I've been in a not so great mood the last several days due to everything that seems to be able to go wrong or break has. It is Murphy's law, you know? Anyways, the stress in our lives seems to just be climbing and building as things in our lives break down. First it was our Jeep, then our telephones, then, my computer router,and the last straw, my kitchen mop! To vent some my frustration, I began cleaning! I mean really cleaning! I started by cleaning up the creative chaos that I left on the rear kitchen table after creating Alexxis's banner. I had scraps of paper, fabric, rick rack, and glitter everywhere. {Yes, even on my granddaughter, LOL! }
So I set the day aside to do some deep cleaning of the entire house, right down to mopping the kitchen floor on my hands and knees while running to answer the old landline telephone located at the opposite end of the house! During a recent severe thunderstorm earlier in the week, our electric power was out for a few hours in the wee hours of the morning. Once the power was restored to our area, our telephones wouldn't work. They had been acting a bit funky prior to the storm, so Don decided to try a new battery in the base before considering them totally fried. Since the power was restored, we attempted to charge a new telephone battery. To make a long story short, that didn't work as we quickly realized the cause was an electrical surge so all we were really without was the time it took to wait for the battery to actually charge and our money. I cannot tell you how many times we've went through this in the past several years, so I am really frustrated now, more at myself , that the incident itself.
Why the hell do we pay out good money for the telephones yet won't invest in a $7 surge protector to plug them into? Everything else in our home are on surge protectors but the cordless phones??? Hell bent not to allow this happen again, surge protectors are on our "to purchase lists" right along with new phones. So, I hooked up the old landline telephone on the only telephone jack in our home, located in our bedroom at the opposite end of our home and ran to answer it for the last several days before the message center picks up the calls on the fourth ring. As this continues, my frustration level continued to rise right along with it.
I couldn't get online at all for a span of about 48 hours. We'd paid the bill, then received a telephone call regarding it from a customer service department located somewhere. We had to inform them the bill had been paid! Then, my computer acted up. Don made a trip to our local cable internet company, who checked the line, said was working........while another customer complained of the same problem in the other line. Anyways, he returned home to tell me and I checked every wire going from the router to the modem to the computer. I could have sworn one wire from the computer to the router contained a short in it. So, Don took it to a computer store, where it was checked and determined to be fine. He brought it back, I reconnected it and finally was able to get online. Whatever the problem was......... it seemed to resolve itself and left me totally dazed and confused.
The last straw was when my recently purchased floor mop had also broken and I was in desparate need of a new sponge mop head. Believing that I could fix the floor mop as I reassembled it using a new sponge mop head we set out on Wednesday evening, to return a telephone battery to WalMart. Anyways, while Don waited in line to return the unnecessary battery, I went back to the broom and mop area of grocery and was ticked instantly!!! How can you buy a mop and a mop sponge replacement two months before and return to discover that don't stock these anymore?
Feeling really frustrated now, I thought, I'll be damned if I am going to purchase another mop from them or cordless telephones for that matter. So, after receiving a store credit for the cordless battery, which at this point, I've no desire to use on anything from them besides groceries only because I'm not throwing $25.00 away, we head out!!!
I get so frustrated with WalMart easily anymore. Their companies policies leave a lot for me to desire and this isn't the first time we've had to return items to them. Hell, if I had only known that the mop would break, they would have gotten it back, too. Their made in the U.S. policy has went out the window in recent years and there is all this imported from China products that they either refuse to restock or stand behind, so now I am truly ticked at them and will spend our hard-earned $$$ elsewhere...... anywhere else!!!
So, we head to Lowes. Into Lowes we go, inquirying at their so-called "customer service" desk as to where they would be located and told aisle 11. Upon arriving in aisle 11, do you think there are telephones there? Nope. Telephone accessories! Another mistake. I am totally fed up at this point, so we leave.
We head to Meijer's, back to the Photo and Electronic department where we find some cordless telephones we like and place them in the shopping cart. We search for another 10 minutes for surge protectors...... surge protectors = electronics, get it? So we search, and search some more, before finally giving in and go disturb the one lone employee who is swamped with a line of 15 people desiring one hour services on their 4th of July photographs. She's puzzled, so therefore calls another department, who takes another 10 minutes to ring her back to inform her that the surge protectors are in the aisle with the ceiling fans. {{{{What ????? the hell????? Okay, we'd have guessed that all by ourselves!}}}}
After walking another mile {ok,it wasn't really a mile, but when you're frustrated, it totally seems like one} through the store, we locate them, make our selections, toss them into the cart.
