Shopping

           

The thing I do best is shop. I haven't found too many people that don't like to shop. I do my best shopping early in the morning once the stores open and I always find a good deal on things. The companies always have stuff on sale, clearance, and regular priced. If you wait about two weeks and come back to a store to purchase the thing you really wanted but didn't want to pay full priced for has been marked down. Sometimes stores due inventory and markdowns on certain days to draw in the public. If you have favorite stores you might want to inquire when those days are and shop on those days. I love a good deal. Even if you are out buying groceries, it can be a rush sometimes to stay under budget but get everything you want. If you pay closely attention to the price of bread, milk, cheese, and eggs. The prices are always up and down. The generic is always reasonable and taste just like the name brand sometimes. Buying tires for your car can seem overwhelming, but I normally call around and price different places to see who has the best deals. I love to shop for anything. Whether its clothes, shoes, cleaning supplies, hair products, just whatever. Some would say I am addicted to shopping but as long as I am not in debt, it is fine right? I don't care what others think because it is my money that I am spending and I don't drastically spend four or five hundred dollars in a day.  People who do spend large sums like that just because have a serious problem. I splurge once every three months.

 It is hard to even go in Wal-Mart sometimes and buy maybe three items. As soon as you come through the door, you see something and are like yeah I need that or wow that’s on sale, let me stock up. Costco and Sam's Club really make shopping for a large family simple because everything they have comes in bulk. The decision making process is then made simpler. Our clothes and shoes that department stores sale can sometimes be found in T.J. Maxx, or Kohl's, or Marshall's. I wonder if you all have noticed that too as well. Shopping can be fun but yet stressful. Like back to school shopping is the worst. It seems everybody is waiting on no sales tax weekend before they buy supplies or uniforms. Are we really getting a good deal that weekend by no sales tax or have the made the prices reasonable and added the tax in and make it seem like everything is on sale. Have we paid close attention to how retailers want us to spend our money? I am standing in a store looking at dresses and the dress I want is red and in my size. Let's say I wear a size six, but my friend may be a twelve and it doesn't come in red but blue. The red dress in a size six is thirty eight dollars but the same dress in blue in a size twelve is fifty eight dollars. Why is that? Does the color really matter? What if they were the same color but after the size ten, the price goes up.

 We really should pay attention to detail when shopping. Like buying shoes for instance, we really want those new Jordan’s, or Nikes. The size we need is the display shoe. Everyone has tried it on, has a spot that is tiny, but it is my size and I just want it. Is the store supposed to take off a percentage because it’s the display or throw in something free? Depending on if you have the gift of gab, you might be able to get a discount and then sometimes they won't. The same store will wait until the following week and then lower the price of the shoe. I am amazed at our retailers. It doesn't discourage me from shopping but makes me aware to pay more attention.  

Crime and Safety

As a young vibrant woman of my early 20s, I am aware of my surroundings. Be cautious of people who are watching you closely. I presently work third shift and I must tell you. There are some creepy people out that time of morning. I have been known to go to the Wal-Mart, gas station, grocery store, and wherever else at 3 or 4 a.m. Ladies don't do it. Memphis crime rate is steadily growing. Now there is a person snatching ladies purses off the front seat while they pump gas. Because when you at the pump you are easily distracted by people near by holding a conversation or your phone rings and you just talking a mile a minute. You haven't even realized that you left your person on the front seat visible to prying eyes and now that you have turned around your valuables are gone. Never ever leave your purse or any valuables visible to the naked eyes. Crime doesn't know a specific time or day. It can happen to anyone anywhere at any time. It feels like we can't even be safe anywhere anymore. I have a friend who just passed the police academy. He said I should carry a small thing of mace with me and if I have to go out at night. Go with a friend and stay in well lighted areas. I know young people love to party and club. Just be careful. I know that at any point and time something can happen to me. What happens at night happens during the day as well? It just amazes me that no one knows who this purse snatcher is as of yet. There is one detail that the person drives a newer model white ford mustang. Everyone should just be aware to always look around them and keep your doors locked. Even though I am standing at the pump, my doors are locked and my eyes open wide. Everyone should try their best to keep themselves safe at all times.

