Random 5 for January 15, 2022 – Birthdays, coffee, language, warranties, advertising

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Happy birthday retail style – Yesterday was my birthday. At this point in life (and for most of my life) it’s just a day but the retailers work to make it special. Starbucks gave me a free drink and Chico’s (women’s clothing boutique) gave me $25 off which I applied to a sale item and paid almost nothing for a lovely top. We don’t exchange gifts but there was a Starbucks gift card to feed my needs. It was a lovely day (except for the extra wrinkles and aches and pains old Mother Aging gifted me).

Courtesy of hildiemcqueenblog

New coffee lingo – Everything has its own language. I bought a Nespresso coffee maker. It was my birthday gift to myself. (Who are we kidding? I would have bought it birthday or not!) I love it. I like a good bold coffee. When I started going to Starbucks many years ago, I had to learn the lingo. No such thing as small, medium and large. It’s tall (which really isn’t tall, I call it the ”why bother” size) grande (again not really grand) and venti the largest. The coffees all have Italian inspired names, some are iced and some are hot. I am now learning all new lingo for the Nespresso. I had to study it. Pods come in different sizes with different outputs. You purchase coffee in sleeves. Love the coffee. It’s perky and tastes more like the real thing than any other machine using pods (which are recyclable).  If I was really ambitious I would buy an espresso maker with all the levers and spouts but I’ll hold off on that until I win the lottery.

Speaking of language – We ate out about a week ago at a neighborhood spot. It’s run by a family. There is a new young girl waitressing who must be a granddaughter of the original owners. She had this sing-song style of talking in a flat tone that I found bizarre. It’s very Kardashian and weird.

No, no, no – We put our new kitchen in a year ago so the appliances are a year old. Most of the warranties are expiring now and the manufacturers are working hard to get us to buy extended ones. We had to have something fixed on the range while it was under warranty but everything else is working well. I would consider extending if it was reasonable. It isn’t. At the end of five years I would have put enough $$ in warranties to buy a new appliance. By the way, repairman don’t repair, they replace. To resolve our minor issue they replaced a motherboard. Glad I didn’t have to foot that bill!

Enough with the lips! – I mentioned this before. I am stalked by lip enhancers. The injection type. I don’t know where they got my name as I am not a good marketing target for big puffy lips. I try to block but they come back somehow. My lips will remain as God intended them – wrinkly and chapped!

So how was your week?

 

71 thoughts on “Random 5 for January 15, 2022 – Birthdays, coffee, language, warranties, advertising”

  2. Happy Birthday – late, but still full of good wished
    We’ve been thinking of getting an Nespresso.(.those commercials). We’ve really cut down on he coffee, too, so maybe it would make sense. Very interested in what you have to say about one – sounds easy yet good. Daughter hs one of the big fancy machines, but it just looks too complicated.
    I know what you mean about that speech pattern. Gads. encouraged by TV/celebrities, I guess. Hope that speech style leaves soon – too weird/ robotic almost (are we in training?)
    Sorry to be so behind with your blog, Still wrangling with Sr Staff’s treatments, meds, side effects, and a never ending list of meds, side effects, etc. We shall survive…and it better be in time for Spring in the mountains HAHA…laughter works when little else does, right? Love those Calvin and Hobbs cartoons

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    • Love the Nespresso. Great coffee with little work. No major cleaning. I looked at espresso machines (for several years) but decided if it was too much work, I wouldn’t use it much. Love Sr. Staff is doing better.

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  4. Happy Birthday Kate! I like getting those birthday coupons from clothing stores too. I’ve wondered about those Nespresso machines since George Clooney began advertising them, but I was so disappointed with my Keurig that I haven’t bought one. Does it steam/foam milk too? Are there different model types with different features? My Keurig just sits unused on the kitchen counter, (I make a big pot of drip coffee in the morning and sip it all day), my French press ditto (too much hassle cleaning it out, although I like French press in a coffee shop as it doesn’t have that bitter taste. I bought a cappucino/expresso machine once too years ago, paid $200 for it which was a lot of money then and then gave it away as it was way too much hassle and cleaning.

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    • My Nespresso (the frother is a separate machine) is heads and shoulders above my Keurig (they may have better models these days). I considered an espresso machine but the good ones are costly and there is the cleaning. The Nespresso gives me a good espresso with no work. The pods are recyclable and the technique is different from Keurig. It spins the coffee inside the pod giving you a crema on top that’s lovely. I don’t ever make a pot because technically I shouldn’t drink coffee (probably not at all) because of my IBS so my Starbucks in the morning and an occasional afternoon mocha are all I have. My husband still uses his drip machine. The pods are more expensive but still a lot cheaper than Starbucks. I love the milk frother. If you take milk in your coffee, it’s worth it.

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  5. Happy belated birthday Kate! Well, we are both old enough to have been through the phase of “Valley Girl Speak” and I thought that was bad, but I find it hard to understand the young people who talk so fast today. I feel like I am concentrating so hard, I miss what they are saying, especially if it is in a tech environment, like the phone store. As for lip enhances, you sure don’t want the bee-sting look for lips, nor the pouty look either – better we both stick with wrinkled, chapped lips.

