So, I have a completely NEW life

Dec 15 of 2006 is the day my whole life started to change and I never knew that I would have a COMPLETELY different life.

I am going to reminisce a bit and share my journey.

Let's see, it really all started back on October 10, 2004 when I was having supper with Hosanna, at Chipotle on 104th and Federal, before our single's care group. We talked to long and rushed out of there. We were traveling down Federal toward 92nd, the light had just green and the truck in front of me was going and then slammed on his brakes and I hit him. There was a chain reaction that included 5 cars total. A car behind me hit me, I hit the truck, the truck hit the car in front of him which pushed it into the car in front of it.

My car was the only car that was even damaged, mine for fact ended up TOTALED.

I got out of my car and the first one I thought to call was my dad. He and mom were headed into a movie. I was surprised that they didn't come, but I guess I reassured them that it was fine. I hadn't really looked at how messed up my car was yet and honestly didn't until my parents showed up at Paul's house.

I then called Paul to let him know I was going to be late as I was in an accident. My friend Steven came to be with me and offer his services if I needed a ride. I told him I was fine so he went back to care group to update everyone.

After I called my dad, the guy in the truck got out and I asked him if he was a Christian as he had some bumper stickers and a hat on that suggested he might. He said he was, so I asked where he attended church and he said Faith. We just kept talking until the police showed up and asked us to move our cars into the gas station right next to us. We were the only ones detained.

The police asked me if the car was okay to drive and I said it was (not sure what any of us were thinking). The police issued us our tickets and left, but we stayed and talked. I liked this guy right from the start and thought he was cute and noticed he had no ring (I was really in the habit of checking that on guys - terrible).

After we were done talking I went to care group. I was pretty sore and was getting a bruise on my chest for the seat belt but still hadn't seen the REAL damage to my car. I was feeling so bad for hitting this guy that I was thinking of making him some cookies and sending them to him. I never did.

At the end of Care Group my parents showed up and told me that I could not drive my car home (I had NO headlights), so Steven took me home.

Forward ahead to November 27, 2006.

My friend told me she joined a dating website and that it was Christian. I had been on too many, unfortunately, and didn't trust them, so I logged on to verify that she was safe. While I was on there, this guy sends me an instant message. He looked really familiar and so I asked him if he drove a green truck, and he said that he didn't. We continued talking and did for several days that I ended up getting a month membership to continue talking to him.

We talked for a few weeks and he kept asking me out for a coke, but I didn't feel comfortable with that. He did call me at home and we chatted and then all of a sudden, he fell off the face of the earth.

I had told my friend Holly that this man wasn't going to hurt me like the others had. I told her that I was going to go to his store where he worked and confront him.

December 15, 2006 provided the perfect opportunity as our church was doing a fundraiser at Chik-fil-a (which is right next to where HE works and also next to Chipolte) and I needed to shop for food for Christmas as I was hosting the Larson Christmas which was happening the very next day.

I had decided that I was going to do my shopping and go through his line if he was there. I walked in and saw that he was working and went about my shopping. I was so nervous about what I was going to do, but I was going to stand up for myself.

I got all my items and saw there were two lanes open. One was free and his was filled so I hung out in an aisle until he was free. Once he was free, I went to his lane and he was very friendly and said, "Hello, how are you today?" I said, "I am great and I am Lynette." At this point he lost his calm demeanor and appropriately freaked out and tried to tell me what happened. I told he has no need to apologize and that I just wanted to say hello.

I am walking away with my purchases and he again apologizes and says he will call me later. To that I just think - WHATEVER. I thought he was a JESUS freak and was trying to hard as his apron was plastered with Jesus periphinelia.

I get to my car and start to put my bags in when I noticed I got two bags that belonged to the customer before me. I sat their struggling, not because I wanted to keep them, but because I didn't want to go face him again. It took all that I could muster just to go in the first time. I finally get the strength I need to go back in and give them back. He got all flustered again and just kept apologizing.


