Fayettville Shale...& NOT just the earthquakes!

There is no doubt that our county & many of our surrounding counties have benefited from the uprising of the Fayetteville Shale exploration.  No, I don’t mean by the many earthquakes we have been experiencing lately, but through our economy!  Having such wanted natural gas so close to our city, we haven’t been affected by the recession as much as the rest of the country has.

            People & their families have flocked to Conway & it’s surrounding areas from all over the country to seek job opportunities in the oil & gas field.  Most of the jobs are very well paid, especially for people without a degree.  The more people that move here, the more houses that need to be built to either be rented out, or bought.  Which then leads to builders making great money, because they are constantly staying busy.  Which also means more sales for the local restaurants, grocery stores, clothing stores etc. etc.  This list could go on & on.  All because of the Fayetteville Shale.

{photo courtesy of oilshalegas.com}

According to Courtney Spradling from thecabin.net, “Recently released U.S. Census Bureau data placed Faulkner County at number two, behind Benton county, in populations growth between the years 2000 and 2010.  Residents claiming Faulkner County increased by just over 31 percent, according to 2010 figures, with a population of 113, 237 out of Arkansas’ 2.9 million” (thecabin.net para. 1 & 2).

 An author from pulseofconway.com, Roger Lewis said it very well, “The gas exploration industry has an annual impact exceeding $115 million on Faulkner County’s economy in terms of employment, taxes, payments, to vendors, and royalties.  It has been a buffer that has helped keep Faulkner County from sliding into the national recession” (pulseofconway.com para. 1).  Yes, many of us have had to deal with cut backs, & have had to pay much closer attention to where we spend our money, but not like so many all over the country & we can definitely thank the oil & gas companies for keeping our county a float.

To give you just a little bit of an idea of how much money the Fayetteville Shale is bringing into Faulkner County, according to the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services, “there are 35 firms in the Natural Resources business in Faulkner County, employing an average of 770 employees with a weekly wage average of $1678.  It is the highest weekly wage of any business segment in the county.  This amounts to a weekly payroll of $1.3 million and an annual payroll of approximately $70 million (pulseofconway.com para. 3).  THAT’S A LOT OF STINKIN’ MONEY!!

I know many people that work in this field & I know they are so very thankful to have the jobs that they do, making what they do.  10 years ago, their jobs didn’t even exist!  & who knows if they will still be available 10 years from now!  But for the here & now, it has made a huge impact on our city & I couldn’t be any more proud of where I live!  I am thankful for the growth that it has brought to our city, along with many new shopping centers & restaurants!  

How Advertisements Lure Us In...

We've all been sitting on the couch watching TV when a commercial for a brand new product comes on, which immediately makes us want to get up, and go get in our car right then to purchase the item for ourselves!  Sometimes it might be something as simple as the new Sally Hansen Nail Effects, the Reebok Easy Tones, or even larger items such as the all new Ford Explorer.

{photo courtesy of Fashion According To Alana}

{photo courtesy of Rush PR News}

What makes us want to do this?  Sometimes it's the commercial and the way the commercial makes the item appear, and sometimes it is just us wanting to have the lasted and the greatest thing out on the market!  But many times, it's a combination of the two!

No one needs the new Sally Hansen nail effects, but their cool and people just want to try them out for themselves!  We all want to see for ourselves if these products really are as cool as the commercial makes them out to be!

Let's take the Reebook Easy Tone commercials for instance...after watching them, we all think that if we buy and wear those shoes too, then our legs and gluts will look just like the women's in the commercials do!  This is what they want us to think and we all know this isn't true, but...we all insist that we try them out for ourselves!  This is how companies lure us in and get us to go out and buy their products...over and over again!  It's all about marketing, and how the introduce us to the product!

Companies will do anything they can to get us, the consumer, to buy their product!  During the summer of 2009, FitFlops became a popular sensation among woman.  All it was, was a simple shoe that claimed would easily tone your body (legs in particular) throughout the day while you were going about your daily routine!  How simple is that?  This was especially appealing to people who didn't have for a regular fitness routine.

