Made in the U.S.A.

I remember back years ago when my mother would purchase boxes of Cracker Jack as a special treat for me and my brothers.  Yes that caramel covered popcorn was good, but eating that sticky goodness wasn't our primary goal.  Our goal was to race each other by digging to the bottom of the box to see what prize was in there and which one of us would be the victor in the game of "who got the best prize".  I've still got some of the rings I dug out of those boxes, just as my brothers still have some of the small knock-off GI Joe's with parachutes attached.  The prizes weren't anything big or grandiose, but they were special because they survived us kids playing with them, unlike many things made these days.



Dbenbenn, Zscout370, Jacobolus, Indolences, Technion

These days when I take my kids to McDonald's for a Happy Meal, the toy inside the box doesn't survive the car trip from the restaurant's drive-thru window to our home.  Within a minute or two I'll hear "Oh man!  This thing stinks!".  And that's when that old song from Queen starts playing in my head "Another one bites the dust".  Inwardly I do jump for joy that this toy will go straight into the trash bin instead of being flung in the middle of my living room floor for me to step on.

Toys aren't the only things which aren't made like they used to.  Our garden hose spigot on our house went out 2 years ago.  My husband went to the plumbing supply store, bought a rather pricey new one and replaced it.  Last summer while we were gone on vacation, the blasted thing broke again and spewed water for several days.

It took a couple of days before our yard flooded enough that water started pouring into the street and alerted the neighbors to a problem.  Thankfully, one of them had the special wrench to shut off the water main to the house.  How is it that the original spigot lasted over 25 years, but the replacement didn't even make it one full year?

We experience manufacturing defects even when we eat out at restaurants.  One of my dad's favorite things to do these days when we go out to eat has been to open one end of a straw wrapper and then surreptitiously blow the straw wrapper at an unwitting family member.  9 times out of 10 he blows into that straw and nothing happens because even the straw wrapper is defective and has holes in it.  This also gives me pause as I ponder whether that straw is actually sanitary due to the number of holes in the wrapper.

My daughter just started gymnastics several weeks ago and had worn her gymnastics clothes twice.  On the third occasion of putting on her leotard and gymnastics knickers, every bit of stitching came out of the waistband of the knickers.  A double row of stitching completely gone in the blink of an eye............ and before she could even get her knickers up.  Now how are you supposed to go out and train with the enthusiasm of a future Olympian if you're afraid your knickers are going to end up around your ankles?

As you may remember, my computer crashed over the Thanksgiving holiday.  I called the computer manufacturer's help-line to see if the computer could be reset.  I pressed "1" for English.  The person who answered the phone quite obviously did not understand English as he kept asking about my television and trying to get me to hit the reset button on the remote.  I gave up and told him to "have a nice day".  Considering the way he gasped, combined with his lack of understanding the English language, he may have thought I insulted his ancestry.  Before I started an international incident, I quickly hung up the phone.

Oh, how I miss items "Made in the U.S.A." and feeling the pride one feels at seeing something made in your own homeland.  Those were the good old days.......

Written by:  Christie Bielss

Wardrobe Wars

My husband and I go round-and-round regarding our family's wardrobe.  I think we should each have more than 5 shirts in the closet and he thinks more than that is extravagant.  He thinks that since we were only born with 2 feet, having more than 1 pair of shoes is a waste of money.  He doesn't understand that women (and girls) need more than just a pair of sneakers.  And the mere mention of needing a new purse is like stabbing him in the heart.

 

There are many things my husband prides himself on being, but a clothes-horse is not one of them.  If you were to look in our closet, you'd see he has 10 shirts.  Of those 10 shirts, he only wears 5 of them regularly.  The 5 he wears are short-sleeved golf shirts and he wears them year-round.  The other 5 are long sleeved shirts in case the universe experiences another ice age.

He considers my side of the closet to be overburdened by clothing and believes that if I donated half of it, I could clothe the entire continent of Africa.  He just doesn't understand the female wardrobe.  Women's clothes aren't as versatile as men's.  We can't wear a golf shirt to dinner, drinks with the girls, or to an afternoon tea, like men can.

He has no understanding women need clothes for work, play, church, nights out on the town, and formal occasions, nor does he understand the different levels of each one of those clothing categories.  Women have formal business attire for meeting with clients, as well as everyday casual work attire.  Then you have to throw the "Fun Friday" attire into the mix. 

His reasoning was flawed when he surmised that I could get rid of 2 of the 3 pairs of pants which were the exact same design.  As a woman, I also have multiple different sizes of clothes.  Yes, I have my fat, skinny, and just-right clothes.  How much chocolate I've eaten, whether or not I've exercised, and whether the moon is waxing or waning, are all factors which will determine the size clothing I am wearing on any given day.

My husband has 1 pair of shoes which he wears with most everything.  A good old pair of sneakers.  He cannot understand why a woman needs so many different styles of shoes.  He thinks a pair of Sketchers should go with a designer dress, formal attire, and all of my casual outfits.  I've had to purchase fashion magazines to show him that women really do have different shoes for each outfit.

But, one thing he learned a long time ago which is not up for discussion:  my purses.  He made the mistake of asking why I needed 25 different styles of purses.  He even suggested that I pair the collection down to just one purse.  That's when he learned that nothing will get his 10 shirts and 1 pair of sneakers kicked out of our house faster than suggesting I downsize my purse assortment.

I had to explain to him that while I do not carry my large Louis Vuitton zip top purse every day, if ever there was a major cataclysmic event, I could throw the contents of my entire household into that bag.  We wouldn't have to eat bugs like on the tv show "Survivor" because I'd have canned goods, a can opener, chocolate, bagged donuts, chips, canned meat, and vegetables all snuggled safely within its confines.  I've even been thinking lately of purchasing a generator to keep stored inside the bag.  You never know when you might have a need to heat up a can of beanie-weenies in the Outback.

Now whenever bad weather strikes and we have to go to the inner-most room of our house to take cover, I yell that I have the kids, dog and pillows, and he yells back that he has thrown his body over my purse collection.  Yes, as long as the Louis Vuitton survives, we'll be just fine........

Written by:  Christie Bielss