I expected NOTHING to transpire, but I did what I needed to.

Jump to December 20, 2006

Well, he actually did contact me via instant message and asked me to meet him at Applebees on the 27th. I agreed to do so.

December 27, 2006

I am sitting at Applebees on 104th & I-25 waiting for him. They asked to seat me and I said that I would wait in the front. I didn't want to sit down and then have to buy something if he didn't show up. I sat, and sat, and sat. I figured I was being stood up when the phone rang at the bar and I said crap...that is him and I should have left 5 minutes ago when I said I would give him 5 more minutes. Sure enough, it was him and now I had to wait.

He got there about 15 minutes later. He had gone to the Applebees on 120th & I-25. If he had come in and said I went to the wrong one, he wouldn't have gotten anywhere, but he came in and apologized for making me wait and thanked me for coming.

We sat and talked and he apoloigized for discontinuing communication with me and explained why he had done it. We then continued to talk about interests and found we had a lot in common. We ended up closing down the restaurant and he walked me to my car and opened the door. I was so afraid he was going to try to kiss me that I got in the car. He then leaned down and asked me if I wanted to go somewhere and keep talking and I told him I think we both should just go home.

Not even 9 hours later he called and asked me out again.....thus begins the rest of the changes in my life.

March 4, 2007 - Engaged
July 14, 2007 - Married
February 2008 - find out we are pregnant
October 15, 2008 - Lynette stops working in preparation for Turner
October 28, 2008 - We become parents of Turner
December 31, 2008 - Lynette finds out that MNGi does not want her PT so she will be quitting Jan 20, 2009

All of this to share that there isn't anything that looks like what my life was on like December 14, 2006 and now I am trying to figure out how to do my new job of homemaker.

Please Lord help me be dilligent and wise in taking care of our home so that I can glorify you in everything that I do to serve my family. Help us be wise in our finances to pay our bills and allow me to provide extra income as the need arises. Thank you for your faithfulness and care for us. Help me to continue to see that you love me more than I love Turner and that you will provide for me far better than we could provide for our family.

PUPP, Gas and what next?

So, who knew that you can experience all kinds of things AFTER pregnancy. I figured once I had Turner I would feel better and things would go away...Not so much.

Immediately following my arrival home I ended up with gas pain so bad from the c-section that I thought I was having a heart attack. That lasted for about 3 weeks.

Immediately following the gas (actually it was during and even before delivery, but I hadn't identified it as such), I ended up with a rash on my stomach that caused me to itch. My sister had mentioned that itching was normal so I just thought that was it....well, it continued to spread to my arms and that is when I started to wonder. My Doctor was on vacation at this time and I didn't trust the other doctors as my doctor knew my oddities already, so I waited for him to get back. In the mean time my mom and I were doing research on what it could be and my rash continued to spread to my legs and chest and back.

When my doctor got back, I went in and told him I had PUPP and he said he could give me some salve or oral medication. I told him to give me something strong to kill it. He told me that most people that get PUPP get it in the third tri-mester and not after delivery. He also said most don't have it so bad and it will resolve quickly on its own. He then told me that I was right that I do like to had the odd things and break the normal molds. He then thanked me for making the diagnosis so easy so the visit was fast.

He gave me my prescription and a refill as he said I might need a couple rounds. I used the first and each day you take less pills. The first few days things were looking good, but by the time I was at the 4th day and taking less pills, the rash started to come back with a vengenace so I took had to get the second round. This round of medication seemed to do the trick. I made it through it all and the rash faded, but a day after I was done with the medication it came back and of course it was the weekend where the doctor isn't in to approve another refill, so now I wait.

