A helpful hint

At my new place of employment there’s an older lady who transferred from another store.  I can always tell when “Mary” has worked because there will be price stickers stuck on everything.  I’ve tried to help her out by giving her some hints on how to avoid this, but she isn’t interested in any constructive criticism, no matter how much it’s sugar-coated.  And she seems not to care if there are stickers all over our department.  She’s oblivious to any kind of mess.

All this stuff looks crappy around our workplace and so I set out trying to scrape it all off.  These things must have super glue because it takes me several hours between customers to get them all up.  I know the next time “Mary” works it’ll be the same situation.  I keep hoping she’ll get better.  The price tags come out of the printer sticky side up, so I’m not exactly sure how she manages to get them sticky side down and stuck onto everything.  It takes good old elbow grease and a wet rag to get them off after scraping with my fingernail.

Hand sanitizer - not a real clear shot

A young man working for us told me to try hand sanitizer on them, so I did.  Guess what?  It works!  Who knew?  So I have a tiny bottle in my pocket.  If I squirt that on it and smooth it around, it’ll come off after sitting a few minutes.  I thought this may come in handy to know when we bring things home with those stickers that leave behind tons of sticky glue to remove.  Try this some time.  I think you’ll be surprised.

Is there ever enough time for everything?

I think I must be kidding myself into believing this.  I’m the eternal optimist and always think I’ll get to it, but I have to admit one day goes by and then another and soon a week or two has gone by.  I still haven’t accomplished writing one post in over a month’s time.  There’s a lot going on in my life, but still you’d think I could manage one post in thirty days.  Wouldn’t you?

It’s hard to believe it’s been so long.  Impossible even for me.  I promise to get something out here in the next day or two.

One thing is for sure, it’s burning up here in the desert.  We’ve had 104 several days now.  It’s still 90 when I hit the sack at midnight.

We have another lizard in the fireplace entertaining the cats.  I have a new job, a messy house and I’m way behind in doing everything.  I’ve also had a couple of adventures.  I have some pictures I haven’t had time to download yet and a website I’m trying to revamp.  I’ve been reading too trying to get myself inspired to finish my mystery series.  Who else better to inspire one than Stephen King?  I can never put his books down.

The ultimatum

Sorry I’ve been away a bit again.  There’s so much going on in my life right now that I find it hard to get on here and write a post.  I was hoping to do the A to Z blogging challenge in April, but I’m not sure yet how I’ll manage that this year.  I haven’t written it off yet though.

About a week ago at work I was blindsided by my boss who gave me an ultimatum that I wasn’t expecting at all.  I’ve got a tiny gold ring I wear on my right hand.  It’s been there for forty-three years.  They couldn’t even get if off in the hospital when I had emergency surgery a few years ago because I have arthritis in my knuckles and I can’t get it off.  They let it go.  Well, it seems it’s against company policy to wear this ring.  Only a simple wedding band is allowed, so I was told to lose the ring.  She didn’t care how I got it off my finger, but it has to be off there if I want to continue my employment.  I was saddened and stunned. 

Of course it surprised me to find out later that the new boss was so upset over this that she spent all morning calling corporate and also our regional manager for advice.  Good grief!  I guess she can’t make any decisions on her own.  She is new and not very experienced at managing people.  At least that’s my opinion.  I don’t wish her any ill will.  I just wish she’d leave me alone.  I’ve never liked people to dictate certain areas of my life.  I never even liked it as a child when Mamaw would come to take us to the beauty parlor every summer.  I knew that meant chopping all our hair off, so I would hide until she left with my sisters.

Later in the afternoon at work, our boss sent a gal out to watch my station while I went back to the office to talk to her.  She told me I had to cut the ring off if I couldn’t get it off any other way.  Of course she said she wasn’t ordering me to do it when I objected, but if I wanted to keep the job I had two weeks to get it off.  What????

I was so pissed off that I don’t think I did a very good job for the rest of my shift.  Needless to say cutting this ring off would be a last resort for me.  I don’t think this is any of her business and I’ve been wearing this ring every day since I was hired three years ago.  It was a well-known fact I couldn’t get it off.  There’s no way this ring is falling in the food.  Besides we always have gloves on too.  But of course she did her homework and had a copy of the employee field guide with that part highlighted for me to read.  No jewelry is allowed of any kind except a wedding band.  I got a plain band for this job for two reasons.  They’d never let me wear my real wedding band because it’s full of diamonds and sapphires and is very big and gaudy.  And I wouldn’t want to mess it up anyway dong all the crap we have to do at work.

