Tag Archives: grocery store

On My Soap Box – Long Live Cap’n Crunch!

Posted on by

20

There is a rumor going around that Cap’n Crunch is going away, because the government is pressuring companies to market healthier cereals.

Okay NOW I’m pissed!  Flaming wrap around pissed in fact.  DEAR  UNCLE  SAM,  GET THE HELL OUT OF MY CEREAL BOWL!!!!!

Seriously, dear First Lady and others on capital  hill,  I am sure your intentions are good,  to get healthier things marketed to children, but let me remind you of something.  I grocery shop, weekly, along with the other Divas  here in the Den.  I have yet to witness a child handling the family grocery shopping.  Oh sure, kids will whine and beg (ah the memories of being little) but ultimately the decisions are made by the parents.

I am a mom.  My kids are adults now, 20 and 26 years old.  They ate Cap’n Crunch, among other unhealthy cereals.  Both are amazingly intelligent,  one being established in a law enforcement career now for 8 years, the other about to graduate  from college.  I am sure there were doubts about their future as their father and I home schooled them (*GASPS HEARD FROM THE READER COMMUNITY*).  Not only did they manage to make it to adulthood well socialized (it is absolutely amazing how much more social life a kid has when they lack hours of evening homework and can play sports, attend youth group and be involved in countless activities) but neither went to jail and both have  impressively high IQs.  Both are employed, helping to keep millions sitting on their asses on welfare watching 52 inch plasma TVs and eating bon bons.   I  know, right,  all this from idiot,  lower middle class parents that managed  without the government telling them how and when to flush the toilet.  Wonders never cease!  No village needed here, we raised them and are very proud of their ability to THINK FOR THEMSELVES!!!!  Okay maybe  with the exception of the daughter purchasing a $250 crystal studded bra, but hey we all have moments of mental weakness.  Please, don’t judge her, it was HER money, she EARNED it the old fashioned way, with a job and not a welfare check.  Shocking, I know!

As parents we made the purchasing decisions in our home.  Certainly we did buy those horrid, nasty, bad for you sugary cereals  sometimes, but we also made countless healthy and well balanced meals.  We are,  despite what the government wants us to believe, rather capable of making our own decisions and choices regarding what we eat.  We know that over consumption of crap food equals fat, unhealthy bodies.  We are very aware that if our kids sit inside and watch TV or play on the computer all day, they get NO exercise and the result again is a fat, unhealthy body.  And while  I’m at it, as parents we are also very aware that too much exposure to tanning beds or tanning outside CAN cause skin cancer.  BUT THEY ARE OUR CHILDREN!!!  We don’t need your input to raise them!  Believe it or not we are not living under rocks, we know what is healthy and not healthy.  Kids learn this stuff early on in school.  If we want to eat Cap’n Crunch Cereal and feed it to our kids, THAT IS OUR DECISION TO MAKE!  If I want to buy a Happy Meal complete with cheese burger,  fries, Coke and A COOL TOY, THAT IS OUR DECISION TO MAKE!  If I want to allow my daughter to use the tanning salon before she is 18 years old, THAT IS MY DECISION TO MAKE!  As mom I CAN say no or yes to these and dozens of other choices.

I ENJOY EATING CAP’N CRUNCH!

I BUY HAPPY MEALS FOR THE TOYS FOR ME SOMETIMES TOO!

WHEN I CAN AFFORD IT I  LIKE TO USE THE TANNING BED!

Sorry off track here a bit.  I am all for healthy options, but I still want variety and options!  Get out of our Happy Meals!  Back off  the tanning beds!  Leave my breakfast cereal alone!

As for the rumor? See the link below, seems it is NOT true, but still, stay OUT of my cereal!

Is Cap’n Crunch Retiring?

THE SKY IS FALLING!!! THE SKY IS FALLING!!!

Posted on by

16

If you do not live in this area, you really miss out on the fun of watching the panic that will set in as SNOWPOCOLYPSE decends.  Sometimes called White Death.  Known  to most of the nation simply as SNOW.  Yes snow, that stuff that happens in winter.  It is a typical occurrence here in the Cincinnati area, snow happens in winter.  But you’d think we lived in the Florida Keys and never seen the stuff before the way things will progress here.

