I just want to talk to someone!!!

Every have that? When you are calling a company and your question or concern doesn't fit their neat little automated choices? I found a place that helped me get through to a human being at UPS today... Here it is! GetHuman - Bookmark it now! You just never know when you will need it.

Incidentally - I found the service at UPS to be much better than FedEx (I can't imagine why I can't find my rant on FedEx - liars that they are - but they seriously ticked me off a few months back!) Someone actually called me back when they said they would! Even a smidge before! Love it!

This week

So I haven't really posted much other than about Aldi, LOL! So I thought I would give a rundown on some of what ELSE has been going on (lest you think I hang out at the Aldi all the time).

• TaiChiInstructorFriend has decided to teach me the sword form and I am just beside myself excited. Suffice it to say that he is a brave and patient man to take this on. It took me a year to learn the Yang Style Long Form. Who knows how long this will take??


• William has started swimming lessons. He did great and is very excited to give this a try. We are happy because really with William this could have gone either way - either he would do great or he would come completely unglued. Happily - it seems to be the former.


• I am finally starting to feel like a real person. I no longer feel like I am on the verge of an anxiety attack 24/7. I am happier and calmer and this is a good thing. I am also working hard to whip this house into shape. It is not a pigsty- don't get me wrong - but it definitely needs tweaking.


• I am also taking the Martial Arts Fitness Class with TaiChiInstructorFriend on Fridays. I made the mistake last week of mentioning that I sweat more in TaiChi. He fixed my ass this week, LOL. I really only meant to point out that TaiChi makes you work more than people think... it wasn't intended to be a challenge to make MA Fitness HARDER, LOL!


• We went to a concert in the park this week. It was perfect. Beautiful weather - kids dancing and chasing lightening bugs. We even ran into SchoolTeacherFriend and his wife and son. A big fat thank you to the Waterford Township Recreation Committee and anyone else involved in making that happen!

Well - I think that about does it from here... What's new with you??

I won!!

YAY!!!! I won one of these pretty rings (I picked the pink one - who here is shocked to learn that??) from my gal Min! Please help me thank Mindi by visiting her new blog (the one with the pig mascot) and leaving a comment. She likes comments. A lot. Err - uhm... we all do, feel free to leave me one too... hint hint.

THANKS MIN!!! I am so psyched! :)

Aldi Favorite of the Week (volume 2)

So this week I want to tell you all about a product I bought even though I convinced myself that I would be disappointed in it. Usually when I buy generic soaps of any kind I am left with dry hands. I hate dry hands. Or the soap just doesn't seem to rinse off - leaves a film... so I picked this soap off the shelf and thought "Okay Aldi - bring it. You are all that with the food stuffs, but you and I both know generic soaps are just no good. I am Missouri - Show Me."

HA!

That'll teach me... this soap is seriously good stuff. It is foamy so you don't need a lot. It smells good, it rinses off nicely and best of all my hands feel soft when I am finished! What, I ask you, could be better than that?? How about a price of $1.69. Puhleeze!

Have you gone to Aldi yet?? If so - tell me what you got and how you are liking it! If not - well - why the heck not?!?!?! BTW - I spent $70 there again this week and got an embarrassing amount of food! 39 items including yogurt covered raisins at $1.49 and some things comparable to hot pockets for $1.79. Oh yeah - and cat litter - the scoopable kind for $3.49 (I would be lying if I said I wasn't really nervous about that but figured it to be worth a shot - will get back to you on that one!)

Mason Jars and Abandonment

Installment number seven (to read the rest, please see the sidebar.) Oh - and - when you read this, please, feel free to comment. Here. On the blog. In case you didn't know this, bloggers like comments. I like feedback... Humor me, Please. Just don't point out my typos. I know they are there - but you can't proofread your own work. Everyone knows that.

The shower did little for Rebecca's aching heart. So much loss in such a short time; her daughter, her marriage and now Garrett. Someone once told her that the more painful a situation was, the more there was to be learned. She wondered what the great lesson was. Her hair was still wrapped in a towel when she heard the front door tentatively creak open.

"Hello?" It was Vince, she had left a note on the door for him to just come in and help himself to a beer in the fridge.
"Almost finished, Vince - make yourself at home."

Rebecca dried her hair and threw on a sundress - complete with wrinkles. Apparently wrinkles don't actually fall off the fabric just because one hangs a garment in the bathroom when one showers. Rebecca made a mental note to find her iron and did her best to smooth the material.

Downstairs Vince had uncorked a bottle of Pinot Grigio and was waiting for Rebecca to tell him where he would find the glasses.

"Sorry, Vince. All I have is mason jars right now." She left all the stemware and glasses with Rick along with the flatware and the Pfaltzgraff. All she had now was some mismatched plates from the Goodwill and some Mason Jars. Hadn't seemed sensible to buy anything new until the renovations where complete.
"Better than swigging it out of the bottle, right?" Vince answered.

Vince made a salad and paired it with some kind of broccoli shrimp fettucini dish. It was light and refreshing but also very satisfying. After cleaning up, they sat on the back stoop with their mason jars. They talked about the town and how it had changed since she had left. She explained about the accident that had killed her daughter and how she and her husband just couldn't get their heads around the idea of living together without her. But she finally had enough wine in her to get the nerve to bring it up. What she had been wondering all day...

"What brings you here, Vince? To Garrett Glass?" She asked
"My niece. You met Becky this afternoon in the shop. She needed me to stick around after she lost her father. "

Rebecca realized that the gum cracking girl was Garrett's daughter and that it would seem that she was the girl's namesake. The lump in her throat was too big to talk through and the tears just welled up in her eyes. Vince continued;

"My sister, Caterina, is Becky's mother. She couldn't be there for her after the accident and I didn't want them to take Becky to foster care. I applied for guardianship so I keep an eye on her now. She's a good kid. Helps out a lot."

Rebecca could feel her blood boil. What did he mean her mother "couldn't be there for her" after the accident?? What kind of mother abandons her child when she looses her father? When she is needed the most?