Ugh. Ugh and double UGH while shopping at Giant

Good Morning and, yes, it's still summer!

Last Tuesday afternoon, I ran out of jelly.
Now, obviously, it's not that big of a problem. Still, the brood wouldn't eat their lunch unless there was some jelly to go along with the peanut butter. So, I hopped in the car and drove to the Giant in Havertown.
It's the same store I always shop. I mean, I refuse to go to 3 different stores just to get potato chips a few cents cheaper.
Anyway, while doing the self checkout, a worker was taping up some fall leaves on the nearby pole.
"Really," I said.
"We were told to do this by our regional manager," she said. "I don't want to, but it somehow fell to me."
Hey, at least I know the workers don't always buy into the corporate, uh, bull.
An aside to that manger: We don't want to see fall decorations until, get this, THE FALL.
I became further confused when I went to the beer store and saw a set up for Pumpkin (ie: Fall) beers.
What's next, Christmas decorations in July?
Wait, what?

What kind of sale?

Good Morning and let's enjoy the summer!

I was listening to the radio yesterday and a chain store (which should stay nameless) was advertising a pre-Back to School sale.
Huh?
It's not even the Fourth of July yet. I'm the first to celebrate the first day of school, but, come on, you have to enjoy the summer a little bit.
I understand some people like to get things done early. I know a person who gets all her Christmas shopping done for the next year by the end of January.
OK, that's a little nuts, but whatever.
Just don't shove it in my face. I don't want to hear the S word (School), until the end of July.
Of course, that's when we'll start seeing the Halloween stores pop up.

Mall walking

Good Morning and I'm not going to complain about the rain!

Much like a lot of people (apparently since the roads were packed), we were getting a bit stir crazy Saturday.
It was raining, but the last thing any of us wanted to do was sit around the house. OK, maybe that's an exaggeration. If I told the boys we were just going to sit around the house, they'd be more than happy to fill the time playing video games.
So, in part because we hadn't been there for awhile and in part because it's big, we headed out to the King of Prussia mall.
We parked at the far end and started walking. We walked the whole thing, stopped in a few stores and listened to complaints.
The goal was to get in some exercise without it actually feeling like exercise. We walked at a decent pace and a couple of hours later were heading back into the van with sore legs.
It wasn't until I got home and checked the stats when I was surprised.
According to the walking thing, we had gone five miles. That's right, five miles.
Well, I won't be making fun of those mall walking clubs anymore.

Great, now get out of the aisle

Good Morning and how about that winter!

So, I don't mind doing my food shopping. Sometimes, it's fun to walk down the aisles and check things out.
It's just that I don't understand people.
Case in point: Last Thursday evening, I was in the Giant in Havertown. I had my cart and my list.
Now, the store wasn't packed with people, but there were enough around.
In aisle 4, somebody left their cart in the middle while they checked out the chips. I enjoy looking for new things as much as the next person, but, come on, you have to leave the cart in the middle of the aisle? You couldn't move it off to the side? It was too much work?
Two aisles later, a couple of customers who hadn't seen each other in a day or so (my guess) decided it was a good time to chat while they blocked the way with their carts. It's not like they couldn't move to the end where there was enough room. It's not like they couldn't have put both their carts on one side while they chatted about cats.
No, they had to stand side-by-side.
I said, "Excuse me, I'm trying to get through."
As I squeezed past, I heard one shopper say to another: "Gee, some people are always in a hurry."
I think I'm going to start shopping at 2 in the morning.

People ... AAAAHHH

Good Morning and here we go again!

I hate shopping.
I hate food shopping. I hate birthday shopping. I hate Christmas shopping.
I, well, OK, I kind of like beer shopping, but that's another story.
Anyway, I was reminded how much I hate Christmas shopping last week at the mall.
After taking a ridiculously long time to get there, I found there were hardly any parking spaces. That's good, I thought, must mean the economy is coming back.
So, I went into the mall and quickly wished I didn't have another 15 minute walk to get back to the car.
There were just too many people around. Now, mind you, I really enjoy interacting with people most of the time. I want to hear your stories. I sometimes just start talking in elevators.
This was different, though. It was just people standing around.
What possesses you to stand right in the middle of the walkways to talk to a neighbor you see every day? Why do you walk the opposite way of the crowd? Why do you leave the cart in the middle of the aisle to check out the latest Elmo? Why do you smell?
Geez, no wonder I did mostly everything online.

Rise and Shine --- Focus

Good Morning and welcome back to a whole new week!

