by Joyce
For some reason, I'm having a hard time getting motivated to get ready for Christmas. I ordered a few things online, but I've been putting off hitting the stores. For most of the past month I worked on a revision for my agent (I sent it to her on Friday) and this week I'm getting caught up on all the cleaning that I put off. I even washed down the kitchen walls and cabinets (I like to do that twice a year. Sick, I know).
But shopping? I just don't want to do it. You'd think with only three people to buy for I could finish it in one trip. Here's what will happen, though. I'll print my list, and head out. I'll hit Target, Kohl's, Sears, and if I'm really desperate--Walmart. I'll maybe get a few things, but decide I don't like the prices of most things, go home and hope they go on sale next week. Rinse, lather, repeat. Before I know it, it's a few days before Christmas, the damn things never go on sale and I have to buy them anyway.
I think I just came up with my own solution. Okay. Maybe I'll get the shopping done today. I'll report back later. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears.
Showing posts with label shopping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shopping. Show all posts
Thursday, December 08, 2011
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Appliance Wars
By Annette Dashofy
My house has a serious case of “bah humbug.” Just in time for Black Friday and the season of joy and shopping, when we are all beckoned to rush to the stores and spend money we don’t have on gifts for everyone we know and love, everything in my house is conspiring to empty my bank accounts before the first gift has been purchased.
My TV is trying to die. Basically, it’s on life support. I turn it on, it shuts off. I turn it back on, it shuts off. This goes on sometimes six or seven times. Sometimes I decide I didn’t really want to watch TV anyway. Hubby is more inclined to play this game than am I.
This is all because I spent the money a couple of months ago to buy a digital converter box. I should have put that money toward a new television. But at the time, there was nothing wrong with it.
A week ago, my vacuum cleaner’s carpet attachment went POOF, accompanied with an acrid odor. The machine is at least twenty years old and has been rebuilt twice, so there is no shame in its death. However, Handy Hubby tinkered with it and fixed it. For now. I may squeeze a few more weeks or months out of it or maybe even longer. Okay, that one didn’t cost me any money. Yet.
Neither did my car. Two lights on my dashboard have been teasing me for more than a month. On one moment, off the next. But I decided winter is not the time of year to tempt fate. I took it to the dealer before the car quit. And before my warranty ran out. The problem was diagnosed and repaired at no cost. I love my Saturn.
Monday night, I discovered a pool of water in a container under my sink. The drain had pulled apart leaving a mucky mess. Handy Hubby to the rescue again. Some new pieces have been purchased and the white plastic pipes have been slapped together with glue and a little duct tape.
Hubby does not guarantee his work, so the repairs may hold or they may not. Time will tell.
Other small appliances have died recently. Others are limping along. Burnt toast anyone?
All of this has led me to consider the lifespan of electronic and mechanical devices around my house. We’ve been here for almost 26 years and are on the third refrigerator, the fourth or fifth TV (soon to be sixth), second (and third, if you count the laptop) computer, second stand mixer, second furnace, and third hot water heater, and fourth washer and dryer. I can’t count how many toasters and Hot Shot beverage maker thingies we’ve gone through.
What truly amazes me are the two gadgets that are original equipment. My Roper range was a new purchase when we got married (as opposed to the variety of second hand appliances we mooched to save money). That Roper range is one fine piece of equipment. All four burners work and I’ve only had to replace one of the oven’s heating elements in all this time.
And my little Kenmore microwave, a Christmas gift shortly after our wedding, is still heating leftovers and popping popcorn like a champ.
I can hear the jokes now. No, the stove and microwave are not still running because I never use them. I cook. A lot. And I microwave a lot.
So what makes some products last forever and others barely make it ten minutes past the expiration of the 90 day warranty?
And what I really want to know is why they all quit in the same month…the month when I’m trying to use my money for Christmas gifts instead of household stuff?
Maybe it’s a scheme to fuel the economy.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
My house has a serious case of “bah humbug.” Just in time for Black Friday and the season of joy and shopping, when we are all beckoned to rush to the stores and spend money we don’t have on gifts for everyone we know and love, everything in my house is conspiring to empty my bank accounts before the first gift has been purchased.
