Oops! Caught!

I hate giving out my phone number when I shop. And I rarely do. It just seems so ridiculous in most cases - like Kramer mentioned in an old Seinfeld episode -

"Why does Radio Shack ask for your phone number when you buy batteries?".

When they want my phone number for a mailing list, I say no, unless it is a store I really like and I know I will get good coupons (like Bath and Body Works).

So I was returning shoes last week that I bought for Kallie. I bought 3 pairs of sandals and took them home for her to try. I returned 2 but kept the 3rd since I was still unsure about them. This particular shoe store - The Shoe Dept - asks for a TON of info including your phone number. I laughed when the clerk started to ask all the info and she said "well there are a lot of fraudalent returns!".

You mean someone may steal my shoes and return them for me?? Yup, that is definitely a fear of mine - give me a break. So I gave her a "fake phone number" and went on my way.

Today I again visited the shoe store to return the third pair of shoes. It was the same clerk. She said:

"IT'S YOU!"

And I thought "yikes".

She said: "I have been trying to call you to verify your return and your number didn't work so I couldn't process the return."

WTH? Seriously? What company calls to verify a return? I had my receipt, I had the credit card I used AND I gave her my driver's license. And it still couldn't go through?!!!!

I didn't comment about the phone number, but just said "hmmm".

Thank GOD I came back in because I probably would have never would have realized the return never went through on my card (I am not good at checking my statements AND remembering all my transactions).

Anyway, today she was able to finally "process" the return and return my other shoes.

And I gave her my actual cell number - not a fake one this time.

But seriously, isn't that a ridiculous return policy? It is also the reason why I shop a LOT at Lands End and LLBean, they have the absolute BEST return policy EVER. In fact, I got Kallie's new sandals at LLBean. They were on sale, very cute, and if she wears them for a few weeks and decides they hurt or she just hates them, I can RETURN them - no questions asked.

I probably won't be in the Shoe Dept any time soon. Oh well, no big loss, I never liked it that much anyway.

Later!

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So, what's new??

I cannot believe it is almost Memorial Day weekend! Whoo-HOOOO!!! As much as winter seemed to drag on forever this year, Memorial Day has really snuck up on me! In fact, today I realized that we should start getting our pool ready! (Although the 30 degree temps the last few mornings definitely makes that very hard to believe.)

Today I was so productive, I weeded, trimmed, planted some new stuff, cleaned out my fountain, got out the patio furniture...it was SO beautiful, and so much of my garden is starting to bloom with color!!!!!

I just cannot wait until the warm summer mornings when I can grab my coffee, open my sliding door and listen to the birds singing and my fountain gurgling. Yeah, these are the days when I definitely appreciate living out in the country!

And since I haven't been blogging much at all lately, I'll give a little family update for those who care...

Christina is my little gymnast/athlete. She never stops from dawn to dusk.

She only has 3 weeks left in first grade (holy COW!). She is thrilled for summer, but I know she will miss school. She absolutely loves school and wakes every morning with a huge smile on her face.

Caroline is also doing well. She has only 3 weeks left in Kindergarten! But she will be going to summer school. It is only a few weeks during the summer, but it should help her stay familiar with her school routine. She really has a wonderful school and an incredible teacher. I am so happy. And SHE seems very happy there too.

Of course, Caroline is just a plain ole happy girl!!!

We finally got our driveway paved last week. We had a gravel driveway since we moved in 8 years ago. (I know, yuck.) Not only doesn't the gravel look very nice, but it doesn't give our kids a place to ride bikes or play basketball. And the worst thing? Just try pushing a big ole heavy wheelchair. What a PAIN!!! So we finally decided to spend the money and get it done. I love it, and boy does it make our house look so much more pretty and finished.

Kallie? Well, Kallie is 3 (and that should explain a lot). Like why she stood like this for about 20 minutes this morning.

Why is she crying you ask? Well, she is wearing a "Penn State" shirt and she doesn't like it. So she refuses to put her arms through the sleeves.

