One of our cell phones was stolen over the weekend. I found out at 5 o'clock this morning and called our phone service provider immediately. The lady I spoke with suspended the phone number and informed me any charges to the phone prior to the time I'd called in to report it stolen would be our responsibility.
I was wracking my brain trying to think of how I could get an old phone, and thought about my sister and my MIL. But it was still too early in the morning to call either of them. Then I remembered my employer participates in a cell phone recycling program and people donate their old phones to us. We usually make from $1.00 to $4.00 on each phone turned in. So I thought I'd go through the current box of donations and see if there was a phone I could borrow for a few weeks. There was. Only it didn't come with the phone charger. It uses the same charger my phone uses, which was convenient, but my phone charger was at home. So I decided to ask some of my coworkers if they had a charger with them. I asked our janitor first, who actually lives across the street from our job. Her charger was the exact one I needed to use. I got the phone charged up and put my SIM card into it, to see if it worked and all the numbers dialed, etc.
Next step, buy a new SIM card. They cost $20. I went to the nearest phone store and explained our situation, and said I'd be buying a new phone in a few weeks, but just wanted to buy a SIM card for now. The guy takes my information, goes and gets a SIM card, puts it in and says, "There you go, you're all set." I said, "Thanks!" turned and caught myself, realizing I hadn't paid. I told him I hadn't paid and he said, "Oh, no charge." PTL.
So I got that all taken care of. Later on today I decided to call and see if any long distance phone calls had been made. So the representative looks and says no phone calls have been placed on the phone since Friday. I sighed a breath of relief... then she says, "However, yesterday they downloaded 14 ring tones and 7 games which cost $97." OUCH!! Then she says she is going to refund those charges as a courtesy to me. She said she could only reimburse the ring tones and I'd have to talk to someone else about the games, but she said just explain our situation and she couldn't make any promises but hopefully they could help me out. The next guy I talked to was more than happy to take the charges off. Wow. I was so thankful. Both of them told me that is the new thing that people are doing now, who steal phones. They download ringtones and games to try to drive up the bill as fast as they can to make trouble for the owner of the phone.
So a potential $120 more debt today, down to nothing. I feel very blessed and thankful to God for this blessing today.
Until next time.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Stolen Phone
Labels: PTL
Friday, December 22, 2006
The Elusive Nintendo Wii
Labels: Holiday Banter, PTL
Earlier today, I was ready to sue Nintendo for mental anguish. Ds1 and Ds2 have been anxious to own the Wii. We've been here and there and to and fro looking for the damn thing. I can't believe that Nintendo decided to release Wii's just a tinkle at a time. Come on! AGH!!! They can't tell me they don't know they would be wildly successful at anything they put out. We didn't even try for the new system on launch day, figuring there was no chance at all for getting one. Then it became apparent that Nintendo was planning to drag this out forever, not getting up to full production...
...until sometime in January. At which point, ds2 began to feel desperate to have the Wii sooner.
So on Sunday the 17th, I was up at 5:00am driving to the nearby small city which is 22 miles away. There were already 20 or so people in line waiting at the GameStop. I didn't even bother looking to see what was going on at the GameCrazy. I headed to the "big city" which is more than 50 miles from there. Ds2 was directing me by phone where to go and try. I happened to pass by a small gaming store, I believe it was a GameStop, but not even sure. At least six or so were in line already. I then went on to a Best Buy, where about 40 people were standing in line. There was a light hazy mist falling while we waited. Within moments, an employee from Best Buy came out to tell us that they only had 15 units and they had already given tickets to the first 15 people in line, most of whom had been waiting in line all night long.
I ended up going back over to that first little shop, and camping out for a while. We didn't have to wait too long, about 20-30 minutes, before the shop owner arrived. He came out within a few minutes and had tickets to give out. He gave out either 6 or 8 tickets. I was two people too late.
Ds2 and I were both very upset. Ds2 had gone back to bed, and I was very hungry. So I decided to stop by one of our local stores that has a pizza oven and makes pretty good pizza. I called ahead to order the pizza, but the pizza department never answered the phone. I went in to order and the lady asked me if I'd like the one sitting under the heat lamp because she was supposed to make only two pizzas, but got carried away and made three. The third one of which happened to be our favorite, pepperoni and black olives. So I felt like God was looking out for us, and felt very grateful for that.
