Monday, April 28, 2008

Weekend Report


So Shane and I just got home from a weekend in Vegas sans children. This was about the closest I got to doing any gambling while we were there, but it was the most FABULOUS weekend.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Little Man asked me...

So lately little man has been a little insecure about things, and maybe just a tad bit more clingy. I think its just a phase, so I have just tried to continually reassure him. Anyway recently I was explaining to him how I was going to leave him with a sitter (that he knows and loves) and he started to get a little nervous, and wanted to make sure that he would be taken care of and more importantly that I would come back. I pulled him up on my lap and told him that I was his mom and my most important job in the whole wide world was to take care of him and Baby Bug and that I would always make sure that there was someone to take good care of him if I had to go somewhere and that even if I did go somewhere I would always come back because there is no where in the whole world that I would rather be than with him and Baby Bug. He still seemed a little nervous so I tried to really drive my point home I said, "Heavenly Father chose me to be your mom, and that means that its my most important job to take care of you, and I will always be your mom and I will always take care of you." ('Even when you don't want me to' I thought to myself'). Little Man looked at me thoughtfully and said, "Mom who's Heavenly Father?"

"Uhhh..."

Now we talk about religious things openly and quite frequently in our house, and we offer prayers with Little Man's help all the time, and we talk about our Heavenly Father and Jesus regularly, but I suppose I have never explained everything out like I should. It seems like a major oversight now, but I suppose I just took it for granted that everyone even my three year old knows who God is. So I answered him the very best I could, but what struck me was not the answer I gave, but the rather the question itself. How do you explain God to someone so small, and innocent and whose understanding is so concrete. How do you introduce God to someone. The final answer I settled on was so simple, but Little Man was completely happy with it. Heavenly Father is someone who is in charge of the whole world, and He loves us more than anyone else, and because He loves us He watches out for us all the time, and takes care of us all the time, and one of the ways that He takes care of us is by giving us families. It was a reaffirming moment for me. I am so grateful for the raw innocence of my children, they are one of my greatest gifts from God.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Lets talk customer service.

So I have a secret, ok its not really a secret, but I love gadgets, and deep inside I am a great big computer geek. For many years I have wanted to upgrade my computer, and finally a few months ago I did. I ordered what I thought would be a great little laptop computer from dell. I was so excited for my new toy I order all the best components, and even forked over the extra fifty bucks to get my sweet new computer in spring green. I waited a few weeks and then it came, my wonderful new machine. Ahh it was so beautiful, and fast, and had all of the bells and whistles. Oh I loved it. I used it everyday, I didn't even mind that I had to spend another pile of money to upgrade my other programs so that they would be compatible with Vista.

Yes, my new computer was perfect...for about three weeks. And then one day as I waited for my brand new computer to boot up I did not see my lovely welcome screen, I saw a black error screen. I re-started my computer, and the error screen did not appear again. I wrote it off as a software glitch, no big deal. Then it happened a few days later, and this time re-starting didn't work right away. Soon the black error screen was appearing more and more often, and eventually starting my computer, was next to impossible. I called customer service, waited on hold, spoke to a tech did everything that he told me to do even though I knew it would not help, and then after an hour he told me that I would need to back up my files and then reformat the hard drive. So I did and all was working well for a few weeks, until that same error screen surfaced again. I reformatted again. And then a week later found myself fighting a losing battle against the black error screen to start my computer. After two hours of trying to get it working I called customer service, the tech started the same process I had already been through to fix the problem I politely told the tech that I could not do any of the things that he wanted me to do because well my computer wouldn't turn on, and even if it would I was not doing it because, I'd already spent an hour on the phone with a tech and it did not help. My case was "escalated." 48 hours later Ronnie called me to help me fix the problem, I carefully explained the problems, I told him about how my aspiration to have the coolest gadget was slowly dying a painful death. I told him how taken advantage of I felt. I told him that I had spent what felt like a very large amount of money to buy this computer, that I now hate, because it frustrates me daily. I told him that Dell had stolen from me when they took my money and gave me a defective computer in return. I asked him if consumers should just accept that when buying from Dell getting a shoddy product was simply a risk they should accept. I went on and on and when I was done he told me he would send me a new hard drive.

So today the hard drive arrived I opened it up and looked at the seal on the static bag, there in great big letters was the word REFURBISHED. Now I don't want to sound like a diva, but I paid for a brand new "functioning" computer, not a broken one, and not a refurbished model. I called Ronnie right away and left him a message telling him so.

So here I am waiting to hear back from my customer service rep and wondering how much poor quality is acceptable. I don't remember in the product description reading "lots of RAM, big hard drive, oh yeah and may or may not work. Also in addition to the exorbitant amount of money you must plunk over for this computer you will also be required to spend large amounts of time on the phone, fixing the problems that you didn't know you ordered." I feel like I am being held hostage by Dell, while they slowly suck the life out of me. Yes they are working with me, and they are trying (although not succeeding) to fix the problem, but why is it acceptable that there is a problem to begin with. Why can't they just say, "we're sorry we sold you a lemon, here's your money back, we won't waste your time anymore." Why do I have to pay for their mistake, or I guess it was my mistake when I bought from them in the first place. Either way me and the other consumers who are in the same boat lose, and our only consolation is being able to whine about on our blogs. *Kicking and pounding fists* Its just not fair!

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Self expresion through licensing

So the other day I'm waiting at a red light and I see this shiny new Saab in front of me. I'm thinking to myself what a pretty car it is, and feeling a little jealous from the driver's seat of my oh so average mommy car, when I read the border around the license plate it says...
"Edward Cullen's got nothing on me"
For a brief irrational moment I wanted to jump out of my mommy car and slide into the plush passenger seat of the that Saab and let it drive me away. Then the light turned green and we all returned to our regularly scheduled lives.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

He's not a picky eater...


He just knows what he likes.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

New Addition

Yeah I know its been forever, we've been swamped here at the Note's household. One fun event that we celebrated recently was the momentous third birthday of a certain little man. Shane and I struggled with what to give little man for his birthday he has way too many toys that he doesn't play with already, and then Shane thought of the perfect thing. Internet meet our new pet Bown...

Yes you read that one right the fish's name is Bown as in rhymes with down. Little Man named him all by himself. He is a great pet, Little Man can't wait to feed him each night, and Bown dutifully rises to the top of the tank and eats the fish food, which absolutely delights Little Man. After picking up Bown we spent the rest of the evening eating pizza and cake with family. Little Man told me that he wanted a "car cake with a giraffe." Check it out: This mom delivers.