The Day After...

Bellies full and exercises completed, since eighty-million Americans took advantage of Grey Thursday as well as Black Friday! And it looked to the rest of the world as if we had stolen the concept of the running of the bulls from Pamplona, minus the bulls, well maybe in Chi-town, Chicago Bulls, basketball team for you out of towners, bud dump bum, right here in the USA, but I suppose it looks the same every year on the TV. The pushing the shoving the bargains and sales with all the door-busting fun… and now on Monday is Cyber day, and lest us not forget tomorrow is small business Saturday! By my figuring all the shopping for the ‘holidays’ should be completed easily by Tuesday, then what? With a little less than a month for Christmas although Hanukkah starts early this year on the December 8-16, Kwanzaa is December 26 to January 1 each year, and Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which lasts 29 to 30 days. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating ... and is already over as of July 20, 2012. So I suppose it is always a good idea to be ready earlier than later, hmm? Personally we have none of that to do. Stopped years ago, minimalistic is how we roll these days… must have to do with a smaller family with less people who we consider on that precious list. Oh sure, I can remember those days when gifts were a few weeks salary and I was fortunate enough to work retail for years with a nice 20% discount and insider knowledge of when there would be sales and on what… ah memories. The only disadvantage was the fact that we were the first to arrive in the stores and last to leave, being management, even on the main night of the holiday…and so I feel for those employees who now not only work late on the eves of but on the day’s of too. I suppose that is why I am not that into shopping unless I really know there is a need for something, a special occasion. To me hanging out at the mall isn’t what it used to mean, it was always work to me… guess that is why I never became a shop-aholic like so many of my generation has. I used to do bookkeeping and billing and payroll too for others as well as our own businesses and all those things make you more aware of where the money goes. And I would like to think more careful. Some may think that I am a Scrooge, but we had a close call a few times where our finances were on the brink and let’s just say that we came back from that with careful adjustments to our way of handling things. I never, these days, subscribe to the thinking; ‘it’s just money’… that can get you into BIG Trouble! That is only if you are NOT Daddy Warbucks with real deep pockets filled with cash! Enough about me, I am so worried about our FISCAL CLIFF! It’s that control thing again… ya know, when you feel you have no control over a situation and you would like to BITCH-SLAP all of Congress, (Sorry, but I truly do feel that need, GIANT CRINGE FACTOR HERE) to get their act together! We need them to stop playing with our lives and our children’s lives and the lives of our lives…GOSH, JUST STOP FOOLING AROUND AND GET THE JOB DONE BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE! Sorry, I feel much better now, was it as good for you as for me? Now how would you know that, hmm? Not so embarrassed anymore, who knows why… Any-who, on that upbeat note allow me to be the first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and share those overages and we will too! And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!