So I’ve been busy looking for work, but also have a jeweler lined up to do the unthinkable if it comes to that.  So far not much is happening on the job hunt, but things move very slowly with employers.  I still have another week to make something happen.

On a positive note, I saw the first lizard of the season today and also the orioles are back, so I know our cold weather is over until winter.  I can rejoice in that fact and know that something good is happening in my life.  Warm weather is coming.  Yippee!  Now I just need a new job to go with it.

Happy Spring

And you don’t know how bad I wish it would arrive.  It’s been quite chilly here (about 20 degrees below normal) after we had a couple of teaser days that it was actually warm enough to put on shorts.  Yay!  But I know it can’t be far away now.  That thought keeps me going.  I’m very tired of being cold.  I need to bake in some 80 degree weather for a while.

I apologize for being absent so long.  I couldn’t believe it’s been two weeks since I turned my computer on last.  Where does the time go?  It gets away from me all the time. 

This is me three months after my surgery

I’m still recovering from my eye surgery, but things are going very well.  I’ve been working hard to get this huge bill paid off.  It’s definitely worth it though when people tell me how good I look and that I’m so much better than before.  I have to admit I was awfully tired of my drippy eyes.

So you may wonder what I’ve been doing.  Well besides working, I’ve been getting everything ready to file taxes.  I hate this time of year.  Plus, hubby had eye surgery on the fourteenth so he’s needed some help with that.  It’s quite an ordeal to go through all this.  Medical procedures are necessary, but not always fun.  His eye lids were interfering with his vision so that should be remedied now.  It’s just a long healing process.  I have to say he’s doing much better than I did at this stage, so that’s a very good thing.  I’d rather him have it easier than me.  I have a lot more patience for things. 

Other than that my life is one big blur.  All the days blend together.  I never know exactly what day it is.  That’s bad I know, but our weeks at work run from the middle of the week to the next so when the weekend is in the middle of the week it really screws everything up in my head.

Raven and Koki in the bathroom

Koki walking on top of the shower

My cats are getting along better, so that makes for a happier experience around here.  However, they’ll never be best buddies.  Raven always wants to play, or wreak havoc, and Koki has her moments when she’ll put up with him.  But Koki will be thirteen in May so that’s quite a difference from being four like Raven is.  But she still has a lot of spunk about her.  I caught her on top of the shower bar a few days ago.  She loves to scare me by doing her daredevil things.

This is the squirrel who lives just beyond our wall.  He may lose his home if they build back there.

We’ve had visits from the wildlife that live in the desert behind us.  I’m not sure how much longer that will continue.  Right now that property has been sold to a developer that wants to build homes back there, so all the neighbors are up in arms.  We’re trying to stop this before it starts.  There is a law on the books that may help us.  We’ll see.  More on this later.

Happy spring equinox everyone.

Action out back and other things

We knew this was likely to happen eventually.  Yet, we were shocked to see a drilling unit out back doing soil test samples.  I think I probably told everyone about the ATV and the guys back there a couple of weeks ago.  Hubby talked to them and they said they may purchase the property and were looking around.  They had permission, they said.  However, no motorized vehicles are allowed back there in the desert.  There are people who do disregard the signs and end up back there a time or two every summer.

A drilling rig taking soil samples and stirring up dust

The drilling rig has moved to the bluff behind the house

But then a few days ago a drilling rig showed up back there to take soil samples for testing.  We found out the property was sold to Entrata, which is home to the very ritzy developments around here.  This wouldn’t be a real bad thing as long as they don’t build up behind our house.  It’s way too damp back there and I think it would be pricey to bring it up to code for housing.  But sometimes that kind of stuff is ignored.  There’s an underground river that runs through this area.  The water table is very high.  There have been issues with some homes here due to water.  But we’re on the edge of that river, so our lot isn’t affected by this.  I think they must have filled in the exposed parts of the river years ago and then built there.  The team taking the samples said it was very wet and soft. 

We’re hoping the developer is smart and will give this property to the city so that it can stay nice like it is now.  There are wildlife living there and many walking trails that have been there for years.  I hate to see the landscape torn up and the critters disrupted from their homes.  The old lava beds can never be replaced.  It’s very sad that the big shots think we need more homes.  Time will tell what happens.  Otherwise, we’ll move I guess.  Where, I don’t know.

