{its my party & i'll cry if i want to}

Ugggghhh...I usually try to keep most of my posts on here cheerful, informative, and/or fun. But I guess since this is my place, I can do what I want, huh?

What I'm trying to say is that I am feeling a little sorry for myself tonight. In the almost 2 weeks since I broke my ankle, I have tried to have a grrrreat attitude. And I'm pretty darn sure that I accomplished that goal. Like 24/7. The kids staying with my SIL played a big part in my being able to keep it going. Now that they're home, it is all feeling a bit more real. I cannot get up and help my kids do anything. I can't easily go to the room they are in to intervene in ww3. I can't pick up a pile of junk on the floor and put it away. I can't even shower completely solo.

Everyone around me is very willing to help. Really. They are. My mom has really gone above and beyond. I mean, she cleaned my house just about from head to toe, caught up on all the laundry from our trip, and has spent countless hours keeping me company. She is the bomb...seriously. My husband has been very thoughtful. He bought a shower stool so I can keep clean without having to sponge bath. It feels heavenly. He calls several times a day to check on me. He's a cutie pie. I'm so glad I picked him. I really am!

The thing that is bothering me right now, is that I don't want to ask for stuff and bug people. I don't mind asking for a bit of help with the kids or for a few dinners, but I am realizing that I am going to have to gloss over things that are bothering me for a while. Aforementioned piles of stuff on the floor that may belong to me, and are usually my responsibility since it is my stuff...but I just can't do it. Ugggghhh.

And with so many others going through things that are soooo much tougher, I feel silly and guilty even feeling this way, much less posting this on my blog.

Let's see if this little exercise helps at all...here are some things that I can appreciate about my current position: (just go with me here...kind of like a situation gratitude list)

• I get to read a ton of blogs cause I can't do much else.
  
• I am not currently expected to maintain my house in any way.
  
• I get to spend tons of time with my mum (we're great buddies, y'all...love that woman)
  
• I get to endulge in Bravo marathons of Project Runway, Shear Genius, and discover new shows that I now love, like Tabitha's Salon Takeover.
  
• Did I mention that I love reading and discovering new blogs?


• I'm sure there is so much more...this is just what I can think of for now.

I think it will also help if I pretend that this is my bedroom where I get to hang out:

I am sure that I will feel better tomorrow. I am just having a minute (or 60) of a pity party. I feel better now. Thanks for listening.

P.S. Kelli -Thanks for dinner. It was so yummy & I pretty much inhaled it. Kind of embarassing, really. But don't go feeling like you need to run over here and do anything. I'm just venting, really. I promise. Put your keys away. Go sit down. I mean it. And thanks again for tonight.

{A Blogging Break, A Birthday Party, Broken Bones, & Plenty of Time on My Hands}

Oh my, how I've missed you all! As you know, I spent a little over a week in Utah, visiting Mike's family (I claim them for my own as well...love my whole clan of in-laws). We had a ton of fun and kept busy enjoying one another's company, shopping, partying at the family reunion at Bear Lake, andsoonandsoforth.

It took several days to recover from the red-eye flight and generous lay-over in the middle of the night. Mike and I were so proud of ourselves for unpacking right away...as in, the minute we walked in the door...even though all we really wanted to do was sleep for hours. It really makes sense to not procrastinate that task. I hope we'll make that a habit from now on.

I am the kind of person that can only deal with the next big thing, as far as planning goes. For some reason, I can't plan for multiple things going on in the same month, for example. So it was no surprise that I didn't start to plan for Zach's 6th birthday party until we got home from our trip. We got back on Monday, the 11th and the party was scheduled for Saturday, the 16th.

There was a big swap meet-type event at our church that Saturday as well. During the previous week, you donate things you want to get rid of, then people come on Saturday and pick stuff up for free. It is pretty cool. Remember that FREE is my favorite price, right? So I did EVERYTHING ahead of time for the party. You would seriously be so proud of me. I'm actually pretty proud of myself. Here's what I did...

It was a Shrek Theme...

• Made ice cubes with gummy worms in them and instead of water, used green drink.
• Made and decorated the cupcakes with green slime frosting, dirt (crushed oreos), and a gummy worm.
• Prescooped the ice cream into cupcake liners...do you hear me? Pre. Scooped. The. Ice. Cream. Cool, huh?
• Stuffed shrek goody bags
• Stuffed Shrek pinata
• Gathered other party supplies in a cute tray...disposable plates, cups, silverware wrapped in napkins, etc.
• Decorated the house with streamers.
• Made party dip for chips and tinted it green.
• Prepared leeches on a log (like ants, but Shrek likes leeches)

I was determined to get everything done the day before so that I could enjoy the FREE stuff in the morning, and get home at about 10:30...the party was to start at 11:00.

Taylor and I got up and left the boys sleeping as we went off to find some treasures on Saturday morning. I'll skip all the details cause I'm kind of getting sick of them, but...long story short (or not so much), while stepping off a cement step and onto the sidewalk at the church, my ankle rolled and I fell. I knew right away that it was broken. You see, this wasn't the first time this left ankle of mine had broken. (I'll have to tell you that story sometime.)

While I was in surgery, my dear friend Becca without a blog ran the birthday party for me. Boy, was I extra glad I'd done so much prep the day before.

Sorry for no great pictures for now, but I will have quite a while to "play" on the internets now...like 6 weeks worth.

We'll talk soon. I think my meds are kickin' in.

Grrrrr...TeleCheck

Have you ever dealt with a company by the name of TeleCheck? You may have dealt with them unknowingly, even. They are a check guarantee system that some merchants use to, well, guarantee checks.

