The One I Didn't Want to Have to Write (about the furniture)

It's true. This is the post I didn't want to have to write. It's the one I never thought I'd have to write! But alas, I gotta keep it real here if for no other reason than for myself to look back on in 10 years and remember my utter disappointment.

Let's take a moment to recall the progression of events, shall we? Friday, December 21st, 2012, I introduced you all to the beginning planning stages for LO's new room, including a short list of likely suspects for her new furniture purchase. This of course included the winner we eventually selected!

Fast-forward to Monday, December 31st, 2012, when I was so very excited to write this post informing the world that we had finally selected AND PURCHASED the new bedroom furniture for LO's room. I recall being so very ecstatic and happy and blissfully ignorant at the time. It would only be 4 to 6 weeks until we could finally do LO's new room!

Now then, let's discuss Tuesday, January 22nd, 2013, when I about died writing about the infamous phone call that changed the 4 to 6 week delivery timeframe into a whopping, unexpected 10 to 12 weeks. This sucked on so many levels, mostly because it would delay doing LO's room, which in turn would delay getting the nursery ready for the baby. NOT a happy mama.

In mid-February, I hit the interwebs again searching for a back-up plan of furniture that could replace what we ordered since the production delay caused a significant impact on our schedule. I searched high and low and was unable to find anything I liked even half as much as what we had already selected. I had no other option but to wait.

And wait.

And wait some more.

Then, it finally happened! Monday, February 25th, 2013, I got THE CALL informing me that our furniture had arrived! It was even a few weeks earlier than the delayed date we were given. How wonderful! I couldn't believe it. Now we could finally schedule LO's big room update. The only problem? Every single weekend for the next 4 weeks were already booked with work and other activities. This meant that even though the furniture was here, it would still be at least ANOTHER MONTH before we could knock it out.

{{insert crazy disappointment here}}

But it would be okay. I had enough other stuff to distract me and keep me busy and preoccupied until the big weekend arrived and we could finally surprise LO with the big girl room of her dreams! In the meantime, hubs and I went ahead and had the furniture delivered to the house and went about unboxing all of our treasures in preparation for the big event.

This is where the major disappointment/frustration/you-name-it happens.

As I mentioned on Monday, March 4th, 2013, we were shocked at what we saw as we unboxed our expensive, brand new furniture. It was terrible. There were no words for it. In fact, there still are no words for it. So in order to document this travesty, I took pictures.

Now, mind you, I'm certain many of my readers will see these pics and think, "So? And...? What's the big deal?" And that's cool. You're entitled to your opinion just as I am to mine. But let's just imagine you paid somewhere between $1,000 - $2,000 on this quality furniture, freshly unboxed, and tell me you wouldn't have some of the same frustrations as we do.

Let's start with the arched mirror. It actually arrived in pieces (not the mirror itself, but the mirror was completely detached from the frame). There were all sorts of scratches and chipped paint on the front trim. The mirror itself had two screw holes along the very edge of each side where they apparently tried to screw through the mirror when assembling it. Awesome.

Then let's talk about the dresser. I couldn't clearly document in photos that the drawers open unevenly (the drawer stops inside are obviously uneven), so we'll just leave that issue out of it. But let's check out the impressively destructed trim and paint job...

Moving on to the headboard. I for one would expect the use of a little bit of quality caulk to seal any noticeable gaps around the trim once the paint job is complete. Apparently I'm the only one.

The footboard had similar issues with gaps everywhere. I mean, really. It's obvious the trim was attached (possibly glued?) onto the footboard and then painted, but not caulked. Seriously?!

Now I do want to point out that yes, I am 31 weeks pregnant. And apparently along with the mood swings, weird cravings and weight gain, pregnancy also brings along with it's symptoms for me an overwhelming increase in pickiness and the apparent need for perfection in all things. So I get it. Perhaps my hormones have overtaken my logical thinking processes and have turned me into a whining crybaby, overly critical of this furniture and ridiculously unimpressed with its lack of quality.

But I'm also a human person with eyes that can see. And I'd like to think that other human people with eyes would see the same issues I've discussed here and be just as frustrated and disappointed as I.

{{sigh}}

This was supposed to be a wonderful, exciting process of updating LO's room and I know it will be. I've put so much time, money and creative energy into the other items and accents in her room that I know the big surprise unveiling will be everything I have dreamt up in my head and more! But oh how I hate the unexpected, unnecessary drama we're having to endure to get to that point. I'm just not a happy camper right now. I expected more. Maybe that's my own fault. Shame on me, I guess.

OhMyWow.

Well, as I mentioned last Monday, the furniture for LO's room finally came in and was ready for pick up or delivery. Can you just imagine my excitement?! YAY!!!

We chose to pay a chunky fee to have the furniture delivered, and it arrived at our home this past Friday night. Again, YAY!!! I couldn't wait to see it but everything arrived in the original shipping boxes, so there was no chance I'd be able to check it all out until after hubs was able to unbox it for me, which he couldn't really do with nosey LO around. Fast-forward to Saturday afternoon... hubs snuck into the baby's room (where we've stashed LO's furniture) and unboxed everything. This is where things were no longer "YAY!!!"

The first box he opened was the arched mirror that goes with the double dresser. The mirror panel was completely separated from the frame. This was quite unexpected. Especially once we noticed the mirror had two large chips out of both bottom edges (almost as if they had tried to screw through the mirror). Whoa. And the lovely wooden frame had large chips out of the bottom, front and center, where they would be completely exposed and visible once the mirror was placed on the dresser.

Insert shock n' awe here.

The fun continued when we started to unbox the dresser and headboard/footboard panels. Imagine a lovely white headboard, for example. Now add some lovely white wooden trim pieces to it for added decor. Pretty, right? Well, not if you don't caulk the seams. Yes, people, that's right. Basically everywhere you have added trim on the headboard, footboard and dresser you have these ugly shadowy seams where one would expect white caulk to be so as to hide such madness.

TERRIBLE.

I could NOT believe what I was seeing. And the drawers for the dresser? They pulled out unevenly and it was clear the drawer stops would need to be adjusted.

This is NOT what one would expect for quality, American-made, expensive furniture. And on top of that, how long could one expect said furniture to last if it requires so much maintenance and repair straight out of the box?!

I was pretty livid. Hubs was pretty calm. He said he could fix the mirror, caulk the trim/seams, etc... That's all well and good, and I have no doubt he'd be able to successfully complete these repairs. But my issue is that THESE ARE REPAIRS! ON BRAND NEW, EXPENSIVE FURNITURE!!!

And let me just mention that every single piece of furniture was clearly stamped, "MADE IN CHINA." Imagine my surprise when I contacted the manufacturer directly via Facebook and was told--and I quote--"the cribs are sourced from Vietnam and the rest is sourced from China."

{{gasp!}}

Wow. One of the bigger selling points that helped make our decision to purchase this set was that it was quality, American-made furniture. Apparently notsomuch.

So we went back to the reseller where we purchased the furniture this morning. We spoke with them about the issues we discovered and, surprisingly, they were willing to allow us to return all of the pieces for a full refund. They would even pick it up for no charge. Lovely. I asked specifically about the American-made aspect and was told all of the parts are in fact from China--but it's assembled in at their headquarters in High Point, North Carolina.

'Cause that's the same.

UGH. So now I cannot believe over 2 months have gone by since I first selected and ordered LO's new furniture and I'm BACK TO SQUARE ONE.

Do we keep the existing furniture? Is it okay that we have to do so many repairs straight out of the box? What is the likelihood this "quality" furniture will last until LO heads off to college?

Or do we find something else completely? And if so, how long will it take to find something we love and how long will it take to get here?

Not cool. This sucks. Knowing we weren't sure what our plans would be, I left the furniture reseller this morning and headed over to Rooms to Go Kids to shop around for a Plan B. Luckily I found two potential replacements, but with a huge caveat we'd have to consider.

