Sunday, April 27, 2014

A trifecta of sorts

So I did have a run of three things this weekend, but I wouldn't call them wins.

Unless I've won a terrible award that no one wants.

Now that it's all in the past I'm more reflective and less upset, but still I thought y'all might get a kick out of my suffering (in at least one of three stories).

Tuesday I dropped my phone in the toilet. I put it in a dry-out bag and Thursday everything seemed fine. Except then it wouldn't charge. So Friday I took it to a local place that does repair (I'm about to bash you on the Internet Techshell), and explained what had happened and my presumptive diagnosis that the charging port had fried. The gentlemen was a non-native English speaker and although we seemed to have a bit of difficulty with clarity, we came to a consensus that they would check it out and give me a call. I signed an estimate that listed "water damage, port" and said $49.95. I in no uncertain terms asked that they call for anything over the estimate and before any repairs were made.

John got a voicemail that evening that the phone was ready, they replaced the charging port and the battery and the cost was $80. I was upset but decided to deal with it Saturday when I picked the phone up.

I went into the store Saturday and explained my problem immediately to the nice young girl who was in  that day. She was unsympathetic except to say "I'm sorry no one called you but all we can do is take out the new parts if you want." We went round and round. I wanted to know what the problem was with the phone, was there any water damage as discussed, why did both parts need repair, and why she was acting like it was no big deal that they went $30 over the estimate without calling. I was informed that the technician would not be in for another 1.5 hours and they could either call me (not an option, John was at work and they had my phone) or I could come back and find out what the technician said. She said she could not reduce my bill any and when I asked to speak with a manager I was told he was on vacation and there was no manager present at their other location, but again, they could take down my name and have one call me.

I decided to go ahead and fund something to busy myself on that side of town for an hour and a half. When I returned I had a baby who was nearly ready for a nap. The same blonde told me the tech said my phone would neither charge or hold a charge and so both parts needed replacing. I guess I did not need the water treatment I was initially told I might need. Anyway, this part was XX and that part was XX and my total was $96.XX. I nicely explained to her that yesterday on my voicemail and this morning when I spoke with her earlier I was also told $80. She explained that that was before it was "rung up" with tax. I asked her if there was $16 in tax. "That's just the total" I was told. We went round again about a signed estimate, no phone call, bad customer service, likely communication error with the guy who wrote my estimate due to possible language barrier etc. She re-ran my numbers again giving me a "discount" and that my total was $80.53. I explained again that this was the total from the beginning, $30 over the estimate, and I was just not happy with that. I told her to go ahead and take out the battery as that was an easy fix I can do myself. I heard her whispering to the tech then she came out and we bantered some more. I explained if this was there idea of customer service that I would take my business elsewhere in the future. I explained that they had made a mistake by not calling me and that I had told her on my first visit that day that I would be ok with $10 off for a $70 total. At this point she relented, told the tech to leave my battery in and charged me $70 plus tax. She did say she was sorry for the miscommunication and my problem, and I thanked her for finally being willing to do something about it.

But there are 3 things right?

I drove straight home, trying to get Sophia to her nap. When I came in the house, I found dog poo on our rug. Upon closer inspection, it was spread across a couple feet of our rug. And there were some streaks on the tile floor. How did it get smeared?

Sometimes the things that are supposed to help you do the opposite. Say for instance when your dogs (who had adequate outdoor time to potty) poo on the floor and then your Roomba robotic vacuum runs over it. And over it. And takes it with it. And then you have a toddler who won't nap because you had her out past nap time, and a floor you desperately need her to stay away from. And an expensive vacuum with dog crap ingrained in every nook and cranny of it's underside.

And then you feel the urge to binge eat sweets or binge drink. I chose the former.

Then you clean your carpet and the vacuum. Only even though you were walking a fine line between getting rid of every trace of poo so you're not vacuuming it into your floor ad infiniteum, you somehow manage to damage your expensive vacuum so that it no longer does what it's told.

So by the time Saturday was done I was ok, even though I'd done about $175 in damage to electronics.

Then Sunday on the way home from church I stopped for gas. I took out my debit card but left everything else in the car. When I was done refueling I tried to open my door. No luck. Somehow even though I exited the car, ALL my doors were locked. My keys were in the shut off ignition, my cell phone was on the seat and Sophia was in her carseat.

Initially I did not panic, but only felt inconvenienced. I knew John was at work. I went in the gas station and asked the clerk for a phone. I called John to see if he could tell me the number on the back of our insurance card to call for roadside service. He did not have his wallet on him. He could Google it but I should try  1-800-Geico. Tried that, no luck. Asked the clerk if the computer right next to me had internet service they could use to lookup the number. Nope. I asked if they had a phone book. Yes. A small business only one. Found an ad for the local Geico which had the option to connect to roadside service. Got a rep who could not find the address of the gas station because it was new. She understood the urgency of the situation and asked if I'd called the police. That had not occured to me since I thought I could get someone there in 20 mins or so and the car was parked in the shade and they day was overcast and humid.  After about 10 minutes of phone calls she told me she could only find someone 45 min away. Not good enough. Hung up and John called me back to say call this number a friend of a friend with a locksmith service. Called him. 20-25 minutes away but at this point 15 mins had passed in phone calls. He told me he would come but call if I ended up calling the police. Went to finally check on Sophia. She was quiet, smiling at me behind her pacifier, holding her water sippy cup. But I could see her hair was sweaty and her cheeks were pink. I started to get a little emotional and worried. The clerks in the store did not offer any kind words or sense of urgency or danger. I hope it was because of a possible language barrier and misunderstanding of the situation.