It starts at the local news level, where I believe some sort of kick backs from grocery stores must take place.  For days out the weather men will begin predicting the coming snow storm (of 3 inches of snow) like they report on a pending hurricane on the coast.  The way people  will react to the news you’d think that is exactly the level of catastrophe we’re looking at taking place.  As the doom draws near, the panic begins and by the night before the  big event, insanity has taken over the minds of otherwise intelligent individuals.

Idea go / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Tomorrow there is a weather forecast of a ‘really big snow’.  Yes, this one is above average, we might get up to 7 or 8 inches of snow.  I’ll wait  while readers in areas such as Buffalo,  NY, laugh to the point of tears.  *insert pause* This type of snow fall here will paralyze this town.  In Buffalo and other areas I doubt it is even news that it snows.  Here, it is the leading story for days on end.  Because the snow is due here tomorrow, today is the day to get a front row seat at the grocery store.  In fact, park every extra car you own in the lot.  Anywhere will do, just go lay claim now to those spots.  You’ll thank me this evening when you can sell those  spots for about $20 a piece to the fearful coming to wipe out the grocery store.

Ah yes, the grocery store.  Out there, somewhere, is a winter survival guide that lists French Toast as the staple food to get one through a really bad blizzard.  I know this because by 10pm this evening there will be no bread, milk or eggs to be found in this city.  I have yet to figure out what else can be made from those 3 ingredients, but I am not exaggerating when I say the shelves will be empty.  You would be lucky to find a package of out dated, moldy hot dog buns at the back of what was once a well stocked bread aisle.  Hens cannot hope to keep up with the demand for eggs, and the cows will be drained dry.  It is frankly pathetic.   Really folks, if we are going to be snowed in for any length of time, what good are 10 loaves of bread, 8 dozen eggs and 5 gallons of milk???   Why not steak, potatoes, some veggies, dessert (ice cream!), a few cases of beer and  a few dozen bottles of wine, some snacks and a bunch of fire wood? That sounds like better choices to me.  Just saying.

I have lived in this city for 47 years.  I’ve survived the blizzards of 77 and 78.  Snow emergencies were declared at level 3, no one but the emergency personnel (cops, EMS, fire) were permitted on the  roads (mandatory snow days for adults are the best!), and at no time were we close to starving.  Possible death by BOREDOM perhaps but not from being snowed in, trapped, lost in white death.  WE HAVE SNOW PLOWS!!!! We have salt trucks!! And within 24 hours the roads will, for the most part, be reasonable.

I won’t drive in the bad stuff, my car is paid off and it is rear wheel drive.  I’m not stupid enough to chance it. But I will NOT panic.  I will curl up in a chair, sip hot cocoa & coffee, in my slippers and jammies and watch the deer that frequent our back yard, and watch the snow fall.

What I won’t be doing is watching local stations on TV.  Our local news media will report on the snow fall as if the Lord is returning.  From the time the first flake floats gracefully down to earth it will be wall to wall coverage of SNOW FALLING!  Every  local  news station will have every available reporter standing in various parking lots and at intersections throughout the city to report what we might not be aware of…OMGITISSNOWING!!!!  Yep, I am not kidding, this is big news.  I’ve said it before, if the world was coming to an end, a meteor was headed on a crash course with the earth and we were about to be destroyed before the dinner hour, we in the greater Cincinnati area would be blissfully ignorant of the impending death because OMGITISSNOWING!!!!!  Snowpocolypse is news here, BIG news.  If you are hoping to catch The Ellen Show, The View or The Young And The Restless, give it up.  God forbid the news would break away for the day from reporting that roads are getting slick and the snow is coming down.  A fact that everyone in the city aside from those under anesthesia for surgery will be well aware of simply by looking out a window!!!  This will continue until the last flake falls and the roads have been cleared, usually within about 24-36 hours.

Someone is shaking our snow globe!!! Run, Chicken Little, buy bread, milk, eggs!! The sky will be falling!!!

A Bowl Of Fruit Loops

Posted on by

6

Last time I referred to it as walking through the fruit loop garden, but tonight I’m kinda tired and feeling a tad lazy, so we’re just going to sit on the side of the bowl and dangle our feet in.  This is one of those posts full of random thoughts that have zero connection for the most part other than it came from my brain, a confusing and scary place for many when I open up and start sharing.  Get your spoon.

