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It time of year again. No, not Halloween (although that is coming 🙂
No, I mean it’s the semi-annual Drug Take Back Day this Saturday. Despite the shutdown, it looks like it’s still on the books to take place. So, get all your outdated RX bottles, check out your local participating drop-off, and get it all taken care of.
Then get ready for Halloween!
It’s finally fall y’all! Normally, this would fill me with delight. It’s pumpkin time, mixed with some hot chocolate, and caramel apples filling in any of the gaps. Fun, fun, fun! If, you can afford it all that is 😣. The economy right now sucks. So, what can you still do? Well. It’s time to see the light.
Actually, that should be several thousand lights.
Ready or not, the holiday season is officially upon us! However, we must not forget that along with all that hustling and bustling, there’s also the decorations. Several households have been getting set up since last weekend.
That means you can do what I did last night, and take a spin around the neighborhood to see what’s-what. Best of all…its all free!
The haunted houses, mickey arches, and fever dream recreations are all waiting for you to drive by and check them out. So far, only the die hard yard decorators have shown up, but there is always more that will join them in the coming weeks. To think, these areonly the Halloween decorations so far.
Good news for us, because it gives us an excuse to do it all again, and again this n the coming months.
What would an ideal week look like? Well, let’s start off with it probably including enough money to feel comfortable.
Yeah, yeah. I know “money can’t buy buy happinesses.” To that I say, poverty can’t stave off depression either.
I’m not implying that you have to be rich, but being financially set, to the point that you don’t have to be constantly worrying matters. Once you’ve squared away the financial issues, you’re free to really relax and enjoy whatever you want. For example, spending the entire week avoiding your job. I know, the irony is not lost on me.
My itinerary? Let’s just say there’d be a lot of naps.
The most expensive waste of time, for me, was a fish dinner at a work event. We were at a combination training/awards/staff appreciation event. It was supposed to be low key, but was held at a location that didn’t even offer parking under $20 (remember this was a some time ago, so $20 then would be like $40 parking today).
So there we were, all dressed up for this “Fancy’s party, and they serve us the worst piece of fish I’ve ever seen. From a friend I learned that the company had paid about $45 a plate for each of us. I still don’t know what for.
Making it worse, they never even tried to follow up to see how we all liked it. Spoiler alert, we didn’t! They never listen, so they booked the whole thing again for the next year.
Seriously, there are currently 5 fires going on within a two hour drive of my location right now. The fact that I can’t see the fires, nor actively smell the smoke is irrelevant. If you, or anyone in your household, has allergies, sinus issues, or asthma, then you know what that means…. you’re gonna have some breathing problems. If you’re new to this situation, well then allow me to help get you setup. Say it with me: “Let’s just assume the air is bad.”
Why? Well, you have to, because if your offense sucks, then your defense is going to struggle with the clean up. It may not be fair that I have to take an allergy pill everyday because other people can’t figure out the appropriate amount of cologne to wear, but hey I still have to do it.
It got so bad once that I nearly passed out at a conference because I got trapped behind this guy and his plume of Axe body spray. It’s something I can joke about now, but it wasn’t so funny while it was happening.
Having your airway compromised really sucks even when you’re safe at home, but it’s made astronomically worse when it happens while you’re away. The only real course of action is prevention. Take that allergy pill, or make sure your inhaler is full before you set out for that fireworks show later this week. Let’s face it, the air IS probably going to be bad. Even if your eyes can’t see it, your nose knows.
What are you passionate about? Well, how long do you have? It’s not an exaggeration to say that I’m interested in a whole lot of stuff, nor to add that more than a few of those things even garner “passionate about it” status. However, today I wanted to focus in on a particular, one might even say lighthearted, passion of mine, funnel cake.
Now, if you’re looking at those last words and scratching your head, just hang on a minute and I’ll explain. I like funnel cake, and no you didn’t read that wrong. I don’t love it, I like it. The real passion I guess, is more about what has recently become a hunt for said funnel cakes. For you see, where I live funnel cake has been rather hard to find, elusive even.
Please don’t start commenting on how easy it is to make one, nor how it’s super easy to find where you are. Neither of those things are particularly helpful in my quest.
It used to be easy to get here too, until a crepe craze seems to have wiped it off the map. True I could probably find it in a big theme park, but who has that kind of money to spend on funnel cake? If the ticket price didn’t get you, the $15 (if not higher) cost of the snack would.
I’m not even looking for anything super fancy, just the basic swirly shape, dusted with powdered sugar. Still, it’s no where to be found. True, some fast food places now offer funnel fries, but it’s not quite the same.
So, for now, the hunt goes on. Anyone have any helpful suggestions? Just where has all the funnel cake gone?
Eggs are once again hitting $9-12 a dozen in some parts of the country. It’s mostly down to bird flu, but regardless, shelves are either empty, or only stocked because few can afford what is left. Cheaper eggs do tend to fly off the shelf first, after all. So, of course, people are once again talking about getting chickens. Therefore, I have to do nice again write a post ask you not to do that very thing.
Awhile ago I wrote a piece on the reasons not to indulge this whim, but today I’m going to add one more, heartbreaking, reason to hold off – which is loosing a pet hurts.
