Paloma Cruz

stories from an ordinary life ...

  • Business+Money
  • Family+Friends
  • Food+Cooking
  • Health+Fitness
  • In the News
  • Ordinary
  • Meet the Cast

Nov 18 2013

A Central Market Experience

It turns out that I have an entire series of stories about my friends getting into, well, physical fights. The bar fight story, the time my friend greeted the police while literally sitting on someone to subdue her, the “I almost threw down with the sorority girls” story, the I got jumped while taking pictures story, etc., etc. A few of these are about fights that didn’t happen and a few are about fights that did. I am going to point out that none of them are about me. I will share these one at a time over the next few months. To protect the innocent, and the guilty, I am not including names. (Yes, mostly because I didn’t ask permission before sharing the stories.) And I start with the story of a verbal fight in the main Central Market store…

2013.11 shopping-cart-53797_1280Reading this very entertaining account of a writer’s visit to Whole Foods reminded me of a story from a friend about a very public shouting match. This happened at Central Market near River Oaks:

In a shopping trip to Central Market, my friend was dropping in to pick up some last-minute items with her baby en tow. Have you ever tried to shop for anything with a baby? It’s a thing that requires practice and talent. I know from watching others try it; I’ve never actually done it myself.

She’s finished shopping and has her bags in a cart and is headed out. She’s manged to get what she needs and is ready to head out in the time allotted. Then she gets attacked verbally by the ecology police. (She used the word “ambush.”)

“She comes up to me and says, I can’t believe you’re using plastic bags. And with a baby! What kind of place are you creating for your child? Don’t you know better?”

My friend has never seen this woman before. Was just unlucky enough to be standing next to her in a grocery store. She admits that she did, in fact, have her groceries in plastic bags. And, truthfully, she’s usually conscientious about making sure she using paper bags (or reusable ones), but that day she was busy and not paying attention. Not that any of that made it to the conversation.

But my friend counters to the unknown woman in a very fast retort, “Don’t you know better than to go up to strangers and bother them with your opinion? This is Texas, you’re likely to get shot here.” I’m not sure what reaction the unknown woman was expecting, but this was probably not what she was hoping for. The conversation went downhill fast from there. It became a very public, very loud shouting match, in Central Market.

The incident ended when staff got involved. And the other woman was still yelling at her that she was destroying the world and condemning her child to a horrendous future. And this all happened as here son looked upon them, serenely.

I never knew the upscale grocery store experience could be so vicious.

* * *

Recommend reading: Surviving Whole Foods || The Huffington Post

Written by Paloma Cruz · Categorized: Food & Cooking, Ordinary · Tagged: Central Market, shopping, the fights, Whole Foods

Oct 23 2013

Smart Shopping in October

Shopping
Edited, Photo by Emma.

I don’t need anything new. I rarely do. I’m one of those people who buys new canned food when I still have at least one of each in the pantry. I buy sodas when I’m low. I buy new pants when I notice the ones I own are starting to show wear. The same with shoes and other things.

I don’t like to run out of things. I don’t like to suddenly reach for something only to find that it’s not there.

Yes, I know that’s a little OCD, but I’ve made peace with who I am.

For those of you who aren’t trying to save money, and may honestly need one of these things, Lifehacker has a list of items that are best to buy in October. These include Cars (I bought mine over the summer), digital cameras (and mine is just a year and a half off), and, surprisingly, wedding supplies.

Their list is longer, of course, but those popped out at me.

Oh yeah, and cookware. Now, maybe, I do need some pots and pans…

* * *

Source: The Best Things to Buy in October || Lifehacker

Written by Paloma Cruz · Categorized: Business & Money, Ordinary · Tagged: budget, shopping

Sep 18 2013

I’m not spending my money!

2013.09 Piggy Bank 6921656694_9f907fb3ce_zA year ago my nephew received lots of money for his birthday. He couldn’t have been less impressed with it; money wasn’t real to him. He didn’t understand what you did with it, didn’t understand that it was useful. He handed it over to his mother without a moment’s hesitation.

Less than a month later, for Christmas, he was thrilled to get money in a few envelopes. “Wallet cash” is what he called it, i.e. cash he got to keep in his wallet instead of handing over to his mother to go into his college fund. This was money he got to spend.

