More about shopping!

Ok I know I promised to tell you more about shopping, but instead of talking about it, I have been doing it. Last Friday I had to go on a mission for my Mom. Em's birthday is coming up and she wants my Mom to send her Bubble bath--"good bubble bath" Since bubble bath doesn't really fit well into a Global Priority Mail Envelope, I took up the task of seeing what I could find. This was easier said than done. After shopping at many places I finally found a small bottle at a store similar to Bath and Body works. The cost for 5 oz. bottle of rasberry scented bubbles--$12. OK so maybe not. The next place, where I found some, was a strange little store. It was about the size of your bathroom--OK so maybe not your Master bath, but the one in the hall that the kids use. There were shelves down each side with an asile only big enough for one. The outside wall of shelves had glass on one side so you could stand in the mall and browse. This store seemed to carry toiletry items imported from the US. But they only had one or 2 of each item like maybe they had bought some sort of odd lot. In the window of this store I saw 1 bottle of Mr. Incredible Bubble Bath--from the Disney movie a few years ago called The Incredibles. My guess is in the US they are currently selling Chicken Little or Narnia Bubble Bath. The price for this collectors item--$10. At least the price was going down and the bottle bigger. This bottle was probably about 24 oz. Finally at a store called Watson's I found what I was looking for-- 36 oz of Bubble bath for less than $2. Of course it may not be what Em calls "good bubble bath", but it will have to do. By the way, she thinks Mr. Bubbles produces the largest volume of bubbles; so if you ever come to visit and want to make her day just bring her a bottle or two of Mr. Bubbles bubble bath.

Sometimes we find the oddest things from the US in the stores. Last week at the Supermarket, I saw these beautiful hand painted bowls in the picture at the left. I really liked the bowls on display, but what really drew me was the box they came in said "Southern Living at Home". For those of you who aren't familiar with this, it is a home shopping party like Tupperware or Pampered Chef. They were so cute and less than a dollar for 2 bowls. The color was close enough to go in my kitchen that I couldn't resist. They also had a platter and serving bowl in the same pattern for less than $2. I knew if I left these there my sister-in-law would be appalled so I bought them too. We have beautiful cabinets in the kitchen with glass doors so my knew purchases look nice on display. I wonder why these few chosen items were on sale here. They said made in China so I am not thinking they were seconds. They are for sale in the current catalog so they aren't discontinued. I will probably never know why.

We often seem to have some strange items here. About the only salad dressing we can find is Kraft fat free. I know this is not because Filipinos are trying to cut back on fat in dressings. I am not sure the average Filipino even eats much salad. My guess is they weren't selling well in the US and they had a few too many. For a while, we also had Carb-well peanut butter on the shelf. The Atkins craze has not hit here, after all you would have to give up rice, so I am not sure why it is for sale here. During November, some stores started carrying a Sam's size box of a popular baking mix. Without naming names, it comes in a yellow box and youi use it to make bisqui... I mean biscuits. I of course purchased a box of this. After all I used it often at home for pancakes, waffles, and being a good southerner-biscuits. Obviously there was areason for the supply here. Someone must have accidently dropped the whole container of salt into the mix. I have tried a couple of different times to make something with it, but the taste is always too salty and terrible. I guess I my mom always says--I will just have to chalk that one up to experience.
So if you are ever wondering what becomes of today's hot new item that disappears from the selves a few months down the line--wonder no further. The extra stock has been shipped somewhere else so that 3rd wourld countries can enjoy it as well.