Anyone who’s ever lost a pet before will agree that’s true, but allow me to explain the relevance to the point at hand. 1.Simply put, avian influenza is highly contagious between bird species. 2. If the, outbreaks continue the way they have, then soon authorities will have to step up their monitoring of backyard flocks too (right now the focus seems to still be mainly on big commercial/poultry farms). 3. If they find that even one of your birds is sick, then they’ll kill the entire bunch…and there’s really nothing you’ll be able to do to stop them.
Having experienced owning chickens during a Newcastle outbreak, I can tell you from firsthand experience how nerve-racking it is to have the outbreak team show up to your house.
These birds will most likely become pets for you. You’ll care for them on a daily basis, do your best to keep them safe, and then potentially have to stand by while someone kills the.
Chickens fall under the same type of rules that other farm animals do. Culling family cats and dogs would cause riots in the streets, but we’ve recently seen over 100,000+ chickens killed, with barely a grumble of complaint from the masses. Why, because it’s being done to contain a disease threatening the stability of the nation’s food supply. Lofty words, but they won’t be much comfort as you watch them shoving your beloved, dead pet chicken into a garbage bag.
Unless you’re going to completely isolate your birds in the basement of your home, never allowing them to see the light of day, then you aren’t going to be able to completely protect them from this thing. Wild birds could land in your yard to eat, and manage to spread it through their saliva. Heck, they could just poop while flying over head, and it can still contaminate the entire flock. You, yourself, might even accidentally introduce the disease by tracking it into your yard, on your shoes.
All of this can be avoided by simply not getting chickens in the first place. Please think it through!
This probably won’t come as a shock to anyone, but prices on most things today are still really high. Sure, a few items have come down a bit, but several others continue to go up, or suffer from shrinkflation. Many of us are constantly on the lookout for ways to save. So, once again various articles, YouTube clips, and memes have popped up to help. Most of the suggestions are tried and true, such as make a list before shopping, check multiple store ads before buying, or stock up when something’s on sale. All are good pieces of advice, but one other suggestion might need to be rethought, which is “do your shopping online.”
The convenience factor of shopping online is definitely a plus, so why would you ever need to flip the script on this shopping habit? Well, sadly, it’s because shopping this way might be costly you money.
First, let me clarify that I’m not advocating getting rid of online shopping. It is convenient, can be timesaving, and often helps with matching up price saving options, with products I’m buying. However, despite all of this, you might also be paying more for some items than you would if you shopped in store. Sorry me items are actually going down in price, but you can only see it if you physically walk into a brick and mortar location. For example, I recently visited a local Target, and saw that the pack of napkins I usually get had dropped in price. Great! I didn’t really need any right then, but I was happy to see that the price was reduced (Not: reduced, as in not on sale or clearance.). However, when I tried to buy it online a week later, I saw it was still listed at the higher price. In order to get the cheaper price, I had to go into the store.
Why, you might be wondering? Well, there could be a couple of reasons. First they didn’t update the website, or second, this was a reduction for that geographic location only (and web prices can tend to be less city specific in the same way). Either way, it remains true that I have to physically shop in store in order to pay less for this item.
What options are you left with then? I’d say they flipping the script we will help, but you’re probably going to need a hybrid approach, which will require you to be more actively engaged in your shopping choices. Occasionally, visit a couple of your local stores, and compare prices (sadly, most retailers these days are usually some sort of dynamic pricing, so there will be differences even between two local targets or Walmarts). Then see how prices online look. Find your acceptable balance between the two, and make your buying choices. Then, be ready to do it all over again next month. 😕
It’s that time of year, when city and suburban streets alike are aglow from the many strings of Christmas lights strung everywhere. Add to that the lights from the displays and inflatables, and well, you can just imagine the electric bills. However, as familiar as this scene might sound, this year there’s a twist, as some of those pretty lights are now only being hung in the backyards.
Yep, you heard me, the backyards. Now, to be fair, this isn’t a brand new phenomenon. There has always been the rare house in the past that did this. Usually, it was because someone was sick, and couldn’t go outside. So, the lights were set up in the backyard, facing the house so that the sick person could better enjoy them. The other reason might have more to do with finding a loophole in the HOA rules. Neither reason seems to explain what is going on this year though.
Along with the typical well decorated streets, there will be the odd house out, sporting all the decorations in the backyard. So, nope to the HOA hack reason. In at least a couple of instances I’ve been familiar with the families in question, and no sick person resides there either. So, why is this happening.
In general, Christmas lights are displayed for a couple of reasons.
It’s confusing to say the least. Is it reflective of these isolating times we live in? Have we come to a point where even sharing the light from our lawn ornaments is considered to be too much of a violation of our personal space? What does such changes ultimately say about us?
Welcome to Thanksgiving weekend. Now I know we’re all exhausted at this point, and you probably still have a ton to do. Therefore, I’m going to keep this short.
Whatever you’ve already bought, take a breath, and then reevaluate your choices. Once you’re done, get ready to take it back. Really consider what you’ve done, and why. Even if they asked for those toys, do they really need all of them at once? Could they maybe wait till their birthday for a few of them; or maybe simply do without the entire list being filled, almost as if they’d placed an Amazon order?
Make these decisions now, because getting rid of this stuff later will be so much harder. Trust that you’re wallet, and bank account will thank you later.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.
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