Shocking Shopping

 Just look at this little face.  Quite a difference from 7 days ago!!  This is his happy play-with-me smile.  As much as I love his smile, I hate to see it because he's not allowed to play with his toys.  Although the stitches inside his mouth will dissolve on their own, that won't happen for at least another two weeks.  

Yeah .... he's pretty demanding!!  I have a soft toy, but I think it gets hung up on the stitches, so today when in town, I'll try to find something soft and not fuzzy.  What a kid this guy is!!  And yes, that's a loud SHARP bark he has, good for notifying me a car went by or a mockingbird just landed in the yard!!

Having no summer clothes to wear that can appear in public, I finally decided to bite the bullet and head to town.  Town is 40 miles away.  I go there because when our Gottschalks closed down, it was the only place to buy anything I could wear to work.  I guess it's a good thing I retired.

I dropped my purse when I saw this!!  I guess it's good for street walking so people can see you coming from far far away!!  

I started checking tags.  This is Macys ... one of the biggest and best stores in California.  There was not one single tag that said made in the U.S.A.  Every single item came from China, Vietnam or Thailand.  

CHEAP fabric ... very thin and flimsy with absolutely no shape to it at all.  I guess everything is just supposed to hang off you.  This one made my eyes hurt.  Let's face it ... I'm an old gal dresser from the days of suits and classy clothes.  This (excuse my expression) CRAP is not only not my style, but I wouldn't be caught dead in it.

I laughed out loud when I walked by this.  This is STYLE?  Who wears this stuff????  I thought going to the actual store would be better than buying on the internet, but I'm having second thoughts.  Oh I tried on a couple of things that I thought were terrible, just to see if maybe they looked better ON.

I looked like I had a big trash bag full of dirty laundry inside the shirt.  Two buttons popped off on the dressing room floor before I even put it on.  And that's another thing ... this store is well over 8,000 square feet and there is only ONE dressing room.  There used to be FOUR.  

This will make your day ... the cleaning lady was mopping the floor in the changing room next to me.  I heard her say to lock the door, she would come back with a different kind of cleaner.  Why?  She said because someone PEED in the stall on the floor, so she had to sanitize it.  That's it for me ... I'm never going back.

I was instantly depressed.  Maybe there's another store in this big mall.  Ummm that would be a no.  I counted six stores for kids and babies, four stores to buy ball caps and NO stores to buy women's clothing.  In fact, the entire Mall has gone to the dogs.  There are no recognizable stores except Penneys and Macys. By the way, Macy's now has there entire bottom floor adorned with big signs all in Spanish.  

It's like shopping in a ghost town ... oh there are a few people shopping, but NO ONE cleaning up or straightening up anything, let alone manning a checkout desk.  The entire store looked like my teenage bedroom!  People didn't used to make messes like this in the old days.  What's going on?  Me thinks there's no respect left in the world for other's property.

After walking the entire length of this big mall, I bought one lousy pretzel for $6.00.  That's another thing ... no one posts their prices any more for food!  If you want to know, you have to ask.  

By days end I had one cheap blouse in hand that at least fit reasonably well.  Probably worth about $5, the tag said $32 and I paid $20.  Add to that the $26 in fuel it cost me to get there and back, along with the pretzel and it's total is now $52.  If I'm lucky, it will last through three washings, so if you see me wearing this ten times in a row, don't ask!!!

By the time I got home I was exhausted.  It's sad to see just how far down the rabbit hole this place has gone.  I'm not sure it's any better anywhere else.  It makes me wonder if my Grandmother thought the same thing in her old age.

At least Mother Nature keeps supplying us with beautiful sunsets.

I'm off this morning to prep for the Elks Lodge Father's Day Brunch.  This one is free for all members and their families.  Hopefully I'll be catching up on my beauty sleep today in preparation for tomorrow's 6:00 morning!!