The first is the Nicolette White Full Bedroom Collection:

It's rather similar to the set we already purchased, with a few downsides. First, I hate the drawer pulls on the dresser. But usually if I don't like it, sure enough LO will just so happen to LOVE it! She's funny that way. Plus I could always change out drawer pulls. No big. Secondly, since it's a platform bed, it only has one height for the side rails. It's designed for use with a trundle to be purchased separately (which we don't want), so the bed sits high and should be used with a mattress only or a bunky board underneath. This would render her existing box spring useless.

The second option I was actually kind of surprised to be drawn to. It's not quite what I've been looking at this entire time, but it's different in a good way. It's the Emily White Full Bedroom Collection:

I never really considered a metal scroll headboard/footboard option, but I really love the look of this one! And I still get my white double dresser and mirror, but with enough metal scroll accent to make the pieces look cohesive. I'm really kind of torn here! The other added benefit of this set is that you will be able to see the effort that is going into the accent wall behind the headboard in her room much better. It will be white beadboard with white chair rail, which you won't see much of with a white panel headboard there, but you'd see it much more with this one! And because this set is so ridiculously inexpensive, I'd even opt for a little canopy to hang on the ceiling above the headboard for added girly-ness, similar to this one at PBK (except probably with purple tulle):

But the biggest downside to ordering from Rooms to Go Kids is that they essentially have a NO REFUND policy. If for whatever reason we order one of these sets and didn't like it, we could only return it for store credit; not for a refund of the purchase price. I don't like the finality of that!

My plan is to mull things over for a bit and see where I land. It's gonna be a busy week with work and some other things going on but hopefully "THE" answer will hit me upside the head and I'll know what to do. It just seems like such a big decision to select furniture your child will use until they (hopefully) head off to college! So much pressure! And my goodness am I learning how incredibly picky I am these days! I had no idea! Maybe I can blame the pregnancy on that one... or not.

So does anyone have the perfect solution for our little dilemma? I'm all ears! Opinions welcome!!!

Argh!!!

Considering I essentially started my blog on the foundation of complaining about poor customer service, I figure this post is right in line with why this blog was started. In other words, I'm preparing to rant, people. Consider yourselves warned.

So Chase's PC saw that LPA narrowing at his last appointment. He recommended a cath procedure. We weren't thrilled.

At the end of said appointment, I asked when we should hear from MUSC with the date and details of the cath. He said if I don't hear from them within 2 weeks, to give his office a call. Got it.

In the meantime, we spoke with an MUSC PC and he told us it was quite common for these kids to have that narrowing. He wasn't necessarily sure a cath was needed.

We decided to send the MUSC PC the latest echos to confirm his opinion that the cath may not be necessary.

So I asked Chase's PC's office to send the records. I inquired as to how the records would be sent, confirmed it was with an overnight service with tracking info, and was told the records would go out the next day. When I called the next day to confirm, they informed me they did in fact send the records that morning but it was via regular mail because it would have been a $35 charge for them to FedEx them. Hubs and I were not too pleased (call us crazy, but we're not fans of medical records and/or personal identifying information floating around the USPS without any method of confirming delivery). I told the office I was NOT pleased that they made the decision for us concerning the $35 charge. I couldn't fathom why they couldn't pick up the phone and call me to ask what it was I wanted to do. Had they done so, I would've asked them to hold the copy of the records, had hubs pick them up on his way home, and send them ourselves via UPS (for waaaaaay less than $35!). But alas, it was too late. They had already made our decision and executed it without our consent. Lovely.

We didn't want to wait over a week for the records to arrive at MUSC (assuming they did in fact arrive), so I had the office make a second copy of the records, had hubs pick them up on his way home, and sent them ourselves the same day (with delivery confirmation). Those records were delivered to MUSC the very next day. The records the PC's office sent still have not arrived. No surprise.

In the meantime, I'm still waiting for the phone call from MUSC with the cath date, details, etc.

Yesterday, we received a response from the MUSC PC who confirmed it would be best to move forward with the non-urgent cath procedure in March or April to most likely balloon the narrowing to help future growth of the LPA. ((sigh))

No surprise, but I've been a bit antsy and decided to go ahead and call the PC's office today (rather than wait the full 2 weeks and call on Friday) to ask for an update on the cath scheduling. Imagine my surprise when the nurse told me They. Never. Sent. The. Request. OMG. Are you kidding me!? Turns out, again, they decided we weren't planning to move forward with the cath until after we got our "second opinion" from MUSC. So they reasoned there was no need to schedule Chase's cath if the mere possibility existed that we wouldn't want to do the procedure. Isn't that nice how they are so up on their game that they can read our minds and make our decisions regarding our son's health for us? Pretty amazing stuff. As you can imagine, I was quite upset. I mean, logically, I can completely understand how they could've arrived at that conclusion considering I was asking for a second opinion. But again, my problem remains as to why they couldn't pick up the phone and call me to confirm this was in fact the direction we were taking?!

I never once told them we weren't going to do the cath. I've been waiting for "THE" phone call from MUSC for the past week and a half. Ultimately we will do anything that is in Chase's best interest, and in this case, we just wanted confirmation for ourselves that the cath procedure was in fact necessary. I just don't understand why a 2 minute phone call is just too much to ask.

Here's the kicker: So let's say we got our second opinion from the MUSC PC. Okay. He's on board with the cath. Last we heard, Chase's PC's office is scheduling the cath. We just have to sit and wait for the phone call with the details. If I hadn't called up there today to inquire about the scheduling, they would have never known we received our second opinion and are still moving forward with the cath as planned! Right? Because, it's not like I had any intention of calling up there after we heard from the MUSC PC. I had no reason to! Or at least I didn't think so! So an entire month or more could've gone by with us thinking they were scheduling the appointment, and them thinking we weren't on board with it.

UGH!

I thought hubs and I were just getting a second opinion for our own knowledge and to confirm for us that it was in fact the right thing to do. Other than sending the records for us, the PC's office--in my opinion--was (and should have been) completely uninvolved. But they got themselves involved by not doing what they told us they would do, and then not telling us!

Wow. I'm pretty frustrated. At the end of the day, it's not a huge deal. I'm assuming we can still get in during March or April for a non-urgent heart cath. But oh how I wish Chase's PC's office had a telephone that could make outbound calls instead of them sitting around waiting on me to call and make sure they hadn't dropped the ball.

The Absurdly Long Post About the Pampered Chef Gift Certificates

Once upon a time, my family asked what I wanted for Christmas (as they do every year). It was a short list this time -- basically The Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook and ol' Buddy's Cake Boss book with recipes and stories about his famiglia. To round out the list, I added Pampered Chef gift certificates, because truly, there's always something PC that I absolutely must add to my collection.

Christmas Eve. The gifts are being opened (with the in-laws). I am ever so grateful and blessed to find both of my coveted cookbooks, along with two PC gift certificates, just for me. I am ecstatic, of course, and remember telling my dear MIL and SIL that those gift certificates would most likely be spent that very night. Online. I already had the item(s) I desired in my online shopping cart. It was only a matter of time. They would be spent. Immediately.

Fast-forward to later that evening. I'm online. At the Pampered Chef website. Fine-tuning my shopping cart. Ready to place my order and redeem my gift certificates. I proceed to check-out and... wait a second... where in the world do I enter my gift certificate numbers? Hmmm... this is strange!

After what seemed like hours of deliberation, I was at my last resort. I Googled "How to use a Pampered Chef gift certificate." I'm somewhat ashamed to even admit that. Moving on... I found that apparently, you don't just go to the website, add stuff to your cart, then checkout and enter a gift certificate number as your payment method. You know, like Every. Other. Website. On. The. Planet.

That's how I started out. Thinking I was doing the right thing, of course...

Easy enough, right?

NOOOOOOOOO!

This is Pampered Chef, people! There's a super cool, fun, and easy way to do it! Check it out!

Step 1: Go to their website and choose "SHOP ONLINE." Duh.

Step 2: Scroll waaaaaaaaaaaaaay down to the bottom of the products list and choose "Gift Certificates." You know, like you're wanting to PURCHASE a gift certificate. 'Cause that's what we're trying to do. Riiiiiiight.

