That's Right! Opinions May Vary

THE KISS GOODBYE

Life is hectic. We get caught up in work, raising children and other issues that come up and distract us. But I have a philosophy about something in life that is very subtle, sweet and frankly, more than just a little meaningful. I am speaking of the goodbye kiss. Yes, that’s right everybody, that little smooch before departing is pretty important in my house. It could be our last kiss and sad as that may be, the most important thing we can do. I heard somewhere a long time ago, that people who kiss their spouse (or significant other), goodbye before leaving, have fewer accidents. Now I can’t swear that it works, but my wife and I have been married a really long time. We kiss goodbye always and (knock on wood), haven’t crashed yet!  It doesn’t matter if it is midnight or 5:00 AM, it doesn’t matter if he or she is asleep, or whether they even remember…it is the act that counts! The kiss goodbye is a farewell, a loving reminder that we are leaving and sort of a promise we will return as time permits. I think it is worth practicing so pucker up baby and have a wonderful day!

Sales

Sales, I love sales. You go shopping looking for reduced prices and buy several hundred dollars worth of merchandise. Most of those things you bought are called impulse items. You didn’t need them, probably won’t use them anytime soon and will eventually forget you have them. They will go into the massive piles of stuff you bought on all those other outings over the years. Look around the house and out in the garage and/or storage unit you have. Have you used half that stuff in the last six months? Have you even noticed it was there and wondered why?  I will bet that if you have lived at your residence for more than ten years, and go looking around, you will find things dating back to the time you moved in. We recently went through our worldly possessions and found wedding gifts from over 30 years ago! We are pack rats by nature I suppose and can’t seem to part with those precious thing-a-ma-jigs!  If you go out shopping to save money, you are lost before you start the car. The only way you save money (as we have discovered) is to stay home. We stay home on weekends and we don’t spend money, go figure. Gas, meals, goodies and more stuff we don’t need await our attention. How often do you stray from your grocery list?  Is Leaving Sam’s with $300 worth of groceries, books, and “stuff” normal? Did you really need that TV, desk, shredder, fertilizer or flashlight? I bet you have one of them somewhere back at the mansion just waiting to be rediscovered! Good marketing strategists have predetermined your life quite nicely. They have established the route you will take once in the door, where the popular items should be located for your shopping experience and found a spot for the less desirable sales items that you will notice subliminally or through other industry-wide secrets.  Point of sale literature assaults your unprepared senses and directs you to a particular item. I get a kick out of folk’s grocery shopping with a calculator. They may take six hours to buy a basket full of groceries, but darn it, they saved money! I am never really sure those items in that basket were necessary and cost saving, but they seem to be satisfied with their choices. Isn’t it bad enough walking into a Home Depot and trying to find a knowledgeable salesperson without having barkers from window companies, or heating and A/C people badgering you? Hey, you just bought a new whole house ceiling fan plus an alarm system and saved money! And you thought you were just going to run in and pick up an extension cord. Then of course there are those small shops we love to patronize with their cute little novelty items that we cannot pass up or going on vacation and finding the perfect relic that reminds us of our time there. Mugs, jewelry, tee shirts and assorted glass and wooden creatures adorn our dust covered shelving or better still, found in a long forgotten box stuffed in the attic. Yeah, there is nothing like a good sale. Well I have to run. The wife saw an ad for an estate sale in Marin County and by golly, can’t wait to see the “really good stuff” they are getting rid of!