I brought the pizza home and knocked on ds2's bedroom door. I asked him if he were hungry, he was. So I came in and we ate pizza together from the box. I also brought a piece of german chocolate cake. I knew we were both hungry and too depressed to spend time making food. He perked up a little after that, and told me it was a good call to bring home pizza.
So the next possible chance was on Thursday, yesterday. I stopped by a Toys R Us on the way home, to find they had sold out three hours earlier.
Ds2 and I found we had not communicated very well on this venture. He was actually surprised to learn that I'd be willing to "camp" at the small gaming shop. I told him I figured it was a given. And that I'd actually been looking forward to it, because it would be time spent that I wouldn't have to earmark for anything else. Dh is out town, has been for 4.5 weeks and so I've been very stressed, trying to do everything by myself. At any rate, I'd brought Christmas cards to address, and my crocheting. Because ds2 now knew I was willing to camp, he wondered if I'd be willing to camp early Friday morning. As he perused the "where do I find a Wii" boards, he started feeling the chances were slim to none and he told me he had given up on the idea of getting a Wii until end of January.
I had already decided I'd check the local shops in the small town we live close to, so I set out about 9:30am. I first stopped by Kmart and asked if they were expecting a shipment before Christmas. She said maybe Sunday.
I then went by the GameCrazy and asked them if they were expecting any Wii's today. They said I should check by around 3:00 to 4:00pm.
Next I stopped at GameStop. I was waiting in a line so I could ask, and the lady in front of me turns around and says, "That line over there is if you are buying something. This line is for the Wii." My eyes almost bugged out of my head, and I saw several Wii boxes... I wondered how they got hold of so many. After a couple of seconds I tapped the lady on the shoulder and asked her, "So do they really have the damn things?" She said they only had three, and there was a big line a while ago, but when they found out only three came in, everyone left. I waited around until the two people (#2 and #3) in front of me actually paid for their Wii, then I left. I wanted to make sure there wasn't some fluke with their credit card! I would sure be happy to buy theirs if they couldn't, for whatever reason.
Then I checked at Walmart. Then I stopped at Dairy Queen for a small cone.
Funny thing... as I took the first lick, it tasted kind of like it burned my tongue and had an acidic bite to it, almost like alcohol, but more like fermented something. I took 3-4 licks, and decided it was spoiled. If it were my own fermented concoction, I'd have eaten it, but since it was from a fast food joint, I didn't want to take any chances of getting sick. Hopefully the kefir I've ingested in the past year will keep me from getting ill from that little bit of spoiled ice cream that I had. I did go back and get another cone. The lady apologized and got me one from the "front" machine.
There was another Walmart 20 miles away, so I went there next. This is a small town and you can tell most people are poor there. I walked in the store and had walked about halfway into it, when I heard this over the intercom, "Attention: There are 2 Nintendo Wii's available in Electronics." I noticed a man in front of me lurched to the right and started walking very fast. I could have sworn I heard one or two people whoop somewhere in the store. I anticipated finding dozens or hundreds of people trying to get those TWO Nintendo Wii's. When I got back there, I was #3 of 3 people. Total. Just three of us. And of course, #1 was the man I'd seen walking fast, and #2 wanted the other Wii.
I again waited, in case their credit cards didn't work for whatever reason... but they both worked just fine. I then just asked the lady if they were expecting another shipment by Christmas and she said that was the last one they expected until after Christmas followed by, "Sorry, Sweetie."
I had some shopping to do. I forgot to charge ds2's cell phone last night, so his battery was totally dead. My car charger wasn't working, so I had no cell phone. I was so distraught that I went to find a pay phone. I called ds2 and told him, "No Wii's here. None." And then I told him what happened. I was really upset about it, and crying, and mad at Nintendo for doing this.
I'm using ds2's phone because he had 2600 anytime minutes, and I was down to about 160 with eight days left until the cycle ends. So I've been carrying his phone. We each get 3000 anytime minutes. A grandfathered plan from T-Mobile from 5 years ago.
