Little Boys Don't Count

So I've decided that the company Ultra Pro doesn't think little boys can count.  I guess it could be grown men who live in their mother's basements.  Yeah... they can't count either.  I'll come back to this...

Being that I'm diving into couponing 100% now I've decided to change up my coupon binder.  It just wasn't working for me to the fullest.  I've decide to revamp it.  And thankfully I found one online that I think will work for me now... but I know it wouldn't have worked for me when I started.

So.... off to Target I went.

I already had the perfect binder that I bought during school supply time.  And I thought I had enough page protectors... time will tell on that... I think I've got a few more somewhere in this house that I can use.  But what I needed yet was those 9 pocket baseball card pages.  (See... I'm getting back to the little boys who can't count!)

It was suggested that I would probably want about 60 pages.  Great.  Found them in the front of the store by a massive row of trading cards after talking to a guy who I'm sure lives in his mom's basement and works at Target.   There they were just waiting for me to snatch them up.  The Ultra Pro 9-Pocket Pages #83275.  30 pages to a pack.  I quickly grabbed two packs and was on my way.

I got home... went straight to my computer and started printing the 40 title pages for each section of my new coupon binder.  Then I stuffed 30 or so of the title pages into the page protectors that I had.  Without stopping to see if I had more page protectors I decided to just add a sheet of the 9 pockets between each title page that I had already.

What do you know... only 25 sheets.  UGH.  That means I'll be short.  I counted.  And counted them again for good measure.  I searched around me to make sure they didn't slip of the table that I was working on.  Nothing.  There were suppose to be 30 sheets in each pack.

Since I had a second pack I ripped it open to see if it had 30.  Not so much.  So apparently little boys only care to organize... not count.

I'll have to go and buy a 3rd pack... which really ticks me off since now I'll have to wait to totally organize my binder since I'm short 10 pages.  And I'll have to buy another pack that says it has 30 pages in it but will only have 25.  And, since it's Target I'll spend more money cuz who can just go into Target and get what they need and walk out?

Southern Comfort

Photos coming soon.

Jerome and I took a flight down to Mississippi over the fourth from his family reunion. The difference this time than any other is that we brought Tink with us. I was a little worried about the flight. I hoped that she wouldn't scream uncontrollably. She thankfully fell asleep on our first flight which was our longer one of the two. She even remained asleep until we were walking off the plane. On the second flight she just played, colored, and looked out the window a time or two.

We picked up our car and were on our way to Jerome's parents house. For some reason Tink had a very disgruntle look on her face for most of the way... perhaps that's from being awake at 3am... who knows but it was funny to us.

We arrived and quickly settled in. Jerome's mom and dad were amazed at Tink... how big she got, what she could say and how she acted. We figured out who would be watching Tink Thursday and Friday. We packed her a bag and also ourselves and we were on our way to New Orleans Thursday.

We checked into our hotel - The Holiday in the French Quarter called Chateau LeMoyne. It was a beautiful hotel, nice and clean and only a block off our Bourban Street. After getting settled in we made our way out into the French Quarter for some sight seeing. We had dinner at The House of Blues. We made our way down to Cafe Du Monde for a fantastic dessert of beignets... ohhhhh so delicious! We had hoped to get to the French Market for some shopping but it was already closed for the day.

We headed back towards the hotel, stopping at Pat O'Briens per two people's recommendations for a hurricane and a bowl of gumbo before tromping through the puddles on Bourban Street. Yes, it was raining. But it was fun... or perhaps that was the hurricane talking for me! :) We got back to the hotel and settled in for the night.


View French Quarter, LA in a larger map

The next day we awoke, packed everything up and checked out of the hotel. We then took a trolley down Canal Street and then walked a few blocks to Mother's Restaurant. I had the early bird special: eggs, grits, too spicy for me sausage, a biscuit and OJ. Jerome had an omelet with grits and a biscuit. I'm not sure if I would go back there again, but at least I can say I was there and say it was fun... packed... but fun.

After breakfast we took another trolley down the Riverwalk to the French Market. We walked through... I picked up a fan at the first booth... it was sweltering hot there! I wish now that I would have picked up the purse that I debated on... oh well... guess I'll have to get it next time :)

We made our way back up to Jackson Square, where we found a tour guide in a horse and buggy. For $12 each we were taken all around the French Quarter horsey style... Ha! We shared the buggy with a family from Florida. The guy in that family knew a few details too as he was originally from New Orleans so it's almost as if we had two tour guides for the price of one.

