Hello, hello!
I am actually posting today over here at Chicago Moms Blog about Mister Man and the name issues we're having with him. Come see what I have to say, and lend me some comment love if you will!
And while you're off traveling, I've got a couple more places for you to visit. I've got two giveaways going on - Parigi boys' clothing here and a $25 Wal-Mart gift card here.
See you tomorrow - here!
And really, how often in life do you say that statement? Snickers are one of the few candies I actually will eat, and I don't think I'd had one since Halloween. I ate it this morning though, and it was almost torture to eat it. What a waste.
The good news is that it was completely worth it. (You're scratching your heads now, aren't you?)
See, Manic Mommy is having a virtual blood drive. This is the third year she's done it, and I think it's pretty awesome of her. She's encouraging people to donate blood, which is worthwhile all on its own. As an added inducement, she's gotten prizes donated for those people who donate blood from January 1 to February 28 and email her picture proof of the donation. For more details, read here.
I've participated the last two years that she's held it, since I'm a regular blood donor already. And no, I haven't won any prizes (yet!). I have two main reasons that I donate blood.
When my grandfather was ill before he died, he used gallons of blood. While the transfusions kept him alive, nothing was enough to return him to health - but without donations, no one has a chance. He was a regular blood donor, but I don't think even his massive quantities of blood made up for what he used. I'm helping to replenish what he needed.
I also have O negative blood, which is the universal donor. When there is an emergency and they don't have time to type someone's blood, O neg is what they need to use, so it's most in demand, as well as being in the veins of something like four percent of the population. As a regular donor, they like my good clean O neg, and it is bagged separately for use with babies who need it. Seeing that neonatal sticker on my blood each time and knowing that I'm able to give hope to families who otherwise wouldn't have it - there's no way I'm going to stop donating.
So did you notice that today is February 26 and the contest started January 1?
Yeah... me, too. Sadly, I'm not posting this now because I managed to donate twice in the timeframe (which is doable, every eight weeks get back out there!).
I tried donating early in January but was declined because my iron was low. Then I got sick. Then I was busy with work. My iron was low again. Work. I went to Florida for Disney's Social Media Moms conference. Work. I got sick. Work.
I knew that today was my last chance, so I've been preparing all week. Somehow, I needed to get my iron up to where it normally is. Until December, I'd been donating every eight weeks or so for years.
When I've donated before, their suggestions for getting your iron up were to eat chocolate covered raisins and Snickers bars. So yep, that's what I ate for breakfast. Of course, I didn't actually have chocolate covered raisins, but I did have raisins and chocolate chips, so I had a nice half cup of that. And then the Snickers bar that I ate on my way to the donation. That much chocolate that early in the morning is not fun. Apparently, I'm no longer eighteen, as I think at some point that would have appealed to me.
When I got there, they offered to test my iron for me before doing the rest of the paperwork to avoid wasting time for both of us. As I sat down, I asked how long it takes for the iron to metabolize. Oh, two to three hours, she told me. Great. So that junk I just ate to get my iron up within the last hour wasn't even going to make a difference. Whee.
She stuck my fingers for the sample and put it into the neat-o machine that gives the iron readings. Annnnnd... 14.8. For me, that's super high. And well above the 12.5 needed (I usually hover in the high 12s and low 13s). Yay, I could donate blood!
Yep, I know... two posts in one day. That's kind of unusual for me. BUT I made such yummy dinner on Sunday that I wanted to be sure to share that for TMTT. And the SITS Spring Fling is today, so I had to participate there, too.
For the Spring Fling, there's way cool celebrations going on. Every hour, they have a giveaway from one of their sponsors, and they're some pretty cool stuff. So far this morning, it's been some great jewelry and some really cool downloadable card templates. I can't wait to see what the rest of the day brings.
In addition to this (because this isn't enough, right?), SITS girls are all hosting their own individual giveaways today. Go here to see the full list of pretty awesome stuff -- but stay away from the prizes I really want to win, would you?
I dithered and dithered about what to give away. It took me a lot of thought to come up with what I wanted to do. And then I changed my mind. It had to be something spring related since this is the Spring Fling after all. Finally I made up my mind.
Prize A is Gap Scent Editions with 5 blendable perfume oils and scent tray. You know how you find a perfume you like but you wish you could just tweak it a little? Now you can completely make your own scents. It has some suggestions on the back, or you can make your own. This version has crushed peony, sueded musk, sheer tuberose, woven cassis and crepe gardenia as its scents.
Prize B is a fun spring tote. I've had my eye on this one for a long time, because it's so fun. It's just the right size to put stuff to run to the pool (someday) or bring home happy groceries or just pal around in. The blue corners and handles are sueded -- see, I'm tying in with the first prize here!
And Prize C is a mystery prize -- see how it's all nice and wrapped up? I promise that it's something that I bought an extra one of myself because I think it's cool. AND it's something that you need in springtime if you live in the Midwest.
