Ah, you don't know what it takes out of me to visit Walmart, but, at times, there is no alternative - TINA! No luck with the picture frames, so I will search for suitable frames online. In the end, I will probably have the pictures professionally framed. At checkout there were several people ahead of me with just a few items, but the person preceding me had a full shopping cart. The man began a conversation about the Christmas trees which were already on display - in September!!! The Christmas season starts earlier each year. I thought perhaps since the man was friendly, he'd wave me, with my small number of items, ahead of him, but no luck. We continued our seemingly endless conversation about Christmas in September during the wait, and - Lo! - just before he was ready to unload his cart, the man waved me ahead of him. Thank you, sir! You had me in suspense for a spell, but, in the end, you did the right thing.
Out in the vast parking lot, I realized that I had gone in one door and come out another, and I had no idea where I'd parked my car. I clicked the lock and unlock buttons, and I could hear a faint beep, but I still had no clue. As I tried to stifle panic and gather my wits about me, I remembered that I had parked fairly close to the store, and I looked around and finally spotted what I thought was my car, and indeed it was.
What is it about Walmart? With me, I believe the aversion has reached nearly phobic proportions, although not quite full-blown, or I could not go to Walmart at all. Of course, it may come to that one day, and, if that happened, my life would lose all meaning.
I have a bookmark for picture frames stored. I will give it to you to save you some hunting. http://www.pfile.com/prod_detail_list/Picture-Frame-Guide
ReplyDeleteJay, thanks for the link. I found a frame that looks promising, or I might consider a trip to Michaels in the next town over.
Deletehobby lobby and michaels have beautiful frames. use a 40% coupon for a deal.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I live in a small town, and we don't have Michael's or Hobby Lobby, but I believe the next town over has a Michael's store. That is a possibility.
DeleteSee what Hobby Lobby is up to. I don't think I'll be rushing over there.
DeleteI abhor Walmart too.... Unfortunately, I have very little choice in shopping now out on the Great Prairie. Fortunately, it is three hours away, so, in order to make a productive trip out of it, we have a list, and we stick to it...
ReplyDeleteI still hate participating in my own oppression, which I think shopping at Walmart accomplishes.
Just sayin'.
margaret, my conscience is eased somewhat by the low prices for some items which help people who struggle to make ends meet.
DeleteGrandmere, are there any auction houses near to you that have estate sales, etc. where you could pick up cheap frames? The secret is to look for the awful prints in decent frames - people tend not to see past the picture unless the frame is very ornate or solid silver - and to never bid the first price the auctioneer asks for, he'll keep dropping it until somebody starts the bidding. So for example if he says "Start me at ten dollars", wait, he'll carry on, "eight?....five?..." and at that point make a verbal offer of one or two dollars; you'll e surprised how much you can get for very little, especially if they're selling several framed pictures as one lot.
ReplyDeleteThe other benefit of buying this way is that framed pictures, no matter how ghastly, tend to be mounted, so there's another saving for you over the cost of the frames. Plus, of course, the frames will often be old and better constructed than the cheap modern ones, as well as more attractive.
AofE, the nearest auction houses would be in New Orleans, but I no longer have the patience to sit through auctions. I have very nice old frames for old pictures of my family and two lovely antique oval frames for my baby picture and a picture when I was in my aunt's wedding at the age of 5. The back of the frames have an 8" x 10" opening, in which the photos fit perfectly without cutting. My deceased sister was an eBay seller, and she went to many estate sales, which is where she found the two oval frames.
DeleteI need two document-sized frames for Sophia prints which I bought from nakedpastor, shown here and here.
I have also had good luck at Michael's, and my neighbor says she gets great frames (and custom framing) at JoAnn Fabrics.
ReplyDeleteI also have a BIG aversion to WalMart and go there only when all else fails. Among other reasons, I've seen what WalMart does to local businesses in small towns, and it really frosts me. Last week, though, after failing to find the trash bin I had in mind at Home Depot, another big home store, and four local hardware stores, I finally broke down and went to WM and found exactly what I wanted.
Mary Clara, Walmart caused a number of locally-owned small businesses to close when they came to our town. Even a couple of large chain supermarkets left. If a local entrepreneur had not opened three markets here and expanded beyond into New Orleans and other places, our only option for groceries would be Walmart and one small independent market. I shudder to think what it would be like to have Walmart as the only option.
DeleteBBeautiful prints, Grandmere. The naked pastor is a talented artist.
ReplyDeleteDavid is gifted. I especially like his Sophia drawings, and I'm a bit moonstruck, so I chose two pictures that included the moon. "Canoeing" speaks to me on quite a deep level.