After the tour we went for a sammie at a place that the tour guide mentioned and then headed across the street for one last round of beignets before heading to my sister in laws house.

We got ourselves dress for the Essence Music Festival that night. We jumped in our car, my sister in law and her boys in theirs and went to the Superdome. We parked and had hoped to jump right in line to get inside. Too bad I had ALL the tickets! Yeah... we weren't thinking. I had the tickets for my other sister in law, her husband and her daughter plus Jerome's parents. UGH! They were running late and the show had already started by the time we got a hold of them.

Man oh man. We missed most of Salt and Pepa... one of the groups I really wanted to see :( I did manage to hear just a bit of them singing but only saw them for about 1/2 a song. Neyo was on, then John Legend and the Beyonce herself. Yeah ugh... I could toss out Beyonce any day... but whatev.

After the show we headed back to Jerome's parents house. I could not keep my eyes open though. So I dozed off here and there and everywhere! Thankfully my hubby is a night driver and had no issues until we pulled into the driveway. We both passed out in the car because Jerome's parents were actually behind us in driving. When they arrived I woke up, nudged Jerome and we went inside to sleep.

The next day we awoke, got dressed and had to go pick up Tink at her Great Aunt's house. While walking out to the car I fell. I sunk into an ant hole up to my thigh! I screeched, Jerome came around the car and saw me on the ground. He kept asking if I broke anything. I didn't but I was full of dirt and saw red ant swarming all around. UGH. It put me in a mood.

We drove over, met Jerome's mom to get the car seat and let her know about the hole in the yard that I fell in. I was still in a mood.

We picked up Tink, stopped in the house for a bit for a sip of water and chat. I of course, still in a mood. Ugh. I had to get out of the funk. We drove back to Jerome's parent's house. We put on our family reunion shirts - red ones this year, and headed into town for the festivities.

Tink didn't get a nap in... and boy could we tell. She didn't want to listen, she didn't want to sit, and sure didn't want to be told to come by us. She knew we would try to rock her to sleep. Boy oh boy did she run around with her little cousins.

After we ate we headed back to the house to grab a few items and then headed over to Jerome's Grandmother's land. People were set up outside playing cards, watching movies and just plain chatting. We took up a spot and joined in on the discussion.

The host family has a home right near where we were. They were going to be shooting off fireworks over their pond that night. We of course were going to watch from where we were. We pulled our chairs out from under the trees to see the fireworks as they started. I started to complain of mosquitoes biting me and thankfully the show was done so that I could go inside. Ends up I must have disturbed a red ant hill... and had those biting me instead of mosquitoes. Yeah... 20 RED ANT BITES :( Ugh. I was miserable.

My feet instantly began to itch and swell. Of course, we are out in the sticks and nothing is open. I suffer through the night. The next day, being Sunday, everything was still pretty much closed. Jerome's mom, his sister and I headed to Dollar General. Of course... they didn't have what I was looking for either, but I did manage to get some Benadryl that had more symptoms than I had to take. It knocked me out.

Monday we got our stuff packed up as we would be leaving around midnight to drive back down to catch our early morning flight Tuesday morning. We talked and shared stories and then headed to bed. Thankfully Tink was in the mood to sleep when we went.

When we got up and ready we picked her up to take her to the car and she woke up... wide awake. OH BOY :( Well, thankfully on the car ride down she fell back asleep. We checked our car into the rental lot and headed to the airport with all of our bags and baby gear and Tink. Someone should have checked (hey... I can't be expected to do everything right!) but the airport was closed until an hour before our flight. So there we sat... at the entrance to the airport... waiting on someone to open the doors. Of course, by the time the doors opened Tink was wide awake from all the commotion.

We headed in, checked our baggage and went to find our departure gate. We grabbed a little breakfast and hoped Tink would sleep on the plane. We left out... and yes, she fell asleep... but about 10 minuets before we landed. Ugh.

On our second plane we had an unattended child sitting in front of us. She was about 11 or so and turned around and started playing with Tink to keep herself entertained. We of course were a little ticked since she needed to sleep. When it came time for us to take off Tink became mad, screaming bloody murder because the girl had to sit in her seat for take off. Tink wanted to sit in the seat next to her, we told her no, and she threw a fit. Ugh. We were those people. I'm sorry anyone on that flight.

