My 8 year old Nephew slept over last night, we ate ice cream in bed while watching a James Bond movie, and this morning had breakfast at the diner and went to an “Old Fashioned” (his term) classic car show.
I thought it would be fun to ask his opinion on cereal. He is a picky eater, so I was surpised at the wide variety of favorites he chose.
(His responses are in italics)

What is your favorite cereal?

Raisin Brand (his term)
Grape Nuts
Rice Krispies
Cheerios
Life
(Knowing his Mother’s aversion to sugared cereals, these choices do not surprise me - her children do not get exposed to the wonder that is CHOCOLATE FROSTED SUGAR BOMBS!)

Grape Nuts? Really? You LIKE Grape Nuts?

YEAH!

Why?

Cause my favorite fruit is Grapes, and I like it mixed together with nuts.

But, there are no actual “grapes” in Grape Nuts….?

I know, but it’s got great flavor!

Raisin Brand? You like Raisins?

Yeah

Not usually a kid friendly food. Who introduced you to Raisin Brand?

My Dad

Do you know that Raisin Brand is full of fiber?

Yeah

And do you know what that cereal will do for you?

Make you fat?

No. Do you know what fiber does to your body?

No

Helps you poop!

(breaks out in hysterical 8 yr old boy laughter, as anything related to the bathroom is hilarious at that age!)

Anything else you would like to tell us about cereal?

How about Life.

What about it?

My Mom only buys it when it’s on sale.

Why is that?

Because it’s like four bucks a pack. Or maybe five. I think it’s $4.95.

There you have it, from the mouth of a budding cereologist!

Did I tell you that I think I may have Carpal Tunnel?
Yeah. Thrilled abou that. Not.
For about a week and a half I have been waking up with numbness and tingling in my ring and middle fingers on the right hand, and pain in the middle finger on my left hand, and inability to close it into a fist until I slowly work it out. Usually takes about 45 mins to an hour for both hands to feel normal again. Did a little online research, and spoke to 2 people who had the actual surgery for it (older Sister and a friend of mine)….I do not have Doctor’s clarification, but all signs point to CTS. I started taking Vitamin B6, and went ahead and purchased a wrist brace at CVS Pharmacy, of course, utiziling my $4 off coupon and some “Extra Bucks” I had - even in a medical emergency I am thrifty! (I need 2, but they are EXPENSIVE, so they other one will wait until I find a sale - or the doctor gives me a freebie!) to wear to bed, and got my employer to order me a track ball mouse for my desk…I also ordered one online for my home computer - on sale at Comp USA, and 10% cash back for using PayPal! I need to schedule an appt at the Doctor to get it looked at, and hopefully if it is CTS, I have caught it early enough and can reverse it with these measures taken.
P.S. The wrist brace does work, as this morning when I woke, my right hand was bothering me a little(that may have been from the brace itself), but there was NO tingling or numbness in my fingers.

…or should I call it “Independence Day”?

Spoke with older Sister this morning, moving truck was there at 8am and is still loading. She, her Daughter and her Husband are packing up last minute things - and then are going to run over to the storage lot where the travel trailer is….we can’t find the hitch for the truck! Mom’s husband does not remember where it is. We need that to move the trailer! So, they are going to dig around the travel trailer and see if it’s there, as her Husband and a friend are going to move the truck and trvael trailer over to our side of the state in 2 weeks. They are going to call me when the moving truck leaves, so that I can meet it at this end and surpervise the unloading.

My prayer today is that everything goes smoothly, there is no bickering or stress, and that Mom’s Husband is happy with his new digs!

Who’s going to turn down free coffee? Go here and get a sample of Seattle’s Best !

Go here and get a coupon for a FREE Campbells Stock Pot soup!

Dogs like freebies too! Go here for a free sample of all natural Maine Made Dog Biscuits!

Free sample of Gold Bond Ultimate Lotion here.

