Spree To Be You and Me

    I own a book store, so I am a big proponent of shopping local. However, there are some things that I like and need that can't find locally and aren't really practical to try and order online.  Furthermore, I get bored really easily with having to go in six days a week, with lengthy stretches of no one coming in.  Therefore, I go on a few shopping trips through out the year.  I have to go with my mother because she doesn't trust me going on long trips on my own.  Seriously, this is a big downer.  Anyway, I went on a spree recently.  I planned everything to a greater detail than I normally do, as there were quite a few more things that I was looking for.  I had multiple crib sheet shopping lists, one for each major destination.  I even checked out a few stores online to see if they had any sales or product lines I would be interested in.  I even eliminated one store because its selection didn't seem to be quite what I was looking for, nothing that I didn't think I could find elsewhere at least.  The morning of the trip, I had a small problem, so that we left over fifteen minutes late.  Fortunately, there weren't any problems along the two hour plus drive, although my mother's stop for coffee did take a few minutes longer than I felt was adequate.  The typical roadwork over the last stretch meant slower driving, but nothing too special, even with a few extra-narrow lanes.  Finally, we got to the mall and the first outlier, a drug store my mother likes to go to for its deal on a perfume she loves.  I basically just wandered around, checking on some Halloween candy and some shaving products.  I thought I finally found a pre-treatment lotion that I hadn't seen in awhile, but it was an aftershave instead.  The product I wanted wasn't there; just an empty space on the shelf.  When my mother checked out, I noticed that she only bought the candy, not the perfume.  At the counter, she decided that she would get a bottle locally instead, even though it could be a hassle getting a clerk to open up the display and it might not be the same price.  We skipped the store I checked online, and we made it to the mall soon after the main doors and most of the stores opened.  A few stores had closed and a few had gone it, but the mall was mostly the same as it was the last time.  Still not as great as it was when I started going there around forty years ago.  Anyway, my mother looked a one of her favorite stores before we went down to one of the mall to the book store.  Yes, I own one, but I don't carry magazines like this one does.  I also like to look at some books that I am not sure about whether I should order them or not.  Also, music and games.  Well, the store was starting a remodel.  One whole rack of magazines was gone, with the rest shoved into the remaining ones.  I passed through the racks at least twice, only to find one that I was looking for.  I don't know if they stopped carrying the others, if they weren't out with a new issue yet, or if they had been cancelled.  I couldn't even find a puzzle magazine I was looking for, one I was sure should have been out for at least a week.  I then tried to look through the rest of the store.  Everything had been rearranged so much, I wasn't sure what I was looking for anymore. The one section I was most interested in was in the last corner of the store I looked in, but I had become so flushed by then, I barely looked at it.  Next, we went down to the middle of the mall for my mother to check a gift store for an interesting card for a friend the regularly exchanges with.  She found nothing, but I am never sure if it is due to her pickiness or her cheapness.  Next, an anchor department store.  My mother looked around first, mostly for shoes or discounts.  She wasn't looking that hard, but she looked around a lot while I just waited.  She rarely tries on anything anymore, and that day wasn't an exception.  When she was finally done, we went upstairs so I could look for my stuff.  However, the upstairs was undergoing a minor update for Christmas.  This meant the men's department was squished into a smaller space.  I really wasn't looking for much, besides staples and bargains.  There was a great sale on jeans, but they didn't have any colors or styles that I was needing.   I tried to look for a few other things, but nothing was exactly what I was looking for.  We then went down the unmoving escalator, which my mother was fearful of.  She looked a little more downstairs before we went down to the northern end of the mall and the remaining anchor.  My mother kind of looked at some stores on the way, but I decided to wait to check in on any of them until the way back, because I didn't like them too much.  At the department store, my mother barely looked at anything on the way to the men's department.  