Cheese Puffs: $11 per Pound

I was reading the November issue of Smart Money magazine while eating lunch today.  The back page commentary by Anne Kadet titled “Who Shrunk the Cereal” nearly caused me to topple out of my chair.  For the most part, it discussed a phenomena we’ve all seen in the grocery store – reduced package sizes while maintaining the same price.  However, the article also made mention of the wildly popular ‘100-calorie packs’ that you can find for nearly all bad-for-you-but-oh-so-good snack items.  And here comes the chair toppling…

Quoting the article “[Gary Stibel] claims credit for inventing the 100-calorie snack pack, an ingenious invention that lets Frito-Lay charge $11 a pound for cheese puffs.”

As disturbing as it is to think of paying THAT much money for a pound of cheese puffs, I have to credit Mr. Stibel and Frito-Lay for pulling it off.  The 100-calorie pack is indeed ingenious marketing, especially at this type of profit margin.

I, for one, will be going back to the tried-and-true “handful of chips in a generic ziploc baggie” for my portion control.  It may not be exactly 100 calories, but my checking account will appreciate the sacrifice my body is making.

Why I’m Ticked at my ISP (part 2)

One of my pet peeves is bad customer service, and I think being stood up twice up with no call/email is just about the worst customer service ever.  Yup, you guessed it, Aaron from Crappy ISP never showed up on Friday.

On Saturday morning, I sent Aaron an email asking him to let me know when he might be able to come this week and I’d arrange my schedule to accommodate him.  Previously, I had been emailing him days/times early in the week that I was available for the maintenance.  Apparently my very restrictive “any time Tuesday, Thursday or Friday between 10 am and 3pm” type time frames didn’t work for him so I’ll leave it up to him to decide when he’s available.

In the meantime, I’ve found two other ISPs who claim to have VPN friendly wireless “high-speed” access available in this area.  Unfortunately, the prices per month is roughly twice what I’m paying now.  But, if they provide higher speed access and better customer service, I really wouldn’t have a problem with the additional charge.

Although neither Aaron or anyone else at Crappy ISP realize this, but an entire paradigm shift in our house is dependent on the work they want to do to improve my reception, which is making me more uptight about this than I normally would be. 

• As soon as the antenna is installed and we’re able to get internet access in the office downstairs, we can move the desk and other office type paraphernalia out of the upstairs office.
• Once the upstairs office is no longer an office, we can paint and decorate it to become Katey’s new big girl bedroom.
• Once the big girl bedroom is done, Katey can move out of her toddler bed in the master bedroom and into her brand new room.
• Once Katey is in her own room, it will mark the first time in 7.5 years that we haven’t had a kid in the master bedroom with us.
• Need I say more?

So to say I’m anxious for this upgrade is a bit of an understatement.  True, I will embrace the promised increase in speed and I will love being able to have internet access without having to precariously position the wireless modem on the window ledge of an open window in the heat of summer/dead of winter.  But mostly, having all of the kids in their respective rooms and no longer in our bedroom will be a dream come true!

Maybe if I give Aaron and Crappy ISP the entire sob story they may be more apt to actually show up the next time they say they’ll be here.  Or maybe I should just call one of the other ISPs…

Happy Home Challenge

Several years ago, I became a consultant with a direct sales company called Once Upon a Family.  I truly love the products and the mission of the company but found that I don’t absolutely love doing the home parties.  I’m still a consultant but mostly for personal use and to keep friends and family stocked with the cool products.

I got an email this week announcing the Happy Home Challenge.  Families commit to taking on a family challenge each month October through March and posting their results to the Happy Home site.  Any family who completes all the challenges will receive a Happy Home Hero Kit that contains six great Once Upon a Family products!

Check out this page for all the details. You can join a conference call on October 15, 10 AM PST with Lorle Campos, author of happyhome to kick off the challenge.  Call information: dial 231 644 8000, ext 581866#.

And if you need someone to order the happyhome book from, I just might know someone who can hook you up.

