Conspiracy theories

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Buying anything is a challenge. From week to week different things are unavailable. This week I couldn’t get whipped cream. None. El zippo! (Full disclosure – they had one container of fat free but what’s the point! You may as well use Styrofoam.) Most prices are up astronomically. My eating patterns are changing as a result.

I bought my car and the house before it was on the market. I was able to learn of our house through our realtor before it was listed. That worked for both us and the seller. Neither of us wanted to do loads of open houses with the virus raging. Selling went easy too. Three days, seven showing and it was done. I only had to Clorox the place twice as my realtor stacked the showings together. The house deal was pre-vaccine.

The car was “in transit” on the website. Yes, I had to cruise the websites because dealership lots are empty. It hadn’t reached the dealership and I bought it sight unseen (and undriven).

Furniture is crazy. You get a date for delivery which is pretty far out. Then it gets extended and extended. You start to forget what it looks like and wonder if you really need it.

We are getting kitchen work done. We started planning this project in January. We had trouble finding a kitchen place that was interested. We went through six different companies before we did. Installation was for October. It’s been delayed until November. We may be doing takeout for the holidays. This is not a supply issue as everything is in except the cabinets which should come in this month. All appliances and fixtures have been in since June. Contractor backlog?

Everyone has a theory – computer chips, lazy workers, supply chain shortages. It’s not as simple as that. Some of the infrastructure parts of the labor market haven’t returned to normal yet. Things like available day care or having someone manage on-line schooling for kids. You can’t work from home and manage a child’s schooling at the same time. Something suffers. At this point most kids are back in the classroom but it’s a crap shoot. They revert to on-line when there is a breakout in the school.

My new dining room table came yesterday (after five months of waiting and one postponement) and consider myself lucky. I still like it!

As if this isn’t enough proof that all is weird, last week I met someone who said they don’t believe there is a virus, that it’s all a hoax. I rolled my eyes and walked on as they ranted about big pharma and a spying government. I’m a pretty boring person. Anyone watching me would succumb to boredom. Next time I clean the kitty litter box I’ll smile for the camera!

I used to work for a guy who said (far too often) “it is what it is.” That was never more true than now.

71 thoughts on “Conspiracy theories”

  1. To administer some of Elsa’s epilepsy medication, I use WalMart’s 100% canned pumpkin. Since the first of the year, there has been a shortage. Sometimes I have to resort to cooked sweet potato as a substitute. Recently it was in stock and I bought 20 cans. Then I noticed the price had gone up 10 cents a can! I went a couple of days ago and it was out again. I wish someone could explain why there is a shortage of freakin’ pumpkin?

    Enjoy that new dining room ensemble. Glad you still like it after the long delivery time reaching you.

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  2. It seems that anything goes anymore. Every Fall I get my canned items/pantry items in for Winter. I get enough for October through April. It takes five trips – I’ve done four trips. I make perpetual lists for every year – I have a second list now … stuff I could not get on each trip – grrr. This makes more work for me, but in some cases, there was absolutely nothing on the shelves, bare. On top of it my store is remodeling. It was not much better than at the onset of the pandemic for goodness sake.

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  3. I have a sister who says “It is what it is” all the time. We all roll our eyes. You’re my personal hero for forging ahead with the renovations! We’re still too timid to start even though last month we got our financing approved for it (fortunately it lasts for up to ten years — hopefully the pandemic will be over by then!). I suppose there are still people out there who don’t believe we ever landed on the moon either. – Marty

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  4. How’s this for you. I ordered a new induction range in February 2021. Estimated delivery is anywhere from Feb 2022 to Dec 2022. Ugh! I’m being stubborn and not picking out something else because 1) I want induction, and 2) it’s part of a matching set. The rest of the set is being delivered next month.

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    • Wooo! I bought an induction in April and it was delivered (to the store warehouse) in June. It’s sitting there waiting for my kitchen. I love induction! Had it at my last house. I don’t have it now and my timing is off. Refrigerators were weird. There was one I looked at (in a catalog of course) and the delivery wasn’t until Jan 22 so I picked another brand. That one is also in the warehouse awaiting the kitchen.