Then, I get this bright idea to go to lawn and garden outside to see if there are any flowers on sale. I get two bags of potting soil and 6 pots of petunias, somehow reading a sign that says 3/$1. We head back inside to check out, everything goes smooth, we get to the truck and I ask for the receipt thinking did we really just spend that much $$$? Looking at the receipt, I see the 6 pots of petunias rang up at 3/$10; My God!!!! that is $20 for these crappy looking flowers to plant after the 4th of July? No way!
So, I head to lawn and garden, check the sign, and sure enough, two signs have been switched and the price is now correct. Now, I don't want them so I head to the truck, get the 6 pots of petunias and the potting soil I now won't be needing, head back to the cashier who is outside to return them. He has to call a supervisor to authorize the damn return! She arrives and cannot do the return on his register, so inside to customer service we head, to arrive to discover after our arrival and many failed attempts the computers are up and down, and up and down. A half an hour later, I kid you not, I finally get my $$$ back after two transactions --- one for the petunias and the other for the potting soil. Why it took two is beyond me as it was all on the one receipt but okay! It's finally over.
We return home and I take the telephones out of the box, plug in the surge protectors, Hey! I'm not taking any chances of something else going wrong while we wait yet another day for them to charge.
While waiting, I am totally worn out from all the recent cleaning and running to answer the forever ringing telephone. We head out for a ride --- just to get away from it all. We ended up in Columbus at a Target store to purchase a new mop! LOL! Anyways, I couln't get over the differences in the stores we'd recently went into. At Target, we were greeted with a cheery "hello!" from a girl at the customer service desk. Another employee walked by with returns in her arms, yet asked if there was something she could help us with. She pointed us in the right direction after offering to take us to the broom and mop aisle of housewares. Target will definately be receiving more of our business!
Deciding yesterday that I really need to get my stress level under control, I did nothing but sit and read. I read an entire Danielle Steele novel... and today, I've not much energy either. All the recently cleaning, stressing, and running for the telephone has definately ran me down... but hey! our new telephones work!!!! and Me, I'm simply trying to take it easy!!!
Friday, July 07, 2006
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Independence Day!
Don and I celebrated our Independence Day by doing what we love to do, visiting with family, traveling, and visiting with family some more. After we had a good breakfast at home, spending the morning lounging around with our black lab, Chaos, we set out for an early afternoon visit to my mom and dad's house. I'd spoken to mom on the phone recently asking all sorts of questions regarding quilt making so she set to work to see if she still had any books lying around. My mom used to sew quite a lot, expecially when I was a child. She would make my sister, Mary and I, short sets and the coolest sundresses. I also knew she had made a few small quilts at one point and time, as mom and my sister, Mary, were once interested in making them, too.
Can you imagine my surprise when she found three books for me? What a wonderful mom, to have saved these! I may just have to scan some of them in; they are that beautiful! I also had to chuckle quietly to myself a few times when looking through the books. I noticed just how much like my mom I've become, LOL! I've always heard women say, "ACK! I'm becoming my mother!" but you'll have to trust me on this one, as Martha would say, "It's a good thing!"
What lead to me this revelation was seeing a quilt photograph featured within the book and gently written in ball point pen below it was may mom's handwriting, "instructions on pg. so and so". So, see, I get writing in books honestly {grin}; it is a true family tradition! Heck, I may just have to create a scrapbook page or an altered book about this, LOL!
Anyways, to make a long story short, I took my recently purchased fabric and the Fiskar's Rotary set over to show her. Mom loved the light purple, blue, and green paisley fabric that I had picked out and told me that she thought the fabrics I'd chosen would make a beautiful quilt, even thought we decided to ditch one of them. We discussed a vary of ways to lay the quilt block outs while I browsed through some of the books she'd given to me. My mom proceeded to show me a quilt she'd laid out on her bed just for inspiration to me and I loved it! It is a 6 1/2" square with a 1/4" seam allowance created in the 9 square pattern, with a 5" border, then a 6 1/2" border surrounding all four sides. Definately a lot easier than what I was looking at with at 4 1/2" squares and a lot less sewing; making it a bit more sensible for me to use this pattern since I am just beginning. We spent the next 15 minutes or so measuring the quilt. I measured and she created a sketch of the pattern and marked in all the measurements. Once again, I noticed her handwriting and quickly realized just how much I've always admired it!
