Still

This past Friday Hubs and I celebrated 16 years of marriage.

I still love him just as much as the day we said "I do". Happy Anniversary Hubs.

September 11th

I will never forget September 11th.

I remember as a child always hearing my parents and grandparents say they remember exactly where they were and exactly what they were doing when John F Kennedy was shot or when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. And they talked about their feelings when the news came in. 

I will always remember where I was and exactly and what I was doing when the news came in on September 11th. I will remember feeling that came with such tragic news that riveted not only me but our nation to the TV. 

I will always remember that first phone call from my loved ones who lived in New York telling me they were OK. I will remember the photos, the stories and the images that were portrayed over the next months. I will always remember the feeling of patriotism that seems to explode at the seams from everyone. United we stood.

But I will also remember the those who died. Our first responders who put their own lives on the line to help. The others who helped those in need and thought nothing of themselves.

God bless the victims and their families.

2977, a number I will never forget.

 I will always remember.

A Stellar Night

Last night was just one of those nights where everything just fell into place. 

We got home from school. The kids did homework and Hubs helped them. I cooked dinner. Yes I know hell might have frozen over. Anyone who has been around here for a while knows that Hubs does 90% of the cooking. Not because I can't cook but because he likes to cook. Who am I to mess with a good thing? 

I did some laundry and then I took my exam for one of my classes. I don't know why the instructor gave us a review sheet because most of the questions didn't even have anything to do with what was on that page. However, I'm not going to gripe because I made a 90, so I'll leave it at that. 

Oh, because of the 90 I have given myself permission to take the night off from reading for this class and the other class I am taking. 
 
And there you have it. A stellar week night at our house. 

Peace out!

 

Coconut Fudge Ice Cream

So while sitting at the dining room table for most of the weekend studying for my Poly Sci course I decided I needed a little encouragement. 

After eating this I'm not quite sure which will be the death of me first, Poly Sci or this. 

If you've never tried this flavor from Blue Bell, run or drive since it's still 127 degrees here in Texas to the nearest grocery store and buy it. 

It is one of the best flavors they have come out with. It's ice cream with shredded pieces of coconut layered all through out with multiple swirls of chocolate fudge. It's like eating a frozen Almond Joy candy bar with out the almonds. 

It is at this very moment I feel for the people who live up North or really any where that Blue Bell is not sold. There is absolutely no comparison. Ben & Jerry's does not even come close. Neither does Dryer's. 

Blue Bell is the bomb!

The Great Book Debacle of Fall 2013

I'm just gonna say it, this new school year is kicking my butt. Not the kids schedule but mine. I just can't seem to grasp it all. And I know it sounds like I'm whining about going to school. Truly I'm not, I'm just having a hard time adjusting to the new schedule. One of my classes is double the work since it is only 8 weeks long instead of the normal 15 weeks. And even thought the teacher is the same from last semester, the format of the class is completely different and I thought it would be the same, so this is frustrating thing for me because I really liked the other format. 

Another butt kicker was the purchase of one of my books. I have decided renting books was the best option for me. 1.) I would never need the book again so why should I try and store it in my attic or try and resell it for .50 cents. 2.) Renting is much cheaper than purchasing even a used book these days. Here's an example. A book for one of my classes goes something like this:

Purchase New = $158.00

Purchase Used = $118.00

Rent New = $87.00

Rent Used = $70.00

Now that information is from the books store on campus and that is provided there is a used copy of the edition you need. This particular class did not have a used edition as the professor changed and upgrade to a new edition this semester. So I had to rent a book at the rent new price.

I walk into the bookstore and the clerk asks if I need help. I tell him what courses I'm taking and he leads me over to the books I need. One of the books has two different books to chose from, one for on campus students and one for online students. The clerk asks me if I'm on campus or online. I tell him online and he hands me the book I supposedly need. 

My class started on Tuesday and on Tuesday night I begin to look at my course work. As I'm looking at my assignments, I realize the clerk gave me the wrong book. Can you say frustrating! 