The drillers are still back there drilling holes and taking samples today, even though it was snowing earlier.  I hate that.  It’s so freakin’ cold.  I’m glad it didn’t last long and didn’t stick because it’s too wet from the ice rain we had earlier.  It’s about twenty degrees cooler than normal here.  Where are you spring?

On the work front, the last couple of weeks the new boss has been out for some major, unexpected surgery.  It’s such a nice stress-free zone and happy place right now.  We have that old vibe back.  She’s planning on coming back on the first, which is way too soon in my opinion.  But I guess she’ll find out for herself.  I’m going to try my best to work with this woman, but it’s difficult.  I really need a different job where I can dress the way I want and wear my jewelry and let my hair down.  I got to do a rare demo where I could do that yesterday (not the jewelry part, but the rest) and I got so many compliments.  I felt more normal and wasn’t the lunch lady.  Oh well…well see. 

Me in break room at work

Rules, rules and more new rules at work are all enough to handle.  Now the newest thing is removing our hats when on breaks and lunches.  Everyone is beside themselves because the store has operated just fine for the last seventeen years without us removing our hats.  So we’ve all got new hats to put on over our hairnets because who wants to walk around in a hairnet?  We all wonder what’s next.  How do you like my hat?  I may as well make a statement about how silly this is.

My Rolling Stones visor for breaks and lunches at work

Oh, drat, it’s snowing again!  Winter doesn’t want to go away this year.  If this keeps up, we’ll have snow on the ground tomorrow.  Yuck!

Snowing

Snowing

Snow in backyard

What to do on a rainy day

Dark skies in the desert behind my house

Naturally, I would like to curl up in my favorite reading chair, wearing my sweats, and grab the nearest book.  What a great   luxury this would be as I listen to raindrops hitting the window.  I’m off today, so no work to get ready for and customers to deal with.

Raven helping me with the litter boxes

But there’s always housework and laundry staring me in the eye.  And my two cats scolding me, as if to say, “mama, when are you going to change our litter box?”  So I changed the cat boxes, did four loads of laundry and changed the sheets, etc.  Now there’s just all the dusting and vacuuming to do, which will have to wait for another day.

I ran to the store for a few items just as it was beginning to drizzle.  It’s windy and chilly here today at 44 degrees.  I’m counting the days until spring.  I’m very tired of being cold, although I know there are many places in the country that are colder than this, but I don’t live there either by choice.

I hadn’t done any Valentines shopping either, so I got that finished before the last minute.

I’m also filling out job applications to see where that goes.  I love the people I work with, but wearing four layers of clothes to stay warm is really getting old, along with cooking from a stainless cart and serving the hundreds that come by daily for free food.

McLean Falls New Zealand courtesy of Joshua Scripps Photography

On another note, my neighbor has gone to New Zealand for a month.  I’m glad she found another friend to house sit and take care of her cat.  I have my hands full at work and with trying to heal myself from the flu and pneumonia.  I feel so sorry for her cat who is alone a lot of the time.  At least this time around she has someone in the house with her.  I know my neighbor has wanted to go to New Zealand for the longest time, so I’m happy she’s able to cross this off her bucket list.  I look forward to seeing her pictures when she returns.

Until next time, stay warm and well everyone.

We’ve probably only seen the tip of the iceberg

Things at work are in a major decline.  Just when you think that things can’t get any worse they do.  I’m really not sure where all this is going yet, but all of us are hoping the new boss gets her act together soon.  I think right now she’s very overwhelmed.  Many of us wonder how she ended up in the position to start with.  Her lack of training shows every day.

Tip of the iceberg.  We've probably not seen near as much as what's coming.

There are way too many new rules and we hear the ones we now know about are the better of the lot that’s coming.  Oh my!  I really don’t want to say too much more about this at the present time because I do still work there.  Several people have already left, some after they were given ultimatums and told they couldn’t have two or more jobs, so they had to make choices.  We’ve lost a few very good people.  I suspect others are actively pursuing other employment in their days off, however we’re all being worked ragged at the present time.

