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!

Sleep Study

Along the same lines as my post earlier this week: I heard a radio commercial for a local hospital that does sleep studies. I wonder if my husband would be willing to do that? Strangely enough, the last two nights he hasn't snored. Well, maybe he has, but I have been so tired, and in such a deep sleep that I haven't heard it.
Apparently, sleep disorders can cause all kinds of health problems. My husband would never agree to doing it though because he doesn't see it as a problem. The other night I was so frustrated that I stared at him in the dark (I felt like the girl in the movie "Paranormal Activity") for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do. Finally, I decided that I would simply pull the bed comforter over his head. I figured he would change his position. Sure enough, he did. I the morning he said, "Do you know that you must have turned over and caused the comforter to go over my head last night?" I pretended that I didn't have any idea what he was talking about. It was good for a laugh, anyway. What a terrible thing for me to do! Desperate wives turn to desperate means.

Stop the Snoring!

I can't stand it anymore. My husband snores all night, every night and it is really becoming a problem for me. Last night the snoring was so loud and strong that the bed was actually moving with each of the loud snores. I just don't know what to do. In the past, I have hauled myself out to the sofa, but since I am the first one up in the morning and have to get up to get all the kids up and ready for school, I don't like to be away from the radio alarm. I also am a bit selfish too because I always think, "Why the heck should I be the one who has to leave the comfortable bed? I'm not disturbing anyone!" We have been married for nearly twenty years and my husband has been a snorer pretty much our whole marriage. Lately, it seems the snoring has gotten worse. The jerking of the whole bed is more than I can handle. When I try to redirect my husband by asking him to turn over or move or something, he is offended. He also gets offended when he wakes up in the morning and I am not in the bed. When I tell him it is because of his snoring, he gets defensive. I just don't get it. I have asked him to take allergy medicine to see if that helps, and he is what medical experts would consider obese, but he doesn't have any motivation to change anything to improve the problem. I am at my wit's end. I need some sleep! Please, please do something to stop the snoring!

Yikes! Anita Dunn is Scary!

Even though I am not affiliated with the Republican party, nor am I particularly conservative, I listen to the Glenn Beck radio show now and then. He fascinates me because his is so hysterically conservative. He deserves credit for being so passionate about what he believes. He also annoys the heck out of me because he cries like a baby and is hyper-critical about everyone who doesn't share his exact views, and he doesn't offer any real solutions for the problems he points out, but I do find him intriguing. Yesterday on his radio show, he claimed that his folks had uncovered a "damning" video of the current Communications Director for the Obama administration, Anita Dunn. He teased it for awhile and said that he could not reveal what was on the video until his television show on Fox News at 5:00 pm. Glenn Beck is nothing if not a great showman. Anyway, I decided to tune into his show to check out what all the drama was about.

Poor Glenn Beck! He is absolutely going to have a heart attack one of these days. He gets so worked up and frenetic that he is going to burst some important and vital organ one of these days! With that being said, I have to say that the video of Anita Dunn was disturbing on a couple of levels. First of all, anyone who has such a horrible case of cotton mouth (the noises from her mouth and the tongue getting thrust out every third word was hideous to look at) is, in my opinion either very nervous about speaking in front of people, or very nervous about the content of the speech. Anita Dunn seems to admire Mao Tse Tung. That seems like someone who should not be in a high government position. Oddly enough, Glenn Beck has this one right. Second, don't people who are being considered for jobs at the White House have to go through some sort of screening and security check? My husband is an engineer for ITT and has to go through a thorough background/security check every few years. If they found him to be a Maoist, I think he would no longer be in the same (pretty lowly) job there. How is it that so many questionable people are being put in such high level jobs these days. What kind of change is going on? Glenn Beck is crazy, but he might be onto something here. . .