According to Rush PR News, after such a huge popularity of FitFlops, they expected shoes such as the Reebok EasyTones and Sketcher ShapeUps to be the new fitness sensation, and they were right!  The advertisements of these two shoes, and many other fitness shoes, show men and woman who are very fit & toned wearing these shoes in the commercials, wanting us to think they got that way by wearing these shoes!  Problem is, they probably haven't been wearing those shoes for months to get that way, and were already toned and fit in the first place, which is why they were hired to do the commercial!  This is where the consumer is mislead most of the time.  We look at those models & think we can look that way too, if we just had a pair of those shoes!  FALSE!  But...what do we do?  We go out and buy them anyways!  This is easily how companies run to make that money honey...by getting the consumer to want and then to buy their products!

I would have to say that fitness shoes were a great invention on someone's part!  I don't even like the look of the Reebok EasyTone's, but have looked into buying them more than once, in hopes of achieving the looks of the woman on the commercials!  I hope I'm not the only one that can admit to that!  :P

Companies are smart at coming up with new products to sell, making them appeal to us through celebrities and perfect looking people, which makes us run out and buy their product!  We're all guilty of it, even if we don't want to be!  It's all about marketing and fitness shoes have made there bold statement whether they actually work or not!

Wal-Mart Launches New Plan to Make Healthier Foods More Affordable

When it comes to food my weekly shopping trips to the nation's largest grocer, Wal-Mart,  I am usually always going to grab the "Great Value" product of an item if it's offered, rather than the name brand item.  I have learned over the years that just because it's the "off brand" doesn't mean it's not just as good a quality of the name brand stuff.  If I get home and notice a SIGNIFICANT difference between the two brands of the same item, I'll just make not of that item in my head, & remind myself not to purchase the off brand again.  But more times than not, I have discovered that I like the Great Value brand better than the regular brand!!  Their cinnamon rolls would be the perfect example!

{photo courtesy of Mobile Grocery Stockers}

vs.  

{photo courtesy of Saving on the Essentials}

So, yes...I am a "cheap" shopper, and I'm okay with that!  But sometimes I wish I wasn't because there are so many healthier brands of items that I WANT to buy because they are simply healthier, or at least their label says so...but I don't.  Why don't I?  Because their usually more expensive, and who wants to pay twice as much for an item when I can get the Great Value brand for much less?!

I'm afraid I'm not the only one in this situation.  It shouldn't have to be this way and people shouldn't have to choose between lower costs, or healthier foods for their families.  I'd have to guess that most people are choosing cheaper prices, rather than healthier items.  Wal-Mart doesn't want it to be this way any longer, and on January 20, 2011 they unveiled that they are going to put forth the effort to provide healthier foods at more affordable costs for their valued customers (Wal Mart Stores, paragraph 1). 

   {photo courtesy of Scrape TV}

I heard this on the news the day it was announced, and was rather glad to hear it!  With a 17 month old who is creating his own eating habits today that he will more than likely have for the rest of his life, I want him to be on the right track eating the right things starting from the very beginning of his life.  With Wal-Mart making this change and providing healthier items at their Great Value prices, will give me this opportunity.  I still do what I can to feed him the right things, but my grocery bill shouldn't have to double to do so!  

Bill Simon, president & CEO of Wal-Mart U.S. states that, "No family should have to choose between food that is healthier for them & food they can afford" (Wal Mart Stores, paragraph 2).  He is absolutely right and said exactly what I've been saying all along.  I know I'm not the only one in America that shops for the better deal rather than the healthiest item, so this will definitely help millions of people around the United States, and hopefully around the world.  

{photo courtesy of Health & Wellness Blog}

Wal-Mart's main idea of creating healthier products, includes reducing the consumption amount of sodium, sugar and trans-fat among Wal-Mart customers.  These three items are major contributors to the growing problem of obesity and other chronic diseases in America today, including heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes (Wal Mart Stores, paragraph 2).  

All I know about these three items is not that they're bad for you, but they are not good for you when consumed in such LARGE amounts. This is where America has gone wrong...we consume way, way WAY too much, which eventually causes problems within our bodies, which leads to health issues and then sometimes leads to an early death.  If people would start life out by eating healthy and treating their bodies right, they wouldn't have to work extra hard later on in life, having to deal with so many different health issues and trying to fix what they didn't do right early on in their lives.

This is where the parents come in.  As a parent, it is our job to teach our kids how to eat right.  You may not have grown up learning how to eat right, but don't you want your child to?  I know I do, and this is a simple way to start....today!   

Thank you Wal-Mart for taking the effort to make this HUGE change for the betterment of your customers!