Until last Christmas, I had never heard of a toy called Beyblades.
Actually, my Mom was looking for a gift for somebody else and asked if I ever heard of Beyblades. I had no clue.
A few months later, though, these tops have taken over the mind of one 9-year old I know.
For the uninitiated, Beyblades are basically tops. You spin them in an arena, where one knocks the other over. The last one spinning is the winner.
Apparently, these are big things in the fourth grade. They 'battle' during recess, trade parts and talk about which are the best.
So, after purchasing two Beyblades last weekend, I thought I was safe this weekend.
No such luck.
"Can we go get a Beyblade?" came the first question at around 7 in the morning.
"What?" I said through a sleepy brain. "First, it's like 7 in the morning. Second, we got two last week. That's enough for now."
"You're not fair," came the retort. Actually, this scenerio played out throughout most of the day.
I finally broke down and said we could go to the store, but wouldn't think about buying one unless it was on sale. Of course, this week they weren't, so no Beyblades.
"You're not fair!!"
I should be grateful, though. At least it gets them off the video game requests.

Rise and Shine --- Trees, lights, ahhhh

Good Morning and welcome to another brilliant morning!

Now, I know I'm behind the eight-ball on this, but I really don't want to see any more Christmas stuff right now.
It all started a few weeks ago when I went into the Home Depot to search for some Halloween lights and could only find reindeers.
Then I noticed every other commercial on TV was pumping up pre-Black Friday sales or Lowest Prices of the Season.
The season? What season is that? Late summer?
Anyway, it all hit this past weekend when we decided to take a trip to King of Prussia. It wasn't so much the piped in holiday songs. It wasn't so much seeing Santa on his couch. It wasn't so much seeing workers at one store being forced to wear elf hats.
No, it was the attitude of many walking through the stores. You would have thought we were sitting a few days before Christmas instead of the beginning of November.
People were buying all the junk in the center of the aisles (do you really know somebody who needs a desk nose-hair trimmer?). They were pushing, wrinkling shirts, knocking things on the ground.
All I could think was, thank goodness for Internet shopping.

Rise and Shine --- Get just one more

Good Morning and welcome to something called 'Cyber Monday!'

That's right, on the heals of all those 'Black Friday' sales comes 'Cyber Monday.' That means today, you can go online and purchase the same junk you "needed" to get last week without having to pitch a tent.
There are certain things I don't get in life (the number seems to increase every day), but one big thing is this propensity to just buy, buy, buy because it's the holidays.
Now, of course, I'm kind of caught in the middle. With three young children, you want them to have an awesome Christmas morning (or afternoon), but you don't want to minimize the gifts you purchase.
Hey, the Nerf dart game looks cool, but the darts will probably be missing an hour after being opened. The tracks for the race set will never really snap together like they should.
So, what do you do? Get something they really want or get a bunch of stuff so Santa doesn't seem like a bad guy.
It's something to figure out over the next couple of weeks.
Anyway, time will decide that one.

In other news, actor Leslie Neilson died yesterday. He went from ultra-serious to funny in a long career.
Here's one of the funniest:

Rise and Shine --- Aahh, another toy ad

Good Morning and welcome to what will have to stand as the middle of the week!

I keep wondering, if it's not winter yet, why does the snowball keep getting bigger. Suddenly, it's November and the end of the year of the year can't come soon enough.
Speaking of November and soon enough, I truly believe there is evil behind these toy companies. No matter where you turn, you see ads with happy children playing with some new car track or doll.
Up until a week ago, I had never heard of LaLa Loopsy. I've now been told the whole story behind the doll and we 'need' to have a couple of them.
A few years ago, we tried something called Moon Sand. It was supposed to be a play-dough type thing that you could mold into sand castles then break them down and make something else. It never dried out. Well, it did dry out, right on the couch and it never came off.
Now, Moon Sand, I hear, is back, but it's been repackaged into some kind of cool, learning experience.
Yeah, whatever.
Is it just me or do these things only appear in the last couple of months of the year? There seems to be all kinds of junk thrown out into the Holiday wind in hopes something will become a seller.
Then again, does anybody know where I can get some Lego Star Wars sets?

Rise and Shine --- Yes, it's started

Good Morning and welcome to a much more pleasant day!

I knew there was going to be trouble a couple of weeks ago. In a last-minute attempt to pick up some eyballs for a Halloween party, I found instead decorated trees.
When I looked down the aisle I had seen the treats just a couple of days before, there were Nutcrackers and chocolate Santas.
It was all I could do to not run out of the store screaming.
Look, I know how retail stores have to extend the holiday season as long as they can. Having worked in a store the last couple of Christmas seasons, I know it is the most important time of the year. (Not a day didn't go past where the manager left a little note above the employee entrance that simply said, "Sell, Sell, Sell").
I know in this economy that isn't quite as good as some would like you to believe, the holidays might make the difference between staying open and boarding up.
Still, I don't want to see it. I used to get laughed at because I didn't want to to do any Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving (although, truth be told, I have a couple of things this year).
Who knows, next year we might be hearing the sleigh bells mixed in with the fireworks July 4th.

