FOOD ART LOOKS GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT

I love fruits and vegetables. I love to buy bunches of wonderful produce, bring them home and set them out on my counter to wash them.

It makes me feel so healthy just to look at them knowing that the nutrition packed foods are going to taste so good.

I have been known to eat a whole bunch of radishes just while washing the rest of the produce. Hot and peppery. Yum.

These food displays are so inviting. I especially like the one that is actually in a store. What a great place to shop that must be. The others appear to be displays at food shows. None of the ones below are mine but have been circulating in emails for some time.

Now I have to get ready for work. Do you like my dress?

DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR FOOD IS COMING FROM…THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT.

 

There has been a mountain of information regarding our food supply lately. From GMO foods to slave labour and non-sustainable farming practices.

There has been an outcry against modifying our produce through genetics to result in higher yields, disease resistance and delayed ripening to name a few.

Monsanto is probably the biggest name in the GMO soup. Big and powerful. Their name is everywhere now in social media.

But how do you know where to shop or what to buy?

Well if you have an IPhone there is an free app for that.

(Not my scan)

BUYCOTT is a phone app that will tell you the family history of a product just from its product code. It will also tell you of any boycotts in effect for these companies or products. It is totally optional to join these boycotts.

(Not my scan)

So this is what you do. Download the app to your IPhone….yes it is free. Use your phone to scan a UPC product code into the phone and give the app a minute to post the “family tree” of your product.

(Not my scan)

From the company:

When you use Buycott to scan a product, it will look up the product, determine what brand it belongs to, and figure out what company owns that brand (and who owns that company, ad infinitum). It will then cross-check the product owners against the companies and brands included in the campaigns you've joined, in order to tell you if the scanned product conflicts with one of your campaign commitments.

I scanned my fresh tomatoes, my can of tuna and a box of crackers. No surprises. I hope you can get some piece of mind while making your choices in the grocery store.

Let me know if you give it a try.

 

ALL THE SHOPPING HELP WE CAN GET

There are some new phone apps out  there that may help with your Christmas shopping challenges.

1. You can actually get a map of the inside of your Walmart or Target stores. That would come in hand for short people like me who can’t see over the heads of the crowds.
2. There is something called RedLaser that will shop for items that are available in your area to save you driving around or sitting on hold on the phone to see if the product you want is available.
3. How about knowing when something you have ordered has been delivered. Slice will organize your confirmation of purchase emails but will track the delivery for you. It will also advise you if the price has gone down so you can request the difference back.
4. When life gives you Lemon use it! Lemon digitizes all your receipts in your phone when you photograph the receipt. It can also be used to track your loyalty cards numbers so you don’t have to carry so many with you. They can just key in your number at the checkout instead of scanning one of your 400 cards. There are some more perks you can get with this app if you buy it but the basic version is free.
5. Snaptell will compare prices with Amazon’s price. You can also go via a link to other sites that rate the products as well.

Now all I need is an app that brings me coffee and then wraps all the Christmas gifts for me. Come on team…lets get working on that app. Christmas will be here soon.

APOLOGY ACCEPTED

I was waiting until I had a chance to get back to the store before I posted the outcome but time has gotten away from me and I haven’t been able to  go in.

I finally spoke with the manager of the store. Don’t know what I am talking about??? Click here to read the story….we will wait for you.

He was very apologetic to say the least. He expressed his dismay that the staff member never came to him to advise him of her ignorant words knowing full well there could be repercussions.

He said they are appreciative of the many years I have been shopping with them.

He asked me when I could come in again as he has a gift card for me. I was going to wait until I had picked it up before posting this but I just haven’t been back to the store recently to get it.

The amount really doesn’t matter (okay 10.00 would be kind of insulting too)but the fact that this staff person would be dealt with is the outcome that I wanted. Fired? No I don’t want that at all. But I do hope she was very embarrassed by her actions and that she will never, ever say something so stupid again, to a customer or anyone else.

