Day: January 17, 2022

TMP — Store Brands

Fandango36 Comments

Every Monday, Paula Light, with her The Monday Peeve prompt, gives us an opportunity to vent or rant about something that pisses us off. My peeve today is about store brands.

I regularly shop at two grocery stores, Safeway and Whole Foods Market. These stores have always carried store brands, which are similar to national brand products, but less expensive. However, I prefer to buy brand name products. Maybe it’s all in my head, but that’s just how I am.

Safeway’s store brand for as long as I can remember is “Lucerne.” It recently also started offering products under the “Signature Select” brand. Whole Foods Market’s store brand is labeled “365.” Up until recently, these store brands made up about 20-25% of what was stocked on shelves, in the refrigerated compartments and in freezers.

But I’ve noticed that over the past year, at both Safeway and Whole Foods, these store brand items have been getting much more room on the shelves, the refrigerated compartments, and the freezers. Depending upon the product, in some cases, 50% or more of the products available are such store brands.

And that means that these stores stock fewer and fewer of the brand name products that I’ve been buying for years. In some instances at both Safeway and Whole Foods, if you don’t want to buy a store brand, you’re shit outta luck.

And that pisses me off.

Calling All Creative Photographers

Fandango14 Comments

I host a weekly prompt, Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge, which I post on Monday mornings. In that prompt, I present photos, images, sketches, or paintings that I pull from the internet and ask people to respond to the prompt by posting their own stories or poems inspired by those photos or images.

Are you interested in seeing what stories or poems your artistic endeavors can conjure up from your fellow bloggers? If so, I’m inviting you to send me your intriguing, interesting photos or images, anything you believe will inspire others to write. I will, of course, give you full credit for your photos/images.

Please email your photographs or images to fivedotoh@outlook.com. Only send work that you have created.

Thanks in advance.

Share Your World — 01/17/2022

Fandango15 Comments

It’s Monday and Melanie is out with another edition of Share Your World.

Fill in: ‘If I were really completely honest, I would say that …’ This is a question for ‘radical honesty’. What are the things you wouldn’t normally say? Things you would otherwise actually hide? What’s on your mind? What would you really like to be able to say?

If I were really completely honest, I would say that being “completely honest (i.e., brutally honest) is no way to win friends and influence people. While honesty is the best policy, sometimes you have to couch that honesty in a way that doesn’t hurt others. So rather than being “radically” honest, I would try to figure out a way to make my point without making matters worse or destroying a relationship.

Have you ever broken anything? What about rules?

I’ve broken traffic laws (mostly by driving faster than the posted speed limit). I once went through the express (15 items or less) line at the grocery store with 16 items. I also have a tendency to break arcane grammatical rules, like never start a sentence with a conjunction or end one with a preposition.

Are you also afraid of spiders? What is your biggest fear, other than spiders? (If you’re not afraid of spiders, use your biggest phobia instead.)

I am not afraid of spiders, but I’m not a fan of spiders, either. As to a phobia, which is defined as an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something, I don’t have a true phobia. That’s not to say I’m fearless. It’s just that my fears are neither extreme or irrational.

Do you think time goes faster as you get older?

Definitely. When I was a kid, time traveled at a snail’s pace, but now, my god, it whizzes by. Take 2021, for example. That year lasted for the blink of an eye.

Please share something that really inspired you from this last week or month.

I think what inspires me the most are those of you who read my blog, who respond to my prompts, who create your own prompts that inspire others, and who share your worlds with the rest of us.

Blogging Insights — Looking Ahead

Fandango23 Comments

For her weekly Blogging Insights prompts, Dr. Tanya provides us with a quote about blogging or writing and asks us to express our opinion about said quote. However, this week she is interested in finding out if we are planning any changes to our blog. Specifically, she’s asking us to…

…share our HOPES for our blog in 2022 as well as our REGRETS (if any).

Actually, I’m pretty happy with my blog the way it is, and my philosophy is, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” So I have no specific hopes for my blog other than to continue blogging.

That said, let me ask you all a question. You may answer from the perspectives of appearance, content, frequency, or whatever occurs to you. So here’s my question.

What changes, if any, would you encourage me to make to my blog in 2022 in order for you to have a better experience reading my posts?

Thanks for your feedback.

Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge #152

Fandango10 Comments

Welcome to Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge. Each week I will be posting a photo I grab off the internet and challenging bloggers to write a flash fiction piece or a poem inspired by the photo. There are no style or word limits.

The photo below is from EyeCandyDesignz @ Pixabay.

For the visually challenged writer, the photo shows a drummer from behind, spotlights shining on him and his band mates performing on stage.

If this week’s image inspires you and you wish to participate, please write your post, use the tag #FFFC, and link back to this post. I hope it will generate some great posts.

Please create a pingback to this post or manually add your link in the comments.