And they'll just keep on rollin' in.

This morning, stacked around my coffee cup were TWO GIANT Hershey bars and TWO 100 Grand bars that The Tall One and I have JUST DISCOVERED in this life and discovered that we love them. "Where has this crispy, crunchy, caramel-y goodness BEEN all my life?" The Tall One asked as he dug to the depths of the Halloween candy bag.
Well, no, he really said, "Damn. They don't put enough of these in here. Now, where in the ..."
And I also got a new broom. I have been sweeping w/a sawed off/broken off/duct-taped broom for far too long. And I THOUGHT when I jokingly asked for a new broom for my birthday, (Yeah, right, who asks for a BROOM for her birthday.) The Tall One would say, "I'm buying you jewels and shoes for your birthday, NOT a broom."
But, no, I caught My Ones Tall, Big and Short buying and hiding the broom FOR MY BIRTHDAY, so if that's my one and only present, I'm happy with that as now I don't have to bend over while brooming. Glamorous, huh?
And today is only 27 days pre-birthday, so the jewels and shoes might yet be on their way. (Tho' I hope not, because I'd really love new patio furniture more.)

***

There was a critical omission from my post on where we've gotten excellent customer service, Post-Ike. First, AT&T continues to roll out the red carpet for my parents in the service dept. Not only did they restore my parents previous phone number from the town where they lived before Galveston, but they're somehow just "giving" them Internet service. My parents don't have a computer right now, but I'm doing all the emailing for them and need the Internet. "Don't worry. Just use it as you need it now and check back in when you get a computer." Well ... ok ...if you say so.

BUT, the big omission was Staples Office Supply ... the new local one.

They had some hard to find supplies that my parents needed a couple of weeks ago to resume bill paying and such. But, today when I went in to purchase an "old school" calculator for mama, the staff REMEMBERED me and they're all just so darn nice. And they have a "salad bar" kinda thing w/ paper clips, and some of those paper clips are shaped like GUITARS!! So cute. But, mostly, so nice.

***

I obviously had no choice last night but to watch the debate, tho' it wasn't my first choice. I was relieved that even tho there was a whole lot of smiling ... a lot of unnecessary smiling ... that there was little smirking. Or grimacing. Or head-shaking. I hate the smirking and the grimacing and the head-shaking. They were civil. And cordial. And I thank them for that.