RE School on Hold

A couple of posts ago I said that I was starting Real Estate School. Well, actually that has been put on hold for awhile. It just isn't the right time for it. I really look forward to continuing my education, but with the way the economy is right now, Daniel and I just can't bring ourselves to sink a ton of money into it.

There is always tomorrow!

Costumer Service?

Be forewarned. This is a long post full of my rantings. Feel free to skip it without feeling any guilt.

I can't believe it! I actually had a positive experience while dealing with a business this week.

It seems like over the past years a lot of businesses have stopped focusing on costumer service. What ever happened to the motto "The costumer is always right". I think this has been on my mind lately because in the last month or so I have had two major confrontations with sales people. The first one was with Temp-A-Cure. I am going to discuss that one on a post all of it's own. The second was with Sears. So here's my story.

Two Christmases ago, Daniel bought me a watch from Sears. It wasn't exactly my style so I returned it and purchased a different one. When I was paying for it the clerk offered me their 2 year service warranty. I told her no thanks because I always lose the receipt, so it ends up just being a waste of money. She then told me that I didn't have to keep my receipt because Sears kept my info in their system. All I had to do was go to any Sears in the US and give them my name and they could pull up the warranty. I thought that was great, so I bought it.

Well, about three weeks ago I took my watch in to get the battery replaced because my indiglow light had stopped working. I took it to the jewelry counter and the clerk asked me for my receipt. I explained that I didn't have it and then explained why. She tried to pull my info up on the computer. No luck, she couldn't find me. She went to the back and tried there. Still no luck. She was pleasant enough to work with but after about 20 minutes she told me that she couldn't help me because their system only kept records for 1 year and then it dumped them. I asked her what should I do. She said if I could bring in the credit card statement that said that I had bought the watch from Sears that I could get a new battery.

I drove home slightly flustered. However when I got home I went back through my bank statements and found where it said that I had made a purchase from Sears. It didn't list what I had bought specifically but it was the best I could do. I knew that was when I had purchased it, so I knew it was the right transaction.

2 weeks later back to the store I go. I explain the situation to the lady behind the counter (a different girl this time). This lady was not helpful. In fact I would have to say that she was down right rude. Basically she told me that there was no way to prove that I was being honest and that it was stupid of me not to keep my receipt in the first place. I asked her if I could speak to a manager and she got all puffed up and informed me that she was one. After several rounds with her she finally told me that "just this once for customer satisfaction" (oh boy, was I NOT satisfied!) she would replace the battery. She gave me a little slip to take to the repair counter that stated that I had no prove and that they would not honor any other part of the warranty except to replace the battery this one time. Hello! Why didn't she just stamp the word lier on my forehead!

The thought occurred to me several times "Was all of this worth it for a new battery?"

And then wouldn't you know it? The technician informed me that the battery was not the problem. There was something else wrong with my watch.

I stormed out of there and on my way home I called Daniel and unloaded on him. Can I just say how much I hate confrontations (and how much I love Daniel). Daniel sat and listened and did what I could never have done. He sent an email to Sears Corporate office. They emailed us back to say that we would be contacted in a few days.

Two days later I got a call from the general manager of the store that I had gone to. Let me just tell you the experience was like night and day. He had me explain the situation to him and then he sincerely expressed his apologies. He said that he felt bad that I had to go though such an uncomfortable situation and that he planned to make it up to me. He then asked how much I payed for the watch. He then said that the next time I went into the store there would be a credit waiting there for me in the amount I paid for the watch. He said that I could us it for whatever I wanted.

WOW! I couldn't believe it. I guess customer service isn't dead. To bad I had to be made a fool of to get any. All that really matters to me though is that they did make it right, in the end.

At the ZOO

We went to the Zoo today. Notice how we are dressed! It was so cold when we first got there. Finally it started to warm up around noon. Crazy! I thought by the end of June we were suppose to have packed away the jackets.

It was great fun though. We road the train, watched the bird show, visited the rose garden, and played at the park. It was a full days worth of fun!

Kiraism

Kira and I were spending some time together baking the other day. As I bent over to pick something up, Kira informed me that my bottom was wiggly and jiggly. I told her thanks for the information and let it drop. Then several minutes later, as she was bringing a batter filled cake pan to the oven, she said, "See mom, you bum wiggles just like this cake batter!"

I guess that's what I get for always encouraging my kids to be honest.

Little Miss Domestic

Here is my little garden. This picture was taken on June 16th. The day after I planted. I know it doesn't look like much but these things have to start small.



We planted late because the weather has been so cold and rainy. We have 6 tomato plants, 2 zucchini plants, 1 squash, 3 cucumber plants, 2 sweet pepper plants, and 1 cantaloupe (I really don't have much hope that it will produce though).

Last year I planted a garden but was unable to keep it up because I had just given birth to Michael. I hope this year goes better. I'm pretty new to this whole gardening thing though, so we will see.

