Retail Greed

 Well let's say "hello" to a bright sunny, albeit cool morning here in Central PA.  The overnight temps dropped down into the upper 20s (F), which is definitely on the chilly side, and it looks like today's high is going to be in the mid 40s (F).  Tomorrow, however, our high is going to be cruising around in the mid 50s (F).  According to NOAA, "there ain't gonna be no White Christmas in this neck o'the woods," (my paraphrasing).

Many chores were accomplished yesterday, including a good dusting and vacuuming.  The vacuuming should be done more often, Lily's a bit sloppy with her biscuits (not the UK version of cookies), leaving crumbs all over the place.

Both the grout and the thin set were purchased for the small amount of tiling needing to be done in the kitchen, and yesterday turned out be a rather fortuitous day to pick them up.  I'm using a premixed grout this time, and, as the Orange retailer I work for is still desperately trying to hold onto their market share, prices went up.  A full $1.00 per quart.  For those interested, that's not inflation, that's greed.  Anyway, there are 2 facings of grout (2 rows on the shelf), and only one of the prices had been changed, so being the savvy home improvement shopper I am, I pulled off the lower price tag and proceeded to the register.  For those looking at the financial side of things, we have 2700 stores, if each store sells 10 quarts a week that's an increase for $108,000 in a month.  Think how much additional revenue that will be in a year, and keep in mind that was not the only product to get a price increase.

Here's a picture of my Christmas cactus blooming again.

So, Trump's blow bro Vlad gave a speech in which he said his plans have not changed in regard to the Ukraine.  No surprise there.  The only way they will change is if he gets his ass handed to him on a platter, or if the Russian people decide that enough of their young men have died.  

The GOP led House of Representatives has opening up and inquiry to see if they should impeach Biden even though many of it's members, including that derelict Chuck Grassley, they don't have grounds for such an inquiry.  This is all political, nothing else.  Troy Niels said it best in a dropped mic moment, "this is all for Trump in 2024."

And the Stock Market popped yesterday to the highest level in its history.  Republicans did not bring that subject up in their conversations.