So what do you think? Fun? Want the Spring Is Here package?
All you need to do is let me know your favorite thing about spring and comment below for an entry. And I'll go with the crowd on this one -- if you follow me (already follow or start today), I'll give you an extra three entries. Leave a second comment letting me know. US addresses only, please. And make sure I can contact you via email if you win. I will use Random.org to choose the winning entry -- all your names go onto a spreadsheet in the order commented, with three lines being devoted to the follower entries. Oh, and if I don't hear back from the winner by Friday evening, I'll choose another winner. Sound good?
I'll shut the contest down tonight when I go to bed, which is probably going to be around 10 or 11pm CST. Winners to be posted tomorrow, so come back to check.
Good luck, and have fun with all the Spring Fling contests!
Yet again, lots of peoples are having fun contests out there in bloggy land. My luck is rotten, but hey -- if someone I ummm know wins, then it makes me feel better right? I know exactly where to go to track down the prize and return it to its rightful home. Don't let that scare you off. Really.
Angela is hosting her first ever contest (yay, Angela!). She's giving away a ton of fun scrapbooking supplies. All you have to do is visit her post and comment before January 15. And don't be like me and procrastinate and forget about it.
Kat is doing her final giveaway. I umm accidentally neglected to give her props on her most recent contest. It ends like umm now. Ok, I just checked and it already ended, so you missed your shot at all sorts of family game night stuff. BUT this final week has prize overload. I can't even list all the items, but suffice it to say that she's put together the best of from all nine weeks into one lovely package. Comment there between now and January 9 at midnight. Phew!
Steph is giving away two PSP games, Scooby-Doo and Hot Wheels. This would be a "her loss is your gain" kind of contest, as she accidentally bought them for the wrong game system. But hey, do me a favor and tell her I sent you, wouldja? You've got until Jan 2!
Veggie Mom is also hosting a giveaway starting Sunday. Obviously, since it hasn't started yet, I can't fill in the details, but go visit her site and see what umm popping! She usually has great contests giving away Pop'rs, which are delish -- as the wee ones can attest!
Over at Outnumbered2to1, she's still giving away four tickets to Disney On Ice in Milwaukee for February 5 at 7pm. It's open through January 23 yet. Just got visit her post, and tell her who your favorite disney character is. Easy enough, right?
MOST importantly of all, Manic Mommy's doing her virtual blood drive again this year. Donate blood between now and February 28 and get a picture of you doing so. Send it on over to you, and there are tons of really cool prizes. You could win gift certificates of all shapes and sizes, and the grand prize is -- get this -- a six day, five night vacation to the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort! If that's not motivation to go save some lives, I don't know what is.
Have fun -- and good luck!
PS I know "most importantly" isn't a real phrase, and yes, I did it on purpose.
Ok so a couple of updates here for me on a Friday snow day.
First, I got a call from school yesterday at about 8:30 to say that school would be canceled today. This was after my work sent out a note at 2pm telling people to start heading home because of the weather. Since I was working at home at the time, I actually asked people if it was snowing there but no it was still sunny. And while I appreciate getting a call at night, can we at least wait until the first flake starts falling? Snow didn't start until after 11 last night. Granted, it was a lot and school would have been canceled, but it still seemed weird.
Second, we went to the dentist on Wednesday and yay - no one has any cavities. Little Miss has some pitting in two teeth, but they aren't soft, so we'll just keep brushing well and monitoring them. Unfortunately, they both announced that they never want to go to the dentist again.
Third, Little Miss is on more meds, and I'm not real comfortable with that. Her pediatrician wants her on steroids twice a day for the next few weeks and once a day until summer. When I look at the side effects of Pulmicort -- including a weakened immune system -- I just don't feel like this is a good idea. How do I tell this to my pediatrician? Little Miss is also on antibiotic ear drops for her first post tube removal ear infection. We lasted three weeks after the tubes came out; this isn't looking good. Interestingly, I also read that many ear and lung issues are caused by a dairy allergy that can be taken care of by eliminating all dairy from the diet. I'm debating trying this, but when I start looking at all the foods that have cassein and whey in them, this is a major change for my milk, yogurt and cheese girl. Has anyone had any experience with this?
And lastly, it's Christmas, and it's a rough Christmas for a lot of people. Then there are those who are trying to make the world a brighter and better place. Who are these people? They're everywhere. They're helping out at schools and nursing homes. They're adopting families and helping them for Christmas. They're shoveling neighbors' walks. There are all sorts of neat and great things people are doing.
And it doesn't stop there. I've found all sorts of bloggers that I read regularly who are working on brightening the holidays for their readers. Who are these people, you ask?
First up, we have Jaci, who's giving away Fiestaware. A whole place setting of it even. That stuff is so cool (and yes, it comes in purple - plum, technically). You've got until Christmas Eve to pop in over there.
