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Find or Refer a Contractor in Tyler

Shop Around Wal-Mart

March 24th, 2010

After you exit the parking lot of most Wal-Mart stores in East Texas you will see a small shopping center, including a small store, Cato and at some Wal-Mart stores you will find the “Cato sister store“, It’s Fashion. Cato and It’s Fashion are women’s fashion store. The small store is crowded with in style clothing.

The circular path leading around the small store seems smaller every time I walk around it. But Cato is sure to only sale the most stylish clothes according to the season of the year.

As I walked through the store I can not help but notice the lack of selection and styles. Although the clothing was very attractive the style was limited to the Cato fashion in other words, church clothes. There was nothing I would really wear on just an average weekday. I think that if a business is a “woman’s attire” business I think they should provide for all women. Cato was lacking in the larger woman clothing selection and had no selection for maternity. I guess it would not make sense to cram all sizes in the small stores, but it seemed like most of the clothes that they were selling were in sizes 6-9, which does not really make sense because “supposedly” the average woman wears a size 14. And most Wal-Mart shoppers wear a much larger size than that. You would think that if there was a demand for larger size outfits that they would meet those demands. I once was shopping at a Cato store for a friend’s bachelorette party. I picked up a cute pair of lacey panties. To understand my frustration of the sales woman, I wear about an 8 in panties and my friend might be able to fit in a 2. I laid down the coupe pairs of underwear and the lady looked at me and kept repeating how little the panties were. Not necessarily saying anything to direct but saying small comments such as “man these are tiny panties”. I just did not say anything to her about it. I guess it was strange if I was buying it for myself, but is it normal for women to have absolutely no idea what size underwear they wear? Why would they think that I, a grown woman, would have no idea what size I wear?

Cato’s neighbor across the street, It’s Fashion, maybe Cato’s sister store but the style is obviously different. While Cato’s Fashion appeals to the career driven woman, It’s Fashion appeals to a whole different generation of woman. This is not the place to shop if describe yourself as “modest”. I do not think I saw a single shirt that did not either cling to every inch of my upper body, or if it did not show sixty percent of my breasts. Jeans that feel like they might split fro how tight they are or breast showing shirts, and a pair of black leather hooker boots, are not quite my style. I felt pretty out of place walking through the store but the sales women were extremely personable and almost made the store bearable. It’s Fashion does have more of a selection in more women’s sizes than Cato. So it was refreshing to see a store catering to all woman’s needs. Even though I did not find anything that suited y everyday life, I did find the shopping experience humorous, since there were only my friends and I there, otherwise it would probably be quite embarrassing.

So if you are looking for that cute outfit for that dinner party or a cute modest skirt for your Sunday morning study group, I would completely recommend that you shop at Cato, if you are a larger set woman than I guess you can hope that they extra stacked in your size. On the other hand, if you are looking for that sexy outfit for a night out in Tyler’s unpopular night clubs filled with bar flies and overweight want-to-be cowboys and small dance floors, then by all means shop at It’s Fashion. Don’t forget that you can complete your outfits and frost yourself in the cute accessories and jewelry at both these stores.

Brookshire’s Pride

March 23rd, 2010

The Brookshire’s grocery company has been named one of the top companies to work in the state of Texas. I totally agree with this award. Although I know that most people do not want to go to work in the morning, honestly, who does? Brookshire’s offers great benefits to their employees. But something that has always impressed me is that it is honestly a family-centered business. Every year they have events to honor their employees and their employee’s families.

Brookshire’s has a camp ground on Lake Palestine available for their employees and family. Every year they put on picnics to honor the workers for every part of Brookshires. Not only do they have great food but they also give away great prizes, including the flat screen television that is now hanging up in my bedroom. Brookshires has a small house available for employees and their families to stay at if they are in need, or if they have undergone some sort of disaster.

Brookshire’s has always been a family friendly company. In 1928 Wood T. Brookshire opened a small store downtown square in Tyler. Wood along with his brothers owned several different stores in East Texas. In 1939 the partnership dissolved. Brookshire was founded with the motto of “people first, profits will follow”. In 1953 Brookshire opened its first warehouse. Now Brookshires has more than 150 supermarkets throughout Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi. Not only do they own the Brookshire Grocery Company, but also Super 1 Foods, and Ole Foods.

Tyler has the premiere Brookshire’s located on Rice Road. This store is the nicest store in Tyler. You are always treated with respect and the employees are always helpful. One thing that I love about the Brookshire’s Company is the fact that the employee carries out your groceries to your car for you. When you are trying to balance two children, and digging through your purse trying to find your keys, it is nice to have someone hired to put the groceries into your car.