Step 3: Now, just choose "Redeem Gift Certificates" because, really, that's what you're wanting to do, right? Right. This is easy as pie, folks, huh? So glad you're along for the ride.

Now, you'd think that up next is some cool feature where you just plug in your gift certificate numbers and it puts a nice credit of some sort on your account. Right?

Wrong.

Now that you already shopped the website, selected your products, added them to your shopping bag, then went back and had to go through the process to apply gift certificates to your account, then guess what you get to do?

Step 4: Use a combination of your spidey senses and photographic memory to schlep out the item numbers for the products you'd like to order. Yes, you read that right. See?

No, there's no more shopping to be done. No online catalog with pretty pictures and descriptions. Just empty boxes on a web form asking for 4-digit item numbers. THIS, my friends, is how you shop Pampered Chef with a gift certificate.

But wait, the ride's not over quite yet! See, while my sister-in-law purchased my gift certificate though the Pampered Chef's website and it was all official-looking and what-not with an actual however-many-digit certificate number on it, my mother-in-law (bless her heart) bought one from a friend at work whose daughter-in-law happened to be a PC consultant. Good enough! Makes sense to me, right?

Notsomuch.

Apparently little miss consultant decided to give my mother-in-law some kind of gift certificate she's conjured up with her little computer in Microsoft Word or Publisher (gasp!) or what-have-you, so there was no official Pampered Chef anything on this little piece of paper. I'll show you.

See? I'm pretty sure Mr. One-Eyed Christmas-Gift-Carrier clip art is NOT standard Pampered Chef marketing protocol. And the "Number" that little miss consultant provided? Her phone number. Or her dry cleaner's phone number. I dunno. But not, my friends, a Pampered Chef gift certificate number. That'd be too easy, of course.

So the story gets even better. I thought maybe I'd go ahead and use my SIL's gift certificate since it had an official number that could be accepted online. But there's a twist. I hosted a Pampered Chef party last month. That means I'm entitled to a 10% discount off ALL of my purchases for ONE YEAR.

SWEET!

But wait... oh, when I try to order with a gift certificate, there's nowhere for me to put my host number for my discount.

((sigh))

Will it ever end?

Obviously I knew the Pampered Chef home office would be closed on Christmas Eve. And Christmas Day. And most likely the day after Christmas since that was a Sunday. But Monday morning, I tried to call to inquire about this fiasco I was experiencing.

Got a recording stating they were closed, but their regular office hours are Monday through Friday, 9AM til... Ya, it was a Monday on which I was calling, but I guess they were still closed for the holidays. Although their message didn't mention as such. Nor did it say when they would be opening back up. Score.

I called again Tuesday morning. I spoke to a super-rude and useless lovely service rep who was probably more confused than I was. She put me on hold to look into the debacle, then came back on saying -- get this -- you cannot use your 10% host discount when paying with a gift certificate. 

WHAAAAA?!

You've GOT to be kidding me. What difference should it make how I'm paying? I'm eligible for a 10% discount for ONE YEAR. It never said, "as long as you don't pay with a gift certificate." I of course immediately asked to be transferred to a supervisor.

The supervisor told me the same thing. I was/am shocked to my core. This is completely unbelievable.

So the supervisor offered to void my gift certificates and send a check made payable to me instead. So basically, I could either use the money to buy PC stuff or to buy some replacement pads for my Monster steamer. They wouldn't care.

Okay, cool. Let's go with that. At least that way I could order my products, use my discount and get my new stuff!

It was easy as pie for her to void out my SIL's gift certificate and get a check in the mail to me. But the lovely one from little miss consultant? The home office had NO IDEA what this lady had done or why they had no record of the purchase in their fancy computer system. They had me scan the certificate and email it to them. They said things like "reprimand" and "not the way we do things" and stuff of that nature. They were going to call little miss consultant and get this straightened out for me at once.

Until they called me back a few hours later. Then proceeded to tell me I would need to contact little miss consultant and work out some arrangement with her. Sure. This consultant who lives 700 miles away from me whom I've never met (and whom my MIL hadn't met, either). Lovely.

Now here's where I made the best move ever: I told my MIL about the situation. Would you believe in a matter of hours, my MIL had contacted her friend and informed her she would be returning the worthless gift certificate and would expect a full refund. Then my sweet MIL would just send me a check for the amount instead of having to deal with the headache. Have I mentioned how much I love my MIL? I truly do, and not just for her amazing ability to right wrongs!

So earlier today, I finally placed my order. A new 8" saute' pan and some measuring cups. That's it. That's all I was after. I never could have imagined a scenario quite like this would unfold. At least I've learned a lesson: never buy or request a Pampered Chef gift certificate.

Ever.

The Toyota Drama

We bought our beautiful new 2011 Toyota Sienna XLE back in April. So do the math: that's just over 4 months ago. I'd still consider her pretty young for her age, wouldn't you? Follow along with me.

• April 2010 - We researched and test drove the heck out of several SUVs and minivans. We decided on the 2011 Sienna, and after LOTS of research (considering Toyota was dealing with the faulty gas pedal and/or floor mat issues at the time), we purchased the vehicle.
• April 2010 - Less than a week after purchasing the vehicle (and having an aftermarket roof DVD player installed by the Toyota dealer's 3rd party vendor), we noticed a lovely crack in the DVD player housing, right next to the button to release the screen. This was while we were on the road, traveling to Cincinnati. Luckily the unit still operated fine.
  
• May 2010 - The cracked DVD player is replaced by Toyota's 3rd party vendor with an identical unit: our now 2nd DVD player. Oh, can I just point out here that the unit they installed (the first and second times) were actually BEIGE when our interior is dark gray? Just had to put that out there. Of course I voiced my dissatisfaction when I saw the first DVD player for the first time, but was told the model they installed only comes in that ONE color, you know, so it can match a variety of vehicle interiors. Right. Beige is the same as dark gray. Good to know!
• May 2010 - We're getting ready to run out as a family to grab some dinner and get some errands out of the way. We walk out the the garage and... And... the Sienna won't start! It was less than a month old! It wouldn't turn over At. All. I'm pretty sure the lights on the instrument panel didn't even light up. It was beyond dead. I knew it wasn't possible that I had left any interior or external lights on, and even if I had, there's no way it could've drained a battery as new as this one in the short amount of time since it had been driven last. This "fun" resulted in hubs using our Jeep to jump the Sienna (it was an act of congress to get the thing to turn over, running the Jeep at 4,000 RPMs or more, then taking it to the dealership the next day, and waiting around for the battery to be changed. A brand new battery. Went dead. They said it had been happening with other batteries, too. Ah. Good to know. Thanks for putting such a quality battery in my ride to begin with. ((sigh))
  
• June 2010 - On the road again! This time headed to the beach in Charleston with LO and some fam. I went to play a DVD for her and -- guess what?! The DVD player was bro.ken. Totally. I made 12 calls while driving (to the Toyota dealership, their 3rd party vendor, and the DVD manufacturer) and was essentially, completely, and totally out of luck. No DVDs to watch on this trip to Charleston and back (about 3-1/2 hours each way!).
• June 2010 - Our second DVD player is replaced with a third DVD player. This time I was adamant that they replace it with a DIFFERENT brand since the previous one just seemed to be a cheap brand, plus I was hoping a different kind might last longer, etc. So here we go with DVD player #3!
• September 2010 - It'd been just over 2 months of having no issues or problems with our 3rd DVD player. Yay! We were thinking our problems were behind us. Notsomuch. Guess what we were doing? We were driving on our family trip to Myrtle Beach when lo and behold... DVD player #3 DIED!!! LO had watched Cars start to finish, and we put in Toy Story for her next feature film. It barely got through the opening scene of Andy playing with his toys when %@!!BAM!!@%. Kaput. Are you kidding me!? I couldn't believe it. Well, actually I could. Unfortunately. Luckily this time, hubs thought ahead and brought our portable DVD player that easily hooks onto the headrest so LO could still enjoy some movies on the way home. Phew!

