Calendars
Jeannette wrote about the search for the perfect calendar. I know plenty of people who think it's ridiculous to actually buy a calendar when you can get them for free. (My dentist always gives out very nice, boring calendars.) But really, the choice of a calendar is very important. I'm going to be stuck with it for an entire year! I want something both attractive and interesting.
Last week I reluctantly bought a 2006 calendar. I hated to go ahead and buy one after looking at so few but I liked it a lot and I was afraid that I would later decide that it was The One but it would be gone. So, now I have to avoid looking at calendars, lest I find the one that turns out to be really The One and spend the next year disappointed with the one that I have.
Catalogs
I get dozens of different catalogs via snail-mail. I have no idea how I get on some of these mailing lists! For example, I occasionally get a catalog of horse related stuff. Horses are very nice, at a distance, but I have no desire to ride one or to have pictures of them all over my walls, clothes and bed-linens. I don't remember ever buying anything even remotely horse related so I suppose they assume that everyone who lives in Oklahoma must be nuts about horses - an assumption which, in fact, seems to be not too far off the mark. I also get a lot of catalogs from outdoorsy and "save the earth" type companies. Some of those have some interesting and tempting items.
A couple of times this year I've gotten a catalog from Newport News. This is another one of those "how the heck did I get on this list?" things. I'm way out of the fashion loop. Folks in my neck o' the woods do not dress fashionably; I don't think I even watch TV shows on which people dress fashionably and if I do, I don't pay much attention to the clothes. So it's probably just a reflection on me when I say that most of the the outfits in the Newport News catalog look a little odd and maybe just a wee bit slutty. It's ever so slightly entertaining to look at though, so it's tempting to buy something so they'll keep on sending me catalogs. They have a number of items that I wouldn't be embarrassed to wear but then I look at the price and calculate how many books or CDs I could get for that much, and then I recall that very, very few of the companies that send me catalogs have ever stopped sending them even though every one that I get says "This will be your last catalog unless you buy something," (or words to that effect) and I realize that I have nothing to worry about. I'm going to be getting this catalog forever. But just in case someone from Newport News is reading, I really might buy something someday so keep those catalogs coming.