DeleteI stopped by a local Walmart last weekend, & walking through the partly cleared-out roofed-but-outdoor garden area, joked to the person with me that they were clearing it to display Christmas items in a few weeks' time. Little did I expect the array of Christmas trees, lurking just inside the sliding doors. Unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteI can tell you, it was a shock to me to see the trees. If you consider the after Christmas sales, Christmas merchandise is for sale for nearly half the year.
DeleteIt's awful what's happened to retail in general. Remember when all the stores had different merchandise? Last time I went to Mall Wart I took my usual look over at the 75 cash registers and saw only two were open, both with long lines and turned around. The "Welcome to Wal*Mart" guy asked if something was wrong and I said, "Nothing I need's worth waiting in line like that. They should open more registers if they want to sell anything".
ReplyDeleteHe informed me that if they hired more people I'd never be able to afford that merchandise. (Guess I'm NOT a very snappy dresser...)
I said "No big deal, I'll buy it on Amazon like everybody else."
(Guess I'm NOT a very snappy dresser...)
DeleteWhat! A gay man who's not a snappy dresser! We need another TV show: "Queer Eye for a Queer Guy".
Some Walmart workers make such poor wages that they qualify for food stamps and Medicaid. That's Walmart mooching off the government, not the workers.
I've never been a snappy dresser, and can't stand "Queer Eye." It's gay Amos 'n' Andy, to me.
DeleteWalmart is not fun, but, until we rise up as a people and take back our economy from the real moochers, we'll have to take what we can get.
Mark, I was joking with Wade. I've only seen "Queer Eye..." a couple of times, and I'm not caught up in judging how people dress
DeleteThe Walmart in my neighborhood hires folks who are handicapped and does not hide them in the stock room. I like that. Now, I'm sure there's some financial gain to Walmart for that, but I know these folk love being able to work and get paid.
ReplyDeleteThere is that, Elizabeth. Tom shops at Walmart.
DeleteI wish I only had to take a semi-annual trip to Walmart, but that isn't possible it just is the cheapest place to us. :-(
ReplyDeleteI understand, Ciss. The last time I wrote critically about Walmart, I had a couple of comments from people who worked there. They agreed with me but said it was the only job they could find, and they were glad to have work at all, which made me feel somewhat guilty. Costco manages to be profitable and still pay their employees well and give them good benefits. It can be done. I wish we had a Costco near here.
DeleteThere are two nice things I know about the WM I occasionally visit.
ReplyDeleteThey do carry watch batteries and they will put the new battery in for you. Otherwise, in this town you have to go to a jewlers to have your watch battery replaced.
A ladies group I belong to at my church sponsors a mitten tree every Christmas and I can get a lot of cool stuff for the tree at WM for a decent price.
Same ladies group sponors what we call "Christmas in July" for the children of our food pantry patrons. We stock up on school supplies to distribute to the children before the start of the school year. I can buy a lot of cool stuff for a decent price.
Otherwise I usually avoid shopping there.
Bonnie, I am wary of urging people not to shop here or there, because workers who are not part of the company's decision-making team need their jobs.
DeleteWell, very interesting to hear how the other half lives. This gay man who is also not a snappy dresser never shops anywhere but wally world - except once in a great while at Home Depot for hardware that WM doesn't carry.
ReplyDeleteY'all are entitled to feel what you feel, but for the record, there is nothing wrong with shopping at Walmart - it is chock full of name-brand goods, and the prices are the lowest you can find. Some of us are very grateful for all that. And not a bit worried about being thought déclassé by our sophisticated friends and neighbors.
That's the real problem, isn't it? Nobody ever gives a minute's thought to whether the workers at Dillard's or Macy's or Krogers are making a living wage.
What's very telling is that when WM opens a store next to a really ritzy neighborhood - I have seen two instances of this - it is always jammed with shoppers from Day 1, and the parking lot full of BMW's and Lexuses. Most amusing, I think.
Russ, you surely have a right to your opinion, too. I stand by what I've said, and I've told no one not to shop at Walmart. Local businesses do close when Walmart comes to town. Except for management, the employees are rather poorly paid, and some are on public assistance. If you think I don't go to Walmart because of snobbishness, you're just plain wrong.
DeleteThe workers at Mickey D's aren't paid anything but minimum wage, and don't get a full 40 hours a week of even that - which also would qualify them for public assitance. Do you also refuse to eat at fast food shops too? It's your business of course where you shop or don't shop, and I'm not throwing a stone at you darlin' - but some causes are very a la mode, and some aren't. I just wonder why that is.
DeleteWalmart and McDonald's are both behemoths, so that makes them easier targets. I mentioned Costco as a company that makes a good profit and still treats its workers well. It is possible, you know.
