It's Everywhere! It's Everywhere!

Lock your doors!
Pull down your shades!
Hide under the covers!
And for goodness sake, TURN OFF THE TV!


That's kinda how I felt today.
It just seems like food is EVERYWHERE.
Especially on TV.

And not healthy food either.
It's not like I saw a bunch of commercials for Dole bananas or a talk show panel debating the merits of different types of apples (I vote for Gala, Braeburn, and Jonagold, by the way).

Oh no, it's grease-laden, batter-dipped, deep-fried, artery-clogging, heart-stopping, ooey, gooey, slathered-in-butter, and dipped in caramel sauce.  And then, it's touted as HAPPINESS.

I am not kidding.  I actually saw a commercial today for a restaurant (Golden Corral, actually) and afterwards the tag line was something like, "Help Yourself to Happiness."

Really?
Is that what happiness is?
$10 for a buffet is happiness?
Gorging myself until my pants are so tight that they're digging into my flesh and make ugly red rings around my middle is happiness?
Well, I didn't realize that happiness comes so cheaply.

I don't know why, but that commercial really irked me.
Can you tell?

I can say with certainty that spending 47 minutes at Golden Corral, stuffing my face with three plates of food, and a full plate of deserts, plus ice cream....with sprinkles....is not happiness.

But I can think of some things that are pure happiness:
- My daughter's infectious laughter and her husky just-got-up-voice saying, "Good morning, Mommy!"
- My husband reaching out his arms to pull me into an embrace right before we say goodbye.
- Enjoying time with my relatives, laughing with them, recollecting old memories and telling stories of things and events that we experienced together.
- Spending time with my friends, who have known me for so long that they know me better than I know myself, and yet can still surprise me sometimes.

I know I can think of lot more things, but these go at the top of the list.

You know something that won't be on my list?
Watching TV.
Or the commercials.
Especially for Golden Corral.


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Just a side note:
We don't actually watch much TV at our house.  We don't have cable, and for three years we didn't get any local channels at all.  So, now that we have moved and actually have local channels, we're so out of the habit of watching TV, that we have watched all of one sit-com in the past month.  Today's incident with the commercials happened at the gym.  I happened to look up at one of the screens and there were three commercials in a row all for food.  I couldn't stand it anymore, I had to look away.