Why I’m Ticked at my ISP

I have been waiting all day for Aaron from my ISP to show up and install some new equipment to hopefully solve all of my internet access woes.  I wish it were just a new router or modem because I could do that myself and forgo this whole waiting thing, but it’s not.  It’s an antenna or something that is going to be mounted to my roof and then (hopefully) neatly wired to our new (2 years ago) office that we currently can’t use as such because we can’t get any &$%# reception there.  It appears to involve drilling on the roof and likely through an external wall so I am very certain no one in this house is going to take part in it.  Thus, we wait for Aaron…and wait…and wait…

I wouldn’t be so ticked except that when he was supposed to come last week, he completely stood me up.  No call.  No email.  Now that really ticks me off.  In this technological age, there is absolutely no reason for my freaking ISP, of all things, not to send me a friendly “oops, not gonna make it today” email.  None.

But, you see, I’m between a rock and a hard place on this one.  I really don’t have any other choices given our location.  I need a high speed connection that supports VPN, which rules out satellite.  I’m stuck with this crappy wireless ISP connection that is just as slow as dial-up yet costs just as much as broadband.  

I can’t get grumpy with my ISP because I have no choice and I realize they can make my internet presence hell if given the motivation.  I suspect they’re doing a little of that already.  I think my buddy Aaron is mad at me for asking that he actually let me know in advance when he plans to come for this little maintenance project rather than just showing up one day and announcing he’s going to do it, which is exactly what happened last month.  I had to politely turn him away.  Ever since then, he’s been crabby with me about making an appointment to get this done…or keeping an appointment once made.

Oh, Comcast, though others hate thee I would welcome thee into my life with open arms.  I would even pay full price for thee…

And by the way, there was no bovine chorus last night so they either found their way back home or one of the neighbors got himself a freezer full of fresh beef.

Mooooo….

We slept with a window open in our bedroom last night … love this cool fall weather!!  When I went to bed around midnight, I settled in with my crossword puzzle book expecting to enjoy the quiet of the evening when I became instantly aware of a distant mooing…like from cows.  And these weren’t happy cows.  They were going on and on with their moos like it was some sort of orchestrated effect to get attention.

The odd thing is, I can’t figure out who around here has cows.  Our four nearest neighbors are each 1/2 mile away and none of them have cows so it had to be coming from further away.  But what kind of cow can you hear from over a mile away?!?!  And seriously, they went on and on.  And they’re still mooing.  I can still hear them.  It’s just bizarre that we’ve lived here for 5 years and I’ve never heard the bovine chorus before.

Although, last fall some cows escaped from somewhere and were found ambling around in the fields outside our house.  I wonder if it happened again?  It would explain their constant mooing.  If I could decipher cow talk, I would think that they were saying “OMG, we’re lost. Where the F*** are we?  And where is that guy who brings us food?!?!”

I shall be on the lookout for stray cows today.  Ahh…the perils of country life.

Baby Blake

My nephew Blake, who is almost 8 weeks old, is currently in the PICU at St. Louis Children’s Hospital with unexplained respiratory issues.  He has been in the hospital (first Springfield and now St. Louis) for just over 3 weeks having various tests done to try to figure out what is happening.  His mom, my sis-in-law Amy, has been with him the entire time.  If you have a minute, please say a prayer for Blake, his mom and dad, his big brother Riley and the medical team working on his case. 

To read more about Blake’s story, go to the Caring Bridge site that Amy is maintaining.

The kids and I are making a care package to send to the hospital.  They have all made a get well card and we made cookies last night that we’re putting in the box along with kleenex (because hospital tissues is always so rough), lotion, microwave popcorn, a sudoku book and whatever else I can manage to find to lift Amy’s spirits.  Because they are so far away, we can’t do much besides pray.  I hope the care package brightens their day.

Katey the Cookie Helper

Oatmeal Spice Cookie Dough

White Chocolate Macadamia Cookie Dough

White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

What is this thing they call “free time”?

