Tomato Line-up

Here's the tomato line-up.  We put the little tomatoes on the window sill in the kitchen, along with the peppers too.  Maddie's eaten all the chili peppers, which of course is what they're there for.  These tomatoes usually wind up in her lunch, or in salads.  We've gotten a lot of tomatoes this year, and there are still plenty on the vines out there.

Yesterday while shopping, I picked up my first box of Monster Cereal, and had a bowl of it this morning.  The unique thing about it was this:  the cereal was Fruit Brute.  Yes, the "lost" Monster Cereal of old, the one that periodically appears every ten years like a returning cereal comet that everyone flocks to see, and then it's gone.  I'm not sure if Fruit Brute is here to stay, but I nabbed a box of it.  Ironically, I couldn't find Count Chocula, Frankenberry or Booberry.  Those had sold out already!  But these are special boxes, ones designed by an artist who I have no knowledge of.  Each box has a chance to win some small figures designed by this artist, that is if you enter online.  So here I go, entering online.  The odds are much greater of actually winning these figures, as they are massed produced and there are a lot of them to give away.  However, I have a notoriously bad reputation with odds in these things.  I've won one thing my entire life, and that was a small French hen figurine at Christmas a few years back.  That's it.  Famously, when the odds are down to a one in two chance, I still don't win.  I believe this is God's way of curing me from the temptation of ever gambling.  I have no manner of luck whatsoever!  But we'll see how this all works out - it's a small prize that there are literally thousands of.

As for Fruit Brute, we tried the cereal tonight, Mom and I.  Because I couldn't wait to sample this long-awaited Monster Cereal.  My overall impression was that it was okay - not my favorite.  It's got a fruity taste, as one would expect, and that maybe doesn't work as well with the Monster Cereal format that we're used to.  We both came away with the understanding why it's not up there with the big three.  We'll finish the box, of course, and it isn't that bad really.  It's just that this is no Count Chocula.  It looks like Frankenberry a little too, which is another mark against it.  The big three have these iconic colors, and Fruit Bruit needs to stand alone with a fourth color, or something like that visually.  Again, I don't mean to knock Fruit Brute too much - it isn't a bad cereal at all.  It's difficult trying to come in and compete with the big three Monster Cereals, because they're such a big deal.

Obviously, this morning Maddie was back to school.  She had a decent day, but she tells me she doesn't like school.  We were discussing some of her more challenging classes, and it's just a struggle now.  She's working hard though, doing her best. 

Tonight we said "ciao" to Nana and Ye-Ye, who are going off to Italy tomorrow.  It's an odd trip - it's not exactly one they were planning, but at the same time and opportunity arose, so why not?  They don't have much on the agenda, and will be sort of working all that out when they arrive, which is so unlike them.  This is primarily because they are going with my Aunt Rebecca and her husband.  Tonight we met up with all of them and talked for a while about plans and so forth, doing a bit of catching up before having to head back home.  It's a school night, and Maddie had to do some more studying.

Still, we made time for some episodes of Gravity Falls.  Yes, we're back on that again.  Camille has been watching it for the first time, and so that sort of got us back on it as well.  It's such a fun show.

Anyway, we said our prayers tonight, and we read of course.  We're back into the routine for a little bit, but still catching up on rest.  After tucking Maddie in, we all were in bed and asleep fairly quickly tonight.