Kat at Sunshine and Lemonade is giving away three prizes this week! She has the coolest scrapbooking Disney album sets. As an added bonus, she shows us all how she made some great photo books from her own Disney trip. You've got until Saturday!
The SITS girls - one of my favorite sites out there - is giving away a $40 gift certificate to LaLa Baby Boutique. Again, you have until tomorrow to go visit the boutique and let them know how you'd spend the $40. It wasn't hard for me to find a way to spend umm just a touch over the $40. A lot of bloggers are trying to figure out how to get more readers and commenters, etc. This is a great site to network on to gain more of both.
Dawn at her Because I Said So Reviews is giving away Word World Moon Sand. The wee ones saw this show's "people" last winter at an event we went to and fell in love with them. Again, you've got until Saturday (tomorrow) to enter. And Dawn is also giving away a grocery list electronic gadget that I am absolutely drooling over. It's called the SmartShopper Grocery List Organizer, and you have until Monday to enter. She has another one (c'mon, Dawn, you're making everyone else look bad!) for Dunkin' Donuts that also ends on Monday. You can get a pound of coffee and a travel mug.
And Outnumbered2to1 is giving away a four pack of Disney on Ice tickets in Milwaukee for Thursday February 5 at 7pm. You've got until January 23, but ... only enter if you or a loved one can make it, deal?
Good luck, and I promise tomorrow I'll be more together. These snow day things really throw me! And no, I didn't send the teacher gifts to school yesterday. That would have been too easy!
My sister joined us yesterday to celebrate Mister Man's birthday with her new (shelter) dog, Milo. While she was there, she mentioned that she had bought a sweater for Milo for winter (poodles get cold, especially the little ones; they're all around wimps). Hmm, I thought. I remember the sweater we had for our toy poodle growing up. She couldn't find one like that. I be that would make a great Christmas gift for her.
So yeah, after I write this, I'm off to go Google for a pink "poodle power" sweater. Only because I'll never have to see it again after I give it to her, and I know she'd love it. Personally, dressing dogs kind of freaks me out a little.
I also started thinking about what else I can get her for Christmas. Hmm. I realized she was using one of my mom's purses yesterday, which leads me to believe that she needs another purse. Phew -- an excuse to buy a purse, and not even for me. Then I realized this would also be perfect for one of my best friends. Ooo, two of my best friends. Ahhh, those are always the tough people to buy for.
Now all I have to do is find the purses. Luckily, Marcy over at Able's Antics turned me on to a brand new website dedicated to purses that is launching on Wednesday. Handbag Plant is not only launching their new site on Wednesday, but they're giving away a purse an hour to celebrate. All you have to do is head on over and give them your first name and email address. But if you do, promise to leave my 11am giraffe spot purse alone. I really want that one. Ummm, for me. I'll be back to find purses for my sister and friends.
Soooo. I'm a bad person. For a couple reasons. Actually probably for lots of reasos, but we'll only get into two of them today.
Remember the Pay It Forward thing that Swistle started back in June? Yeah, me, too. Shelly won my prize for the contest I had in early August. She was moving to a new place and mail delivery was a bit sketchy at the place she was living in before moving, so we decided I'd hold onto it until she moved August 21. It would be like a housewarming present for her!
I mailed it yesterday. That's 33 days after I was supposed to, for those of me who are counting. And I did it only because she oh so politely asked if it had gotten lost in the mail. No, it got lost on the kid table and just sort of faded into the background. I saw it but didn't see it anymore. But it's finally in the mail (sorry, Shelly!).
And about a week ago, I received a prize that I had won from Joanne at Bebellyboo. I did take the appropriate photos but I forgot to upload them. Until she emailed me asking if I'd received my prize. Umm, yeah. Can I blame it on an unusually bad work month and back to school and in general being a moron? Yeah, I didn't think so.
Anyway, I did receive this beautiful package (see my lovely offwhite suede couch in the background? Ha! What was I thinking?)
She was so sweet. She even wrote me a little note. And do you see how nicely she packed it? Bubble wrap! That's Little Miss' favorite toy. All afternoon, I heard pop pop pop pop pop as she walked around with it.
Inside was a lovely treat for me. See all the super yummy smelling lotions and bath gels? I haven't used them yet because I have to do my appropriate thank you prior to partaking. Kind of like how I don't let the wee ones play with birthday presents until the thank you note is written. Guess what I'm doing after choir practice tonight (oh yeah, did I mention that I joined the church choir last week?).
And there are cool activities for the wee ones, too. I've never done origami before, but I've always been fascinated by it. I love that there are rules and order to it -- big shock -- but that it's also so creative! We're way into animals around here, so I'll be breaking this out tomorrow after work. Here's hoping I succeed at it!
I love this prize. It's completely unique yet totally (I've used that word a lot today, haven't I?) up my alley. Yay, Bellyboo!
