My Old Navy Adventure (a.k.a. how love turned to hate for an umbrella in 43 minutes)

So, picture it: Sunday- It’s pouring rain. I mean like we are under a flash flood warning in our county. I braved the weather and went to early service and was out of church before 10:00am. Unfortunately, the weekends are my only time to run errands and take care of business, so rain, sleet, or snow I do my grocery shopping, errand running, house cleaning on the weekend, usually on Sunday because after church, I am alone all day with Chad’s church obligations.

So, 10:00am. I have something to take back to Old Navy. So I drive to Old Navy (this will be known as trip #1) and realize I have left my umbrella at church since it was only a drizzle when I left, but now has picked back up to a torrential downpour. I get to the door only to realize it doesn’t open until 11:00am on Sunday. That’s o.k. because I had to take something of Chad’s back to Academy Sports, so I leave and run through the rain to take that back.

I arrive back to Old Navy (trip #2) to make my return. I am pretty wet at this point. For some reason you can only get a store credit on out of stock items purchased online. So I look around the store and there is nothing worth having but, AN UMBRELLA! Perfect! So I purchase a cute little black and white umbrella with a red wooden hook handle. I bring it outside and open it up. I notice one of the metal arms is not working properly. I’m sure I can take a better look at it once in a dry location. So I leave to take care of yet another store return. (I swear these things have been in accumulating in my car for a month and I am going to take them back- TODAY!)

So, arrive at store #3 and go to open the umbrella and POP! The wooden handle breaks in half in my hand. The broken arm is now drooping and all the rain is pouring into my little bubble of supposed safety. I also notice that the handle of the umbrella has dyed my hand red. Worthless. So BACK to Old Navy (Trip #3) as I now understand the meaning of the phrase “mad as a wet hen”.

I slap the wet umbrella down onto the counter where I stood less than 45 minutes ago buying the stupid thing in the first place. The girl asks me if I want to exchange it for another umbrella. I look at her with mascara running down my face, my hand dyed a bright red, and my hair matted to my head. I just say “REALLY?!?!?” She quickly replies “Here is your $11.42 back, sorry about all that.”
It’s o.k. to laugh, it wasn’t funny then, but I’ve moved on and I think it’s pretty funny. Now if this dye would just come out of my hand.

2 Interesting facts of the day

1- A porcupine’s quills get sharp a day or so after birth.
Sarah’s deep thought of the day: Isn’t God great? Imagine how the mama porcupine would feel if the quills got sharp before the baby was born. Yikes. (Picture #1- Baby, #2 grown up)

2-We received a flier in the mail from a law firm in Greenville yesterday telling us that USA Baby’s Inventory was being liquidated due to the bankruptcy. Guess what was on the front of the flier? OUR crib and OUR dresser! That means it was IN the store when they decided to go bankrupt and all!

Can you tell by this post that I have no adoption related news to tell you?

News, but not "the" news....

On the Adoption news front: Today in the mail we were copied on a letter from SC Department of Social Services to USCIS offices. The director of human services, Patricia J. Cokley, sent a letter to the District Adjudications Officer, Diane Zedde, of USCIS enclosing a copy of our home study and verifying that "the study has been read and approved in fulfillment of SC Statute (Children's Code, Sec. 63-9-520, SC Code of Laws, 1976, amended. The letter was dated June 30th, so all of our USCIS pieces are coming together nicely. As for our Dossier, I am taking the stance that no news is good news. I am assuming now 1 month post translation of documents there were no problems. Since I don't anticipate any news any time soon, I am thinking about two options for future blog posts. Stay tuned. Mom- I promise I'll get more regular posting. It has been insano on the home front (1 dinner at home this week!)

