myJaxonIf we don’t go crazy once in a while, we’ll all go crazy. - Hawkeye

Just had to pass along this awesome deal. The Meijer Photo department has an online service where you can upload your digital prints from home and then go pick them up in the store. Well, currently, they are doing some redesigning to the site, but they still have the services there. The only catch, all orders will be mailed directly to you instead of going to the store. Yeah, this may be a pain, but they are offering free ground delivery and the prints are only $.14. If you do a lot of reprints at the store, you know that they generaly cost about $.29 per pic, so this is actually a really good deal.

In other news, I came across something interesting at the library. The Library of Michigan Foundation, Macy’s, and the Cultural Alliance of SE Michigan are offering adventure passes to a bunch of the local museums that came be checked out at the library. I can get two or four free passes and I wouldn’t have to pay for anything. Talk about awesome! The Detroit Children’s Museum is on the list of museums and I’m thinking of taking Ian. Anyone else want to go?

I hate mice. I am really really REALLY hating mice right now. For the last couple months, mice have been invading my home. We have killed 15 since the end of August. My stupid complex hasn’t really done anything to fix the problem either. After the 12th mouse, they finally looked around the outside of my building and found a nest. They took care of that and said that should be the end of that. Yeah, it wasn’t. The next day another mouse was caught in the trap in the kitchen and today I found yet another mouse. The maintenance guys keep telling me it’s all my fault too because I leave cat food out. Well, excuse me, but I’m not going to starve my cat and if I put the food up, that’s what is going to happen. Is it too much to ask that they actually look to see where the mice are coming in at? I know that they can squeeze through tiny holes, but seriously, to your job and actually take some time and look. Is it too much to ask that they attempt to solve the problem instead of just looking at it and pointing fingers? If we still didn’t have another 8 months on our lease and breaking it would be expensive, I would actually start looking for someplace else to live now. I’m thinking Ian and I will take a walk up to the office Monday and ask again for them to figure out where they are coming in at.

Ian’s first Halloween is almost here and he has already gone trick or treating! Yes I have dressed Ian up this year. He’s going to wait one more year before going trick or treating with his father around the neighborhood, but we just had to go to the grandparents. We have to say thank you to Aunt Trish for making his adorable costume. Ian went as Pippin from Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.

Ian wasn’t alone in this getup either. Ian and Chris were in it together as hobbits. They were so adorable in their costumes. Trish even made the eleven capes. The whole ensemble came out beautifully and I can’t believe that my little man actually looks good in a tunic. Ian will be able to wear it one more time when we go to Jesse’s work Halloween party.

These are the original outfits for Ian and CJ’s costume:

I hate getting all of those credit card offers in the mail. Seriously, if I was looking for a credit card, I wouldn’t get one that bought my information from someone else. That just tells me that they are just as willing to sell my information as they were to buy it. Granted, I don’t know for certain if they would sell my information, but how did they get it in the first place? Plus, every time I get an offer, that means they checked my credit history and that gets recorded. I could probably have great credit if everyone would just stop checking it without my permission. So, I finally did something about it. There is a way to opt-out of all the credit card offers (Opt-Out Prescreen).

Before I did the Opt-Out Prescreen, Jesse wanted me to make sure it was legit and one of the four major credit reporting agencies had it listed on their website. I tried Equifax and TransUnion’s sites first since I recognized them. Get this, neither of these sites had any links to it. However, I did go to Innovis and they not only had a link to the Opt-Out, but another link to opt-out of all the catalog offers as well. I even found on their website where they say they don’t sell consumer information, but they did say they participate in a service that does. While I’m not excited about their being a service that does sell my information, it make me happy that they were upfront about it and didn’t hide from it like the other two sites I visited.

In the end, I opted out Jesse and I for all future credit card offers. It says that it may take a couple of months for the offers to stop since some companies may already have our info and haven’t mailed out anything yet, but eventually it’ll stop. By doing it electronically, we’re only good for 5 years, but if I wanted to be out permanently, I would have to mail in a form. Not sure if I’m ready for that yet.

I’m trying to decide if I should host a Pampered Chef party.  I’ve heard they are a lot of fun and I’ve never been able to get to one.  So my chief concern is that no one would show up.  It’s a legitimate concern.  Most everyone I would invite doesn’t live near me, so I don’t know if they would make the 2 hour drive or not.   So I thought I would ask….I’m thinking of having a party sometime in January or February….would you be interested in coming?