She just isn't into shopping anymore.  I found some jeans on sale, in a color and style I didn't have, but my mother complained that I have too many pants in that color range.  Maybe, but I don't have khaki jeans.  Yeah, they would've been perfect, before she complained and all but forbid me to get them.  Instead, I found a pair of shorts for over fifty percent off, but she then complained that I should look for something even cheaper.  To spite her, I didn't even try them on since they were in my exact waist size.  I then found the perfect pair of sneakers I was needing, except they didn't have my size.  I knew the were the right pair, since I saw them on the website of the store I decided to skip to save time.  And it would be too hard to try and backtrack.  I thought I could get a few staples there too, but she complained again that I could get those locally, even though I never do because it is too hard to make my way out to that store and I wanted to try something different.  We looked around a bit more for her, but she decided the we shouldn't go upstairs as that store's down escalator was malfunctioning too, even though the things she was needing most were upstairs.  Anyway,  I would look for more sneakers on the way back down, but not a single store carried that brand, even though some had carried them just last year when I was looking for shoes, again.  We looked around a discount outlet store on the way out, but nothing.  We ended up leaving the mall about an hour earlier than we usually do.  We went to a fast food restaurant for lunch.  It was mostly empty, with the only customers in front of us in line were two men taking an older woman out for lunch.  The burgers were fairly good, although my mother thought the onion rings were salty.  At least they hadn't started remodeling the place in the horrid style the local place had.  I hate the new style.  We stopped at a craft store on the way out of the mall space.  We were mostly looking for Halloween (or Christmas) villages. The store used to have a whole display of the year's collection, but not this year.  In fact, I barely was able to find the few pieces left in my third look through the section.  There wasn't even a brochure. We had been looking for a bookshop for either holiday.  (An online search a few days later suggest that there will be one at Christmas.  Here's hoping.)  No decorations were bought.  On the way back, we made two more stops.  First, a big box department store.  I was looking for a few things such as office supplies as the only local outlet was forced to close after a certain medical facility bought out their space's lease and they had nowhere else to move.  Unfortunately, the store didn't carry a single product I was looking for, including a CD from an artist I love and didn't hear about until recently.  All anyone carries now is vinyl, and I don't own a record player. The last stop was a large supermarket from a chain that is no longer a local business.  This store feels larger than anything local.  There is even another grocery store just across the street, but we didn't feel like going there this trip as we rarely seem to buy anything there.  At the store we did go into, I was forced to take a giant cart as all of the smaller carts and baskets were missing.  We only got one small snack for me to eat on the way back (I try to eat every two-to-four hours).  There weren't too many newer products that seemed interesting, the main reason we were stopping there, save for a few frozen foods.  Even with the freezer bag in the car, the products didn't seem worth it.  There were hardly anything different this trip.  Even the bakery was mostly sold out.  Their small magazine section didn't have my missing issue either [Turns out, the publisher seems to have delayed it from its original publishing date.] And that was that.  All I got was a computer magazine that didn't have too much that was pertinent to me, a very loose pair of shorts that I barely were before the cold snap started [I didn't realize that they had a stretch waistband until I tried them on.  I don't have the body for stretch.  While not super-fit, I am good until that I need something more snug and fitted.], a survey receipt for a free item at a restaurant if I use it within a month which I might not get to do, a small snack that practically fell apart in the car, and an extra day's worth in gas.  To be honest, this wasn't even the worst trip made to that mall.  During a gap between book stores going in, I actually didn't buy a single thing one trip.  We keep saying we won't go back, but after so many decades, it is hard to change.  Especially since it is so much closer than other options.  Maybe after this time, the decision will stick.

