Come on down!!!
Mood:  cheeky
Topic: The American Way
I wasn't sure if I wanted to put this post under "Livin' Large At Walmart" or "The American Way". Well you know how I went. ;)

Anyway, when I was a very little girl, there used to be a commercial on TV with this guy wearing a loud Hawaiian shirt and goofy fishing hat, telling everybody how wonderful Florida was. And, he always ended the commercial by saying, "Come on down!" I guess back in those days Florida was desparate for people. Not anymore.

Today I was in Walmart and as I mentioned in a previous post, ours is a Super Walmart, so you can get just about anything there from grass seed, to clothes to food. I noticed several different people with carts piled up with buckets, mops, cleaning supplies, bedding sheets, trash cans, tea kettles, well...you get the picture. These people are definintely not here for vacation. In fact, you can always tell when people first move here, because you always see them pushing carts filled with all sorts of basic household stuff around the Walmart. They wander around, in no particular pattern, mostly because they don't know the store layout, searching for whatever it is they need to set up their new home.

I know this because...a little over a year ago, I was one of them, pushing my cart around, selecting this and that, spending lots of money in order to make my new house "mine". Its different now. I don't have to buy a bunch of cleaning supplies, I only have to replace them when I run out. And I don't have to buy bedding sheets, unless I want new ones, and I have enough garden decorations, so I don't have to buy any of those unless something strikes my fancy. Nowadays, my cart mostly gets filled with pet supplies, people food, and the occasional article of clothing that we may need.

Gone is the excitement, gone is the newness, gone is the exhilleration of thinking that we live in Paradise. Because...I know better now. This isn't Paradise and the only excitement I've had is the constant worry about how to make ends meet. This place has become simply...where we live. A house, in a neighborhood, in a local municipality, just like thousands of others here in the U.S. Its just...home.

Once you live here, you forget about The Mouse, you don't even want to go near the touristy areas if you can help it, because there is simply too much of...TOO MUCH!!!! Eventually you get used to it all, because its part of life, but you never perceive this area as the rose colored vacation mecca that you once did...at least I don't, and others I know who have migrated down here echo my feelings.

As for those Walmart shoppers today...I can only hope that those people pushing those carts around, have had the sense to line up a job already, and aren't thinking that they'll just get one after they settle in. Because it just ain't gonna happen...at least, that's the way of it for a lot of us who move down here first and go job hunting later.

Well, I hate to end this post on a down note, so I will say this...my hope is not gone. I still hope that one day I won't have to do this, to scratch out an existence and live with constant worry and struggle through sleepless nights, only to wake up and stay exhausted all day from doing...nothing.

One day things are going to change. One day maybe I'll feel like Florida really is Paradise and who knows, then...maybe I'll even be telling all of you to...

Come on down! :)

A Teaspoon Of Sugar....
Topic: The American Way
If we had a teaspoon of sugar to help our medicine go down nowadays, the entire population of America would be insanely fat and bouncing off the walls!

Now, I've never been a big TV watcher, but since I've been unemployed, I do admit to watching the tube a bit more than I used to. You know, in the morning with breakfast, then again at noon and of course, at suppertime. I even watch an occasional movie during the day when I'm out of other things to do.

Anyway, I've noticed that for the large part of the day, just about every other advertisement is for some kind of drug. There are pills to keep you from getting heartburn, pills to keep you from peeing yourself, pills to lose weight, and how can we forget those pills that help you have sex. *wink wink* *RME*

My point is, we are becoming a drug addicted society. Drug addiction isn't only for those nasty crack addicts out on the streets anymore. Drug companies have become the Drug King Pins of America, with Doctors as their Pushers. Can we say, "Valley Of The Dolls" anyone?

But wait, it gets worse! Because for every one of those wonder drugs being hawked on TV, there is a myriad of side effects to go along. Now let me just throw something out here. If you had a problem with frequent urination, would you run the risk...and probability...of suffering headache, constipation, nausea, sleeplessness, etc, etc, just to keep from running to the bathroom? Or would you save yourself from all that discomfort AND money, and just take note of where the nearest bathrooms are when you're out?

I rest my case.

So the people who hawk sexual stimulants with their winking, eyebrow raising and "come hither" looks can go jump in a lake as far as I'm concerned. Let people find out the CAUSE of their sexual inadequacies and work them out NATURALLY.