One thing that really drives me crazy is the secretiveness of everything now.  We can find little, if anything, out ahead of time.  This is nuts.  Why is everything a big, dark secret?  All the information that falls into that category now used to be open to all of us.  Life in the work department is very tiring and I find my own enthusiasm for the job waning.  I used to look forward to going there, but not anymore.  I am trying to be open to the changes and to give everyone a chance because that’s really what one should do.  But I have to tell you that I’m worn out.  On my days off I can sleep ten hours and still not get caught up on my rest.  The break schedule is really screwed up too and has been for a while now.  I don’t know if, or when, it’ll ever be straightened out.  Standing for four-plus hours with no break is almost impossible at my age.  Everyone is finding that hard.  There are many days when people get forgotten altogether. 

Yet we employees go in there every day never knowing what is going to happen to any of us before the day is over.  There’s a strange vibe going on.  Stay tuned for more on this situation.

Well this is not a very good pic, but it's me on the morning before my eye surgery.  If you look closely, you can see my eyelids lie on my eyelashes

This is me after eye surgery.  Beware this is an ordeal, but worth it in the end.

This is me in my sunglasses after I went back to work, minus our uniform of course.

This is me with no makeup and a few bruises left about a week ago.  I'm slowly getting back to normal, but I have eyelids again now and no more runny eyes.

My eye surgery is coming along well.  I do still have about another six weeks to go to be completely healed.  My eyelids are numb, but I’m told that takes months to correct itself.  The important thing is that it was a success.  I have no more drippy eyes.  I got so tired of customers asking me why I was crying all day long.  I do have to say the new boss did work with me too on this situation and I was allowed the time off I needed and was also able to wear sunglasses to work for a month until most of the bruising was gone.  I can now cover what’s left with makeup.

On a lighter note, we’re enjoying the warming days and all the critters that are coming to visit.  They forage for food in our yard and of course we always put water out for them.  This is such a bright note after a hard day at work.  I love watching them.  They seem so carefree, but I’m sure they do each have to worry about staying alive in the harsh desert environment.

Birds of Prey

Roadrunners

Squirrels and rabbits

Quail

Pigeons

Splashing in the birdbath is fun

The squirrel enjoying a peanut

We’ve also had many beautiful sunrises and sunsets lately.  I love taking pictures of them, even though I have hundreds already.  Here are a few to enjoy.  

Sunrise in the desert is a great way to face the day

This is another sunrise

Be thankful for all your blessings because you never know what each new day will bring.

Work and more work

This is from the Pinterest boards.  I could go on and on so this is quite appropriate for me.

That’s what my life consists of these days.  I get a day off about every five days or so.  I’m simply too tired to get on this computer much so I’m on here about every two weeks at the present time.  At least I’ll be able to pay the bill for my eye surgery quicker, or at least I hope so.

We finally have hit the sixties during the day.  I’m longing for the eighties so I can bake a while in the sun.  By this time of year, I’m chilled to the bone.  I know I’m going to be one of those old ladies who is wearing a sweater in the middle of July when it’s in the nineties outside.  But that’s a few years down the road, I hope.

Meanwhile, I’m over the flu and the pneumonia and trying to catch up on some sleep.  And also weeding out lots of email and enjoying a few laughs on the Pinterest boards.  I can waste a lot of time on there if I’m not careful.

All of us are still trying to get used to the new boss at work.  Things are moving in the right direction, I think.  I have to say she’s been pretty nice to me with all my issues lately.

I’ll be on here sooner next time, I hope.  Let’s all do a dance for spring.  I’m so ready for my tank tops and flip flops.  But I suppose I’ll be working more than I think and that means the penguin suit and closed-in non-slip shoes that give me athlete’s foot.  I guess there are worse things, but the only good thing about winter is that I can wear black to work instead of the dreaded white shirt, which isn’t my color at all.

Hope everyone is staying warm and well.

Better late than never

Oh my, it’s been such a long time since I posted anything.  It’s been a month since I’ve been on this computer.  I finally was able to get on here today and clear out some of the 5500+ emails.  It’s definitely time for an update.  I hope you’re well and doing great.

I’ve had my share of trials lately.  It’s far too much for one post, but let me say I had some eye surgery so was down quite a while from that.  I took a total of twelve days off work when I was intending to take four.  Things ended up being a much bigger ordeal than I was anticipating.  I’ve spent hours and hours icing my face.  For the first two weeks all I did was ice twelve hours a day.  You can only imagine how old that can get.  Now its been a month and I still have swelling and some bruises remaining, so I got permission to wear sunglasses to work until that subsides.  At least the original goal of fixing my runny eyes was accomplished.  I don’t know when things will really be back to normal in that whole eye department.  My eyes are so sore and somewhat numb in places.  I’ll fill you in with more details in a separate post later.