She finally calmed down. I hung up her blanket so she couldn't see the girl in the seat in front of us (thank you for the tip internet!). She was calm and content coloring. Whew! She was so sleepy though. Eventually I pulled her into my lap and she fell asleep. And continued to sleep for the landing, departure of the aircraft and getting our bags from baggage claim. Holy cats.

We were glad to be back. To sleep in our own beds. To give Tink back to her mama... but of course work came way to soon for us. Thankfully we did take an extra day off just to have a break from our vacation before heading back to work. It still came too soon.

Glad to be home.

WTF?

I cut my hair, a rug, and my finger...

So Saturday morning I dragged my butt out of bed and headed over to Fantastic Sam's for a haircut. I had planned to get it cut on Friday but cleaning for the Monty Crew took longer than expected...

So here is the back before (with Tinker):

And here is after:














Whatcha think?

So, that's cutting of the hair... as far as cutting a rug... Saturday night was another NKOTB fan bash. We went to Major's in Bloomington this time around. We had a few new Blockheads show up which was quite fun, Trisha being one. And how did I cut a rug you ask? Well... we asked the DJ to play NKOTB... and he did!



So... that's the hair and the rug... that only means one more thing... the finger. Yes, your PC consultant sliced her finger. I was making dinner last night and was cutting butter (in my hand no less) to put into the rice. You guessed it... I sliced my finger and had to go to the ER for 6 stitches. My guess is that there could have really been one more in there in a spot.

Here's the story: Jerome was watching tv and I went into the kitchen to make dinner... I had the chicken in the stove, the water on the stove to start boiling for the beans and was putting the rice in the microwave... stupid rice needs two tablespoons of butter in it... So there I was butter in hand... sliced the first chunk and went back for the 2nd chunk of butter with the stupid $1.25 paring knife from PC and got more than that.

I immediately put my finger under running water and said something to the effect of "Jerome I need stitches". He jumped up from the couch and came over to see what I did and then put the dog in his crate. I asked him to get me a darker towel while I applied pressure to my finger. Good lord it was a gusher.

We headed to the ER, Jerome dropped me off while he went to park the truck. I checked in but it didn't seem like they were in any sort of hurry to help me with my bleeding finger. They didn't ask too much at check in either... just told me to go sit in the lobby. WHAT?!?!?! Yeah... so back to the lobby we went... me giving the middle finger to everyone above my head... Yes... I sliced my middle finger of all fingers!

The took me into a room eventually... of course that was when Jerome left to get cash for parking since neither of us grabbed any while going out the door. He eventually made it back into the room just as the doctor was coming in to numb my hand. He watched as she stuck a good sized needle in the base of my finger in three spots.

Then the doctor left and the tech or nurse came in to clean out the cut. Oh my goodness... My finger was not numb! It hurt like hell! She told the doctor that I needed more near the actual cut... and boy did I get it. I again, wasn't looking at my hand but Jerome was. He said that she stuck a needle in once on each side of the cut and then two to three times IN the actual cut. Oh boy did that hurt too... but then... it was numb.

I ended up with six stitches on my middle finger palm side of my left hand. They wrapped it up and the first thing out of Jerome's mouth was Spiderman!

Oh Pork Chop...

So on Saturday I took Pork Chop into PetSmart for a puppy bath and trim. He was suppose to get his sanitary parts trimmed, nails trimmed and face trimmed along with a bath and a nice fluffing. He should get a bandanna with that too.

Well... I went there and checked him in. Ends up that there was a puppy class that was graduating that day. I got to talking to one of the "moms" who had a dog that looked like a Cockapoo but wasn't. She asked me about Pork Chop and I said that he was in getting groomed and that I'm sure he was a handful. I kept listening to the class while I waited to see how long it would take for Pork Chop to get to the point where he was being groomed. About a half hour to forty five minuets later Pork Chop was being held down by two people and they were trying to get his nails clipped. Within 15 minuets the loud speaker was announcing that Pork Chop was ready for pick up in grooming. Oh boy.

So I went in and the girl (all of fourteen) was trying to put his leash and collar on him. I told her that I could put it on if she wanted. She stated that she could get it. Then she realized that the leash we have has an extra loop on it so that it's a "gentle leader". I took it from her and said let me just pay.

