Thursday, May 29, 2008

Excitement for Your Boring Day

I've actually got a few minutes. Imagine that!

When did the springtime get busier than the winter months?? I don't remember being this "busy" before - I think life was actually a lot easier when I worked (nearly) full time and I wouldn't consider taking on other activities. Then life consisted of getting up, going to work, coming home and crashing. The weekends were reserved for socializing.

But right now I have some forced time. I just happen to be sitting at the Honda dealer waiting while they replace our DVD player in our Odyssey.

This is a pure blessing. Well - as much as DVD watching can be a blessing... Let's just say it's made long car trips completely tolerable and we haven't had to dislocate a shoulder swinging wildly at the backseat to break up fights since having one.

We purchased our van "pre-owned" (used...) with the extended warranty intact, but that ran out at the beginning of this year. Immediately, almost to the mile, our DVD player began to malfunction. It wouldn't play or eject the disc. It was an after factory install that the original owners had done and it was replaced (again under warranty) shortly after we purchased the year and a half old van

Last fall the volume control on the steering wheel started acting up. When you hit the 'up' volume it would change the track and when you hit the 'down' volume it would turn it up so loudly you hair would stand on end. So we took it in for service and they promptly fixed it. It lasted for a bit and began acting up again. This time they said the entire steering column would need to be replaced (that took a little longer...If I remember right, we got a rental car overnight. )

We went on fine for quite awhile - then it started flaking out again - but I kept forgetting to call and see what could be done. Then the warranty was gone and I figured it was pointless.

Well one day a few weeks ago, it started annoying me so badly that I called the dealer from the road, just on the off chance that this particular repair would be covered somehow. They said to bring it in for a look and if it was covered they'd repair it.

So, in we went, and when we checked in I asked them if they could look at the DVD player too (see...it all comes back around eventually if you hang around long enough...) and at the least, remove the DVD that was stuck inside of it.

I'm sorry - we're going to take a commercial break here... I'm SO annoyed by the woman sitting a couple of cubbies down from me. She's talking on her cell phone to a girlfriend or someone and being incredibly loud. I really don't think she'd sit in the general waiting area and talk to a friend sittng next to her this loudly...and this is supposed to be "quiet" area - at least that's how I perceive it. There are three separate areas to wait (it's a very nice dealer...) one full of seats and a large plasma screen, a smaller room with large windows on each side for kids with kid sized chairs and three flat screens tuned to kids TV stations, and a third room with four desk areas with partitions, each with a phone and phone books, and one (this one...) with a computer hooked to the web. I just always figured it for the "work" room. My boys are sitting here on either side of me trying to do their school work (don't leave home without it...) and they're having a devil of a time concentrating and listening to her summary of her latest shopping adventure.

I couldn't take it any longer - I shot up a quick prayer and dealt with it. I just tapped her on the shoulder and nodded toward Zack and quietly said, "he's having a hard time." YAY! She GOT it and went in the hall to wrap it up! I glanced down at her desk area thinking we'd left some papers there since we originally started to sit at that desk, and they were college algebra papers... So I guess she understands the need to concentrate. I'm so proud of myself! Normally I would have just held it in and gotten my blood pressure up. Small victory for a manner freak like me. Now she's quietly working on HER schoolwork :0)

OK - back to my exhilarating story... The dealer said they'd look at the DVD player, but would charge a diagnostic fee of $80 since it was out of warranty by 4,850 miles.

After about an hour, our mechanic came back and said there had been a class action lawsuit about the steering column controls and the warranty had been extended by 500 miles. A mere 150 miles more (one more trip to and from the big city for us) from where our odometer sat. AND they'd be replacing the DVD player free of charge. I never really got why the DVD player was connected with the volume controls, but methinks, with my vast second hand knowledge of how avionics must be properly wired in a cockpit - thanks to my inspector hubby, that maybe some wires touched that shouldn't have. Well - I'm not asking for specifics until they come back in a few hours and tell me it's all done! No need to draw attention to our maintenance file...

One thing I didn't mention... this is our second trip down for this particular replacement. We came down last week and they worked for two hours on it and came to talk with me. Seems the mechanic got it taken apart, went to get the new parts to install and found they'd ordered the wrong model number. So - here we are again. So far so good.

Are you happy now??? You've waited all this time for a new entry and this is what you get - a play by play of a woman's understanding of car repair.

