An oldie, but always a goodie!

From Our Home to Yours

May you all have a very Merry CHRISTmas!

A Lesson in Economics

Everybody remembers this little diagram from economics class, right?!

• P - price
• Q - quantity of good
• S - supply
• D - demand

Well, if you do....good for you. But this Christmas season I have certainly learned a valuable lesson in supply and demand.

It all began with a little trip to the Hallmark store a few short weeks ago. Each year I pick an ornament for each member of the GRITS family; however, I usually go AFTER Christmas when those suckers are half price.

Because I am a cheap skate.

It is important that you must know that my two favorite Christmas movies, of all time, are "Christmas Vacation" AND "A Christmas Story".

Seriously!

So, imagine the joy in my heart when I spotted this little ornament gem:


Yes, yes, folks.....that would be Cousin Eddie's RV!!! I knew when I laid eyes on it, that it WOULD be hanging on MY Christmas tree this year!

It was meant to be mine, because I got the very LAST one in the Hallmark store. And apparently the last one in my city, because no one has been able to find one since my purchase.

YAY ME!

A couple of other ornaments caught my eye, but I decided to wait on their purchase. But that little voice inside had me back in the Hallmark store a couple days later. Which turned into a trip to Books-A-Million, where they also sell Hallmark ornaments.

My next two purchases were these hot little items:





Be honest, how many of you just said in your mind (or out loud), "Fra-gee-lay. That must be Italian."



Now, here's where our little lesson in economics comes in. I purchased each of these ornaments for $16.50 EACH. Which is why I usually wait until the day after Christmas to buy them, when they are half price.

Imagine my surprise when I found all three of these ornaments on Amazon.com selling for over $30 EACH! The Cousin Eddie's RV ornament alone is selling for $49.95.

Seriously.


That, my friends, is today's lesson in supply and demand!

(And, NO, I am not selling my fabulous ornaments....they will be on my Christmas tree for the rest of my life!)

Stalked

This little story certainly fits in the "huh?" category.

Today after school, I took my kids to purchase gifts for their classroom Christmas parties. We were at our all time favorite store......Tar-jay.....aka, Target.

We moseyed on back to the toy area to find each child a $10 gift, which is next to impossible, just for the record.

My son wanted to go to the Nerf and Lego aisles (and you wonder why we call him Lego-Man). And, of course, the Princess wanted to look on the Polly Pocket and Barbie aisles.

I felt comfortable leaving the boy two aisles over, so I took the Princess to the PINK toy zone. After about 5 minutes of pouring over EVERY Polly Pocket, the boy came over and found me. He muttered something about "somebody asked me for money".

He proceeded to tell me that a boy walked up to him and asked him for money. LegoMan told him "No" and walked away.

About that time, a boy about my size came down our aisle. He looked to be about 12 years old. LM informed me that was the kid who had just asked him for money. The kid walked right up to us and just stood there. I asked him if he needed something. He said, "no".

I took the kids down another aisle and the boy followed us.

We walked another aisle over.

He followed us.

I looked at him AGAIN, and asked him if he was following us.

He said, "no" and proceeded to look at the items on the aisle......BARBIE DOLLS!

I informed him that it was a bit odd he just followed us down two aisles and it was really strange a boy his age was on the Barbie aisle, alone.

I also told him he needed to find the adult he came to the store with and stop following people around. He then just shook his head "no" at me. I grabbed both my kids and headed to the front of the store.

The boy followed us all the way out of the toy area before he stopped. I found the nearest associate and told her what happened.

It was the strangest thing......*SHRUG*

Lazy, Part Deux

Here's an update on a post I did back in MARCH of this year......click HERE to be reminded of my ridiculous neighbor I so fittingly dubbed "Lazy Larry".

This summer, we had a confrontation after I witnessed him letting his dog take care of business DIRECTLY in front of my house.....all while he sat in the comfort of his car, as per his dog "walking" protocol.

I politely explained to Larry that I was sick and tired of him letting his dog poop in the street. He stupidly explained to me that birds and squirrels poop in the street.

Ahem, moron, young man there's a HUGE difference in the size of bird and squirrel poop in the street versus your gargantuan dog poop! DUH!

I then suggested he clean up after his dog just like everyone else does with their dog. No response.

And to finish out my rant, I told him he was not worthy of owning that dog if he could not walk it properly and in a safe manner. HE LAUGHED IN MY FACE....then drove off.

Which made this Greek girl IRATE!

The hubby suggested I just let it go and not make it my mission in life to reform this obviously idiotic young adult.

I proceeded with sending a letter to the city about Lazy Larry. An animal control officer came to my home, and, again, I explained how Larry walks his dog via the car and did not clean up his dog's waste material from the middle of the street. The nice officer was floored at Larry's lack of animal skills and assured me he would handle the situation.

Fast forward to recent weeks.

Exhibit A (as taken by my concerned son):



How ridiculous is this?! It is sunny and warm outside and he chooses to walk the dog, AGAIN, via the car.

Raise you hand if you are a member of PETA?!

Two weeks ago I was out raking leaves, the weather was nice and who comes around the corner just like the photo above?! Yep. Larry. This time the car was going a bit faster and the dog was in a slight jog.

It pushed me over the edge. I dropped what I was doing, went inside, dialed animal control and explained the situation AGAIN to the officer (notice a redundant theme here).

This officer could not believe what I told him. He drove directly to the neighborhood and was at Larry's house within 15 minutes.

About 20 minutes later, I see a person in my front yard headed to my door. I jumped up to see who it was about the time my doorbell rang.

LAZY LARRY parked his car in front of my neighbors house and was at MY FRONT DOOR! I wasn't going to answer....he then came around to my side door and rang the doorbell.

By this time my heart was pounding....what if he really is CrAZy??

He then went back to my front door and BANGED on it! Then I really decided not to answer. He stormed back to his car and screeched off.

He went directly to our neighborhood president and had words with him regarding my complaint. Of course, he also told Larry that we were concerned for the dog's safety and the neighbors are tired of poop in the street.

Larry said he was tired of living in our "rinky dink" neighborhood and is going to move.

Name the day, Larry......I'll come pack your bags.....then I'll throw a party!


(BTW, Larry has been spotted under the cover of darkness lazily "walking" his dog.....STILL)