Saturday Sassafrass.

And here's a glimpse into my week....

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I came over to Karen's house for a poolside business meeting on Wednesday. She had not had internet or TV for 5 days. I got to listen to the phone call she had with customer service. (Yes! Poolside entertainment!)

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The sitter came over on Thursday. It happened to be my mother, keeping the kids for me for a few hours. She was emptying the dishwasher for me, which I DO appreciate, but I said,"Mom, please don't do that. It's Z2's chore and she needs to take care of it."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know," she replied.

"That's okay," I said. "However, you DO know better than to call Z1 a jack@$* when he beats you in Stratego. Please don't do that either."

Babysitting by the Mamaw.... Free

Busting your own mother for HER mouth......PRICELESS

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Dear Swiffer,

I contacted you because the Swiffer Wet Jet I purchased (along with the extra cleaning pads and fluid, nay to the tune of $40) does not work on my floor. It leaves streaks and lines of dirt. IT just doesn't work for my floors. Your response, instead of refunding my money, was to send me a coupon for a free new Swiffer of my choice and extra cleaning pads. So now I can have TWO mopping devices to streak my floors? Help me understand how that works....

Sincerely Yours,

Melissa

NO TV OR INTERNET FOR 4 DAYS…THANKS AT&T!

Yep, my family went without TV and internet for 4 days, thanks to AT&T. Normally, I love their service. The customer service is great on the phone, the techs are great when they come out. But this time, well, they blew it. BIG time! And not just once. No, they blew it over and over again.

So without going into too much boring detail, I’ll just tell you that somehow they (“they” meaning the people NOT in St. Louis, where I am) decided I was part of a system outage, which I most definitely was not. One guy even told me that all of Missouri was out! So they kept canceling my service calls. Without telling me. Or calling me.

So after each missed service call, I’d call them, they’d tell me there is an outage, I’d tell them there isn’t, they’d call the dispatcher and tell them that information and reschedule the call, and the whole cycle would begin again. And again. 4 times, in fact. Until I finally got fed up enough and smart enough to demand that whether there is an outage or not I wanted a tech out there NOW and let me talk to a manager NOW. That worked!

Now I will say, that the guy that came out here was awesome and finally found the problem (thanks, dude!) and wouldn’t leave until he was sure all of our computers and TVs were working properly.

So our family is back to normal. The boys and I laid in bed this morning and watched Young Frankenstein. LOVE that movie! And even though most of the jokes went over their heads, they loved their first Mel Brooks movie, too!

All I have left to do is to call AT&T back and demand some compensation. I’ll have to get Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder out of my head and muster up some of that anger again!

Karen

Happy Memorial Day!

As we all get together for BBQ and family and friends, let us take time to remember and honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.

Happy Memorial Day!

Friday Funny- So I'M the High Maintenance One?

Remember a few weeks ago when Zoe begged to go on the Brownie Camping Trip? She was completely undone that she was the ONLY one not attending. Remember the conversation (during which I was completely mortified) with her Brownie leader stating that I was more of a mani/pedi, take you to the mall kind of mom? That I was not a camping kind of mom....

And you know, I AM a Nervous Nelly when it comes to leaving my children with others when I'm traveling. But after the conversation with no less than six other moms convincing me she would be absolutely fine and they would watch over her like a hawk, I was convinced to spend an extra six hours packing her camping gear and errands and preparing a small but sweet thank you gift for the Brownie Leader and editing the travel agenda with more phone numbers than the Yellow Pages.

So needless to say I was a little rattled when Aunt Bet called me on Friday morning. After having countless conversations with Zoe, she told me that Zoe was absolutely freaked out about going camping and was adamant that she was NOT going under any circumstances.

Now, knowing my FearlessIMustBeTheFirstToTryIt Daughter, this concerned me. Why, all of a sudden, after all of that planning and begging and and pleading, was she completely going off the deep end about camping?

Being the person I am, after talking with Aunt Bet, I relenquished. Honestly, if she was that set on NOT going, surely there had to be a really good reason. As well, I believe that sometimes you just have to go with your gut... (you know, the whole,"I really felt like I should turn onto this street that day even though I NEVER do that and it saved me from a nasty car wreck that would have ended my life kinda thing. Yep. I'm that girl.)

Turns out.... one of her Brownie mates was not going because there were spiders and the bathrooms were disgusting.

