Mow away

Remember when I broke the lawn mower and pissed my husband off? Well, last week, I ordered the replacement part which was just one screw for the handles from one the dealers in Albemarle. Ofcourse, shipping charges was 5 times the price of the screw. But with gas prices these days, it was still worth it.
The screw arrived by UPS the next day!! Talk about excellent service. That same morning, I also received an email from their customer service saying that they had shipped me TWO screws out of good customer service. Out of curiosity, I emailed them back to tell them I only received one screw, but that was ok, and thanked them for their prompt service, which perhaps saved my marriage.

They replied the next day :

"Thank you for taking the time to contact our company. We are sorry to hear that you did not receive both parts that were sent to you. We will be glad to forward you two more replacement handle screws as a matter of good customer relations. You can expect to receive this within the next 10 business days."

The very next day, UPS delivered the 2 screws on our doorstep. I was so very impressed. That was super-duper fast. And we spoke nothing but praise for this dealership.

Yesterday, our doorbell rang and UPS left a package on our doorstep. Guess what was in it?
TWO more screws!!
Ok, now I am not only impressed but bewildered. Was our marriage in such need for redemption?

So now we have four extra screws for the lawn mower. Which means I can break the lawn mower FOUR more times.

I win!!

I beat Jason in Empire Rails tonight!!!Woohoo!!!
I am officially not feeling sick anymore :)

Living the evening alone

I finally applied for a library card at the library that is closer to our home. Something that I have been meaning to do for months since we moved to Stallings. The library wasn't as big as the one that I used to go to in Mint Hill, but nevertheless it was nice and cozy. I took my time browsing aisle by aisle as I had the whole evening to myself. Jason has gone to the Panthers game with Brian. I borrowed Dorothea Benton Frank's Sullivan's Island and a DVD, Boys Don't Cry. Another movie that I have yet to watch.

And I feel like making an appie pie now because we have plenty of apples in the fridge. I think I'll do that, and then ride my bike, and come home and plop myself infront of the TV with a nice cool drink, eat some apple pie and watch Boys Don't Cry.

Update : Maybe eating apple pie wasn't such a good idea. I finished half the pie instead of dinner. Now I feel sick in my belly.

Men and their toys

The husband who said he did not need or want anything for his birthday has just splurged on a new amplifier and a PC game. So now he cannot say that his bonus disappeared without nothing to show for it. It did disappear for sure.

And his loving devoted wife will have to take a back seat while the husband devotes his time to his new game.

I guess I should not complain because he is atleast at home instead of hanging out at bars or strip clubs. Though we probably won't be talking much because he doesn't like to be interrupted while he is concentrating on his games. And I'll probably be asleep by the time he finishes playing his games every night.

But after reading the predicament of other victims of avid gamers, I should feel lucky that I am not in that spot. Atleast not yet. And I hope I never have to be.

We could use another weekend like this

Saturday started out pretty good. We went over to my in-law's place to hang out with the kids in the afternoon. Jason brought Cooper a DVD which he had always wanted to watch and he was thrilled. It is always such a joy to watch innocent little faces light up with genuine joy. It just makes you feel like you have done a good deed and redeemed your karma. So after watching that DVD for like 2 hours, Cooper wanted to watch it again right after the movie was over.. and then again.. and again..But Jason and I left right after the movie was over because we wanted to head on to the newly opened REI in Pineville. So I don't know if we drove my in-laws insane by bringing that DVD over to their house.

The REI store was rather impressive. And I recall the one in Alaska was also pretty similar except a little larger. Just too bad we could not afford most of the stuff there or I'll be camping out in our yard tonight.

Then we head on over to Brian and Sophie's to play a game of Eurorails. That was fun but as the clock ticked past midnight, we started feeling tired and sleepy so we called it a night.
Gone were the days where I could chat and party till the wee hours without even having to stifle a yawn. Guess age must be catching up. Or I'm just out of practise.

Sunday was rather productive. We didn't overwork ourselves but we didn't laze the day away either. We bought 10 bags of river rocks and laid them around the trees and flower bed and pulled out some weeds. We also did some brief shopping at Walgreens and Circuit City for some necessities. After dinner, Jason and I played a game of British Rails until it was time to watch 4400 on TV.
Having a good weekend might make it a little easier to welcome the Monday. Hmm.. maybe.

Feeling smug

I go through phases of moods and finding little hobbies that I devote 100% of my attention to for short periods of time. And then I get bored with it and stop doing it altogether until something triggers my interest again. Like scrapbooking.
Two weeks ago, I was making Christmas gift tags all week. I know, I know it's waaayyy too early for Christmas but I was in the mood!!
Last week, I was making pot holders till the top of my left thumb got all scratched up.
This week, I started messing around with the template of my blog. I learnt more about HTMLs from Mr Google and all that mumbo jumbo in one week than I ever did in my 4 years in college. Ofcourse I did mess up my original template and could not get my margins or alignment right. It's still not perfect yet but perhaps I'll keep trying to fix it (or mess it up even more) while I am still in the "mood". But I am pretty proud of myself right now eventhough I am all cockeyed from looking at all those HTMLs. A technobimbo has her moments of pride once in awhile. As what William Pearson would say “the smug look of a toad breakfasting on fat marsh flies”.

He crosses his legs

Trouble has found a new favorite spot to sleep in the afternoons. Underneath my desk.
Here's a picture of him half asleep with his hind legs crossed.

Someone is a year older today

So we went over to my in-law's house for dinner tonight. My mom-in-law always makes the best meals (and I did not just say that because she might be reading this). I will let Jason tell you what he got for his birthday so he won't accuse me for stealing all his lines. But I have to just say that we will be able to buy more river rocks for the garden soon.