Yeah, don't worry, Mom won. She wore the shirt today.

Kallie's days as a 3 year old are soon coming to an end. She will be four in June! She has big changes coming up this summer!!!! She is moving into a big girl bed, she is moving into a new room with Christina, she is going to learn how to fall asleep in the same room with her sister without spending HOURS acting like a crazy lady.

Yes, even though Christina and Kallie share a room, they fall asleep in separate rooms - Kallie is in her bed, Christina is in ours. But, at 7 1/2 years old, Christina is getting heavy to carry into her bed each night. We started doing it because the girls would be out. of. control. every night. After many hours of yelling at them and threatening them, we finally just made them fall asleep separately. It works really well, they both go right to sleep quickly and easily and our nighttimes are quiet and stressfree.

I guess that will all change come summer...but hopefully, by the start of school in the fall, they will have finally settled down. I hope.

Kallie is also signed up for preschool in the fall! I am planning on not sending her to Kindergarten until she turns 6 since her birthday is late June. So I will send her to preschool for 2 years. We have a great little school and she will get to attend with her first cousin who is only 7 weeks older than she. They should both have a blast. I am a bit sad, but it is only 2 mornings a week and it will be nice (and maybe a bit weird) not to have any kids at home with me those few hours.

And there are a few other things that Kallie is going to have to learn how to do on her own this summer....but to avoid future embarrassment for her, I won't going into details. All I can say is...
I think we are going to need a lot of luck this summer!!!

Well, that is it for now!!! Until next time!!!

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Phew! Anybody still here?

I can't believe it has been over a week since I blogged! I had all intentions to start blogging more, even if I blogged about mundane stuff, but I still am just not finding time! My problem this time was I was editing the photos I took from the wedding a couple weeks ago. So, any quiet time I had was spent working on the photos and blogging was pushed to the WAY back burner.

But the photos are done and delivered this morning!!!! WHOO-HOOO!!!!! I feel SO happy that I am done. And I am pretty happy with most of the pictures. There were a few that I made dumb errors on, so I ended up spending a LOT of time trying to save an "OK" photo. A photo that any experienced photographer would probably have gotten almost perfect SOOC. Oh well, I guess everyone starts somewhere.

OK, so, what is new? Well, last week we were all going to die from the swine flu. This week, well, maybe not. Crazy.

You know, we got rid of our extended cable tv a few years ago. We did it mostly to save a few bucks, but it is actually nice NOT to have too many channels. TV can definitely suck you in for hours. When I go to our local Y, I get my fill of all the cable news channels. Almost every few days, there is some story that makes you think the world is coming to an end. And I often think I am glad we don't get any of these channels - it can make you go crazy! Remember all these "scary" stories?

SARS? Bird flu? $6 gallon of gas? Stocks plummeting into oblivian? Our economy heading into a depression? Elimination of the honey bees? Terrorism? And I am sure I am missing a million more...

Yes, all these things are things to be concerned about, but our wonderful media has, at one time or another, made many people almost panic over these "possibilities". None of which has ever turned out to be as bad as we originally expected (except 9-11, but that was really never predicted).

Anyway, as of next week, thanks to a great deal, we will be adding all our cable channels back while paying even less than we do now. And I will try my hardest to not watch the news channels - life is a little less stressful when you don't let the media try to freak you out unnecessarily.

On the homefront - all has been fine. Kallie has turned into a question queen which can drive me a bit batty on some days -

"Mom, why you doing that? Mom, why you put that there? Mom, why you say that? Mom, why we have trees? Mom, why we have leaves? Mom, why we have couches? Mom, why we have chairs? Mom, why we have legs?" And she will literally ask ALL of these questions one after the other, without. a. break.

Yes, it drives me batty, but yes, I will miss this so much some day!!!!

And this picture? Has nothing to do with anything, but I snapped it while driving one day (don't worry, I was safe). The clouds looked absolutely amazing!!!

Well, until next time!

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