Phone Update:

My phone is here. It arrived late this afternoon. Wednesday afternoon to Monday afternoon... yeah, that sounds about right for overnight mail.

Warning: This is a rant. If you do not want to read this rant, I understand. Enter at your own risk.

Two weeks ago I travelled to TN for my grandpa's funeral, traveling with my sister, her husband, and their 2 sons. On the way home, we stopped at a hotel for the night, and I left my cell phone in my room. Granted, that was a silly thing to do, but I was fairly unconcerned about not having my phone for 3-4 days. I always have said that I don't live by my phone. If it rings and I don't feel like answering, I don't. The person calling can always leave a message if it's an important call, right? Right.

I called the hotel right away that morning when I discovered my phone was missing. The female (a manager) on the phone said she would send it COD, and I specifically gave her my work address, since that is where I spend my days, and would be there to pay for the package on its arrival. That was on Tuesday morning. We arrived home Tuesday evening, and I spent the next few days trying to catch up with the piles of work on my desk, practicing for and singing at a wedding, and other such things. I do have a landline, but few of my friends know the number, and besides, the battery on that phone is, um, worn out? I can talk for 10 minutes or so, and then it starts beeping, informing me that its juice is running out. Drip, drip.

Monday came, and my phone had not arrived. No panic yet. I called the hotel and was assured (by the same manager) that it was sent COD Priority, and should have it that day or the next. Tuesday, no phone. Wednesday, still no phone. That evening I called the hotel again, speaking this time to the evening manager. He assured me he would do all he could to find out what was happening and give me a call the next day. He did call me back the next evening, with the post office receipt in his hand, and gave me several numbers from the receipt to aid in tracking the package. On Friday I called back down to confirm something, and I was informed by yet another employee that the package had NOT been sent express, but the postal service said I should have my package before Monday (today), and I should call if that is not the case. Well, Friday's mail went, and Saturday's mail went, and I still didn't have my phone. This morning I decided that this has been enough dilly-dallying! Why can no one give me any answers?

So... don't you know, I called the hotel again. I only need to say my name and they know exactly what I want by now. I do not apologize for calling, either. (Should I?) This time I talked to the manager I originally had given my address. I asked her which address she sent it to, and she said she had to check. She wanted to call the post office, and confirm something with them, and she would give me a call back in 10 minutes. Okay... I wait. She called back and said the post office confirmed that the package should have arrived by now, and she sent it to _______. I was dismayed. The address she gave me was my address about 3 years ago!!!! I exclaimed in surprise, and she told me that she accidentally (how else?) lost the address I had given her, so looked up the license information (my brother-in-law's, since he made the reservation) and sent it to that address. My brother-in-law doesn't live there, either, and hasn't for over 2 years. We dutifully carry our change of address forms along with our licenses as required, but it seems no one bothers to make sure the new address is what gets entered.

I called the post office for that old address, and they informed me that no COD package had arrived for that address in the past few days, but they would watch for it, and forward it to my new address, which I gave them.

Meanwhile, I called the hotel again, and asked them to fax a copy of the post office receipt to me. I had it within five minutes, and then despaired again. The package was sent First Class package, and was NOT sent COD. Now we are back to square one. My former post office is watching for a COD package, in vain. The package was not sent Priority/Express, and there was no delivery confirmation requested, so there is absolutely no tracking information. The package may indeed have been delivered to my old address, and the recipients have a cell phone with no idea why. Or maybe it's still stuck in the mail since it wasn't Priority. Or maybe it was refused and sent back to TN. Right now I have no idea.

How could such a simple thing get so bungled? The lady who took my address is supposedly the manager. She's told me so many untruths, though, that I begin to doubt that as well. Maybe I'll call the night manager tonight and get some more REAL information.

The 2 days back at my old job are over. I had a good time re-connecting with former co-workers--the bantering comes naturally when we're together--and it was a nice break from my current job, but my high hopes of big sales came pretty much crashing down. Lots of customers, small sales. Lots of barbecue chicken dinners sold, and LOTS of free ice cream distributed! Families came last evening for an evening out, and the atmosphere was very friendly and fun, which is always a good thing. Customers remember that.

