We were lucky enough to have a Hostess/Wonder Outlet right up the street. I have bought my bread there for years. We aren't the American white Wonder Bread kind of people. They had a wonderful bread-- Nature's Pride Double Fiber Whole Wheat bread. There were times that our favorite bread was $1.99/loaf. I cashed in when I could find it for 99 cents a loaf. You see, the normal retail is about $4. a loaf. When you went into the bread store and spent over $5.00, occasionally they would have a rolling rack of freebies to choose from. A few weeks ago, they had a rolling rack of Ho Ho's and that is how I scored my box.
K and I went to register her for archery class today. Since we were going to be half way to my sister's house, I went ahead and phoned for a drive by playing. She offered lunch of an unknown variety. I packed a few boxes of Kraft Veggie Mac and Cheese, sweet potato fries and a box of Ho Ho's. I came in the door, they were all at the table eating and I started the Ho Ho flip.
You would have thought that I brought them all something valuable.
"Wow!" "It's really a Ho Ho?"
My brother-in-law announced to the family that I just passed on probably $200. in Ho Ho's, to which I exclaimed, "Merry Christmas! It is because I love all of you so much that I share with you my box of Ho Ho's." I even left them the box and threatened them not to burn it up in Chief (the wood burner.)
My niece, C, has designs on selling her loan Ho Ho for a profit so that she'll have Christmas money. I do appreciate her attempt to make some cash.
We're not a snack cake house. It is because of that that I had to let the Ho Ho free. I would rather share them with a bunch of kids and family that would truly enjoy them, than to hoard them and keep them for ourselves.
In all seriousness though, I got the voice mail from my mom on Friday about Hostess going out of business. Mom said that she watched it on MSNBC and since they are the same fine folk who didn't give rave reviews on Apple (go figure since I'm thinking that MS stands for Microsoft and not Multiple Sclerosis and they aren't going to be all pro on their biggest competitor), I didn't really give the Hostess thing a thought. I was at school all day and had no time to do the bread store run that mom requested. At the end of the school day, I did have 25 minutes before the bus would come. I figured that I could fly through, get some bread and get out.
The parking lot was packed, y'all. There was also a gentleman standing outside the door announcing, "I hope you don't want Twinkies." "I'm not really a big Twinkie fan, so I'm good. I just really want some bread."
There were bare shelves. There was an old woman smacking her man in the arm because he was loading up on bread for the freezer. Apparently, she was frowning upon that. The bread I liked was in good stock, but mom wanted Smart White and I could only find one loaf. I did find 3 packs of English muffins for her and a pack of 12 hamburger buns, where I picked up 6 loaves of our bread and a loaf of cinnamon breakfast bread. I stood in a line for 10 minutes. Usually I'm the only one in the store.
Sadly, staff confirmed that they only heard of the closing on the radio. No one had been phoned.
Are we losing Ho Ho's and Twinkies? Nah. Someone will buy the rights and recipes and give them a run again. We have people losing jobs and the holidays doesn't make it any easier. We need to lift these people in prayer. I'm good with giving up the snack cakes. I'm not good with giving up jobs. So sad.
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Sunday, November 11, 2012
We're still here.
We've been working through our kitty mourning.
I don't wake up to the vittles hitting the metal bowl.
Hubs doesn't have something furry looping in and out of his feet and around his ankles. Well, if he does now, we need to phone an exterminator!
My laundry buddy is gone. I would talk with her. Scratch her on the head. She'd beg for more vittles.
Walking through the kitchen, the pots hanging on the pot rack made the exact same "ting" that Smudge's collar did when it hit the bowl.
Hubs comes home from work and I have nearly yelled, "I didn't feed the cat!" I've caught myself though.
I think that Spike (our iguana) misses Smudge. He probably wonders where his partner in crime went to.
Yesterday and today were grand days for leaving the windows and doors open. The sun was pouring in. Smudge would have been found on the slate pad at the door in a block of sun. She would be on top of the couch (on a towel, of course) sniffing the breeze that came in the window.
I miss her doing the kitty-scooch shuffle on the couch to shimmy in next to me. Rare were the times that she did that with Hubs. She did that with me most of the time.
Whenever K was sick, she would come and hang out in her bedroom with her. No bites, I promise. She liked to hide under K's headboard. She would shimmy through the backside hole for the trundle. Occasionally we would have to sweep her out with the dust buster. She hated getting the sweep. Normally she would hiss, then she would leave you a very disapproving poop surprise later. Good times.
On the other hand, my house doesn't smell like cat butt. No matter how much we scrubbed and cleaned, it seemed as though it always smelled of kitty bottom. The litter box was always changed, but Smudge suffered from some issues and she was a butt dragger. No matter when we took her to the vet and had that tended to, she'd come right home and do the kitty shuffle.
The hair tumbleweeds in the basement have almost all been found. As a long haired cat, she would leave tumbleweeds everywhere.
