The death of customer service

For the last few Christmases, Hubby and I have opted to buy one big household item instead of exchanging gifts. This year was a little bigger than usual, but sorely needed: a new stove.

We researched models, scoured reviews and comparison shopped. We decided to pull the trigger and take advantage of a Cyber Monday deal that gave us a significantly lower price plus free delivery and haul-away. Sounded too good to be true. There's always a catch, right?

Right.

The earliest delivery was Dec. 22. I hesitated, but knowing we wouldn't find a lower price or a way to pick up the stove ourselves, I didn't have much choice. It was still before Christmas, so we could thoroughly enjoy cooking on it for Christmas Eve dinner and Hubby could cook to his heart's content over break.

At 4:30 p.m. the afternoon before delivery I got a call saying the stove was on back order from the manufacturer (not cool, GE). They only deliver to our area on Tuesdays, which put delivery on the 27th, when we were out of town. Next available delivery after that? Jan. 3.

Freaking A.

But right at the beginning of our 4-hour window today, I got a call from the delivery truck that he was 25 minutes away. Sounded promising.

Until he arrived and said he couldn't unhook the old range and haul it away without installing the new one. I didn't pay for installation. Something about an open gas line (pssh)... But no one told me that was the case when I opted OUT of paying for installation and Mr. Delivery Guy didn't have a cap or anything to account for the fact that he wasn't going to be installing the range. He suggested leaving the old range until Hubby got home to install it. I not so politely asked him what I was supposed to do with it in the meantime. He suggested the garage. Uh, no hand cart dude, and I'm not carrying a damn stove that shouldn't be in my house.

I had had it up to *here* with the run around and delays from Home Depot and GE, so I gave him an ultimatum: either he figured out how to safely leave me my new stove and get rid of the old one, or I would be refusing delivery.

He quickly ducked out to his truck to call the home office.

Good idea.

The home office wisely decided that a good way to appease a disgruntled customer was to install the stove free of charge.

Another good idea.

But you better believe I won't be buying from either company again any time soon.

It is pretty though...

A New Year

2012 - A new year; a chance to start over!

Hubby is not big on New Year's Resolutions. I'm enough of a cynic that I usually agree with him. But this year, I think I'm going to turn over a new leaf.

Starting today.

I resolve to get out of my funk (again) and blog regularly. There are hundreds a handful of people who missed my writing.

I resolve that 2012 will be the year of the anti-pack rat. The kids and I purged their toys before the great birthday/Christmas/birthday toy explosion, but I did not get rid of as much as they received. And I didn't purge any of MY things... and I'm pretty sure that if there are clothes in my closet that I haven't worn in 10 years, I'm not going to ever. For one thing, I've had 2 kids. Nothing fits the same anymore. And I'm pretty sure the 90s won't be cool again for a long time... at least they shouldn't be.

I resolve to do more meal planning. I had enough time before a grocery trip this weekend to plan a month's worth of meals (at least weekdays). That means I have the all the ingredients on hand now, minus a few veggies and perishables that I can buy when I stock up weekly on milk, eggs, juice, etc.

There. It's a start. I'm going to try to set weekly goals for myself, and even write to-do lists (even though they normally give me panic attacks). Maybe I'll even start folding laundry and putting it away they same day I do it.

Nah. That's just crazy talk.

Whew

Well, we survived Florida. And the trip home. And the week after when I tried to attack everything at once.

But once I got my head above water and got some "down" time, I started editing  photos. A lot of photos. My dear friend not only put us up for the night as our "halfway" point, she also gave up her uber-nice Canon for me to use while we were gone.

Me + fancy camera = A schmidt-ton of photos. 797 to be exact. In 7 days.

In my defense, with trying to get two kids AND my dear Hubby to smile, it's not always one or two clicks and we're done. And a lot of times, I get home, load the photos onto my computer and have to pick the lesser of many evils. Someone is almost always scowling, not looking at the camera or has a finger somewhere it shouldn't be.

But then you put in my hands a NICE camera, and my trigger finger gets happy. Then on top of it, I had a couple lenses to play with too.

Oh yeah... we had fun with that camera. Definitely on my wish list.

But keep in mind, my photo software is as old as my camera. Still does what I need it to do (which really ain't much), but apparently asking it to deal with 200+ photos over a few days was too much.

It.... was.... so.... slow.... I.... couldn't....stand.... it....

I have the actual editing and filing process down to a science. I have the prompts memorized along with a few quick keystrokes. But actually waiting for my poor laptop and 6 (?) year-old software to catch up was enough to make me bang my head against the keyboard. Good thing I didn't. I can't imagine that would have sped the process up any.

