Wild, wild few weeks

This snap is a few years old of my tree farm 'summer home.' The family/grandparents' tree farm purchased a pop-up camper a few years back for extra sleeping room. The family has grown, but the cabin has not. My kids always want to stay in the camper when we're up there. I really enjoy the camper, too. It's cozy and comfortable, but you can still hear the critters outside. Including the not-so-brilliant porcupine that decided to chew on a trailer and the machine shed the last time we were there.

The past few weeks have been very wild, but you probably already knew that since I've only made one post in March so far. I made a trip (it's a LONG story I won't get into) back to the home country this past week. I'm really glad I was able to go. I'm also grateful my work let me have the time off so I could make the trip. It was a bit strange returning to the desert last night after being in below freezing temperatures and snowfall. My first flight coming home was late due to a blizzard. When I got back to the heat here, my husband had modified my vehicle a bit (if you know what I drive this will make more sense). It was really strange driving around with the warmish wind.

My cousin and his wife (T&S) will be here very late tomorrow night. We are all totally psyched. I brought back a quilt from a store 'back home' that sells handmade things from local people. So, now I have a nice new quilt for my guest bedroom. And, since I knew T&S are bringing some yummies for us here, I loaded up an extra check bag with toys for my kids, new clothing bits and a big new pillow for me. It's a good thing to be able to shop in the home country.

I found an article in the NYTimes:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/23/business/23haggle.html?em&ex=1206417600&en=1f71cf57986b3fa8&ei=5087%0A&exprod=myyahoo

Where I live, we haggle all the time. And, as the article says, you can't get a good deal unless you're armed with information. If I walk into a shop, and I've NEVER seen a type of item before, chances are I'm going to get taken on the price. It took me a lot of roaming around asking prices and watching others before I knew what were good prices and what were not. But, what these big stores in the States might want to think about is that 'I' go back to the stores that haggle, but I REALLY shop in the stores that I don't have to haggle with for extensive periods of time for every single item. Otherwise, shopping becomes more work than fun. To haggle is ok, to have to haggle for 30 minutes for a $10 shawl is not. At that point, I walk away. And this isn't just me - it's other consumers I know here as well.