Another Brain Dump

Well, it's been an interesting week at La Casa de Mentia.  The kind of week that makes me say Well. 

1.  Good news - we got our tax return!  For a brief moment, there is money in the bank.  And Kerry, ever the optimist, told me to buy the curriculum we'd been talking about.  Of course, buying it new isn't realistic, but I figured I could save a big chunk by finding most of the books on Amazon. 

2.  So in a fit of enthusiasm I got online with my list and ordered about sixty books.

Well, I tried to.  But I had trouble from the get go.  Amazon's system apparently chokes on orders with that many items, so I had to break it into three orders.  Fine.  Whatever.

Or not fine.  It didn't take long for the phone to ring.  It was VISA, telling me they had a Fraud Alert on my VISA card.  Good grief! A fraud alert?  I don't think I've used that card since our vacation last fall!  A fraud alert?

Oh.  It was me. 

See, in my mind, I was placing one order with Amazon.  But the books were coming from booksellers all over the country.  When sixty stores all tried to run my VISA in one afternoon... well... everything went boink.  And they locked down my card.

Well.  Did you know that if you run fifteen charges in one day that's what happens?  Neither did I.  But then, I've never run fifteen charges in a day.  And heaven help you if you try to run sixty.  So every day this week I've had to call VISA, work my way through their phone-obstacle-course to get a live person, assure them that everything is okay, reset my card, and then contact Amazon (much easier) and have them run the next set of books through.  And, bless them, they did it.

A word to the wise... spread out your book orders.

3.  Grandpa took the boybarians to the new Cabelas.  And lucky them, because Grandpa is an extra-special Cabelas customer, they got in the day before the store opened and didn't have to camp on the sidewalk the night before, and experience the store with thousands upon thousands of others.

4.  As if to compensate me for my Amazon woes, I hit the jackpot out thrifting this week.  (While the guys cats are away, the mice will play.)  Grandma Grasshopper and I found baby clothes, ten-for-a-dollar.  For real.  I don't usually ever buy the tiny stuff for gifts, but at ten cents?  You betcha.  Most of it didn't look like it had ever been worn.  Still had that crisp, new feel.  Lots of Carters and Gerber.  (And I have two sweet little babies - one born and one coming - to shop for.)  Jackpot!  And Gunnar needed pants.  Got two pair of Land's End khakis for five bucks.

I love days like that.

5.  Is it kind of pathetic that I'm keeping track of everything I've gotten rid of this year?  Yes, I'm keeping a list.  Six more bags went out the door this week.  And I have yet to make the boys do their annual spring try-everything-on exercise.

6.  Be proud of me, I weeded today.  Most of the flower beds around the house.  And oh-my-aching-back.  The boybarians were not here to help, because...

7.  The boys are a little busy, just now.  Today was the day (once a month) they volunteer at the local Heritage Flight Museum, with their CAP group.  It's not required, but they like to do it and go when they can. And - bonus! - they got to go flying again!  They weren't expecting it today, and didn't have their cameras, but FUN! 

They especially didn't expect to fly today, because they're already scheduled to fly tomorrow.  A CAP pilot is taking them and another cadet down to Chehalis for their glider O-Flights.

Excited?  Yah, just a little ;D

But not too excited to go to bed at 8:30, since they're getting up at 4:30.

8.  And guess who's driving them to the airport?

Yah.

G'night.