I
know I’ve been MIA lately… and it’s not that I haven’t been thinking of
blogging. It’s just that December kind of got away from me. Between
all the Christmas hoopla and the snow, and a lot of grad school homework, I’ve
been swamped. I haven’t even been getting to my Zumba class all that
often- now you know I’m serious when I say I'm busy. Missing Zumba is a
major infraction in the Erica “Rules of Happiness” handbook.
However,
January is about new beginnings, and while I won’t say that I made a New Year’s
resolution to blog more, I am trying to take a little more time for myself, and
do things that I enjoy (blogging included.) So hopefully, if all goes
well, I’ll be posting here a bit more often.
This
leads me to my latest story to share. The other week I was at the gym,
held captive on an elliptical for a 30 minute interval program. This is
not my favorite gym activity, but I was stuck time-wise without a class to
attend, and I had calories to burn. As I started on the elliptical, I
noticed that there was an infomercial starting for a skin care line being
touted by Cindy Crawford. Not one to be easily swayed, I somewhat kept an
eye on the closed captioning for the infomercial while I jammed away to Zumba
music in my ear buds.
About
15 minutes later (halfway through the infomercial, ) I realized that I was
totally drawn in my Cindy’s claims of younger, smoother, glowing skin. I
was hanging on every misspelled, closed-captioned word! Who doesn’t want
firmer, wrinkle-free, glowing skin, after all? All the women on the show
sure looked great (never mind the soft lighting and fuzzy camera lens.)
Somehow she had caught me, hook, line and sucker, I mean, sinker. I
needed those products, right away!!
So
as the infomercial and my elliptical session drew to a close, I started having
a mental conversation with myself about how I was going to purchase the
skincare line. Once they revealed the low, low price, did I have time to
memorize the phone number, get off the elliptical, get my phone and credit card
out of my locker, get to the first floor where I would get a cell signal, and
complete my transaction? I held my breath as I waited for the final
detail of the informercial to be announced- the one time only, buy in the next
five minutes, deal. And there it was- the cleanser, toner, glowing serum,
eye cream, night cream, all for the low price of…
********************This
is a child abduction Amber alert**********************
********************This
is a child abduction Amber alert**********************
The
timing couldn’t have been more comical if I had tried. The look on my
face surely said it all- I might have even swore aloud, but I’m not sure
because I still had my ear buds in. Now, not only was I faced with the
ethical dilemma of doing my civic duty and listening to the Amber alert, but I
still wanted to buy the wrinkle cream!! I swear that was the longest
Amber alert of my life, and as it ended and flashed back to regular
programming, Cindy Crawford’s smiling, young, glowing face faded from the
screen. The infomercial was over- I had missed it.
Divine intervention by the retail gods? Simply
bad timing? Karma? Was I doomed to a life of wrinkled, dull, dry
skin? No, as luck would have it, I was able to find the products on-line,
but somehow they didn't look as appealing without the bells and whistles of the
infomercial. I no longer had to have them. And I guess in
the end not only did the Amber alert save a child, but it saved my pocketbook
as well. Who knew an Amber alert was so multifunctional?