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I'm Sunday School teacher tomorrow. The lesson is about moral purity, and I teach youth girls. It's a challenging lesson. I want to make it real to these girls how much our thoughts affect our actions. Purity begins in the heart. We say that we don't do these "bad sins" because of the fear of God. I wonder sometimes if it's not more the fear of being found out.

I'm trying to think when it was that the rain started. I'm not sure of the exact date, but I know it's been a long time. I've been taking an umbrella to work as a matter of course because I simply don't know whether or not it will be raining when I walk home. Most likely it will be. I'm beginning to feel like Noah. Except that I'm not in an ark. Nor, of course, do I have hundreds of animals to feed. And okay, neither do I have a wife and 3 sons and daughters-in-law to get on my nerves. So maybe I do have it nice. I would like to know how many inches of rain we've had or how many thunderstorms, but I do know that when we have two days in a row without rain it's pretty much a cause for rejoicing.

One online weather source says we should expect a thunderstorm in about 20 minutes, but another one says 7:00 pm. That's a difference of about 3 hours, hello! And the past few weeks it hasn't mattered how often I check the forecasts, I can pretty much expect them to be wrong. If they predict a thunderstorm for 10pm it's as likely to come at 5pm the same day, or 5am the next morning.

Mostly that means I don't check the weather very often anymore.

But I've been having a lovely week all the same. My best friend, Carrie, flew in from Ohio on Tuesday night. I've known for weeks that she's coming, but her husband had planned it as a surprise getaway for her, so she didn't know until Tuesday evening when he presented her with the tickets. It's been a lovely time together, connecting. We had been together for a few days about month ago, but at that time I was withholding a secret from her, and she from me, which pretty much stilted our conversations--we were too afraid of where our conversations would go. This time, with both secrets finally not secrets, we've been able to just say it all, and we've said a lot! I've been soaking in this time together because it'll probably be one of the last times we have like this since she and Jamin will be welcoming a new little life into their family come January.

So....with talking and sleeping in and shopping and just relaxing and not doing much, I've had an awesome time with her. Thanks, Carrie! You're the best!

[begin rant]

I've know for a long time now that people don't/can't read. This week confirmed that knowledge. Our Memorial Day sale starts tomorrow, May 22. The sale flyers went out Saturday or so, and ALL. WEEK. LONG. we have had customers coming in for the sale items. They bring their purchases to the counter, only to find out that the sale starts Friday, so they leave their items there and plan to come back Friday. Or, to make things a little more exciting, they rant and rave and proclaim to all the world that they drove 20 miles! out of their way to get the sale items, and they'll never come to this store again, and blah, blah, blah.
Fine. Don't ever come back. We might not miss you, either!
And yes, we've double-checked. The sale dates are in large print on the very front page of the flyer.
READ, people!

[end rant]

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I'm getting used to walking to work by now. These spring mornings are always so refreshing and wakening. After all the rain we had last week and earlier, we're absolutely lovin' this sunshine. This spring I feel like going wild with the flowers. I transplanted a hydrangea bush this evening, my lovely pink geraniums and white alyssum are planted, and my topsy-turvey tomato plant is finally hanging in its proper place. I'm keeping to annuals, though, (the hydrangea is in a large pot) since it's not my property and all.

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I'm so excited! My parents are coming this weekend, and since it's Memorial Day weekend, it means they'll be here longer than usual. My Mom and Dad are the best people on earth. They'll be attending at my church this Sunday, but since there's another visiting minister already scheduled, Dad won't have to preach! I think any minister's child can relate to that happiness. I would love to hear him preach again, but it will be nice not to set aside time for him to study on Saturday. The weekend promises to be full of good times, with garage sales (buying, not selling), campfires, good food, laughter, nephews, and maybe even some croquet and Rage and Settlers with friends. I like long holiday weekends...

What are you planning this weekend?