I will keep drooling over and coveting my friend's camera, and start saving my pennies. We swung Florida this year - a camera is NOT on the horizon. But at the top of my Christmas list is new software.

I hope my computer will start speaking to me again.

I'M FAMOUS! ...well not really

As I run around like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to prep for our great Florida adventure, you can head on over to The Snarky Mom where I have a guest post today. She and I both have an affinity for America's Dairyland (as she still lives there) and understand the torture joy of working for newspapers. She needed some help filling her blog while she got her schmidt together and I was happy to help.

See ya'll in 10 days!

Relief

It's so shiny! And the water reservoir is bigger, too.

When the doorbell rang at almost 6 p.m., Nathaniel ran to the window, 

saw the FedEx truck and called, "Coffee for Mommy!"

Smart boy.

Chopped: SAHM edition

A friend started a group on Facebook where a bunch of us could post weekly menus, share recipes and give cooking/baking tips. I try to post every week because it helps me think through my menus (usually), so I'm not running to the store a couple times a week for "just one" thing and ended up spending $100. And when I get into a major cooking rut, it's nice to steal other people's ideas for a change.

Admittedly, this week I did not share a menu. That's because everything in my fridge needs eaten by lunch on Friday, otherwise I'll have a scary, smelly, science experiment waiting for me after our vacation.

I've done it before. It's not pretty.

Monday we had leftover sausage gravy, biscuits and scrambled eggs, which took care of all but one serving of gravy and 2 biscuits and 2 eggs. Last night it was leftover chicken noodles. Mission accomplished there. Tonight is cheeseburger soup (again, leftover) and salad.

After that it gets interesting. In no particular order, here are the perishables that need to disappear before the end of the week:

Taco meat (not quite enough for 4)
Rice
one serving of biscuits and gravy (and eggs)
yogurt
3 squeeze yogurt
half a gallon of milk
3 apples
1 mango
half a bag of clementines (those may make the trip with us...)
half a loaf of bread
2 hot dog buns
3 hamburger buns
4 English muffins
bag of pita (I really don't know the shelf life on those. They may survive)
appx 8 oz container of sour cream
1.5 green peppers
2 carrots
half an onion
cream cheese

I can be pretty creative to combine all of those things, but I kinda need more days and "stuff" with which to do it. I mean, there is more in the fridge and freezer that will last an eternity that can help, but I don't want to generate any more leftovers.

Maybe I should host my own episode of "Chopped" and see what someone else can come up with for dinner. And the ingredients in your secret basket are... All the crap from Bridget's refrigerator! You have 30 minutes. Begin!

Any takers?

Mama needs her coffee

Reason # 492 why I love my Keurig:

In August, I finally broke down and called customer service because my Keurig was leaking water all over my counter with every cup it brewed. This was particularly noticeable when I had a house full of people for Fun Fest and the poor thing was making like 8 cups a morning.

My Keurig and coffee mug... perfect harmony.

I waited and waited before I called because I was afraid a) they'd tell me tough luck, b) they'd tell me to buy a new one or c) they'd make me send my brewer in, thereby leaving me Keurig-less for an excruciating amount of time (ya know, like more than 24 hours).

When I called, the woman I spoke to was very helpful. We guessed it was leaking from the water reservoir, so she agreed to send me a new one at no charge.

Sweet! I thought.

I got the new reservoir in a few days and happily switched out the "defective" one.

I didn't notice any puddles on my counter (always a good thing), but one morning I decided to lift up the brewer "just to check."

Ahh, ignorance is bliss... puddle city underneath. So I sighed, grabbed a dish towel to put underneath and went about my day. I hesitated to call AGAIN because I was still afraid of a hassle. In my experience, customer service is dead.

Then this weekend was the last straw. I pushed the largest cup option to brew a nice, piping hot mug of my coveted pumpkin spice coffee... and it only brewed half a cup. I like my coffee strong, but not THAT strong, so I dumped it out and made another one. Wasted a precious K-cup. Tsk tsk.

It did the same thing again this morning (although I didn't risk the pumpkin spice this time), so I called Keurig. I explained what was happening and she promised to send me a new brewer, free of charge. I don't even have to mail my old one in first or at all! There was no yelling, screaming, crying, begging or standing on my head involved. They just need the little K-cup holder as proof and they'll mark my brewer as "defective" in their system.

I probably won't get the new one before we leave for vacation, but that just means I will have a brand-new non-leaking Keurig waiting for me when I get back.

We're driving to Florida and back with two kids, visiting the Mouse and hitting the beach. I'm gonna need that coffee.