Category: Musings

Musings

Ode to the Target flyer

Mary C

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If you’re not a newspaper reader, you may not know what I’m talking about. Sometime about the end of March, I noticed Target stopped inserting their weekly flyer into the Sunday newspaper. Honestly, it was a highlight of my Sunday reading experience. Among the bevy of flyers that come with the paper each week, there was just something about the Target insert that stood out. Maybe it was the paper, the size, the graphic design, the way they didn’t cram the space like grocery stores do so you can easily see what’s on display for the week.

Reading the Target flyer, saving it for last, was like prolonging that yummy dessert while you consumed the nutritious protein and veggies first. I’d pull it from the large stack of flyers, it was usually nestled into the front of the comics and I’d give it a place away from the general muck of the other sections so it didn’t get lost. I’d scan headlines, read stories that didn’t require a jump (continue on another page) and kept to the lighter stories of the day.  Hey, it’s Sunday, a day of rest and good news, right?

But then it was time to devote some time to Target. What was on sale this week? Would there be anything we needed to stock up on or think about for a future purchase? Page by page I’d note what were the electronics specials, what new books and movies on DVD were coming out on Tuesday, what season of life it was – summer, back to school, holiday.  I’d scan for the specials on clothing and fitness gear.

Those days are gone along with living our public lives without masks. It doesn’t keep me from hoping there will be a flyer in the current week’s Sunday edition, especially with back to school right around the corner, whatever that may mean. My trips to Target have dwindled whether it’s due to the missing flyers or the pandemic’s lack of needs, I’m not sure. I hope someday it will be back, it just won’t be today.

MC

 

Musings

Phone tech that makes life easy and better

Mary C

I’m typing on my phone and I was playing around with some speech functions and now my phone is robotically repeating what I type. I am constantly amazed by technology but I have to admit this is getting pretty annoying so I’ll be right back!

It’s nice to know that feature exists, though. I’m realizing how little I know about the capabilities of my phone and it’s just a little bit scary. The one thing I do like about writing on my phone is how it completes the words I start typing. I feel like there’s probably even a setting where I could speak my blog post into it and it would simply type it as I speak but what would be the fun in that.

Sometimes I even play around with sentences where I choose from the auto fill words below. I lead a pretty exciting life, huh. But hands down, the coolest feature for me is that it delivers music and other audio directly to my hearing aids. This is especially awesome for phone calls because it brings a whole new meaning to hands free. My hearing aids are not easily detectable so if you don’t know I have this superpower you might think I’m nuts when I seem to be talking to no one.

Technology is great for everyone but it makes life for people with disabilities (although I’ve never really thought of myself as having a disability) pretty awesome.

What astounds you about the technology we have today?

MC

Musings

Tackling Monday like a boss

Mary C

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Do you know anyone who schedules dentist appointments for Monday mornings, first appointment of the day? That would be me. Many, many years ago I learned about what happens when you schedule any sort of appointment for the middle of the day. I once waited in a doctors office for nearly two hours and it wasn’t for a “slot me in as soon as you can appointment” either. Things can go horribly wrong in anyone’s schedule but I usually find that first thing Monday mornings are not it. That’s when I have my car serviced, teeth cleaned or anything else I have a modicum of control over scheduling.

Continue reading “Tackling Monday like a boss” →

Musings

10 Minute Blog: Magazines

Mary C

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The other day I decided to make another go at a new vision board and after looking through the small pile at home, realized I needed to pick more up on my next trip to Target later in the day. I puttered around the store for a while and finally made it to the rear where the books are found. Side note: how come Target keeps rearranging their stores so we can’t find anything? I wheeled the cart around the book and electronics area a few times but couldn’t find the magazines. It seems they no longer have a large selection like I remembered.

I finished my shopping and finally found a couple magazines near the checkout but for a vision board, you need a bit more variety than was offered there. Later in the day I was at my neighborhood drugstore for a couple items Target didn’t carry. Again, I looped around the school supplies and greeting card area where they are usually found. The magazine section was gone aside from a paltry few offerings by the prescription checkout. The young woman behind the counter gave me a quizzical look when I asked where all the magazines were.

When did this happen? And when did individual issues start costing 5, 6 and 15! dollars? I remember when a subscription for a year was $12 and to buy them in the store was generally under $2. I guess I am deeply out of touch with the magazine industry although it really shouldn’t surprise me since the newspaper industry (which I spent 20 years in) has gone the same way.

My last hope is Barnes and Noble. I generally browse the magazine section there and last I checked they had a pretty robust offering. The question is will it break the bank!

Do you still read magazines?

MC

Musings

The Junk Room

Mary C

 

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Did you think I’d actually post a picture of the junk room?

I refuse to keep a junk drawer. When we re-did our kitchen last summer, it was the first thing to go and I’m pretty vigilant about making sure those extra random things do not end up in the silverware drawer. But a junk room I do have. Do you have one? A room where all the miscellaneous stuff we collect over the years and no longer use or need ends up? And also the stuff you use infrequently?

I came face to face with mine today and it wasn’t pretty. When I first became jobless a few months ago, I dove headlong into decluttering and then got stalled when it got to other people’s stuff (mainly my husband’s). I am not good with throwing out other people’s stuff because I don’t want to be blamed if something crucial goes missing. I also have not found a good way to motivate them to do their own decluttering. All ideas are welcome!

Continue reading “The Junk Room” →

Musings

Yummy Mummy!