Since I had made mention of worrying about the size of the quilts and all the conflicting info I'd found on the dimensions of a full size one, she gave me a beautiful ucre colored eyelet dust ruffle just in case I'd need it once my quilt was made. She told me how she loved having it on their bed but how my dad would get a bit upset about having to take it on and off for washing as he got older. I realized then, that I truly am beginning to understand that concept, LOL! Anyways, it is so nice to have something of my mother's, even if it is only a few items, to treasure! {smiles}. A while later, after chatting, having a cup of coffee that I really didn't need, we could tell mom was getting tired and ready for her afternoon nap, so we departed with warm fuzzies and happy hearts.
A quick stop at home to put Chaos outside on his lead, we soon departed for a little road trip over the Ontario - a visit to M's {Michael's} then to Target to purchase some household items. I didn't purchase much at Michael's -- a few sheets of Anna Griffith paper {imagine that!} and some clearance goodies that I can always use: artist's tortillions, two silk floral pins to add to Alexxis's banner, an embroidery hoop, and get this!!! I found two, yes two!, Fiskar's cutting blades in the pinking design for $1.00 each. Oh, happy day!
After purchasing some household items and browsing the baby department at Target, we checked out, made a quick stop into Pet Smart for a smoked ham bone for the mutt, and set off for home. A quick last minute visit to Amber and Chris's to see if there was anything we needed to bring over for a cook-out at 7 p.m. provided me a chance to peek in on my granddaughter for a moment, before we returned home for just a bit to care for Chaos before returning once again.
The cookout was nice, lots of Chris's family were there and a few family friends. We had a good time, laughing, visiting, eating, and Gary, Chris's dad made it home from working. I had to laugh as Amber once again asked me to keep Alexxis overnight, not that I found it funny, just sort of chuckling to myself as I thought she's finally realizing some of what I gave up in my life to care for her. Unfortunately, I had to turn down the opportunity for Alexxis to sleepover as I wasn't too certain how Chaos was going to react to all the fireworks scheduled at 10 p.m. although we fully intended to have him inside. Just too much traffic, people and noise going on all at once for me to really be comfortable with the idea of both babies at once. We've never had the dog around the baby; not that I don't believe he'd intentionally hurt her in anyway, just that he is still a puppy in so many ways himself --- jumping when he gets excited and a bit jealous of any attention I give to anything else sometimes. I didn't think it was too good of an idea and I could definately see Amber's disappointment. It is supposed to be sunny and nice later in the week so I'm thinking I'll keep the baby overnight one night this week, maybe on Friday so her and Chris can have some time in the evening to themselves and part of the day Saturday to go swimming or something.
We left to return home before the fireworks at the fairgrounds began, arriving inour driveway in just the nick of time. We grabbed a couple of chairs from the studio and sat along the front lawn to watch them with a few friends who stopped by. The fireworks themselves were a bit of a disappointment, not as exciting as I remember them from when I was a child but at least our county tries to do something for the children. While Don chatted with friends, I sat and thought about the county fairs of days gone by... how we'd make an entire day of it, planning a picnic with fried chicken, ice cold lemonade, seeing the 4H fair animals and visiting the craft and homemaking booths, riding a few rides, playing a game or two, and eating cotton candy and candy apples. It was then that I realized that I really missed the good ole' days, not that I lived through that many of them, but just how different things were then. I also thought about Alexxis and wondered if one day she'd be interested in such things and if so, how it would be my responsibility to share that with her. All in all, it was a great day. Shortly after midnight, we tiredly called it a night, but a good day/night it was!
Can you imagine my surprise when she found three books for me? What a wonderful mom, to have saved these! I may just have to scan some of them in; they are that beautiful! I also had to chuckle quietly to myself a few times when looking through the books. I noticed just how much like my mom I've become, LOL! I've always heard women say, "ACK! I'm becoming my mother!" but you'll have to trust me on this one, as Martha would say, "It's a good thing!"
What lead to me this revelation was seeing a quilt photograph featured within the book and gently written in ball point pen below it was may mom's handwriting, "instructions on pg. so and so". So, see, I get writing in books honestly {grin}; it is a true family tradition! Heck, I may just have to create a scrapbook page or an altered book about this, LOL!