What a lovely little journey, right? Well, it doesn't end there. Today the guys from Toyota's 3rd party vendor came to pick up our Sienna and replace the broken (#3) DVD player. They took it to their shop, did the install, then took it to the Toyota dealership to get the code to reactivate the electronics (this is necessary each time the battery is disconnected on the vehicle). So imagine our surprise when hubs gets a call from Toyota. It goes something like this:

Unfortunate Service Department Worker at Toyota Who Got Stuck Calling Hubs: "Hello, is this Mr. Hubs?"
Hubs: "Yes."
Toyota: "This is 'Elaine' from the Toyota service department. We've got your Sienna in here and it seems that the accelerator pedal and several electronics are broken and/or malfunctioning. We're not really sure what's going on and will need a few days to look into it."
Hubs: "Um, I'm sorry? What??! How is that possible when it was working fine this morning!?"
Toyota: "I'm not certain, sir. It seems that when the vehicle was turned on, several errors were displayed, including issues relating to the accelerator pedal. The pedal itself is not functioning at all."
Hubs: "You've got to be kidding me. I'm on my way up there and I will speak with the manager there and this will get resolved today." ((hubs did apologize to the poor lady and said obviously this wasn't her fault but that he was obviously irritated at the situation))

The dealership sent a 2011 Sienna LE (a base model version of our rockin' Swagger Wagon) and not long after, hubs was on his way to the dealership.

I told him to tell them we wanted them to replace our vehicle with another 2011 Toyota Sienna XLE with the factory-installed dual-display DVD player in it -- at no cost to us. I figure we've been through enough and honestly, this is the only thing I believe will rectify the situation. I think there is some kind of underlying issue with the wiring or electronics of our vehicle, hence the dead battery early on and the fact that we were now onto DVD player #4. This just was getting to be too much! The Sienna isn't even 5 months old yet. Waaaay too much drama for my taste! I think a factory-installed DVD player in another 2011 XLE is the only way we'll eliminate these issues.

So hubs calls me later and tells me what they've found. Apparently, Toyota is saying that the 3rd party vendor who installed our now 4th DVD player had been running some wires near the accelerator pedal and was installing some kind of bracket to help hold the wiring in place. When he screwed in the bracket, one of the screws went right through the 60+ wires in the conduit of wiring that controls the accelerator pedal (along with several other electronics). Yes, so he screwed through the wires, obviously causing several of them to malfunction, resulting in the broken accelerator pedal and several electronic errors.

Gee, thanks.

As of now (8:30pm), the plan is for Toyota to keep our sweet Sienna over the weekend, and then drive it around a bit Monday morning to make sure everything is functioning properly. We'll pick it up Monday afternoon.

Argh. I'm so tired of drama. You have NO IDEA how much drama I've been putting up with over the past few weeks. Did I mention we've taken LO out of her former preschool and enrolled her in a private Christian school starting Monday? And then you've got pediatrician offices who are supposed to keep you informed on when flu shots are available, but don't. And then a pediatric pulmonology office that's supposed to call you to schedule an appointment for your son's RSV vaccine (monthly shots October through March), but don't. That's just the tip of the iceburg in my little world these days. Maybe after this drama rant, I'll post about the "woe is me" world I'm living in. Nah... I think I'll spare y'all from suffering through reading that kind of post, and maybe instead I'll write about butterflies and rainbows.

Peace out, craziness!

And the Drama Continues...

Remember my recent debacle with Apple regarding my iPhone? Well, lucky us! It's happening again... this time with Toyota.

More drama coming soon (once I can cool down long enough to gather my thoughts and communicate them in a proper manner suitable for small children)...

All Better!

I am so very pleased to announce that my debacle with the Apple Store has been resolved, very amicably, and I am now the oh-so-proud owner of my very own iPhone 4.

((insert outrageously smiley grin here))

The Apple Store manager called me earlier today -- we'll call him Jack. I thought about using real names now since the people I'm referring to now have actually done a GREAT job of taking care of the situation, but I figure honestly, if the right people are reading this, they'll know exactly who I'm talking about. Anywho, Jack the manager called me this morning and told me he was had a 16 GB iPhone 4 with my name on it.

Whaa??!

I couldn't believe it! I was so confused! I had just been told not an hour earlier by Karen that the shipment they received this morning didn't have ANY 16 GB iPhone 4s in it. Crazy! But whatever. They've got a phone for me. That's all that matters. While I was on the phone with Jack, he asked when I wanted to come in. I said 5:30pm, and he booked a "personal shopping" appointment for me so they'd know to expect me. Since he himself was going to be in a meeting from 5-6pm, he booked my appointment with, we'll say, "Ray," and told me he would make sure Ray was completely debriefed on the situation. Jack definitely was making it worth my while to come back to the store and replace my iPhone -- that's all I'll say about that!

I showed up at 5:30pm and saw several blue shirts standing near the entrance to the store, some of whom were speaking with what appeared to be customers. As I walked in, one of the employees immediately greeted me and welcomed me to the store. I told him I was there for a 5:30pm personal shopping appointment. He then says my name. MY name. Yes, I say! That's me! I ask if he's Ray. He says yep, and tells me he's there to help me!

Yesssssss! This is just what I was hoping for! You know, the first time. Yesterday.

So Ray takes me to one of their little "activation stations" to go ahead and set up my new iPhone. He was very courteous and friendly, and he displayed genuine empathy for the situation I experienced during my first visit to the store yesterday. I honestly feel he felt compelled to ensure I had the BEST experience in that store today. Whether or not "corporate" was telling him to treat me like royalty, he played the part and made me feel like the most important customer in the store. I imagine that's how they usually make all of their customers feel. I guess it just so happened to be my luck that I came in on a very "off" day for several of their staff members.

So we got my new phone activated, including an Apple Care protection plan, and I was ready to head out the door in -- get this -- less than 20 minutes! It was ahhhhhmazing! I couldn't have been happier. They really went out of their way to give me the experience that I missed out on yesterday. And like I mentioned, they really made it worth my while to remain loyal to Apple, both with how they treated me at the store, and a very generous offer when it came time to the check-out process. Needless to say, I am now a very satisfied customer.

Of course I do not rescind a single word of my post detailing yesterday's experience, because what happened happened, and I don't think I exaggerated the details a bit. But I am elated to share how wonderfully Apple righted the many wrongs I experienced and restored my faith in their organization. I'm obviously ecstatic to be up and running again with a functional device, but even more so I'm happy that I was finally able to get a REAL Apple customer experience.

Long story short, I have a functional iPhone. A new-and-improved, upgraded version of what I had previously. And with one quick sync to my MacBook, my iPhone is now exactly how I left it -- before accidentally introducing it to the ocean -- from emails to contacts, text messages to apps. I can think happy thoughts again when I think of Apple. I truly believe they went above and beyond what anyone -- including myself -- would have expected.

LO was sure to tell me she loved my new phone as soon as I came home. I took a test photo of her using the lovely built-in flash. Just imagine me smiling with the same priceless, genuine grin seen here:

Thank you, Apple.

OMG, Apple Store. OMG.

So yesterday was an expensive trip to the beach! Long story short, I had my beloved iPhone 3GS clipped ever-so-securely to my bathing suit. Probably not a smart way to start out this adventure, huh? We got our u-haul of stuff to the beach and decided on a space to settle down. And I'm serious when I say u-haul:

Chase was already super-hot with bright pink cheeks, so while daddy set up the beach tent, I felt I needed to hurry up and get him in the water to cool off. So I did. And we sat. Together. In the water. With my iPhone on my hip. About 2-3 minutes later, we got up and went to our "area" to see if daddy needed some help. About another minute or two later, I realized it: the iPhone had been submerged in ocean water. I immediately grabbed it from my hip and checked. Sure enough, it wouldn't so much as power on (I later learned that it's not a good idea to try to turn on an iPhone that's been submerged in water--something about frying the logic board or something). I was devastated, but there was still so much to do to get the kids settled and comfy at the beach. I lovingly tossed my iPhone into our beach bag and did my best to forget about the pain. The deep, excruciating, stabbing pain.

