Aquadots

Lael received these for her birthday in July. She loved playing with them, creating things and spent a good deal of time doing so. Luckily, she never put them in her mouth, thank goodness! When the news of this recall hit, everyone scrambled to make sure we had heard. Then we had to find them and put them away so they would no longer be a danger. With that done, I started trying to find out what to do about it. None of the news stories I had heard told you what you could do. I know the company hopes that everyone just throws them away. But, that just makes me so mad, so I googled it and finally came up with a company name and phone number. I didn’t try to call until today, nearly a full month after the recall. Of course I had to jump through many electronic recorded hoops until I was finally told to hold – or I could go to a website to get an exchange form etc. The problem was I couldn’t understand the name of the website by the non-English speaking person who recorded the message. So, I decided to hold. In the meantime, I googled Aquadots more and found the parent company (SpinMaster) and a website. This website had details about how to get an Aquadots replacement – (the new and improved version of the Aquadots), by filling out the return/exchange forms and waiting the expected 4-6 weeks. Ummmm, I don’t think so! Why in the world would I want more of the same product that could have put my daughter in a coma? I don’t care if they say it is new and improved, HA! I’m not taking any chances. So, my other option was to choose another toy they would replace it with. Since the product we had purchased was the “Starter Set” there weren’t a lot of options available. There was actually only one choice geared for a girl – Moon Sand. I have read many, many bad reviews on that product, since I was planning on getting some for the twins for Christmas, so I knew I did not want that. So, then I had to move on to the toys geared for boys. I finally ended up choosing a Screamin, Stream’n Stomp Rocket I figured at least that was something the kids could do together.

Oh, I was still on hold after looking through all the toys that SpinMaster has in their arsenal………over 45 minutes of hold time. I just put the phone on Speaker and set it down near me. See, that is another way they are hoping that you just give up and throw the stupid dangerous toy away. Nope, not me! We will be the proud new owners of a Rocket that promises to turn our backyard into a launch pad! Whew! I can hardly wait the requisite 4-6 weeks to get it!

a productive day

Yes, I did it – I had a scrappy productive day! Yay me! I am nearly finished with our Christmas cards, I’ve only got about 10 or 15 to make. Of course, I still have to sign and address them all, but the creative part is nearly done.

I’ve also been working tonight on the gifts I’m making for the teachers. I’ve got all the quotes typed up and sized correctly – but I need some Primas or some other decorative accent before I start sticking them down with glue. The accents I choose will determine what paper to print the quotes on. This will require a trip to Hobby Lobby tomorrow.

We had a great weekend, except for Lael being sick. Caeden was complaining today of a stomach ache – let’s hope he doesn’t throw up tomorrow!

House Hunting trip to Madison Tuesday – I’m excited but scared to death too!

A new house!

wow, this has been a long time coming!! a really really long time. The summer of 2005 was a busy one for us. We had been living in southern Florida nearly 2 years, just south of Miami. Moving there sounded like a dream, a great idea! We were 35 minutes south of Miami, 20 minutes north of Key Largo and about a 3 hour trip to either Orlando to the north or Key West to the south. But, the shine had worn off and we had begun to see life in south Florida for what it really was – like living in a foreign country.

Then the most active Atlantic hurricane season in recorded history arrived. I was scared. It seemed like every couple of weeks there was a new threat, a new storm that could wipe our house off the planet or fill it up with seawater. We were 4 miles from the shore and only a mere 7 feet above sealevel. Of the storms that made landfall, five of the season’s seven major hurricanes—Dennis, Emily, Katrina, Rita, and Wilma—threatened our little parcel of land at one time or another, south Florida was always “in the cone”. Katrina, Rita and Wilma passed directly over us, causing damage and flooding – but luckily our house escaped unscathed. By the time Wilma was forming in the Atlantic, we had a contract on our house, and were sweating that one out. I was terrified that our house would be damaged or flooded or something right before we sold it. We only had water up to our sidewalk, with fish swimming down our street. Of course power was out for nearly two weeks, and this was the week that we had scheduled the movers to come.

The movers finally arrived three or four days behind schedule, and began packing our belongings with no power at the house, which of course meant no a/c. No a/c in any part of Florida is a terrible thing! On the last day, the power returned and everything was packed and on the truck. We said goodbye to our friends we were leaving behind and left to spend the night in a hotel before making the long trek north the next day. Our belongings were moved to a storage facility in Port St. Lucie and were supposed to stay there until we needed them in late Spring or early Summer of 2006. The plan was move into an apartment in Charlotte, NC because Todd’s new company was moving their headquarters to Wilmington, NC that Summer. We got settled in an apartment with only the bare bones of living essentials. Todd got settled in his new job but soon found that it was not all it cracked up to be either. He wasn’t happy with it at all, so we started talking about a new plan.

Finally, in July of 2006 he had enough. We decided that we had made previous career decisions the wrong way. He had always found the job and then moved to that area. This time we decided to choose the area and then find the job. Either Tuscaloosa or Birmingham AL was fine, we had family in both places, and it is only a 45 minute drive from one to the other. Fate sealed the deal when University Church of Christ called me and offered me a preschool teachers job there. I was so excited, I love teaching children. This was perfect also because the twins could go to preschool there and everything just fell into place. We moved into Todd’s mother’s house, because she had plenty of extra room and Todd found a job at Afflink soon after. Life was good again, we love living in Tuscaloosa! It is a great city, plus we are so close to family, which is very important to me.

Once again, Fate intervened and Todd was offered a job at the TVA nuclear power plant near Decatur, AL. This is a dream job for him, so he accepted and we are about to move again, which brings me back to the point of this whole post {yes, I got a little off-topic giving history} – we are getting a new house!!!

I am beyond excited, I can finally get my things back – I haven’t seen my dishes in over 2 years! We are supposed to close on the 28th.

Manic Monday

I worked in the Blue Room today, and it was fun! That was almost my class this year, and I know that I would have enjoyed {mostly} every minute of it. It’s funny how things work out – it just wasn’t in the Master Plan. It is good to know that we have a definite moving timeframe now – TVA wants Todd to start January 7th – which is the same day that school starts in Madison. Now, we just have to find a house – AND QUICKLY!

I had an eye appointment this afternoon. I have noticed recently that I don’t seem to see as well as I used to. Especially driving at night, it is worse. So, it turns out that I need glasses. I had a hard time picking out the frames, too many to choose from. Finally, I told the clerk that I needed to pick my son up at school, and he could serve as a critic. Chace was hardly any help though, he liked them all. I did end up with some ‘trendy’ frames though, I didn’t really want some blah-blah glasses, I didn’t really want some that faded into my face, like the rimless kinds. So, I chose some funky, plastic green frames. I hope I don’t look too goofy wearing them. Should pick them up Friday.

A Manager – Everybody has one

Lael was flipping through one of the catalogs that are stacked all over our house with marker in hand. She is trying to make certain that we have plenty of ideas of what to get her for Christmas!! She came to a picture of a nativity set. She circles it, of course. So, I ask her what it is. She says, “It’s Jesus Christ’s Manager! I want one!”