What happened in that one month is that the newly-minted six-year-old discovered that you took money to the game store and exchanged it for games. “I sold my twenty for a game,” was how he put it the first time he paid for something himself.

A few weeks ago my sister was driving him back from the game store, where they’d gone to pick up a gift for a friend’s birthday. The store manager told them about a new game coming out in October. This was a game he was very interested in buying. The manager had told them that she expected the game to sell out, so she recommended they place an advance order. And so the kiddo spent the car ride home trying to convince his mother of the absolute need to pre-order the game.

“I’ll make you a deal,” my sister offered him, after hearing his arguments in favor of buying this $50 game. “If you pay half, I’ll pay for the other half.” She thought this was a very good deal. And since she knew that his stash of “wallet cash” equaled more than $80, she knew he could afford it.

“Wait… pay for it, with my money?” he asked her, horrified. He paused. “I gotta think about this,” he told her, seriously.

Then he was quiet for a while.

“I’ve got it!” he exclaimed excitedly after a while. “I’ll ask for the game as a present for my birthday. It’s just a month later. That way I get the game and I don’t have to pay for it.” He was very proud of his solution.

My sister was dumbstruck.
I was just impressed that the six-year-old was willing to wait an extra month for the game instead of parting with $25.

This is the kid who has declared he’s going to grow up to be a millionaire. Listening to him haggle so he could keep his money, I am beginning to believe him.

Photo courtesy of Tax Credits via http://www.flickr.com/photos/76657755@N04/6921656694.

 

Written by Paloma Cruz · Categorized: Business & Money, Family & Friends, Ordinary · Tagged: finances, savings, shopping

Sep 11 2013

Do your homework, then buy the car

2013.07 Used Car Lot 4498853087_6de97996c1_b

Something I should have done before I bought my car, “Get a Free Vehicle History Report Before You Buy a Car.” I’m not having trouble with it, but I still should have done my homework. I didn’t. I also didn’t buy the economical car I had planned on buying, but that’s a conversation/post for another day.

It’s not a surprise, not something that I woke up and discovered one day, but I am not very practical. Except I am very practical. Except when I’m not practical at all.

When I approached buying the car I did a lot of research on the type of car I wanted. I decided I wanted something practical, something that would be a “good” decision, a “good deal.” What I bought was a pretty car with all the extras that drives fast. It’s a great ride, just not as practical as I wanted to be.

This is the same attitude I have about everything. I do lots and lots of homework, then I rush into a final decision.

At some point I will learn patience. But I’m not going to hold my breath on that.

Photo courtesy of JOHN LLOYD via http://www.flickr.com/photos/32109282@N00/4498853087/.

Written by Paloma Cruz · Categorized: Business & Money, Ordinary · Tagged: car, finances, shopping

Aug 25 2013

Proof God hates me

20130825-143905.jpgSee this spot? That’s what’s left of me trying to clean my favorite Coach bag. That’s what happens when I buy a new pair of jeans and don’t wash them first. The jeans left a jean-color stain on the side of my expensive purse, which I tried valiantly to clean off.

That’s not the worst part.

The worst part of today’s new-jean debacle is the jean-colored stains left on the very beige leather seats in my just-owned-it-a-month car. There are blue streaks on the driver’s seat. Blue streaks in my new car.

How did my life get to the point where buying a new pair of jeans damages leather seats and my favorite Coach bag?

Proof God hates me… absolutely.

Written by Paloma Cruz · Categorized: Business & Money, Ordinary · Tagged: car, shopping

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • Next Page »
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter


Recently in PalomaCruz.com

  • the girl who cried “rain!” September 20, 2019
  • So little faith February 4, 2018
  • Emotional about Harvey August 27, 2017
  • A busy life May 31, 2017
  • Aren’t you better yet? February 8, 2017
  • Being pro-life and pro-refugee February 7, 2017
  • I deposited money into my savings account! February 3, 2017
  • I still want to believe in the Dream February 2, 2017
  • Meet the cast: David December 10, 2016
  • Meet the cast: Alicia October 29, 2016

Copyright © 2019 · Altitude Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in