RIDICULOUS

Last night I was watching TV. A commercial came on, and I let my mind wander. In my mind I was planning how I was going to drywall my daughter's bedroom. I had just finished taping and bedding, and was about to choose a color selection for the carpet, when a commercial caught my ear, and dragged me back to reality. Actually, the commercial slid right by without my notice, and was almost completely over before I realized what I had just heard. I sat up in bed, completely at full attention. I asked my husband, who was busy doing something else, "did you hear what I just heard? Wait, let me just back this up. I put the TV in reverse, so I could verify what I had just heard. It was a helpful tip on saving energy. Now I have no problems with saving energy, conserving water, recycling, "going green". But there are times when things begin to border on the ridiculous. This was one of those times. Here's how the commercial went. Not word for word, because I can't remember it line by line, but you will get the drift.

COMMERCIAL:"Here's a tip to help you conserve energy in your own home. Take an old newspaper, crumple up the pages, and use them to fill the empty spaces in your refrigerator."
(I guess so there won't be so much space to cool)

ME: "WHAT!?? Did I just hear that? Did they seriously suggest that I spend some of my hard earned spare time wadding up newspaper balls to fill up the empty space in my fridge? Shouldn't I fill up the space in my fridge with FOOD? How again does this help the environment?" I don't know much about how an icebox works, but one thing I do know is that the "environment" in the fridge is wet. Should I waste my own energy cleaning up the mess when it gets all wet and yuckky, or gets something spilled on it? OR spend my time transferring newspaper balls from one place to another as the fridge cycles between full and empty? (Oh, yeah, I can see it now. I come in the house with 150 dollars worth of food to last a few weeks. I'm already having trouble finding space to put all the food on the counter, and it's spilling out onto the floor in my tiny galley style kitchen. My husband and I are doing the grocery dance, as he is bringing more in, I'm trying to put away what's already there, there are doors slamming, kids appearing from nowhere to find out what's going on, the dog is barking, the cat is trying to get out the door, but PLEASE let me add to the chaos by having to stop, open the fridge, grab armfuls of wadded up newspaper, find somewhere to put it amidst all the cans, bottles, and boxes, and bags, somewhere where the dog can't get it, and then, and ONLY THEN, can I proceed to finally put away the groceries.) Talk about wasted energy. It makes me tired just thinking about it.

This is from Webster's online dictionary.

RI-DIC-U-LOUS: Arousing or deserving ridicule: ABSURD, PREPOSTEROUS
synonyms: see LAUGHABLE

That about says it all.