So do you all remember what this means? It's another contest where you have the chance to win. The final prize has yet to be determined, but I think I've done pretty good here and here. I can almost guarantee the prize will involve books that are preread as I'm trying to get more bookshelf space for the wee ones but we have no more room to put bookshelves in the house. Only one solution, right? And I have a really cool Dora cup that I'll toss in. Beyond that, I have to do some thinking, but I promise it will be a good one.
So what do you have to do to win this fabulous array of prizes?
1) Comment below by next Tuesday September 30 at 12pm CST.
2) In your comment, give me your best suggestions for how to enjoy Disney in a day or what reservations I should try to get for umm less than a month from now. Or just perk me up and tell me that I didn't totallly (there it is again!) screw myself over by not making reservations before now.
3) One entry per person. If there are multiple comments from the same person, I'll only count the first one. If I comment on your comments, that doesn't count, and I skip over that entry.
4) I will use random.org to choose a number. Whoever has that comment gets the prize. I'll send an email and post the winner. If I don't hear back from the winner by Thursday, I will select a new winner.
5) If you win, you are obligated to hold a PIF contest yourself. Thus, the pay it forward portion! Because this involves holding a contest after winning, to win you must have a blog. And be in the US. Shipping gets expensive even here.
Good luck! Oh, and remind me to tell you about the Sandwich Bandit. I'm a bit creeped out.
As with umm some people, I have idiosyncrasies. For example, there are certain large ticket items that I just don't (or put off) buying. Witness the 11 year old car that didn't like summer that I finally replaced. Or the fact that until my husband forced me to buy a tv for the family room when we moved, I had never (and I truly mean never) bought a tv. Ever.
In fact, the only vacuum I've ever had used to be my Gram's. She very generously gave me her (my mom said) $500 vacuum. And really, it was a good vacuum. It even told me how dirty the floor was, so I was able to continue going over the floor until it showed the pretty green.
Wait, you recognize this vacuum? And you remember it having a different kind of attachment, too? The kind that made it a standup push vacuum? Yeah, me, too. It used to have this part. That was the part with the pretty red and green lights.
About four years ago, something on the vacuum broke (a belt maybe?). My husband took it to Sears to be fixed. Three weeks and $170 later, the vacuum was as good as new. Mostly. Another year, another $170 later, and it was again fixed.
Last fall, the standup part stopped working. It just wouldn't get power anymore. We debated sending it to Sears yet again to be "fixed" but ultimately decided that it wasn't worth the time and money. Again. My mom rallied against this plan, reminding me how good of a vacuum it was and how expensive. Well, now with three repairs I could have bought a brand new Dyson or other functional vacuum with all sorts of new-fangled technology. I assume.
When I was doing some Christmas shopping last year, I happened across this pretty little number.
See, it's purple! And I believe it cost $15.
I now understand why this thing cost $15. It quite simply doesn't suck. I didn't realize it at first, as my house magically doesn't get that dirty. Eventually, the truth dawned on me that it simply moves dirt around in the air and never goes into the holder container. Apparently you get what you pay for in vacuums.
So while I debate actually buying a new vacuum, we've been using the attachment portion of the old vacuum. It might be faster to just pick up each individual piece of dirt, but yet I procrastinate.
Then I see that Mama's Losin' It is giving away a beautiful vacuum. Is it providence that I haven't bought a new vacuum yet? Or is this just the final nudge that I need to get my rear end into a Costco and find a new vacuum?
You do need to go check out her vacuum though. It's a gorgeous Hoover that apparently really sucks -- in the right way -- and moves by itself. Vacuuming could become a less than three hour activity with something like that! Can you imagine?
Alas yet another PIF contest has come to an end. I am actually starting to feel a little cheesy about these, as I feel like they're cheat posts, but I'm an honorable person and when I win one, I'm supposed to pay it forward. And there will be one more, as I have another prize headed my way. Yay me?
Before we get to that, some mild humor. Gotta make the post worth reading, right?
As of yesterday, I have five guests staying in my house through the weekend. My MIL, FIL, BIL, his girlfriend and my husband's best friend have all come up from St. Louis. And I found out last night that my other SIL and niece are going to drive up tomorrow. Wheee!
Last night I was conversing with my husband before shutting the house down for the night.
Him: Have you seen Fat Boy?
Me: No, but Little Buddy is up here already.
Him: Fat Boy is usually pretty good about going straight to bed.
BIL: Is Little Buddy Little Miss? And the other one is Mister Man?
Umm no, sorry. Those would be our cats (officially named Meow and Roar). And really, Little Buddy and Fat Boy are not exactly appropriate nicknames for any children, let alone the wee ones I birthed. But entertaining coming from a single guy.
Anyway, I thought long and hard about this one. As I mentioned, the silicone pans are optional. If you don't want them, you don't need to take them (they're used but in perfect shape). I love my silicone bakeware and use it frequently. I just discovered after all my baking last week that I have four round cake pans and only need two.
And for the rest of it?
I love drawing tools for kids. And apparently I'm channeling my inner panic about driving to Minnesota by myself in two weeks.
