My Hometown USA

“Shopping is a woman thing. It’s a contact sport like football. Women enjoy the scrimmage, The noisy crowds, the danger of Being trampled to death, and the Ecstasy of the purchase.” Erma Bombeck

Check it out! There  you are minding your own business....and BAM! They gotcha! You fall victim to their evil plan. You are manipulated, tempted and baited with items at the check out counter. Why? Because they can! CHECK OUT LINES are everywhere! You are in the convenient check out line !! I try not to give in to the corporate plot that wants me to buy an impulse item! Out of stubborn refusal, I stand defiant, but their techniques are strong and in certain weak moments, I cave.  Secret plots! Paranoia! I wonder if the store's strategic policy is to purposely refuse putting more cashiers out, so the lines move slowly, so that I end up staring at the convenient items displayed around me longer, beckoning me to spend my money. Add kids and it’s not only temptation alley but a power struggle with  whiny   rug-rats  who are affected by the ‘ greedy gimme ’s’ thanks to the properly placed convenient toys.   Who gets to the cashier and thin...

(Classic My Hometown C olumn) (published in Picayune Item) Have you ever received in the mail one of those catalogs that has all kinds of stuff for sale mostly items your grandparents would buy? I call it a grandma’s catalog because the merchandise displayed page after page is mainly items an elderly person would purchase, or has already, like girdles, hearing aids, and liniments. Granted, I am not that green behind the ears and will be in need of such items in the near future. One example is Dr. Leonard’s, a healthcare catalog which for some strange reason arrived at my door. Is someone trying to tell me something, like maybe I need to start stocking up on senior citizen paraphernalia? Am I sliding over the slope of the hill? You've seen these glossy catalogs which always specialize in undergarments, those body shape girdles to squeeze in what doughnuts have spread out. They got real full figure bras that fasten with dozens of reinforced hooks and in a...