I also finished making 35 pints of strawberry jam. Isn't that a beautiful sight! And it tastes good too!

Mission Accomplished!

(Jen is going to kill me for posting this picture, but it was the only one I had with the two of us together. I thought when you had a digital cam it was suppose to end the days of bad pics. Don't you just love that we match! We didn't even plan that!)

After almost a year and a half of little to no running, I decided that it was time to lace up my running shoes.

When I got pregnant with Michael I had just finished training for and competing in the Hood to Coast relay race. I was running 3-4 miles four days a week and then doing a long run on Saturday. I felt great. I had never stuck with an exercise program before and I surprised myself by sticking with this one. I had never seen myself as a runner. In fact before I started this training, the last time I had run any significant amount of time was in high school gym class (and back then I hated it).

The H2C relay was in August and come late September I was already starting to feel the effects of being with child. Because I was so sick and because my heart rate went through the roof every time I tried to run, I stopped running all together. I figured I would pick it up again after Michael was bone. It took me almost 6 months after his arrival to figure out how to find the time to exercise again.

So some time in January of this year I decided that I wanted to try and run another 1/2 marathon. Honestly I wasn't sure I could do it again, especially after not exercising at all for more then a year. But here it is, the middle of June and I have a finishers metal around my neck.



Jennifer (who was my running partner last time) and I decide to train together again for the Helvetia 1/2. Up until the weather got better we ran inside on treadmills, but once it got a little warmer we did all of our longer runs outside. Jennifer planned all of our routes. We started by running 7 miles, adding a mile each week, until we reached 13 miles.

Both Jennifer and I felt very good when we finished the race. We ran a little slower than we did in 2006, because we didn't push ourselves as hard. But the pace was much better for both of us. We finished the race in 2 hrs, 25 min. (about). In 2006 our time was 2 hrs, 21 min. So even with the slower pace we only finished about 4 minutes later. And this year we finished feeling wonderful instead of feeling totally spent.

I had a great time! So great in fact that now we are making plans to do a triathlon!

Give me that Wink

Michael was trying to wink today.

It was soooooooooooooo cute!

These are the best pictures I could get though. It's hard to capture the moment when it happens in the wink of an eye.

The Man of My Dreams

I'm not much with words so this is going to fall sadly short on expressing what I really feel. However, I can't let this day pass by without trying to convey some of the love and appreciation I
have for the father of my children. Since I am much better at making lists than at constructing sentences that is the form this is going to take.

The top 50 reasons I love Daniel:

1. He loves me unconditionally
2. He plays with the kids
3. He is great at helping our children unfold the scriptures
4. He's forgiving
5. He's respectful
6. He never puts me down
7. He never complains
8. He is a wonderful father
9. He honors his priesthood
10. He gently encourages me to be a better person
11. He never pushes or pulls
12. He gets up with Michael EVERY night
13. He is a great provider
14. He loves reading to the kids
15. He's not afraid of hard work
16. He's so funny
17. He's helping me learn to enjoy life more
18. He is patient
19. He thinks more about me and our family then he ever does about himself
20. He's not afraid to try new things
21. He is continually working to improve himself
22. He's not afraid to recognize his short comings
23. He is an exceptional teacher
24. He loves to be near me, even when I can't stand to be near myself
25. He's supportive
26. He's hot stuff
27. Our priorities are the same
28. He's tender
29. He's the best dad in the world (and there is a difference between that and being a wonderful father)
30. He's in tune with the spirit
31. He loves to see me smile
32. He knows me inside and out
33. He never gives up
34. He is always willing to help others
35. He's honest
36. He is great with words
37. He's so darn smart
38. He never criticizes
39. He helped me learn to love reading
40. He doesn't like watching sports
41. He makes me laugh at least once every day
42. He's not afraid of getting his hands dirty
43. He's encouraging
44. He loves to cuddle
45. He lets me warm my cold feet and hands on his warm body
46. He's a deep thinker
47. He builds people up
48. He lets me sleep in
49. He never blames
50. We fit each other perfectly

He truly is the man of my dreams and so much more.

Happy Father's Day My Love!

She's Got a Good Eye

A week ago Kira decided to mess around with my camera. This is actually a favorite pass time for all of my kids. Usually they take pictures of each other making funny faces or doing funny poses. In Briona's case, she likes taking pictures of totally random things. The garbage can, the side of the couch, the floor, you get the idea.

What made Kira's photo shoot different is that she decided to go outside and take some nature photos. When she came back in to show me her results I was amazed! Most of her pictures were incredible. And just so you don't think that is because I am biased, here are my favorites.















Aren't they great! On Sunday we had a Talent Show for Activity Days and I suggested that Kira pick out her favorites and put them in a book to display. She was surprised by how much everyone liked them. She didn't even know that taking pictures was one of her talents. But as you can see, she does have talent!