Random Bullets of The Same-Old, Same-Old

There's nothing really exciting going on here in Casa KLee, which is why there have been so few posts lately. And, rather than reiterate that with yet ANOTHER post that tells you, yes -- I am alive, but am a boring sod, I give you Random Bullets!

* Offspring narrowly missed summary execution by bring home a truly horrendous mid-term report. After tears (on her part) and exhortations to get crackin' on that grade (my part), bloodshed was averted. But just barely. When your honor students brings home a 43% average, that's officially NOT GOOD. And, yes -- there was cussing involved. (Her father and I.)

* I am so freaking tired of Girl Scout cookies, you all just don't know. Many, many thanks to Kathy A. for relieving me -- and the hatchback of my car -- of ten boxes.

* I am headed to Baltimore in a little more than 2 weeks for a professional conference. Binsk, if you're out there, you up for lunch? I'd love to do the Mikey Kellerman Memorial Pub Crawl, but I'm a serious lightweight, and I have to get up and you know, FUNCTION, the next day.

* Said trip to Baltimore will happen on the overnight train, which I have never done before. I hope the train is comfortable for fat people who need sleep desperately.

* JF has been very sick this week, including staying home from work on both Friday and Monday. That NEVER happens. He has to be bleeding from the eyeballs before he admits to being sick, but poor baby's been doped up liberally with DayQuil, NyQuil, and they made another kind of -Quil, he'd be on that, too. He went back to work today, but dragged in this afternoon like the Living Dead. I hope he feels better soon!

* My mother and stepfather have a Westie named Doc. They love this dog to distraction, and I swear he couldn't be more spoiled if he were human. Now, I'm not a dog person AT ALL, but Doc has personality. I like him. Well, my Mom caved in, and they bought a female Westie not too long ago as a companion. Her name is Skye, and she's a cutie. They dropped by our house this weekend to show her off a bit. She's still a puppy, but Mom says she's already ruling the roost. Doc's a good boy to put up with all her mess. I'll have to get pics soon.

* School is going well, but there are always the few that lag behind no matter how much effort you put forth for them. I have one child who is in a very sad situation, not only in his school life, but in his family life as well. I have prayed for guidance on this one, but I think , sadly, I forsee a future falling through the cracks. We'll work our hardest to make sure that doesn't happen, but when the parents just don't care, there's not much you can do.

* The Girl Scout troop is going well, though I have a few very headstrong little girls. I am trying my utmost to mold that headstrong streak in a positive way. I'll let you know how that all works out.

That's really all that's happening in this part of the world. Sorry it isn't more entertaining.

Nothing New to Report

I'm here, but have nothing of great import to tell you all about. I got off work early today to go to the local Girl Scout store to get some needed items for my troop meeting on Thursday, and then I went to Sam's Club, where I got some chicken sausage with mozzerella and roasted garlic for supper.

What a life, right?

I know. Try and stop yourselves from swooning from the glamor of it all.

Life in the Fast Lane

My time has been booked pretty solid for about two to three weeks now. I have had a lot to do since starting this Girl Scout troop. There is a lot of planning that goes into those meetings, and most parents never see all that. Plus, there's been the continuing craft workshops that I'm trying to offer, and family stuff as well.

I did manage to jaunt off to a crafting meeting on Saturday, and spent the afternoon with 16 other ladies, learning all about the new products that our company is offering, and getting to make some great projects with said new, pretty stuff. If you'd like, I'll post some pictures.

Offspring spent most of today making a "Wanted" poster for a school project. May I say that I was very happy to be able to slightly seduce her to the Crafty Side with distressing tools, parchment paper, and a judiciously sponged application of brown ink to "age" her poster. There may be hope yet for her eventual assimilation!

JF got a begging "please come back to us!" plea from the makers of "Star Wars Galaxies", so he's been playing that all weekend. The verdict is not good, folks. He says he won't re-up past the 2 week free trial.

Offspring and I are gearing up for Girl Scout cookie time. It's right around the corner, much to my dismay. I enjoy the fact that we get to do a lot with the money that comes from selling cookies, but it's such a time-suck for about six weeks. Ah, well. We're planning trips to West Virginia for some snow-skiing in early April (most of our girls have never been skiing) and then a trip to Sea World in May, and an overnighter at Kennedy Space Center in June. Plus, all the while, we'll be saving for London next summer. So, we'd better sell a bucketload of cookies.

What's new with all of you?

A Fabulous Deal Comes Back To Bite Me In The Butt

The other day, I decided to shop online for some things I needed for Girl Scouts. (Have I mentioned here that I was asked to start up a troop at my school? If not, I'll provide details at the end...)

I went to the official online shop and found the few things I needed, plus some great deals on uniform pieces for Offspring. I got really excited when I saw that some of her age-level items were on clearance -- two different styles of pants, one priced at 99 cents, and the other at $1.49. They also had a uniform shirt for 99 cents. I got all happy, and started clicking away. I am always glad to find stuff like this on sale. So, I had my sale items, and one really expensive item. My total is close to $100.

Imagine my dismay when I get all of the shopping done, and am at the end of the transaction, with all of the credit card information entered in, and BAM -- I get an error message. I get "We are unable to complete your request at this time. Please try again later." I got a little ticked, but I just figured that their system was down. I thought I'd try again later, since most of that was a really good deal.

I try again later, but still get the SAME blasted message. Over the next two days, I try this same transaction several more times -- all are unsuccessful, much to my dismay. I end up having to call Customer Service in order to get what I want to go through.

Fast forward to this past Friday evening. JF, Offspring, and I are all relaxing at home, when there is a knock on our front door. The only time someone knocks on our door at that time of the evening, it's usually our friendly UPS man to deliver a package. JF opens the door, and comes back into our bedroom carrying 5 packages. Count them -- FIVE -- packages. I immediately get a sinking feeling.

Lo and behold, through the magic of the Internet, apparently ALL the times I placed that order, it went through. Never mind that I never got a confirmation on any of those attempted purchases, only an error. I now have FIVE pairs of pants, FIVE shirts, and four $75 silk scarves. Ouch!

Of course, the delivery arrives after the Customer Service office is closed for the weekend, and I rush around, all in a tizzy, trying to make sure that I only used a credit card, and not my debit card, or we're in a serious mess. JF is usually the worrier in the family, but I'm worked up -- this is more than $400 we're talking about; money we can't just throw away at this point. JF calms me down, and tells me to check the bank account online. We do, and it seems we're safe as far as these transactions go. They were all made with one credit card, and we can get that taken care of pretty easily.

So, this morning, I call the Customer Support line, and explain to the representative about what has obviously happened. She seems pretty shocked that their internal auditing system didn't catch this snafu, but tells me to box all the unwanted items up and send them back, and the will give me a full refund.

All I know is it's probably going to cost me a freaking mint to mail all this stuff back, and I certainly won't be buying anything online from them for a LONG time.

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* Okay, so I was asked way back in November if I would be interested in starting up a troop at my school for kindergarten and first grade girls. I told the Powers That Be that I would think about it, and after some deliberation, I decided to do it. My main reason for agreeing is that I recruited a good friend to serve as my assistant. Leading a troop is a lot of work, and I've had lackluster backup and dismal parent participation before. I decided that if I did this, I was going to need someone that I could count on to ACTUALLY help. My friend, whom I call "Small, But Sassy" was a person that I knew wouldn't let me down. What with holidays, school stuff, and the snail's pace at which the bureaucracy works, we didn't get our ducks in a row until this past week. So, that's the scoop. I'll keep you all posted. Cross your fingers for me.