Bad, bad blogger

I've been busy, busy, with holidays and family. I know that's a good thing, but I've been a lousy blogger. With a trip to Florida for a week, a flight back to Salt Lake (very late the day after Christmas), a 300 mile drive back home with my California kids already there, so a house full of activity, I haven't taken the time to attend to my blogs.

I have occasionally checked in to see what others were doing, but posting myself seemed too time consuming. My company goes home on Saturday, then in a day or two maybe I'll have something to say. Don't give up on me.

Have a wonderful New Year!

Are we that gullible?

I wonder......are people really as dumb as some advertising agencies think we are?

I watch few commercials (can't do without my TiVo), but this morning I just had the television on while baking. A car dealership ad made me chuckle. If they can't beat another dealer's price by $250, they'll actually pay you $250. What do you think are the chances that they can't beat the other's deal?

My personal favorite ad is the "if we can't give you the best deal, we'll give it to you free." I heard that one today too--a mattress company. Yeah, how many $600 mattresses do you suppose they give away rather than beat some other company's price by a few dollars?

Are there some of us gullible enough to believe that if we owe more on our car than it's worth, a car dealer can "save" us by selling us a newer car? Or that we can buy a car for "$88 down and $88 a month"--listen carefully to the high-speed disclaimer that follows.

What frightens me is that the advertisers or businesses think consumers are stupid...or even worse, maybe we are.

Holiday Decor

I actually love the holidays! That said, for at least 5 or 6 years, we haven't done any home decorations. Christmas is about children and ours weren't here anymore (whichever place we were). So we went to them.

It seemed silly to put up a tree or lights when we left home days before Christmas and normally didn't come back until after the New Year. That is a busy time anyway, and it just felt like more work than fun. After flying from one coast to the other to play with grandkids, coming home to taking down decorations was too big a bother.

This year will be a bit different and hubby thought we needed a few decorative touches--weird coming from him. We are leaving on the 19th to go to Florida, but after Christmas my California kids are coming back this direction. The kids want to play in the snow and the 12-year-old has plans for a snowboarding lesson. So, we bought a couple of 4-foot topiary trees, some cute little solar-powered snowmen for the walk, and I dug out a few things from my Christmas boxes. I can't compete with neighbors who go all out, but it feels kind of nice to have a little holiday inside and out. Besides, it isn't enough to be a big deal to put away.

Next year? Who knows.