Strange things you're not used to

[Kathryn41 3,205]

-The obscene number of telemarketers! Thank heavens for the No-call list!

-mailboxes on the street instead of the slot through the door - and mail carriers in cars only, not walking (may just be here, don't know)

-no bulk food - anywhere! Have to buy in pre-selected, pre-packaged sizes

-high price for produce and lack of in-season local produce in grocery stores

-notary publics in Customer Service centers at grocery stores and at UPS stores

-bag boys that put only one or two items into a grocery bag so you end up with 20 bags instead of 6!

-number of pharmacies - one or two on virtually every corner it seems like

-number of churches and where they are - in shopping malls, industrial centers, street corners, houses, 4 or 5 churches across the road from each other all of them different and so many of them 'megachurches' . . . almost as many pages of churches listed in the yellow pages as doctors or lawyers - with weird exotic names. "St. Pauls" or "****Methodist Church aren't good enough anymore - it has to be Salvation Cathedral of Praise, God's First Breakthrough Ministry, Shield of Faith Christian Assembly, Bread of Life Church, Light of the World Church, Anointed Wounds of Faith, etc. (all taken from our local phone book . . .)

-'illegal' day workers gathered in parking lots waiting for a day's work from a drive-by employer

-election signs - everywhere, all of the time, obscuring street corners and roadways (there is always an election for something or other going on!- no wonder people get saturated and don't bother to vote anymore)

-higher percentage of overweight and obese people

[Krikit 1,163]

-The obscene number of telemarketers! Thank heavens for the No-call list!

-mailboxes on the street instead of the slot through the door - and mail carriers in cars only, not walking (may just be here, don't know)

-no bulk food - anywhere! Have to buy in pre-selected, pre-packaged sizes

-high price for produce and lack of in-season local produce in grocery stores-number of pharmacies - one or two on virtually every corner it seems like

-number of churches and where they are - in shopping malls, industrial centers, street corners, houses, 4 or 5 churches across the road from each other all of them different and so many of them 'megachurches' . . . almost as many pages of churches listed in the yellow pages as doctors or lawyers - with weird exotic names. "St. Pauls" or "****Methodist Church aren't good enough anymore - it has to be Salvation Cathedral of Praise, God's First Breakthrough Ministry, Shield of Faith Christian Assembly, Bread of Life Church, Light of the World Church, Anointed Wounds of Faith, etc. (all taken from our local phone book . . .)

Right on! Can I get an "Amen"? I'd just like to add the obscene amounts of junk mail and a severe lack of recycling. Unbelievable.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Right on! Can I get an "Amen"? I'd just like to add the obscene amounts of junk mail and a severe lack of recycling. Unbelievable.

Oh yeah! We have sort of solved both of those problems with the same solution - we purchased a paper shredder and now use the shredded junk mail for mulch in the garden. Looks kind of weird but we put regular mulch over top and unless the birds peck away at it, it doesn't look too bad.

A few years ago when we went looking for a composter for the garden we asked at Lowes and other similar stores if they carried them. We got blank looks - no one knew what a composter was! Finally, about a year after we started looking (we had made our own out of chicken wire in the meantime), we found one at Costco. That still leaves cans, glass (although we have a large collection of glass bottles that we use for storing things like dried beans, etc) and plastic that still needs to be recycled - and isn't. All those plastic bags from groceries - yeesh! At least I can donate them to thrift stores and such and use them as package padding in boxes but what a waste!

[MoonlitCherri 0]

Right on! Can I get an "Amen"? I'd just like to add the obscene amounts of junk mail and a severe lack of recycling. Unbelievable.

Oh yeah! We have sort of solved both of those problems with the same solution - we purchased a paper shredder and now use the shredded junk mail for mulch in the garden. Looks kind of weird but we put regular mulch over top and unless the birds peck away at it, it doesn't look too bad.

A few years ago when we went looking for a composter for the garden we asked at Lowes and other similar stores if they carried them. We got blank looks - no one knew what a composter was! Finally, about a year after we started looking (we had made our own out of chicken wire in the meantime), we found one at Costco. That still leaves cans, glass (although we have a large collection of glass bottles that we use for storing things like dried beans, etc) and plastic that still needs to be recycled - and isn't. All those plastic bags from groceries - yeesh! At least I can donate them to thrift stores and such and use them as package padding in boxes but what a waste!

You can take your recycle goods to The Dekalb Farmer's Market. They have a large area by the road dedicated to recycling. If your recycling light bulbs or electronics- try Ikea, or Office Depot/Staples.

