9-14-2008 Week in Review

This was about the craziest week I have had in a LONG time!!  I am so glad it's over!!  Most of the week was spent in the endeavor of scanning family photos in hopes of finishing several hundred of them by Saturday when I was heading to Maryland to meet with family and try to figure out who some of the people were in the pictures.  Of course, my scanner started to struggle and so I began scanning pictures at my sister-in-law's house in N. Raleigh.  They're so wonderful to help me but I always feel bad going to someone's house with the kids knowing I'm going to be busy on a project and that the kids are going to be going nuts.  Yet, this was a week it had to be done!  To top that off the most crazy things kept happening to me all week.

 

Let's see, Tuesday I had an appointment that I had to drag the girls to.  Sylvie was great since she was stuck in the carrier (I know she should be out of it but she's still under the weight limit and I needed her held!).  Ella was going nuts and kept running off and winding her way through back hallways in the building.  She's so  fast!!  Finally, after almost 2 hours there we were almost done and I just had to sign some paperwork.  Well Ella wanted no part of sitting there with me so she started flipping out.  To hold her and write at the same time I had to pin her in my lap, facing me with each arm pinned under mine and my left hand holding her head onto my shoulder while I wrote with my right.  She was wiggling and screaming and then it happened....I paused and said, "Did you just...????".  I was cut off by the lady at the desk who stood up and looked over and said, "Yep, she wet all over you!"  Ella's diaper had slid just enough to have her leak all over my lap and since she was sitting the way she was it hit me right where it would look like I WET MY PANTS!!  I was mortified.  There was no way to hide it so I just tried to keep my eyes straight ahead as I headed out of the packed waiting area with a screaming 2 year old on one hip, a baby carrier on the other arm, and soiled pants....so much for the rest of my errands!!  It was  Sylvie's birthday so I was working hard to get a lot of things done.  Corben had a doctor's appt in the afternoon so I checked him out early from school and zoomed to N. Raleigh for his appt.  After over an hour we find out we were sent to the wrong sort of doctor and so, frustrated and lacking for time, we zoomed back home stopping at the store to pick up a cake mix for Sylvie and another gift.  Sylvie's birthday party went well.  My mom came by and we just had a simple little party.  Sylvie loved her gifts (so did Ella).  I can't believe she's 1 years old!!

 

Wednesday I was supposed to go back over to Jamie's to scan pictures but as we were heading out the door to take Corben to school I realized I couldn't find my keys!  We searched for HOURS.  I attempted to  call a few people to see if I could get him a ride but as luck would have it both house phones had dead batteries and wouldn't keep a charge long enough to get through a call.  Apologies to all who were hung up on!!  I kept trying to let the phone charge up so I could attempt another call but I kept getting calls from a local religious group who have taken up telemarketing.  Since I don't have caller ID I'd answer and they'd start suggesting scriptures for me to read and sharing their message.  I was trying to be polite and didn't want to just hang up on them but their calls were preventing my phone from charging.  (When  I asked my sister what excuse I should put on the note to Corben's school in regards to his absence, she suggested that since the religious calls barred me from being able to call someone to get a ride for Corben she felt I could list "Religious reasons"...she's so funny!)  Anyway, finally after it was too late to take Corben to school anyway, I got a hold of my mom who mentioned that a certain random drawer that she'd looked in the night before had been overfilled and that she hadn't been able to get it open.  Maybe, she suggested, someone was cleaning up and swept my keys in there.  Sure enough, there they were.  A certain child of mine who did the cleaning claims he always puts my keys there....though I couldn't imagine why or when they've ever been there before.  Oh well, at least I have them!!

 

Wednesday night I started my photography class through Wake Tech's Continued Education program.  I'll be taking classes for the next 2 months every Wednesday night for 3 hours.  I'm really excited.  The class is focused on my particular kind of camera so maybe now I can figure out what all these settings mean.  In the past I could read a book and then tell you anything you wanted to know.  Since having Sylvie I've found that facts and things I read don't stick in my head AT ALL.  I read things over and over and still find it hard to grasp.  I've wanted to improve my photography skills and since all I was reading wasn't sticking I decided a class was what I needed.  Finally, I'm doing something for me!! YEAH!