When it was time to leave the beach, we wasted no time and stopped at a local grocery store for rice and some ziploc bags. Yes, I tried the rice trick. And crossed my fingers. And said several prayers.

Fast-forward to after we're home, the kids are both fed, bathed and in bed. I sit down at my MacBook and try to figure out my next steps. I'm going to spare you the details of all the options and attempts I made at salvaging my iPhone and instead tell you what I did this morning.

I went online to apple.com and accessed our local Apple Store's site. I then proceeded to make an appointment at the Genius Bar for 11:50 AM. I packed up the kids, made plans for hubs to leave work to meet me there (needed kid support AND thought we could grab lunch after) and headed out the door. We were running a tad late so I used my husband's phone (which he had left with me so I wouldn't be phoneless at home with 2 small children) and called the Apple Store to be considerate and inform them I was running about 5-8 minutes late for my 11:50 AM appointment. They said they'd let the Geniuses know I was on my way. I thanked the guy and continued on my way. We arrived at the mall, met hubs in the parking lot and headed in together.

Keep in mind, folks, this was my FIRST EVER Apple Store experience. Ya. First-timer here. Wait for it...

So we walk in the store, and NO ONE greets us. No one is standing post at the front door to welcome customers like I had heard about when listening to others talk about the awesomeness that IS the Apple Store. Whatevs. So I head to the Genius Bar in the back and wait. There are some guys helping customers at the bar, and other guys just looking busy at the bar. I stand there. I stare. I wonder what I'm supposed to do. About 2 minutes later, I noticed the screens behind the genius bar, which are flipping from this to that to whatever, posted a "waiting queue" of sorts for the iPhone. There I am, listed as #4.

Oh. Okay. So they're running behind. Great. At least I'm here on time and can be helped when it's my turn.

I keep waiting. Nothing. No one seems to be doing anything to move along this "queue" of theirs. Finally I stop one of the blue shirts and ask if I'm in the right place or what I need to do. He asks if I have an appointment. Duh! Of course I do! It was technically almost 10 minutes ago! So he pulls out his iPhone and responds that he'll do me the favor of checking me in.

Checking me in? Who says I'm supposed to check in??

That's just super. Thanks, guy. Thanks for checking me in. Now what??

Meanwhile, hubs is doing a great job of entertaining LO and Chase while I stand there, confused, with my arms folded across my chest, while my Apple Store dreams slowly deflate in front of me.

About 10 minutes later, Jake asks if I'm me. I say yes. He says he's there to help me. (Note I'm not using any real names. Just fake ones.)

Finally.

I tell him of "the incident" and as expected, he pretty much told me I was screwed. In a polite way, of course. No, actually, when I think about it, it was pretty much in the way it sounded. He said he'd take it to the back and double-check some things, but most likely I was out of luck.

Another 5 or so minutes go by and he shows up with the news I expected: my iPhone is no more. I fight back the tears and restate what I believe to be my options:

A.) Walk away. Sadly. And phoneless. ((Of course I could get a cheap phone from Target and put my SIM card in it and still send/receive calls and texts, but oh so much less functionality than I'm used to.))
B.) Replace my broken iPhone 3GS with a brand new iPhone 3GS. This will ONLY be $199. Since I'm a special Apple Care customer and all. Note to self: iPhone water damage NOT covered.
C.) Pay $399 and leave with an iPhone 4. I figure $199 to replace it now, then $199 to upgrade to the iPhone 4 when I'm eligible for discounts next May... it'd be a wash, right?

Hubs and I discuss the options. We asked if we could grab lunch and come back, but Jake told us we'd have to wait on an unscheduled, walk-in appointment, and there's no telling how long that would take. He assured us if we chose to swap out the 3GS, it'd take 5 minutes. And if we chose to upgrade to the 4, it'd be 5 minutes. Rather than "lose our place in the super-special queue," we decide to suck it up and pay the $399 to upgrade to the iPhone 4 today.

Jake then informs us he himself is not able to do that for us. No, we need one of the sales folks to do it (they have a special name, but I forgot it). He's just a genius from the bar.

Lovely.

So we expect to be handed over to a sales guy. But no, instead, he introduces me to David, some guy that stands at the registers in the middle of the store and informs me that David is going to let me know when the next salesperson is available.

Super. MORE waiting.

And waiting.

And more waiting...

This is getting ridiculous.

After about 15 minutes, I approach David and ask, so seriously, are there still no sales folks available? Just need to buy an iPhone 4. Really I wanted to remind him to make sure he remembered I was still waiting, since I'm pretty sure I wasn't in any queues anymore. He says no. He's waiting on Ricardo (totally not his real name, but I can't remember) to finish up with a customer, and then help me next.

Oh. Okay. So there's only ONE salesperson in the entire store. Ricardo. And I have to wait for him to finish. Got it.

So we go back to waiting. Some more. For Ricardo. The lone Apple Store salesman.

During this time, several blue shirts walk by us. They can see we're obviously irritated. And unhappy. But they go about their business.

I, trying to keep both mine and hubs' blood pressure within a reasonable limit, jokingly tell hubs that IF I had a working iPhone, I'd tweet about my crappy Apple Store experience. Funny enough, there was another customer within earshot who laughed, and told me she was thinking the SAME THING.

So we're not the only people NOT having THE Apple Store experience these stores are supposedly known for. Good to know.

Another 5 or so minutes go by, and I finally stop one of the many blue shirts who passed us by and ask who is the store manager, or manager on duty, etc. He told me who it was and then left and went about his business.

Gee, thanks.

Hubs and I quickly realize that he won't be joining us for lunch. We'd been there for an HOUR and STILL hadn't resolved the issue that brought me into the store. He was going to need to get back to the office. This makes me all the more irritated at the experience we were having. So why did I make that APPOINTMENT at 11:50 AM again??

About yet another 5 or so minutes later, a random blue shirt, Hank, stopped to tell us he had noticed we'd been there for a while and was wondering if we needed any assistance.

FINALLY! Somebody with a brain!

I quickly explained to him the situation, and he was magically able to get a salesperson for us within a minute or two. I'll call him George, partly because I'm not using real names, but also because by this point I was not in any mood to remember names or be overly personable. I told George ALL I NEEDED was to purchase an iPhone 4. That's it! And I'll be on my way.

Then he tells me, with total nonchalance, as if I should've already known...

THEY DON'T HAVE ANY 16 GB iPHONE 4s IN STOCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are you KIDDING ME?!

I'm in complete and total shock & awe. This was not The Apple I had heard so much about. This is McDonald's. This is waiting in a drive-thru for an order of greasy, fattening "nonfood substances" and only finding out when you get home that they got it totally wrong, then driving back up there to get it all straight. This is THAT kind of "service." That kind. Obviously they have some SLAs they need to hit and can't have customers sitting in a particular queue for any longer than necessary, or it makes them look bad to corporate. So they just push 'em from one queue or person to another, without bothering to worry about keeping the customer happy. That's right. Just pull forward so we can help the person in line behind you and keep our numbers up. You just wait right up there and we'll bring your food out when it's ready. And it'll take a lot longer than you think it will...

I was literally ready to grab my kids and R-U-N-N-O-F-T on out of that store! But by this time, hubs' blood pressure was THROUGH THE ROOF and he wanted this taken care of NOW! They tried to offer a 32 GB iPhone 4, which they did have in stock, but obviously NOT the price I was planning to pay. They couldn't even tell me IF/WHEN they'd get more 16 GB iPhone 4s in. Little George said they come in "pretty regularly." I'm sorry, does that mean daily? Weekly? Monthly?? He said usually twice per week.

Ah. Thanks.

By this time we were told we would have to go back into the Genius queue if we wanted to just go ahead and pay the $199 to swap out for another 3GS, which they did in fact have in stock. I was already livid. I just wanted out of the store. I was already contemplating early termination fees, switching back to Verizon, etc. There's just NO REASON this process should've gone down this way. No Reason At All!!!

So of course we left with nothing but a broken, water-damaged iPhone 3GS and a pretty irritable attitude. Almost an hour and a half in the Apple Store, and NOTHING resolved. NOBODY happy. NO working iPhone.

