Why you should probably hold a protest if I mention moving to your area.

You may never again mail a package without having to stand in line and deal with disgruntled postal workers and the 40,000 people in line who brought in their packages and yet forgot to bring the address to which it needs to be sent.

Anyway, with my own hopes of avoiding such issues, I planned to mail the packages I was sending from a post office I know that has a kiosk thingy where you weigh it and stamp it yourself and put it in a little barrel thingy and lift the lever and poof your package has now disappeared into the postal realm.

So I was childless for the evening and thought that the best time to do such an errand was before picking up anyone else and after my lovely dinner I headed in that direction.

I weighed each of my packages, and paid for the stamps - one which was $2 less than the other and even though the more expensive one was smaller and lighter and supposedly traveling by the same priority mail...so confusing. One thing asked me for it's size and the other didn't and whatever, the whole ordeal was fine. It asked me to make sure my package would fit in the barrel thingy and I set it in there. It did indeed fit, so I went on about purchasing my stamp.

Upon completion of the transaction, I put some extra tape on my package, because it said I had to cover any and all "other" markings. Then I placed the larger of the two packages in the barrel and lifted the lever. And the lever would not come back down. I jiggled it and whacked on it. I yelled "Curse you, Perry the Platypus!!!" Aaaaand. Nothing. I looked around, I asked my fellow late comers if they were mailing packages. They were not. I said "Good, because I think I just broke the post office, and I'm leaving before someone who is mailing a package comes after me."

Monthly Newsletter #50

Dear Landon,

This month has been one of your funniest months yet. You unintentionally do things that make me laugh. Like when I asked you to close the shutter and first you peeked out the window. Then you turned around and said “Mommy! You are not going to believe what I just saw!” Wide eyed and completely amazed, you described the same snowflake lights that the lady across the street has put out every year.

You amaze me completely with your outgoing attitude. Everyone you meet is a friend, you speak to adults without any hesitation, you ask questions – good questions – of speakers in front of large groups of people. These are things I still have trouble with today – I am so glad you don’t have the same problem.

I took you ice skating this month, after we got back from New York. You had wanted to do it at Rockefeller Center, but we didn’t have time really. You discovered that ice skating is not nearly as easy as they make it look on TV. I discovered that it wasn’t nearly as hard as I remember it being 20 years ago when I clung to the wall like a poster. Oh and possibly, the skates have gotten better, much more ankle support.

You also went on your very first Girl Scout camping trip. And loved it. You haven’t stopped talking much about how you need to be a boy scout – of course, they don’t start cub scouts until first grade, so it will be a while, you may just have to enjoy being a tag-a-long to Girl Scout trips for a while.

I also just want to mention this, because I’m almost positive that it will disappear and I want it recorded for posterity’s sake. When asked if you want white or wheat bread…you pick wheat – of your own volition. And when there is cheese? You want real cheddar cheese, no processed cheese slices – unless they are in your grilled cheese sandwich, and actually you still prefer the real cheese in those too. Given a choice between fries and apples? You pick apples way more often than you pick fries.

On to the things we need to work on. Please stop bursting into tears every 10 seconds. Seriously, if I decide to leave you in the car for the 30 seconds it will take me to get money out of the ATM from which I can SEE YOU, is not an assault on you. Also, when I shut a door that you had planned on shutting yourself – not a reason to cry. And while we’re at it, crust on your sandwich or sandwich cut in the “wrong” shape – also not reasons for complete meltdowns. Enough with the drama queen (king) antics. GAH!!!

Also, if you tell me you don’t want breakfast and then I drive all the way to the school to drop you off and we pull into the parking lot and then you announce you want McDonalds. I am not amused. It is not a perfect plan to spend more time with Mommy and maybe she’ll forget to drop me off at school.

And finally, the last thing (I know there are a lot this month), please stop pretending like you don’t know the routines we have. When you get in the car you have to get in your seat and put your seat belt on. I mean really, it’s not a surprise, it’s not a new thing, it’s the same thing we do every time we get in the car. Just like everyday when I drop you off at school, you can be assured that I will return to pick you up, I’ve never stayed at school with you, there’s no reason to ask me to do that, it won’t happen and it just makes us both start our day off badly.

All in all not a bad month, and I’m looking forward to Christmas too.

Love,

Mama

Sometimes the only way to get your frustrations out is to gripe about them on a public forum of some kind. Possibly a blog.

 

 

Oh look!  A blog!

 

For two days I've been looking at this weird hold on the checking account for some kind of construction company, for $0.01.  I called and asked them about it and the lady read to me exactly what I have on my screen.  Yes, I know it says that, it's what it says on my screen, but I was hoping you could do something about it.  Nope, not until it clears your account.  Yes, but it says "construction" and we all know that means $1,000s and I don't want to deal with that AFTER it passes.  Nothing can be done until it clears your account.

 

But I also got home yesterday to a call from the same bank, re: my allowance account and some fraudulent activity.  Like $300 for shoes, $200 for sporting goods, another $200 for shoes...I guess they recognized that a person who buys shoes exactly once every 2 or 3 years is probably not going to go out and buy $500 worth of shoes and they caught and declined those charges (not to mention the fact that I do not live in New England.)  What they failed to catch was the $40 in gas at a gas station in New York.  But it was still pending, so they couldn't do anything about it.  I kept getting told that over and over again.  Nothing can be done until it clears your account.

 

I went in at lunch to get a new debit card, since mine was frozen post the shoe shopping spree and subsequent non-authorization of said shoe shopping spree.  I even told that lady what was going on and she looked it up and said there was nothing that could be done until it cleared my account.

 

Well it cleared my account.  So I called.  And was told I had to go in to a branch and fill out a dispute form.  WHY DIDN'T THEY GIVE ME THE DISPUTE FORM WHILE I WAS THERE!?  I could have filled it out once it cleared and mailed it in.  GGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

 

Luckily the construction one didn't clear.  So there's that.