Wednesday, June 18, 2008

76 days and counting.....

These last 2 days have been crazy. And it will continue being this crazy for the next 2 weeks at which time I hope to emerge from the light at the end of the tunnel.

Papa Smurf had his eye surgery done on Monday. We (me and the smurflings) were actually able to watch the entire thing. They did the surgery behind a window wall and had his eyeballs blown up and shown on a big screen TV in the room as the surgery was happening. Very cool. It took up most of the day because it was an hour drive away and we were at the office for almost three hours. Boys had to miss practice because we got a little lost on the way home.

Apparently my GPS didn't see or recognize the big orange cones blocking the on ramp to the freeway....She needs glasses.....or maybe SHE should've gotten the Lasik surgery. Am I the only woman in the world to carry on conversations with the GPS lady? Me and my GPS have a very tumultuous relationship. Love her....hate her.....

"Turn Left in 200 feet" "Turn left in 100 feet" "Turn Left now"

"Ummmm....I can't turn left....can't you see the big neon orange "do not enter" sign?"

"recalculating"

"yeah, OK, you do that lady....go ahead and recalculate and then please tell me where the fuck I am because according to MY calculations it looks as if I'm going around in circles in the butt crack of Detroit..."



Here are a couple pictures of the recovering patient

Tuesday....

6:30 - Ran 3 miles then came home and showered.

8:00 - The man for our back landscape came to get started on the retaining wall.

8:00-9:30 - Straightened up the house and did laundry to get the house ready for the cleaning lady.

9:30 - Cleaning Lady came and got started.

10:20 - Smurflings and I took Rosie for her second visit to the vet for shots. (Rosie update: she's up to 5 lbs 3 oz now....and doing MUCH better with the potty training. Hasn't had a potty accident in quite a few days now. The pooping is a work in progress.)

11:30 - Made lunch for the kids and did a bunch of laundry as yesterday was sheet changing day.

1:30 - Here's where I pause to tell you a little story.....

Once upon a time....like back in the FIRST week of May....Mama smurf (that would be me) called a company (We'll call the company MG) to have her lawn aerated. Mama smurf was told by MG that said aeration would happen in 10 to 12 days. Mama smurf gives MG her Credit Card info and all is good.

2nd week goes by.....no aeration

3rd week goes by.....no aeration

4th week goes by.....no aeration and mama smurf gets her MC bill showing that MG had charged her for the aeration back when she called in the first week of May.

During the 5th week....Mama Smurf calls MG because Papa smurf now wants to cancel the aeration. The lawn has already been fertilized twice so what's the point. Mama Smurf ended up leaving a message and didn't hear back from them until 4 days later. Here's a portion of that conversation heavily paraphrased.

MG - How can I help you Mrs. Smurf
MS - I called over 5 weeks ago to have my lawn aerated. I was charged the $82 at that time and was told it would be done in 10-12 days but 5 weeks later it's still not done. And now we'd just like to cancel the service and have our money refunded.
MG - I'm sorry for the delay in the service but we don't give refunds.
MS - Really? You charge me for a service more than 5 weeks in advance....don't show up when you're suppose to....but you don't refund? That's some great customer service you got there.
MG - That's correct...we don't give refunds.
MS - That's too bad cause now you've lost a customer. When can we expect to see you out here to aerate our lawn.
MG - We'll be out there tomorrow.

That phone conversation took place LAST Wednesday. They never showed up Thursday. They never showed up Friday. Nope.....they showed up at 1:30 yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon. After several minutes of watching the man aerate I heard an alarm going off somewhere. I wandered from room to room trying to figure out where the loud beeping was coming from. I eventually tracked it down to the garage....it was the power box for the Invisible Fence. Aeration man cut through the line. I run to the back to stop him. He calls his manager....I call Invisible Fence....It's now gonna cost us $90 just for the 1st hour of the service call.....another X amount of dollars per foot of wire to be replaced and another X amount of dollars per 15 minutes of service required past the 1st hour. I found out during the phone call that the line is only buried 4 inches deep. Wonderful.

Now I realize this isn't MGs fault. I didn't warn them about the line because....well.....I didn't even think about it to be honest. But I was already irritated with MG to begin with.

Aeration man comes to my front door and says "I talked to my manager and he told me to just ask if you want me to finish."

MS - UMMMM. NO?! Please tell your manager that I would like my money back. This $82 aeration job has now turned into a $300 hassle.....minus the aeration job.

We still haven't heard from the manager. I'm guessing Papa Smurf will be making the next phone call.

So back to my day.....

That took about an hour of my day.

2:30 - 3:30 - I made several phone calls trying to figure out how I'll be in 2 places at once next week as hubby will be out of town and my daughter has her dress rehearsal and dance recitals next week and the boys have gym practice. After several phone calls I realized that .....the only way to be in 2 places at once is to clone myself...finally called their coach and left a message to find out if they can make up some of their practice time by going at a different time.

4:00 - Left for Smurfette's swim class. It was too cold for the boys to go swimming outside during her swim class so they had to sit and watch....and oh boy wasn't that fun.

