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Sep. 26th, 2008 11:24 pmToday was a Fun Mail Day. I received my first box from the Pssst General Mills program, where they like, send you free stuff upon occasion for you to try and hopefully rave about to your friends. It was a boxed Macaroni Grill dinner prep kit, along with eleven coupons to give away for $1.25 off on a box. I am not so big on the boxed dinners but the price is right so I'm looking forward to trying it. I have this feeling that even with the coupon and even if it is fabulous, I'm not going to want to pay for them in the future, but still. Fun. Also, a free pack of Trident gum, and there was a secret box addressed to M that he won't let me open. Meanie! AND, a rebate check! I was even headed to the bank when I checked the mail. The rebate was for $40, and was for a little notebook accessory kit that was free after rebate at Circuit City last month. Yay for free!
That's not the point of this post, though. The envelope with the rebate check also contained a $15 off your next purchase of $149 coupon. Behold, the fine print (emphasis mine):
In other consumerisms, I bought a vacuum today. I think that brings our household total of vacuums up to five. I guess it's a good thing I can't spend my $15 coupon on vacuums at Circuit City after all, huh? One vacuum is broken (but is technically still part of the household since it's sitting forlornly in the garage, the second is the one that we bought to replace it this fall. Then M has a Shop-Vac in the basement, and I have its baby sister in the laundry room. (We got the little shop-vac free when we bought the big one. It's so cute!) Anyway! It's a lightweight vacuum that can also be used as a cordless. Oh, cordless. We have two of those, too, so I guess the household total is seven. Not sure where the old one is, but the IckyDestructor 2000 is in the laundry room too. You know, I have really never considered how many vacuum-type products I have in my house before. Maybe I need psychological help. So anyway, this vacuum was originally $80. I bought it for approximately $16 after clearance, bonus clearance (rang up cheaper than marked), rebates and coupons. I think it will be neat to have around for cleaning up small messes without dragging out the big vacuum. I have lots of small messes these days, for some reason. I think it might be because the small person running around here.
M has to work tomorrow, which sucks flaming red donkey balls. Apparently keeping careful track of inventory is kind of important in the firearms industry. Who knew? Speaking of the firearms industry, do you have any idea how uncomfortable I am with the notion that I am much less pro-gun-laws than I used to be based on M's job? Two reasons. A) Said gun laws are mostly designed to make the masses feel better without making the masses safer. ("He painted his gun purple before killing thirteen innocent people. That's terrible! Let's outlaw all PURPLE guns!") and B) If people actually are unable to buy guns, then M's employer will probably find it hard to warrant staying in business. I like to eat, therefore, that would be a problem. But about the working. That makes me sad.
A quick Evelyn story and then I have to go to bed. First, I was doing a little developmental exercise the other day. (An idea from Letter of the Week, which has a curriculum for preschoolers.) I put two bowls on her high chair tray and filled one with Cheerios. Then I showed her how to move one Cheerio at a time to the other bowl. It's supposed to be a motor skills task. She caught on to that pretty quickly and started putting the cereal in the other bowl, but when I stepped back to let her work at it on her own, she immediately picked up the full bowl and carefully poured the cereal into the empty bowl. Because you know, Mama? She is nice and all but she has NO CLUE how to efficiently move Cheerios. Geez. Pouring is so much easier than moving them one at a time! She's so smart. Oh, and she loves it when we watch MASH. Seriously. She actually SAYS "MASH" in the evenings, and points to the TV. (It actually sounds like "me! me!" but that's what she means.) Somewhat interesting show for a sixteen-month-old to adore. I think she just likes how Mama and Dada are there while she is running around playing with stuff. It's not like she actually watches it (but she does love to dance to the intro.)
No proofreading tonight; ignore any glaring errors.
