When will the madness stop? Now it's Pajama Jeans!!!!

I have a few pet peeves, but probably the biggest one I have is when people wear their pajamas in public. I do not understand how one cannot get out of bed and get dressed before leaving their house. To me, it is the epitome of sheer laziness. Yes, we all enjoy elastic waistband clothing, especially this time of year, and we all enjoy comfort, but seriously you can't put a pair of jogging pants or blue jeans on to buy your gallon of milk? What made it even more convenient for those lazy folks, is the fact that what was once known as pajama pants are now being marketed as "comfy pants".  I must say, it's a great marketing tool to get you to wear their clothing 24/7. Old Navy is one of the biggest culprits. It used to be only teenagers doing it; however, I now see adults. I even saw a grown man the other day at QT in his pajamas. Do we really care if you like Moose, reindeer or monkeys?

Yesterday, I turn on the TV to find this hilarious commercial (see link below). 

I give up! June Cleaver is rolling over in her grave!

https://www.pajamajeans.com/flare/next?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=PJOfficial&etag=pjx&gclid=CLe6qcSKl6YCFUla2god9g4xow

What a Tool!!

Hubby goes to the dentist this morning and this is what he sees on the couch in the reception area:

This teenager does not bother to get up or even move as other people come in to wait for their appointment. In fact, at one point he even falls back to sleep. My husband asked the staff if they allowed homeless people to now sleep in the reception area. What a tool!!!!

Take out tax?!?!?!?!

So I have to share my poor lunch choice in order to tell this story. I had errands to run around town and was about to get on the highway but was starving so I decided to drive through Mickey D's to grab a Happy Meal. I'm sorry but sometimes I just love those french fries, and quite honestly that is the easiest meal to eat while driving.

I placed the order, noticed the price and drove around to the window where José took my dinero. He asked for more than what was on the menu board and when reading the receipt, I discovered that McDonald's now charges a "takeout tax".  What the hell is that? Don't we pay enough taxes, not to mention all the ridiculous fees on every bill we pay such as the insane "taxes" on a cell phone bill, the ludicrous taxes on a car rental at the airport, etc.  I eat Mickey D's MAYBE twice a year and have never noticed this charge before. I wonder if there is a "eat in tax"?  Then I start thinking, is this tax going towards healthcare due to the high obesity rates from people (me excluded of course) eating McDonald's every day? 

So once I got home I went on the all knowing Internet to research this new charge on my receipt. Here is what I found from a Houston news report:

That tax is just the straight sales tax.  If you notice the next time you eat in at a McDonald's, the line will say "Dine In" or "Eat In."  It's the same tax rate, whatever your state and local sales tax rate is. Steve Lykins of McDonald's Memphis restaurants says the company has a uniform receipt software package.  He says every McDonald's in America will have the "take out" or "dine in" line-items on their receipts.  The reason, he says, is some states like California actually have a separate take out tax.  So the software has to be able to accommodate those states so their revenue departments can accurately collect those taxes.

So I brushed my ruffled feathers back into place....and started looking in the medicine cabinet for some Zantac. So much for calling it a "happy" meal..... tell that to my waistline.Oh well, as Scarlett O'Hara says, "there's always tomorrow". 

    

Mmmmm that smells so good!

I love it when I find a new discovery....I also love this time of year.  While I adore the holidays, Christmas is over.....the gifts have been dispersed, the bells and garland are packed away, and I am always excited about a new year and new beginnings. We have a fresh sheet of paper to make new memories, meet new friends, see new places, try new foods, and discover whatever else comes along our path (hopefully a new job).  I also like to make Goodwill bags, buy some new items at those January white sales and freshen up the house....  

Oh yea, back to my new discovery. So I was at Walmart this morning for groceries.  Tip if you can do it:  grocery shop on a weekday morning....you get the whole store to yourself. For those of you employed, sorry, price you pay for having a paycheck...:)

I have always loved Mrs. Meyers cleaning products - they're natural, fresh, but unfortunately expensive. However, they have a put a new line of this product in at Walmart and my new discovery today is the Countertop Spray - BASIL.  How apropos as I was shopping for ingredients to make Chicken Parmesan tonight. 

Basil is glorious.  It's part of the mint family.  It's smell and taste, though predominantly in Italian cooking, is versatile. Now apparently, Mrs. Meyer has put it in her cleaning products.  I scrubbed down the kitchen this morning, a necessary evil, and it now smells out of this world! They also have this in lanudry detergent and a candle (which I think I'll try when I'm done burning through the ones I have).