This was an interesting week.  Tuesday the big boss decided work had dropped off enough to shut down our Cincinnati and Dayton offices for winter.   I wasn’t really surprised, I schedule the work and maintain the production board so it was rather evident to me that this was coming.  Still wasn’t a happy moment when I got that call to start tying up the loose ends.   I resisted the urge to panic and instead got online and started mass sending my resume through local job sites and on various hospital career postings.  I  also utilized Facebook and Twitter, and sent a ton of emails to contacts, feeding my information and resume.  Even dug out a business card from a potential a year ago.  Hoping to be working again next week, I CANNOT handle the boredom of being out of a job again, I’ll be crawling on the ceilings in under a month.  Hoping to find something far more long term…as in years.

I am thinking this whole menopause  thing is settling in and that makes me most  unhappy.   I am rolling through the hot flashes and finding them to be quite irritating.  We don’t need the furnace, I can slowly stroll through  the entire  house and keep it warm.   The night sweats are a real treat too.  Power surges? Heck I could light the whole township for an hour at a time with those lovely attacks.  Sometimes being female truly sucks.

Ya me!  I found eye glass chains for my readers/cheaters!  I stopped at a local, family owned Pharmacy and got my flu shot ($20, which is $5-10 cheaper than the big grocery store pharmacies have them) and while there found the chains!  Go ahead, make old lady jokes, I don’t care because now I  know where my glasses are all the time when I need them.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: We interrupt this blog to alert you to the following information:

There are only 50 shopping days until Christmas!!!!!!

We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog post already in progress….

The neighbor across the street has a shutter that periodically falls off the house.  He gets up there and messes with it and puts it back, then along comes a good wind or thunderstorm, though sometimes for no apparent reason at all, and it falls off the house.  Currently it is back up but I’m  seriously considering taking $1  wagers here in the Princess Palace on when it will fall down again, as many chances as you’d like, and she who comes closest without going past wins.  We sick chicks find the  whole thing very entertaining.

I GET TO SLEEP IN TOMORROW!  I am easily amused and thrilled by the little things in life.  Sleeping in being one of my guilty pleasures makes me HAPPY!!

So, how DO you solve a problem like Maria?

YIKES! CSI tonight is looking gross!  Well okay it IS gross!!!! But I love watching this stuff.

That nasty, 4 letter word is in the forecast.  I do not care if it is only flurries, it means cold and I really don’t like cold!!!  I’m missing summer so badly, I love warm weather.  Turning on the electric blanket !!

ATTENTION SON AND DAUGHTER – still waiting on your Christmas wish lists.  Really, I want to be done before Black Friday so step it up please!

I  just saw a commercial for baby carrots, using sex to sell them.  Really? Unreal…and frankly a very creative commercial!

Okay, CSI is wrapping up this  neat little murder case, in under an hour as usual. Gotta go see how this ends, it has been very good!

Okay, spoons and feet out of the bowl everyone!

Wine & Cheese – 12th Serving

Posted on by

2

Every week on Wednesday I  devote a blog to whining.  Despite being a really happy, positive person, I do have things that annoy me at times.  I never let anything grate on my nerves for long but thought it would be fun to vent them periodically in my blogs.

I also feel that good things, the cheese in life, should be acknowledged as well.

I’m even going to throw in a bit of dessert, a piece of virtual chocolate, something that made me laugh or smile  just a bit more than normal.

Sit back and join me now for the 11th serving of some wine and cheese!

WINE

Bag It, Stuff It, Can It!

What is so hard about properly sealing up one’s garbage, especially when it is going to sit at the curb over night until the sanitation crew gets there to pick it up?  All these half-assed bagging and canning jobs leave for crap spilled out when the winds pick up, or being ripped into by animals.  And then, as if that is not enough, the home owner puts their cans away, but leaves the spilled contents there at the curb and in the street.  Okay, sure, the trash person COULD pick it up, but if he or she did this at every house where it occurs they’d never finish a route in a day!  I get that critters get into cans, we had raccoons get into ours until we figured out that by drilling a hole on the opposite side of the handle, and using bungie cords over the top from the hole to the handle really did work.  I even understand that there are times it simply cannot be helped, but pick up the garbage left behind from your can.  OH and could you maybe get the cans from the curb in a timely fashion, say a day or two or three, so we don’t have to play dodge ‘em with them in the street?