The “thing” I alluded to a couple of weeks ago that would likely take what remaining free time I have left has panned out can now be announced…..drumroll….

I’m going back to school.

Not just any old school -  I’m going back for an MBA.  I learned last week that I was accepted to the program and will start my first class later this months.  In 2.5 years, taking one class at a time, I’ll have a full-fledged, honest-to-goodness MBA. 

And then what? 

Good question…

Hives and cuts and backaches, oh my!

It was another non-stop week of medical maladies in this household.

MONDAY – Mom still has hives.  They started Thursday and they ITCH! 

TUESDAY – Mom still has hives, gives in and goes to the doctor for a dandy steroid shot and a another 6 day prescription…because I’m not already enough of walking pharmaceutical cocktail.  My regular doctor was out of the office so I got to see Dr. I’m-Still-In-Diapers.  Seriously, I think this guy walked straight off of the medical school graduation podium and into the exam room.  Don’t get me wrong – I have nothing against young doctors – the kids’ pediatrician is in his early 30s and he’s great.  The guy I saw, however, not so great.  He was mumbling to himself while writing in my chart, things like “Hmm….let’s see…I’ll write ‘Patient presents with hives that itch.’ “  Not exactly the confidence inspiring prose I want from my medical professional.  The true gem was his assault at the end of the appointment.  With one foot out the door, he said “When was the last time you’ve had a full physical with blood tests for cholesterol and sugar?”.  I explained that I had had blood tests done in August, all with good results.  Apparently he didn’t hear me because he said “Well, fast for 10 hours before you follow-up appointment next week and we’ll draw blood for the tests.” and out the door he went.  I made the follow-up appointment because I was told to, but after further consideration I cancelled it.  My hives are gone.  My blood is fine.  I don’t like that doctor.  I’m not going back to him.  When and if I decide to have more blood tests, I’ll work with someone I have confidence in.

WEDNESDAY – Katey woke up with hives.  Not the little bug bite looking hives…not our Katey…she went all out with giant “take over your whole body” hives.  A dose of Benadryl, hives disappeared, off to daycare. Whew…  Another hive breakout in the evening but they were sufficiently cured with Benadryl as well.

Alex had a school project due on Friday for which I was cutting styrofoam to simulate earthquake damage.  In the process, I managed to slice nearly all they way through the tip of my finger with a serrated knife.  Much blood and deliberation later, I decided to forgo an E.R. visit and self medicate with liquid band-aid and Tylenol.  Going to the hospital would have impeded the progress of said earthquake which was due on Friday.

THURSDAY – Katey woke up with the mother of all hives cases.  I took her to the doctor.  Given her history of allergies, I thought it prudent to have this documented…and also because they were scary big this time.  The diagnosis was “giant hives” (which has a medical name that escapes me) treated with Benadryl and a 5-day dose of steroids.  On a side note, the doc said the steroids would also help to clear up her lungs, which were going down the path of almost causing wheezing again.  2 birds, one stone.

FRIDAY – My hives are finally gone.  Katey’s are still raging through the morning and afternoon.  They seemed to have disappeared by evening and have not yet resurfaced.

SATURDAY – Pleasant, uncomplicated, quiet.

SUNDAY – William developed a severe back ache to the point that he was screaming in pain.  There was no fever or “hot spot” that would point to a kidney infection or appendicitis and it seemed to go away with regular intervals of Tylenol and Motrin.  I could tell when the meds wore off, though, because the screaming returned in earnest.  I decided that if he was still in pain on Monday morning, we’d go to the doctor.

MONDAY – No hives.  Fingertip still attached. No screaming back ache.  We survived!! 

In retrospect, we probably should have taken William to the doctor to have his back ache checked out.  Can an almost 5 yr old get kidney stones?  My internet research leads me to think this might explain it.  However, in the very wise words of an E.R. doctor I saw way too many times last fall, “the two worst outcomes from the advent of the internet age are porn and medical misdiagnosis”.  I really need to learn back away from my keyboard at times and leave some thing up to the professionals.