Rise and Shine -- Shopping?

Good Morning and who wasn't annoyed by that snow this morning?

When the first calls for big snow come around, the food stores get packed. Everybody fills up the pantry, just in case they can't get out for a week or so.
Most of the time, this is kind of funny. After all, most of our snows last a day, then everybody gets around. You don't really need all those frozen dinners.
Of course, the snow over the last couple of weeks made the run to the supermarket a good idea. We were snowed in. We needed something to eat, especially after shoveling the mess.
When the roads got cleared this past weekend, though, it appears the mall was was the place to be. Anybody who ventured out Sunday found out they weren't alone.
The malls were packed (if anybody was actually buying something, well, that's another story). There were no parking spots to be found. The little stores were wall-to-wall people.
After sitting in the house all those days, it seemed like a good idea. Head over the King of Prussia and move around a bit. If you have children, though, there's one store you need to hit. That's the Lego store.
Sunday, Valentine's Day, there were so many people in the Lego store you couldn't help but bump into somebody. Children couldn't even run around because there was no space. The line stretched out of the store.
All right, five minutes is up, let's move on.
A quick walk out and the promise of chocolate led to the Godiva store. Even though it was a big candy-buying day, Godiva was not nearly as crowded as Lego.
What does that mean? Maybe You Tube has something to do with it:

Rise and Shine --- Crunch time

Good Morning and welcome to the right time to start your holiday shopping!

Doesn't it seem the holiday season comes quicker and quicker every year. Maybe it's just here, but, for some reason, there hasn't been nearly enough time to get everything done this year.
It's time to pull a couple of the college all-nighters. Well, maybe not the same, but how about holiday all-nighters.
Fill up with 'Christmas Cheer,' get out the rolls of funny looking paper, tape, scissors and get to work.
By the way, why do we spend money on wrapping paper? People really don't look at the stuff. Never mind, it looks nice under the tree for about an hour.
Now, I'm sure most out there already have the gifts wrapped, the tree decorated, the house cleaned, the laundry folded (and put away), dinners planned and your children have been going to bed early every night in preparation of Christmas morning.
For the rest of us in the real world, none of that is done (in fact, through a flu-riddled brain, I'm looking at two boxes of Christmas decorations right now).
Somehow, though, we'll pull it all together. It always happens, even if we would like a few more days if only so we could procrastinate a little longer.

Rise and Shine --- Making a run

Good Morning and welcome to the week before Christmas!

Now, the fun begins.
That's right, now is the time to get that holiday shopping done.
Sure, some people probably have it finished by now. Some actually have it finished a year in advance (or at least six months).
Then there are the rest of us. A week to go and it's time to get serious.
Now, we can pinpoint what everybody needs (wants?). Now, we can find the best sales as retailers are trying to make their overinflated sales goals (thanks corporate America!).
Ready. Set. Go.
The last few years, I've waited until Dec. 24th to get it all finished. It might not take as long this year. Then again, with work, school, work, dinner, lunch, breakfast ... man, the day gets filled up quickly. Add in a terrible head cold and the last thought may be of holiday shopping.
Then again, there's nothing like deadline pressure (thanks newspapers). The parties start this weekend, so it's finally time to get it done.
Now, what was I supposed to get for everybody?

Rise and Shine --- Thanksgiving

Good Morning and welcome to the real start of the Holiday season!

Well, actually, that would be Friday when we can start listening to those songs on the radio and think about the winter season.
Up until now, it's only been so much noise. Only after the food's been eaten and the parades are over is it the right time to start thinking about the next month.
There are some people who get all their shopping done by the end of September. For me, that takes the fun out of it all.
If you are buying gifts that early, it shows all you think about is gifts. Forget the people getting those things, just buy, buy, buy.
Here's an idea: One gift each for those who you give gifts. Wait until December 12 at the earliest to make the purchase.
That way, you can focus on the person and not the item.
Just an idea...

Black Friday - watch more funny videos

Rise and Shine --- Too many songs

Good Morning and welcome to the week before the day before Christmas!

