today, it's off to see my stylist for highlights and a trim, then off to do a little bit of last minute shopping, and then perhaps a trip to the antique store (I hear my hubby scream).
Nothing new or interesting to report. We watched more holiday fare on the movie screen last night. Very fun. A CHRISTMAS STORY, which I love. How about these favorite lines:
“Dadgummit, blob!”
“Ohhhh, fuuuuudge.” Only I didn't say “Fudge.” I said THE word, the big one, the queen-mother of dirty words, the “F-dash-dash-dash” word!
“Naddafinga!”
Only one thing in the world could've dragged me away from the soft glow of electric sex gleaming in the window.
In the heat of battle my father wove a tapestry of obscenities that as far as we know is still hanging in space over Lake Michigan.
I don't ever remember wanting one specific thing so badly that I was obsessed with it like little Ralphie is with that Red Ryder BB gun. Well, maybe a pony. I got one of those when I was six, but I don't remember it being for Christmas. I remember I wanted a black pony; I got a red pony with a blond mane and tail. And she wasn't nearly as cooperative as my imaginary pony, that's for sure!
What was your best gift ever? Did you ever obsess about something like Ralphie does in the movie? If you got it, was it every thing you'd dreamed?
Dec 15, 2008 | Diet, General, Life |
It was a busy weekend. I don't know where the time went, but it flew. Things I've realized:
1. I need to stick to a diet. I feel like cheeseburger cat.
2. I need to reacquaint myself with the treadmill. And the weight bench.
3. I need to paint my house. Went on a holiday tour of homes in the historic district and came away feeling like my house is crap. Crap, I say.
4. I need more than paint, but at least it's a start. Tired of builder paint on my walls.
5. Ate a Whopper. Still don't like Burger King all that much. Or many fast food burger joints, in fact. (Though this burger place we went to in San Fran was pretty good! I was surprised.)
6. Never let a store employee get the best of you when it's your money. Got my $30 additional discount by threatening to bring the whole darn thing back.
7. I love my RWA chapter. And my friends there. I don't feel like an outsider, like I did nearly 2 years ago when I first arrived in this state.
8. I have the coolest job in the world.
9. My hubby cracks me up. It takes some doing, since I know him pretty well, but he's still funny when he's just being him.
10. Thank heavens for Spanx!!
Dec 11, 2008 | Holidays |
Hubby and I don't have children, so we aren't tied to a certain set of holiday traditions. Ours have morphed over the years, that's for sure. But one thing we seem to always need to do is watch Christmas Vacation. I'm not sure how that one evolved, but it's become necessary each holiday season.
So, last night, we popped it into the DVD player and watched it on the big screen. Yes, it's certainly unrealistic in its over-the-top depictions of Christmas craziness. And it's dated with the 80s era clothes and hair (especially on Julia Louis-Dreyfus's character). But I think the movie says something about the holiday experience that's universal.
Don't we all have these huge expectations, like Clark Griswold, that never quite get fulfilled? I know what my friend Mark would say about that, but he's a priest. 🙂 (I still think it's possible to be somehow disappointed with the hype and expectations of the holiday as a regular churchgoer, but that's a different topic.) It's possible to build the seasonal expectations up so much that nothing quite fulfills the vision you may have had for it.
But back to the movie. 🙂 Hubby and I have even incorporated some of the lines into our lexicon. Driving to Florida, for example, we get behind a slow poke and Hubby says, “I'm gonna get around this egg timer.” Then there's the famous, “Eat my road grit, liver lips!”
We even say to each other sometimes, jokingly of course, “Don't piss me off, Art.” And who can see a squirrel without yelling, “Squirrrrreeeellllll!”?
So that's one of our traditions, quite by accident. We watch other movies too, and of course we tend to quote lines from A Christmas Story as well. We don't always get around to that one every year, but this year we will. I want to watch it on Hubby's movie theater screen.
We don't always have a tree (for various reasons), but we do this year. No traditions when it comes to decorating. My mom used to fix hot chocolate and we'd decorate with Christmas music on. Hubby and I listened to an audiobook (his choice) and drank wine (no, the decorations aren't crooked). I don't bake for the holidays, and we don't usually have any parties at our home.
Nope, watching Chevy Chase go overboard seems to be the most enduring tradition we have.
What are some of your traditions? Doesn't have to be television or movies. Do you bake? Sing certain songs or do something special each year? Have a big party?