My hubby caught the worst cold at work, or so we thought.  He brought it home to me.  I wasn’t at work two days when I was home again, this time with the flu and pneumonia.  After another week off I’m finally back at work again.  Hopefully, this is the last pitfall for a while.  I’m so tired of being sick.  But so many people are out with this and some have ended up in the hospital, so thankfully that didn’t happen to me.

I’m thankful that our new boss is working with me and all my problems.  Yes, we got a new boss while I was out having my eye surgery.  Everything at work has changed and not necessarily for the better. But as we all know, change is difficult when things have been done certain ways for years.  Apparently, the old way was the wrong way to do it.  Everyone is going through a learning curve.  Plus, we have to get to know the new boss and she has to get to know us.

It’s so good to be back at work, even with all the changes and things we must learn a new way.  At least I’ve been able to stay out of the coolers and deli area at work, which I’m very thankful for.  I always strive to do the best job I can do with whatever my demo happens to be for the day, but I was totally beside myself with the one I had yesterday.  I had never done it before, but that’s okay because it’s fun to do something new once in a while.  However, I was having anything but fun with this one.  Number one, I’m not a very good pancake maker but it’s a real challenge to make them in a dry pan with no oil.  Several of our workers tried to help me out, but the pancakes also stuck for them.  I found out it wasn’t just me.  I almost made myself sick over this ordeal because presentation means a lot to me.

I finally closed down my demo and put everything under my cart and turned it to the display rack because I needed to go back to the office to see if I could please get some oil for my pan.  Of course the answer was no.  “It’s a non-stick pan so you don’t need any oil,” I was told.  So I was left with two choices – bring my cart to the back and check out and go home – or figure out how to make it work with no oil.  To say I was angry wouldn’t even express my feelings.  Why didn’t she just throw me in the dungeon and beat me with chains?

But this is one of the instances when my stubbornness pays off because I rarely let anything get the best of me, no matter how difficult and “hair pulling” the situation is.  I could have had a good blood-curdling scream, though that wasn’t an option.  I took some deep breaths, boiled out my pan, which had pancake goo all over it.  These things didn’t look like pancakes, but by the time I cut them up and put them in sample cups and put on some syrup people seemed to like it.  And they didn’t look nearly as bad as the heaps in the pan.  I was afraid I would pull the handle right off that skillet before the day was out.  I had to scrape it hard to get those pancakes turned over.  Eventually, I calmed down when I realized I just had to stop giving a damn about how they looked and keep on cooking and scraping the pan until the torture of that day was behind me.

I needed today off to cool off and be ready for whatever bombshell awaits me tomorrow.  I really hope my name is way down the list for those pancakes.  I’m going in full of optimism like I try to do every day, but I long for the old days when we could find out what our demo for the next day was.  You know sometimes it’s helpful if I find it’s something new and I want to google some ideas, or history on the product ahead of time.  But that probably won’t be happening much, if any, in the future.  I think the new boss likes to surprise us.

Quirks, Irks and Mishaps

As usual there’s always way too much going on in daily life around my place, hence I’m a bit tardy with this post.

When I was eating breakfast about a week ago, I heard a loud thud on the large windows we have in the family room.  We have three windows across the house facing the desert and many a bird has met their demise by hitting them while flying at full speed.

The first thing that entered my mind was the fact I was going to have to find a shovel to bury another bird, thinking it was probably a quail, or pigeon, or perhaps a dove.  I was not up to this task because of the mishap I had while we were preparing for the tile job in our master bedroom and closet.  But I hate to throw dead birds into the trash bin because I think they do deserve a proper burial.  I guess maybe this is a quirk of mine.

 Wow!  Isn't this something?

I got a surprise when I looked out to see a bird of prey knocked out on my patio.  This never happens.  They are too adept at flying and usually chase other birds they’re hunting into the windows.  I grabbed the camera and stood there taking pictures and willing him to wake up and fly away. 

I’m happy to say he did eventually come to his senses enough to fly into the desert where he probably sat a spell until he was revived enough to carry on with his daily routine.