We're having friends over for dinner - so I wanted the house to have that "we're having friends over" scent.  Divine!  While usually pricey, and still higher than your standard cleaners, Mrs. Meyers is cheaper at Walmart, as compared to other stores like Sprous or Whole Foods.

Just my little tip of the day.......may your new year's blank page be filled with happy memories!  J9R

Lunar Eclipse & ADD

The lunar eclipse, the first one in 372 years to coincide with Winter Solstice happened last night, or rather this morning. Hubby says "let's set alarm and wake up to look at it!"  Okay, I think.  It's so rare, sounds good.  He's being spontaneous so I'm going with it.   

Alarm goes off which seems like minutes after I heard Jay Leno talking and we venture outside in our jammies with our unipod and camera in hand to catch this natural space odyssey and wonderment. The weather outside was amazing. You could have been camping (if one's inclined to camping), it was so lovely. Light breeze was blowing, stars were bright, clear skies, and the orange moon with a sliver of white as the eclipse started. We heard a few other doors open and shut so apparently we weren't the only star gazing geeks in the neighborhood. 

Hubby sets up the unipod (to keep camera still with night shots which are impossible to take) to start our photo session.   

"It's only a Kodak digital, I don't think we're really going to get any good pics" I say.  

"Sure we will!"  he says.

Below are our Time Magazine Pictures of the Week shots.....:)

Zoom in a bit more!

Okay, now focus!

Good Lord do you want me to do it?? 

Apparently husband was a bit nervous with my directions, or is that his finger?

Here's what it should have looked like.

We saw a few shooting stars and after our pics and viewing headed back in.

We turned on the TV, thinking we could catch some amazing video on Discovery or The Weather Channel, someone with a little better camera skills then what we were using. No such luck but we came across some absolutely hilarious TV. Let's see, Maury was still trying to make sure every baby mama across America gets proper DNA testing for their bastard children, there was a Spanish speaking version of "The View" and KERA was advertising "ADD and loving it!"  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRjbjYeUI7U&feature=related WTF?!?!?!  Maybe if you got some sleep instead of watching TV at 2 am you could pay attention!

I'm going back to bed until the next lunar eclipse, not slated until June 15, 2011. Well, as soon as I get done ordering this Abdoer Twist Abs Chair. Afterall, it's almost January 1st, my new diet will be starting soon. 

"Honey, where's our credit card?"

Bears, Bangers & Boobies

Funny story - we went to an Irish pub last night as hubby wanted to celebrate his break from school (getting A's), and watch his beloved Vikings and Favre play in today's version of Ice Bowl, despite being 70 here today - and definitely not Christmas weather. We picked a great spot in front of the giant TV projector screen. Other tables were seated around us and right in front of us was a small table where a man was with a new baby (weird in bar I thought), who despite his largely elf-shaped ears, was doning a Santa Claus suit (the baby, not the man). We couldn't decide if it was a boy or girl, but since it was wearing Santa, we went with little guy. The man had the baby on the table, holding him, entertaining him, etc....and at one point we saw the mom, who was apparently playing poker in another part of the bar. (They have a free poker tourney so people can learn, watch games, drink, etc.)

When we sat down we ordered calamari to get the night going and I ordered Bangers & Mash (sausages and garlic mashed potatoes). The Bangers were delivered hot and delish, sitting proudly on top of the creamy mashed potatoes and lightly cloaked in a Guinness brown gravy.....yum! Hubby had an Inferno Burger with spicy mayo, pepper jack and fried jalapenos - all very tasty....we split the dishes as usual so we could try both.

Just as we were about to bite into our food the Mom (of Baby Claus) comes over, "Mommy's here to feed you!  Mommy's here to feed you!"  Now this robust woman was larger than life....literally.....and she plops down, whips out her boob and starts feeding old Saint Nick.  My mouth was probably hanging open with a banger falling out of it......I nudge Hubby, who's lost in his burger and Favre being slammed into the ground of the frozen tundra hearing his 40-year-old bones crack. "Hey look, she's feeding Kris Kringle."  Not giving him any specifics he looks over:  "Oh god, why did you tell me that!"  We weren't the only ones looking in subtle shock. Couples were looking, a group of "Bears Fans" there to watch the game were looking, one just couldn't help it. 

So I say, "Santa is a boob man!"  We get over it and enjoy our dinner, but ladies please note: if you need to feed your baby, you are more than welcome to do it, just please be more discreet!  Gave the definition of a "boobie bar" a whole different meaning. 

....and remember, he's had his milk, just leave him some cookies this year!