Our family had their 'Turkey day ' early because of plans the teenagers had made to pig out at assorted grandparent and date's grandparents...We had all the stuff you're supposed to , except the pies were apple and cherry cobbler..per requests...Made from scratch, of course. They picked up Peter, the apparently female kitten, and left Ol Buzz...Well, we think it's Buzz...whomever it is has enough hair to stuff a mattress, but has decided to follow in the footsteps of his Step dad and get wild and wooly on top. I quietly suggested a trip to the 'haircut place'...a former have to case on Adventure day, but Nooooo....Apparently when Buzz grows up he's going to become a 'ROCK STARRR' and he will need that hair...Demonstrated by much head twirling and flying hair....till he got dizzy and fell over . Hmnnnn...Gotta work on that one ..... Dragging out a Monopoly game merited a bit of a scold , but he insisted he wanted to play...between bike rides and rain showers. He once had a Jr Monopoly game we used to kill time with...moves made across the board diagonally, little respect to regular rules , etc. When he agreed this time it was grown up rules or nothing I reluctantly sat down to play with him. DON"T EVER PLAY MONOPOLY WITH THAT KID! No rules on the battered old box , so I just divvied up the money roughly...thinking I would soon be free to read a fascinating book while he watched cartoons or terrorized the street... I saw a pattern that disturbed me...I would draw a 'chance' card and get fleeced, Buzz would draw a 'chance ' card and be sent to 'Go' and collect his $200.00 or some such... As the day drizzled itself away we sat there grimly rattling dice.......This little rat who has the attention span of a fruit fly played on and on....Given the chore of 'deeds keeper' helped him with his reading,, as did trying to puzzle out the chance cards, adding the dice marks, too...and certainly counting the money he was getting from me in rent...Of course he ended up with hotels on Park Place and Boardwalk....{Two thousand dollars, Grannee !} and bought MY two railroads when I ran out of money...COMPLETELY! I was down to zero when I got the bright idea to sell him some deeds....and now I have a few hundreds in the kitty...Seven year old Buzz has THOUSANDS, plus a healthy portfolio of deeds, 4 hotels and buying more....The bank is almost completely busted, and I dread the grim end of the game tomorrow...Had to call a halt today when a favorite cartoon movie came on and he found out we don't have the VCR hooked up to tape it. I know where one stop on 'Adventure day' is going to be...the Lottery ticket store! He can pick 'em, I'll scratch 'em and we'll split the proceeds...Lord knows he needs the money...wants every toy he sees on the TV commercials...Jeannie T ____________________________________________________________ Moms Asked to Return to School Grant Funding May Be Available to Those That Qualify. http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/4cef6a4f402803ed68m06duc