Subtle complaints really work

As you know my new love is coupons. Almost every week since December I have been going to my local Walgreens to get all the good deals - using coupons of course. But my nemesis lives there. Well, she's not really my nemesis and I guess she doesn't really live there although it seems like she does. You see, she's a cashier there and she is there ALL the time. I've tried going in at night, in the afternoon, in the morning, on the weekends...and she is ALWAYS there. She is an older lady who apparently takes a lot of pride in her store. So much so that she questions EVERY SINGLE coupon I use. As if it were her own money involved.  I know I am using these coupons legally and ethically but her attitude is that I am trying to sneak something by her or see what I can convince her to do.

Today was the last straw!!  I had a BOGO coupon for a Tresemme product (BOGO is buy one get one free, by the way) as well as a $2 off coupon.  All good couponers know that if you buy 2 products, you can use both of these coupons.  You use the $2 off one on the product you are not getting for free.  Well, apparently my nemesis must not be one of those good couponers, because she did not know this.  She, politely (at first) informed me that I couldn't use them both.  I, politely as well, told her that this was a legal transaction and could she please just try scanning the coupon to see if the computer would take it.  She, not so nicely this time, told me that "no" she could not do that because I could not use 2 coupons on that if one was a BOGO.  I, once again as politely as I could muster at this point, asked her to please scan the coupon.  Reluctantly, she did, although she was very obviously angry at me at this point.  And, lo and behold, that coupon scanned with no beeps.  She informed me that she would be contacting a member of management about that later.  I said that would be perfectly fine with me.

I would like to say that I came home and forgot the incident, but I didn't.  I came home and decided I would find Walgreens corporate coupon policy to have on hand the next time I needed it.  So I searched and I searched all over the web and couldn't find it.  What I did find was a "contact us" button.  So I clicked it.  There was a spot for complaints so I left one.  I was very polite and said that I had problems with a coupon and could Walgreens please send me their official coupon policy.  I was expecting an email with a coupon policy attached.  And I expected never to set foot in that particular store again.  What I got instead was a phone call this evening from my local store manager (only 5 hours after my visit to the store and about 3 hours after my website visit).  I explained the situation to him, he vindicated me (woohoo) and said he would have a meeting with all his employees to review the coupon policy.  It was a nice conversation and I was thoroughly impressed that he took the time to call me and find out what happened.  He encouraged me to ask for a manager while I am in the store next time so they can resolve it at the time it happens.  He also thanked me for bringing this to his attention because management doesn't know about these things unless someone tells them. 

Now Walgreens is back on the top of my list and I will be visiting that store again.  However, I will still try as hard as I can to find a different cashier to check me out. :)

The hair with no name

I haven't posted a hairdo in a while. We created this one last week and it was so easy, I decided to post it for you guys.

 Start by parting the hair from ear to ear.  Put it in the front to keep it out of the way, then pull the rest into a ponytail.  (If you are wondering what is over Julie's mouth, it's an inhaler with a spacer.  My asthma kids do this 2x a day to keep their asthma in check.)

I took that front section and did a triangle kind of part - you can kind of see that on top of her head.  Then I french braided both side.  You could do a regular braid as well.  It would work the same.

The part (and she's not in pain, just dramatic...and wiggly, hence the hand holding her head still for the picture.)

Take the right braid and wrap it over the top of the ponytail and secure it underneath with a bobby pin.  Do the same for the left one.  Make sure that the bobby pins cross when you put them in so they won't fall out.  I'm sorry that I didn't get a front picture.

It only took about 10 minutes to do and held up pretty well.

I still haven't figured out what to call this one.  Have any ideas?

Its About Time

This is my 95th post.  That's hard to believe. 

So in 5 more posts it will be my 100th (yeah, I know you can do simple math like that).

I have a nice big giveaway in the works for #100, so keep reading, invite all your friends and get ready to win!
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Well, for today's post, I just have one thing to say:  Good things come to those who wait.

These little babies have been teasing me for 3 years.  I transplanted them from a friend's garden 3 years ago and they have been without a bloom for that long.  I thought maybe they were defective.

But....after being patient and waiting, this is what I was rewarded with yesterday.

There is a second one next to it that will also bloom any day now.  They are just so pretty!

The Yellow River game ranch

Day 2 of our Spring Break trip started out a little chilly.  We decided to be lazy and make a slow start to the day.  At lunch it had warmed up a little so we (meaning me and my friend in Atlanta that we were staying with) packed a lunch and had a picnic in the park.

Notice the coats - yes, Hotlanta was actually a bit cold!  I was very surprised.  Poor David.  I didn't bring a coat for him (thought it was going to be hot).  So he is wearing one of his friend there in the middle's coats.  It's not TOO girly, just a few ruffles. 