That's not the point of this post, though. The envelope with the rebate check also contained a $15 off your next purchase of $149 coupon. Behold, the fine print (emphasis mine):
This offer is good for $15 off purchases of $149 or more. This offer is good for one use only and applies to total qualifying purchase on a single sales receipt dated between 09/01/2008 and 10/31/2008. Not valid on previous purchases. Offer excludes Bose, Outlet, Open Box, Red Dot Clearance, Red Hot Value, Kicker, Apple, select Polk models, notebooks, desktops, all Sony DSLR cameras, all Sony camera accessories, PC software, all vacuum models, Preorder/Backorder products, "coming soon" models, music, movies, game hardware, game software (online purchases only), select Garmin GPS Models, and Circuit City Gift Card purchases. Delivery fees, shipping charges and sales tax not included in total purchase calculation. Not combinable with select Circuit City offers. Barcode valid in-store only. Not redeemable for cash. Reproductions or photocopies not accepted. Void where prohibited or restricted.Okay. No computers, no media, no iPods and nothing on sale. What exactly is it that you CAN buy using this coupon? Large appliances, I guess. And I'm also a little confused about the barcode only being valid in store. Is there an outbreak of people sitting at home with personal barcode scanners who are disappointed that they cannot scan their own coupon at major retailers? I would say that they were just clumsily trying to say that the coupon was not valid online, but in that case, why the comment about online purchases only for the game software? I guess I can give them points for trying, since they didn't have to send a coupon at all, but seriously, this is the best you can come up with, guys? It's a 10% savings, even if you could actually spend it on something! Hardly a blip in the general radar of bargain shopping. I guess people who routinely spend $150 at Circuit City aren't necessarily worried about bargains though.
In other consumerisms, I bought a vacuum today. I think that brings our household total of vacuums up to five. I guess it's a good thing I can't spend my $15 coupon on vacuums at Circuit City after all, huh? One vacuum is broken (but is technically still part of the household since it's sitting forlornly in the garage, the second is the one that we bought to replace it this fall. Then M has a Shop-Vac in the basement, and I have its baby sister in the laundry room. (We got the little shop-vac free when we bought the big one. It's so cute!) Anyway! It's a lightweight vacuum that can also be used as a cordless. Oh, cordless. We have two of those, too, so I guess the household total is seven. Not sure where the old one is, but the IckyDestructor 2000 is in the laundry room too. You know, I have really never considered how many vacuum-type products I have in my house before. Maybe I need psychological help. So anyway, this vacuum was originally $80. I bought it for approximately $16 after clearance, bonus clearance (rang up cheaper than marked), rebates and coupons. I think it will be neat to have around for cleaning up small messes without dragging out the big vacuum. I have lots of small messes these days, for some reason. I think it might be because the small person running around here.
M has to work tomorrow, which sucks flaming red donkey balls. Apparently keeping careful track of inventory is kind of important in the firearms industry. Who knew? Speaking of the firearms industry, do you have any idea how uncomfortable I am with the notion that I am much less pro-gun-laws than I used to be based on M's job? Two reasons. A) Said gun laws are mostly designed to make the masses feel better without making the masses safer. ("He painted his gun purple before killing thirteen innocent people. That's terrible! Let's outlaw all PURPLE guns!") and B) If people actually are unable to buy guns, then M's employer will probably find it hard to warrant staying in business. I like to eat, therefore, that would be a problem. But about the working. That makes me sad.
A quick Evelyn story and then I have to go to bed. First, I was doing a little developmental exercise the other day. (An idea from Letter of the Week, which has a curriculum for preschoolers.) I put two bowls on her high chair tray and filled one with Cheerios. Then I showed her how to move one Cheerio at a time to the other bowl. It's supposed to be a motor skills task. She caught on to that pretty quickly and started putting the cereal in the other bowl, but when I stepped back to let her work at it on her own, she immediately picked up the full bowl and carefully poured the cereal into the empty bowl. Because you know, Mama? She is nice and all but she has NO CLUE how to efficiently move Cheerios. Geez. Pouring is so much easier than moving them one at a time! She's so smart. Oh, and she loves it when we watch MASH. Seriously. She actually SAYS "MASH" in the evenings, and points to the TV. (It actually sounds like "me! me!" but that's what she means.) Somewhat interesting show for a sixteen-month-old to adore. I think she just likes how Mama and Dada are there while she is running around playing with stuff. It's not like she actually watches it (but she does love to dance to the intro.)
No proofreading tonight; ignore any glaring errors.
