What I'm Not..........

I'm not a mall shopper, I really don't like shopping at all, unless it is for art supplies.  Recently, I had cause to be at our local mall.  It is small and I like that, it is old and not fancy, if I need to got to a mall, this is my choice. 

It was a bit of culture shock.  Have you ever been at home in the winter, say when the kids are out of school for Christmas vacation, everything is centered around the home, the farm, your little center of the world?  Then you must go to a high school basketball game?  Suddenly you are thrown into a world that you feel unaccustom, the lights are too bright, the noise level is deafening, the movement takes some getting used to as well.  Somehow the adjustment comes.  That is how I felt while in the mall for only one hour.  The lights were too bright, the noise, the Christmas decorations, the stacks of clothes, the STUFF!  Honestly, how do I live without all this stuff? 

It's easy, in my small world, (the gourd studio, the farm and art/flute events) it's not about how fancy you are dressed.  I must admit the clothes looked very pretty, the colors, the textures, the style, still it's nothing I can't live without.  I am happy in my black shirts and pants with bright scarves, a change in jewelery and a vest if it's cold.  I wasn't drawn to the stacks of neatly displayed stuff as I tried to find my way through a store that had a path to zigzag you through several departments to tempt you with goodies.  The mirrors and lights and pathway reminded me of being trapped in a crazy fun house at the fair.  I almost panicked!

If I go to a mall once a year it is to go in and come right back out.  I can't fathom spending hours there any more.  Oh, don't get me wrong, I felt I had to do it when my children were small.  I was a conservative shopper then, always looking for the bargains. 

My second BIGGEST PET PEEVE, the fact that a few years ago a new mall was built.  It sits between three other malls, all within a fifteen minute drive from one another!  Less than an hours drive from one to the furthest one away, that is with traffic conditions and traffic lights!  It is insane!  Who needs this much stuff?

Why rip up perfectly wonderful family farmland to build another building with black wall to wall pavement and cement.  Are we never happy with what we have? Do we really need to have newer and bigger to keep us interested in shopping for more stuff!  What are we thinking?  I also don't understand businesses leaving a building to build another superstore across the street, leaving the old one behind, sitting empty.  Our county seat has lost all downtown business because they have allowed the merchants keep building at the edge of town, the edge of town is slowly connecting to our neighbors "edge of town merchants".  All the while the center of town is empty and struggling to survive. 

I haven't even mentioned where all the merchandise comes from, is it AMERICAN made?  I will spare you my thoughts on this, I'm sure you have already figured them out..........

I am sorry to be on my band wagon this morning, so close to the holiday season, but really it is important to think about what we are doing.  Shop small businesses, support American made products and maybe just maybe we can make the shift to being a more thoughtful consumers.  But then they didn't ask me.............. what I am not is a supporter of taking the land and filling it with another mall!

Bad Days Happen

......Storm clouds............

I hate having a bad day, it has been a stormy day for me.  I don't have many and I'm not sure if it has to do with my attitude about life in general or I am lucky and don't have many bad days.

Yesterday, we received a letter from our electric company that our meter has been replaced and the old one has be "off" since April.  They have estimated our usage consumption to be similar as last year and have assigned us an amount to pay, in addition to what was already paid.  Of course, they give us an easy schedule of installment to pay over the next twelve months.  It is outrageous the bill they have given us!

I proceed to get my bills together, for this year and last year and call the company!  There is no way to get to customer service directly, you have to listen to the options and push buttons and long minutes stretch into more long minutes.  Finally a live person!  I hand the phone off to my wonderful husband to talk, I am already too mad to focus on numbers.  He asks for the person responsible for "figuring" our bill and he is suppose to call back, this has been three hours ago.  He must be out to lunch.  Richard is gone and when this guy calls back, I will have to get it all figured out!