Cute little Chinese dress for a doll. I had to take it out of the bag, as it wouldn't photograph in the bag, but isn't it adorable? (I've also been told that this works as a wine bag cover if you're doing an Asian theme.)
I love my little totes. And so does Little Miss. Nice and happy and summery!
More books, of course. And yes, more Sandra Brown. They go well with the tote -- take them to the beach and let your mind unwind! Old School isn't quite as light, but it's an entertaining read. I've read it twice and just find the whole thing intriguing. Not a book to take to the beach.
And without further ado:
Do you all remember the fun Pay It Forward contest bomb that Swistle started last month? I finally received the second prize I'd won (apparently my husband isn't the only one who forget things -- K's Mama's husband left this lovely box sitting in the back of his car for ... awhile!).
Now it's time for me to pay it forward. See below for deatils, but first check out the cool stuff I won!
When I opened it up, I saw all sorts of cool stuff to love (and do you like how I've spared you yet another shot of the carpeting on my stairs? Welcome to the chair in my office).
Magnetic Cars stickers. They attach to fridges. Or in my case, the three inches of the side of the fridge that's visible. Yes, the Word Whammer has lost its coveted spot. The wee ones love these.
And I think I've mentioned once or twice that we like to go swimming. And spend just a touch of time at the pool. Definitely need something to toss around so we don't have to be jealous of everyone else. Check out the Tootsie Roll beach ball.
There's also a very cool book about animals that's a board book but with tons of words on it. As we're always trying to reinforce being kind and gentle and friendly towards animals just like we are to our friends. And we do read just a tiny bit....
And this is a great motivator to actually print out some of the pictures I take. I tend to ummm forget to do that sometimes. Like since 2000. Or so. December of 1999 to be exact. But I need motivation!
There's also this great notepad. It's supposed to be for a locker, as I believe it's magnetic, but this will go great on the top part of the side of the fridge that the wee ones don't have access to. Maybe then I'll remember to write down when I'm out of things I need ... like powdered sugar!
Mister Man loves doing anything academic, as you may well know. We don't have any flash cards, but my husband is excited about trying these out on him. And I'm sure he'll learn addition even quicker now!
And what kid doesn't need more stickers? It seems like everything we do involves stickers. And a new stock is always appreciated!
Thank you K's Mama! And now it's my turn!
Quick refresher, post a comment answering the chosen question below. If you enter, you're agreeing to host your own Pay It Forward contest if you win.
The contest will be open until Friday August 8 around 5pm CST. I'll use a random number generator at that point to choose the winning comment. If a comment I make it chosen, I'll rerun the generator.
The prize will be a mystery prize again, but I will say that it's likely to include two silicone 9" (I believe) round cake pans. As I was baking my cakes this weekend, I realized that I have four of them, and that means that two of them are really just taking up space. If you'd rather not win those, let me know. The rest of the prize will be whatever I choose, but hopefully something the winner likes.
If I don't hear from the winner within three days of the end of the contest, I'll select a new winner.
So tell me about your worst parenting disaster (of your children, children you babysat, etc). Good luck!
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Quick reminder that tomorrow (Wednesday) is your last chance to enter my pay it forward contest for a fabulous mystery prize. Check out the prize I won, too! I've been rather enjoying my noodle soup lunches the past several days!
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I have some sort of special force field around me. I swear I do.
Watches never last more than a year or so before they conk out. I've given up on the nice expensive fancy ones. They last no longer than the $12.99 cheap-o's at Target.
I have the same problem with laptops.
I'm nice to my laptops, I swear. I don't drop them. I don't spill things into them. I don't expose them to excessively high or low temperatures. I don't let the wee ones touch them. I don't download programs or do any other funky things that we're admonished not to do to keep our computers safe. In fact, I'm even responsible enough to use the laptop cable when at work (picture a bicycle lock but for a computer).
But they just flat out don't like me back.
When I was a management consultant, I went through over 13 computers in the course of just over three years. Granted, travel can be a little hard on laptops, but I protected mine adequately, and I more than outpaced anyone else in the need for laptop replacements.
My first day at work for consulting, I picked up my laptop and flew out to the orientation. When I had a chance to turn on the laptop that evening, it was dead. It never worked, and laptop number two was shipped to me.
I don't remember all the other reasons I lost my laptop, but a few stick out in my mind. One laptop would get stuck opening a Microsoft Office program and couldn't be turned off without removing the battery. The tech guys never could figure out that one.
My all time favorite though was when my laptop started making a high pitched whine all of a sudden. I picked up the phone and called the tech guy and put the phone on speaker. I was told to RUN, not walk down to the tech area with my laptop. Apparently, that's the sound when a hard drive is about to go.
Working at the company I work at now, I've managed to slow down the laptop merry go round. But it hasn't stopped entirely.
The control key at the bottom left of my keyboard is missing, and I still don't know where it went.
