Asha Anujeeva

One of the things that I dread about the changing seasons is the chore of changing out the closet. My closet is small, so every season I have to rotate clothing in/out of the closet and in/out of the cedar chest that is at the foot of my bed.

Part of the chore is to check all of the clothes for repairs that need to be mended, and also to make sure that the clothes still fit. As I mentioned in an earlier post I’ve recently lost weight so I will be having to take a hard look at all of the plus size clothing and determine if any of it can be altered or if I should pack it away in case I gain the weight back, or if I should donate it to a thrift store. I hate making decisions like that! I don’t want to be a packrat, but I don’t want to be a spendthrift either!

My cousin sent me the link to a BBC website that was talking about a new store in Germany called “The Future Store.”  He included the note “I thought you might get a kick out of this.”  So I clicked on the link and watched a video made for a tv news show where the reporter was going around the store and explaining how new technology was being used at this store.

It really was very interesting; the customers use their cell phones to scan the bar code of the product they are buying when they take it off of the shelf before they put it in their cart.  The meat counter has microchips in the meat packages to advise the store that the meat package has been removed, so the store can keep track of when they need to re-stock.  When the customer is finished shopping, they press a button on their phone, which produces a “master bar code” which they use to scan at a self-service checkout counter.  Really all quite interesting.  The biggest question I have about the process is regarding how the store expects to keep the customers “honest” and reduce the risk of shop-lifting?  I’d be curious to learn about that part of the equation!

I was surprised to discover when I stepped on the bathroom scale this morning to discover that I had lost ten pounds over the past month. No wonder my clothes don’t fit me anymore! I am going to have to go shopping and buy a whole bunch of new clothes for the fall and winter coming up. If I don’t, I will look pretty stupid with all of my clothes hanging off of my, being held up with a belt!

So, as much as I don’t like to think about buying new clothes, I will be having to be hitting the Internet sales and see what I can come up with for good looking clothes that won’t cost an arm and a leg!

In this economy, most of the people that I know are trying to save money everywhere they can.  For quite a long time now, I’ve been hearing about being able to buy eyeglasses for as low as $6.95 a pair at the Zenni Optical website. 

My biggest concern about buying glasses over the Internet is getting them to fit on my face once they arrive.  I have a very short temple, for one thing.  I don’t know how that issue (if it even IS an issue!) would be taken care of in the case of buying glasses over the Internet.

I’ve been hearing that they have been discussed on popular radio shows, and that they were mentioned in an article that was discussing ways to save money on eye care in the New York Times newspaper as a good place to get cheap back-up glasses. I checked out their website and found that they had over 200 pairs of glasses for $6.95! And I actually did see a couple of good looking pairs of $6.95 glasses that I would consider buying. I like the shape and the color; they are very much like what I already wear. Pretty soon it will be time for me to get a new pair of glasses, so I will be checking them out for sure!

i was reading an article in the BBC news that China has been given permission by the The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species to import “legal” elephant ivory.  According to the article, there are several countries where the government legally owns stockpiles of elephant ivory, and that ivory was obtained legally.  Considering the decreasing elephant population, and the poaching problems for illegal ivory it made me wonder exactly how does a country obtain “legal” ivory?  Do they wait for elephants to die of old age and then go to the elephant graveyards to get it?  Or do they hunt the elephants?  This story disturbed me; I thought that all ivory was illegal everywhere.