I read a story this morning about a study that revealed that the gift kids between the ages of 6 – 12 want most for the holidays this year is…the iPad.  Yes, the iPad.  The “starting at $499 iPad.  My answer to that, as I used to hear as a kid, is “how does it feel to want?”  Don’t get me wrong,  I understand that kids are much more tech-savvy now, but have we really gotten to the point where we would even consider plunking down $500 of our hard-earned cash for a 6-year-old?  Looks like we have, because I’m guessing there will be some parents who will do it.

Ironically, I just got an iPad yesterday, and while I spent a significant amount of time looking for apps to download for my 8-year-old niece to use, I would never even THINK of purchasing one for her.  She can play with it, with me sitting right next to her, but that’s it!  This is the same kid I don’t trust not to spill on the couch!  Why would I trust her not to break an iPad.  And how could you not get mad if they did?  Then you turn into the crazy aunt freaking out on your niece…or maybe that’s just me!

I feel bad for parents (and Santa).  Every year the must-have gifts get more and more expensive.  Where do you draw the line?  I get wanting to give your children the best, and maybe I’ll never fully understand it because I don’t have kids myself.  But I don’t think you need to have kids to think that $500 dollars is a little excessive.

Besides the fact that a young child could break it, or you could be one of the people who can afford to spend that much, I personally think that giving a child a gift that expensive is sending them the wrong message.  Did they do anything special to deserve it?  Did they work hard?  Did they save up for it?  Probably not.  I guess I just think that kids need to learn the value of money,  handing over an iPad isn’t going to do that for them.

What do you think?  Would you ever buy your young child an iPad?  Do you think it’s OK even if you can afford it?  I would love to hear what you think!  Leave me a comment!

Just my humble opinion…Pebbles

You may or may not have heard by now that Facebook has announced a new Facebook Messages system that integrates e-mail, IM and texting in one inbox. It’s supposed to roll out in the next few months to all FB users.  Not sure how I’m feeling about it yet, but check it out and see for yourself! Gotta say, the writing backwards on the glass thing is kinda cool!

If you’re one of the lucky people who happens to be a beta tester, I would love to know what you think!  Are the rest of you feeling the changes at FB, or do you think they need to leave things as they are?  Leave me a comment!

I consider myself a semi-creative person, but when I see stuff like this I feel like a pre-school student making macaroni necklaces.  They’re cute…if you’re 4!   This was done by a group called OK Go for their new music video called Last Leaf.  Over 2,000 pieces of toast were used to make the video and it took 15 pieces of toast to make each second of the video.  Love it!

(Picture from The Ramiro & Pebbles Boat Cruise)

It was a big deal for me when I made this my profile picture on Facebook.  I’m one of those people who has a hard time putting their faults out there for the world to see.  People are very judgemental and can be vicious.  I was never willing to hold myself up to that type of scrutiny.  But then I took a good look at that picture and laughed.  And I knew that if anyone else saw it they would laugh too, so why not put it out there.  And you know what…people laughed!

I bring this up because a little while ago, I updated my FB status and I swear I must have hit refresh about 5 times in 5 minutes to see what people had to say about what I wrote!  After the 5th time hitting refresh, I sat back and thought “Why do you care so much about what other people have to say?”  It stopped me dead in my tracks and made me realize that to a certain extent, we all may be looking for self-esteem in other people through Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and other forms of social networking. 

I know it’s easy to say, “No, that’s not me.  I don’t care what people think about me!”  But think about this…How many times do YOU hit refresh after posting a status update? How many times to you check out your @replies on Twitter?  And how much thought do you put into the pictures you post online?  My guess is, a lot.  And believe me, I’m just as guilty as you are.  Remember, I’m the one who brought it up! 

Now that I’m aware of this, I’m going to make an effort to stop editing myself so much.  If I like a picture of myself, I’m going to post it and not care what other people think!  This picture was another one that I hesitated about putting up, but I love it because I laugh a lot, with my mouth wide open, and so what?

Oh, and if someone happens to make a comment about one of my pictures or updates that I don’t like, oh well.  I’m going to learn to not care so much what other people think, and care more about what I think!  

What about you?  Do you worry about the comments that people write about you?  Do you make sure you only post the most perfect pictures of yourself?  Does what you read about yourself on FB, Twitter, etc. make a difference in the way you feel about yourself?   Let me know by leaving a comment.

Just my humble opinion…Pebbles!