I don't miss the kitty litter on the basement steps that fell through the open risers and onto everything below. I don't miss the kitty litter dust.
K doesn't miss the bites. Neither do Hubs or the neighbor. She didn't bite me. I told her that I'm mom and no bites. For some reason, she listened to that.
It's been a week. It's hard to believe. For a critter that was with us for 14 1/2 years, it has been a bit of an adjustment. We've made a deal with K. She wants a dog. Longs for a dog. Has been begging for a dog- for years. On her Christmas wish list? Number 1 is "A real puppy." We will get her a dog the spring after she turns 10. That will be about a year and a half. In that time, we'll be able to get together a good game plan. We want her to work on being responsible, since the dog will be mostly her responsibility. She'll be old enough to be able to take good care (with supervision, of course.) We also want to be certain that we can afford a dog. We've explained to her that dogs are not like cats. They take a lot of work and a lot of money. We only want to bring a dog into the family if we have the cash flow to do so. This will give us time to do some doggie research with her. We told her that we'll have her do obedience training. We'll have her scoop poop (we're planning on having a pea stone strip that we hope to train puppy doggin to use for bath rooming, as I don't want a lawn full of puppy land mines.) I'd like to see if we can score a border collie for her. We had one growing up and Pepper was wonderful. K is a high energy kid who would pour her heart and soul into a dog. She would love to have a dog love her and to love on her. She would love to have a dog sleep in her room or at the end of her bed. We have things to work out. We have time. Plenty of time.
Until then, I'm sure that she'll continue to ask to go to the animal shelter. It'll be soon enough.
I don't wake up to the vittles hitting the metal bowl.
Hubs doesn't have something furry looping in and out of his feet and around his ankles. Well, if he does now, we need to phone an exterminator!
My laundry buddy is gone. I would talk with her. Scratch her on the head. She'd beg for more vittles.
Walking through the kitchen, the pots hanging on the pot rack made the exact same "ting" that Smudge's collar did when it hit the bowl.
Hubs comes home from work and I have nearly yelled, "I didn't feed the cat!" I've caught myself though.
I think that Spike (our iguana) misses Smudge. He probably wonders where his partner in crime went to.
Yesterday and today were grand days for leaving the windows and doors open. The sun was pouring in. Smudge would have been found on the slate pad at the door in a block of sun. She would be on top of the couch (on a towel, of course) sniffing the breeze that came in the window.
I miss her doing the kitty-scooch shuffle on the couch to shimmy in next to me. Rare were the times that she did that with Hubs. She did that with me most of the time.
Whenever K was sick, she would come and hang out in her bedroom with her. No bites, I promise. She liked to hide under K's headboard. She would shimmy through the backside hole for the trundle. Occasionally we would have to sweep her out with the dust buster. She hated getting the sweep. Normally she would hiss, then she would leave you a very disapproving poop surprise later. Good times.
On the other hand, my house doesn't smell like cat butt. No matter how much we scrubbed and cleaned, it seemed as though it always smelled of kitty bottom. The litter box was always changed, but Smudge suffered from some issues and she was a butt dragger. No matter when we took her to the vet and had that tended to, she'd come right home and do the kitty shuffle.
The hair tumbleweeds in the basement have almost all been found. As a long haired cat, she would leave tumbleweeds everywhere.
I don't miss the kitty litter on the basement steps that fell through the open risers and onto everything below. I don't miss the kitty litter dust.
K doesn't miss the bites. Neither do Hubs or the neighbor. She didn't bite me. I told her that I'm mom and no bites. For some reason, she listened to that.
It's been a week. It's hard to believe. For a critter that was with us for 14 1/2 years, it has been a bit of an adjustment. We've made a deal with K. She wants a dog. Longs for a dog. Has been begging for a dog- for years. On her Christmas wish list? Number 1 is "A real puppy." We will get her a dog the spring after she turns 10. That will be about a year and a half. In that time, we'll be able to get together a good game plan. We want her to work on being responsible, since the dog will be mostly her responsibility. She'll be old enough to be able to take good care (with supervision, of course.) We also want to be certain that we can afford a dog. We've explained to her that dogs are not like cats. They take a lot of work and a lot of money. We only want to bring a dog into the family if we have the cash flow to do so. This will give us time to do some doggie research with her. We told her that we'll have her do obedience training. We'll have her scoop poop (we're planning on having a pea stone strip that we hope to train puppy doggin to use for bath rooming, as I don't want a lawn full of puppy land mines.) I'd like to see if we can score a border collie for her. We had one growing up and Pepper was wonderful. K is a high energy kid who would pour her heart and soul into a dog. She would love to have a dog love her and to love on her. She would love to have a dog sleep in her room or at the end of her bed. We have things to work out. We have time. Plenty of time.
Until then, I'm sure that she'll continue to ask to go to the animal shelter. It'll be soon enough.
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