So I was pretty upset, actually crying in the store. I did a bit of grocery shopping and paid. I had to stop at another store, to pick up the "shred". Did that, and headed back to the small town. I had plans to go to the GameCrazy and ask if they got their shipment in, if they had not, I was going to ask if I could be #1 in a line someplace in the store.
There was a lot of traffic in the small town. Very congested, very unlike this small town to have this much congestion and traffic. I finally got to the GameCrazy and went in. The same young man was there.
Me: "So did your shipment of Wii's come in?"
Employee #1: "I'm noooooot surrrrrre."
Ambles over to Employee #2 who says to me: "What was the name?"
Employee #1 to Employee #2 (barely discernable): "She came in asking earlier today."
Employee #2 motioning toward cash register: "Go ahead, give her that one."
Employee #1 walking towards me: "We have ONE left. We just got our shipment about half an hour ago."
Me, incredulously: "You're kidding!?"
Employee #1: "Nope. It's yours."
Me: "YOU'RE KIDDING!? OH my gosh, I'll take it. And one of those and one of those. And do you have those nunchuck things? What does it come with? I have to buy some games, but I don't know which ones and my cell phone is completely dead."
Employee #1: "Here you go, use our phone."
I notice they didn't try to push that GameCrazy membership card on me. Had I thought about it, I would have bought one, because I think it takes something like 15% off your first purchase!! Dang! Anyway. I'll list off everything I bought. In case you think we're rich, we aren't. The initial purchase was paid for with plastic and this is the only Christmas present anyone is getting this year. Ds2 has been saving his money toward this game system, and had $160 for me when I got home. Also, my MIL has generously agreed to pay for half, which I don't know for sure how much "half" will be, since the console itself costs $250 before you add anything else to it.
Grand Total -- $597.20. OUCH.
Ds2 paid $160, so that leaves $437.20. If MIL pays half of that, that leaves us responsible for $218.60. My mom will probably give us some money for Christmas, so maybe we can apply that directly to the Wii fund.
I was so happy that I was thanking God for this small miracle. It will really take a load off my mind.
Until next time.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Flat Tire
Today on the way home from the jobsite, the truck started driving a little funky. Sometimes it's just the freeway, but we were pulling the trailer, so it could have been one of six tires gone bad.
I couldn't tell if it was the road, and dh suggested I pull over as I was in the fast lane, going 70mph -- the speed limit on that stretch is 75mph. This morning on the way there, without the trailer, as we'd left it at the jobsite yesterday evening... I was doing 80.
We have never been able to get the signals to work properly for the trailer. We have brake lights but only the right hand turn signal. I can never remember which one. I turned on the signal out of habit more than anything while observing the traffic behind me. Not a lot, but many are traveling fast, at least 75, and remember I was only doing 70, and by now I'd slowed down to 60. (This morning when I was doing 80, someone zoomed past me and was a mile ahead of us within a minute, they must have been doing at LEAST 90 if not 100!) I needed over -- QUICKLY -- as a rest stop was just ahead (this was a park and recreation type trucker's rest stop without any facilities). The emergency lane on this stretch is very narrow.
One car passed me on the right, and another car was coming in that lane. I needed to get over! Suddenly they slowed and pulled behind me into my lane, which allowed me to make my merge just in time to merge into the rest stop area.
Dh got out and walked around the passenger side, around the back and up to my side. I rolled down my window and he said, "Shut 'er down, you've got a flat." Meaning my vehicle, not the trailer. It was the rear driver's side tire.
I immediately gave thanks to God for watching over us and thought of all the things that had just fallen into place with perfect timing. My gratitude list:
- the flat happened on the way home doing 70mph instead of on the way there, when I was doing 80
- the person coming up in the right lane was paying attention (this is important as many people do not seem to be paying attention while driving!) and pulled behind me, even slowing down themselves, to allow me to merge over
- the tire began to act up very close to the rest stop (which are far and few between on this stretch)
- I had enough time to merge safely into the rest area
- we didn't have to change the tire in the narrow emergency lane
- we were able to stop while the tire was just low, not shredded or blown
- the turn signal I needed is the one that works
- the tire may be repairable since it didn't shred or blow out
I used Krazy Glue to make the repair. I'm working again tomorrow. SIL is on vacation and is due back in a few days. We had hoped to be further along than we are, and there is still a full day's worth of housecleaning to be done. That mud bogging adventure we had last weekend did not help at all!
