Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!
Be safe, be happy and spread cheer today and
always...

Peace...

Ikea's "Stupid" Sale...

There is this Ikea commercial that comes on almost every time I sit down to watch tv, that annoys the hell out of me.

It advertises the "Ikea Winter Sale". There is a woman who receives her receipt, looks at the total and then runs to the car, demanding her husband to drive off as fast as he can (as if they are in some kind of get away vehicle or something).

Now what bothers me is that this woman probably already knew her total because.. well.. she paid for her shit didn't she? I mean doesn't the cashier ring in all of your items and then tell you what your total is?... Isn't that followed by a payment of some sort? I'm assuming that is what took place because she did have a receipt in her hand.

To me the commercial makes no sense. It would be one thing if they showed her at the register reacting surprised (to say the least), but to walk outside of the store and THEN realize what you paid is sheer idiocy..That's my two cents any way.. What do I know though...?.. I only studied marketing for four long years and then had the pleasure of working in the field for a few years afterwards.. Thank goodness that phase of my life is behind me! Working with children is so much more rewarding than being pressured to come up with the perfect ad campaign!

I must say however, that I do like Ikea (not the furniture though because it's not real wood-- it's all fake.. trust me.. My dad been in furniture manufacturing since I was a fetus.. so if there is one thing that has been drilled into my head since I was young, it's "THIS is how real wood should feel. It should not sound hollow").. Aside from the furniture comprised of "wood", I do love all of the home decor, rugs and shelving units Ikea offers. I also look forward to the arrival of the seasonal catalog. It provides great room designs and I cannot lie.. the smell of the catalog itself makes me high. Yes, I'm strange. But many people know this already.

Family Affair... scratch that.. make that "Family Unfair"

I'm off from work and home in Toronto for the holidays. I'd be enjoying myself a lot more if I didn't still have a bad case of bronchitis, which I'm sure I contracted from one of my students. I'm just hoping that I start to feel a bit better, because I have things to do and people to see.

My favourite Aunty and Uncle forced me to come over for dinner at their place last night. They wouldn't take no for an answer when I told them that my cough sounds like death and that I felt like shit. They WANTED me there. Aside from my immediate family, my other family members were there. It was nice to see a slew of young cousins that have grown immensely since I last saw them.

What irked me beyond words was the fact that my fifteen year old cousin, who once thought the world of me and who I treated like a younger sister has totally changed. Everything about her is different. Her look, her attitude, EVERYTHING. She's turned into the type of person I loathed in high school and I don't know what caused this change. She used to tell me everything and come to me with all of her problems, but it seems like she thinks that she's more evolved than I am now.

Most of the time when I'd look in her direction, she'd look away with her nose up in the air. I felt like hitting her over the head with a pillow and asking her "What the hell is wrong with you?" but clearly, it wasn't the place or the time.

I went through phases when I younger where I just wanted to be alone when I was trying to "find" myself. But I was never, ever rude to anyone- especially those that were always nice to me. I have a feeling that her mother (my uncle's crazy wife) has been brain washing her with false ideas regarding moi.. My aunt hasn't been too fond of me since I told her off during my last visit. She was being her usual annoying, miserable self and was attempting to yell at my mom for no apparent reason. Obviously, being my mother's keeper, I verbally fought back and my Aunt has been "against" me ever since.

Seriously, it's all such middle school drama. My aunt is a shit disturber who really can't stand anyone around her to be happy. She always has something negative to say and is continuously gossiping and attempting to bring people down. I'm not even going to get into all the things that she has done to my poor uncle (her husband, my mom's brother).

It's just unfortunate that my cousin is allowing her crazy mother to impede her thought process. This is not the girl I knew a year ago. She has changed immensely. So much so, that I don't think that I have ever known anyone to make such a drastic change in behaviour in such a short period of time.

I'm so over the both of them. All I can do is *hope that my cousin has some kind of epiphany and realizes that she's being a brat. Until then, I'm keeping my distance.