Is the Recession Over

Is the recession over or am I missing something?

My mom came to visit for the weekend. We are all very happy about that. We didn't expect this visit so we had to plan her into the usual weekend activities of house hold chores, shopping etc. I had a few odds and ends I needed to get from various stores. The weather was good but we thought we would take a trip to the mall since it's enclosed and have many more stores in the same spot or proximity. We didn't have much to spend but we had a few stores in mind. The stores where I know I can get good deals at times and I would be sure to find the items we needed. Notice I said needed. Additionally, we wanted to get dinner so going to an area with options for food was also important. We decided to go to the Garden State Plaza Mall in Paramus New Jersey.

I like that mall because it has a lot of stores and covers the spectrum from high end to variety stores and boutiques, specialty shops and popular chain stores. The issue for me with this mall is that I don't particularly like to pay the toll to get back home. The trip to the mall started out nicely. The afternoon was bright and sunny and the temperature mild.

There was chatter and laughter and also noise from the radio as the kids fooled around in the back. Traffic flow was good until we got on Route 17 half way to the exit to the mall. We were wondering what was causing the traffic delay. We speculated that there must be an accident, a car had mechanical problems, traffic light malfunction, something.

We inched along until we got closer to the exit and had a view of a side of the parking lot at the Plaza Mall. The lot was full like we've seen it at Christmastime. We started to ask each other and check to see if the Mall had some give aways or mega sale or some special event. None of us in our vehicle heard about any special sale or event that should bring out such a crowd since everyone is crying out for money. Well, we didn't have money to shop willy-nilly or even keep up with essentials, but let me tell you the parking lots were full all around the facility. I was amazed at the sight of so many cars and couldn't wait to enter the place to see what I could get for what I had in my purse or less.

After riding around for about 25 minutes looking for parking, we decided to sit around the areas by the entrance to store and follow folks as they leave the store heading to their vehicles. We got around to the Nordstrom's entrance and decided to wait. We got lucky after waiting for about 5 minutes.

We got into the mall with anticipation and good thoughts. Well, the stores had sale signs posted, 15, 25, 30, 40% off. There was a flurry of people in the stores and the mall but I didn't see the bargains or the urgency that brought all those people out to the mall. Did someone give a rebate or a stimulus check and forgot to send me one? Hey that's not fair!

I was able to get the things we went for. I must say I got and saw some good prices for a few things. The kids made out like a bandit with grandma. There were some things at better prices than I've seen recently but I couldn't even pick them up. Folks were hustling about with bags, and bags and with happy smiling faces. I came out with the bags of the things I needed to get and no more and managed to hold the $8 for the tolls to get home.

I was happy to see that people are beginning to shop and get into the holiday season or just enjoy the fruits of their labor or enjoy life. For me, I have not gotten on that wind fall or coat tail of the infusion of cash into the purses. Sadly, me and my household is still struggling on a 2003 salary and resources.

Imagine how deep my recession is. OR, does anyone knows where the next wind fall is coming from? Can you give me a heads up? I really, really need a break!