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Post by 3piggles on Nov 1, 2021 13:52:32 GMT
Welcome to November, everyone. The US celebrates Thanksgiving this month, starting the Christmas shopping season with Black Friday sales the day after Thanksgiving, Cyber Monday sales, and probably a whole lot I don't know about. This year Thanksgiving is on Thursday, Nov. 25, and Christmas is on Friday, Dec. 24, giving shoppers/businesses almost 5 weeks of shopping time. If ordering online, companies suggest buying early, as they anticipate shipping delays and supply chain problems. Where I live, we usually get our first snowfall in November, even if it's not enough to do more than cover surfaces before it melts, so we have that to look forward to Temps are definitely starting to drop, especially overnight, so I'm keeping a watchful eye out for that first snowflake Happy November, everyone
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Post by bazookagoof on Nov 1, 2021 23:39:50 GMT
I ALWAYS avoid Black Friday. There's not enough money in the world to get me to run out and deal with those insane crowds.
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Post by Bean on Nov 2, 2021 8:26:02 GMT
I went to buy something the other day and it was 20% off as a Black Friday deal - not only do we not do Thanksgiving so I don't think we should be doing Black Friday/ Cyber Monday, but it's way too early for those deals anyway! I'm not arguing about having money off though, whatever the reason!
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Post by 3piggles on Nov 2, 2021 19:17:28 GMT
I totally agree. I just had to call in some prescription refills for hubby, and just getting through the stupid menus, and all the blather in between, I was ready to punch someone. Not a good situation for me. Seems to push all my bad buttons! I'm not going to fight the WWW to get a great deal on any of those shopping days, nor am I going to a store to stand in endlessly long lines to get great deals. Those days are long gone, for me.
I bought Vic a Lego race car with remote control. He has to assemble it, then he can play with it. He loves things like that, and we don't NEED anything, or really even want anything. I don't know if he'll buy me a little something, but we've decided to make our joint gift a robotic vacuum cleaner. Vic's been gathering information from his coworkers, so has a good idea of what we want and don't want. I'll order it online on a totally unimportant shopping day, early enough for it to arrive in time for Christmas. I'd rather pay a bit extra, and avoid all the stress, frustration and anxiety of shopping at Christmastime.
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Post by Bean on Nov 3, 2021 8:42:50 GMT
The robotic vacs look fun, as well as obviously being very useful! But I don't think we'd do well with them as they require the floors to be clear and that's more of a problem in our house - the poor vac would probably be stuck in a corner all day! Also perfect for you as you're all on one storey, aren't you?
The lego car sounds great - I'd definitely like a go with that!
I was out shopping with my mum yesterday and 'Winter Wonderland' came on - mum was speaking to me at the time so I noticed it before she did, and I had to explain why I'd suddenly cried out 'I don't want to hear it!' in the middle of her perfectly innocuous sentence haha!
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Post by 3piggles on Nov 3, 2021 21:44:37 GMT
Working retail at Christmas, with the Christmas Muzak piped in, playing the same 20 songs over and over, really took the Christmas spirit away for me. I much prefer not going anywhere near retail stores at Christmas, just supermarkets. I will probably have to go to Walmart, but we go early enough in the morning to be able to just get what we want and leave. I do like putting up the decorations, though, especially the lights, and how totally into it all hubby is
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Post by bazookagoof on Nov 4, 2021 1:16:16 GMT
Ugh, I despise Christmas music if it's played before the second week of December. After that, I tolerate it. Until then, Halloween gets its own special time, AS DOES THANKSGIVING!!!
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Post by Bean on Nov 4, 2021 8:15:38 GMT
Oh come on, surely the first week in December is okay for Christmas music?!