Then we went on to the game ranch to "feed the animals."  What we didn't realize was that the animals had already been fed all day and all day the day before and those animals really weren't hungry by 1 PM.  So only a few of them ate.

The deer and chickens just roamed around freely, so we were always trying to feed them.  But usually the squirrels came and got the peanuts instead.

There were beautiful peacocks just laying around - literally.  Look how long those feathers are.  We could never get him to put them up.  They were some lazy animals there!

Big 'ole turkeys who are lucky that they are in a cage and not out being made into Thanksgiving dinner.  They were huge!!

Yay!!  Finally an animal who will eat something.  The donkey likes carrots and Julie was brave enough to feed it.  David?  Not so much.

Don't let the picture fool you.  As soon as that goat got close David jumped back.  He really didn't want it to eat out of his hand.

Who knew that pigs like graham crackers?

Finally, an animal that David would actually feed.  It's shorter than him so he was less intimidated by it.  And being a pig and all, I think it would have eaten anything.  But it did like those graham crackers.

So this close, brave and maybe overly so, deer?  We got close enough to pet it!  I petted a real deer - like the kind that come into my yard in the morning and eat my flowers but run away when the kids run down the hall.  One of those.  It was pretty cool.  Julie petted it too, but David was too scared.

Over all a fun day, but I think it would have been better if we had gotten there earlier in the day when the animals were a little hungrier.  Julie gets to go on a field trip in May to a game ranch around here.  We'll have to see how it compares for her.

Hope you are having a great week.  If you know of any fun places in the southeast to visit (GA, NC, SC, TN, VA), let me know.  We're always looking for fun day trips to take.

The American Girl Experience

Spring Break has come and gone now, but Julie still talks about visiting the American Girl store in Atlanta.  (I haven't told her how much cooler the Chicago store is :)

So here it is - the American Girl Experience (although unless you are a 5-8 year old girl, you probably can't TRULY experience it).

This is the "before" picture - that would be before I paid $20 for a hairdo that I could do for free.  Smack (that's me smacking my hand for being snippy).  I apologize, I really paid $20 for the experience.  I just have to keep reminding myself of that.

Natalie (the doll) getting cleaned before her styling.  The cleaning was only $5 and THAT really was worth the money!  She looked great afterwards.

Luckily, there was an extra chair for David's hippo webkin to rest in.  He got a kick out of that.

There's the hair minus the bows.

Ah, just look at the smile on that face.  That made the $20 worth it!  Just like a proud mama.

Now, time for lunch.  Nevermind that it was 2 in the afternoon because that was the only time they had reservations available.  Each doll (or webkin) got its own little seat and a mini-muffin to "eat."  Luckily they let me order off of the kids menu for Julie (it's supposed to be for kids 4 and under).  The kids menu had dessert included and that chocolate ice cream was the best part for her.

I knew it was going to be a costly day and it was, but I had prepared and saved up money from my consignment sale.  But I am also very glad that I got to give my daughter this experience.  She got to spend the day with the doll she loves.

Oh and the mommy and brother she loves too - I'm sure that was key to her happiness as well :).

It's been a while

Hello invisible readers out there.

Guess what?  We've been busy, but I guess that's the story of most everyone's lives.  For us, here are a few of the things we've been doing:

Kids choir performance at church - Julie had a solo and David had a speaking part.  If I figure out how to put video on here, I'll show it to you.  They did awesome!

Painted my bathroom purple on Sat night - just cleaned it all up tonight.  Pictures will follow.

Preparing for dance recital - regular dance practice and Daddy/daughter practice (that's a lot more involved that we expected).

Preparing for piano recital where I have to play the teacher duet part with Julie.  Oh am I rusty!  Luckily, the part is not that hard, but keeping new little fingers to a steady rhythm can be trying on one's patience.

Taking a 2-hour 13-week Dave Ramsey Financial Peace class every Sunday night.

Working at the Book Fair at Julie's school.

Helping my mother start up a new business and do prelim advertising (more about that later).

Field trips with David, teaching 5th and 6th grade girls at church, landscaping the yard, taking kids to T-ball twice a week, .....

Need I go on? :)

I cannot promise to blog everyday, but I can promise to try to blog more.  That's a promise for me as much as for you.

I hope you all have a wonderful week and I hope I have time to schedule some posts for you.

Powerful Links

I haven't talked too much about my faith on this blog - not because I'm not passionate about it, but mainly because I don't feel I can write eloquently enough about it.  And because I prefer to write light-heartedly about daily events in my life, as a kind of journal for my kids.

But just because I can't write that well, doesn't mean that others can't.

In fact, Missy at It's Almost Naptime is an excellent writer and puts things so eloquently, in ways I could never do.  In catching up on my blog reading, I ran across these two posts which touched me.

Read this Call to Action and sign the petition for all orphans overseas and the parents over here adopting them.

Then prepare to be challenged by Designer Babies, Designer God.