As of this evening, I will no longer have a television in my living room. You see, Mom’s husband is moving on Saturday to his new digs over here by us, and their TV went with the house (it was one of those huge monstrosity stand alone TV’s - and will not fit in his new 1 BR apt!)…so, I am giving him my TV so that he does not have to buy a new one, and my small entertainment center that it sits in. We’re moving it to his new place this evening so it will be there waiting for him on Saturday.
You may be asking what am I going to do for TV? Glad you asked. I have been wanting a flat panel HDTV for some time now, drooling over them at the store, comparing prices, etc….. so this will be just the push I needed to actually get one! I am going to wait until after my birthday though, as I asked family members for Best Buy gift cards in any amount to assist in said purchase! So, until then, I will be watching the TV in the bedroom - and NO DVR!

The shuttle landed last night, and the sonic boom was felt all throughout my house! I was startled by it, until I realized what it was - and it rattled my sliding glass doors so much that I feared they were going to break! Anyone else feel it?

Anyone?
I cannot find Survivor in my TV Guide for this week. There is NCAA BAsketball listed at it’s regular Thursday 8pm slot, and last week Survivor was on Wednesday because of basketball, but Big Brother is on now….so WHAT HAPPENED TO SURVIVOR THIS WEEK?

Overstock.com - not so thrilled with them. I bought a Christmas gift thru them and it went fine. I then bought myself something from them, and promptly returned it as it was not what I wanted. I went through their website returns process to ensure proper credit, as it was an electronis item and not cheap. It took FOUR weeks for the item to be scanned back in to the Overstock warehouse. FOUR WEEKS. Now, I work in the shipping industry, and it does NOT tkae 4 weeks to get a small package from Tampa to Salt Lake City - even with the SLOWEST of services. Anyhoo - it finally showed scanned in as LATE. ???? Late?? (Electronics items have a 30 day window for return). I think NOT. It is not my fault that it took the post office FOUR WEEKS to get the dern box to you - using YOUR bar coded address label! So, I called. And complained. And got a supervisor, who couls see that the return was generated soon after I recevied it, and I got verbal confirmation that I would be getting a full refund. And, when I got home there was an email confirming the same, and advising me that my Discover card would be credited. Great. Huh? Wait…DISCOVER CARD? Ummm…..DON’T HAVE ONE! Used the Amex for this purchase! So, I guess I have to get back on the phone tomorrow! Good Times.

I alos heard from the Better Business Bureau regarding a complaint I filed against Trilegient in Connecticut. This is the company that had been charging my Mother’s credit cards for various monthly services as “Travelvantage”, “Shopping essentials”, and other such bullshit. I found out about this last summer, there was about $3000 in charges total, ranging from $9.95/month, all the way up to $179.95/month. MOm didn’t know what they were, and she just kept paying the credit card bills! I spent HOURS AND HOURS on the phone getting all of these things cancelled (until I closed the cards, they were still showing up occasionaly), and getting credits……..did al little internet search on Trilegient and found all pages and pages of random complaints and nastiness about them. They are one of these that offer “FREE” membership for 30 days, and if you do not cancel, you get screwed, or send you a $2 check, and if you cash it you are signed up for some $99 a month bullshit - they target the elderly! They were calling her and getting them to sign up for all kinds of crap! In the 8 months since my initial BBB complaint, I never heard anything. Got a response yesterday with a name and number to call - the woman states that they need my Mom’s name and address to fully investigate our claim….ummm, yeah, IT’S RIGHT ON THE FREAKING COMPLAINT BOBO! So, I’ll be giving her a call tomorrow as well, and trust me when I tell you she will be getting quite the earful! Good Times.

Things on the “Estate” front are moving along nicely, which scares me - I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop!

Moving day for Mom’s Husband is this Saturday! We have everything set for that, truck set to arrive at current residence at 9am, walk-thru on the new place is Thursday, and I called today to have the electric switched on.

Realtor stopped by today and had Mom’s husband sign off on the counter-offer, now we wait (and pray) for everything to go through!

Next week is the Estate sale, I booked my hotel for th