And a few months ago -- while working at home, mind you -- my power cord simply stopped working. Lucky for me, I'd recently gotten a new work at home kit that includes a power cord. I swapped it out, and the problem was somewhat fixed. Oh, and yes, my laptop was less than a year old at the time.
When I went into the office next, I called in a ticket to our tech support (don't get me started on my longing for the days when I could just call up my guys and have them fix the problem). They swapped out my broken power cord for a new one.
Shortly after that, I realized that my battery had stopped charging. I tried three different power cords, but none of them worked to charge my battery. I realized this, of course, when the battery was so low that jiggling the power cord shut down my computer. You don't want to know how many times I accidentally jiggled it.
The next time I was in the office, I called in a ticket for the new problem. Some nice tech person came up and agreed that my battery was not charging. And told me to order a new one. My lovely admin did this for me (as I can't figure out our ordering system to save my life), but such things can only be shipped to the office and not home. I had to wait for the next time I was in the office to pick up my battery.
When I put in the new battery, I called our tech folks on an entirely different issue. I'd started getting an error message that my power cord was not a recognized power source etc etc whenever I started up my computer. Oh and when trying to turn my computer on, it started shouting at me and wouldn't go past the first screen.
The nice tech lady came up to help, but my problem couldn't be duplicated, of course -- the screaming part at least. She also tried to fix my power cord error message, but someone who configured my computer used a non-standard admin password, so she couldn't get in. Whee! She also confirmed that my first battery was dead as a doornail and took it away to recycle.
By the end of the day, I realized the new battery was not charging, and that I had a larger issue. I called again for a new ticket and explained that I had a problem and was going to be leaving in two hours and not back for another week.
No one called me back. I got an email the next day saying my ticket had been resolved. Interesting, since no one had called or talked to me. When I called the 800 number to find out why my ticket was closed, I was told that they had closed it because I would be out of the office for a week and they can't keep tickets open for more than 24 hours or they get dinged. Uh-huh.
When I was in the office next, I called in my ticket at 7:15am. Someone called me back at 4:20 when I was not near my phone. When I called them back, they didn't answer, and no one called me back before I left that day.
Surprise surprise, when I talked to them on Monday, they gave me the same 24 hour runaround and told me to call him when I got in that Thursday as he'd print out my ticket and have it waiting on his desk. Thursday rolled around, I called at 7:10am and no return call.
I realized there was no return call around 3:30 when I had a chance to take a breath. I called in a new ticket. No one responded that day. Let's just say that I started to get a little frustrated.
When I called again on Monday, we agreed that it was probably a bad system board. However, they had to verify it when I was next in the office and wouldn't order a new system board without doing so.
Yep, I called again that Thursday (this would be last week) and got no response. At 3:30, I called a different person in the tech group I know to see if she could help me and got no response from her either. I opened a new ticket, but it was too late in the day to get a response from anyone before I left.
At this point, you can imagine that my hackles are up. Unfortunately our tech group does not report into our division but is instead its own business unit and therefore the responsibilities don't always align with our interests.
I decided to go into the office on Monday, knowing that even if someone were to address my problem, I'd still have to wait for the new system board to be ordered and shipped so the real fix isn't same day.
And yes, I've been very careful with that power cord! One jiggle, and I've again lost whatever I'm doing.
My day at the office yesterday:
7:02am I called in a ticket and stressed that this needed to be addressed and has been going on for weeks and that I'll be out of the office again after that day.
7:08am (Gotta love those hold times!) I called and left a message for the first tech guy with the new ticket number, stressing that I am in the office solely for this purpose and need to talk to someone that day.
10:00am Confirmed with my boss that he'll contact higher ups if he can find any if I don't hear from anyone by 11.
11:00am Sent an email to my boss detailing the issue, including all ticket numbers
11:30am Called the 800 number again to check on the status of my ticket and reaffirm the need to have this addressed in the next couple hours. I also found out that my ticket had been looked at and by which tech guy.
11:32am Called new tech guy who apparently is working on my ticket and leave him a voicemail.
1:28pm Leave message with new tech guy explaining that I'm headed into meetings for essentially the rest of the day and need to have him call me ASAP.
3:11pm Voicemail is left for me by original tech guy (not the one assigned per the 800 number people) telling me he was working on my ticket.
4:23pm Step out of meetings, pick up voicemail and call tech guy. Leave message for tech guy and ensure I do not move more than three feet from the phone.
4:38pm See the tech guy's name popping up on my phone and do a little dance.
In my four minute conversation with said tech guy, I review the history of my issues. He confirms that they've changed out the power cord and the battery. His diagnosis? A bad system board. He's going to order me a new one, and it'll take a few days for it to arrive.
You'd all be very proud of me. I did not blow a gasket after trying to deal with this for four weeks and having people tell me (including this guy) that they need to work on my computer first, that I have to be in the office for them to resolve it, etc., and then have them tell me that I was right in the first place and that they don't need to see my computer. And that I therefore have wasted four weeks and came into the office for absolutely no reason that day. Meaning being awakened at 5:30am after having caffeine issues that night and getting little sleep instead of waking up at 7:15am.