She told me it would be $49.99. WHAT?!?!?! She said the breakdown of whatever it was. I said hold up... he's four months old it should only be $14 for the puppy package. Then she said something about checking me in as the wrong person. Good lordy. Then she said something about me asking for a teeth brushing. Again... he's four months old... he doesn't even have all of his real teeth yet! She changed my price and printed an invoice for me to take to the register. Ughhhh.

Two people came up to me and asked me about Pork Chop... the said that they had stopped by the grooming station and was looking thru the windows and said that it looked like he had a rough time in there. Yup... that's my pup.

I wrapped up with them and headed to the register to check out. I swear they only gave him a bath. I was pissed. Low and behold she still charged me for the teeth cleaning. Whatever. I checked out and was about to go on my way when a lady checking out at the other register said "and that's Pork Chop". I turned and said yeah... he's four months old and was a handful in grooming... I looked at the cashier and said that I'm sure he would hear about it it later.

I left very disgusted.

Today I called them and talked to Andrea. She told me to come back in that they would clean him all up and clip those nails. And refund my money. Let's just hope that when I do go in some time this week that I'll actually get what I was told.

When we got home I gave Pork Chop a bone - here's a pic of him gnawing on it and turning all red. I took a look at his nails and it ends up that one or two of them were cut but they were cut so short that they were bleeding. Ugh.

I snoozed I lost...

Man alive... I so wanted to go on this cruise... so much so I asked both of my sisters and my mom after Jerome told me that he wouldn't be going. I asked co-workers, teammates, and now... ughhhh..... it's all sold out.

NEXT TIME I'M JUST BOOKING THE ROOM!

Dang Dog...

Late last week Jerome came down with a cold. Now I think I'm starting to get it. I suppose it's from the two of us getting up and going outside with a puppy in this wonderful -30 with the wind chill temperatures in good ol' Minnesota. Ugh.

Needless to say, last night I made Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup for dinner and a lemon budnt cake. Once I was done cooking and eating I headed to bed to watch some TV and doze off into sleep.

I woke up around 1:30 dying of thirst. Jerome yelled from bed to see if the dog needed some water... which he scarfed down almost a whole bowl of water. Our stupid new cool mist humidifier needs to die. It doesn't push out enough water into the air... it's soooooo dry. Sucks that I tossed the box right away too and I just bought the stupid thing this year. Ughhhh.

I apparently slept so hard that I didn't notice that Jerome got up and left for work this morning. Well... hopefully I get rested up and skip the whole cold thing!

No, this isn't a lie.

It's officially winter..

I got my first bloody nose of the season... making me realize that winter is officially here. I'll be pulling out the humidifiers to bring some moisture into our air here in the house... now I just wish I had a personal size one for work... maybe Santa will bring this for me.

Freakin' Frackin' Sink

So this past Wednesday I was cleaning up the kitchen after dinner. I filled up the dishwasher and started it. I washed most of the pots and pans that couldn't go in the dishwasher by hand.

I went downstairs and watched a tv show with Jerome. When I came up for some water to drink... ummmmmmmmmm well I got more water than I expected.... the kitchen sink had filled up... both of them. The dishwasher was still running... but this water was from the dishwasher. UGHHHHHHHHHHH.

Our sink was clogged. I ran the disposal and the water that was in that side drained into the other
one. Dang it.

Jerome came up and got the drain-o and the plunger. He plunged the full side. Poof.... water shooting out from everywhere - the disposal side and under the sink. Sh*#!

We tried running the disposal... hot water... drain-o... nothing. Jerome and I ran to Menard's... yeah the most hated home store in the region but I had rebate cash there for about twenty bucks to spend. We bought a snake. We went home and Jerome tried to snake the drain a few times. We had bought a 25 foot snake... which he managed eventually to get all the way in the drain. He put the pipes all back together... we hoped.... but nope... nothing.

Thursday we just couldn't deal with it.

Friday I finally called Dad to see if he had any advice. He suggested that we run a hose into the pipe and try to force out the clog. Well... we tried that. NOTHING... Just water spitting back at us. Jerome tried snaking it a few dozen times again. Nothing. I don't know what's wrong with this stupid sink but it needs to get unclogged. Jeeeeeeze.

Anyone out there know a good plumber?

Black Friday Card Trouble...

