January 12, 2013
When DD and I had our visit last Sunday, we talked about her pottery class and how her locker had been cleaned of its latest projects plus her clay. She’d posted a sign per her instructor’s directions saying the contents were for the next session. Evidently, the Cleaner Outer either couldn’t read or no attention was being paid to the note. She would have liked to have seen the way her projects had turned out as well as having the clay to use. Now she’ll have to invest in more raw material and she’ll never know if her art was priceless.
After we’d caught up on several more topics, she said, “I’ve been thinking about when I’ll plan to come out this year.” (For the uninitiated, we take year about visiting each other.) “??” “I thought I’d come next month.” “???!!” “I could spend your birthday with you and go to the Prayer Breakfast on Sunday morning.” “??!!??!!” “I’ll have to work while I’m there, though, because I’ve used all of my paid time off.” Then it came to light that she had actually used more time than she had available and was having to reimburse her employer.
When I had a few minutes to recover, my Mother Mode went into high gear. She went on. She would fly into Atlanta, rent a car and drive the almost three hours—on a nice day—to my humble abode. In FEBRUARY?? Yes. I told her we are due for some winter weather. There would be no way to know if it might hit during that time. Historically, our bad months are January-March and sometimes into April. I would be a nervous sweat with her out on the Interstate in who knows what kind of conditions. I don’t care if she isn’t a child any more. She is still my daughter and I would be a wreck even if she didn’t (wreck). There was some more discussion until we agreed she should probably wait until May. By that time she should have some vacation built up so she wouldn’t have to spend eight hours a day slaving away, too. I told DS1 and family about this and my DIL said, “Sure! if she wants to get stranded!”
I really do appreciate DD’s wanting to be here during the time I’ll be turning 69 but the weather is just too iffy. It truly is the thought that counts.
I’d already had a sort of major problem that morning that had rattled me. My B-12 shot was due. I thoroughly washed my hands and prepared everything necessary. Drawing up the goosh was no problem but when I tried to pull the needle out of the vial, the needle and syringe separated. There was no way to get them back together and a whole milliliter of B-12 was lost. The syringe wasn’t usable. The only thing I could salvage was one alcohol prep pad. Big whoop.
Of course, I had to post it on Facebook which triggered a phone call from my former roommate from academy. My neighbor/cousin was having computer problems and had been calling off and on. She called in while Roomie and I were talking so I had to hang up. Long story short, the computer ended up being replaced later in the week.
The days were rocking on and I went to town on Wednesday to buy groceries and pick up my thyroid meds. No problems there. I used a coupon for 12 double rolls of toilet paper the manufacturer had sent me. I’d complained about the quality of their product and they sent me enough coupons for 36 rolls. Guess I’ll still be using it.
That evening, I got my bill for AT&T for my first month of service with 12mbps. It was supposed to be $24.95. It was $29.95 plus $.17 (I still don’t know what that is) for a total of $30.12. Well. I got online and chatted with an agent. Oh, yes. He would make sure I was billed correctly in the future (I’d been assured I would get it for $24.95 a month) and he’d give me credit for the overage. He didn’t. I chatted again with a different one. More chats and phone calls later, I was told I could get that speed for $24.95 a month IF I added on phone service. How much would that be? The bundle would be $59.95 a month. I don’t think so.
I was steamed. I had been promised the higher speed at the lower price. AT&T has a Facebook page so I posted this there:
Watch out for the AT&T chat reps. They will tell you just about anything to get you to sign up for something. Once you’re hooked, there’s nothing you can do but yell and scream. I signed up for U-Verse Internet only at $24.95 a month for 6mbps. After a little over a month, I upgraded to 12mbps and the chat agent assured me REPEATEDLY that I wouldn’t be charged more than the initial $24.95 a month. I thought it was too good to be true and it was. I am being billed for $29.95 a month which isn’t terrible but it’s wrong. I’m retired and $5 a month, over time, can add up. When I chatted with another agent, he assured me he would take care of the problem and I’d get the $24.95 a month for 12mbps I was promised. Not so. I spoke to billing twice and all they could do was apologize. I was also told (by two chat agents) that I could renew the promotional amount after my anniversary. When talking to a phone rep, I was told maybe so/maybe not. AT&T, you need to get everyone on the same page. This is ridiculous.
That got results. I was given the $10 discount Priya promised just to make me smile plus another $6 plus another $5. My total went down to $9.12. The social media manager also fixed my monthly amount so I will be billed $24.95 a month through January 8, 2014. ChrisZ told me to get in touch with him and he’ll see what he can do to extend that amount. Finally!! It would have been nice if I hadn’t had to jump through so many hoops to get it to that point.
And now another puzzle. I’d ordered two pairs of jeans from Kohl’s online on Cyber Monday. The Monday after Thanksgiving, right? When they came, they were much longer than the description said. I couldn’t use them. Emails and phone calls later, I’ve been given credit for both pairs but a pickup has never been issued. They are still sitting here in a box. That’s a strange way to do business.
Mid-week, DS1 called and asked me to come after church on Sabbath and spend Saturday night with them. I asked if I could pick out a movie for us to watch and he said maybe.
Thursday was too soon to get things ready to go so I planned to do that Friday. I’d made the mistake of letting the facilitator of the lessons on SSNET know that I’m familiar enough with HTML to be dangerous so she decided I should take on more responsibility. Getting up to speed has proved to be daunting. I’m still not “there”. Beside laundry and eating, I didn’t get much else done. That night, my nephew messaged me on Facebook and we were in a conversation for an hour and a half.
Sabbath morning, my cousin-in-law and I were talking between services and he’s offered to take me to my appointment(s) with an ENT. Now I have no excuse…His wife (my cousin) has been sick and when I heard the symptoms, I said it sounded like pleurisy. Sure enough! I could be a diagnostician!
I warned the pianist I would be leaving before church was over. I stayed until 11:50 Central, which was 12:50 at my house. I was on the road by 2:44. That was earlier than my target of 3 o’clock.
My DIL had a pot of delicious vegetable soup ready and I ate two helpings. We visited and, that night, I picked out the movie. My granddaughter was too tired to stay up. My DIL slept through a lot of it but DS1 really enjoyed it. He put it in the Instant Queue so they can all watch it and see the whole thing. Then he got into watching music videos. I didn’t keep count but one I really liked was this one:
I’ve since posted it on youtube with the message, “This is kind of “in your face” but it pretty much mirrors my feelings with a few (very few) exceptions.” There are two people who are my Facebook friends who will send me forwards when I’ve asked them not to.
Genese has asked for prayer for her daughter and granddaughter-in-waiting. Some more problems have developed that can jeopardize the baby’s life. If you are a praying person, please include the whole family.