Normally, I would ask to speak with the manager and explain our situation and try to figure out a happy resolution (oh, okay, ma'am! we'll call you when the 16 GB iPhone 4 comes in, set one aside for you, schedule you an appointment to come in and we'll get ya all fixed up!), but I had TWO kids with me who were well past their lunch time, not to mention an unhappy momma who could use a bite to eat, and a husband who needed to get back to the office.

I'd so love to state for the record that I will NEVER set foot in that (or any other) Apple Store EVER again, but I know that isn't my reality. I'm gonna have to go Round 2 with these guys again. And soon. Because I have no phone. And worse yet, I have no iPhone.

To make matters so much more enjoyable (as if I hadn't had enough fun yet), I tried calling the local at&t store for a good 20 minutes after leaving the Apple Store. It was one of those things where you press 2 to speak to an associate (just wanted to ask if they had 16 GB iPhone 4s in stock), then wait, then it rings, FOREVER, then it comes back and says no one is available, go back to the main menu. Then press 2 again and start all over again. Eventually I gave up and decided to swing by the store on my way home. In the rain. With two small kids. Good times.

I get them out of the Sienna, put Chase in the stroller (again, in the rain, people), stroll up to the store and ask the guy at the lovely little concierge desk right inside the door my question. THE question. Got a quick and easy answer:

NO.

No iPhone 4s in stock. Haven't had ANY in stock since launch day. You know, way back in JUNE!

Oh, for the love, people!

I packed my kids back up and headed home. I knew I had a lengthy blog post to write and needed to get to it.

Not so good times.

Now I'm just waiting, assuming Apple is going to send me a "How was your appointment at the Genius Bar at your local Apple Store?" email survey. And I'll send them a link to this post. :)

Dr. Appointment

Yesterday I had an appointment with the Perinatologist (high risk fetal maternal doctor guy). As I mentioned the other day, I was less than pleased when they called me Monday to remind me about my appointment and also informed me that children are not allowed in the office. This was a big surprise as we've brought LO to almost all of our appointments so both hubs and I could be there. So I was already irritated before I even got to the office.

When I walked into the office, I was even more irritated because there was a 4 or 5 year old boy in the waiting area with his mom. WHAA?? Ya. I proceeded to check in and while I was at it, I mentioned to the check-in lady that I did not appreciate the fact I was given less than 24 hours notice that children are not allowed at appointments. She told me there have been signs posted, but I promise you they were NOT there at my last appointment 2 weeks ago. She said they call people the day before their appointment to inform them about the new rule, and I said that just isn't enough notice for a stay at home mom to find someone to keep their child. I wasn't rude, but the lady most definitely had a bit of a chip on her shoulder. I let it go, figuring I'd share my thoughts on the subject with Dr. Greig when I saw him.

((Note: Hubs met me at the doctor's office and took LO to run errands while I went to the appointment by myself. I'm still quite irritated about this whole thing, but there's nothing I can do about it.))

So after about 15 minutes I went back for my ultrasound. The tech was nice and was checking several things to make sure Chase looked good. Everything she saw was great! I had to specifically ask her to measure his abdomen again, which she did, and confirmed he's in the 61st percentile! Praise the Lord! I was VERY pleased to hear this wonderful news. I also asked for his weight, but she said they don't do weight measurements each time -- usually every 3 weeks.

After the ultrasound, I was taken to a little room to wait on Dr. Greig. Five minutes... ten minutes... fifteen mintues... twenty minutes... almost TWENTY-FIVE minutes later, a NURSE comes in to ask (1) when my last OB appointment was and (2) IF I have an appointment scheduled with the Pediatric Cardiologist, Dr. Horne. I said I saw my OB last week, and that YES, I have an appointment with Dr. Horne next week HERE IN YOUR OFFICE! Seriously? Can they not look at their own schedule to confirm I have an appointment already scheduled? Ugh. Then, the nurse says I'm FREE TO GO! Whaa?? Where's Dr. Greig? Why have I been waiting 25 minutes for Dr. Greig if I'm not going to see him at all? Why couldn't you come in here 20 minutes ago to tell me I won't be seeing Dr. Greig today and save me from wasting 25 minutes of my morning while hubs and LO had been waiting for me in the parking lot??? I was seriously irritated.

Since I'm already on my soapbox, let me continue a step further. After our last appointment 2 weeks ago when they told me my son's abdomen growth was in the 16th percentile, I voiced my concerns to Dr. Greig AT the appointment. The next day, still not overly convinced at what he told me (eat a lot and rest a lot and "magically" his abdomen growth will improve), I sent him an email voicing my concerns over how this percentage could change from 61st percentile to 16th percentile over the course of 2 weeks. Dr. Greig CALLED ME and basically told me the same things he told me at the appointment the day before. Still no warm and fuzzy from this guy. I specifically asked him to confirm for me that this 16th percentile data they saw is in line with what his abdomen growth had been over the past several visits, and he AGREED! So now, magically, 2 weeks later, his abdomen growth is BACK in the 61st percentile. How is this possible?? What it comes down to is a BAD MEASUREMENT at our last appointment. Chase just wasn't in a good position to get a good measurement -- this I know. But WHY couldn't this doctor take the time to admit this? Did he even look over my previous ultrasound results to confirm that a 16th percentile measurement was a bit of an anomaly? Seriously, folks. I'm so tired of dealing with inept people that aren't willing to take TWO SECONDS to do their jobs! I mean, would it have taken him that much time to actually review Chase's growth over the past 14 weeks? Isn't that his JOB as a high risk doctor, to monitor the growth and development of my baby?? And would it have taken THAT MUCH time for a nurse to tell me after my ultrasound yesterday that Dr. Greig was behind schedule and I could either (A) go ahead and leave (without waiting 25 minutes for nothing) or (B) go ahead and wait on Dr. Greig, knowing that it would probably be a good 30 minutes before he could see me? It's called customer service, and it's something that does not exist these days (at least not in our experiences).

Whew. Okay, sorry about all that complaining. I just get so irritated that we keep having situations like this happen to us over and over and over again and it always comes back to the simple principle of customer service/patient care and taking two seconds to think about others. My hope and prayer is that we'll have the excellent care I've heard so much about once we get to MUSC for Chase's birth and surgery.

Showers of Joy

I'm so stinkin' excited to be throwing a baby shower for my dear friend H who happens to be due almost 1 month exactly before me. She's having a girl, which is perfect since she and her husband already have a 2-1/2 year old son. I had the joy of throwing her a baby shower for her first child, and now I'm looking forward to next Tuesday when I will throw her a shower for her new baby girl!

Now, for those of you who know me, I'm not the most "artsy" or "crafty" person. Somehow that gene missed me entirely. But occasionally I get inspired to do something fun that's outside of my skill zone. I figured what better time to create something by hand that has some level of sentimental value than for one of my best friend's baby shower?

I'm sure you're all waiting anxiously for me to share more information about said crafts, photos, finished products, etc., but unfortunately, I can't do so until after the shower! Ack! I know... patience isn't my forte, either! But I promise it'll be worth it!

Here's a tiny glimpse of one project, which I won't specify in any more detail than to provide a link to the Etsy seller, STELLAandHODGE, who assisted me with executing the project. She was THE NICEST person ever and was completely and totally helpful, always responding to my messages quickly and efficiently. I highly recommend this Etsy seller to anyone interested in any of the items she has available!

The other handmade project I've been working on was suggested to me by my dear sister-in-law, the creator of the blogs With This Ring Weddings and With This Nest (both definitely worth reading!). She shared a link with me that I shall covet forever! Have you heard of Cookie Magazine? I hadn't either. Apparently they have a pretty awesome Nesting blog that is definitely worth checking out!

Please be sure that I will be posting photos of my completed projects after H's shower on Tuesday. And I'll also share links to the projects, including step-by-step instructions (a must-have for non-crafty folks such as myself) once I'm able to do so without ruining the surprise for the second-time Mommy to Be!

Stay tuned!

