Are people still out there?

Is anyone reading my blog anymore? I know many people rely on the "Blogs I Read" ticker to tell them when their friends have updated their blog, which makes things a lot easier.

But from time to time when I'm reading my friends blogs, I notice that it says under my blog that the last post is from FEBRUARY!

What's the deal? Why isn't my blog showing up as updated? I posted numerous blogs since then and still it says the last post I've written is "Cutie Pie" from Feb 20.

Too weird! Hope I'm not just writing to myself.... HA!

Are coupons overrated?

So seems like nearly everyone I know has jumped on the coupon bandwagon. While I'm writing out my grocery list this morning, I decide to check out a few sites and print a few coupons of my own. First stop - Southern Savers to check out the latest deals. There were a few links to Coupons.com and Smart Source. Coupons.com was fairly painless with the exception of downloading a coupon printer...hmm...

All my coupons come out 3 to a page, but I realize my printer is printing everything in color...grrr.... Why is this the default? (I try to change mid-print, but no success). Do I really need the Kelloggs box on my coupon to be in color? I think not!

Next stop.. Smart Source. I select 5 coupons.. that's it. I take the time to try and set the printer to B&W. They start to print and to my dismay, they come out in color again...DARN!

Then I start to notice Smart Source also has advertisements print out with the coupons. So a huge Claritin ad -- wasting my precious ink -- comes out and I soon discover they are printing ONE coupon per page. How wasteful is that!!!

One advertiser got "creative" and gave me a form to fill out and mail in...hmmm... All I want is a simple coupon to save a few bucks. I'm in advertising, so one I'm all for ads that are relevant to consumers, but is this really the place for an ad? Someone is already interested in your product to print out a coupon, why waste their paper and ink to show how great your product is? Not sure the last minute ad is going to push them over the edge, but just a thought for all you CPG companies out there.

Think I really ended up wasting a bunch of ink and paper. Guess I better make sure I get my money out of all this time & energy I put into this and put my coupons to good use. Think I need some coupon tips from the pros out there. Any suggestions?