On the global news front: No fall out between Russian and American relations with President Obama's visit to Moscow. El' President is now in Italy as I understand. I had a few news stories posted, but I didn't want to bore you, so I deleted them. That, and the fact that all reports are such a mix between very positive and very negative ones. I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle and we have a ways to go "bridging the gap" between our cultures. I read somewhere that a "reset" button between the US and Russia has been set, but there is no "easy button". Our relationship is fragile and needs to be nurtured with mutual respect for each others global perspectives. They seems enamoured with Ms. Obama (as everyone seems to be) as she visited orphanages and traded gardening tips. I think she read my blog and tried a more domestic approach to winning over the Russian people. :0)

On the Deetz news front: I have bamboozled my sister into taking Course II of cake decorating. Our first class was this last Monday- we only make one cake in this class so I won't have anymore cake pics until July 28th. But I learned how to make mums and rosebuds. Oh joy!
Police have killed the serial killer living in the next county over. What a relief. This last week was eerie and made everyone rethink the "small town=safe" mentality. The murders of 5 Cherokee County folks was just heartbreaking and frightening.
This is not my mum, but I made some just like it. My mum lives in Florida.
TTFN. I love you Baby Deetz!

Top 10 Things you may or may not want to know, but I feel like telling you just because I can.

10. My ears have been super clogged up for 6 days. I thought I may be getting a cold, but I have no other symptoms and no pain. Just constant “head under water feeling”. (I’m sorry if you work with me and you’ve heard this over and over again). I bought drops at lunch with no luck. I tried chewing, swallowing, yawning, plugging my nose and blowing. Nada. I guess I need to go to the doctor.

9. Is it ridiculous to anyone else that we pay A LOT of money for health insurance every week and still need to pay $30 co-pay and prescription costs for a silly doctors appointment about clogged ears? I am holding out on the appointment and I am going to try some crazy “alternative remedies” tonight at my house I found on Google. I’ve read about peroxide, submerging my head in a tub of water, rubbing alcohol, and taking Claritin D. I am going to try all of those things before shelling out $30+ bucks and missing work. If all else fails maybe I can grow a science experience from my ear canal. Like I said- I’m not sick, just annoyed.

8. Does anyone else think it’s crazy that all news has stopped because Michael Jackson died last week? All of my Google news burps, e-news, and other headlines are overrun by the same “breaking news” in several different variations. Don’t even get me started about people committing suicide over his death. What a wacked out world we live in.

6. Speaking of wacked out world, as I was scouring for news other than MJ's untimely demise I came across some important news stories. "Charlotte man arrested after disrobing mid-flight" (yes that means he got naked and refused to put on his clothes prompting an emergency landing in Albuquerque) "P.E.T.A. claims making children eat meat is abuse" (Stemming from a billboard of a 500 pound child eating a hamburger) and my personal favorite "Woman recovering after attempting plastic surgery on herself" (She bought a vile of Silicone on eBay and injected it into her lips and cheeks). Wow. She was a mother of three and a "successful business woman". Now we all know why everyone is crazy about Michael. That makes this stuff seem normal.

7. Does it annoy anyone else when you buy food with the intention of eating it and it goes bad in your fridge? It makes be feel so bad that people are starving and I have to throw out food every week. I need to do better with this facet of my housekeeping skills.

6. I’m sad that I’m the only one taking Course II of cake decorating. I understand that it’s not for everyone, but the comradely was a lot of fun. I signed up today.

5. What’s the point of vacation when you work twice as hard before you leave and twice as hard when you get back?

4. Does anyone else think the World’s Ugliest Dog 2009 isn’t really THAT ugly. I mean sure he has an overbite…..

3. Eating two breakfast bars containing 35% of your daily fiber intake is never a good idea.

2. 400,000 cribs were recalled today due to faulty hardware. I was certain it was the crib we bought based on the poor crib luck we've had. It wasn't it was made by Simplicity.

1. No news from Anya or CWA about the status of the Dossier. Maybe we didn't make the vacation cutoff. Maybe we did and this is normal. I wish I knew what to expect. But don't you love how this is the only thing I really needed to say to you and it took 10 pages to say it?