Instead, I politely asked if the board would be at the office by Thursday. He wasn't sure, and I very politely and very firmly explained the necessity of it being in by Thursday, as I wouldn't be in the office again until the following Thursday. He's going to do his best. I have little faith.
And in the meantime, I'm using superglue to ensure my power cord remains in my laptop. Think they'll have a problem with that?
And anyone who's considered going back to work because there are fewer irritations and you have more control over things... think twice! Or just make sure you keep your electronic devices away from me. You don't want to know the stupid iPod issues I'm having lately. Suffice it to say that I can restart my iPod from a frozen state without looking while running 6mph on a treadmill. That isn't exactly a skill I was hoping to hone.
Sometimes you have days with your kids where you wonder whose children they could possibly be, as there's no way you birthed such monsters. Those are the days where you can say that the sky is blue, and they'd argue until blue in the face that it was orange. The days where you can smile at them and they'll fall to the floor in a full scale tantrum. You really don't want to go out in public those days, as you just know that people will judge you.
But sometimes, you're lucky. Sometimes your children are angels and you again don't know where these foreign beings came from, but you'll accept it. And those are the days you're happy to spend in public places.
This morning, the whole family went out to breakfast at a patisserie near us. Everyone was able to choose a couple of small items for breakfast, and the wee ones each chose a juice (as there was no chocolate milk available for Mister Man).
We sat down outside, and no one grabbed at the plate of goodies prior to being served by me. That, in itself, was a miracle considering it was around 9:30 before the first morsel of food was presented to them.
Mister Man had a croissant and a chocolate almond pastry. Little Miss had a croissant and a tiny cinnamon roll. I hate a carrot zucchini muffin. My husband had a blueberry muffin, a cranberry muffin, and a blueberry pastry.
The blueberry pastry was supposed to be for me. Not because I chose is but because everyone else had two items and our gift certificate was for $20 and we needed another item to make it $20. While I was helping the wee ones choose their juice, he decided to get me a blueberry pastry. Unfortunately, I like raw blueberries but not cooked ones. And I don't like pastries in general, as they're too chewy and buttery for my tastes.
My husband asked Little Miss if she'd trade her cinnamon roll for a blueberry muffin. And she graciously did.
Then, Little Miss asked Mister Man if she could please try his chocolate pastry. He quickly handed it to her for a taste. He just as politely asked if he could try her grape juice. And the sharing continued back and forth. If only I had video of it!
Once we finished breakfast, we headed to a nearby town for their Lions parade, which is a fun one to see - tons of Shriners and other interesting floats. They also throw out tons of candy, which seems to be requisite for any parade now.
Little Miss was having a blast collecting candy. Then she'd run to the family sitting to our right and hand over the majority of the candy she collected. She'd run back to me and ask me "Am I being kind?" Of course, I'd have to agree that she was being very kind.
She was having more fun giving candy to the family next to us than she was collecting it for herself. She has yet to ask to eat a single piece of the candy she collected, actually. And the adults with the group next to us kept commenting on how good of a sharer she was. And how sweet. And adorable. I had to agree with that, too.
The surprise of this -- to me -- is that she was sharing the good candy. She put all the candy she didn't like (peppermints, primarily) into one bag. She never gave them a single piece of the "bad" candy. We had a second bag for the yummy candy, and she patiently sorted each piece into the proper bag. And the candy she shared with the kids next to us? Generally lollipops and Tootsie Rolls, her two favorite kinds of candy.
Altogether now, awwwwwwwwwww.
You might be asking why Mister Man wasn't also helping to share, since he apparently was quite the sharer at breakfast.
Well.
Right as we were getting situated for the parade (meaning putting down the blanket and setting out the wee ones' chairs), my husband got a call from a friend of his. The friend had tickets to the Sox game today that he couldn't use and wanted to know if my husband was interested in them. Oh yeah, and it was youth jersey day.
While my husband was listening to the voicemail and doing the "Aw, man!" reaction that you'd expect from someone who couldn't go, I suggested he go. And take Mister Man. While it was 11:15 and the game started at 1:05, it could be fun. And Mister Man hasn't been to a baseball game since he was a baby. He has the attention span for it, and it would be a nice treat for him. I talked my husband into it.
Did I mention that we drove to this parade? And that the town is about 15 minutes from our house? And that we drove in one car? The car my husband would need to get the tickets and to the game?
Yeah....
Lucky for me, when I called my parents (after my husband was on his way), they were just out walking the dog. I did have a brief moment of panic when I called the home phone and no one answered. Had I not been able to get ahold of them, I would have been reduced to calling neighbors and begging a ride home, but one way or another, we could have done it, right?
So as we speak, Mister Man is probably sound asleep in the car on the way back from the game, while Little Miss naps upstairs. Here's hoping when they wake up from their naps that the inner demons don't wake up with them!
