It’s ALL ABOUT ME!

Phishing is the name of the game. After constantly telling my children and Daddy NOT to get caught up in a phishing scheme, I almost got got! Took me by surprise, and I’m ashamed that I almost fell for it!

I received an email, supposedly from Ebay, stating that my account would be terminated unless I updated my information. I followed the link (like an idiot), and when it requested my credit card information, I immediately contacted Ebay. They stated they would never request that kind of information in an email and to forward it to their customer service department (which I did). The only reason I didn’t fall for this is because I am very wary about giving out my credit card information.

Like I said, I’m ashamed and embarrased that I almost got GOT!

So this morning, I’m sitting on the bed watching tv. Wilson and Otis were running around playing, like they do sometimes. They were having great fun — a 96 lb dog and his 19 lb side-kick. Yea… 19 lb…. too fat, but that’s another blog!

Both dogs came flying into the bedroom and Otis jumped on the bed. It was that full-force-running kind of jump. I could see it coming, but there was nothing I could do about it. I pulled my knees up and put my hand in front of my face. Needless to say, Otis flung himself around and butted me in the head with his BUTT! I guess really it was his hip, but that’s just a technicality! I was holding the remote-control in the hand I tried to protect my face with, and that hit me in the head and my head flew back and hit the headboard. I’m sure it was very comical to the casual observer! 96 pounds full-force to the face!

A goose-egg popped up on my head immediately. It was like a ping-pong ball on my head. Very grotesque looking and kind of a horror-movie type thing! Jim, who witnessed the entire thing, gave me some ice while looking worried. He said he had never seen a goose-egg pop up so fast (neither have I). It has subsided a bit and I now have a goose-egg with a red place in the middle that is 1/2 blue. Very attractive, I’m sure!

I’ve just completed my initiation into the EA Sorority! I had an enometrial ablation (HTA) to resolve some, um, girl issues! All went well and I’m home now and feeling ok.

I was terrified of having a general anesthesia and was going to have a monitored anesthesia instead. My doctor talked me into the general to be sure I didn’t move and mess something up. I went ahead with the general and it was fine. No problem and it even included some great drugs! I woke up fine, had no nausea, and after about 45 minutes or an hour in recovery, got to go home.

The dr did the HTA and hysteroscopy and removed a polyp. The polyp is probably what was causing all my problems.

I thought all was JUST fine, that I had breezed through it and I was happy! Then then on the way home, I got suddenly strange. Not really nauseated, but weird feeling. I thought maybe I was going to be sick (because I felt so strange, I couldn’t figure it out), so I had Jim pull over. I was shaky and sweaty and clammy. My hands, feet, and lips were tingling. It really scared me. I was so scared, that I called the surgery center and talked to a nurse. She talked to me and, when I couldn’t tell her where we were, she asked to talk to Jim. Turns out that, because I hadn’t eaten all day, my blood sugar was dangerously low. I’ve always had a history of low blood sugar, but I’ve never bottomed out like that before. The nurse told Jim drive to a coke machine and get me a real (not diet) coke with sugar and to have me drink it as fast as I could. She also had my lie down with my feet up (hard to do in a pick-up truck truck!). The coke worked and I started feeling some better. I told the nurse that it was very strange and that it hit me very fast and she said that is what blood sugar does to you when you bottom out. It can just hit suddenly. She also said that because of my history of low blood sugar, that I should have been given a ‘real’ coke to drink in recovery instead of the diet coke I requested. Of course I never thought to mention my blood sugar issue to them because it is not diabetes, but something I control with food.

So — there you have it. All the gory details. I did learn that if I ever have to have another procedure done, I will not allow it to be scheduled in the afternoon!

What happens when you have a church youth group that plans for 6 months for a mission trip? Here’s what happens: A hurricane blows in and the mission trip is cancelled. Yep. Christopher’s youth group had a mission scheduled for this past week in Gulf Shores. They worked hard to get ready for this trip: Six months of training and fundraising. All the money needed was raised and the group was ready to go when Hurricane Dennis set his sights on the Gulf Coast.

Initially, the youth director thought their mission trip may become a mission to help citizens clean up. But, when the storm was a “high” category 4 threatening to become a 5 before landfall, the trip was cancelled. Of course we all know the storm lost velocity and became a Category 3 before hitting land and caused minimal damage. Yep — Dennis was a menace all the way around!

Today is grocery day. Monday was supposed to be, but with the holiday and all, I put it off a couple of days. For the last few years, I did my grocery shopping at Walmart, but as you all know, I now detest Walmart. Kroger is my new store of choice. For years, I shopped at Kroger, but was swayed by Walmart’s “low prices”. As my brother says, I was a charter member of the “I Love Walmart” fan club, but no longer….. I turned in my resignation in November. But, I digress.

After I lugged home $178.15 worth of groceries, I realized something was missing. Cigarettes. Now before you start lecturing me on the evils of smoking, the smokes aren’t for me. I haven’t had a cigarette in 1888 days. That’s just over 5 years and 2 months. The cigs are for Jim. (Feel free to lecture him.)