The mishap I mentioned earlier is to my right hand, which is still bandaged three weeks later.  I guess this is going to mean another trip to the doctor.  My mistake here was not going to the doctor to start with and treating myself at home like I usually do.  I’m sure this will just be another battle scar of life to the old bod.

 Isn't this beautiful tile?  It looks like wood.

As mentioned earlier, we put tile in the bedroom and closet so we had old carpet and pad to tear out before the tile layer got here to start the job on the first of November.  Just getting this stuff out and the rooms down to concrete was such a big chore that it wore us out.  Of course all the furniture had to be moved first before any removal could be done as far as carpet and pad were concerned. 

The first day was spent draining the water bed and getting that out of there first, and then came the frame pieces and finally chairs and dresser and chest of drawers, etc.  Then we had to remove everything from the lower half of the closet.  We took four days off work to get all this done, which we needed and then some.  We had furniture, bedding and clothing in every room in the house.  Of course, my cats loved all this excitement.

 Raven snuggled into the bedding we had piled on the couch.

The next day we had to rip the carpet out and then the pad.  The first thing I did was step on the tack strip barefoot.  Duh!  How stupid was that?  I was hauling loads out of the closet and working in the construction zone barefoot.  It was all rush; rush because we only had a couple of days to prepare everything for the tile guy.

By the time we got to the carpet pad we were worn out, but had to get down on our hands and knees with putty knives to scrape up the remnants.  I really don’t know what kind of glue they use for carpet pads, but I think it’s meant to stay there a lifetime.  We made the mistake of leaving all the pictures and sculptures on the walls.  I got up to get the hammer to pull out a tack in the cement floor and fell against the wall because I was so tired.  This knocked an Indian metal sculpture off the wall and it gashed me good and deep across my right hand in two places.  I’m lucky it missed my head. 

Of course I ran for the bathroom sink leaving a trail of blood behind me.  It did cross my mind to go to the emergency room.  My hand looked like a fillet of meat.  I thought I may need stitches.  But it was late in the day and the emergency room would have cost a fortune, not to mention hours of time we didn’t have, so we finally got the bleeding stopped enough to use a band aide to patch it together.

So I kept doctoring this hand twice a day and bandaging it up.  After about a week I decided I should probably see the doctor for it.  Of course, this was impossible too because you can never get an appointment when you need one, so I spent an entire day sitting in the waiting room to see the doctor on call for the day.  They gave me a tetanus shot and also an antibiotic shot along with a prescription for antibiotics.  They said I had done a good job with it so far.  I can say that shot in the rear end made me forget my hand for a while because it hurt so bad I could hardly walk for about three hours. 

I headed to the pharmacy and then to Walmart to get a new heating pad.  Mine is about twenty years old and I’m not sure it even works anymore.  I got home just before dark.  I couldn’t believe it took all day to deal with this.

I’m back to work, but doing easy demos while my hand is healing.  It’s still a bit swollen and red and itches like mad.  I think I’m allergic to the ointment they gave me, the bad aides I’m using, or something, so I’ll have to make an appointment on my next day off and see if I can get in again to have them look at my hand.  I’m ready for this to be well, so I can move on to other things.  I have to keep it dry so I have to put on a glove and rubber band around my wrist so I can take a shower.  It’s getting old.

 This is my hand these days.  I wasn't thinking about the camera when this first happened.

I’ll end this long post with the irk portion.  Three of my neighbors have Xmas lights up already!  Good grief!  This is even earlier than last year!  Doesn’t anyone celebrate Thanksgiving anymore?  I know the house down the block at least remembers Thanksgiving is after Halloween and before Xmas because they have a whole new load of large “blow up” lawn ornaments for Thanksgiving.  As annoying as this looks, at least it’s not Xmas lights yet.  It irks me a great deal to see Xmas decorations go up before Thanksgiving.

 This is one of the prettiest sunrises I've seen since living here.  The whole sky was like this.  It was amazing.  It was about 50 degrees but I stepped out on my patio in my pj's and got this shot.

 

We should all be so thankful for all the blessings we have every day.  But the holidays have become so commercialized.  Decorations are showing up in the stores earlier every year.  I just really hate this, but I know it won’t change.  We had Halloween costumes in Costco in August and then Xmas trees up in September.  Ugh!  What is this world coming to?