 

Thursday I headed over to another friend's house to scan in family slides.  Did I mention I hate having to take the children on ventures that are going to require a lot of my attention?  Well, things went kind of crazy.  My kids were crying, her kids were crying (probably because of the wooden house that fell from the door frame and hit one of them in the head when Ella knocked over a tv stand and shook the room).  I finally had to go and get the girls home since they were getting overly tired and my friend so kindly offered to keep some of the slides and work on them for me.  I was really frustrated, though, at the lack of things I was getting done.  After more scanner trouble at home and after the boys got home I packed everyone up and headed over towards my sister-in-laws to scan more pics.  On the way I decided to run in to Best Buy just to see what my options were on a new scanner....I will never shop there again...

 

So I drag 4 kids into the store.  I realize as I'm unloading them all that Ella has a stained shirt on and that Sylvie doesn't even have any pants on.  Typical.  I head to the computer section were there are rows and rows of scanner/printer/copiers but no scanners that are just scanners!  So I wait for an associate to help me.  I waited with crazy kids for almost 15 minutes before someone got to me.  The young man simply showed me that I was in the wrong section, walked us over to the photo section, pointed to the one scanner that they had that was out of box and one other scanner then promptly walked back over to the computer section and began helping another customer.  Well, one of the scanners didn't do what I needed it to but the one that was out of box was exactly what I needed and it was marked down.  Problem was, the attachments and the box were missing so I tried to find an associate.  Several walked by and told me they'd be with me in a moment.  After almost 10 minutes I announced loudly that I was leaving and not shopping at this store.  As I was headed out the door I stopped at customer service to let them know of the situation.  I was kind but let them know that their service was lacking and that I wouldn't be shopping there.  The manager insisted we go look up the scanner and that maybe she could cut me a deal...that being the magic word.  So we then go and travel from kiosk to kiosk in the store as she tried to look up the scanner and couldn't get any of the computers to work.  Again, almost 15 minutes later she gets it to work and says that if she can find the missing pieces she'll   give me the $300 scanner for $150.  In the mean time, one of the girl's diapers has leaked all over my shirt as I was trying to hold her still and keep her from getting away.  Ah, the joys of parenting.  Well, over 10 minutes later she comes back with the 2 gentlemen helping her and announces that they have searched the store over and can't find the slide tray.  They start trying to see if they can get one from another brand that will fit but no luck.  I tell her what it looks like and that I know because my friend has one just like it.  She suggests I borrow the slide tray from my friend and that she'll order me one.  She has me call my friend from the store to see if I can do it.  As I'm making the call I think the manager realized how crazy this all was and came up with another plan.  She finally offered me a VERY expensive scanner/printer/copier for the discounted price I would have paid for the out-of-box scanner.  I decided that was a deal I should not pass up since if it didn't work I could easily resell it and make quite a profit.  All in all I spent almost 2 hours in Best Buy which means the wait times I gave you were pretty conservative since I was there so long.  Though the manager tried so hard to make my experience worth the visit it was still terrible enough to keep me from ever going back.

 

Friday Corben wasn't feeling well and stayed home from school.  We had RJ over and I was working hard to get at least a few more pictures done before the weekend.  It took me most of the morning to figure out the bells and whistles on the new scanner.  It's slow but works.  I love going through all the old photos, it's so fun to see my mom as a kid and to try to figure out who everyone is.  The pic to the left is me and my great aunt.

 

Saturday I headed out with my mom to Maryland to talk with my Grandma about all these photos.  Ryan kept the kids so mom and I got to actually talk about grownup things the whole way!  We sat down with Grandma and a few  of my aunts for what turned into 12 hours of family history work.  We labeled almost 400 photos and got some great stories.  It was well worth the trip.  Sunday after church and a visit with my Grandpa we headed home.  I was really missing my babies!

 

So, there's my crazy, crazy week.  Ryan and the kids seemed to do fine while I was gone.  Ella was sure hugging me pretty tight this morning, though.  It's nice to be missed!