So yesterday Jerome and I ran to Target and picked up a few necessities - aka plastic storage bags and Kleenex. Jerome told me to try my card for our joint account to see if it worked because the one he used on Black Friday was our joint card - with his name on it. Mine worked. No problem. So he called the bank to find out what was up with his card not working correctly.

They stated that they thought someone had stole the card and was making large purchases on Black Friday with it. Thus, why it went through the first two times but nothing after that. Apparently because Jerome never uses the joint card it fell inactive. Yet mine was still active since that's what I use to pay bills and such.

So... moral of the story... use your card or you'll look like you have no money! :)

It worked... and then stopped...

So last night I tried one "last time" to turn on my laptop. It didn't work.

So, knowing that there is no warranty on it any longer I decided to go forth and take all the screws off the back of it... I thought perhaps if I open it up and see if there is a pound of cat hair perhaps that would make it go if it was removed...

Well... I did find some fuzz... cleared it out of the way and well... it worked. I was so excited that I called my mom to let her know the good news. As soon as I got off the phone with her it shut down. Dang it!

So I attempted the same thing... it powered up only to shut down again. There is life in there... it just needs a little resesitating. I'll be playing the mad scientist tonight with my attempt to get the entire back off of the laptop up so that I can blow out any debris.

Here's to hoping it works! Anyone have any pointers?

We've been robbed!

Well... not of anything valuable really...

See that little map over on the left side... notice anything... different?

Yep... it's started over.

I've apparently had that service for a full year. When your year is up it starts over! Man alive :(

So how many unique visitors do you think I/we had in the past year? I managed to find out... I'll post it soon!

Past owners...

So we had the arbitration today with the past owners. Ick.

I was called on "the stand" and gave my testimony about what I thought happened that day. Woo hooo. No biggie.

The previous owners, well.... didn't say anything to us. Here I was hoping to hear something about the wall color choices. Hummm guess you guys haven't seen that yet... and you're not going to... not just yet. It's a surprise... you'll have to come and visit us :)

Swamped... in more ways than one...

Sorry for those of you who are concerned! Everything is fine... for the most part.

Swamp #1 - We were out of town Aug 31- Sept 10. We went down to Mississippi and Louisianian - swampland :) We were visiting Jerome's family - Grandmothers, Aunts, Uncles, Sisters, Brother, Mother, Father, Niece, and Nephews... and then some... as we had also attended another family reunion while we were there.

I finally can say that I have been to New Orleans. Although, I have heard how impressed the Monty Crew is with the city ( so much so that they honeymooned there) I can't say I was too impressed. Now, after speaking with Linda (a co-worker of mine of 5 years) I find out that I would have been more impressed had we been there at night. True, I hit Canal and Bourbon Street in daylight. I honestly thought it was just like any other city. I missed the night life, the people in the streets, the stumbling drunkenness in the streets, the performers. All of it. Guess I'll have to go again-this time at night :)

Swamp #2 - Since my return from my vacation I have been swamped at work. I've got a few big projects all full steam ahead and will wrap up come October 5th.... and the system that I work on has been broken for the past week... not good. Sorry for those co-workers that I may have chewed their head off and then spit it right back out. Honestly.

Swamp #3 - Today we had a bit of a down pour here. And when I say a bit I mean holy crap! The window wells filled up - and yes, we do have window well covers over them!!!! So I went outside - in the rain and scooped water out of the well with a pitcher into a bucket that I then slung over the fence to the front yard. JEEEEZE! We have had enough of what damage can happen when it rains. Between the power outages, the trees uprooting, and now this. Enough.

So yes, we are live... just... swamped :)

On our way to Mississippi aka the flight from hell

We left on the 1st around 2pm to the airport. We said our goodbyes to my Mom and Dad and headed into the airport. We checked in and passed through security. Our flight left around 4pm. We arrived in Atlanta without any problems for our two hour layover. Now, Atlanta has a huge airport, so a two hour layover is helpful - especially when you want to grab something to munch on.

We walked to our terminal so we were sure to be where we needed to be on time. Once we found our terminal we sat and waited. I got on the phone with the bank as I was waiting to find out when a deposit was going to clear since we weren't going to be able to check things online for our entire trip. When I came back from being on the phone the gate screen stated that our flight had been delayed an hour. Great. Then another hour, and another. We (I and the rest of the waiting passengers) were furious. There was a crew of us at the desk with the lone ticket chick who didn't have a clue as to what was going on as the previous shift just left her hanging when she arrived for her shift.

