Thought this was beautiful cookware at the Amazon 4-Star Store.
BTW, can’t believe Amazon is now getting into bricks and mortar too!
These enameled cast iron dutch oven pots are colorful and useful.
In a way, they are too good-looking to use.
Maybe just put them on the stovetop and let them look pretty.
There is always the microwave for the real food. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Huge sales at Macy’s today.
They seem to be trying to get rid of all the merchandise built up during Coronavirus.
On line was this stylish lady in an orange dress with a white handbag.
On her arm were happy, playful tattoos, including a Minnie Mouse with her tongue out on her upper arm.
Life goes on with Disney characters cheering us up with or without a global pandemic. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
I went to the mall today.
This is a few weeks into reopening phase 2!
I expected people would have pent up demand and be swarming the stores even while keeping their social distance.
They weren’t at the mall!
The stores were nearly void of people.
The shelves were virtually empty of goods.
Whatever merchandise there was seemed to marked “sale, sale, sale” even on the already deeply-discounted clearance items.
It was completely frightening–like the economy is dead or on severe life support!
Most stores had 3 or more associates standing around or sitting twiddling their thumbs.
This while the stock market keeps ticking up and the NASDAQ is reaching new highs almost daily.
Coronavirus is surging again across much of the U.S. and there is almost 140,000 dead in the U.S. after just 5 months even though much of the population was in self-quarantine.
The economy looks to me in sh*t shape, despite the U.S. pumping $3 trillion dollars more of debt to artificially prop up the economy and the fed lending out money at super low rates.
It makes NO sense for the market to be hitting all time highs as if everything is all roses when the economy is still a true mess!
The New Yorker magazine wrote back in May of a post coronavirus “decade of depression” with an L shaped recovery, yet we keep seeing a V-shaped one and no one seems to be able to offer any plausible explanation for it.
Two-months ago, even before the recent stock run-up to higher levels, Business Insider reported that “the Stock Market is trading at its highest valuation in 18-years.“
Last month, Forbes reported that “the stock market appears to be reaching unsustainable highs.“
Yesterday again, Bloomberg reported that the “economic recovery is faltering.”
Almost daily, I read that companies are laying off their workers (in Travel, Transportation, Entertainment, Retail, Energy, etc.) or declaring bankruptcy (e.g. Hertz, JC Penny, Neiman Marcus, Chesapeake Energy, and more).
This while we are still, in the best case scenario, maybe half a year away from the possibility of a tested, approved vaccine. And then it will then need to be mass produced and mass distributed to hundreds of millions of people in this country and billions globally.
In the meantime, we certainly could be up for a second wave of Coronavirus on top of the flu in the fall/winter. And then the Coronavirus may mutate and become more virulent requiring annual vaccines like the flu shot–more hit or miss.
All this while U.S.-China trade war is imperiling our economy further, and arch-enemies Iran and North Korea remain national security threats.
To me this all points to that we are nowhere near out of the woods and perhaps that there is a wildfire raging and no one seems to be paying any attention!
The stock market euphoria is a common trap and is the definition of “irrational exuberance” but comes after investors have been robotically indoctrinated to buy the dips!
IMHO, buyer beware, beware, beware. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Wondering if this is also part of social distancing.
Shopping cart up a pole.
No one else up there.
Safe from Coronavirus, hopefully.
Maybe some illusive toilet paper to be found in the sky mall?
Desperate times calling for desperate measures or an anxious society is losing its mind. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
This was a funny sign in an eatery:
Our tasting panel samples each item before we buy it.
And the picture is of the guy ready to dig into the food.
There was another saying that I heard that I liked:
If you buy on price, you buy twice.
In other words, never just buy the lowest price item if you don’t really like it, because in the end, you’ll end up having to buy a replacement for the cheapo, crappo thing you really didn’t like to begin with.
Better to save up and get what you really want to begin with.
A savvy shopper, indeed. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Funny story from a wonderful relative of mine…made me laugh during this coronavirus outbreak.
——————-
“I interrupt the COVID-19 pandemic to bring you this lil story…
Last night I went to Sam’s Club to buy a bag of food for my dogs.
Already in line, a woman behind me asked me if I had a dog.
I stare at her (those who know me will imagine my gaze 🤔😳) …but then why would I be buying dog food…right? 😝😝
So on impulse I told her no, that I didn’t have a dog, that I was starting the dog food diet again, and that I probably shouldn’t because I ended up in the hospital the last time, but 15 pounds less!
I told her that it was the perfect diet and that all you had to do is carry the kibbles in your pocket and eat one or two every time you feel hungry (I have to mention that practically everyone in line was interested in my story).
Frightened, the woman asks me if I ended up in the hospital because the dog food had poisoned me. I answered…of course not!
I was admitted because I bent down to smell the butt of a bulldog and I was hit by a truck 😂😂😂
I thought the man behind her was going to have a heart attack…he was laughing so hard!
…Let’s continue promoting reading! 😁
I have to confess…I posted this to make you smile. It’s your turn to copy/paste it and make someone else laugh.
We need to laugh more! Have a GREAT DAY😄😄😄”
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Fruits and Vegetables…
Bread….
Cereal…
Paper Towels and Toilet Paper…
(Credit Photos: Andy Blumenthal @Harris Teeter)
So went to Nahariya today near the Labanon border.
Nice shopping strip and gorgeous beach.
Had a nice cappuccino at Cofix.
Got a new modern Kiddish cup for Shabbat and a washing cup for Netilat Yadayim.
Enjoyed the train ride up and back on the beautiful Mediterranean Sea shore.
Had dinner at Azrieli Mall in Tel Aviv and marvelled at all the shopping and crowds on a Tuesday.
Real contrast between more sleepy resort town, Nahariya and high-tech, bustling city Tel Aviv. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Thought this was a pretty nice Gucci bag.
Large decorated bee with expansive wings on the flap.
Beautiful pink with white pearl studs.
Brass chain and red, white, and blue shoulder strap.
Priced around $1500!
Small shoulder bag yet plush oversized and ornate make a big statement.
Nice gift for that special someone or to treat yourself to Gucci! 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Trader Joe’s has the best food shopping experience, hands down.
They also have the best edible and good tasting fresh, healthy food.
On top of it, they have a nice gift card for a Happy Hanukah!
I vote that we replace all the other crummy supermarkets with Trader Joes instead. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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