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  7. The only thing I’ve had trouble getting is cat food. Having cats, you know how that is when they do not get the right thing. One of these days I would like to repaint my house, but cannot get the juices flowing. I needed some water remediation done and put it off due to the pandemic. Finally did it this week, but ServPro is overwhelmed due to all the rain from the hurricane and didn’t show up to finish the job today. They will come eventually as I still owe them money. (yuk, yuk!) Covid is worse than it has ever been here. My honey’s non-essential medical procedure was cancelled as the hospitals are full. The world is full of loonies. I am so fed up!! Thanks for letting me vent. I feel much better now. LOL

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  8. It’s absolutely crazy what stores run out of these days. Last week, when we were out-of-town, we couldn’t find a fly swatter in any store — seriously nowhere. (Yes, I know. Every form of life has a right to live…but the place where we were staying had a true invasion)! 😦

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    • Oh no! When the contractor was here, the door was left open periodically so we got some flies. We couldn’t find a fly swatter either. We had to use rolled up paper and somehow the flies see that coming.

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  9. I agree about the whipped cream- need full fat. 🙂 I have had trouble finding many things too, especially cat food. I hope you will show us the dining room table. 🙂

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    • I think I had a picture posted when I ordered but maybe Sunday. The chairs aren’t here yet. Another two weeks or so for those. I’m not a no fat person. If I’m going to eat something I want the full version. Everything in moderation.

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  10. It is crazy for sure and yes I have become quite good at “rolling my eyes” lately! It just baffles me what some people come up with as an excuse for not getting the vaccine. They don’t know what its in it, but they eat hot dogs, processed food, have received other vaccinations, etc, etc. Oh we also got told that if we got the Pfizer vaccine that we would die in 2 years?? A plot to decrease the population!

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  11. Kate, this might sound strange to say, but I’m actually relieved to hear you have the same issues with shortages and delays where you are. I had thought it was only a Canadian problem.

    We’ve been re-doing our pool this summer and it’s been one shortage after another, one delay after another. Everyone is singing the same blues – stuff is hard to come by, expensive if you can get it, and contractors are so heavily booked that a small delay on one project magnifies down the line. There are theories and opinions galore.

    The way I look at it, there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it, so I’m just rolling with the punches.

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    • That’s all you can do. I’ve lowered my expectations (several times) and that’s getting me through. No one could get decking materials this summer. Fortunately we didn’t need any but hope to refurbish our deck next year. I heard that chlorine for pools was scarce. It’s all crazy.

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  12. Wonderful that you got your dining room table! I hope your kitchen job gets started and gets finished and all goes well. I told SSNS after talking to our contractor for the bathroom that I did not want to mess with the redo right now. Too many things… covid crazy here for us, short on workers, an issue with the tub if it was set in concrete we could be waiting for a new tub for 12 weeks and then yesterday the woman we are working with called and told us her 15 year old grandson had been killed in a car accident Sunday. Felt incredibly sad for her… no words. I think my little voice is saying wait till a few more things return to normal… including me. I’m just not up to it. The current bathroom is looking better all the time! Fingers crossed that the covid situation improves in a big way!

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    • The master bath here was the first project slated to be done. That is until we saw how badly the kitchen functioned. We needed all new appliances so the bath got bumped. We want to work on the deck next year so the bath will hover out there until sometime. I’m hoping the kitchen goes ok. The only worry at this point is the window will be replaced and it hasn’t come in yet. Bumping it out another month may help with that. We can’t do the kitchen until the window is replaced. With all that went on with your project, you made the right decision. I would have made the same one. As long as it’s livable, it’s better to go with it than extended chaos.

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        • We’ve been working with poorly performing kitchen appliances so I understand how annoying the shower is. To be honest had I known it would take this long, I would have had the new dishwasher installed. The one we have is on it’s last leg and it has rust inside. Our shower isn’t bad. The whole thing is just ugly. Somehow ugly is easier to deal with than poor performance.