We finally boarded a plane around 11:45 pm. Yup - we were suppose to leave at 9:30. The plane was hot... the air wasn't working on the ground. And it stank (worse that stinks) like smelly shoes from a boy teenager. Ick. We all settled in and we were on our way after sitting on the tarmac for a good 15-20 minuets... in the heat. It had to be 90 degrees in there. Oh to crack open a window!

We finally got in the air. It was a tiny plane - 2 seats on each side of the aircraft. There was only one flight attendant and she started handing out bottles of water and peanuts. I thought this was suppose to be a quick flight... why does it seem like we've been up here forever? Ohhh we are circling... we've got to be on the 6th loop around Gulfport, MS. Great.

The pilot came on over the speaker system. He told us that we wouldn't be able to land in Gulfport as their weather system wasn't functioning correctly. What??? We could see the runway. The lights were on. There was no weather. It was clear. Land this plane. Nope. Instead we need to make a pit stop to refuel the plane.

Where you ask... Montgomery, Alabama. Yep, Alabama. Not New Orleans, not Jackson, not even Mobile, Alabama - MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA! We all had to get off the plane via the step ladder to the ground - we couldn't even belly up to a corridor. Not that there were any planes in Montgomery. Heck, they were practically closed. They refueled the plane and we tracked back out to the plane to load up. There was a lady there who had two little infant/toddlers. She had them in a double stroller. Now tell me, don't you think the flight attendant, pilot, worker of the airport could have helped this lady get back on the plane? Instead, I helped by carrying her daughter aboard the aircraft. I mean really!

We were on our way again. We think we are heading to Gulfport when the pilot comes on the speaker system again. "Ladies and Gentlemen: I'm sorry to inform you, but we are will not be able to land tonight in Gulfport. Instead we will be heading back to Atlanta." WHAT???? You've got to be kidding me. The flight was in an uproar. Jeeze.

We land in Atlanta. They open the door and people are mad. Someone from the Atlanta airport comes on the plane and grabs the flight attendants microphone. He tells us that our flight has been cancelled. We will be on the first flight in the morning to Gulfport and will be accommodated in one of the local hotels for the rest of the night, a $7 meal ticket for in the airport for our breakfast in the morning and lucky us we also receive a $100 coupon for our next flight on the wonderful Delta Airlines. Ummmm not good enough.

We get off the plane. The man who was on the microphone also told us if we wanted our bags that we could give him our bag number and that it would be in baggage claim in a half hour. Great, yes, I want my bag since I haven't seen it since 2pm the previous day and it's now 3am. I told the man that I did not have the first flight of the morning... as we were on standby for it. Instead, we have the 1pm flight. I told him that I wanted money for both our breakfast and our lunch. He had no problem with that and handed me two more meal tickets. I also told him that our ride from Gulfport had to get a hotel for the night since we were not able to land. He told me he could not assist me with that - and didn't point me in the direction of anyone that could.

I went to the gate desk and spoke with the agents there. I asked if it were possible to fly into New Orleans instead of Gulfport - mind you we needed to be at a family reunion around 1pm. YES Ma'am, we have a flight leaving out at 9am. The first good news I heard so far. Jerome came up and said see if you can get 1st class. I asked the person who was helping me to bump us up to first class for the inconvenience. YES Ma'am. Okay... we are on a roll... should I push it... Can you switch our departure flights to be out of New Orleans instead of Gulfport. YES Ma'am. Woooo hooo. Can you make those first class as well. No Ma'am. Shoot... too far... well I suppose we should be on our way to pick up our bag in baggage claim.

Oh wait... this is the Atlanta airport.... baggage claim is not just right downstairs. It's on the other side of the airport a mile away! Not a problem, we'll hop on the tram... they're being worked on so here we go getting our exercise in.... ughhhh. Where are those people in the golf carts? No where in site. We get to walking. Jeeeeze!

We get to baggage claim after a 45 minuet walk or something like that. It's four in the morning. I haven't slept or ate and I'm sweating. There is NO BAGS. WTF? I talk to one lady who just happened to walk out a door near baggage claim... she walked right back into the office and closed the door in my face.