And I'M the one who can't camp? It took everything I had not to say anything. Every last ounce of restraint. I know the important thing here is that Zoe can trust that I am listening, even when I'm on the other side of the States, but dagnabit! that was six hours of sleep I will never get back.

It's true. Children make you gray before your time.

Yours, knowing this will probably happen a few more times, and loving parenthood in spite of it,

Melissa

THE CAREGIVER ORGANIZER HELPS NURSES FOR NEWBORNS!!!

Today, we decided it was our turn to give back. With all that’s going on in the Midwest right now, Melissa and I know how lucky we are. So we wanted to do something good in our own backyard.

After a lot of deliberation, we picked Nurses For Newborns to be the recipient of 275 hardbound books. They are an awesome organization helping babies here in Missouri and in Tennessee. Well, instead of trying to explain what they do, I’ll just let them tell you (from their website):

Nurses for Newborns Foundation exists to provide a safety net for families most at-risk in order to prevent infant mortality, child abuse and neglect by providing in-home nursing visits which promote healthcare, education, and positive parenting skills.

Nurses for Newborns Foundation provides services to babies who are born with medical problems, born to teen moms or born to mothers with disabilities/mental health concerns, or who are born into families who do not have money for even basic necessities.

In addition to medical care, we assist families whenever possible with donated materials needed for safe care, such as diapers, formula, baby food, clothing, bedding, and cribs. We welcome hundreds of volunteers each year who help us manage the logistics of this work.

So we thought they would be able to use our Caregiver Organizer for MY Child books and also for MY Special Needs Child books. They were overjoyed, which overjoyed Melissa and I! If you’d like to help out this incredible organization, you can also make donations at their website.

Gotta say, I’m feeling pretty good today!

Karen

Monday Madness

I'm sorry dear readers. It was completely my fault that there was no Friday Funny last week. I guess you'll have to read all about Zoe's camping trip this coming Friday. (Nothing like shamelessly building a little anticipation, right?)

And I'm grateful to Karen for blogging last Monday while I was stuck in San Francisco. That's an entirely different matter that I'm not certain I'll be able to truthfully blog about without repercussions. Let's just say, this time, it was CLEARLY NOT.MY.FAULT. And yes, I'm holding on to that card for the appropriate moment (insert knowing smirk here).

Today is the Monday that I come to kicking and screaming every single year. I know it's coming. My subconscious has been warning me for two months now, diligently ticking off reminders. I'll bet you have this Monday in your household as well.

Yes, dear readers, it is:

The Last Monday Before Summer Break (Chaos/Boredom/Complaining/Threats Involving Military Academy) Begins.

(Insert hair raising screams and quite possibly an ugly adult meltdown here).

I'm breaking out in hives just thinking about it.

This summer, however, taking a cue from Karen, and from memories of summers past, I have signed my children up for some camps. And swim team. You see, I don't get my summer off now that I have a job that is administrative. Yes, I'll be working a lot from home. And trying to mind the children while I do so. (OY!) Don't get me wrong, I love my children with my entire being. But you know how it is- the moment you MUST get something completed, you become a magnet for all things child related. It's the law of the universe. So this year, I've decided that my Z1 and Z2 will not spend EVERY moment of Summer together. I think it's going to be okay.

If not, there's always chocolate....

Yours, trying to get EVERY last possible thing completed before their break begins,

Melissa

SAVING MONEY FOR SUMMER!!!

So what are your kids doing this summer? Going to camp? Daycare? Maybe staying at home with a sitter? If a sitter’s coming, do you have all the information organized? And I mean EVERYTHING? Will she know the kids’ schedules and habits? What about emergency instructions? Time limits on electronics? Will she even know how to turn on the Wii? And if you have a Special Needs child, does she understand all that entails?

You’ve seen Melissa and I write about The Caregiver Organizer many times. Now is your chance to get one at 25% off for the summer. Maybe you’ll be using a new sitter, or maybe your child’s needs are just changing. Whatever the reason, The Caregiver Organizer can help you!

So here’s the Summer Special:

25% OFF

The Caregiver Organizer for MY Child

(use coupon code “child25”)

AND

The Caregiver Organizer for MY Special Needs Child

(use coupon code “snchild25”)

Click HERE to get to our website and download your eBook today at 25% off the regular price (which, by the way, is pretty inexpensive anyway!).

Here’s to an organized summer for you AND your babysitters!

Karen