WHAT AN INSULT

I have shopped at the same grocery chain for 30 years. The same store even.

Today I went in to do my shopping. Made my way through the produce section picking out all my fruits and vegetables.

The next stop was the deli counter to get a few things. I hadn’t had breakfast and as I often do I asked for a box of the MoJo fries. You know what I mean? The potato wedges. No different than having hash browns…don’t you judge lol.

Anyway, to make it easier for the cashier to scan my little box of eaten fries when I go through the checkout I asked the deli person to put the price sticker on the side because I am going to eat them while I shopped. This way I don’t have to tear the sticker to open the box.

This woman actually said to me “Be careful because they have cameras and they watch”.

WTF? I said “excuse me” to which she replied “oh I didn’t mean you would do it but we are finding the empty boxes all over the store”.

I was so embarrassed. There were other people standing around there who heard this. I shoved them back on the counter and told her to keep them. I wanted more from the deli but I walked away. She is lucky I didn’t throw them at her.

I would have left the store had I not been so far into my shopping trip as I didn’t have the time to start over down the street at their rival store.

People may well eat the potato wedges and leave the box on the shelves unpaid for. They can also drink a carton of chocolate milk and leave that. Open the bag of mixed nuts from the bulk section and munch on those while they shop. Banana? Apple? Sure could.

What an ignorant thing to say.

When the cashier asked me if I had found everything okay I was ready let fly with a nasty comment. Luckily someone I knew came up behind me in the checkout and we started talking. I saved my anger until I got home and sent off a scathing email to the head office.

Glad I could vent here and if I don’t get an appropriate response from their head office I will then be naming names using all my social media connections.

POOK TOQUES

I came across a fun product that I thought I would share with you.

I am not being compensated for this in any way. I just really enjoyed their presentation that I saw at a Christmas show last year and asked them if I could share their video with you.

They have a great web site with more videos but I will go with the one that I saw originally.

They are called Pook Toques and they are so cute and fun and so are the demonstrators. You don’t just buy a Pook Toque you learn how to wear one. Have a look.

These guys say it best…..taken from their own website……..As can easily be guessed, yes, alcohol was involved. One night while Tony's mouth was running a little too freely from the talking juice, a friend picked up one of his traditional Canadian wool socks from the floor, threw it at Tony, and told him to "put a sock in it". Instead of in it, Tony put it on it, on his head. Wearing the sock around the apartment while consuming some more of Uncle Tom's magic cough syrup, Tony's creative juices got flowing. Somehow he was able to envision a toque made from these socks and thought it would be a good gag for the upcoming Christmas season. A visit to Walmart° for some socks, a local fabric shop for some fleece, and a few hours tutorial from his mother on the family sewing machine, soon Tony had a working prototype of the Pook Toque'. It took a few bags of socks wasted to get the right sizing of the cuts, but finally the toque came to its present form, and what a toque it is. The original demand Tony received from friends and relatives that found it to be a great toque got Tony to thinking there might be enough crazy people out there willing to wear it.

You can also download the instruction guides. Now how many hats do you know of that come with a guide on how to wear it. It is a different look every day. Stop in and visit their fun website and tell them Lori sent you.

I am in no way affiliated with this company nor am I receiving any compensation for this post. I just like to share fun things with you.

THE PRICE IS FINALLY RIGHT

I have often commented on your blog posts about how you guys in the US get the best shopping deals.

Where I live in Canada, not too far from the border, the clearance sections in the stores take off about 10% and call that a clearance. What? A $100.00 item is clearance priced at $90.00? I don’t think so.

Yesterday I went to a clearance centre for the  Sears store to look for some tops for work mostly. This is a separate store not part of the regular stores and is all clearance items.

Finally someplace that understands how to clear out merchandise.

Not only was this stuff at a low clearance price but they were taking a further 25% off at the checkout. If I had used my Sears credit card they would have taken off more still.