I STOMPED my way to the Delta ticket desk. There were three ladies working the counter. One got on the phone with the belly of the plane to find my specific bag. One was checking our flights to make sure everything was transferred correctly - including our bag to New Orleans and our departure flights. And the other was helping us switch our hotel coupon. We decided that going to the hotel was not going to be ideal since it was already now about 4:14 am and our flight leaves at 9 am - don't forget we are leaving the security check point so we'll need to be in the airport two hours before our flight making it 7 am... only THREE HOURS AWAY.

The lady checking for our bag found ours and said it would be at the carousel in 5 minuets. Jerome started walking down that way. I wrapped up the hotel ticketing switch to give us each $50 on our next Delta flight - now a total of $300 to spend on it. The other lady confirmed that our tickets were good and clear to go. I asked them the best place for us to have breakfast in the airport with our whole $14 each. They pointed out one near by. I thanked them for assisting me and went on my way to get my bag.

There is was... just sitting there. I grabbed the bag, let a few of the other passengers from our plane know what we had done with our plane tickets - changing the location, bumping them to first class; letting them know about the hotel tickets converting to plane ticket money; and also the extra $7 for food each. A few went to talk to the reps at the Delta ticket desk. Some were still waiting on bags. Don't they realize that the time is ticking and if you want something you need to go and ask?

We headed to a few rows of seats and I opened up all the bags. Getting out what I needed and Jerome needed to clean up after this ordeal. I went to the bathroom and ran some cold water over my face and arms. I changed clothes and went back to where Jerome was seated. He went into his bathroom to do the same as I watched all the bags.

I got to talking with the lady sitting behind me in the rows of seats. She had been on the same flight. I told her what we did and she said she wish she had thought of all that... (ummm there is still time!). On our flight were also a few military guys who needed to be on base at Camp Shelby to ship out to Iraq after their last day of training on Sunday morning. Needless to say, the called their upper officers and were cleared. One of them walked passed us and the lady asked where he was off to. He stated he was going to go sit in his terminal and wait for the morning plane to come in. He also said that the tickets that Delta gave us for the hotels were not being accepted by the hotels because Delta had misspelled the hotel name on the ticket. OH MY GOODNESS!

Jerome came out and he laughed about the hotel ticket. We packed up and headed back to the ticketing desk to check our bag in for our New Orleans flight in a few hours. We sat and waited for the restaurant to open up where we spent our half of our free money at. We had grits, eggs, and a biscuit and a drink.

Then we went thru security and headed to our terminal. When we got there we found a space for us to doze off at with our bags between us and our feet up. At one point I woke up. I noticed that more people were around us, a flight must have just came in. I nudged Jerome to ask him if who I saw was really who I saw. He confirmed... It was Screech from Saved by the Bell! Too funny. We decided to "wake up" and I went to spend our last free dollars at the coffee shop down the way on coffee and muffins. We waited for our plane to arrive.













We finally we to the point where we were boarding the plane. We were in first class. Jerome was sipping on some drinky drinks for free while I chose coffee - it was just too early to enjoy a drink in my book. It was good flight, and an even better one once we landed and knew we were going to be picked up. We picked up our checked bag and were on our way.

Whew! I hope we never have a flight like that again.

Computer Issue Part I

It's not really a computer issue as it is more of a company issue. We purchased our new computer through the company's online function since it was cheaper and the store that we were in didn't have all the pieces to make the package. We had to go to another store to pick it up.

When we got there, our order wasn't picked yet. That's fine and good, but can you get it? Sure... they had it to the front of the store within 5 minuets or so. We checked out and were on our way.

Before we left, we noticed that the receipt that we signed was less than what was quoted online. We questioned it, not that we had a problem with it, but just wanted to know. A manager was called over and told us that their store had it listed as cheaper than online, and thus it was cheaper than the store that we frequent much more often. Hummm. Okay.

We went home and lived life with our "cheaper" computer. Until the payment hit our account. They took the quoted online price and not the cheaper amount. What the heck?

So yesterday, we went back to the original store that it right out our back door. Talked to a rep and everything is figured out now. We will be getting a refund within 48 hours for the $30 difference.

We will be watching!

Storm August 2007

Update: We came home from Anna's to find that our power had been restored! I asked a neighbor how long it had been on since we were gone most of the day and he said only about an hour before we came home! Which would mean from Saturday at 3am until Sunday at 7pm is when we had no power. Ugh.


Holy Cats!

