You've Got Mail Monday

It's Monday, so that means another peek inside my mailbox. After returning from vacation, we had a boatload of mail. Thankfully there wasn't as much to sift through last week. I think our mail carrier is on vacation, because the mail is coming later than usual, and one day we didn't get any mail at all--which rarely happens.

A new Justice® catalog arrived. The girls try to beat each other to the table when that one comes in. The Lil Diva (10) and the Lil Princess (8) have already given me a list of things they want for back to school. Hard to believe school starts up again in month.

Another great catalog that came in was Pottery Barn Kids. We're eyeing their Larkin Bedroom Collection for the Lil Princess. Her bed belonged to her father and her dresser was the one I bought when I was pregnant for John Boy (okay, not the best nickname, but I had to call him something). Our son is now 25, so I'm impressed that the dresser is still usable. Our girl is definitely due for an upgrade. We bought the Lil Diva bedroom furniture from Bob's Discount Furniture a couple of years ago. She's tough on things, so I didn't want to spend a lot of money. It's holding up well, and she's been happy with it, so it was a good purchase.

The American Girl® doll catalog also showed up. We had a group of girls over yesterday and they all played in the bonus room with their American Girl dolls. It's cute to watch them. I think Santa is supposed to bring McKenna this year.

Our Fed-Ex® driver dropped off a package that contained a scanner and software from the National Consumer Panel. I used to participate in this program years ago, when the technology wasn't as advanced as it is now. After reviewing the contents: scanner, charge base, USB cable, and software, I've decided it isn't for me. What you are supposed to do is scan your purchases. In addition, you can complete surveys using the scanner's keyboard. You earn points for rewards.

I must have forgotten how time consuming a project it is. Though you scan barcodes, there is still a lot of manual entry: store name, if you used coupons, if you used a rewards card, and the most time consuming--price and quantity. Granted, the scanner will use the data you input to remember your favorite stores, but I buy over $200 worth of groceries a week. I pay attention to prices while in the store, but once I get home I just want to put it all away. If I need to hold onto my receipt and find a price to match up each product I purchase, it will take me an hour or more to get all the groceries put away. It's a shame, because I really wanted to do this.

That's it for You've Got Mail Monday. Look for my reviews of WordGirl: The Rise of Miss Power and Super Why: Around the World Adventure coming this week.