Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays. I have some really great memories of spending hours upon end at our grandparents house decorating Easter eggs, eating the yellow chicken Peeps and and picking out my favorite jelly beans from the Easter Baskets that we were given on Easter morning. When we were children, the Easter Baskets were all about the candy, but every now and then there would be an inexpensive toy or two like pez candy dispensers, or a yo-yo.
Now that we’re all adults, we don’t color the eggs or buy the candy; we are all watching our weight and trying to lead healthier lives. But one thing that I DO like to do is to buy Easter Lilies to give to my mother, sisters, and my wife as Easter gifts. They are always very glad to see them, and are quite pleased that I would think to buy them a gift at Easter.
When I go to an automotive service center that specializes in oil changes (I won’t name the chain, but it IS a national chain) that gives out $5.00 coupons online good towards an oil change, the local service center needs to honor that coupon. Last week I took my truck to the local oil change service station and had them perform their oil change. When they rung me up I presented them with the $5.00 coupon. The cashier told me that they had already totaled up my work and it was too late to give them the coupon. Too bad, so sad!
I don’t know about you, but I think that is totally bogus. I don’t know why I just accepted that instead of insisting that they re-ring the sale. Sometimes I’m just too nice. When I went home and told my wife about it, she was very upset that they didn’t give me the credit, and couldn’t believe that I just accepted it. I guess if it happens again I’ll be a little bit more assertive and ask for the supervisor. I’d rather get them upset than get my wife upset with me.
From time to time I go to a home and garden show, or a country fair and run across a vendor that sells sheepskin products. I always stop and run the palms of my hands across the softness of the piles of sheepskin rugs that they usually have stacked on one of the tables.
From time to time I’m tempted to buy a couple of new sheepskin seat covers to give my wife for her car because I love how luxurious they feel in my truck. The biggest reason that I haven’t done that yet is my concern for how well they would hold up to the rigors of our very active dogs. I would really hate to be taking the dogs somewhere and leave them in the car for five minutes and come back to the car just to find that the dogs had devoured them!
For my birthday last month my mother bought me an “Infinity Razor.” She bought it at her favorite drugstore in the aisle where they sell the “As seen on TV” junk items. She was excited to give it to me because she thought that it would be a great way to save money for me. It claims to stay “new blade sharp” and that it will be “the last razor you’ll ever buy!”
Well, I gave it a try, and the blade was a dull as a ball of dryer lint. If you are thinking about buying one of these things, my advice to you is, don’t waste your money. I recently found a blog on the Internet that was discussing this same product and there were many comments about the product, and it seemed to me that the general consensus was the same. One of the comments wrote that they tried to return the item and was told that it was only returnable if it had not been used! So I’m not even going to try to return mine, I’m just throwing it away and chalking it up to one more way the consumer has been cheated. Maybe I should send a note about this to the local television news lady who does special stories on rip-offs!
Let’s face it; very few people want to spend any more money than they absolutely have to right now. The economy is still struggling, job security is a joke, and many of us are either unemployed, or underemployed. Dollars and pennies are precious and we need to stretch and pinch them as hard as we can. That is why we all need to take a good hard look at our houses to see if we are being as energy efficient as possible. We need to check for ways that heat is escaping out of the house in the winter, and getting in during the summer. After all, we don’t want to pay for the climate control of the great outdoors, do we?
If you are lucky enough to be serviced by an utility company that offers free energy audits, by all means make the appointment and have one of their technicians come out to your place and give it a good going over. Have him check your windows to see if they are double glazing and if they close tightly. Have him check the weather stripping around the sills. If they offer to install a water heater blanket, by all means let them do it. Some companies will do that for free; others will charge a minimal amount. The energy savings will be worth it in the long run.
Food, Fun, General life, Relationships, Shopping | Dean | 
February 27, 2012 6:45 pm | 
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