I have been a slacker since the beginning of the month where my blog is concerned.  Not that I don't have anything to say.  I'm just not sure that what I have to say is worth reading.  But I guess I'll just ramble on.

I have a couple of pet peeves and this is one of them.  People no longer say 'thank you'.  Has it gone out of style?  How is it that people don't teach their children to say thank you at Christmas?  Even older kids seem to have forgotten that saying thank you is the appropriate response to a gift.  My mother actually stopped giving gifts to those who didn't acknowledge their Christmas gifts with a simple 'thank you'.  At the time I thought she was being a little hard headed, but now I see her point.  Problem is that the ones who don't have enough manners to say thank you are the ones I can't stop giving gifts to.  They're my kids!  And they were taught to say thank you.  What's a mama to do?
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Lately TV commercials have gone from ridiculous to a degree of stupid that is unbelievable.  Example: Insurance commercials.  A man sits with a bunch of little kids, who, by the way, have no idea what insurance is, and talks about things like swimming pools and other things that mean nothing.  I wouldn't buy insurance from that company for anything in the world.  

The same company shows 2 women shopping and the one has saved so much on car insurance that she can buy a 150 dollar purse.  The other stands in the middle of the store and sings 'Insurance find me money" at which point an old fisherman in waders appears and dangles a dollar bill from his fishing line.  Give me a break.  

Commercials seem to be trying to entertain.  But they don't bother to say why we should buy their product.  What makes them better than their competitors?  I refuse to believe that I should buy a certain company's car insurance so I can buy an expensive purse.

Those ads are right up there with the credit card company ads.  They're gonna give you 1-1/2% back.  Whoopee!  Really generous from companies that are charging, in some cases, upwards of 19% interest a month.  They know that the majority of people don't pay off their credit card balances every month, so their 1-1/2% won't mean much to the company or to the card holder.

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My most recent favorite commercials are from H&R Block and Turbo Tax, telling anyone paying attention that they will save you money.  Although we haven't used H&R Block in probably 20 years,I did use Tax Cut and Turbo Tax, respectively, for several years and let me tell you that it never worked that way for me.  

A few years ago we started taking our taxes to a local church which, as a fundraiser for the church, bring in church members who are accountants and tax preparers.  They are available to do your taxes, both state and federal, for free and they are associated with AARP.  The idea is that in exchange for getting your taxes done, you'll give a donation to the church.  Every year we give them nice a donation which is still less than the cost of Turbo Tax.  The last time i bought Turbo Tax it was around 50 dollars to buy the software to do those 2 forms.

The first year we went to the free tax prep at the church, we were a little skeptical, but we got a really nice refund.  Much more than we did previously with Turbo Tax or Tax Cut.  The second year we got an even larger refund.  And the tax preparers at the church file your federal return electronically.  So no more 15 dollar charge for that.  It's way worth the trip into town.
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The 49ers/Seahawks game was pretty bad, too.  I found myself asking whether the officials were paid off by the Seahawks.  Granted, the 49ers weren't at the top of their game with 3 turnovers.  But, there were a few calls, like the 5 yard penalty for running into the kicker that should have been a 15 yard penalty for roughing the kicker, that were blatently suspicious.  It sure looked like there was some favoritism going on.  I thought Harbaugh was going to burst a blood vessel a couple of times.

Richard Sherman's rant with the Fox sports reporter was something to behold as well.  Wonder what the coach had to say when he heard that one.  I did see that he apologized later.
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