Le'go My Eggo!

Hey! I just read that there will be a shortage of the ever popular breakfast food the Kellogg's Eggo waffle. That's right! The company has stated that the shortage will last until next summer. Two of Kellogg's production plants have had to shut down. One in Atlanta because of huge amounts of rain that was dumped there in September, and the other one in Tennesse. The one in Tennessee is shut down indefinitely so that repairs can be made.

I haven't really noticed any shortage of Eggo waffles at my grocery store. I really don't buy frozen waffles very often. I wonder what people will do now, make their own? What is the world coming to?

Hands Up for Chocolate Milk!

Will you raise your hand for chocolate milk? There is a new push to get chocolate milk taken out of school lunch choices. The thinking behind it, I guess, is that chocolate milk adds an extra 60 calories to the 110 that is in white milk. People who are worried about the rate of childhood obesity are rallying against the National Dairy Council who will be starting a new campaign to keep chocolate milk as a choice for students purchasing school lunches. Back when I was in school, it seemed like I didn't care for the white milk and mostly chose the chocolate milk. Back when I was a kid, there wasn't much concern about childhood obesity either, so I totally get the concern some of these nutritionists have about it. On the other hand, why take away a choice that a kid has that isn't really all that bad? I think the nutritional pluses in chocolate milk outweigh the minuses. Maybe a compromise could be reached. We only drink skim milk here at home; the only choice of milk at school is 1 or 2%, why not make chocolate milk with less sugar and with a lower fat content? I have four school aged children. They all choose chocolate milk over the white milk. I also have a couple of kids (one of them especially) who would be considered overweight, and one who is underweight. I just want them to eat the best foods they can while they are at school. I can only truly control their intake here at home; I don't sweat the small stuff! The portions at the school are controlled and my kids are doing the best they can. The other thing that someone pointed out is that when we adults were in school some 20+ years ago and chocolate milk was offered, obesity wasn't and issue, so it isn't the milk that is the problem, it is the kids' inactivity. Schools have been forced to cut Physical Education and recess time in order to get all the academic standards in. So what would be wrong with adding another day of P.E.? I don't think chocolate milk has that much to do with it, some people just want to change things because it makes them feel better, but doesn't have any real impact on the problem they are trying to address.

So, that is what is on my trash heap today. My hand is up for chocolate milk; and I would be in favor of offering a lower sugar, lower fat chocolate milk as well. Go with that, National Dairy Council!

Credit Card Advise

I am not one who would normally advocate for a credit card, but after my experience with having fraudulent charges on mine, I have to say that my Target Visa card is invaluable. My husband and I are trying to cut down on our use of credit cards. I now only use two. One of the cards is my Target Visa RedCard. I have had it for many years, and while I don't really like using it, sometimes it is a necessary evil. We recently got a call from the Target Visa folks about a suspicious charge made on our card. Upon further investigation, we found several unauthorized charges on our card that have been happening for a year now. While paying bills online saves paper and postage, it also makes for lazy bill paying. We foolishly paid the bill month after month, not checking the charges that were put on it. This week, with the help of Dixie in the Target Visa fraud department, I have put a stop to the charges and she even helped me get a refund from the company who charged my card.
Here is my advise to you, my fellow blog readers: 1.) If you have to have a credit card, make sure you get a Target Visa. They are looking out for you and will let you know if there is anything weird going on with your account, and they are on your side when attempting to recover money from unauthorized charges 2.) If you pay your bills online, please remember to check the charges so that you will notice strange activity and nip it in the bud before a whole year of unauthorized charges piles up.

There you go. That is my friendly, housewife advise for today!

Free Credit Report Scam

Just wanted to let everyone know that you need to be very careful when visiting the freecreditreport.com site. Apparently, I visited that site way back last December. I suspect I wanted to see what my credit score was since we were in the process of selling/buying homes. I don't even remember doing it. They seem to ask for a credit card number to "verify" your credit, and then you are on their "membership" role and they start charging your credit card $14.95 each. I used my Target Visa card, and it is a good thing I did because they called me last week inquiring about a suspicious charge made on my card from itunes. If they wouldn't have called about that, we wouldn't have looked back at our bills. My husband pays the bill online, so he never really looked at them, just paid it. As it turns out, there are 11 charges to our card from CIC Triple Advantage, 3 charges of $16.95 from someplace called Essential Savings Consumer Affairs, and then the one charge of $1.00 from itunes. None of these charges were authorized by my husband or me. I called the Target Visa people and they said that they can file a fraudulent charge claim against CIC, but they can only go back 90 days. I tried calling that CIC place, but they are on Pacific time and are three hours behind us, so here I wait. I want a full refund of my money, so we will see how far I get. In the meantime, my Target Visa card has been canceled and I will call those thieves this afternoon. Please, anyone reading this: DO NOT GO ON FREECREDITREPORT.COM!!!! It is a scam!