The farmer's market also has a large amounts of seasonal fruits and veggies inside. Though I still have yet to try a Georgia Peach. If your missing some exotic food there you can try next door at the Asian market. As for bulk items those can only be gotten at Sam's Club or Costco.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

By bulk items I don't mean buying pre-packaged items in bulk - I mean having access to bins of unpackaged produce - like flour or oatmeal or cocoa powder that you then scoop yourself into packages of the desired weight. You can buy 1/2 lb of sugar or 8 pounds of flower instead of prepackaged 1 lb, 5 lb, etc..

I will keep the Dekalb Farmer's Market in mind - it is about a 50 to 60 minute drive from where we are according to my husband so if we are headed that way we can try and take recyclables to drop off. There is a computer/electronics recycling company in the north end of Atlanta that we have used actually - and a friend of ours in Alabama even brought in some of his old computer stuff here so he could deliver it there.

We do go to the Forest Park Farmers Market as well as the International Market in Morrow for fresh produce and specialty items. I sure wish we had access to a Whole Foods on the south side of Atlanta. We seldom get to the north side of town.

Edited March 9, 2008 by Kathryn41

[MoonlitCherri 0]

Oh wow, I don't know what I'd do without the healthy alternative stores. I can find a Sevenanda, Trader Joes, and Whole Foods within 5 miles of me. This is a really cute thread, I'm glad I happened across it. I never knew all the things I was missing out on.

[Reba 2]

Most grocery stores have a bin here you can recycle your plastic and paper grocery bags. Personally, I use reusable canvas bags. And some bag-boys run screaming when they see me coming because they "don't know how to pack them" I saw bags for sale in Big Lots the other day for just $1 each.

I saw a composter in a store window in Asheville the other day for $75! The same dang composter is available in most gardening centres in Ontario for about $15!

You might want to reconsider using junk mail as mulch, some inks used could be not healthy for the garden and environment. Get on the "do not mail list" instead.

And I'm sure there are recycling centres somewhere near you where you could drop off yoru recyclables. I take ours to a recyce centre here in town (and the town council here doesn't "believe" in recycling). I'd much rather have curbside of course, but the town doesn't feel its cost effective. All their money is spent on having entire teams of trash collectors in each neighbourhood instead. I think there's like 5 guys, 2 in the big truck, and 3 on gas powered golf carts! crazy.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Oh yeah - the garbage picking up golf carts! I forgot about those - kind of a neat idea though, especially in our community that has a lot of little short streets. The garbage truck would be eternally having to back up or turn around, so these little golf carts come in, pick up the garbage and carry it back to the truck - kind of like ants hurrying and scurrying to and from the anthill.

oh, another thing that is different - but this is partly because of the location - fire ants! You definitely don't want to get bitten by one of these suckers!

I don't know if anyone else moving south has noticed but when I first moved here especially it seemed to me that at dusk the sky stays a much more intense blue and the 'light' has a totally different quality to it than twilight back in Canada. The Moon also waxes and wanes from the bottom and top more than from side to side as it does in Canada.

Edited March 10, 2008 by Kathryn41

[The Robinsons 0]

How about the those blame snakes, tornadoes and hurricanes?

Uh and I hate being interrupted by commercials every 10 seconds when watching tv. The first week or so I got so frustrated I couldn't watch more than 10 mins of TV before turning it off.

As for recycling....we live in NC and in our county they come every 2 weeks by your house to pick up glass, plastic bottles and whatever recycleble "junk" you want to get rid off.

And all those annoying plastic bags from the grocery store. We use them as garbage bags. Yesterday I actually saw that Target sells 'Green bags'. Which are canvas looking bags.

But yeah...America step up on being green!

Edited March 10, 2008 by The Robinsons

[Kathryn41 3,205]

I just remembered another one . . . sound effects in grocery stores! Thunder when the mist falls on the fresh vegetables and cows mooing in the dairy section, hehehe.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

I can honestly say I have never been to a grocery store with sound effects

[Reba 2]

they use the thunder sound fx for when the sprinklers are going to turn on so you don't get soaked and you don't sue the grocery chain for pain and humiliation and a new blouse.

[Mononoke28 134]

The grocery store by my house not only plays the thunder sounds but it also plays "Singing in the Rain" before the spriklers go off.

Diana

[Dr. Obvious 49]

The grocery store by my house not only plays the thunder sounds but it also plays "Singing in the Rain" before the spriklers go off.

Diana

I feel cheated.

[Nessa 23]

-mailboxes on the street instead of the slot through the door - and mail carriers in cars only, not walking (may just be here, don't know)

haha yeah, way different than Brazil.

-number of pharmacies - one or two on virtually every corner it seems like

Maybe where you live. I could find a pharmay in any corner in Brazil, here I have to drive forever.