My TV is trying to die. Basically, it’s on life support. I turn it on, it shuts off. I turn it back on, it shuts off. This goes on sometimes six or seven times. Sometimes I decide I didn’t really want to watch TV anyway. Hubby is more inclined to play this game than am I.
This is all because I spent the money a couple of months ago to buy a digital converter box. I should have put that money toward a new television. But at the time, there was nothing wrong with it.
A week ago, my vacuum cleaner’s carpet attachment went POOF, accompanied with an acrid odor. The machine is at least twenty years old and has been rebuilt twice, so there is no shame in its death. However, Handy Hubby tinkered with it and fixed it. For now. I may squeeze a few more weeks or months out of it or maybe even longer. Okay, that one didn’t cost me any money. Yet.
Neither did my car. Two lights on my dashboard have been teasing me for more than a month. On one moment, off the next. But I decided winter is not the time of year to tempt fate. I took it to the dealer before the car quit. And before my warranty ran out. The problem was diagnosed and repaired at no cost. I love my Saturn.
Monday night, I discovered a pool of water in a container under my sink. The drain had pulled apart leaving a mucky mess. Handy Hubby to the rescue again. Some new pieces have been purchased and the white plastic pipes have been slapped together with glue and a little duct tape.
Hubby does not guarantee his work, so the repairs may hold or they may not. Time will tell.
Other small appliances have died recently. Others are limping along. Burnt toast anyone?
All of this has led me to consider the lifespan of electronic and mechanical devices around my house. We’ve been here for almost 26 years and are on the third refrigerator, the fourth or fifth TV (soon to be sixth), second (and third, if you count the laptop) computer, second stand mixer, second furnace, and third hot water heater, and fourth washer and dryer. I can’t count how many toasters and Hot Shot beverage maker thingies we’ve gone through.
What truly amazes me are the two gadgets that are original equipment. My Roper range was a new purchase when we got married (as opposed to the variety of second hand appliances we mooched to save money). That Roper range is one fine piece of equipment. All four burners work and I’ve only had to replace one of the oven’s heating elements in all this time.
And my little Kenmore microwave, a Christmas gift shortly after our wedding, is still heating leftovers and popping popcorn like a champ.
I can hear the jokes now. No, the stove and microwave are not still running because I never use them. I cook. A lot. And I microwave a lot.
So what makes some products last forever and others barely make it ten minutes past the expiration of the 90 day warranty?
And what I really want to know is why they all quit in the same month…the month when I’m trying to use my money for Christmas gifts instead of household stuff?
Maybe it’s a scheme to fuel the economy.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Monday, July 14, 2008
A Modern Day Ghost Town
by Annette Dashofy
I grew up in the Age of Malls. I remember when South Hills Village was a big deal. A shopping Mecca. And then the Washington Mall opened. A shopper’s paradise close to home. The place proved so popular that a few years later, they had to add on.
As a teen, I hung out at the Washington Mall. We went to movies there. J.C. Penney was my favorite department store. I shopped for groceries at the Giant Eagle, first at one end of the mall, and then, after the expansion, at the other end. One of my earliest jobs was working at the Wonday Photo Center where I took in film for processing (pre digital by a couple decades) and sold cameras and darkroom equipment.
A few years back, the owner decided malls were a thing of the past and made plans to bulldoze the Washington Mall and replace it with a strip mall. One by the one, the tenants left. Then, with only a handful remaining, plans changed. The strip mall plan was nixed. But by then, it was too late. The tenants who had left had already found new locations. Those who remained were a tad miffed by management jerking them around, so they moved out, too.
J.C. Penney remained for a time. However, the lure of a new strip mall just down the road called to them. The Foundry, as the planned shopping center was dubbed, would continue the growth already happening in two other adjacent plazas.
Without J.C. Penney, the Washington Mall virtually died. It still houses Rite Aid at one end and JoAnn Fabric at the other, but in between, vacant store fronts flank empty hallways. In the winter, there is no heat. In the summer, no air conditioning offers relief.