I am still mad at our electric company for the tree incident.  A couple months ago a guy came to us and said they were cleaning up the electric lines of tree branches.   We have trees growing around the lines in our barnyard driveway.  I told them they COULD NOT cut my trees if I wasn't home.  It was agreed.  I left for the weekend for a show and they waited until I got down the road and then came in and cut those trees!  They look terrible!   I was sick when I saw them, I almost cried.   Don't they understand that we live here and this is our home and what they do effects our space?  I don't imagine any one of those workers would do the same kind trimming in their personal yards!

Meanwhile, I tried to do business (calling our electric company) on our land line phone, the one I replaced two days ago because the storm damaged to our other home phone.  Guess what, it isn't working.  I'm suppose to figure out if it is the new phone or something about that phone line.   Of course, that is another call to our phone company and pushing more buttons.   I put in a request for service.  The recording tells me they will be out sometime Saturday before 4PM.  That is four days from now.  I want to talk to a representative, but no real person comes on and they end my call.  An hour later I finally figure out a way to get a breathing person to talk to me, it did little good still I have a Saturday before 4PM appointment.  It seems Ohio is in a phone crisis due to all the bad weather. 

Since I'm complaining I will also tell you that I am not happy with our insurance company either.   We had roof damage to our house because of the falling branches.  We talked to insurance company, to let them know we had damage.  Okay, then we call someone to repair the roof, our temporary fix didn't keep the water out and now we have water damage to the ceiling of our living room.  The repair people made it out on Saturday, three days after the storm.  They fixed our roof and there is no further leaking.  I called the insurance company to report that the roof was fixed, she said, "Oh, you were only to temporarily fix it so we can come look at the damage and approve having it fixed."  Really?????   We have had off and on storms since and we aren't suppose get it fixed?  Too late, it's fixed and I'm wondering if the bill will be paid by insurance now.  Why do I pay for insurance?   Things are out of control!

I'm trying hard to calm down.  I am trying to let it go, it is all little stuff in the bigger world picture.  Thankfully my cell phone is working and I am in touch with friends that help me see how to focus on the important things.  I guess the thing I have learned from all of this, my friends are there to make me laugh at my brief period of craziness.  As I end this I am feeling better.  It will all be resolved in time and with some patience the storm clouds will pass and the sun will come out again in my world.

Respect.............

I told myself not to sit down at the computer, knowing how much time gets lost reading my emails, checking out my friends on Facebook and reading my friends blogs............   I told myself I had other things to do, important things.  I've been gone most of the day.  When I go out, away from my little world, I try to run all my errands at the same time.  Today's list was long:  Updated my license tags on the car, take stuff to recycle, stop at the print shop to proof new work, go to art class.   After art class, stop at the printers again, proof finished changes.  Then the question is, do I wait another an hour or more for the work or make another trip tomorrow to pick up the finished greeting cards.  I chose to go home, I have things to do.   And then I stopped for just a moment at the computer and now I am writing a blog......

I wanted to write about how warm it has gotten, sixty one degrees on my way home, how wonderful it is to see the earth again. I would love to share my new spring sightings, the red-wing blackbirds are back, I also heard the Killdeer and there are green sprouts of sweet grass showing.  No, I cannot be excited about these things.   With the snow is mostly gone, now all I see is the trash along the roadsides.  I get so angry about this.  It is one of my biggest pet peeves.  Why are people so inconsiderate?  Why can't they take their trash home and dispose of it properly?  You've seen it, you know what I'm talking about, plastic bottles, cans, plastic bags, trash from the drive thru food place.  I don't know how people can do this to our beautiful countrysides. 

I remember once picking up trash on one of our back roads, when we turned around to walk back to our truck, there were new pieces of trash laying along the road.  Didn't your Mother and Father teach you not to litter?  Is this what you do to your own property?  Have you no respect?  What are you teaching your children?  It makes me very upset, it allows me to see something other than the beauty of our world.  It forces me to voice my irratation to anyone who will read this post.

I just don't know what else to say on the matter...........  Sure, I can go and pick it up and I certainly have, but it never makes a difference, people are still being rude and inconsiderate when they throw their trash out the window of their cars.  We don't need another law to try to enforce, we need to teach respect for the earth we live on to our children to make a difference.  Lets start now!