Holiday, and I Feel So Meh

    Lately, I have been noticing an abundance of so-called "holidays" that have been springing up.  Many of them involve food.  For instance, this past Sunday, September 18, was National Cheeseburger Day.  This was a few days after National Double Cheeseburger Day.  Many fast food restaurants had special deals for cheeseburgers not only for Sunday, but also for the day before and a few days after as well.  Of course, not all of these holidays involve food.  There's just so much to go around.  This past Monday, September 19, was National Talk Like a Pirate Day.  People are encouraged to speak the way pirates would speak, or at least the traditional pop culture references of how pirates would speak.   Actual pirates probably wouldn't have used such inflections or so many obscure nautical references, but I could be wrong.  The same way Vikings are portrayed with horned helmets wrong. Anyway, today, Wednesday, September 21, has many such holidays associated with it.  Some of them include International Day of Peace, International Banana Festival, World Gratitude Day, World Alzheimer's Day,  National Chai Day, National Pecan Cookie Day,  Miniature Golf Day, and Escapology Day.  The last one is about magicians who get themselves out of seemingly impossible situations.  Also, Oktoberfest started this past Saturday, September 17, and will continue until October 3.  That's right, most of the festival takes place in September and not October.  Be careful with your beer and sausage intake. One last 'holiday' associated with today happens to be Earth, Wind and Fire Day.  The R & B group, not the classical elements.  I believe Los Angeles issued this date a few years ago, but I might be mistaken on that too.  Today's date was chosen because of a lyric in their classic hit "September."  The strange thing about this is that one of the songwriters for "September" only chose this date because the rhythm fit the song better than any of the other possibilities. The songwriter had absolutely nothing about their life otherwise associated with the date.  The song has even been adapted into a sort of Christmas tune, "December," with just a minor change in lyrics about the month, and changing the day to the twenty-fourth or fifth, sometimes.  I haven't listened to the song in a while, so I don't remember it exactly.  I happen to know someone whose birthday is on today.  I've Rick-rolled him with a video of the song, and a few others, in messages to him.  He probably gets them from a few others as well, as long as it is a good version of the song, and not a weird cover of it.  I remember one cover by Taylor Swift from a few years ago.  Very weird interpretation.  Kind of slow, and slightly down-tempo.  My mother hated it, and the song, at least the original, is one of my mother's absolute favorites.  Not that cover though.  Frankly, most of these so-called holidays leave me a little underwhelmed, as the riff on Madonna in the post's title hinted at.  Most of the date's holidays don't work well together, and they feel like the dates were randomly chosen, just like in "September."  I mean, what does today's date have to do with pecan cookies.  The nut harvest is still a little while off.  I mean, the chestnuts are just starting to fall.  You wouldn't be able to get that many fresh pecans this soon.  Well, maybe enough for a few cookies, but not enough for more than a small pie.  And, who has ever heard of pecan cookies?  That is not one of the more popular flavors.  Personally, I don't like pecans (haven't had them in decades, and I don't like nuts in general anyways), and I don't eat cookies that often. Aye, but it makes more sense than talking like a fake pirate, ye landlubbers. 

Orange You Glad, Oh, You're Not

     I don't eat that much candy any more, a combination of cavity prevention and calorie consumption.  I might try something new when it comes out or have a bite around the holidays, but I do try to limit myself whenever possible.  That doesn't mean I eat completely clean, just not the worst offenders.  My mother also tries to limit her candy eating, but for a different reason.  She is prone to cholesterol problems, and too much candy can aggravate them.  As such, she limits herself to her absolute favorites.  One of those has been a chocolate-covered orange marshmallow pumpkin that is a seasonal treat for fall/Halloween.  When the seasonal deliveries for fall started to roll out, there were no orange pumpkins to be found.  Admittedly, the first shipments at one location had to be sent back because they had melted, even after being packed with dry ice.  Probably shipping them in early-August during a heat wave was the reason.  Seriously, you shouldn't be shipping Halloween-themed chocolate candy in August anyway.  Well, even after those shipments were replaced, that store didn't have that flavor.  Now, the owners have been known to pick some of their favorites over having a wider variety, but this year that didn't seem to be the case.  Other locations also didn't have orange pumpkins, either.  After a few weeks of futile searching, the manufacturer's website finally updated for fall, and the was horrible news.  While many of the usual flavors were present, including new (for the seasonal selection if not for the company) chocolate marshmallow and chocolate truffle varieties, there was no orange.  There was even a raspberry version, even though neither the flavor nor the color is that associated with Halloween.   The company, which I will not be naming, sometimes holds a flavor back for awhile into a season.  At least once, they didn't really publicize a variety, a lemon flavor egg for Easter/spring.  However, this doesn't appear to the case this time.  Neither my mother nor I could figure out why they would discontinue a flavor that had been around well over thirty years.  Too be honest, the company has been cutting back in the overall number of varieties and new flavors recently.  Just a few years ago, the company had brought out orange creme, cranberry (maybe with almond), and even pumpkin spice flavors.  My mother tried all three, and she kind of like all of them.  None of them lasted long.  Now, the company does produce an orange creme variety of candy year-round, but that wouldn't be exactly the same.  This past weekend, my mother contacted the company to ask why the orange variety had been discontinues.  While she got an offer for a discount on ordering candy, she has yet had a direct response to her email.  Usually, I have been the one to suffer over the years as my favorite foods have been discontinued, time and time again.  My mother has rarely had to go through the same difficulties, and I don't like that fact that she has to go through this.  One of the few true joys she has is eating her last pumpkin of the season on her birthday, weeks after Halloween.  This year, I don't know what she will do.  None of the other flavors are another favorite of hers.  Vanilla or coconut would be closest.  Orange marshmallow was only produced for Halloween, none of the other holiday seasons--Christmas, Valentine's Day, and Easter.  I know of no other candy maker that has orange marshmallow, at least that sells locally.  I really wish that I could do more, but I don't see what that could be.  To be honest, I don't feel that orange flavors work with chocolate too well, nor is there that much a connection with the flavor with Halloween beyond the color, but I still want to do more.