Where the aroma of hot dogs and nachos once wafted through the corridors, only a stale, musty stench remains. Instead of the chatter and laughter of shoppers and their families, silence echoes throughout. A small handful of “mall walkers” do their laps for exercise without needing to dodge crowds.
It’s spooky. I spent a large part of my youth there. I shopped, dined, and met friends there. Now it resembles nothing quite as much as a modern day ghost town.
The new J.C. Penney in the Foundry closed a few weeks ago. The other stores in the strip mall had closed a week or so earlier.
When the developer started building the new shopping center, they had a valley to work with. They brought in fill and created a hillside. They built a spectacular wall, one of the largest in the state, to hold the hill in place. They rushed to put up buildings for their new tenants.
What they did NOT do was give the new manmade hillside time to settle. But, of course, it settled anyway. And as it settled, the earth beneath the Foundry shops dropped. When I was there last winter, I’d noticed cracked cement and small sink holes in the parking lot. Apparently, they were only a precursor.
So thanks to the stupidity and greed of developers trying to build more stores to make more money selling stuff to the citizens of Washington County, we now have two largely vacant properties within a mile of each other.
Oddly, the old Washington Mall appears to be in much better condition than the spanking new (sinking) Foundry shops.
And there is talk that J.C. Penney MAY move back into their old space in the Mall.
Display cases sit empty, ready to be filled once again with jewelry and perfume and cosmetics.
I guess I just want someone to explain to me why newer is better. And why build more and more storefronts when the economy can’t support the retail establishments we already have? Somehow I doubt that this is a phenomena isolated to Washington County, Pennsylvania. Tell me…what’s happening in your area? Are the stores all filled and prospering? Or are boarded up windows turning other shopping centers into ghost towns, too?
And does anyone else smell a fantastic location for a murder mystery here?
I grew up in the Age of Malls. I remember when South Hills Village was a big deal. A shopping Mecca. And then the Washington Mall opened. A shopper’s paradise close to home. The place proved so popular that a few years later, they had to add on.
As a teen, I hung out at the Washington Mall. We went to movies there. J.C. Penney was my favorite department store. I shopped for groceries at the Giant Eagle, first at one end of the mall, and then, after the expansion, at the other end. One of my earliest jobs was working at the Wonday Photo Center where I took in film for processing (pre digital by a couple decades) and sold cameras and darkroom equipment.
A few years back, the owner decided malls were a thing of the past and made plans to bulldoze the Washington Mall and replace it with a strip mall. One by the one, the tenants left. Then, with only a handful remaining, plans changed. The strip mall plan was nixed. But by then, it was too late. The tenants who had left had already found new locations. Those who remained were a tad miffed by management jerking them around, so they moved out, too.
J.C. Penney remained for a time. However, the lure of a new strip mall just down the road called to them. The Foundry, as the planned shopping center was dubbed, would continue the growth already happening in two other adjacent plazas.
Without J.C. Penney, the Washington Mall virtually died. It still houses Rite Aid at one end and JoAnn Fabric at the other, but in between, vacant store fronts flank empty hallways. In the winter, there is no heat. In the summer, no air conditioning offers relief.
Where the aroma of hot dogs and nachos once wafted through the corridors, only a stale, musty stench remains. Instead of the chatter and laughter of shoppers and their families, silence echoes throughout. A small handful of “mall walkers” do their laps for exercise without needing to dodge crowds.
It’s spooky. I spent a large part of my youth there. I shopped, dined, and met friends there. Now it resembles nothing quite as much as a modern day ghost town.
The new J.C. Penney in the Foundry closed a few weeks ago. The other stores in the strip mall had closed a week or so earlier.
When the developer started building the new shopping center, they had a valley to work with. They brought in fill and created a hillside. They built a spectacular wall, one of the largest in the state, to hold the hill in place. They rushed to put up buildings for their new tenants.
