I shopped for new clothes dryer this weekend. My old dryer tumbled its last towel some days before. I went to a department store, found its replacement on my own within five minutes of entering the appliance floor and spent the next twenty minutes being harangued by a sales associate about extended warranties... a concept I loathe and do not participate in ...ever
My odd consumer point of view being... I am buying a not inexpensive, branded product from a nationally recognized and long established company... who in turn is making a comfortable profit on the sale itself... and whom I expect, as extraordinary as it may seem, to Stand.Behind.Their.Product.
Obviously, I would not expect this courtesy had I purchased an appliance from the back of a pickup truck in some out-of-the-way alley in Tijuana...
Apparently, my sales associate and I did not see eye-to-eye on this concept and was quite put out that I was unwilling to spend an additional ninety dollars to insure my dryer past its first year of service... as he went on to let me know in no uncertain terms that I would be facing a one hundred and ten dollar service charge each and every time something went wrong after the first year. I assured him that if this expensive behemoth kicked up its heels after a mere twelve months' of service, it would be residing prominently back on the same department floor we were currently occupying... as punishment, all other comments to me necessary to complete the transaction were directed to some distant point over my left shoulder...
...the customer is always right... ...right?
It seems especially appropriate to celebrate Christmas in July with the unending string of 90 degree, humid misery we've been experiencing this year... so pop in a holiday movie... read a holiday novel... shop a holiday sale... just skip the hot cocoa...
I like making my own granola... when it's cool enough to fire up the oven that is... but since this Summer has been beastly hot, I've had to experiment with readymade granola in order to get my weekday morning yogurt and granola fix... After many frogs... I've found a prince... great taste... and surprisingly low on the carb and sugar meter... for granola. It comes in many varieties... but the fruit and nut is my tried and true... and its resealable bag makes it perfect for desk drawer storage... what more could you ask for? (Well, other than George Clooney serving you your bowl of granola maybe...) 