Here are some of the things that I have tried and how the rash feels: I take some benedryl to help with the itch, but it really does nothing. I have tried oatmeal baths and they provide a little relief until I get out. I use Caladryl, Cortizone 10 as well as Aloe Vera and all of these things provide a little relief but when night sets in and I want to sleep, anything that touches my skin just sends me to itching so rest just doesn't happen and as a result, I am incredibly tired and frustrated. The odd thing about this rash is that the raised patches also have raised bumps within them and each bump contains a center that feels like a thistle is in it and when anything rubs up against that it makes you just itch and them the itch wanders around that area until you are itching until you bleed.

Anyway, I called in the prescription and they will have to verify it tomorrow and then I will pick it up and hope it works. The sad thing is that we are getting pictures taken on Tuesday and now I will have bumps in the picture as well as the fact I have a big pimple in the MIDDLE of my forehead. I never get pimples and I don't usually like pictures so, I continued to be amused with my life and just laugh at what God is doing.

My sense of humor at my life is growing and at times I can laugh. I have found that it can be really hard to have joy in the middle of this, but I am trying and have reminders daily to press on.

If you think about it though, please pray for me as I have not been as patient and loving with my husband and even with my son as I should be. It has been so easy to blame my husband for the lack of patience and understanding and feel sorry for myself because I am not getting what I need, but that is the WRONG attitude and I know it. Praise God that his grace is new every morning and GREAT is His faithfulness.

For those of you that have never heard of PUPPS and are curious, here is a site so you can educate yourself and be prepared if anything like this happens to you during your pregnancy or after. The good news is that they say once you get it, you don't tend to get it again. I am not going to count on that but just be ready to rejoice in the next affliction. :)

Now you are all aware why my blogging and picture posts have diminished...I am tired and am trying to figure out how to be a mom and get everything done. It is funny because at the end of each day I am not sure what I have done, but I was busy doing something all day. Mostly feeding it seems. :) My husband and son both need to eat every 3 hours or so. That is how it works with a newborn and diabetic.

Life's little turn of events Part 2

So, I thought I would continue the story about the refrigerator because it didn't end once we ordered it.

We had Eric come and deliver the fridge and we were the first delivery of the day. He arrived at 8:10 and pulled out the dead fridge and brought in the new one. He got it in and all set up and looks at me and said that it is just a little too tall. I looked at him and said, "You've got to be kidding me." But alas, he was right. I looked and it was such a little bit off that it was like it was taunting me.

You do what you think is right to get things right and measure and remeasure and ask and ask and ask....you get the reassurance and then trust.

So, here we are with a fridge that is in, quiet and getting cold and I cannot get it back into the space no matter what we do.

I determine that I am going to go get my dad's sander and take the fraction off the cabinets to get it in. Who will notice up that high and who will care since the size of the fridge is pretty standard....Plus, we are the ones living here now and we have to make it work for us and not ruin it, mind you, but work.

I go to my parents to get the sander and it is not where my dad has it labeled on the cabinet so I call him and he informs me that he will have to bring it over later. Totally understandable but frustrating at the same time...so close but yet so far.

I came back home and continued in my visit with my friend from High School when I recalled that my dad had put a piece of Masonite under the old fridge to try to make the floor level with my hardwood so that the fridge would slide out better....well, we don't need a slide out, but a slide in, so removal of the Masonite is in order.

The Masonite is out and the fridge is in...all food is back and the day is almost gone and still I did not finish my love's gift.

Life's little turn of events

I had so many plans for today as I wanted to prepare for our anniversary and finish up a project I was working on.

The first thing that I did after Torrey left is do some organizing. I really like to do this and feel like I have forgotten how. Then I ran off to deliver something to a friend so I could get it off my table and then went to the Post office to mail something to my cousin...to get one more thing out of my house and off my checklist. (I also like lists and sticky notes. :D )

When I came home, I thought I would check on our refrigerator. Since we bought it last year we seem to continue to have fun so this week I bought some thermometers to watch how the freezer and cooler are holding their temps. I had just mentioned yesterday to Torrey that we might want to think about buying a new refrigerator before the baby comes as we have the extra now and later it will be harder and I don't want a ton of spoiled food at a time when we are trying to live tighter.

