It's raining! Omgs, it's freaking raining! I don't mean the usual drizzle and spit with a lot of thunder booms like what we've been having, but a huge downpour - the kind that will soak you to the skin in seconds. Hope it lasts, we sure need this, need this badly...
Yesterday went smoothly, except for the Wally World escapade, which as usual, was fubar.
First stop was the surgeon. (Kids stayed in the waiting room and were very well behaved, thank goodness.) The doc said my incisions looked great and were healing right on schedule and a couple were even better than that. The redness and soreness was just my skin reacting to it and the hardness was scar tissue which will dissipate with time. I asked about the severe pain I sometimes experienced after eating and he told me that it was something that would go away over time and to avoid it, I knew what to do - and he gave me "that look". LOL Yep, small, frequent meals and avoid (overly) fatty foods. *shrugs* Yeah it is common sense. Top it all off with the info that now I can gently scrub the incisions with a wash cloth once a day and that's it. Don't have to see him again. Too bad, he was a nice guy. LOL Seriously, if I ever have to have a surgeon again, I would choose him.
The office I saw him in had the most gorgeous view of Riverside. Nine stories up, I had a clear view from Avondale around 17, to way past I-10, to the new I-95 overpass high in the sky and the downtown skyline. A sea of almost unbroken green from all our wonderful, tall trees. Looking down, it was like viewing an HO scale moving diorama. Unfortunately, the window glass was too thick for my camera to take a good picture of to share with you.
Afterwards, we had to run an errand on the Westside of town and saw something that had the boys and I cracking up. In one strip mall, there were only two businesses - Adam & Eve and the Florida Department of Children and Families. How apropos that they are together, one stop shopping! *giggles*
Then, we went to WalMart. (Stupid me, should have gone to K-mart, etc.) Yesterday, as Sharky was leaving, he looked at me and told me that I was right and that he would feel better driving to work if he had one of those cheap cell phones I've been wanting to get him. I had some money saved up (i.e. stashed away) so that is why we went to WalMart - I knew they had a large selection of what we wanted.
Got there, went straight to the electronic department and picked out what we wanted (we as in Petunia and I, the boys went to look at games). Well, because of all the thieves, the cell phones in their packages are "locked" on the shelves and I had to wait for someone to "unlock" one for me. The designated electronics worker (drone?), after helping one lady, looked at the next guy (homeless?, he was quite dirty and had all his belongings with him) and me and then said in a very slow voice, "I'll be right back. I promise." and walked away. Well, we waited. And waited. And waited.
After a long while, she shuffled back to us saying, "I'll be right back. I promise." and answered the phone which started ringing. Then a woman ran up to her, item and wallet in hand, so the drone shuffled behind the counter, looking once more at us and saying, you guess it, "I'll be right back. I promise." Not much of a vocabulary. Next thing I knew, there were 5 people in line and she was ringing them up.
I was just about to leave when a Pollyanna employee came skipping (literally skipping) up to me and asked if she could help me. I politely pointed out that the homeless guy next to me was first. She rolled her eyes and made a disgusted face (sort of one of those cutsie kittenish moues) and then helped him, going out of her way NOT to touch him or his money. Finally, it was my turn and she removed my $15 phone and rang it up (and "activated" it) and I paid for it. After I put my wallet back into my purse, she decided to inform me that the phone I chose no longer comes packaged with minutes, I would have to buy some. OK. I picked up a $25 card off the shelf (came with a bonus of $10, so it was a good deal) and she rang it up. But, when she "swiped" the card, it registered as invalid. I handed her another, and another, and finally, the third card showed valid. Paid for that, grabbed the boys and we all went home.
OK, to activate the phone, you have to charge it fully first. Plugged it in and it took maybe 3 hours to charge it up to completely full. When that was done, I went to the website to get it activated. National brand-name company, not a fly-by-night, and I could not access the particular portion of their website. After an hour of that, I gave up and called the 800 number. Just like I feared, it was a voice driven menu. (Hate that when I have kids who are noisy! Luckily, they were quiet.) Took a while of punching in numbers and listening to everything being repeated over and over (*sigh*) and finally the phone was activated and a number assigned. I was then informed that there were no minutes and asked if I would like to add some. I followed the directions to use the $25 card I just purchased. After doing everything correct, I was informed the card was invalid. I tried again. Invalid. Third time. Invalid. Went online, registered, created a profile, tried the card again. Invalid. Double checked all the numbers and receipt and tried again. INVALID.
I called the WalMart store that I purchased it at and was transferred to the electronics department. I explained my predicament and was transferred to the "Contact Department." (Never heard of it before.) The lady informed me that it was storming over there on Normandy and when it stormed, the system had a hard time transmitting data. Huh? I asked her if I could return the card and she said only if you could prove the minutes were unused. I asked how I could prove that, and she told me the "scratch off" portion on the back of the card needs to be intact. Well. In the process of USING the card, you are told to SCRATCH off the numbers and enter them in.
I finally was at the end of my rope and called the cell phone company, and after what seemed like a maze of menu go-rounds, I was finally connected to a human being. I was very polite and explained the entire situation and then told him what the woman at WalMart said. He laughed; he really laughed. Got quite a kick out it all and couldn't believe she was THAT ignorant. In a matter of minutes, he took down all my numbers, contacted the card maker, got it all validated, and credited the phone. *phew* I thanked him (I really thanked him LOL) and told him I hoped he had a great week. What a mess...
Oh well, Sharky came home soon after, telling me he had a decent, so-so first day at work. He asked me to help fill out more applications and then changed his mind. Not sure what all that was about. He wasn't so excited over his phone at first, but the more we talked about it and he played with it, he decided he really liked it - especially the fact that there is no contract and it's pay as you go. (I would have just added him to my cell phone plan but the cheapest would be almost $30 extra a month - very stupid since the pay as you go is like $100 a year. So, $75 a month vs $8.33 a month? No brainer. As soon as my cell phone contract expires, I'm shopping around or doing the pay as you go as well.)
Well, Sharky's at work now and the kids are still asleep and the rain has ended. *sigh* Oh well, it was nice while it lasted. Going to wake everyone up now and start our day...
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