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Supporting the Economy. Or Not?

The ever loyal Hubby and I have been out and about lately negotiating over Christmas presents, window shopping and doing various and sundry errands. What has gotten my attention is the fact that in every single store except Wally World we shoppers have been vastly outnumbered by sales staff. This is despite predictions of lower staff hiring by retail chains in order to help boost the bottom line.

The other puzzler is the supposed 3% jump in retail sales on Black Friday. Hubby and I were out and around the evening of Black Friday, and the parking lot of the shopping center where we went was practically empty. Again, the stores we went into had plenty of staff, but almost no foot traffic. We haven't gone to the regional shopping mecca, locally known as Tysons Corner, & don't plan to anytime soon, but I wonder if the trend held there as well. The older kids, College Student and Anime Queen, wandered around our local mall & saw lots of people, but few of them had shopping bags. Hmm...

Which is it- Americans are finally putting away their credit cards one holiday season, having been temporarily frightened into spending less? Or are we carrying on business as usual, albeit more 'carefully'?





Images found on wikimedia and are of Tysons Corner and Tysons Galleria

Old Bessie retires

The Husband swears this is the cheapskate sales coup of the year, bar none. Since it's only January 4th I'm not so sure but it's likely he's right. This whole episode would never have happened except for my intense dislike of bugs inside my house. Outside- no problem. In the house? The stuff of nightmares. A series of bad incidents while I was pregnant with Pianist cemented the bug-Bookwormom relationship into one of a very tense detente as long as the bugs remain where they belong. Outside.

So there we were. In the kitchen listening to BBC Outlook on the radio & preparing to make dinner. Lift up the glass cutting board. Discover three, not one or two, but THREE bugs under there. Picnicing on leftover Thomas' English Muffin crumbs from this morning's breakfast. Screech a little and dance around the kitchen with the cutting board (likely the closest I'll ever get to a formal ballroom, lol). Discover we're all out of bug killing spray. And yes I know that pesticide in the kitchen is not such a good idea. TOO BAD. The only good bug is a dead one. After a few moments to calm myself I announce to the family that after dinner I'll be driving up to Lowe's in search of a new bug killing arsenal. Husband decides to keep me company, probably to try and convince me I really don't need one of every type of pesticide in the place.

Once we're in Lowe's we pick up a couple of things on our list. I bend down to look at some mildewcide spray cleaners (our bathroom is a pit of dampness no matter what I've tried) on the bottom shelf of the cleaning aisle. Straighten up to discover Husband has disappeared. In 5 seconds flat. Into the vast ocean of empty space that is Lowe's at 9:15 pm. I wander for a moment and then discover him in the appliance area. Luckily for us no salesmen in sight. Today is the first day of their clearance sale. There are quite a few scratch and dent and repaired appliances marked for quick sale.

Now- as my immediate familty knows I've been in desperate need of a new clothes washer for a year now. However, with Graduate starting college and increased car insurance and whatnot we've patched and prayed over our old machine all year. It's only thirteen. Poor old Whirlpool- it's moved a bunch of times and seen us through three kids and two dogs. Old Bessie deserves a rest, but like loyal servants everywhere *Eye roll* she can be coaxed into limping along until the Mistress fianlly has mercy and allows her a well deserved rest.

Husband is standing beside a brand new refused special order clothes washer marked at $50. Yes children. 33.95 Euros; 25.27 Pounds Sterling; 49.65 Canadian Dollars. To buy a new bottom of the line clothes washer. Simply because the original customer refused purchase. There are no bells or whistles (or many choices at all for that matter) but it's new to us and will allow us to get by until I've squirreled away enough to buy the washer I really want. Poor old Bessie Whirlpool can now retire with dignity knowing she held on as long as any self respecting clothes washer could.

Tomorrow our newest family member will come home and take pride of place in the kitchen beside Baxter Whirlpool, Bessie's partner. Who seems fine if a bit banged up. He'll look lonely and forlorn and old beside his new partner. Hopefully they'll settle in together nicely and rub along well until Baxter can join Bessie in retirement.

New Discovery

If you go to Maili's her header had a white kitty wearing a fruit cut up in the shape of a helmet on its head. Turns out an astute reader told us it is a fruit called a pummelo.

While out shopping Black Friday I happened to stop in my favorite Asian/Latino grocer. Lo and behold, they had a big display of pummelos. I remembered Maili's photo and bought one. For curiosity's sake it was 20" in circumference and weighed 2 pounds 12 ounces and was a uniform medium lime green. After peeling the extremely thick rind, nearly an inch in places, it proved to be a giant green replica of red grapefruit.

Very yummy & a wonderful breakfast. Most likely excellent cut in half and baked with honey drizzled all over (my favorite way to eat a grapefruit).