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Post by bazookagoof on Nov 4, 2021 16:41:32 GMT
I'd be more forgiving if everyone else was more strict about when Christmas music should be played! This is my post from 2015: Just as a Christmas-related topic, I have no problem with Christmas as long as it's in season. Right around December is just fine with me, I don't object to hearing carols on the radio or decorations after Thanksgiving. I just don't like it steamrolling over Thanksgiving; the holidays should be separated, in my opinion. I also don't like it when it overstays its welcome; I had an absolutely bizarre experience back around 2003: I was in Wisconsin for a minor film festival, and it was just after Valentine's Day in February. On the drive up, I saw houses with A) Christmas decorations, B) Halloween decorations, and C)Valentine's Day AND Christmas decorations! It was like people were too lazy to remove previous holidays' ornaments and just made room for more. To make things weirder, at the festival there were folks who had Christmas tunes for their ringtones on their phones! Again, Christmas had passed about seven weeks ago! To top things off, as I was leaving I saw a child dancing through the lobby of the hotel where the festival was being held. As he danced, he was singing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer!"With that said, I'm sticking to my guns on this!
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Post by 3piggles on Nov 4, 2021 17:40:13 GMT
I totally agree about giving each holiday its due. We still have our Halloween decorations up, but will put them away soon. We don't have Thanksgiving decorations, and the Christmas tree goes up the day after Thanksgiving. It not about rushing the season. Outdoor decorations have to go up when we can still get out there. No snow but but so bitterly cold we can't carry a ladder. We have lights along the roofline that stay up all year. Clear lights. Once Christmas is over, the weather is too ad to get out a ladder and take down the decorations. Even the lights freeze into the ground, if we get freeze/thaw situation that embeds then in ice. Otherwise, those come down after New Years Day. We've had years with bitterly cold weather, and year so mild, it didn't seem like winter. Decorations ruled by Mother Nature. Speaking of Halloween, this is our annual outdoor display.
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Post by Bean on Nov 5, 2021 8:26:56 GMT
Oh that's great - love the colours of the lanterns!
As we don't have Thanksgiving to honour, the start of December is fine by me. We usually put our decorations up the first weekend in December, although don't have any outdoor ones... yet! Now we have the big glass doors out to the garden, it might be fun to have something we could see out in the garden from the dining table. And I'm sure my husband wouldn't approve, that makes it even more entertaining an idea!
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Post by 3piggles on Nov 5, 2021 19:51:16 GMT
Unlike Christmas, which is always on Dec. 25, whatever day of the week that is, Thanksgiving is always on the last Thursday of November, and offices/schools are all closed on the following Friday, giving us a 4-day weekend. That's why we started putting up the tree and deccies the day after Thanksgiving. We were all home, and even my father, who worked shift work, would be there at some time during the day, so it was a good thing to do on a Friday when we didn't have to be anywhere. I brought that tradition to our family. I don't know if daughter has continued it, or not. I think both she and her hubby have to work the day after Thanksgiving, so for them, it's just another week day. Also, our tree is pre-decorated, so it only needs to be put on a table, and have the branches folded out to look realistic. We have some added decorations we put on, and we have a lot of decorations that go around the main room, mostly big red bows, and lighted things. This year, I'd like to find a way to get Vic's train set around the tree/table, so we can enjoy that. We talk about it every year, but we never do it.
Decorations come down on New Year's Day because, again, everyone was home. Hubby and I were, but since daughter worked in retail, she always had to work. It was more something hubby really liked to do, anyway.
Hubby cleared out all the remaining annuals from the planting pots, except one group that seems to be loving the freezes. I'd like to bring them inside to enjoy all winter, but don't really have a place to put them.
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Post by Bean on Nov 6, 2021 9:14:07 GMT
We've got our next celebration out of the way - bonfire night. Not so many big organised events this year, but despite there being news stories about firework shortages, I've never seen so many being set off everywhere, and loads more people with the big multishot ones. Home ones used to be a much tamer affair, maybe a feeble little Catherine wheel nailed to the fence!
We went to the cinema, so missed having to shout over all the bangs - it was so loud even in the house. The pigs were completely oblivious as usual.