I'm tired.
Until next time.
Monday, February 20, 2006
Still Paying the Price
Labels: goats, Nourishing Traditions, PTL
Oh boy, cleaning the shed without using a dust mask was STUPID of me. I am better today, but still feeling not quite myself. Mostly tired and a bit groggy, but don't want to spend the day in bed because I have to get up early tomorrow, which means I have to be able to get to sleep by a decent time tonight! I've been taking a homeopathic medicine for allergies, which seems to be helping quite a bit. My nose is no longer clogged and the sinus pressure and headache has abated.
I am brewing a new batch of organic black tea for my kombucha. My brew is done and still tastes slightly sweet. Just the tiniest bit. It took six weeks to finish.
I am also trying Pineapple Vinegar from Nourishing Traditions. Then I can make Latin American sauerkraut the authentic way, using the pineapple vinegar.
Yesterday, we found a bale of hay on the side of the freeway, in the city! Immediately I felt a strong feeling that God was saying, "Stop your fussing, I'm going to take care of you." It was so exciting, and my dh and laughed and felt so blessed.
We talked to a lady who knows horses and she said it was probably better to not get the two horses, even if they were free. She said if we had pasture, that would have been one thing. She said they would probably have needed some veterinary work because of their ages. So I guess it's a good thing. The lady with the horses never did email me back.
Our youngest (16yo) cooked a gourmet meal for our dinner last night. Cheese Souffle, Curried Chicken and Spaetzle Noodles, Green Beans Amandine, 8 grain sprouted whole wheat bread (wheat berries sprouted a few days ago! I've never even sprouted wheat berries!) and individual Pineapple Upside-Down cakes. It was a divine meal.
Our newest milker gave us her record amount yesterday. 2.5 pounds. That is the most she has given in one day. We milked at 6am and 6pm. Usually we milk around 8am and 4pm.
So other than that I'm just having a relaxing day, trying to recuperate from the dust!
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Still Learning NT
Labels: goats, Nourishing Traditions, PTL, Self-Sufficiency
I hate to say it, but I can't believe my last entry was in SEPTEMBER? 5 months can pass by like such a flash. It was a whirlwind.
On the NT front, I tried a new kind of sauerkraut, Sally's Latin American Sauerkraut. I didn't want to chance the whey making it taste goaty, so I used twice the salt. It was good, but so salty.
In October we tested our does' milk separately and found that two of them have subclinical mastitis. I thought perhaps the extra bacteria could cause the whey to go goaty, and so I tried a second batch of LA Sauerkraut with only kefir whey from our doe with clean milk. Same results. Goaty flavored sauerkraut. What a disappointment.
Five of our does are bred and we are confident four of the five are settled. The fifth one we are not so sure, but fairly so. We expect our first kids in March, and the last to be born end of May. The fifth doe is a 75% American recorded grade, bred to a purebred buck. Her kids can be registered as full American.
We bought a new milker to help us through the dry period. My sister is very grateful as her young son has developed a rash from drinking cow's milk when at school. The new milker is quite talkative, as she was bottle raised. She is just one year old. She aborted due to the family moving about 1.5 hours away, but came into milk. Her owner hoped we could increase her lactation to over 4 pounds daily, but so far she's staying steady at about 2 pounds. Every little bit helps.
We finally harvested one of our wethers. The meat is wonderful. It took months to finally do the deed, and now we are glad we did. Unfortunately, that probably won't make the next harvesting any easier. The meat probably costs $20/lb due to our procrastination. At least we know we can grow and eat our own meat. Some people absolutely will not eat their own goats. I can see their position, it is a difficult hurdle to jump. Mentally challenging.
The most significant thing is once again the path the Lord has led us down. I was thinking last night, how awesome that we were led to buy a dairy goat. So impulsive of us, but such a strong feeling. We are raising some dairy calves, but it is going to be quite a feat to process them. Goats grow faster, are ready for harvest sooner, are smaller and much easier to process. I can't quite put into words. I guess it boils down to being another miraculous blessing. The feeling of being cared for and loved is huge.
Until next time.