Anyway....back to the story...They were both not as cold as I wanted them and thought I just need to adjust the dials again as that is a pretty consistent thing that I have to do these days. After adjusting those, I went to Craig's List to try to find another one. I found a few that look interesting and emailed the people selling. My head is still torn and uncertain about going this route again as that is where we got the one having trouble. We also happened to get a brand that later I find out is TERRIBLE. I typical research more than that so am upset that we bought it in the first place, but we got our money out of it I guess.

Back to the refrigerator I go to check the temps again and to make some lunch because this little baby has me hungry more than I like to be. TADA...the temps are not good. Well, that is a very relative statement because if my house was at 60 degrees or if outside was at that instead of the CRAZY high temps we are running (100's) I am sure people would love that number. Food doesn't like it so much and the butter in the refrigerator was melting. That can't be a good thing.

I now check the freezer to see if maybe just half of it decides to not be cold. Trying to hold onto some optimism as this was not in my plans for the day. Well, the freezer is at 40 and things are melting. So I place a call to Torrey to let him now that he no longer gets to think about it and now we have to do something. He said that we can do it after he is off work.

I decide to start looking online for some deals to see what is out there. Then I call my sister-in-law to see if she would let me put my stuff in her extra Refrigerator. I told her I would bring it over later after my search for a new one. I call my mom to see if she has anymore coupons from their move and they don't. She said she could have dad look at it and I said that I am done and we are getting one that we can count on since right now we have the extra (not that I was ready to spend it but thrilled that we have it.)

The trip started at Lowes and every fridge that I looked at had 1 dimension that would not work. So then I went to Safeway to get gas and the gas truck didn't come so decided instead to say hi to Torrey and ask him to pray that I find a fridge and that I can get to a gas station as I am on fumes (I don't drive the car much as I walk everywhere and didn't notice how low it was. My car lasts almost 2 months WOO HOO). I head off toward the location of Sears and Home Depot and figure I have to pass a gas station at some point, yeah I didn't. I go into Sears and look and the guy informs me that if I buy it by 3 that I can have it delivered tomorrow. It is 2:50 at this time and I still want to check Home Depot. I know that we are trapped a bit and need something, but their prices were much higher than Lowes and I am a cheap skate and figure God had something better and wasn't going to rush into it.

I head across the street to Home Depot and they do not have a lot of selection at all but the guy was very helpful. I told him what I needed and then looked at the one I thought would work and 1 dimension was off. He said hang on and measured back behind the door hinge and it was the height I needed. I had NO idea that they counted the mounting on the top for the measurement. Could have solved that as I had a tape measure with me but was taking their word for it (dad would roll his eyes at me if he saw that). This opened all new doors now. He took me to some floor models that we could take home that very day, but only one would work and it was all dinged up. Not that anxious to get it. So we go back and check on the other fridge that I liked, but it can't be delivered until Wednesday...NO good....back on the road I go.

At this point I decided to head back to Lowes since they were the cheapest and now I think they might fit as well. Before I do that, I have to find a gas station as God is being gracious with the gas vapors because there is nothing left. I find the gas station and fill up with more gas than my gas tank says that it will hold. Praise the Lord for making it.

Back on the road to Lowes. I make it there and find the fridge I want, now to find someone to help me. Wonderful Cheryl comes out to help and I show her the fridge I want and she takes me to the desk and we start the paperwork. I ask her how soon I can get it and she tells me tomorrow. I am thrilled. She then asks if I want it in the morning or afternoon. I told her the sooner the better since I had a dead fridge at home, however, it wouldn't let her select it so she called for an override (I think she was being extra helpful because I just complimented her on her beautiful engagement ring. It was very decorative and unique and so she then shared some of her story...have to be a girl even when shopping under pressure and what girl doesn't like to hear about wedding plans?) So, I now hope to have one of the first deliveries of the day. As we are continuing with the transaction I mention to her that this became our anniversary present. I told her that we are trying to get this taken care of as we are heading out of town for our first anniversary. She looks at me and said that I qualify for 12 months no interest and free delivery. WOO HOO...I'll take it. I am thankful that we have the money as we had been working to pay of some debt and did that in less than a year so we started saving up and have enough for the fridge and enough extra for the 3 months of savings that I like to have plus some. I figure, If I qualify for that, lets keep the money earning interest as we can have it paid off whenever we want. I love it when things work out well.