The Game of the Name is Games

     I mentioned in a post from earlier this year about my problems with receiving my issues of Games World of Puzzles magazine.  Actually, the problems started last year when I accidentally sent out my renewal slip just after the deadline, and I had to order the missing back issue directly from the publisher.  Then, starting this January, my issues kept getting late due to a new fulfillment department for subscriptions.  I bought issues on newsstands, purchased digital copies that I couldn't print, and downloaded pages for free.  Things reached a head this past June when the publisher announced that subscriptions were going to be sent out in late June for the August issue, which was supposed to have been mailed out in early June.  I bought the June issue on at the newsstand while on a trip on the absolute last day it was supposed to be out.  If I had been later, maybe even by a few hours, I might have missed out on that issue.  As it was, the fulfillment center messed up, and the August issue was not mailed out at that time.  The September issue also wasn't mailed out on time either, although newsstands still got their copies.  The magazine wasn't even updated their website or social media pages to promote the September issue.  The editor wasn't even mentioning the ongoing problems in her message in the magazine for those who pick it off the newsstand.  Subscribers were complaining every few days about the missing issues.  Finally, the problems got resolved and the missing issues were finally being mailed out.  I got my August issue by the twenty-fourth or so.  I don't always pick up the mail every day, so I could be a little off.  I was supposed to get the August issue in early June.  On the thirtieth, I got the September issue, which was supposed to have been delivered in mid July.  This past Friday, I picked up the October issue, about a week or two later than expected.  Now, I am working through three issues of a magazine at the same time.  I've already read all of the article, and I have started working the puzzles in the August issue.  I don't do every puzzle, just the ones that I find interesting and not overly complex.  There's also the contests.  I got the August issue just in time to still enter that contest, but I couldn't work out the final answer in time to enter.  I have a month to work out the September contest, and two months for the October one.  This is the two, soon to be three, other puzzle magazines that I frequently get. I usually try to work only one page in Games per day, although I've been trying to do two per day so I get through them faster.  This is being hampered by the inclusion of special puzzle section based either of a certain type or a shared theme.  The magazine used to do this monthly in one of their spin-off magazines, but they just started back with doing them on a regular basis this year.  The September issue  also added another wrinkle in the form of the return of puzzles on the front cover.  This had been a hallmark of the magazine for decades, only to be retired a few years ago.  The October cover featured the latest variant of their emoji puzzles, this time focusing on television programs.  Huh. Well, I did my own version of that theme and puzzles in this very blog a while back.  Here's the link for it.  One show is even repeated between the two.  Now, if you please excuse me.  I have dozens of puzzles to do, and I have very little time to do them before I get even more.