The Good & The Bad

It was Tuesday evening. Approximately 7:28 PM. I had just finished a lovely dinner with hubs, LO and Mona (LO's grandma/my mom). I sat down at the desk to look something up online, but my precious MacBook wasn't responding.

Slight panic.

I couldn't force quit any of the programs that weren't responding. I listened closely and heard a not-ever-good sound of the hard drive clicking.

Serious panic.

That's disastrous. Coming from the PC world, I immediately recognized that sound as it seemed to happen to PCs quite often. I had never experienced such a sound on my nearly 21-month-old MacBook.

I had to do the ol' hold-down-the-power-button-til-it-gives-up-and-turns-off approach.

I gave it a second to chill out.

I pressed the power button again to turn it on.

It seemed lost. It wasn't sure what to do. The hard drive kept clicking and all I got was a gray screen.

Then a little file folder appeared in the center of the screen with a question mark in it.

This can't be good.

I call dear ol' AppleCare support, am quickly transferred to a Apple technician, who, after walking me through a few different steps, was able to confirm my worst fear: the hard drive was in fact DEAD.

I could have panicked like a crazy fool at this point, but I smiled at my lovely 1 Terabyte external hard drive, running Time Machine (Apple's wondrous back-up software), and knew full well that none of my precious data would be lost.

But of course, before I could restore my data, I needed to have my hard drive replaced. Luckily, there is an Apple-certified repair place located a short 20-minute drive away. It also just so happens that the assistant manager there is a very good friend of mine. We'll leave it at that.

SO... I call the store, which we'll refer to as the Apple Store, even though this store is--from my understanding (only because I've never been to a genuine Apple Store)--not even close to being an official, genuine, state-of-the-art Apple Store. I happened to speak with my good friend, shared my bad news, and decided I would bring my MacBook in the very next morning.

So the next morning arrives. LO and I find a wonderful parking spot just outside the Apple Store. I get her loaded up in her stroller and head inside.

I can't find the store.

Seriously.

I look around, check the posted directory thingy, but no Apple Store.

I see a big poster with a Mac on it, so I know I'm in the right place. Just gotta find it.

I managed to recall my friend telling me the store was located on the 2nd floor, so we hopped in the elevator and managed to stumble upon said Apple Store.

I drop off my lifeline to the outside world (you know, my MacBook) and am shocked to hear it might be Monday before it's ready. Keep in mind it's currently Wednesday morning. Apparently Monday was a "worst case scenario." Alrighty then.

Wednesday afternoon, around 5:30 PM, I get a call from the Apple Store. They confirmed the hard drive failed, said they would order a new one, which will be sent priority overnight (arriving Thursday morning), and my MacBook should be ready for pick-up late Thursday afternoon.

Whew!!!

By this time, I've gone almost a full 24 hours with no Internet access. Seriously people. I started twitching by about hour 6. It sucked. But the end was in sight!

So I called the Apple Store on Thursday to verify the hard drive came in and we were still on schedule. They couldn't tell me. Apparently the sales folks didn't have any updates from the repair folks. Lovely.

I called back several hours later. Still no update. They give me the number to the repair folks.

Nope. No hard drive. Guess it'll come in tomorrow (Friday) morning they tell me.

Fabulous.

I wait until around 10AM Friday morning--after priority overnight shipments should have been delivered--and call the store. There's still no update in their system.

Seriously??

The manager gave me the number to the repair folks. I call.

Nope. The hard drive did NOT arrive as expected. So where was it? The repair guy couldn't tell me. Said he didn't have access to the tracking information for the package.

Ummmm, okay...? Is there any way you can get the tracking information?

He says he guesses he can call Apple.

Super.

Great idea.

He calls me back 20 minutes later and says it's supposedly out on the truck for delivery. Argh. Apparently once it's delivered to the store, a courier person takes the packages over to the repair site, which is about a 10 minute drive from the store.

I'm getting fed up.

Friday afternoon I have hubs call the store. I can't deal with it much more before I'll go crazy. He calls the store and they tell him the hard drive was delivered around 2:30 PM on Friday afternoon. The kicker was that the courier guy left around 4:00 PM to run packages over the repair guys, and left my hard drive at the store.

Are you kidding me?!

Does it really have to be this hard?!

The store didn't make any effort or attempt to rectify the issues. Granted, it may have been the delivery company's fault for taking 2-1/2 days to deliver a priority overnight package. I dunno. But the Apple Store made no effort to follow up on the delivery or do anything to accept fault for not sending the hard drive to the repair folks when it arrived. I'm telling you, hubs was telling them HE would go to the store, pick up my hard drive, and TAKE IT over to the repair guys.

He ended up talking with a repair guy who said he'd stop by the store Saturday morning to pick up the hard drive on his way to the repair place so the laptop could be ready to be picked up Saturday afternoon.

Day 4.

Four days without my MacBook.

Four days to replace a single hard drive.

This is NOT rocket science, people.

Apparently someone was supposed to pick up the repaired equipment from the repair guys Saturday afternoon, take them to the Apple Store, and then I would receive a phone call informing me my laptop was ready to be picked up.

Hubs wasn't going to wait for a call.

On Saturday, he got in the car at 2:30 PM and headed downtown. He was ready and willing to pace impatiently at the Apple Store until my laptop arrived.

After he left, I decided to call the store just to get an update and to see exactly how long my patient husband would be patiently waiting.

Surprise!!!

Ya, my laptop was already at the store and ready to be picked up.

I'm sorry, where was my phone call informing me of this?!!?

OMG.

I was at my wits' end with these folks. This entire process was an absolute NIGHTMARE. I mean, I could have expected better from PC repair folks. THAT'S how bad this experience was.

Painful.

The icing on the cake was that when I opened up my MacBook, it was Absolutely. Filthy.

We're talking dust everywhere, smears on the screen, and a little dab of what (I hope) was chocolate smooshed outside the keyboard and onto the border surrounding the screen.

Gag.

(Side note: Before I took it in for repair, I cleaned the crap (not literally) out of my machine, as I would've been SO embarrassed to submit a filthy machine for repair. I'm of the old-school mindset that says "return it in better condition than you found it.")

Now, you're wondering where the "Good" is in all of this, right?

Well, after hubs brought my beloved MacBook home, I hooked it up to my lovely 1TB external hard drive, selected my Time Machine backup, and in less than 45 minutes, my MacBook was restored to its previous glory. As in, exactly where I left off on Tuesday evening when it crashed. And all it took was 2 or 3 clicks of the mouse.

Apple MacBook? LOVE IT!

My experience with the Apple Store? Wouldn't recommend them to my worst enemy.

My apologies to my dear friend who works as an assistant manager at said store. Luckily, he wasn't one of the people I had to deal with in the aforementioned ordeal.

Gawsh!

I'm totally disappointed to announce that my Macbook hard drive called it quits Tuesday evening. I'm writing this post on my husband's Lonovo ThinkPad laptop. I hate it. But that's not the point of this post. I just wanted to share my sadness with my one reader out there. Yes, you. My one reader.

Anywho, it'll be late Friday evening at the very earliest that I'll be able to pick up my laptop. The whole "dropping it off at the repair place" story is going to be quite a post. I'll write that one when I have a few minutes of time to really give it the attention it deserves! I'm hopeful the pick-up process will be much less painful.

I'll keep ya posted.

((sigh))

PLEASE Wash Hands Before Serving Food!

For those of you who have been around long enough to remember my first post, today's post is eerily similar to that experience.

On Saturday, hubs, LO and I joined our good friends, D and H and their son C for a trip to the zoo, about an hour and a half away. The plan was to do the zoo during the day, leave around 5pm to hit a local restaurant for dinner, then return to the zoo around 6:30 or so for their "Lights Before Christmas" spectacular! All in all it was a great day, the kiddos had fun, and we got to see a lot of animals, take pictures, etc. The downside? That tiny little hour and a half that we left the zoo for dinner.

We decided to visit a nearby Applebee's that was only about a 5 minute drive from the zoo. I'm going to do a bullet-point play-by-play of this experience because, honestly, it's the easiest way I can think of to share this disastrous event.