Here is what I bought….wait until you see the total price

The column on the left is a black skort, a coral, white and cream coloured turtleneck (think fall) and a black tee.

The second column is a nice green faux suede jacket with a zip front and an ivory colour silky shirt.

The 3rd column shows a coral sleeveless shirt and a lovely striped shirt.

Last but not least was a 2 piece set. A beautiful yellow silky tee with a sheer overshirt with a pretty butterfly design.

What did I pay for all this booty? 10 pieces of clothing for $74.00 before our taxes. I would have bought a lot more but because I am only 5’ tall but wear a large size of clothing the sleeves are often too long for me. I will shorten the sleeves on the green jacket but the clothing I left behind had fancy cuffs and stuff that I would not want to try to alter.

That my friends, is what I call a clearance!!!

YOU GUYS GET ALL THE GOOD STUFF

 www.flickr.com/photos/hikingartist/3005682627/

I met with a friend for lunch yesterday. I was so nice to catch up a bit and have some girl talk. We went to a restaurant that is in a little mall. Of course that is perfect for a little shopping after lunch don't you think?
We went first to a leather shop looking at all the gorgeous leather coats and wallets. Not many deals there to catch the eye. Wander down a little further to a clothing store. The only nice piece of clothing I found was $70 for a little shirt. Uh, no thanks. I bought some nightgowns and we moved on.

On to a home decorating store where once again there was very little of interest. We did find something that is going to be the container for a birthday gift we are giving....next February. Hey I like to be organized. Don't laugh.

Lastly we went to a store called Home Sense. For all my US friends that is the same as TJ Maxx stores. Except one big difference. In Canada we don't know how to put something on clearance. I am serious. A regular sale price here is at most usually 20% off the item. I head to the clearance sections and what do I find?

Big clearance...Regular price $14.99 red tagged clearance $12.99. Big deal, not. I mean really people isn't a clearance price supposed to be at least half price. I saw this on most of the clearance items. They have barely marked them down at all.

Now how am I supposed to tablescape and decorate with all of you when I can't even get napkin rings for under 6 bucks apiece. I ask you how??

I have often shopped in Washington State and have seen the kinds of deals you guys get. I have seen the markdowns to 70% off with a store special coupon to take 10% more off everything in the store, sale price or not. Even if I pay duty and taxes on the stuff to cross back over the border the same day it is worth it. Not to mention the selection and choices you have as well.

That does it. I will have to plan a shopping trip to the US. I will buy only clearance items and I will be looking for those extra markdowns that are everywhere. I will shop til I drop and my car will be so full it will take me hours to get through customs but boy will I be tablescaping then. Look out.

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TABLESCAPE THURSDAY

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American blog friends. And thanks to Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch for hosting us again.

Today I went to a Christmas store with my coffee buddy Frank. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take photos in the store. So sad because it is amazing. 

From there we stopped at a Bombay Co. where they were very happy to let me take some photos. I must say everyone in the store was so friendly. So of course I took pictures of their tables and now will post them here to share with you. Gets me off the hook doesn't it.  

Okay I have tried 6 times to get this picture to stay rotated. I give up.

There is my tablescape cheat. Have a great holiday. 

I WON, I WON

I won a prize at the Essential Packaging store. I am so excited. I never win stuff. I am going tomorrow to pick it up as it is not all that far from me. The have such great ideas for wedding favors, centerpieces, wrapping, boxes, ribbons, papers, shredding, you name it.

It is really good timing for me too because I have to put together two gift baskets for this weekend. I will be picking up some cellophane bags and the bases and shredded paper to go into it. The other great parts about this trip over there is that there is a new bridge open not far from me and it will take almost an hour off my drive.

Then to top it off I am meeting Jen from Muddy Boot Dreams at the store because she won a prize too. If time permits we will be going for a coffee and getting to know one another. You should see her beautiful art cards on her site. Oh my goodness. She has an incredible collection of photos. If you need a gift for a special someone you would be advised to have a look.

I think tomorrow is going to be a great day.