We’re going to be silly this morning.  If you fell out of the wrong side of the bed, you might want to stick around. - this could help!  If, however, you feel that the matter of life should be attended to with diligence and gravitas, well, perhaps skipping this blog entry would be a better idea.

Myria has periodic cereal cravings - like I might have an occasional ice cream jones.  For me, a hot fudge sundae (with either coffee or peppermint ice cream) will do the trick.  For Myria…

Well, preparations have to be made.  Because of her substantially Native American background Myria is lactose intolerant.  That means that we have to have some of those pill thingies that help break down lactose in those systems that can’t break it down for themselves.  Never having had the problem myself, I can sympathize, if not really understand.  I kind of envision this as a scene taking place in a 1930s era prison flick, where prisoners wore striped uniforms and spent all day wielding a sledge hammer.  Only instead of a number, the prisoner’s sign says “Lactase”.

Guard: Your job is to break big molecules into medium-sized molecules and medium-sized molecules into small molecules and small molecules into atoms.  DO YOU UNDERSTAND?

Prisoner (under his breath while nodding vigorously): Lousy screw…

Now the hunt begins.  The cereal aisle is traversed several times and preliminary choices are made.  After some consideration, these are winnowed down to three or four primary choices.

Once home, a large bowl is procured and some of each type of cereal is poured in, mixed around and then covered with milk.

Aside: There is much to be said for the cereal mixing process which I had never run into before meeting Myria and which she says she learned from her father.  While some combinations could be perfectly revolting, some can be, well, seriously cool - such as cocoa puffs combined with banana nut fruit and grain.  Yes, we do watch cartoons too :)

One of the products that came home with us last night was this:

Now I don’t know what things were like when you were growing up, but in my house, pre-sweetened cereal was considered to be a very bad thing and was only permitted on extremely rare occasion.  This was unfortunate because it’s that type of cereal that’s most likely to have a free toy nestled in it’s sugary depths. And free toys are…well, they’re cool!  As adults, of course, we can have whatever kind of cereal we like and this one is a product that Myria enjoys.  I didn’t notice the free toy promise until we’d gotten it home - though it’s right there on the front of the box.

This is what we found inside…

I was instantly 10 years old again as I puzzled out how to put this together and make it work.  At first I thought it would require a battery, but there wasn’t any way to open the handle; it was all of a piece.  I could see a red button, but nothing happened when I pressed it.  Sigh…

Ah well, when all else fails, RTFM (read the instructions).  In print so tiny as to resemble ant tracks, it was explained that the bowl should be placed onto the handle.  I did that - it fit into place with a satisfying snap.  Then the switch at the base of the handle should be flipped into the “on” position.  Switch?  Ahh - got it!  Then, whenever the red button was pushed (I already knew where that was), the spoon would light up.  Really?!?!?

And finally…

That’s my binoculars case behind the spoon because I couldn’t take a picture in which the light actually showed up until I tried using a darker background.  I tried to get Jade to volunteer but she was more interested in nudging the spoon than posing or (God forbid!) sitting still.

Whee!!

I haven’t dared to try eating anything with this.  I’m a bit nervous that the red light shining and reflecting on whatever food is in the bowl of the spoon would make it look like I’d been scavenging in an abattoir.  Nononono…  This, of course, is what gives me away as not being a true child.  A true child would use the spoon to eat anything at all regardless of (or maybe because of) what the light made it look like.

But it’s still cool :)

Have a great weekend!