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  13. Yay for the table…one thing checked off your list. Not too many shortages here so far. But groceries are costing so much more. I just feed myself, two cats, and a couple times a week, two friends. But the cost is almost double what it was pre-covid. 😡 Must be very expensive to feed a family.

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  14. Although a lot say Covid is over, there is this strange thing going on here – our hospitals are full to overflow capacity. Hmm. I’ve noticed the shortages are back both in the grocery store and the large box stores we all shop at. There’s so many things contributing to it, that I think your coworker said it best – it is what it is.

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  15. I haven’t met anyone who doesn’t believe in COVID yet. I have met plenty of people who still believe it’s only a flu, that children won’t get sick, that masks don’t help stop the spread, and that horse dewormer is preferable to a vaccine.

    Most of them were at the last school board meeting.

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    • I met those people too but this last person who believes it’s a conspiracy between the government and the media was off the rails. I asked about deaths and he didn’t believe there were any. Just made up numbers. Obviously he didn’t know anyone who died. Unfortunately I did.

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          • It changes some minds. I can never get the stories of the anti-vaxers begging for the vaccine in the ICU out of my mind.

            But some folks, especially evangelical Christians, have been primed their entire life to accept conspiracy theories. They’re told from childhood that they’re special, that only they know the truth about Jesus and only they will be saved when the rapture comes. Believing the earth is only 6,000 years old in the face of mountains of scientific evidence prepares you mentally for to deny any evidence that contradicts your worldview.

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  17. Folks who don’t believe the virus exists amaze me. They could probably look at the moon and deny it is there. Sigh. Of course, when they land in the hospital with the virus the tune changes.

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    • We had a long stretch of easy shopping. It’s only been in the past month or two that things got tight again. Have to check for pet food. That got weird last year. Sure, you can come for T-day. You may be on a folding chair and eating pizza but you are definitely invited.

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  20. The only thing that’s in abundance now are EXCUSES from contractors or stores! You’re right about buying things – everybody I know seems to have a new list of things that doesn’t match my list of things I can’t get. It’s weird. I keep hoping we’re on the downhill side of SOMETHING but I guess not. It continues to be a very bumpy road.

    Hugs, Pam

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  21. We have lots of strange shortages as well. Ours are blamed on Brexit
    and missing Polish lorry drivers. Fresh fruit and vegetables are expensive.

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  22. Ah, this saga from you is just one of many I’ve heard and one of many we will all continue to hear. I’ve just learned that my sister, brother-in-law and nephew have ALL contracted Covid – fortunately with mild enough symptoms as to be non life-threatening and fortunately, in bodies that had all been vaccinated. Grocery stores have had empty shelves since the beginning of the pandemic, and it feels like they get one thing in (like rice) and then are out of something else entirely (like cream of mushroom soup). Grocery shopping has become like shopping on one of those stores like “Odd Lots” or “Ollies” or “Big Lots” – you get what you can when you see it because it will probably never be there again. Fortunately, winter is on the way and it’s time to think about comfort foods, so I’m once again restocking the cupboards with canned goods and dry goods.

    One way to look at it is that it’s a surprise “Christmas” every time you DO get something you’ve been wishing for that’s on your list!

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    • As someone who likes to cross things off the list, it’s been especially frustrating for simple things to take so long. Furniture has always taken long but the constant moving dates back is frustrating. Still, I have food and shelter and cats. What more do I need?

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  23. Hubby still hasn’t got his shed and we are not prepared to pay the full price upfront on a vague suggestion that he might get it in 26 weeks. We are noticing shortages on the supermarket shelves and the argument is a lack of drivers. This we can understand as even with incentives of high salaries and bonuses, they still have to pass a course and test and the test centres have a substantial backlog. We make do with what we have and what we can get. At least you have your dining table!
    Just seen your response that you haven’t got the chairs yet. A finger buffet sounds good then!!!

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  24. The shortages, I suppose, shouldn’t be a surprise, but they are certainly a challenge. As to “why” they are… beats me. And I won’t indulge in speculation. I’d rather clean the litter box!

    By the way, maybe best place your order for holiday dinners now!

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