****
And speaking of sharing, the SITS girls have a second blog called Saucy Eats. Much like the red digital camera they're giving away this week for the fifth week of summer giveaway, they also have a giveaway on the recipe site. Go check out the talented featured chefs at Saucy Eats. And enter to win a $50 Williams Sonoma gift card while you're at it. My favorite so far is the hot garlic artichoke dip from Steph's Cafe. YUM! I know where I'm headed if I need inspiration.
And don't forget to enter my pay it forward contest if you haven't yet. The pictures are what I won from the previous contest. I haven't yet decided on what my prize will be, but I promise to do my best to make it worth your while! You have until Wednesday to enter.
Really, that was just a rhetorical question. I'm not sharing. Well, actually, I am sharing, but not the food pictured below. That food is what I won from Parking At Home's Pay It Forward contest! It arrived yesterday, and I'm so excited!
I'll admit that there are a few items that I'm a little unsure of what they are, but I've sent the images to a friend of mine who's mom will know and can give me cooking instructions that aren't in a language that doesn't share characters with English. Were I not headed to Cirque du Soleil tonight and then out to dinner with some friends, I'd be eating one of these tonight!
It looks like the Mother Lode, doesn't it?
When I spread it all out on the floor (with Meow's help, of course), I realized that it really is the Mother Lode. And yes, I'm anal retentive enough to unpack it and organize it. It didn't do this just for the picture. I'm aware that I have isues.
This is the first of my mystery items. There is no English translation anywhere on this, although it appears to my untrained eye to be some sort of breakfast item. If I figure out how to cook it.
We move on to my lifetime supply of nori! The good news is that nori never goes bad. If you've had it for awhile and it gets a little soft, just pop it in the microwave, and it'll crisp right up. These are the whole sheets great for making all kinds of sushi (and snacking).
The lifetime supply also comes in mini-snacking size. This is 24 packages of precut nori. I think I need to have a sushi party someday soon!
Well, it's the Fourth of July and it's now 8:05pm. I'm right on time with counting the entries, numbering them and running the random number generator. Yay, me!
A couple of caveats first.
1) My apologies to everyone who posted information about their favorite pets that I didn't respond to. To be honest, the 52 comments overwhelmed me. Can you tell I'm not used to this much traffic and love?
2) I did, however, respond to the first 12 commenters with two comments of my own. Those ended up being comments #13 and #14. To keep things simple, I didn't renumber the comments after me to take the place of #13 and #14 because being out in the sun all day baked my brain too much for that to work. Instead, if the random number generator had picked #13 or #14, I would simply have run it again. If it chose #26, that was the 26th comment vs removing my two comments and renumbering.
3) I tried really hard to figure out how to paste the random number generator into my post as I've seen other people do. Unfortunately technology doesn't like me and never has (yep, a post on that coming shortly!). The best I could do was copy and paste, but I don't think it's nearly as pretty. My bad.
ANYway! Thank you to all who entered. I had a lot of fun with the contest and hearing about your pets. You were all great sports, and I hope you'll come back to read my blog again! I did get my prize assembled, and pictures of it are below. It was a mystery prize, and I thought about keeping it a surprise until the winner had received it, but I'm too impatient for that!
It started out being a packaged of three books, a variety that I hope would suit someone's tastes. Sandra Brown's The Alibi, Amy Tan's The Bonesetter's Wife, and Mary Higgins Clark's Before I Say Goodbye. I've read and enjoyed all three, so I can vouch for them. Ok their quick and easy reads when you just want to turn your brain off -- although Amy Tan's is really good and one I've reread three or four times.
Then I decided to add some more fun to it. And fortunately Karen has children, so hopefully this won't go to waste. What kid wouldn't love drinking from this cup with the oh so funky straw?
And when the cup is dirty, said child can use this special Spiderman straw instead.
And if you're going to have drinks, you definitely need snacks!
Since today is the Fourth of July, I felt like I had to throw something patriotic in there. We have flags out the wazoo from all the decorating we do for Memorial Day and other events, so I was able to dig up four flags. And the squeezy stars are pretty cool. They handed them out in today's parade, and when I was putting the box together tonight, the wee ones wanted to donate them to the cause, as well.
Going with the theme of items that were handed out in today's parade, I'm also going to toss in two of the multitude of bubbles handed out in today's Fourth of July parade (just for fun!). If you'll notice, each of the bottles includes a coupon for a buy one get one offer from the local chi-chi soaps and lotions store. If you're ever going to be in the neighborhood, save the labels and bring them in!
As I started packing the box, I realized that I needed some packing material. And what better packing material than candy? Can you tell that Werther's and Jolly Ranchers are my favorites?
And I hate to say it, but I was also going to include a fun orange frisbee for kicks, but unfortunately it wouldn't fit in my box. So I'm going to hold onto in until I decide what to do with it.
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