Just Thinking

I don't have a specific topic today, mostly just the "Stream of consciousness" thing going on, I even have a commercial.

There is a house I drive by quite often. It is in an old, not very affluent, neighborhood. Now the house itself would not stand out as any different from any other house on the block. It's not painted with a really wild color, it has the same windows as all the other houses around it. It doesn't have anything new or fancy to distinguish it from it's sister houses, like say a brand new solid oak door with windows and intricate carving all around. No, none of that. It's just your typical 50 to 60 year old, 13 to 15 hundred foot, boring old house. So why do I, not only notice this house, but find it interesting enough to write a post about it?

Because it has flowers.

I'm sure you are thinking, "Flowers? Big deal. Almost every house I see has flowers." and you would be correct. Flowers are certainly an ordinary enough kind of lawn decor to not raise any eyebrows. But this house, well more like the people that live in the house, have tried something new in the beautification by flowers shtick. The lovely flowers gracing this yard are all. . . . . . .


Artificial!

Yes artificial. And I don't mean that they have a vase out front and it contains a bunch of fake flowers in it. Believe it or not I have seen that use of faux flowers before and if done correctly it can be quite attractive. But no. No tactful decorating for these people. They have an actual flower bed, and that flower bed is planted with real, artificial, flowers.

I suspect they are from the dollar store.

I suspect that, because, there are also all kinds of little statues or figurines, whatever you would call these kinds of things, all over the yard as well. Don't get me wrong. I don't have anything against the dollar store. I find it a handy little place to go to find all kinds of useful items.

It just never occurred to me to go there for my landscaping needs.

So yes, we have in my town a house decorated with, well I guess, planted with, would be the better description, all kinds of lovely artificial flowers. These people definitely know how to decorate with flowers. They not only have them in the ground, but to add a more sophisticated air, they also have several potted fake flowers. There are other fancy decor items stuck into the ground as well, like pinwheels.

I remember when I first laid eyes on this house.

I had to go around the block to come back and take a second look, in case my eyes really did deceive me. I wanted to park in front and really take my time looking at all of that artificial beauty. The problem is the house is right off of a major street in town and there really isn't any where in front, appropriate for parking. Plus I didn't want to be that obvious.

To be honest that house with all of it's "creative" yard work, really brought out my inner critic. I do admit to an inner critic. In fact a lot of the time it isn't even very inner. It's usually more of an outie.

I considered that house to be the very definition of TACKY.

Fortunately I have Courtney. Courtney, unless it has to do with me of course, has a pretty quiet inner critic. She is with me quite often when I drive by the "tacky" house. It bothered her that I found it so lacking in taste. She informed me that she always thought of it as the "FUN" house on the block.

That got me to thinking.

The next few times I drove by, I decided to see it the way Courtney sees it. I started to think that maybe, it was an eccentric little old lady that lived there, who due to arthritis and just plain being very old could not do the garden thing anymore. I realized that for someone who couldn't get out there and dig and plant, and also, probably, would have very poor vision, that fake flowers would seem like the perfect solution. Or, or, maybe a young couple live there. Maybe they always wanted a well flowered yard. Maybe they both work and don't have a lot of free time to spend on a garden. Or, perhaps every live flower they have ever planted died within a week.

That does happen sometimes you know.

I have realized that I actually really liked this house now. I have decided to no longer see it as tacky. I have decided to join in with Courtney, and see it as one of Kennewick's "fun" houses. There certainly are other unusual and interesting houses sprinkled throughout my beloved Tri- Cities.

Next: School Supplies

What is it about school supplies that make them so irresistible?

This is the second year that I have been without a child to send back to school. In some ways it's really nice. When I was sending Shawn off to school every morning, I had to be up by 6 AM to get that kid ready in time for his bus. He is not an easy person to try and hurry up. So my solution was to get up nice and early. You honestly can NOT rush this kid. If you tell him he needs to hurry, every single time he will have one response. "I am hurrying!" That is the best you will ever get when trying to rush him along. So that is one thing about having a child in school that I will never miss.

But boy do I miss buying school supplies.

I'm not entirely sure what compels me. I guess I just have a weakness for crayons, pencils, notebooks, and binders. And on top of that, those darn office supply stores, as well as your local Walmarts and Targets have all those things on sale for the most indecent prices. How on earth is someone supposed to stay away from crayola brand 24 pack crayons priced at 22 cents. And then there are all of the notebook paper sales. I don't know about you but 15 cents for the first two reams of college rule is just too tempting to pass up. In fact I have so much leftover notebook paper, I could probably see a kid through at least five years of school. I have found a somewhat acceptable method of avoiding the temptations of unnecessary school supply shopping.

I simply refuse to look at those stores' adds. So far I have not bought so much as even a package of "Two packs of pink erasers. 25 cents" Well I guess I did buy two packs of "Twin Glue sticks" for 20 cents each. Get that? That makes them 10 cents a piece!!! But hey, there are all kinds of non-school related uses for glue sticks. Aren't there?

Well aren't there???

And now a word from our sponsor (in other words, here is the commercial)

Do you ever get cold sores? I do. I have only had a few of them, but they sure are awful. That's why as soon as I started to get a cold sore last Wednesday, I rushed right into Target and bought myself a tube of ABREVA. I had never tried ABREVA before but I was so horrified at the thought of a cold sore that I was willing to give it a try. The last cold sore I had took more than two weeks to completely dissapear. I started applying the ABREVA to my cold sore five times a day as directed and within two and a half days there was absolutely NO SIGN of a cold sore anywhere. I couldn't believe it. How many times have you ever bought an over the counter medication that actually worked. I am completely sold on ABREVA now.

The only thing that worries me is the FDA finding out that it really works and pulling it off the shelves.

They do that you know.

Oh, they will never admit to it but they do. There used to be this OTC cough syrup that actually worked. Every time. So guess what? When I went back to buy more, it was no where to be seen. I asked the pharmacist about it and he said that he did remember that certain brand. He also agreed that it was a most effective cough remedy. Then he told me in "mostly" all seriousness, that the FDA must have made the manufacturers stop making it because it was too affective.
So I just might buy a couple more tubes of ABREVA in case our friend the FDA decides to pull another cough syrup, incident again.

Well these are the things I have spent the last few days thinking about. Your thoughts?