5:20 - Left the pool and headed to the grocery store....with ALL 3 KIDS! And oh boy wasn't THAT fun.

6:00 - Headed to Smurfett's 1 hour long dance class with the boys in tow. And oh boy wasn't THAT fun. Thank the dear Lord this was her last class as the rehearsal and recital is next week. Returned home from that around 8 last night.

Got the smurflings settled in for the evening with showers, jammies, and teeth....we were all in bed and passed out by 10pm.....what an exhausting day.

Today.

Set my alarm at 7 to run....didn't feel like running....didn't run. Got the boys to practice by 10. Today was Smurfette's bring a friend day for gymnastics but stupid me signed her up to go at 5pm instead of signing up for a time during the boys' practice....so I decided at the last minute to change her pm class for an AM class so I could condense my extracurriculars into one time slot. So we rushed home to get Smurfette's gymnastics leotard....rushed over to pick up my niece (her "bring a friend"), drove back to the gym with 30 minutes to spare....their class ended at 12:30....the boys' practice ended at 1. Stopped at McDonalds for lunch.....and drove my niece home.

We're in the door for 15 minutes and Dreamy Smurf wants to call a friend....I end up driving him to his friends' house....he (in front of friend and friend's parent...putting me on the spot) asks if friend can spend the night when I pick him up. UGH. I get home and Hefty Smurf is now complaining how unfair it is that Dreamy Smurf gets to have a friend spend the night....and so now he is having a friend spend the night also.

Now you understand why I have to actually schedule appointments with my self to spend a "moment for me".

Only 76 days left till school starts again....but who's counting.

14 comments:

Kate said...

Oh, I SO could not watch Lasik surgery. Eyeball things creep me out big time. Hope Dan's peepers heal quickly!

Boy, that aerator company sure isn't helpful, are they? I'd be PISSED and demanding to talk to a supevisor/manager/owner. Hopefully you'll get it figured out soon.

I hear ya on being busy. I like it that way but sometimes I get a little overzealous in my planning and wonder "What was I thinking?!" Ah well, keeps us young, right?

Kori said...

I don't have anything to say to help except jeez, I relate. Except for the surgery, of course, though does it count that I just got back to work from taking my 9 year old in for stitches? :)

Brooke said...

Good for you getting up to run!!! And at 6:30! I think about it all the time. Thats it though, just think about it. I would like to thank God for grocery stores with daycares in them! I know what you feel like taking 3 to the store!

Anonymous said...

I like the cloning part. And the whole lawn aeration thing...I can so relate. My husband and I live in what we call the "Land of Do Everything Twice." That is the kind of stuff that I have to contend with constantly.

When your husband calls the company, make sure he lets them know that you have blogged to the greater Detroit area about how much they suck ass at what they do. Maybe they will change their minds on the whole "we don't do give refunds" thing.

Marni's Organized Mess said...

Wow girl. Slow down. You're killing me.

LittlePaintedPolkaDots said...

Dispute the MG charges on your credit card with the credit card company. They are normally really good about that. Good luck with it. My blood pressure was rising just reading about it.

I hope Dan is feeling better. I am a tad exhausted just reading about everything you've done, so I am going to take a small nap. (Kidding) Hugs!!

Kelly said...

I like everyone home...no alarm clocks!!!! You are too busy for your own good woman! I hate that fucking GPS woman!!!! Her voice completely annoys me. You can download sexy voices for it.

Tracey said...

Call the BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU and report the airation company.... Sorry...also tell all your neighbors not to use them....DID YOU SAY YOU HAVE A CLEANING LADY!!!!!!!!WOW!

Tammy said...

Watching the Lasik surgery sounds very cool! I have 2 friends that went to Canada and had it done. I live in Howell and talked to my eye doctor about it Dr. Holly Holmes but haven't had it done yet. I'll be interest on how Dan does and what he thinks. I'm such a chicken, but sick of contacts.

Happy2bme said...

While I was reading all I kept sayingt to myself was ohmigosh, ha ha ha, ohmigosh over and over!! I could relate to all that you were talking about in this post. When it rains it pours. Talk about a few crazy days for you.

As for the GPS story I was laughing because I remember one time it was trying to tell me and my family to turn on a road that didn't even exist and I remember my stepfather being frustrated and saying "see this is why I use the british accent lady because her voice is less annoying when they're wrong." I remember it kept repeating "let me recalculate" so many times that I thought eventually it was just going say "I give up, I don't know where the F### you are" LOL!!!

The weekend is coming, hopefully things will slow down for ya a bit.

Kristen said...

I would love to have that surgery- I'm such a wimp though. Can't believe you watched it!

Only 76 more days? Thanks. I suddenly feel very depressed!

Colleen - Mommy Always Wins said...

Oh my God...sooo tired after reading that. What's with the goofy things on Dan's face? Did it take him long to recover? Been contemplating it for myself but...???

Unknown said...

Hi there! thanx for coming by! I'm waiting for you on Twitter!lol

Anonymous said...

My sister-in-law calls my brother-in-law's GPS "Patience". She said she can't imagine how she manages to stay so calm with him screaming at her. She'd be in a ball under the dashboard.