So Wednesday I take the book back to the bookstore along with the following:

the CD's that go with my book

the receipt

the course enrollment verification

the course syllabus 

I walk up to the counter and tell the clerk that another clerk gave me the wrong book and I need to exchange it. She tells me she has to get the manager. The manager comes over and says this is the correct book. I tell her no it's not and then show her all of my documents. She then asks if I am part of the AP program. I tell her yes. And here is where things go wrong, very wrong.

The manager then tells me, very rudely, I should have told the clerk I was part of the AP program. A little stunned by her abruptness I tell her the clerk should have asked if I was on campus, online, or AP. She just looks at me and repeats herself as if I didn't hear her the first time. So I figure I'll repeat what I said. This happens about three times. And then she says well you opened the book and accessed the CD's because the shrink wrap is off. I tell her well it was only when I took the shrink wrap off that I noticed I had the wrong edition. Again she tells me I should have told the clerk I was AP. I then tell her I think we have established that, but I need to exchange this book for the correct one. It was then she told me the book I needed was out of stock. I tell her then I need a refund. She finally got so frustrated that I wasn't caving to her rudeness she looked right at me and said this...

"Well you always seem to have trouble when you come in here, so I'm just going to go ahead and give you a refund to resolved your problem."

Whoa, what a minute. TROUBLE? Seriously? OK at that moment I saw red. I was so dang mad! 

I take a deep breath and I mean deep and I tell her I have never had trouble before and this was the first time there has ever been an issue and she clearly has me mixed up with someone else. I tell her the last time I came in the clerk right behind her waited on me and I was very nice, and she could ask her. To which the clerk smiled and nodded yes that I was nice. 

So the now extremely rude manager is mad and asks for my credit card that the books were purchased on. So I had her my financial aid card and she begins to process my refund. After she process the refund she realizes that I had a coupon that would no longer be valid because I was returning on of the books. She says she needs my card back to charge me the $15.00 from my coupon. She tries to swipe the card but because it is my financial aid there isn't any money on the card to access, it was all used to pay for my classes and the books I needed. 

The manager then tells me she needs another card. I tell her I don't have another card, this is the only card I have. She says then she needs $15.00 cash. I tell her I do not have $15.00 cash. She says you don't have another card? Again, I tell her no I do not. Truth was I did have another card, I had two, but it was her mistake and I wasn't giving her my credit card. She looks at my receipt and realizes that I have an employee discount on the receipt and asks me for a phone number because when credit posts back to my financial aid card she would need to charge me the $15.00. So I gave her my office phone number. And the whole time I'm thinking go ahead call and I'll think about answering my phone. Oh I know in the end I'll answer because it's the right thing to do but dang it, I just want to let it ring. I can tell you this, after her rudeness, I won't be calling her, she will need to call me to correct the problem.

She then smiles at me and while handing me all of my receipts she says I guess we all make mistakes. I reply well I guess you do. To which she just stares at me. 

I thank the other clerk who helped me the last time I went in there and walked out. And I can tell you this, I won't be going back. 

After all of that and many emails back and forth to Hubs. We ended up renting my book on Amazon for my kindle for only $13.00 and we purchased the five disc CD set that goes with my class on Ebay for $30.00. So I ended up getting my book/CD's for $43.00. Yep $43.00 total. I for sure won't be going back to the bookstore.  

But what I'm most surprised about was my ability to stay calm and not go completely bezerk on the manager. I guess some things come with age because I can certainly tell you my twenty something year old self would not have been so nice and she would have said somethings she shouldn't have. I'm sure I did my grandmother proud, because she was a firm believer that if you didn't have anything nice to say then don't say it at all.

A Labor Day weekend full of relaxing

We took a spur of the moment trip to the lake this weekend and had a blast!

R2 was able to bring his best friend, J, and my sister in law and her family were able to come up as well. 

As per the norm when we are at the lake there was entirely to much food, multiple trips down the red neck waterslide, and hours and hours of tubing, skiing, and swimming in the lake. 

I really hated to see the weekend come to an end. It was truly a great time with with family and friends.

R2 and his best friend getting wet

R2 at the bottom of the slide

J jumping onto the slide

My niece and nephew racing

R2 and J racing

 

R2 and J getting ready to tube