DeleteWe mostly eat at home, with the occasional meal in a restaurant. We rarely eat fast foods, because so many choices on the menu are unhealthy and just plain not tasty. I guess that makes us snobs, too.
I have quite a weak herd instinct, so I rarely follow what's a la mode.
Yes, it is possible to be profitable and at the same time fair to workers, and producers, and the public. Unfortunately, greed is too often in the driver's seat and all other considerations are thrown aside. Maybe Occupy will grow up into a movement that will change all that one day. In the meantime po' folks like me have to make do with what's available.
DeleteIn the meantime po' folks like me have to make do with what's available.
DeleteRuss, I understand, and I keep that in mind. My post was actually all about me and Walmart, and Christmas in September, and picture frames, and not about where other people shop.
I hear you, and I will add this. In my incipient old age, I am becoming aware that sometimes I fail to make clear that the object of my remarks is someone other than the listener. It seems that when you are all growed up into a grumpy old man - a most surprising development, contrary to all youthful expectations, I can tell you - that things just come out that way sometimes. I'm sorry if I offended you, that was not my intention.
DeleteRuss, I wasn't offended, and the comments here are so often from the like-minded that I like it when the conversation becomes a bit tart from time to time...a little spice added to the flavor.
DeleteCall me Tabasco, then. Grin.
DeleteTabasco.
DeleteMany framing shops also sell the "ready made" variety.
ReplyDeleteKJ, you live in Seattle where you have choices that those of us in small towns don't have. Yes, I have a car, but the traffic in the nearest larger town is nightmarish. And yes, I can nearly always find an excuse for not going shopping. ;-)
DeleteAh, Grandmere, if only overseas mail wasn't so expensive. I have boxes full of frames, in all shapes, sizes and styles, up in the loft just waiting for the right pictures.
DeleteOh well, c'est la vie!
If only... I've shipped a few items to friends overseas, and it costs the earth.
DeleteAin't that the truth! It would almost be more cost efficient for me to catch a budget airline flight with the frames as hand luggage than to send them through the mail :-)
DeleteBy the way, there's a beautiful, almost-full moon headed your way tonight; I've just spent the last hour in the garden with my telescope, tracking it across the sky. I know you like 'la lune', so I hope you have clear skies over there. Actually, if you have a pair of binoculars and a steady hand (or something stable to rest them on) you can see FIVE moons tonight.
Intrigued?...or are you also an amateur astronomer and I'm 'teaching Granny to suck eggs', as the old saying goes?
The moon is beautiful tonight. The mosquito-spray truck passed, so I skipped my early walk, but I peeked at the moon. I must take my dog for a walk later. By then. I hope the droplets will have settled. The experts say the spray is not harmful to humans and animals, but I don't believe them. I know the pesticide is bad for bees, which is not at all good.
DeleteTo follow on from last nights post, for anybody who may be interested and has a pair of bin's:
ReplyDeleteAfter around 10pm, point both arms at the moon, then move your left arm around to the west so they're roughly at the 9 o'clock position; close-by where your left hand is pointing you'll see a particularly bright 'star', the brightest in the sky. That's Jupiter, and if you train your binoculars on it you'll see three or four (depending on the power of your bin's) points of light, one to the left and the three to the right of Jupiter; these are the Galilean moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. So along with our beautiful companion that's five moons in one night sky.
I'm thinking of what I could use to keep the binoculars steady. A ladder perhaps.
DeleteSlight amendment; you move your left hand to the east, not west.
DeleteA ladder works for me, but If you're lucky enough to have windows facing the right way, it's most comfortable to stay inside and rest your binoculars on the sill.
A goood full moon tonight, but almost full cloud cover too! Who'd have thought it, clouds in tropical Britain :-0
Gotcha. It's almost like doing the Hokey Pokey, except the feet stay still.
DeleteBut well worth the dance, Grandmere. The clouds are clearing now so can tell you that Jupiter is at the 10 o'clock position if you take the moon as 12 (directly above Orion, you can't miss it). Also, just to the right and slightly higer than Jupiter is to my second-favourite* constellation of them all, the little star cluster of The Pleiades (The Seven isters), roughly triangular in shape and looking for all the world - especially on a moonless night when the sky is very black and so the contrast better - like an art deco diamond brooch on a black satin dress.
Delete*Orion being first-favourite; there's just so much to see there, and even with modest binoculars it's spectacular. I'm lucky though; Mrs. o'Sagan bought me a 6" reflector 'scope last year.
Alas, I see the moon through the clouds, but no stars at all are visible.
DeleteSeven 'isters'? Bedtime, methinks.
ReplyDeleteBonne nuit.
Good night, moon.
Delete