I've just spent a week in heaven.

Those of you who know me well are aware of my obsession with Emme, our 3-year old granddaughter. We waited a long time for this child: our son was 38 (and Mom was 36) when she was born; they'd been married for 13 years; and most importantly, Mom had been diagnosed several years earlier with Stage IV Hodgkin's disease and underwent months of chemotherapy.

But Emme was meant to be (conceived naturally; no high-tech invervention needed). They live in Port Townsend, WA, in the Seattle area. We were fortunate to be there when she was born and were able to be with her for her first 5 days of life. And we've seen her approx. every 3 months since she was born. (We used to travel a lot more, but now our travel dollars are spent visiting Emme.)

From the beginning, she was a beautiful child. Her steely blue eyes are awesome, although no one else in the immediate family has blue eyes. (I've jokingly told my son it's a good thing she looks just like him so we're sure of her heritage.)

My love for her is overwhelming (and probably borders on freaky); I sit here with tears in my eyes as I write. Some of my friends just don't get it. But it is what it is.

We last traveled to see her in April, so were delighted when they decided to come home for her birthday (which was last Sunday). They combined the trip home with other social and business events in this part of the country; and serendipitously, Emme was at our house an extra 4 days because Dad went to Toronto for business and Mom forgot to bring her proof of citizenship so had to stay stateside. Lucky me.

Emme is really into "princess" stuff. So for her birthday party at our friends' restaurant, Ansara's Steakhouse (which was appropriately decorated with a princess theme), she dressed in her princess outfit. A friend who owns Cake Arts Supply made a gorgeous princess castle birthday cake. It was so much fun.

Our other son and his wife had a cookout on her birthday and one of her presents from them was a beautiful princess dress. Emme was in 'hog heaven.'

I told you I was obsessed. You believe me now, don't you?

I'm going to be on TV!

Or more correctly, clothes from my store are going to be on TV.

A customer this week was shopping for clothes to wear on the "Judge Mathis" show in Chicago the next day.

Last summer, a young man who was driving drunk struck and destroyed the fence in her yard. Repair/replacement estimates were over $700. The young man was unable to pay so she filed a claim in Small Claims Court.

Evidently, someone from the TV show monitors claims in this court, looking for a good story for the show and the young man was contacted and he in turn contacted her.

The clothing requirements for being on the show were quite lengthy: nothing white; nothing with a pattern, stripes, design, logo, etc.; no flip-flops; nothing see-through; no jeans; nothing sleeveless. She was also advised not to dress too well (seemingly, the judge may think she could easily pay for the fence herself).

She ultimately settled on plain black pants, black flats and a lime green long sleeve blouse.

I don't know when the show will air. Does anyone know how I can find out?

Whatever happened to customer service?

I won a bid for something on e-bay this week. I wanted to pay for it via Paypal, but I forgot my password. So I thought I'd get a cashier's check from my bank. I have two checking accounts at this bank and have been with them for years. I was totally shocked to hear that a cashier's check drawn from one of my accounts would cost me $8.00! (They told me that before they even knew the amount which was less than $20.) No thanks.

So I went to Cashland, one of those payday loan places and got a money order for 99 cents. Now that's more like it.

Can someone explain this to me? I understand fees for overdrafts and bounced checks deposited to my account. And I understand monthly service charges depending on what type of account it is. But I just don't get this. Does your bank charge for this service?