Three things I'm loving this week:
1. Cranium’s Balloon Lagoon. You know those carnival midway games that your kids are always begging to play? Like the fishing game that costs $2 because every kid is a winner (of a poorly-made, teeny stuffed animal that probably cost 12 cents to make). Well, now you can let them play until their heart's content with this 4-in-1 game that also happens to be sort of educational, too. A friend gave this game to my daughters for Christmas.They opened it Saturday and have been playing it every day since.
2. Yak tracks. If I’d have known how great these things were, I’d have just bought them for myself about, oh, 10 years ago when I first started running. Or, at least 8 years ago when I moved south of I-90 where the footing is always bad. To be honest, they looked kinda scary and uncomfortable (all that coiled up metal). It only took one little 5-mile run on Christmas day in icy conditions to show me the error of my ways. Let this be a lesson:Never judge a yak until you've run in his tracks.
3. The Borders Rewards card. This is one "rewards" club you want to give your e-mail address to. Why? Because they mail you great offers and discount coupons. I used a 30% off coupon that they e-mailed to me to buy the Jerome Bettis book and got an additional 10% off for using my Rewards card, which meant that I got a $26 book for about $15. Now, I will say that the frequency of e-mails got a little ridiculous before the holidays -- I think I got a Borders e-mail every day, but you can't fault them for trying.
3 things I’m hating this week:
1. Rabid after-Christmas, stock-up-for-next-year shoppers. The day after Christmas found our household lacking two essentials – guinea pig food and toilet paper. So, off to the local Wal-Mart we go. I knew we were in trouble when there were no shopping carts. That’s right NO shopping carts. Ugh. Unfortunately, the pet food is next to the seasonal merchandise which, of course, meant we had to go into the eye of the storm. You’d think people getting such great bargains would be happy, but…they’re not. They’re mean, they’re scary and they are spending a small fortune “stocking up” on things they may not even need because they could get hit by a truck on their way out of the store and be six-feet underground by Tuesday. And, then, what would be the point of having all that bargain wrapping paper, ribbon, discount chocolates and five of those ridiculous stuffed animals that sing Christmas carols?
2. That CitiBank commercial with the shaggy-headed, slacker-looking kid who decides what his mother wants most for Christmas is for him to buy himself a new suit. Should’ve sprung for a haircut, too. Here's hoping the end of the holiday brings an end to stupid commercial.
3. That mess of "Mailbox Savings" that clutters my mailbox each week. You know that mish-mash of advertising circulars -- including the Giant Eagle ad -- jammed into some too-small cover wrap? Each week, I have to struggle to get that entire pile-o-junk-mail out of my mailbox without it falling all apart. I usually grab it the wrong way and then a few fliers go flying down the street. The only saving grace is that it arrives on garbage day and the trash can is usually sitting right next to the mailbox, so I just yank that messed-up assortment of crap out of mailbox and toss it into the trash. It never even makes it into my house. I have enough disarray and disorder in my life, I don't need the mailman bringing more.