Sparked by the Bob Lonsberry Show

Today Bob Lonsberry had a caller on his show who was fired by Circuit City for being paid too much. From what I am to understand employees that made too much were fired as a cost cutting measure. New employees would be hired at a lower hourly rate and laid off employees could reapply at the lower rate in 10 weeks.

The amount of experience and product knowledge each laid off employee had was irrelevant. Years of service to the company? Irrelevant.

Will people continue to shop at Circuit City? Yes. Will I? No.

What matters most to the majority of today's consumers? The almighty dollar. Instant gratification. Is that all that I think about when I buy something? No! Ask anyone who has ever gone shopping with me and they will tell you it's true. For me it is not just about the product and meeting my immediate desire. these are the things I take into consideration before I make a purchase.

• First I prefer to patronize small shops when I can. Support the little guy. You have the power to decide the fate of the little guy so he is going to do his best to offer you the best. I have boycotted businesses and products before. I didn't eat Twix candy bars for several years because I did not agree with a commercial they had for their product.
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• I ask myself is this a need or a want? If it is a want how badly do I want it? Do I have a place to put it? Will I use it?
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• The Big question for me is where is it made? If I can't find that information for myself (on a TV for example) I will ask a sales clerk. 99% of them have absolutely no idea. They therefore do not know if they offer a similar product that is American made. Then I get on my soap box and tell them I prefer to support American workers whenever possible because if we don't buy American we are putting fellow Americans out of work. I tell them that if I must buy a product made in another country I try to choose a democratic country and not a Communist one for example. If I can find a locally made product Great! I always buy honey made locally for example.
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• Quality. Is it environmentally friendly? Will it last or fall apart? Does it stink? I once wanted to buy toy beads for my son like the ones I played with when I was little. They still made them but looked so shiny now and the colors so dark. I opened the container to touch one and the smell just about knocked me over. I had a headache for a hour. Needless to say I did not buy them.
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• Price. Ah big question. This is a big question for me too. However, if an American made product is only a few dollars more I will choose it in a second. Sometimes the American made or natural or quality product is out of my price range. I can choose to buy the cheaper one or wait and save for the more expensive one or not buy one at all.
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• Service. Customer service has been replaced by cheap labor. Sad but true. I was once shoved by a Walmart employee infront of three managers who didn't say a thing. I no longer shop there. I once heard a home improvement store employee swear to another one in earshot of customers. Wegmans seems to be the exception to this rule. There motto is Every Day You Get Out Best and it's true. Service, selection, price, quality, and customer service. If you ask me there is no better Grocery store than Wegmans they've got it all hands down.
  

So next time you spend your hard earned money give some thought to the long term effects. If Americans don't support Americans by buying American made products who will?.

A Quote from Bob Lonsberry

I listen to Bob Lonsberry every day that I possibly can. It is on WHAM 1180 am from 11:00am - 2pm Monday thru Friday. You can also listen to it on the net at wham1180.com . I love to hear him tell stories about his children, history and current events. He has made me laugh and cry. He has also sparked many interesting conversations. In a word, he is brilliant.

I was listening to him the other day and he said "The cult of self is the foundation of Liberalism." Wow! I believe this statement to be true. The ME Generation. I am number one and screw everyone else who is not in a position to do something for me. Gimme, gimme , gimme.

Welfare is a perfect example. Why on earth would you spend hours hunched over in the hot sun getting dirty picking vegetables in a field when you can sit at home and make more money on welfare??? What ever happened to taking pride in an honest days work?

The working person is heavily taxed to pay for all these programs that help the lower classes. If I were not taxed so much I would have more disposable income and therefore could decide where and who to donate my money to. Liberals and Democrats believe that people need all these programs to help and protect them and Conservatives believe that people should be allowed to make their own decisions concerning these issues. Each new law eats away at our freedom. Why should the government be able to demand that I wear a seat belt? Who is the government to tell me how long my grass should be?

Signs of Spring

Gio and Grandma

Buds on a tree in my parent's yard.

Crocuses

Eating... Or Not

Dirty faced boy enjoying his dinner. (last night)

Dinner dump
Notice in this picture his face is not dirty. This is because he did not like the meal I prepared for him. (taken tonight)

A quick word about the war. I heard on the news that there was a protest in our area against the war. One protester was asked why she was there. Her answer was that she "was there to bring the soldiers home." Does she not know that our armed forces are not drafted? Each American person fighting this war signed up to do so voluntarily. I believe the media is trying to put a negative spin on this war and to me this is a perfect example.

Remember that beautiful spring day? Well, the snow has returned. This is this is a pic of some fields in the distance. Neat huh?

Here are some beautiful lines in the snow drawn by the wind.

"YYYyyaaaaa Wwhhoooooo I'm going for a walk today!!!"
"Mom, Dad, you've just gotta see this. The snow, it's melting! ...and the birds, they're singing. Spring is here!!"

Yesterday was one of those days one savors after a cold winter. I was inspired by the weather and dressed Gio in one of his new summer shirts. He held this pose for all of about 2 seconds. Yes, this shot was pure luck.

We went for a walk and it was wonderful. The birds were singing, the geese were honking, the sun was shining and we were excited to be out enjoying it.

Gio's new thing is trucks. His little eagle eyes spot anything with wheels and we are sure to hear the word truck. He even walks backwards to keep an eye on them as we pass them in driveways. It is such a joy to see things through his eyes. A flock of birds flew up and I pointed them out to him. Well when we got home and looked out the window he spotted one landing on a wire and pointed it out to me.

The thermometer read 59.2 degrees at 7pm!

We visited Grandma and Abuelo (Grandpa in Spanish) recently. What fun Gio has with his Grandparents. Here he is playing with weebles.
Playing peek-a-boo with Grandma.

Gio would turn off the TV and when he would look away Abuelo would turn it back on with the remote control. Gio would look puzzled and go back and turn it off again, ect.

Time with Grandma

Gio with a cereal box on his head.

These words came to me as a forward. I think they go well with these pictures that were taken when my Mom visited recently.

Life is short,
Break the rules,
Forgive quickly,
Kiss slowly,
Love truly,
Laugh uncontrollably,
And never regret anything that makes you laugh.

I am really not much into victim TV. Someone comes on a talk show and tells the world how awful life is for them. Poor me, this happened in my life, blah, blah, blah. Everybody has a story. Every has had tuff times. I really don't care to hear some stranger on TV tell me about his or hers .......unless .......I can learn from it. .........Unless you are also going to tell me how you solved your problem. That my friends is where Oprah is different. I just started watching her over the winter. Well, I am now hooked. I learn something almost every time I watch it. When I turned it on yesterday it sure looked and sounded like victim TV. So I just left it on and didn't pay much attention to it. Then I heard Oporah say (I'm paraphrasing now) The ability to make a decision is what allows you to move forward with your life. .......WOW!!!!! Now that's deep. ...And true! When you have tuff times you can decide to be a victim and wait for something or someone to pull you out of it (More than likely just not going to happen) or do something about it and get on with life. opinion

Trying to stand up the orange flashlight like the yellow one.

Discovery

Fun with flashlights! Gio saw his Daddy using one yesterday and he ended up playing with them for awhile. ....Well this morning after breakfast, where do you think is the first place Gio goes? ...."OOOOOooon!!!" he says pointing to where they are kept. "OOOoooooooonn!" How can a Mom resist?