I should probably end this post... Another woman strolled in, peeked in each cubbie, said, "oh - school work", and asked me to let her know when one of the puters was free. Apparently she doesn't realize that there's only one... A few minutes ago I picked up the boys books (they're off to the Disney Channel in the other room now...) and tucked their chairs in. A few seconds later Miss Loud Talker slipped over to see if there was another computer free where one of the boys had been sitting... These puters are a hot commodity. Uh oh... the other lady just came back in... pulled out the chair, sat down and realized there was only a monitor waiting for a laptop to be connected to it. Oops. Well...maybe I'll stay a little longer. If I leave now the two of them will have to duke it out over this lone puter :0)

Please excuse all spelling errors and lack of margin justification...for some reason all the font size, color, spell check, link etc. buttons are missing from this bare bones, public puter editor.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Mom's the Word

I'll have more to say later about this day - the usual breakfast in bed and whining about how "since it's mother's day - MOM should take out the garbage..." but for now I just wanted to share something my friend Sally shared with me, and the cards I made for my Mom and Mom-in-law. The card designs were inspired by my Sis-in-law Sharie (and I can't remember whom she was inspired by, but she's good... I'll update later when I'm not in a hurry...)
The card details:

Patterned Paper - Melissa Frances

Scallop (Threading Water) Punch - Fiskars (Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah... back ordered until July, I'm told... I LOVE mine! Thanks Sis!)

Cardstock - Bazzill

Lace Paper - KI Memories

Ink - Color Box

Chipboard - Technique Tuesday

Paint & Felt Flowers, buttons - Making Memories

Stickles - Ranger

Velvet Stickers - American Crafts

Velvet Flowers - Maya Road

Crocheted Flowers & Stick Pins - Can't remember right now... but the same co.

Half Pearl flower center - K & Co.

Ribbons - Unknown

And now the message that Sally shared, which was shared at her church:

A Special Prophetic Word for Mothers:

All mothers pour themselves out for their children. It is the beautiful nurturing essence that I put into you. When I created Eve, I saved the best for last. The inner grace, beauty and presence of a woman is more captivating than anything else in creation. I made you to flourish and blossom in a way that is uniquely feminine and mysterious.

It is a wonderfully sweet fragrance in My nostrils when you care, comfort, and nurture those around you-especially when it is exercised in faith: knowing that in your human thinking there's just nothing left to give. All your aspirations for your children and your selfless giving to meet their needs are a reflection of My heart for you. My desire is that you know and experience My love for you. Your love for your children is great, yes, it is great.... and My love for you is even greater.

Every time you make a choice to put your children's needs above your own, you are reflecting My heart-and I love that. I love and treasure each opportunity to give to you in the same way. Continue to allow Me to bless and heal your hearts as you walk with Me. I especially love the times we spend together. You are living sacrifices and I accept your worship. I breathe it in deeply with a smile on my face.

I intimately know each and every one of you. You've heard that I've carved your name in the palm of My hand. I have your picture on my "refrigerator." I tell you this: not one kissed knee, not one meal prepared, not one paper signed, not one event planned, not one errand run, and not one storybook read has escaped My notice. Well done.

~Author Unknown





Monday, May 5, 2008

Rejoice With Me! The Lost Is Now Found!!

Those of you that have been praying about this may now stop.

Like the "parable-ic" woman of Luke chapter 15, I have lit my lamp and swept my house (mostly...) in search of my lost tin of yummy Pirouette cookies filled with a smooth hazelnut/chocolate cream.

If you hadn't heard - I received them from my sweet friend, Naomi, three days shy of a full month ago! I brought them home, made myself a comfy spot on the couch in front of the TV, and as is my practice, opened them quietly so as not to "disturb" my babies and their daddy with the rattling of the packaging. When one of them quietly slipped into the room I quickly covered the can with a blanket and decided that I'd better find a better hiding place, lest I have to share them later. So as soon as whomever it was left the room, I uncovered the pretty little can and hid it. And I hid it WELL!

A day or two later, I got a hankering for those crisp delights and went looking in my usual spots. They were nowhere to be found, and I was beginning to believe that I'd actually made them up! I looked everywhere - even places I was sure that they weren't, and sometimes twice - in the places I was sure they weren't!

Finally, today they were found in the last place I looked (der) and I'm shocked that nobody else found them before me!

Where? You ask... in the back of my bedside table drawer. And how did I come to find them there??? I was hiding something else... (der again...)

I know, I know... it's been a long time since I updated my blog and that's the BEST I can do???
Be patient with me... it's been a very busy time around here. I spent the better part of last week preparing for a National Scrapbooking Day party which I hosted yesterday. We had a very good time and as soon as I'm sent some better photos than the ones that I took I'll make a blog entry for it. I do have another fault you may not be aware of (I do try to keep them out there and visible for all to see, though...) I'm terrible at taking photos when hosting an event, party, whatever. I'm great when someone else is hosting, but pretty much drop the ball when I'm at bat. I need to get it together and just ask someone else to be in charge of doing that for me!

More will come - but it will take me a day or two, as I'm trying to do the right thing around here and focus on the kids and their edumacation every now and then...
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