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Post by 3piggles on Nov 6, 2021 19:27:45 GMT
Oy! Some things always change for the worst, like the use of home fireworks. If we can go to public fireworks displays, we'll do our own. Instead of all the bangs being at one time in one place. We'll all set off fireworks at big and as often as possible. Sigh, good thing you weren't home. I pity the poor animals and people who are terrorized by fireworks I hope the movie was good Can't remember when I was last in a movie theater. Some of ours have reopened, but I have no idea if attending back to 100%. Too many people, too little social distancing for us, now.
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Post by Bean on Nov 7, 2021 8:53:08 GMT
Our local cinema has had a refurb and all the seats are now these massive recliners, so you're pretty distanced once you're in, and they've staggered film starting times more so it's usually pretty quiet going in and out.
Last night we were at the theatre and were all squashed up close in the tiny seats the older theatres always have! A columnist in the paper I read mentioned yesterday that his wife has asked him about going to the theatre and he was feeling pretty unsure about whether he wanted to go back to busy indoor events yet. I read the comments and loads of people were like 'I don't think anyone's comfortable with going back to cinemas or theatres yet!' and others were pointing out 'You'd be surprised...!'. I'm somewhere in between - it's nice to be able to get out and do stuff, but I think a few more restrictions would really help keep everyone safer.
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Post by 3piggles on Nov 7, 2021 23:45:21 GMT
One issue reported for restaurants tha stayed open during the pandemic was the cost to operate stayed the same(still had to heat, cool, and light the whole restaurant. Still had to pay wages to the cooking and wait staff-even if reduced in number, still had to do all the management, payroll deductions, taxes, etc.), but with only 1/4 capacity, had very little to show for it. Take out restaurants did better, because they weren't designed for a large eat-in crowd, and the employees continued to work. They only heated, cooled and lighted the needed areas, as always.
Movie theaters probably could have stayed open with extremely limited occupancy, but would have lost too much money. Closed, these theaters and restaurants didn't have to pay overhead costs.
I'm sure it's nice to be able to go out again, but if you're crammed into a public place, I wouldn't take that risk. I'm also a lot older than you are, and really don't want to get the virus. I just don't bounce back the way I did at your age.
I'm glad you had a good time, so if you got the virus, it was worth it. We really don't go out much anymore, anyway.
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Post by Bean on Nov 8, 2021 8:59:34 GMT
At least theatre audiences tend to be older, and older people tend to take less risks with covid, so even though we're all closer together, it feels somehow safer than just going to the supermarket!
We've booked our panto tickets (I wasn't sure we'd go this year, but everyone wanted to) and at that we have a little block of seats at the side all to ourselves which will be nice, as panto audiences tend to be rowdy!
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Post by 3piggles on Nov 8, 2021 17:19:34 GMT
I like the idea of a little block of seats to yourselves, off to the side. I know what you mean about older people. We just don't want to risk getting even a mild case of COVID. A friend in Lincolnshire got it before anyone even acknowledged it existed. She lost smell and taste, and hasn't regained them. I love to cook. Not even risking losing those senses. Some pics I took last night. The camera on this phone is much better at taking pictures than I am.
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Post by Bean on Nov 9, 2021 8:13:31 GMT
I know what you mean, I worry about that more than the idea of not being able to breathe properly! I don't know anyone else who's lost them, who hasn't got them back after a matter of weeks though, that's really rubbish for your friend and I hope it's not permanent. I did hear of someone on the news who lost their sense of taste and smell for a period of many months post covid, but then they caught it again and those senses came back. Odd, but they were very relieved.
Lovely photos.
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Post by 3piggles on Nov 9, 2021 19:39:24 GMT
My friend was in several studies including one from Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. JHU was the first place to respond to her queries. All the UK places ignored her. JHU contacted so.e of the UK place, after she filled out their questionnaire, and told the UK places about her. THEN they were interested. She was totally dismissed from the very beginning which is really sad.
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