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  6. You’ve given me a laugh trying to picture you with lip enhancement. You must have Googled something along the way that causes them to think you’re an ad target. Nuts! And I’ve wondered about those Nespresso coffee machines, so good for you. I think you’re one who will really use it and enjoy it, but if it ever begins to cut into your daily Starbucks run I am sure you’ll cause a stir with your baristas! Happy belated birthday, Kate. ❤️

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    • Big duck lips aren’t my style. I cannot figure out what I did to deserve those ads. It’s been consistent every day for a year. Still loving my Nespresso but I can’t tolerate too much coffee so I have to be prudent about it. (Prudent is not my normal nature. I’m a “go all out” person.

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  9. Happy Birthday from one January girl to another! Glad you got some treats – discounts and so on. That’s always nice, as is the new coffeemaker! So glad you got one for yourself and are enjoying using it 🙂
    I agree about appliance warrantees – not worth it at all.

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  10. This is a belated Birthday wish, Kate! But it still comes with the warmest wishes for you. I am not a coffee drinker but I tried very hard to get Jerry interested in a Nespresso at Christmas. He wasn’t having any of it. I talked him into a Keurig two years ago and he loves it. I guess I will read your words to him about your Nespresso. I think I will have him at “a good bold coffee!” It’s a great gift to yourself… it’s appreciated every day and who knows better than we do what makes us happy?

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  12. Happy Birthday! You’re lucky advertisers just want to extend your appliances or enhance your lips. Most of my spam focuses on increasing my ‘manhood.’ What the blooding devil is THAT about? I’ve had slumping boobs to go with the raging menopausal hormones for ages!

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  15. I’m glad you treated yourself for your birthday! Since I don’t like coffee, I will take your word for it that Nespresso is the way to go, especially with the frother. My husband’s espresso maker has a frother, but i have yet to learn how to use it for my chai. I discovered that I just don’t care THAT much, but I agree that it enhances the taste of the drink. Apparently I’m just really lazy and/or don’t like his complicated machine.

    I’ve never gotten a lip enhancement advertisement. I assume that it’s because the advertisers have already stalked me on FB, found a photo of me, and see that I don’t need it! Full lips run through my father’s family somehow. My daughters should be grateful. Happy Birthday!

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  16. Happy birthday, Kate. It’s nice to get a free drink and a discount at Chico’s. I like Chico’s. The problem with a party is you’d probably have to organize it.

    It sounds like you’re going to enjoy your Nespresso, especially for the days you can’t get to Starbucks. Or will you have coffee twice a day?

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    • If you get the free gift you get free shipping. We have two stores in our area. My only issue is that they don’t stock enough of the small sizes so I usually end up ordering the size I need but at least I can see and touch something.

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  19. I hope you enjoy your new coffee maker. We received a Keurig with frother, and we love it. It makes a darn good cup of coffee that equals our local coffee shops. A ‘good’ cup of coffee is priceless, or almost. 🙂 I always read those extended warranties and 9 times out of 10 say no thank you after I consider cost versus my age and the fact that most things are due to expire in 2-6 years. I swear the minute you get it paid for or that one year is up it starts to decline. 🙂

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  23. Happy Birthday! Sounds like you are having a good day I’m not much of a coffee drinker so I don’t have a fancy machine just uses pods with no extra stuff. But I do like to go to Starbucks once in a while.
    I know a woman who is in her 90’s who had her lips “enhanced” it’s hard to talk to her without staring at her lips. Think I’ll just let mine keep shrinking.

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  24. Sounds like a good birthday Kate! A new coffee machine is a good gift too…….Not familiar with Nespresso coffeemakers but I do know a good coffee machine is a blessing first thing in the morning. The lip enhancing thing is a new one on me – haven’t heard of it – I’m surprised at 75 I haven’t been “approached” though – just about everything could use a bit of enhancing at my age!

    Hugs, Pam

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  26. Happy Birthday! We bought a Nespresso machine a few years ago and there is a learning curve… about what you like… what shape to buy… about the espresso/lungo difference… BUT once you understand your preferences it’s a nice little friendly gadget. Good choice for a birthday present.

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    • I buy myself the bestest presents ever! My “gift” from Chico’s was a velour sort of sweatshirt that’s dressy enough for special. I love the espresso (Altissimo?) but you set so little from it. Just got the mocha sauce from Monin to try that out.

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  27. Congratulations on another trip around the sun, and congrats on the Nespresso machine! I love mine. And I love the recyclable nature of the pods. Extended warranties: I have always said no, except for my cars. But with my new car I also said no. I finally realized if I had self-insured by putting all the $ spent on extended warranties over the years in a special fund expressly for dealing with these issues, I’d be set for any eventuality. So that’s my new way of going forward. To hell with all the fear-mongering by these salespeople.

    Deb

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  31. I’m very much like you when it comes to purchasing extended warranties on items. Things will eventually break somewhere, somehow, but my philosophy is that, but the time something breaks, there will be a newer, more advanced model and I’ll either be able to purchase my now “older” model for less than I paid for it when I bought it the first time, or I’ll have the choice to upgrade if the newer model offers something I really want, and not feel bad for spending the money because it was necessary to purchase a replacement. And please, I will gladly trade you all of the stalking about lip enhancers in exchange for all of the stalking related to growing and/or increasing the ability of my manhood to pleasure my lady!

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  32. Happy Birthday! I hope the cats didn’t give you anything because if they did it was probably barf or a hairball. I would love a milk frother for coffee. Andy makes good coffee at home, but I like lattes while he likes it black. I content myself with microwaving milk and cream until they boil and then running it through a strainer. But it’s not the same as a luxurious froth!

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