And if you're overweight, don't spend $150 on some pill that probably has undisclosed diet restrictions and exercise requirements to help make it work...instead, take a good look at what you are eating, and how much exercise you get and change your lifestyle.

And don't EVER take a pill to keep you from peeing. Drink more water, pee ALOT and never lose sight of the bathrooms!!! Because believe it or not, PEEING is a very healthy natural function. It flushes out your system thereby ridding you of all the impurities AND fat that you want to get rid of anyway!

Don't take the easy way out...look for the cause, identify the problem (if there even is one) and remedy it as naturally as you can, or you too just may end up sitting in your home, zoning out, just counting the minutes until your next Viagra fix.

Oh yeah...you might want to save that teaspoon of sugar for your morning coffee...

Roadside Memorials
Mood:  irritated
Topic: The American Way
Okay today I'm doing a two-fer. Why? Well, just because I've been meaning to write about this particular topic and I keep getting distracted, so I'm doing it now.

One of my biggest pet peeves is seeing those roadside crosses with tacky plastic flowers and dollar teddy bears wherever there has been a wreck. I have to pass one of those every time I take my kid back and forth to work, and every time I do, I shake my head, because its still there, day after day, week after week, month after month. Its a multiple memorial too. I guess a couple of people died in that crash. Anyway, all that stuff has been up there for at least 9 months now, maybe longer.

This is a sensitive subject, I know. So I am not making light of other's losses or tragedies. Its horrible to lose a loved one. And I totally understand the need to remember them, but in my opinion, this is not the way.

Permanent memorial markers belong in cemeteries, not along the roadside. For one thing, passing one is a distraction to drivers, who look to the side and as a result, can end up getting in a wreck themselves. For another thing, its depressing as hell to see. And lastly, unless one has permission to erect a memorial, its illegal. That property is owned by someone, be it a private owner or state or local government, and nobody has a right to erect anything on it without permission.

There was a case right here in Florida last year where a terrible crash occurred right on someone's front lawn. The relatives and friends of the victims erected a huge memorial with lots of tacky stuff right in the middle of some guy's front lawn. He was interviewed on tv and was very gracious about it all, saying how tragic the accident was, but I'll bet he was seething inside. Afterall, every time he looked out his front window, that's what he saw. Every time someone passed his house, that's what they saw and ever time someone came to his home for whatever reason, that's what they saw. And that just isn't right. I have no idea if the memorial is still there, but if it was me, I would have told those people to hit the pike and take their cheesy crosses with them.

Anyway, bottom line here is that if roadside memorials are to be legally permitted, then there should be some rules. Rules like, you can't put one on someone's front lawn, and that they can only stay up for a certain period of time, say...a couple of weeks, and lastly that they have to be respectable and small, with no tacky plastic plants or cheap bears.

I'm sure there are probably many people who don't agree with me and think I am absolutely horrible for saying all this, but tough! Its how I feel. And its what I would do, if God-forbid, someone ever died on my front lawn.

Assembly Required
Mood:  incredulous
Topic: The American Way
Well today I was browsing through a Sears Catalogue that came in the mail yesterday. There was lots of nice stuff in there, stuff that I might actually buy if I had the money. Yup, page after page of beautiful stuff. But it was expensive! And right there, in every description, was the dreaded "assembly required".

You know, I really resent that I have to assemble almost every piece of furniture I buy. What ever happened to the good old days when you could go out and buy furnture already assembled? There aren't too many furniture stores anymore. Mostly, people buy furniture from places just like Sears or Penneys or even Walmart because they want to save money. But do they really?

Lets just take a look at one of these pieces in the catalogue. What I have in front of me is an underbed dresser system. Its not what I'd buy, but its a good example of something people might like to have. Of course there are various ways you can construct this thing. You can have from 3 to 6 drawers, with or without a headboard, finished in oak or pine or unfinished. For my test, I'm going for the whole she-bang. So my choice would be a finished (more expensive) oak, 6 drawer unit with a California King headboard. Here's how it stacks up:

6 Drawer Oak Finished - $499.99
California King Headboard - $389.99
Total So Far - $889.98

And that's without a box spring or mattress. Add them in and add in my own blood, sweat, and frustrated labor and we're talking somewhere around $1400 to $1500 to complete the job.

Is it worth it? Nah...

So what is my point? My point is that nowadays you have to pay through the nose to have beautiful furniture, AND, then put the damn things together yourself! Better to get a bunch of pillows and just sit on the floor.....