Anyhow, the carton of cigarettes was missing. That’s approximately $30.00 worth of merchandise. I searched the trunk of my car. I searched the remaining bags and the cabinets (to be sure I didn’t put them away in a Dory moment). Jim searched the trunk twice and the interior of my car. I searched the trunk one more time, just to be sure. No smokes. I got the receipt and verified that I had bought and paid for the cigs.

What’s left to do but call Kroger? So, I called Kroger. I had to tell the story 3 times to 3 different (but all nice) people. I ended up talking to a manager. She was extremely nice and said she would go and see if they had found the missing carton and would talk to all parties involved. I asked if she would check the carts to be sure the bag wasn’t left in the cart, even though I didn’t think that was the case. She took my name and phone number and promised to call me back.

I continued putting things up and starting dinner (yes, even I cook once in a while). In about 20 minutes, the manager (I believe her name was Lisa) called me back. She said “I’ve talked to everyone involved, checked the service desk to see if they were turned in, and checked the buggies and the cigarettes are nowhere to be found.” Of course I was dejected as I was mentally visualizing $30.00 sprouting wings and flying out the window. “The only thing I know to do,” she continued, “is to replace the carton for you.” I couldn’t believe it! Could this actually be true? Kroger would replace the lost cigs even though they could not determine fault??? In amazement, I asked if she was sure as that was a lot of money. She was positive.

Her next statement stunned me: “One of our managers lives out your way and is just about to leave for the day. He said he would be glad to drop the cigarettes by your house.” I almost fell out! This was truly unbelievable. Customer service at it’s finest. I spoke with the manager, a Mr. Baker, and he was as nice as everyone else I had talked with at Kroger. When I told him it was too much for him to bring them by my house, he said “Well, if I don’t bring them by, you will have to drive all the way back into town. I’m on my way, I’ll just drop them off. It’s really no trouble.” I must remind you that I live about 20 miles away from Kroger.

Walmart would never give this kind of service and would never replace the missing merchandise without determining they were at fault. One time they forgot to give me my cash back (all of about $5.00, I think), and when I called, they told me they would have to wait until the end of the clerk’s shift and count her drawer. If it was over by $5.00, they would call me. Fat chance.

When Mr. Baker came by to drop the merchandise off, I had the receipt in hand… he never asked to see it and when I offered, he told me he didn’t need to see it. Needless to say I am drafting a letter to send to Kroger and brag on the local store. I am still amazed, stunned, and thrilled that I deal with real people and not a corporate monarch.

A very interesting article appeared on MSNBC today that I’d like to share. The article has many of the same concerns I expressed earlier and some additional ones.

Enjoy!

I had a wonderful experience for a post and couldn’t wait to write about it! We were having a family get-together, and my nephew wanted to help with the set-up. The set-up was the day ahead of the event, and I wanted to get as much done as possible. I gave him a job I thought he could handle at his young age of 5: I had him set cans of Coca-Cola out on the drink table. I was busy doing something else, and soon found time to come back check his progress. He’d put the cans on the table in perfect rows with the tabs all facing the same direction. A beautiful arrangement, to be sure.

To my ultimate chagrin, I noticed that he had opened every single can of coke. Every single can. I was trying to figure out how to remedy the situation and prevent a fiasco when it hit me that this would be a wonderful blog post, especially since I’ve been having a hard time coming up with blog entires lately. I immediately started thinking of the wording as I worked to repair the coke situation.

The solution was easy: Just wake up! Yep — it was all a dream, but still blog-worthy!

No need to tell you that it is the fourth of July. And Sunny shakes. Yep…. Sunny hates loud noises: gunshots, storms, and fireworks. The neighbors have been shooting fireworks for weeks now. Needless to say, my yellow pup has been a nervous wreck. Not good for a 13 year old pup! To top things off, we had a heck of a thunderstorm earlier today, and Sunny shook. Terrified, she was — and still is. I gave her a pill, but it took a while to help. I hope it keeps her calm when the fireworks start tonight, as they surely will.

Yesterday we had the family up for a spur-of-the-moment cookout. I sent an email out Friday afternoon asking my family and Jim’s family up to swim and have hamburgers. Come anytime after church to swim and we would cook around 5:00. Everyone came! Well, almost everyone. Great Grandmother couldn’t make it and neither did Kris, Chris, and little Jamie. We had Kay, Kenny, Kendrick, Kelly, Gram, Pop, Gay, Jessica, Jeremia, Grandpa, Ashley, and Kelly (Guy-Kelly, that is). And of course my four. Little Kelly, Kendrick, Jennifer, Guy-Kelly, Gram, Pop, and I all swam. What fun we had! Jim grilled burgers…. delicious burgers! For something that was ’simple’ and thrown together, it was great! I’m so glad we did it and thrilled that everyone came and that everyone seemed to have a good time!

Guess it’s time to go….. the neighbor’s are firing up, and Sunny shakes.