Captain Disappointment

I was so tickled when Diva Mom and Diva  Boo went grocery shopping recently and brought me home a box of Captain Crunch with Crunch Berries cereal.  It is a major favorite of mine and I could not wait to indulge.  This past weekend I did just that and OMG WTF who screwed with my favorite less than healthy breakfast and made it healthier????  Seriously they must have reduced the sugar content and added minerals or fiber or shredded cardboard.  This is NOT my cereal!!!  This is NOT your mama’s Captain Crunch, this is a healthy, junked  DOWN imitation!  REALLY????  Look, we old folks  grew up eating all kinds of stuff that clogs arteries, supposedly (key word) makes kids hyper, and will make one fat if they don’t exercise and we all survived!  STOP MESSING WITH MY CEREALS!!!  I want the original back, thank you very much!

Dining With Demons

I am all for taking the kiddos to dinner, IF your little darlings know how to behave when out for a meal.  In case you hadn’t noticed from the daggers being glared your direction from all points in the restaurant, your little demon screaming at the top of his or her lungs is not behaving.  And it is rude.  And it is far from cute.  I know, you are tired, over worked, want to have someone else cook and clean up.  All us parents have been where you are, but if little Bobby or Cindy cannot sit through the meal without throwing a temper tantrum, running around like this is a playground, or throwing things, then get a damn baby sitter or pick up McDonald’s and eat in the park or at home.  No one should be subjected to that ear drum shattering crying because junior isn’t getting his way.  Children running about put other patrons and staff at risk.  Imagine your toddler running into a waitress carrying a heavy tray containing several dinners, some being very hot.  A serious injury can occur and then your sorry self wants to sue!  Plant that kid or take her home.  Try a little discipline but please stop subjecting the rest of us to this dinner from hell.  And no, my kids did not do this, not more than once. The first and only time they found themselves in their car seat fast while the rest of the family finished dinner, one of us sitting in the car with the offender.  And punishment was dealt and we never had to repeat that incident.

CHEESE

Seasonal flavored coffees are in a grocery store near you!  Well near me anyway.  *HUGE HAPPY SMILE*  I love flavored coffee and nothing beats when the holiday flavors start to appear on the grocery store shelves.  Currently we in the Princess Palace are all going Diva over Pumpkin Spice coffee. YUM!!!!  Peppermint has already shown up too, and a number of others.   YEAH HOLIDAY FAVORITES!!

I found out this past weekend that two of my favorite things got in bed together and made another, new favorite thing for me to enjoy.  WoodWick Candles are by far my favorite candle ever.  When you light one it sounds like a fire crackling.  Febreze makes some of the best home fragrance items around, like their luminaries that look and smell like a candle burning but run off batteries and are safe to fall asleep or leave unattended.  Well it seems the two got together and now we can buy Febreze Wooden Wick Candles, combining the sound with some of the best smells around! I am too excited and cannot wait to try these. Not entirely certain it is WoodWick brand but it does appear there is a trademark on the label, I’ll have to look into that part!

The NFL season kicks off this week, and while I am sorry to say good-bye to summer and hot weather, I gotta say that I AM SO READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL!!!!  Got my first fix this weekend watching the UC Bearcats game, and cannot wait for Sunday to arrive for the Cincinnati Bengals season opener!!!  YAHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

DESSERT

I do benefits for all religions. I’d hate to blow the hereafter on a technicality. ~ Bob Hope

Wine & Cheese – 5th Serving

Posted on by

3

Every week for Wine & Cheese Wednesday I have decided to devote a blog to whining.  Despite being a really happy, positive person, I do have things that annoy me at times.  I never let anything grate on my nerves for long but thought it would be fun to vent them periodically in my blogs.  I also feel that good things, the cheese in life, should be acknowledged as well.  I’m even going to throw in a bit of dessert, a piece of virtual chocolate, something that made me laugh or smile  just a bit more than normal.