Brookshire’s employees volunteer. The company looks at this as their way to give back to the community. All level jobs within the company find opportunities to give back, whether it is running for breast cancer or if it is cleaning the creek at Rose Rudman Park.

Brookshire Grocery Company is a great place to shop for you and your family. Their goal has been not only to make the store convenient to your needs but to also be a great experience for you and your family.

Cato’s Clothing Store in Tyler Texas and Lindale

February 25th, 2010

CATO

Cato Clothing Store

Cato Fashion

3222 S. Main Street
Suite 130
Lindale
TX 75771
903 882 7071

Also Highway 64 West Tyler and 3101 Shiloh Road Tyler.

Cato is a woman’s clothes, accessories and shoe shop. Often Catos are located near a Walmart for utter convenience and the items stocked are priced very reasonably to match!

As you walk in the door of Cato there are 2 distinct sides to the shop – on the left is the plus sizes and shoes and on the right is the regular ladies sizes (misses) and the girls clothes – size 7 and up.

The new season’s casual styles line the walls. They carry most sizes in these items and will have items held back at another Cato store for you to collect in your own time, if they don’t. On the racks down the center of the store are the smarter outfits and dresses and to the far side are clearance rails. This is where you can find a real bargain. Most are marked down once or twice depending on how long that item of clothing has been in-store.

My impression of Cato is that they do follow fashion trends although they may be a few months behind the fashion stores in the Mall. They are not afraid of color or bold patterns but carry some neutral colors too. Cato tries to meet your need for both casual and smart outfits. They have plenty of what I call ‘East Texas church tops’ to dress up a pair of pants and I love their cropped jeans with matching belts.

Cato sells a limited amount of low cost sportswear, lingerie and sleepwear too. The shoes are really good value and they sell large sizes and wider shoes too. They have a selection of scarves, belts and other accessories and I have found them to be much cheaper and of similar quality to those purchased at JCPenney.

The shop assistants are friendly and helpful. When you come to check out be warned though – Cato has a nice display of silver jewelry and watches on the counter and if you’re like me, you will be tempted to splurge a little more than you intended. They also sell some bath and body products and some replica perfumes, which though inexpensive, fail to convince.

I have had impeccable customer service from Cato and have had no trouble in exchanging items that were not right or bought on impulse.

You will find clothes bought at Cato are better quality, nicer designs and more upmarket in general than Walmart but the prices are very similar. If you like to look good and have new clothes which don’t cost the earth, it’s certainly worth browsing there every couple of months or so.

Texas Church Arsonists Caught

February 21st, 2010
Texas arsonists mug shots

Texas arsonists mug shots

The arsonists were arrested late last night and this morning in San Antonio and Grand Saline. KLTV will be covering it live at 4:00 pm today. According to Crowley with the ATF, he said, “various techniques led members of a special task force to the men, including DNA evidence and phone tips.”

My questions revolve around if they turned out to be young highschoolers that are either satanists or think they are vampires. One news station said their last names are Jason Borque and Daniel Mcalister. Jason was a student at UT Tyler. Jason Borque Church Arsonist MugshotIf you know these guys feel free to comment below and fill us in. Is he a twilight fan, does he regularly where black trench coats, and other typical ridiculousness.

The ATF has reported that the other arsonists last name is Borque and was arrested in Northern Smith County. They said the sketches are unrelated to the men that were arrested. The sketches were men of interest at the time that could have some kind of link.

These are considered 1st degree felonies and could also be considered aggravated robberies. The ATF said that among some of the evidence they have is DNA evidence.

They may ask the judge to stack sentences. There is only one arrest warrant at this time which is the Dover Baptist Church warrant. They are confident that they will be arrested on other fires. They don’t believe the fire in Temple is related to the East Texas church fires.

According to NBC news one is from Lindale and the other guy is from Van Texas but after more news it appears more like Ben Wheeler Texas. So these guys were right in my backyard the whole time. I kind of suspected they might be from here considering how they were spreading the fires out around this location. They couldn’t resist to go after a couple of the churches in their own towns. If they were trying to throw police off I think it served more as an easy to find trail to their hideout.

