Frustration

Oh my, where do I even start?

I have a vacuum cleaner that I paid a lot of money for two years ago. It was the highest rated by Consumer Reports at the time. It was a fabulous vacuum. In April we realized it was not working properly. OK so the wonderful lady who cleans for us actually told us it wasn't working. We took it to the store where we purchased it to have it repaired. They sent it off to be repaired. It cost $200 for the repair. We brought it home. I tried to vacuum and it wasn't fixed. It still cut off every time you moved it back and forth.

OK so how do you "repair" a vacuum and test it to make sure it works and send it back and it still have the exact same problem. Obviously their test of their work isn't very thorough.

I took the vacuum back to the store and talked to a manager. He of course "understood my frustration" but of course "could do nothing" but send it back to the service center to be repaired. He assured me that they would definitely fix the problem this time and of course at no additional charge. {Like they were going to get more money from me!} The vacuum was sent back to Dallas to be repaired.

We received the call this weekend that it was ready to be picked up. Michael went to get it. He tried it in the store before taking delivery. It still doesn't work! Yes it has been sent off twice and the original problem is still a problem! So tell me what they have actually been doing with my vacuum for the six weeks they have had it? Obviously not working on it. The service center guy's response was something along the lines of "Oh, we'll have to send it back to Dallas." That was on Monday. It hasn't been sent back to Dallas because one of the many "helpful" people I talked to today was happy to tell me it was ready for pick up! I think NOT!

I've just spent an hour on the phone trying to get to a person at the location that has my vacuum. I keep entering this vicious loop of automated systems and people who are no where near my location. I've been downright rude to a few who were beyond clueless. Forty-five minutes into this process I actually got someone who sounded like he might be helpful and my phone disconnected! I about cried. I have had to resort to leaving a message on an answering machine that assures me they will call me back in 60 minutes. Why don't I believe that?

I am ready to scream. If I haven't heard from someone by the time Michael gets home I'm just going over there to talk to a person. Of course by then I'm sure anyone with authority to help me will be gone for the day and they will be so sorry they can't help me.

Can I just say I know where I won't be buying my washer, dryer, and dishwasher I need to purchase in the next six months or so? Which is a shame because the washer and dryer I really want are only sold at this store.

Oh and I forgot to mention that the phone number listed on the web site and my receipt for my local store gives me a "this phone is no longer in service" message when I try it. On on of my less helpful calls the person transferred me to the wrong store and the person at that store was actually able to give me a working number for my store. But of course that number takes me to an automated system that takes me to people off site. Ah, but I digress.

I'm sure you will hear more about this saga before I have an actual working vacuum.
Jenn

Oh Boy - I'm in Trouble!

Rehm is home from school because he is sick. The girls are finished with preschool until the fall. I'm exhausted and frazzled and out of activities and it is only 1:30pm! I have prepared 14 plates of food so far today. We have played outside. We have had school time. We have watched two TV shows. We have played with toys. We have cleaned up said toys. We have had breakfast, snack, and lunch. Right now the twins are napping and Rehm and Charlotte are having quiet time.

They are not happy about quiet time but Mommy needs to be sane and they can entertain themselves for at least on hour of the day quietly in their rooms. It isn't too much to ask. And what in the world would I do with them otherwise?

I still need to fold laundry and start a new load, make dinner, find them something for snack, clean up toys again and somewhere in all of this do a couple hours of "real" work, all while keep said children entertained, out of trouble and not glued to the TV! Is that even possible? I just don't know.

This glimpse of my summer is scaring me. Unfortunately I get another preview day tomorrow as Rehm is still running a fever on and off. I guess I really will have to take him to the doctor after all.

I will remain sane, I will remain sane. Summer won't beat me!
Jenn

Thunk!

That would be the sound of Ruby climbing out of her crib and landing on her head. I was reading Charlotte a story and Rehm was in his room. I could hear the little girls talking. All of the sudden I heard THUNK and thought "what did Rehm drop?" Then I heard screaming and knew it wasn't Rehm making noise, it was Ruby.

I ran in the girl's room to find Ruby standing in the middle of the floor crying and Eliza Claire standing up in her bed saying, "Uh oh, uh oh!" I asked Ruby what hurt and she patted the top of her head and said "head." I proceeded to do the my modified version of the concussion test for a one year old. I looked at her eyes, they looked fine. I asked what her name was, she didn't know. I asked her where Ruby was and she pointed to herself. I asked her were Eliza was, she said "Liza" and pointed to her. I asked her where Daddy was and she said "outside" - he was so at that point I knew she was fine. Then I had her walk across the room to see if she was dizzy or not, she was fine.

At that point I gave her a stern lecture about not climbing out of her bed and put her back in it. I told both girls goodnight and didn't hear anymore loud THUNKS. I wonder how long the lecture will last.

I'm not ready to have Ruby on the loose and I don't want to hear that noise again, ever...
Jenn

Independent Study

Rehm presenting his project

Since the beginning of February Rehm has been working on an independent study project for a class at school. They were studying an endangered animal. They each had a different type of sea turtle. Rehm picked the loggerhead because it is the one that comes to the North Carolina beach. The students made banks and posters asking their fellow students to donate money so they could adopt a sea turtle. They even got to read an announcement over the loud speaker. They raised enough money to adopt six sea turtles! Rehm's turtle is named Elvis and you can see where he is here.

In addition to doing their project boards, the kids also made tie-dyed t-shirts to look like their turtle, paper mache turtles, acrostics, and huge poster telling others what they can do to help the sea turtle.

Monday was the day of the big presentation. Rehm had to prepare and deliver a 10-20 minute talk about the Loggerhead. He had approximately 50 different facts he wanted to share. He also had trivia game to play with his class. His entire class came to the presentation as well as some parents and grandparents.

He did a great job and has definitely learned a lot of interesting information about the sea turtle.

Rehm's project board

Rehm wanted to play a game show with the facts he presented. He came up with the questions and I helped him make the board. Under the point amounts are the actual questions.

This is the turtle quilt that Rehm and Cici made for his project. Rehm drew the turtles, Cici cut them out of fabric and Rehm placed them on the quilt. Rehm also helped choose all the fabric and thread colors. Rehm named the quilt "Turtle Current."

It is official

I'm OLD!

Rehm and Charlotte were invited to a skating party today for our dear friend Lael's 7th birthday. I got the pleasure of being the parent to go with them.

I put on roller skates for the first time in 10-15 years. Wow! I ache from head to toe. I swear I'll be popping motrin for at least a week. And, I didn't even fall down! This is just from skating and trying to keep Rehm and Charlotte upright. At least some of the skating came back to me, but not all of it. Charlotte fell probably 30 times. She isn't complaining!

Both kids made huge progress and while they aren't zipping around the rink yet they are both able to move without holding on to the rail or someone.

For the next skating party I'm sending Michael!
Jenn