I decided to go back in and call the police. I just did not know if another 20 minutes would be safe.
You see, there's this horrible awareness video (I won't even put the link it's so gut wrenching) about forgetting kids in a locked car and the heat stroke and death that can ensue. I saw it and bawled. I kept thinking of it. So I called 911. Dialing those numbers alone is enough to make me cry, especially since I was feeling very alone and helpless, but I didn't want to cause a big scene.

The operator was very nice and within 5 minutes, likely less, a fire truck with lights and sirens was speeding towards us. The lights and sirens only made me cry worse, try as I might to hold it together. I knew Sophia was fine, I knew it. I just couldn't help it.

In less than 1 minute they opened the locked door and Sophia was out. They agreed she was fine, canceled the EMS they called as a matter of protocol, and mostly asked me a few times if I was going to be ok. They were done and gone within about 5 minutes. They did nicely ask me to call them right away next time and skip the locksmith, and tell all my friends to do the same.

I took me about 10 minutes sitting with Sophia in the car to recover. But she was just fine.

So yeah, it wasn't the greatest weekend for me. But in the end I was thankful again to have a happy, healthy baby.

Saturday, April 5, 2014

What Baby Wore [WBW] A fashion post

Sophia is so happy for Easter she just can't stand it, as you can tell.

I think she's thinking something like "Ugh, mom, these clothes are so juvenile"





Feather clip- Hobby Lobby, T-shirt- Circo sold at Target, applique custom made, Pants- handmade by mom, Sandals- Gymboree.

This feather clip is no more- Sophia ripped it off and destroyed it on the way to dinner. Nice.

Friday, April 4, 2014

I'm still alive

Have I really gone 6 weeks without an update? So much has been going on. Namely, I’ve been working

full time hours and trying to maintain a household. That keeps me quite busy. Not to say there haven’t

been moments where I could have squeezed in a blog post, it’s just that lately I find myself preferring to

do other things. Things like reading blogs instead of writing them, surfing Facebook, crafting, watching

television or cleaning.


Speaking of crafting, these are some of the things I’ve been up to lately:


I made two pairs of ruffle pants, and then my friend appliqued coordinating shirts:



I made a neck tie for John to coordinate with our Easter outfits:


So I’ve gotten lots of sewing practice in. I’m nowhere near a seamstress, but I’m also nowhere near as

rusty as I was. We won’t talk about how many times I had to seam-rip, adjust, and rig the pants.

I made a quick wreath for our door for Easter:


We also won’t talk about how the tutorial I read should have mentioned painting or in some way

covering the cardboard ring you cut out as the base, as there is no way to hide it completely using only

one size egg. Or what is the best way to lay out the eggs so that your wreath looks somewhat uniform.

No, we won’t mention that.

As for the watching television that takes up blogging time:

Have you guys seen this show? I love it! My mom led me to it on Netflix. I enjoy British dramas and I also immensely enjoy midwifery culture. It’s glamorous to me.

So after I was all caught up on that series I figured I might as well take the plunge on Downton Abbey.


I’ve only gotten to the end of season 3. I hated the end of season 3 BTW [Oh and if you want to watch

online, the only place I found it is Amazon (1st 3 seasons free with Prime)].


I’ve also gotten in 2 trips to the beach. Both days it was still really a bit overcast and cool. I am SO over

this extended winter. Highs in the 60’s is not what Florida people want in April. We have had just a few

days the temp got above 75, and even fewer where it was 75, calm, and sunny. Boo! How am I going to

be tan for Easter?


Thankfully Sophia seems to enjoy the beach. The first time we went this year and I sat her in the sand,

she didn’t move for probably 5 minutes. It was a very foreign feeling to her I guess. It was funny. But

now she’s up and moving, although she crawls a lot more at the beach than anywhere else. Easier on

her given the terrain. She never crawls at home.


We had her 16 month (15 month but late) checkup recently. She’s still in the 90th+ percentile in all areas.

She is up to about 65 words now and has a few 2 and 3 word phrases. She is in to climbing. She will

climb onto the kitchen table and the bathroom counters if she gets a chance. We are working on letting

her know the table is not allowed and for the bathroom we just keep the door closed. I do let her climb

onto furniture and into chairs. She also really likes to stand on a chair by the counter in the kitchen and

watch me cook or do dishes. Basically, she is very into being as adult as possible. Thankfully she is also

still into being rocked before naps and bed. I very much cherish those times.


She is keeping wings on our feet and smiles on our faces. And maybe bags under our eyes, ha!