Seeing the crowds at the mall this weekend, it appears all that shopping is getting done. Now, it's time for the real shoppers to gear up.
By the way, speaking of malls, that holiday music they play is getting a little out of hand.
I know there is a need to cater the type of music depending on the store or area of the store. For instance, you wouldn't play the Jackson 5 in the lingerie department. Just like you wouldn't play Jay-Z in the jewelry department.
Still, over the weekend, I actually heard a hip-hop version of Gene Autry's 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.' Basically, somebody took the perfectly fine version of the song, added some beats in the background and remixed it to make the song sound like Gene Autry crossed with Chuck-D.
The result was an assault on the ears. Several people were seen running and screaming from the area when the song reached mid-point. Not saying the song sent them running, but, you know, you never know.
Another thing, cut down on the Jackson 5. Yeah, we know they have a Christmas album, but it's the same song over and over again. Besides, it's still kind of creepy to hear Michael Jackson as a child after we know what's happened since.
So, just stick with the classics. They don't bother anybody.


If you have any cool links or photos, send them along to onlinedelco@gmail.com

Rise and Shine --- Winter rambling

Good Morning and welcome to the weekend!

Remember, there's only two weekends left to finish your Christmas shopping. Of course, the auto industry's shopping appears over after this Senate vote.
Speaking of shopping, it amazes me the way some treat things in stores.
I've seen some people actually pick up a sweater, not like the color, and throw it on the floor. These are probably the same ones who complain when they find something they want on the floor as well. How about treating merchandise like you already own it? Wait a minute, maybe they already are. Never mind.
By the way, I remember just a few years ago there seemed to be a Christmas show on television every night. You could always count on a Mickey Rooney Santa Claus to calm down the children and convince them to be good.
This year, though, we are being shown things like the High School Musical Christmas or the Naked Brothers Band Christmas or Jim Carrey's Grinch. In other words, real junk.
Just put on our old stop-motion classics. Rerun The Year Without a Santa Claus, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Jimmy the Crazy Elf, and the like over and over again.
In fact, why doesn't Comcast (the cable gods) just put together a Christmas show channel for the holidays. Get rid of one of the home shopping channels. After all, we are being told nobody is spending money anyway.
Not to ramble, but we can forget about Nostradamus, global warming was predicted years ago:


If you have any cool links or photos, send them along to onlinedelco@gmail.com

Rise and Shine --- 'Tis the season

Good Morning and welcome to the busiest month of the year!

Anybody who doubts that needs to break down their time and see just how busy they actually are. With shopping, wrapping, decorating, oh yeah, and working, there is barely enough time to breath. We keep hearing about how everybody should just take a step back and enjoy the season, but that's not possible.
It's always run, run, run. Then run some more. We have to get it done. We can't disappoint. We needed to be there five minutes ago and we are five minutes away. The traffic is horrible. The lines are worse. Other people are pushy and rude. Sure, they are smiling, but they are also trying to get the last Wii before you see it behind the Barbies. So, don't dare reach for the Barbie.
Was it always this way? Are we so far into our need for material things we can't just relax, enjoy a cup of hot chocolate and tell stories. Did cavemen fight each other for the pretty rock?
Probably. After all, you can't disappoint.
I do know one thing for sure, though. If we are really in a recession like everybody is telling us, you couldn't tell that over the weekend at the mall. The cars were packed in early and they stayed late. The attacked the stores. Threw things on the floor that didn't fit and overwhelmed the checkout counters. There was a lot of money spent this weekend.
So, you know, if you don't have it already, better get out there soon.
Hey, at least you don't live next door to this guy:


If you have any cool links or photos, send them along to onlindelco@gmail.com

Rise and Shine --- Getting good buys

Good Morning and welcome to another wet Tuesday!

All right, since we all need something, how about a game-plan for Black Friday, or the day everybody hits the road and sits in traffic before fighting for a parking space at the mall.
Here's the deal, there are too many people out too early in the morning. Most don't get up on a normal day until around 7 a.m. But on the Friday after Thanksgiving, they are hitting the snooze button at 3 a.m. in order to get that $10 VCR.
Here's the thing, while there are probably some decent buys early in the day, this year stores are going to be trying to get you out the whole season.
Besides, those early-morning buys are mostly junk you wouldn't buy at the Dollar store, but seriously need them on Black Friday. Last week, one store offered a $6 turkey pan. Well, you get what you pay for. Many were soon complaining the non-stick surface was adding some extra flavor (and black spots) to their dinner.
Here's the deal. After eating dinner Thursday, sit down and map out exactly what you need to buy and for who. Then check out which stores have the best buys and focus on those. Better yet, wait a day and forget about the crowds.
By the way, if you are in the children's department at Macy's, just put the stuff back on the hanger. Just because you don't like something, doesn't mean you should throw it on the floor.


If you have any cool links or photos, send them along to onlindelco@gmail.com