So Friday night we had JST over for the night. We ran to the grocery store to pick up something for dinner and walked away with $100 worth of grocery - surprise surprise. We watched a movie and just hung out until we decided to head to bed. We were asleep in our house when for some reason I awoke. It was 3am. Outside there was flashes of lighting - but no lighting bolts - just the sky was light up like daylight. I nudged Jerome and told him to move the car that was on the lawn since it looked like it was going to rain. He got up in a dash and tossed on some shorts and headed outside.

I figured I would take a look at what was outside to see if I really wanted to deal with it getting wet since we were having a Block Party Saturday afternoon. Off came the cushions of the chairs and we tossed the carpet pieces into the garage.

When that was done I went inside and turned on the TV to watch the weather channel. It stated that we were going to get some high winds (50-60 mph) and there was a sever thunderstorm warning. And then it happened... the TV cut off along with the fans, air, lights, clocks... you name it. The power was out.

It's kinda funny that JST had made the remark before heading to bed that there was a flash light in her room! Good thing as we needed it. We found the other flash light and I light some candles. I just stayed watching the rain since it's been so long since we've had some like this.

It started to rain and the winds picked up. I went downstairs to check the window/wall in the laundry room... sure enough there was a leak. A bad leak. It was spurting out of the window well. Ughhhh. I grabbed the dirty towels from the laundry and started sopping up the mess. I ran upstairs to get the mop.

Jerome woke JST up and told her that it was cooler the basement to go and sleep downstairs. Which, we all did after having a quick snack and chat. (Gotta love having an 8 month pregnant person in the house!)

I called the electric company and their machine stated that we should have power by 8am. Fine and good - we don't really need it while we sleep downstairs. We woke up at 9am or so, with no power. I called the electric company again. Now, it stated that we may not have electricity until end of day Tuesday. WHAT?!?!?!?! ugh.

There was a pretty good sized branch in the middle of the road from the tree that recently lost big branches when Monty Crew was at our house last. We had twigs and a few branches in the yard but nothing major. I figured we better check the gutters since I noticed a few of our neighbors up in theirs. Sure enough it was packed. I got to cleaning it out.

Since we had no power, we didn't dare go in the fridge for long. And, with an electric stove now we had to cook our bacon, eggs, and grits on the grill! It was kinda fun, until we realized that both of our cars were in the garage - that has an electric opener.

JST's mom and sisters came to pick her up and take her back to the land of A/C and TVs. We of course stayed in our "campsite". I called Lisa and asked if she had power. Sure enough she did, so I asked if we could bring over stuff from our deep freezer and our fridge/freezer. I packed up the two coolers and we were on our way. We hung out there until about 3 pm when we left for our Block Party, that we weren't even sure if it was still going to go on.

I set out two chairs and a table out front and brought the charcoal grill around front too. We figured we could grill up some of this chicken from the freezer for the party... and figured other people may want to too.

We hung out with Denise and her daughter and a few of the other neighbors showed up too. We ended up going to Denise's garage to "congregate" and stay dry as it decided to rain again.

We headed home and went to the basement to sleep. I'm starting to feel the pains of not sleep in my bed... the floor and that couch are not cutting it. Ughhh. I awoke this morning hoping we would have electricity... not the case. So, today, we headed over to Anna's where we are BBQing up the last of the meat that we kept.

I'm sure I'll be calling into my renter's insurance this coming week. Wonder if they will cover everything????

We went around the neighborhood to find out that about 5 block south of us many large trees were down, along with power lines and electric poles snapped in half. We took pictures, but I'm not sure when I'll be able to load them here.

And by the way, I am not cracked up for this whole camping thing!

Fried Green Computer...

Well, it's official. The computer's mother board is fried per Geek Squad. We'll be looking at purchasing a new computer... but if anyone has one we can borrow in the mean time I'd love ya... Considering I need to figure out how I'm going to transmit a Pampered Chef show around the 17th!!! UGHHHHHH.

Freakin' Frackin' Frickin' Computer

So the other day Jerome had awoken before I did and was up and about. I stayed asleep not even realizing that he had gotten out of bed.

He came into the bedroom, flicked the light on, and said "what's wrong with the computer?". UGHHHHHHH WHAT!?!?!?!?

Yup... our computer has died yet again. It's not getting any power. It won't turn on at all. Freakin' Frackin' Frickin' computer!

So, if anyone is trying to reach us via email we'll be checking during "work hours" until we figure out what's going on with the stupid thing.