Mary C

Did you ever tumble headlong into a world you had no idea existed? I was looking for something to pass the time last week and after visiting a few YouTube pages and finding little to entertain, I opened up the Netflix app on my phone and clicked on a title called Yummy Mummies. I thought back to the period just after I had my son and I would watch TLC (The Learning Channel) for hours on end. I particularly loved shows about pregnancy and babies and thought about this nostalgicly as I settled in to watch a show about some pregnant moms-to-be from down under. This was a rabbit hole I didn’t climb out of for many hours: it was ridiculously addicting.

It was also unlike any other reality tv show I have ever watched and I have a couple of seasons of RHOBH under my belt. These ladies (particularly Maria from Adelaide) take diva to a level that makes me fairly uncomfortable as they nest by accumulating designer baby gear (Dior bottles, Versace receiving blankets, matching baby and mum Burberry pajamas), peruse for “push” gifts (diamonds, Rolexes and Range Rovers) and plan babymoons on the Gold Coast. I live in a completely different world where Michael Kors and Coach are the highest of my designer aspirations and where my kid grew up in clothes from Target and occasionally Macy’s.

I admit I was completely taken in by these characters and couldn’t stop watching (my favorite was Rachel). There was a bit of a feud/competition between the Melbourne moms (Lorinska, Jane and Rachel) and Maria (mostly on Maria’s part) about who would have the better baby shower, etc. They would constantly make fun of each other and I guess the entertainment value was to find out who would do what next. Maria’s mom (mum) was, just, WOW! I can’t even find the word for it. She certainly had a hand in raising her daughter to be the narcissistic diva she is today.

The other ladies were fairly tame and reminded me of the characters from Sex and the City if they had kept going and all had babies. They dressed to the nines as they shopped for their push presents and induldged in lunches, pampering and more as they got ready for motherhood. I’m not saying this has been the best way to pass the time, but it sure was an eye opener about how the other half lives. I was never happier to settle into bed in my Target pajamas at the end of the day.

Do you have any guilty pleasures reality tv?

MC

Musings

Bingeing

Mary C

Over the past couple of years I’ve gotten away from watching television. There seemed to be no time to keep up with all the shows people were talking about: Game of Thrones, This is Us, Big Little Lies. And Grey’s Anatomy is still on! The last shows I properly binged on were Downton Abbey and Breaking Bad, two shows so good but as different as could be.

Instead I was reading every chance I had and you can see the numbers of books read climb as my TV watching diminished right up to last year where I managed 83 book. Now I have all the time in the world and I’m finding it hard to focus on one book for very long. I had always loved movies so I started going again and have seen The Favourite (astonishing) and On the Basis of Sex (this calls into question what am I actually doing with my life) in the past week. And since I’m solo here in Florida, I turned on Amazon Prime and was delighted to see Lady Bird on there, a movie I had hoped to see in the theater. It is exactly the kind of quirky movie I love. The next night I watched Beautiful Boy, a heartbreaking movie about a drug addicted son that I wrote about here.

This brought me to yesterday. I am trying to go between the books The Alice Network and The Gifts of Imperfection but cannot stay focused. Instead I perused a few YouTube channels I follow but still nothing held my interest. I cleaned around the house and by 6:00 I found myself collapsed in my chair and started looking for something on Netflix. After the requisite 30 minutes of scrolling I settled on You.

I am now properly hooked after binge watching the first four episodes. I don’t know whether it is good fortune or bad but there are only 10 episodes right now so it won’t be a situation where I’m bingeing for days in a row. While You is no Breaking Bad, it is definitely keeping me entertained and surprised.

What are you watching?

MC

Musings

Where are my glasses?

Mary C

 

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Several years ago I realized a dream I didn’t know began in fourth grade when I was sentenced to using eyeglasses on a daily basis. It took me a while to get the hang of them and I’d often arrive at school sans glasses not realizing my error until I was squinting at the blackboard, unable to determine what was on it. This being the late 70’s, glasses for kids were pretty damn ugly. I hid them as often as I could – at recess, playing with friends and even while reading, preferring to stuff my nose in a book rather than suffer the indignity of being called four eyes. What was the dream? Lasik surgery!

But let me back up because that wasn’t the first dream of bespectacled me because as soon as I heard about the existence of contact lenses, I knew they were for me. I begged for them. Honestly I begged at every chance and mom would always say maybe when you’re older and more responsible. When I graduated from eighth grade, I was suddenly old enough and responsible enough and I couldn’t get to the eye doctor soon enough. This was bigger for me than turning sixteen and going to get your driver’s permit.

Continue reading “Where are my glasses?” →

Musings

A Billion Dollars

Mary C

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I did not win the $1.6 billion lottery last night. That’s ok because I didn’t even buy a ticket as I was hoping to ride my husband’s office pool ticket to a win. Do you ever imagine what would happen if you won a big lottery pot of gold? I must be a glass half empty kind of girl because my mind always goes to the stories where people’s lives are ruined by a big windfall. The ones where everyone is fighting over the money. The money is spent in a grandiose and spendthrift manner and is gone in the blink of an eye. I don’t like drama in my life and I think where there is big money, there is big drama.

If I were to win some money, I would only want enough to pay off all our debts (which are not huge at this point in my life) and those of my family. Maybe it would be nice to win enough to quit my job and pursue my dream to write full time. I don’t think I’m cut out for a life of leisure. Spa days and shopping jags are fun but an occasional splurge is all I can handle. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about retirement (objects in mirror are closer than they appear). I wonder what I’ll do with my days as I’ll no longer have a kid to launch into the world which takes up about 80% of my free time.

I try to bring my mind back to the present when I start to look so far into the future. I have to stay grounded in today and not worry so much about a future that is hazy at best. I’m plugging away day by day. Trying to create memories for my family and myself that will be waiting for me when I’m old and gray. There, I did it again. Bringing it back to today.

MC