• We arrive and the restaurant is right close to EMPTY. The hostess--who couldn't be more than 12 years old--doesn't even look in our direction when she says, "Welcome to Applebee's. How many?" I respond by telling her we have 4 adults and will need 2 highchairs. She gets another 12-year-old to come over for assistance with this seemingly difficult task and the two of them pour over the seating chart (in an empty restaurant, mind you) for what could not have been less than 7 minutes. We all sat down at the entrance and waited. It was like an act of congress to find us a table. They asked if we wanted a table or booth... I'm sorry, did you not hear that we'd need 2 highchairs? Where would you put 2 highchairs at a booth?? So we opted for a table.
• They took us to a tiny table, with one side of it against a wall, so we had 3 sides to fit 6 people. Genius. Oh, and the table was located at the intersection of A) the bathrooms, B) the computer/register thingy the wait staff uses, C) the kitchen and D) the carryout order entrance. Two people almost knocked me over while I was getting LO's highchair ready. Then hubs took LO and H took C to the bathrooms to change diapers. D and I were getting situated when literally 2 different waiters stopped by and tried to take one of our chairs. "We have FOUR MORE PEOPLE joining us!" I snapped both times. A waitress came by to take our drink orders and I said (pointing to the empty chair next to me), "We'll have 2 waters." She walked away!! I stared at D and said, "I guess you and H can share our waters with us!" Unbelievable. After about 3 more people tripped on one of the highchairs at the end of our table, D got up and went to tell the hostess to move us--this table wasn't gonna work. I picked up all of our menus, waters, silverware, highchairs, etc. and moved them to our new table (the same size as the current one, but in a slightly better location and pulled away from the wall so we had all 4 sides to work with).
• Hubs, LO, H and C returned from the bathrooms and we all got situated. Hubs and D both mentioned that one of the waiters had gone into the men's room, was in there for awhile (gross!), and LEFT WITHOUT WASHING HIS HANDS!!!! I was disgusted.
• The waitress came by to take our orders. H asked what comes on the salad (she's also a vegetarian) and when bacon wasn't listed, she ordered her salad, her husband D ordered his meal, then the waitress came to hubs and I. I asked how much a side item was, she said it depended on which one you order. I said I was going to order 3 different ones (since I don't eat meat entrees anymore) and she said she'd have to go find out. Rather than delay putting our order in, I just ordered my mashed potatoes and steamed veggies and some fries (for LO). Hubs wanted an appetizer sampler. He asked to substitute one of the items and she said he couldn't. I piped in and asked, "He can't change out the spinach dip for cheese queso??" To which she responded, "Oh, sure, you can do that." Alrighty then! So our order was finally in. Whew!
• H's salad comes out--covered in bacon. She had to send it back. They brought another one out later but didn't bring the extra plate she had requested. She asked for it again. It never came.
• Literally 45 minutes after we ordered (you know, back before the restaurant started to fill up with customers), they FINALLY brought D and H's food. Hubs and I just waited until they finally brought ours out several minutes later. As soon as the waiter left from dropping off my food, hubs said, "You are NOT eating any of those potatoes on the right side of your plate. The guy that was in the bathroom that didn't wash his hands brought those out and his thumb was IN YOUR POTATOES. Sure enough, there was a freakin' THUMB PRINT plain as day in my potatoes. My steamed veggies? COLD. Hubs' appetizer sampler? COLD. The cheese queso had a nasty film over the top and it was obvious that platter had been sitting out for at least 10 minutes before it was brought out. We were NOT having a good dining experience.
• The waitress came over to ask if there was anything we needed... Hubs was obviously QUITE irritated but told her he wasn't going to deal with her about it; he'd talk to a manager before we leave. So what did she do? Send the manager over. He asked what the problem was. Again, hubs wasn't going to get into it with him at this point (we were still hoping to salvage our meal and NOT embarrass our friends D and H). I simply mentioned the cold veggies and the guy got incredibly defensive! He said, "I'm not trying to argue with you ma'am... blah, blah, blah." So he took the veggies and was going to bring me a new order.
• A few minutes go by. I hand LO a celery stick I pulled from hubs' sampler. I glance at her a few seconds later and immediately pull that celery stick out of her hand. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!! There was a HAIR on the celery stick!!!!! Hubs looked as though he threw up in his mouth, then immediately grabbed the appetizer platter, my plate of potatoes (which I had already decided NOT to eat for obvious reasons) and went storming over to the bar where the manager was standing. Luckily I had my back to the bar so I couldn't see the "scene" hubs was making. I was actually quite proud of him though. Normally I want to hide under the table when he gets into that "mode" but this time he handled the situation VERY well, especially considering everything we'd just been through.
• The manager of course comped our meals (really? seriously? we didn't even eat a single bite!!!!!), and while D and H finished their dinners (somehow theirs managed to come out just fine), hubs and I left and headed to the Wendy's drive-thru before heading back to the zoo to meet our friends for the lights show.

As you can imagine, it was NOT a good dining experience. I know for SURE we will NEVER be back at that particular restaurant; but now I'm afraid to ever eat in ANY Applebee's establishment. I mean, is not washing hands part of their wait staff training program? ((gag)) I don't know if hubs and I have a huge bullseye on each of our heads or what, but we seem to have experiences like this on an almost DAILY basis in one form or another. I seriously cannot believe how bad "customer service" has become these days. It's atrocious. I'd much rather stay in and cook food for my family that I know is safe and delicious!

Such a Shame!

Last night, hubs and I went out for dinner at a local Italian restaurant to celebrate our 3rd anniversary a few days early. It was just the two of us, and I was really looking forward to a quiet, intimate, romantic dinner for two.

Unfortunately that wasn't what we were in for.

The restaurant wasn't very busy when we arrived. We obviously needed a table for two. Where'd they put us? In a huge 6-person booth. Nice, huh? The added bonus was that the booth was right under a speaker that was blaring music (and not the quiet, romantic kind) throughout our entire meal. We were sitting mere inches from each other, and yet we had to almost yell to hear each other above the noise. Lovely.

Our waitress was a scary lady. Hubs made the comment during dinner that he thought she could totally kick his butt. I agreed.

As you may recall, I've gone vegetarian. So dining out has become a slight challenge. It's really not too bad, though. I just have to ask a few more questions, find out if entrees can be ordered without chicken or beef, etc. And that's exactly what I did. I ordered a bow-tie pasta with sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms in a garlic cream sauce, minus the chicken, of course. Hubs had the lasagna. I also ordered a Caesar salad for us to share.

Now, one of my favorite things about Italian restaurants? The Bread! So I was anticipating its arrival as soon as we arrived. No bread. Then we ordered. It still didn't come. Our salad arrived. Still no bread. When the waitress dropped the salad off, she said she'd bring out bread with our entree.

What!?

I don't know about you, but when my entree arrives, I want to eat it. But the 20 minutes or so I'm sitting around waiting for said entree? I'd enjoy some bread! Is that so wrong?

Our entrees are delivered by someone other than our waitress. Several minutes later our waitress walks by and we ask her for some bread, which she finally brings after a few minutes.

Ugh.

Nice, romantic, quiet dinner with hubs with at least mediocre service? Not at all what we got!

The biggest problem I had was that when our check arrived, I immediately looked to see if we were charged the full amount for my pasta. And, of course, we were! Why is that? It clearly states on the menu that chicken can be added to any pasta dish for $6. So why is it I was charged the full amount for a chicken dish without the chicken?! I mean, why not give a $2 discount or something just to make an effort!?

I was irritated enough to at least want to kindly make my point to the restaurant manager as we were leaving. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a single soul anywhere near the exit door. No manager, no hostess, no waitress. No one to say, "Thank you for coming! Have a great night! Come back and see us!" It was really irritating that I couldn't share a simple comment with anyone. However, when I got home I promptly sent an email via the restaurant's website to share my feedback.

Overall it wasn't a bad night--it certainly was nice to spend some alone time with hubs. Maybe I'll give us an anniversary dinner "do-over" and cook dinner for us here at home one night. That way I can control the music, candlelight, and the quality of the food and service.