Nice Neighborhoods

         

I was trying to think what I was doing this time last year that I missed this big story on an adult bed and breakfast in Collierville. It was said that the services being rendered were sex and bondage. Really I am shocked. I just couldn't believe that an upscale neighborhood as such had that going on and kept it quiet for so long. Look like the occupants of the Schilling Farms neighborhood should have had an association that could have stood together and said No, not in our neighborhood. We aren't going to live around this nonsense. Mr. James Williams who is 57 years old really should know better, but evidently he doesn't. He was advertising on the internet and when the websites where picked up by law enforcement. He was ordered to take them done immediately. It was the first time he was cited with a nuisance order. No physical evidence had been presented as of yet. After taking the websites down he waited and then put them back up advertising for the Zanthia House. Now a second order has been issued and he will be fined, and might face jail time. Even though technically he isn't breaking any laws in Collierville,  Williams could be facing state and federal violations. The house he lives in is two adjoining houses. His backyard faces a church for goodness sakes.  Many neighbors stay they spoke up but were unsuccessful because he wasn't breaking any laws. Williams house is two blocks from a school. It makes you wonder if any children had seen something and might not have known what was going on you know. It goes to show we really don't know sometimes who we living next to or beside. Collierville is known for great eatery and shopping. Now they will be known for this man's discretion. Anything can happen in anyone’s' neighborhood in Memphis.

Teen Pregnancy

            Earlier in the week, something caught me off guard. Teen pregnancy is nothing new but the excessive number of girls pregnant at one local high school in Memphis is absurd. Notice I said girls not women. It is babies having babies. At some point we must stop the cycle. The teaching begins at home to practice safe sex. If you are going to participate in sexual encounters, you must learn to protect yourself. Since the 7th grade sex education has been stressed. The most important factor is to wait! There is so much going on in a young girl's life that sex should be really on the back burner. Just think about how much freedom you have without a baby. You can go anywhere, do anything, and be carefree. Don't get me wrong yes you can work, go to school, and take care of a child but it’s extremely HARD. Waiting until you are married and stable financially is always good. Don't go with the hype of it FEELS good without a condom. If you LOVE me, you will. We been together for a couple of weeks now and all your friends are doing it, so why not you? Think about it having a baby at 16 nowadays makes you a statistic.

              No one wants to be a statistic. Now the teaching starts at home to me because people outside your home don't know your situation. Sex is nothing to be embarrassed about but walking the halls of your middle or high school can make it embarrassing. As parents if we teach our children the pros and cons of sex maybe we wouldn't have a rate of teen pregnancy that is twice the states rate. Everyone is thinking how can we change the situation. Let these girls know that it is not CUTE! My mother couldn't talk enough about staying a virgin all through school and don't let peer pressure get the best of me. Especially in schools if you have maybe 5 pregnant girls in one grade level or overall, separate them from the rest of the young ladies. We are condoling that's it is OK but it isn't. If there are no sex education classes being given, then maybe there should be one. It doesn't hurt to talk about it. Show the young ladies and men how to properly put on a condom. Many out here don't know. Let them know where they can get free contraception from, if the feel like their parents wouldn't understand. Hello ladies we do have birth control and taken regularly as prescribed daily is effective. I am not saying go out there and have sex and get girls pregnant.

            I am saying be SMART. After the young ladies become pregnant, then the morning sickness starts, swollen ankles, pain that is unbearable. A lot of our young ladies have figures that you want to keep, being pregnant and having a baby doesn't return your body to the way it was before. If you look at actresses or musicians or anyone famous that has ever been pregnant and say my body will look like that again. You are lying to yourself. Most of these pregnant girls walking around don't come from money but struggling households, and single parent houses. If you don't like something, CHANGE it. I would really like to see less of our young ladies walking around with bellies or child or children on their hips. I want to see more of our young ladies networking for jobs, accepting rewards, and finishing high school and college. No one has to agree with me but these are just my thoughts. Teen pregnancy has been going on forever. As a community we should stand together and say enough is enough.