I know your just dying to hear my Target Saga!.
So before our trip to Denver I went to Target and bought 2 Eddie bauer Duffle bags with wheels and handles so we could just do carry on luggage for our trip. It worked beautifully and we managed with out needed to check anything, except one of the duffles handle broke mid pull. The weight in both were about the same, and we managed to get the handle back on. All was well until we arrived back in Oakland and then as we were heading back to the car it happened again. No problem I told Jack - i'll take it back to our Target, I still have the receipt and its faulty.
So yesterday after dropping Megan off, I went to Target in Hayward, where I bought it less than a week ago. and the girl at guest services was nice but said since it was a 100 dollar item she had to get a manager to sign off, I said fine and she called over Fernando. He goes on to tell me that since we used the bag and he can't put it on the shelf to sell he won't let me return it.
Wait I said its BROKEN - you shouldn't put it back anyway - it needs to go back to the manufacturer. No he said Even though I had the receipt HE WOULD NOT TAKE IT BACK. I blew up and said let me talk to who ever is higher up than you. He said I'm it, there is no one higher than me right now in the store. If I wanted to complain I could call the company. Fine - GIVE ME THE NUMBER RIGHT NOW.
and then I sat on a bench right next to guest services and called corporate. And this is why I will shop there again, The not only apologized for how Fernando treated me, they called the store back and told them to take my return. I would have had more satisfaction if Fernando had been the one to get the call but it seems HE LIED and was merely head cashier - the actual store manager sent over another head cashier to deal with me, because in the mean while Fernando Left for the day. I got my money back, but I still wrote a letter to corporate about this jerk who was rude and lied to me.
One bad apple won't spoil the bunch - i'll still shop there. But I won't deal with him if I ever need to talk to a manager.
Megan started Kindergarten today. She had a tough night, because of the excitement of it all. And woke up this morning buzzing with anticipation! We got over there with a few minutes to spare, and then we were greeted by a very warm teacher. Megan beamed. I got her settled and then headed out about my day. My Target story is for another time.
I headed back to get her and I could just tell she had a good time. When she got in the car she said guess what mommy ... I get to go back tomorrow!
... course tonight she asked me when the next summer is :)
We're back from a brief trip to Colorado, where we got to see my sister Terri and her clan of amazing kids. Cassie is strong, athletic and articulate, Annie is thoughtful, poised, and Confident. They are both so beautiful. Its an honor to have them as my nieces. I only wish I'd met them sooner.
Jessica stole Megan's heart in a matter of minutes and the two have already made plans for many visits in the future. She is a spite fire with energy that reminds me of my big sister. Finally Wheeler is a charming boy with so much Cutherell Character! All the kids are well behaved and the house is a bundle of energy. I can't wait to go back and see them all again.
Terri's kids had already started school so our days were mostly with Terri, and then with the younger two who got out before lunch. We ate out one night for sushi, but the next two were easier to just hang out and cook and continue to get to know each other and for Terri and I to reminisce.
We managed to get our hands on a Wii before we left so we brought it to them and introduced the Boulder bunch to the joys of Wii Sports. Everyone got to get in on the game which is why the Wii is so great.
I guess my heart and Jack's though goes to Terri's new dog Marsha - a lovable mutt who reminds me so much of Ripley I'm actually grieving a bit now that I'm home. I love Oso and Little Guy but Ripley was such a love of our lives, that we still have pictures of her grizzled face up all over the house.
We're still amazingly busy, but i have time for an update. Megan and I had a lovely 2 days in Mendocino. We stayed at a B&B which while nice had a disappointing breakfast - Nothing home made or really fresh! Jack and I have stayed in several b&b's over the years, including one in Tasmania called "Squirrels in the park" Run by 2 expat brits who made us not only a wonderful breakfast but made us dinner the night before when we arrived in town with no dinner plans on a major holiday - nothing was open!. So I was disappointed, but Megan had fun.
We drove back and stopped at a farm stand picking up peaches freshly picked and ripe, corn that was just picked and so delicious! We also stopped at a winery where I picked up a really wonderful Zin, and another bottle of white we haven't had yet. We stopped in El Cerrito on the way home and had dinner with friends.
Jack and I tried going to differant movies last sunday - He and Megan saw Underdog while I watched Becoming Jane .
The week was filled with lots of activities, including a trip to the zoo, and Ikea. Megan also had gymnastics camp, Dance class and Sculpting class.
Today I'm going to film club and then heading down to Santa Cruz to have dinner at a friends bday party. Tuesday we head to Denver for a couple of days with my sister, before Megan starts kindergarten - NEXT WEEK!
On the kindergarten front she has a new backpack and we got her class assignments. She'll be attending afternoon kindergarten which starts at 11:25 so i'll be feeding her breakfast and lunch in the mornings! It also means no more sculpting class because they only offer it monday afternoons and she'll have to move to the monday afternoon dance class. I've got to figure out our nature class schedule too since really only Tuesday afternoons are open.
I'm not going to enroll her in a lot of extra stuff since school is 5 days a week.
Its been very busy for me and Megan this week. I guess its been a couple of weeks now. Today for example we went with our neighbor and her grandson to Six Flags and had a wonderful time. Tomorrow we're driving up to Mendocino to play with a friend who has gone on vacation there. Earlier this week we saw Underdog (which Megan loved! - and I was entertained as well) had a dance class and a swim lesson. On the weekend we went to a local art festival. Last week was more of the same - every day busy!
Some cool news - I've reconnected with an old friend from college - because Jack put in that new spam filter thing he was talking about on his blog. I'd been getting emails from Classmates.com for years since I'd first registered with them like 5 years ago. But I just had been treating it like all spam easier to just say junk in mail than go back to the source and say no more. but now that i'm not getting spam I've been going back to companies and saying remove me from your list - so I actually went in the email to find the stop emailing me address and saw that someone had left me an email like a week ago. So I went in and wow-! it was a friend i'd been searching for and missing for 15 years! - way cool
I'm also loving having the iphone - today at Six flags, when we'd stopped to see a show or let the kids do a ride i'd pull it out and send emails and pictures to Jack. It was great to just be able to look anything up I wanted when I wanted. Funny though I've set the ringer to an old fashion phone, and today of all days I had 8 phone calls and managed to ignore them all because even though I heard the ringing I assumed it was a land line and it was probably coming from one of the vendors we were walking past!
Add to all this the fact that i'm in the midst of the final Harry Potter book and I've been addicted to Paper Mario on the Wii and well who has time to blog!
Jack pointed me to an article on Huff today about the film Once.
I'm so happy for this little flick finally getting some recognition. Its really a beautiful film and If it manages to find its way to your multi-plex - I urge you to go!
At the beginning of summer Megan started sleeping in - first 8 then 9 and sometimes even 10. I made plans based on this new sleeping pattern and then I too started sleeping in - it was wonderful!
but early last week she started rising again at 7. And it became daily so I adjusted my clock again. Now I rise at 7 and today - well its 9 and she's still asleep!