5th Glass of Wine

Between The Lines Lame Brains

Parking lots  are one of those places I can find a lot to whine about it would seem.  Take the simple task of parking ones car.  Nice lines are painted throughout the lot designating parking spaces.  The objective is to pull your car in between the lines of a parking space.  Let me go slower for those that have difficulty grasping this concept.  Pull into the parking space, so that your car sits IN BETWEEN THE LINES.  One space per car, so two lines is the goal.  No parking over the top of a line so that now you have 3  lines to yourself, that is a no no!  If that  confuses you ask any 2 year old child, they grasp the no no thing.  Like many who park over the lines in the lot, they pay attention about as well but then they are 2 and if you are driving you are at least 16 years old so this shouldn’t be too complex.  Should you come across someone who has failed to get their car between the lines, simply flatten 2 of their tires as no one carries more than one spare park in the first completely available spot closest to the offender and leave a really nasty note on their windshield resist the temptation to park as they did, over the lines.  This throws the entire system off balance and upsets those  of us who DO  park in one space.

Phantom Poopers

These offenders of our parks, as mentioned in a previous edition of Wine & Cheese Wednesday, are lurking about our neighborhoods!  Disguised as friendly neighbors they commit a  terrible offense against their unsuspecting nearby residents!  Under the cover of darkness, either very early before sunrise, or just after the sun has set, they walk their doggies allowing their  little canine companions to poop in YOUR yard!  These rude,  doo-doo brained pooch owners don’t want to clean up their own lawns,  so they slip around like thieves in the night, crapping their mutts on others prized grasses.  Some are very bold, strolling along in broad daylight while Fifi squats and drops by your perennials then eases  on down the road like it never happened.  Then along comes your snotty nosed kid precious little angel and he or she steps square  in the deposit and tracks it through your house!   OH if only we could catch these phantoms and then we could relocate their puppy’s  calling cards to their own front porch square in front of their door!  Be a good neighbor and pick up after  your four-legged  furry kids,  please!

Express Brain Deficiencies

Grocery stores have done many things to make our shopping experience more enjoyable and efficient.  One of the best things since sliced bread is the express lane. The whole idea behind this lane is to get folks with SMALL (key word there) orders through the check out faster.  The express lane is clearly marked and most allow for 10 to 15 items OR LESS (note that does not say MORE).  Inevitably there is someone who failed kindergarten mathematics that will ease on into the express  lane with their cart that clearly has far more in it than 10 or 15 items.  Perhaps they are confused and think that if you have 4 loaves of bread and 6 packages of buns, that this is  ONE bread unit (all  of them are in the bread family) as opposed to 10 individual items.  This same person thinks 3 packages of chicken and 4  individually wrapped pounds of ground beef are ONE meat unit rather than 7 items.  One unit of breakfast food  consists of 5 boxes of cereal, 2 – 1 dozen cartons of eggs and 3 packages of goetta.   I cannot fathom such ignorance can see how they arrived at the register thinking they had 3 items (bread, meat and breakfast) and not 27 individual items.  They are  rude jackasses misunderstanding how this all adds up.  Perhaps they could ask any preschool  scholar in the store to count up their cart load for them next time they are not certain if they qualify for the express lane?

A Serving Of Cheese

Sanitation Workers

Trash man, garbage men, or the more politically correct  term of sanitation worker, doesn’t matter what you call them, without them we’d be tail deep in nasty, smelling trash.  Theirs is a most unpleasant occupation and we often take them for granted.  But tomorrow morning they will come and take away all that we have sitting out at the curb.  You men and women are awesome and I very much thank you!

My Hair Stylist

Debbie just rocks my world!  She  knows me  like  no one else.  She should be a shrink…no wait  she is better than a shrink.  In a short period of time every few weeks she  is a friendly ear that knows  more about me than my next door neighbor.  Not only is she a caring person that is one of my greatest cheer leaders she also is a hair artist!  She makes my hair look fantastic and patiently tolerates my ‘growing out’ periods that she knows are not going to last before she is hitting my locks and taking me back to a short hair style again.  I just love that woman!

Beautiful Sunrises

Nothing is quite as beautiful as the colors of nature.  Flowers, really blue skies and sunrises with bright orange and pink clouds.  Go it one better and see the sun seemingly rise out of the ocean.  God or chance, whatever your view, nothing compares to the colors of the world that are not man made, but created by the natural world around us.

Dessert

Airplane: a vehicle the Wright brothers invented immediately after driving cross-country with family. ~ Tweeted by Daffynitions and retweeted by FunnyOneLiners