Consumer Woman rides again!

I decided I needed to step up my game, wardrobe-wise, for a business conference I’m going to, instead of wearing levi’s. I didn't want to wear a dress, either, so I went to the mall to look for a pair of Docker-style pants. One pair is all I needed because I already have a nice pair of pants that are part of a suit. After trying on many pairs of khaki pants, I selected a pair and also splurged on two pairs of warm knee-high socks. I had a coupon for $10 off. After I paid, I walked down to the other end of the mall to check out a sale I had heard about while waiting in line to pay for my pants. What did I find on a 70% off rack at the sale? That’s right, a pair of pants that looked a lot like the one’s I had just bought. They were marked down to $9, almost $20 less than the first pair. I bought the $9 pants, of course, which turned out to be $5.40 because that brand had an additional 40% off the clearance price (talk about icing on the cake!) Then I went back to the other store to return the $28 pants.

I asked the clerk if she would re-calculate the sale to apply the $10 coupon to my two pairs of socks (the $10 discount had been spread out over all three items instead of being taken off the total purchase at the end). She said she couldn’t do it, because the coupon was a single use coupon and I had already used it once. “Is there a supervisor you could call to take care of this?” I asked. “No,” she said, “they are way stricter than we are.” In a fit of pique (don’t worry, it was a very polite fit) I told her that I would just return the socks, too.

When I got home, I decided to call the store and just let them know that their loyalty coupon hadn’t inspired much loyalty on my part. After all, my coupon was right there in the cash drawer. The evidence of the coupon was right there on my receipt. I wasn't tring to make a completely different purchase. Why couldn’t they just do it? I called the store, asked for a manager, and told her my story. After apologizing for my dissatisfaction (not for their lame policy, just for the fact that I was unhappy), she offered to give me my $10 discount if I wanted to come back to the store. (At first, I wasn’t sure I wanted to drive all the way back. Then I decided that if I am going to complain, I should go back and give them the chance to make it right.) After five minutes of listening to another clerk explain all the reasons that there was no way someone could honor my request, the manager arrived and sold me my two pairs of $8 socks for $2.15 ($10 off plus a multiple item discount).

And that is why my nickname is Consumer Woman.

Goodbye, old friend

Last Wednesday was the end of an era. We said farewell to the piano that we have had for about 34 or 35 years. I don’t really play the piano, just pick out tunes and try out ideas for songs and arrangements once in a while. Back in the day, though, our old friend was a real workhorse. Everyone practiced their piano lessons on this piano. It displayed a multitude of Christmas decorations, gingerbread houses and family pictures and provided a place to hide from brothers or sisters or parents. occasionally it was the final resting place of toys and trinkets that were small enough to fit through a small gap below the keyboard.

It’s really showing its age, what with all the scratches, hammer marks (inflicted by a brand new hammer on Christmas day many, many years ago), pencil and crayon marks, scuffs and the scars of wood carving experiments. The piano bench doesn’t match because the original bench wore out ages ago and one of the keys makes a funny noise; I suspect a stray penny is the culprit.

Still, despite its age and cosmetic challenges, it is a fine piano that should be played more often. It didn’t make much sense to keep it around when it almost never gets used by me. I had told all the kids a few years ago that the first person that had room for it could take it to their house. M&T recently bought a piano of their own, and LL found a free piano locally.

Luckily for our piano, Jenn plays the piano and doesn’t care what it looks like if she can have a piano in the house now. So our old friend is going to stay with them for a while. Some day, if it’s reasonable and Jenn has found a better, nicer piano, the old piano will go and visit E if she wants it. In any case, it will stay in the family for as long as we have people to pass it along to.

So now, my living room has a big empty space. I won’t be looking for anything to replace it until after we pay for our trip in April/May. We’ll rearrange the stuff that is there and figure out what to do later.

Any suggestions?

Lucky you!

(OK- here we go. Some of the ladies in my family are playing this game. I m such a procrastinator that I was reluctant to join in. Then I decided that surely, I could manage to make and deliver five simple items over the course of 12 months.)

The first FIVE people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year. (might be a little while)
4- You have no clue what it's going to be.It may be a story. It may be poetry, shoes, bags, or a little invention of my own! I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. Believe me... it may blow your mind!

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!
Sounds like fun, right?

So, let's play!

I confess, I am responding to offers from two people but only making this offer once. And keep an open mind when you get your item from me ;)

Where did the time go?

This evening we went to Grandma's House to visit with Shari and her family. There must have been at least a million people (give or take several hundred thousand) in their condo. But it all went well and it was nice to get to see everyone. People brought salads and deserts and someone sent me out to pick up 7 pizzas. So everyone seemed to be well fed and visited.

I grew up in a home with 6 children. Of course everyone is grown up now with children and in many cases grand children. Where does your life go? One minute you are the little guy in short pants, the next you are old, bald and your grandchildren are the little guys. Where does the time go? Do I want to go back - not really, this time in my life seems to be the most satisfying.

The pictures you've all been waiting for

We’re almost done. We’ll wait on the micro-kitchen for a while, but the rest is pretty much done. So here are some pictures. (Just add décor-eventually)




Oak trim down the stairs and around all the doors

This is how we cut back the stairs

Stained oak frames the windows



The ceiling and most of the walls are soft blue

This is where the micro-kitchen will be at some point

You missed one (or more)

When we went to Hawaii we had to change planes in Honolulu to get to the Big Island. Go! Airline charges for every checked bag so we decided to save $27 and check only one bag and carry-on the other two. We quickly felt around in our baggage to make sure there weren’t any unauthorized liquids lurking. Then we checked our biggest bag and sent the rest through the security screening. Sure enough, the screener felt something was amiss. He was sure there was a container of liquids- in my computer bag (which had already been through a screening in Salt Lake). The screener had the bag searched by another TSA agent. Was it my cheese stick? No, said the screener. Was it my solid-stick lotion? Again, no. Back through the machine went my computer bag. He insisted there were liquids. The other agent insisted the bag was clean. Finally my bag and I were reunited and we were on the way.

The whole point of this story? Once we got to our room that night, what did I find in the other, previously checked suitcase that became a carry-on? A carry-on that had sailed through the screening just ahead of my computer bag? What was right on top in an outside pocket of that bag? My quart-sized plastic bag crammed full of containers of liquids. A plastic bag that I should have been pulled from the suitcase for screening. A plastic bag that should have been caught by the screener and his machine.

Does this make sense?

Every time we leave Hawaii to come home, we go through a process that mystifies me. When you get to the airport, your checked baggage has to go through an inspection by the USDA. This is done by running the bags through a big machine. The goal is to prevent you from taking anything to the mainland that might be harmful to agriculture. I totally agree with this goal. We don’t want any more exotic fruit flies or fungal diseases getting loose. The part that I just don’t get about the process is that only checked baggage is inspected, not carry-on bags. If you want to keep all those little bad guys from getting out of Hawaii (and yes, we really should), shouldn’t you inspect EVERY bag? I had plenty of room in my carry-on bag for a few pieces of disease-ridden plants and fruit fly-infested bananas. I’m pretty sure lots of forbidden stuff leaves the islands in “small personal items.” It just mystifies me.