OK - Here's the situation, my parents went away on a week's vacation, and, I took the keys... (got a little carried away with Fresh Prince in my head, there. Anyway..........

Here's what happened:

The kids and I went to the free movie this morning at Regal Cinemas. It was Alvin & the Chipmunks. Cute movie. Anyway, after lunching at Chick-Fil-A (we affectionately call it "Chickee Fil Lay Lay") using our free meal vouchers from the first 100, I thought we'd head to the mall across the street and check out the end of season sale at the Children's Place. Rumor was they had an extra 50% off already marked down stuff.

They did, and I picked some stuff out for both kiddos for next summer. About $50 worth. I try not to shop with kids in tow, but in the name of saving gas money, I succommed to the sale since we were right there. I bought Zach a ton of stuff at $2.50 each and the most expensive purchase was for Taylor. A playdress, coming in at $6.99. Considering that's not tons more than I pay at thrift stores, I'm pretty happy with my purchases. Well...almost purchases...

Are you wondering what the heck this has to do with TeleCheck? Well, here's where it gets frustrating.

My total...$54.99. I wrote my check and handed it to the friendly employee. After a few minutes, she told me that it was declined. They use a check guarantee system and it wasn't approving the check. She didn't know why, though.

She handed me a little slip of paper with this message:

"We are sorry that we cannot accept your check, open your account, or cash your check at this time. Our decision is based, in part, on information provided to us by TeleCheck. If you have recieved a turndown, our decision may also be based, at least in part, on TeleCheck's need for additional information. We encourage you to call or write TeleCheck's check Writer Services Office to obtain the information in TeleCheck's files. Please include...blah...blah...blah..."

Also included on that paper was a toll free telephone number to call 24 hours a day.

So I did.

I rounded up the kids (who may or may not have been crawling on the floor under the clothing racks) and sat them on a bench outside of the store so I could make this phone call and straighten this situation out.

I knew there was plenty of money in the account and that it shouldn't be declined.

Lo and behold, after entering umpteen million (yes. I' m pretty sure that's a real number) phone numbers, check numbers, etc., etc., I was told by a recording that they couldn't accept the check. No reason, no human.

I tried back seveveral times, trying multiple ways to get a human on the phone with me. It. did. not. give. me. that. option. In desperation, I tried pressing zero to get a human. It hung up on me. Seriously. (Is my level of frustration coming across here?)

I went in to talk to the girl at the counter and explained the situation and she over-rode the transaction. Thank goodness for customer service.

We came home and I looked up the TeleCheck company online and found another phone number for them so I could speak to a human.

Enter a not-very-helpful customer service human being that works at TeleCheck. I told her my story...blah...blah...blah. I asked to speak to her supervisor. Cue the not-very-helpful, beligerant customer service human being supervisor that works at TeleCheck.

Get this - she told me that the account didn't have enough history in their system. Mind you, that account is about 5 years old. I told her that. She said that there weren't enough transactions or purchases made with it in the last 365 days. Whah????

Mike & I have several bank accounts for different things. One of those accounts gets money deposited into it EVERY PAYCHECK and rarely gets checks written to withdraw money from it. This is for things like school supplies, seasonal clothes, once-a-year payments, etc. And I use billpay online a lot. So basically, because I choose to save my money in this account, I can't use it when I need to. Seriously flawed system. "It didn't meet their company's parameters" (to quote the ever helpful Telecheck supevisor) for a check that could be approved.

She said that I should've called from the store. I told her that I did (multiple times, in fact), and that I could not get ahold of a human to help me. She says that the recording comes on when all the representatives are busy. It did not tell me that, nor did it give me an option of holding for a human representative.

The wonderful, helpful, beligerent supervisor told me that they just had to call the bank to verify the balance amount. Well - I guess that would've been helpful if I could get ahold of a human while still at the store, then, huh? She could care less that their system is flawed and told me she had no supervisor there and wouldn't give me a way to talk to one.

My next plan of action was to call the Children's Place customer service and let them know about the bad experience with TeleCheck. I thought they'd want to know that they were "partnering" with a company that is that difficult to deal with. The nice CS lady (I was totally nice to her too, btw. My problem was not with TCP at all) at TCP said that they'd had lots of complaints about TeleCheck and they are in the middle of getting a new check guarantee company to work with. She thanked me for sharing my experience and said that it did matter to them how their customers are being treated by TeleCheck.

There. I feel better.

Anyone else have a frustrating experience with a check guarantee company?

(photo sources: http://www.g-easy.com/; http://www.icsc.org/vrn/0008/childrens_place.gif;http://www.blog.wellsfargo.com/)

Ants Have Taken Over My Kitchen

Dear ants inhabiting my kitchen,

Seriously...could you leave, already? I mean come on. I understand that there's good stuff on the countertops sometimes and dirty dishes in the sink callin' your name and all. But still.

Don't you read the internet? There are pages upon pages of tips on how to get rid of you. I have followed all of that advice and none of it is working. I've tried to give you little "ant motels" to hang out in. Were they not decorated cute enough, or something?

From what I understand, you don't like to cross over a line of chalk or a sprinkling of baby powder. Do you realize that it is not fun having baby powder sprinkled all over my kitchen? Although, baby powder is preferable to having you all over the counters.

We've caulked up the spots you use as your special "doors" and bought the nice expensive Terro stuff the internet promises will make you leave us alone. What is with you anyway? Just go away!

I'm seriously too discusted to cook in my kitchen right now and my family menus and budgets are suffering.

Windex kills you right on the spot and I've got plenty of it, but I'm pretty sick of cleaning up trails of your carcasses all over my kitchen. Just eat that sweet smellin' stuff and leave us alone. You have really overstayed your welcome.