Anyways, to make a long story short, I took my recently purchased fabric and the Fiskar's Rotary set over to show her. Mom loved the light purple, blue, and green paisley fabric that I had picked out and told me that she thought the fabrics I'd chosen would make a beautiful quilt, even thought we decided to ditch one of them. We discussed a vary of ways to lay the quilt block outs while I browsed through some of the books she'd given to me. My mom proceeded to show me a quilt she'd laid out on her bed just for inspiration to me and I loved it! It is a 6 1/2" square with a 1/4" seam allowance created in the 9 square pattern, with a 5" border, then a 6 1/2" border surrounding all four sides. Definately a lot easier than what I was looking at with at 4 1/2" squares and a lot less sewing; making it a bit more sensible for me to use this pattern since I am just beginning. We spent the next 15 minutes or so measuring the quilt. I measured and she created a sketch of the pattern and marked in all the measurements. Once again, I noticed her handwriting and quickly realized just how much I've always admired it!
Since I had made mention of worrying about the size of the quilts and all the conflicting info I'd found on the dimensions of a full size one, she gave me a beautiful ucre colored eyelet dust ruffle just in case I'd need it once my quilt was made. She told me how she loved having it on their bed but how my dad would get a bit upset about having to take it on and off for washing as he got older. I realized then, that I truly am beginning to understand that concept, LOL! Anyways, it is so nice to have something of my mother's, even if it is only a few items, to treasure! {smiles}. A while later, after chatting, having a cup of coffee that I really didn't need, we could tell mom was getting tired and ready for her afternoon nap, so we departed with warm fuzzies and happy hearts.
A quick stop at home to put Chaos outside on his lead, we soon departed for a little road trip over the Ontario - a visit to M's {Michael's} then to Target to purchase some household items. I didn't purchase much at Michael's -- a few sheets of Anna Griffith paper {imagine that!} and some clearance goodies that I can always use: artist's tortillions, two silk floral pins to add to Alexxis's banner, an embroidery hoop, and get this!!! I found two, yes two!, Fiskar's cutting blades in the pinking design for $1.00 each. Oh, happy day!
After purchasing some household items and browsing the baby department at Target, we checked out, made a quick stop into Pet Smart for a smoked ham bone for the mutt, and set off for home. A quick last minute visit to Amber and Chris's to see if there was anything we needed to bring over for a cook-out at 7 p.m. provided me a chance to peek in on my granddaughter for a moment, before we returned home for just a bit to care for Chaos before returning once again.
The cookout was nice, lots of Chris's family were there and a few family friends. We had a good time, laughing, visiting, eating, and Gary, Chris's dad made it home from working. I had to laugh as Amber once again asked me to keep Alexxis overnight, not that I found it funny, just sort of chuckling to myself as I thought she's finally realizing some of what I gave up in my life to care for her. Unfortunately, I had to turn down the opportunity for Alexxis to sleepover as I wasn't too certain how Chaos was going to react to all the fireworks scheduled at 10 p.m. although we fully intended to have him inside. Just too much traffic, people and noise going on all at once for me to really be comfortable with the idea of both babies at once. We've never had the dog around the baby; not that I don't believe he'd intentionally hurt her in anyway, just that he is still a puppy in so many ways himself --- jumping when he gets excited and a bit jealous of any attention I give to anything else sometimes. I didn't think it was too good of an idea and I could definately see Amber's disappointment. It is supposed to be sunny and nice later in the week so I'm thinking I'll keep the baby overnight one night this week, maybe on Friday so her and Chris can have some time in the evening to themselves and part of the day Saturday to go swimming or something.
We left to return home before the fireworks at the fairgrounds began, arriving inour driveway in just the nick of time. We grabbed a couple of chairs from the studio and sat along the front lawn to watch them with a few friends who stopped by. The fireworks themselves were a bit of a disappointment, not as exciting as I remember them from when I was a child but at least our county tries to do something for the children. While Don chatted with friends, I sat and thought about the county fairs of days gone by... how we'd make an entire day of it, planning a picnic with fried chicken, ice cold lemonade, seeing the 4H fair animals and visiting the craft and homemaking booths, riding a few rides, playing a game or two, and eating cotton candy and candy apples. It was then that I realized that I really missed the good ole' days, not that I lived through that many of them, but just how different things were then. I also thought about Alexxis and wondered if one day she'd be interested in such things and if so, how it would be my responsibility to share that with her. All in all, it was a great day. Shortly after midnight, we tiredly called it a night, but a good day/night it was!
Monday, July 03, 2006
and finally, the letter "s"
More clipart, monogram, glitter, and rick-rack. I may add some silk florals after I get it all assembled for hanging. I'll be sure to take a final pic once it is completely done! {I'm excited! Cannot wait to see it all together!!!}
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