Dates and locations of arsons:

  • 01-01-2010, 9:02 AM – Little Hope Baptist Church – Canton, TX;
  • 01-01-2010, 11:05 AM – Faith Baptist Church – Athens, TX;
  • 01-11-2010, 10:40 PM – Grace Community Church, Athens, TX;
  • 01-12-2010, 12:09 AM – Lake Athens Baptist Church, Athens, TX;
  • 01-16-2010, 6:30 PM – Tyland Baptist Church, Tyler, TX;
  • 01-17-2010, 6:33 PM – First Church of Christ Scientist, Tyler, TX;
  • 01-20-2010, 7:37 AM – Prairie Creek Fellowship, Lindale, TX;
  • 02-04-2010, 5:23 AM – Russell Memorial United Methodist Church, Wills Point, TX;
  • 02-08-2010, 8:47 PM – Dover Baptist Church, Tyler, TX;
  • 02-08-2010, 9:44 PM – Clear Springs Missionary Baptist Church, Lindale, TX.

In addition to the arsons at the above listed churches, there were attempted break-ins at the following churches:

  • 02-07-2010, 12:19 AM, Heritage Baptist Church, Tyler, TX;
  • 02-08-2010, 9:19 PM, Clearview Church, Tyler, TX;
  • 02-08-2010, 9:39 PM, Pine Brook Baptist Church, Tyler, TX.

Don’t Mess With Texas

February 15th, 2010

Tyler Texas Information and Things To Do Here

I choose to write just about Tyler, Texas in general. Tyler has a population of around 20,617 or probably more by now. This number was from the last census, I know we have been growing very rapidly. The funny thing is that when I was younger I hated Tyler and could not wait until I could move somewhere else. I thought the city life was more exciting, which overall you have more stuff, crazy traffic and things are double in price compared to a smaller place like Tyler, I recently moved back here and realized its not a bad place at all. It is a place where you can raise a family, make a decent living and still there is plenty of fun stuff to do right here. Some of the main attractions in Tyler are: Azalea Spring and Flower Trail, Tyler Chamber Golf Tournament, Festival on the Square, Four Winds Renaissance Faire. There are lots of Museums: Brookshires World of Wildlife, Tyler Museum of Art, Rose Garden Museum, Harold’s Model Train Museum and others which you can easily find on line for the most part and they are free.

If you prefer music or performing arts, then you might be interested in something like East Texas Symphony Orchestra, Ballet Tyler, The Civic Theater Center, Caldwell Auditorium, etc.

There is a beautiful Tyler Public Library where you can go and you pay a small price for a members card, but after that you can go use their computers, check out any of their books, movies or books on CD or tape, and bring it back on the due date. Although, if you are late it will cost you or if you loose any of their stuff.

In the uptown area their is The Discovery Science Place that is filled with different displays. Kids and their parents can have an enjoyable day exploring the things they have to see.

Tyler has several places to enjoy a game of golf. There is Arrowhead Golf Course, The Cascades, Embassy Hills Golf Course, Eagle’s Bluff, Hideaway Lake Golf Course, Willow Brook Country Club just to name a few. In addition, there are many other recreation places: Resorts and Campgrounds, City Parks with playgrounds, swimming pools, baseball fields, soccer fields and movie theaters. There are a multitude of restaurants to choose from. Every city could always improve, which Tyler is.

If you like the water, Tyler has several lakes right here. Bellwood Lake, Lake Palestine, Tyler State Park, Lake Tyler, and Tyler East Lake. There is a public pool and water park located on Glenwood.

There are banks and churches on every corner. For the most part, Tyler is a safe place to live. We do have our ups and downs, just like any other town. For instance, we have someone who has been setting fires to church buildings. But anywhere you choose to live, you probably will experience something similar. We live in a world that is not perfect, with people with serious issues and we will suffer the consequences around the world. I don’t think you can find one place where nothing bad happens. It’s still worth living here. People are friendly and small enough where the traffic is not too bad and are able to get all your needs right here, and not have to shop in another town.

There is a nice zoo which used to be free, but now costs a small fee. It is worth the price to see all that they have at the Caldwell Zoo. There are good public school and some nice private schools that will give your children a good education and some spiritual life will be taken seriously. Home schooling is also a choice if that is what you prefer.

The cost of living in Tyler is not too bad. Things do cost money no matter what you do, but grocery index is 89.9. In a bigger city if you guy groceries there, they escalate the prices because it how the bigger cities work. Many of the other services are much lower on their index numbers, such as: health care 91.7. There are several health care providers here that make this an ideal place to live, whether you are young or older. If you have been thinking of moving to a new place. Check out our town, I think you would be impressed and enjoy it here.