What they did NOT do was give the new manmade hillside time to settle. But, of course, it settled anyway. And as it settled, the earth beneath the Foundry shops dropped. When I was there last winter, I’d noticed cracked cement and small sink holes in the parking lot. Apparently, they were only a precursor.
So thanks to the stupidity and greed of developers trying to build more stores to make more money selling stuff to the citizens of Washington County, we now have two largely vacant properties within a mile of each other.
Oddly, the old Washington Mall appears to be in much better condition than the spanking new (sinking) Foundry shops.
And there is talk that J.C. Penney MAY move back into their old space in the Mall.
Display cases sit empty, ready to be filled once again with jewelry and perfume and cosmetics.
I guess I just want someone to explain to me why newer is better. And why build more and more storefronts when the economy can’t support the retail establishments we already have? Somehow I doubt that this is a phenomena isolated to Washington County, Pennsylvania. Tell me…what’s happening in your area? Are the stores all filled and prospering? Or are boarded up windows turning other shopping centers into ghost towns, too?
And does anyone else smell a fantastic location for a murder mystery here?
Monday, December 24, 2007
THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS
by Gina
'Twas the day before Christmas
And all through the town
The last minute shoppers
Laid their money down.
"What more can we buy now?"
I hear them all wail,
"The malls are all closing
There's nothing on sale!
"And even Giant Eagle
With gift cards galore
Is out of fruit baskets --
They're locking the door.
"Quick, rummage through closets,
Through each drawer and chest,
To find last year's presents
And re-gift the best!"
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
'Twas the day before Christmas
And all through the town
The last minute shoppers
Laid their money down.
"What more can we buy now?"
I hear them all wail,
"The malls are all closing
There's nothing on sale!
"And even Giant Eagle
With gift cards galore
Is out of fruit baskets --
They're locking the door.
"Quick, rummage through closets,
Through each drawer and chest,
To find last year's presents
And re-gift the best!"
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Turkey Wednesday
by Annette Dashofy
I desperately need to update my will and make sure my life insurance is paid. I fear my life may be in danger. I am marching into battle with a mass of humanity who has no compassion for my needs or my safety. I will be in peril of being trampled, assaulted, and maimed.
You see, later today, I will be heading to the grocery store on this day before Thanksgiving.
Little is written of this horrible crush of shoppers as “black Friday” tends to overshadow “turkey Wednesday.” However, I have no intention of going near a store on Friday, so that causes me little concern. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t be caught dead near the Giant Eagle today, either, but due to the craziness of the week just past and a bit of short-sightedness on my part, I failed to pick up the ingredients for my contribution to the family dinner. And while there will be plenty of food there, as a vegetarian, I have fewer options to chose from. So I’d better make sure I take a filling dish that’s safe for me to eat or I may be stuck with cookies.
Hmm. Cookies may not be so bad.
But, no, I will shake off my trepidation, take a deep breath, and plunge into the hordes of impatient, harried (and hurried) shoppers.
At least I can avoid the turkey aisle. You need a police escort to approach THAT refrigerator case!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
I desperately need to update my will and make sure my life insurance is paid. I fear my life may be in danger. I am marching into battle with a mass of humanity who has no compassion for my needs or my safety. I will be in peril of being trampled, assaulted, and maimed.
You see, later today, I will be heading to the grocery store on this day before Thanksgiving.
Little is written of this horrible crush of shoppers as “black Friday” tends to overshadow “turkey Wednesday.” However, I have no intention of going near a store on Friday, so that causes me little concern. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t be caught dead near the Giant Eagle today, either, but due to the craziness of the week just past and a bit of short-sightedness on my part, I failed to pick up the ingredients for my contribution to the family dinner. And while there will be plenty of food there, as a vegetarian, I have fewer options to chose from. So I’d better make sure I take a filling dish that’s safe for me to eat or I may be stuck with cookies.
Hmm. Cookies may not be so bad.
But, no, I will shake off my trepidation, take a deep breath, and plunge into the hordes of impatient, harried (and hurried) shoppers.
At least I can avoid the turkey aisle. You need a police escort to approach THAT refrigerator case!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
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