So, all of this is done, the fridge stuff is at Kelly and Cristina's, our freezer stuff is packed in our garage freezer and the stuff we need is in a cooler on ice. I didn't get the stuff done for my husband for his anniversary, but maybe I will finish tomorrow and if not, he is so understanding and grateful that what I do have he will love. I am so thankful that I went out last night to help him and pick up the dog food so he could come right home as I was able to do the shopping I had hoped to do today.

This is the day the LORD has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.
He also provided the funds so that it was less stressful in the long run, plus it was my day off so I didn't have to figure all of this out around work.

I am so thankful for His provisions even the ones that feel a little uncomfortable. This day did not distress me like others have. It is all because of Him and me spending time loving Him.

From fact to embarassment to comedy...

I had the most interesting situation happen today at work. In order for you to get all the details, I feel that I must give you some background information so you can truly appreciate this to its fullest and have a good gut laugh like I was able to have. Pure comedy my friends.

I just got a new boss last week, and I have officially lost count of the number of bosses I have had in my 9 1/2 years with the company, but it is more times than my job title has changed and more times I have moved my desk (both being a large number if you really want to know). Anyway, the boss asked us if we could set our Outlook calendars to share with him so he can actually see the meetings we have scheduled and not just what times we are not available. Immediately, I was like, no way...don't you trust us? Now, I didn't say that out loud as I know that would not go over, but that does not stop me from having conversations in my own head. I have found that the best conversations are often in my head and I can entertain myself for hours on end.


I have never shared my calendar with anyone on the new version so was uncertain how to do it. Once I found it, I realized that I not only have my work information in my calendar but also some personal items that I don't want to share with people at work. I have learned to protect certain things from situations in the past where people lack discretion, so I have opted to be discreet and save everyone else the trouble. I know that I have set most of my personal items to have the private check box selected not really certain what that action does, but figured it couldn't hurt and someday I might now. Well, it turns out that this is the perfect opportunity to find out since my boss wants to know my life.

I asked my boss to please let me know if he can see the information in my calendar marked private. He promises to email me and let me know.

Jump ahead a week and now we are at TODAY....


We have our weekly PMO meeting where we go over what is new from management and what all we have worked on, plan to be working on and anything driving us nuts. We get to my turn for an update and a colleague realizes that she still has not shared her calendar with our boss. At that point, I jump in and say, "Yes and you never emailed me about the Private options, so....You can't see my privates." Yes, after saying it, my boss turns red to the top of his head as he is bald, I feel myself blushing and try to recover, but how do you really recover from something like that. I try to say, "I mean my private meetings." But there is really nothing to do, so I feel myself go from innocent honesty to embarrassment to pure comedy and take that moment to laugh so hard that my stomach hurts and my eyes cry. I was not alone in this event because of the four of us in the room, 3 of us are laughing and crying. The one not laughing said he figured it was better to be quiet as he was pretty certain anything he said would land him in HR.

I have made it through almost 10 years with the company and have never officially landed a nick name for something stupid, but I am pretty certain this will be talked over at happy hours for a while and if I don't land a nick name like Private Myers, I will be in shock.

So, always remember to properly word your sentences as you may really be trying to provide valuable information and just leaving one word out can take you to comedy in a moment.

Blue Light Special

This last weekend was a big weekend in my life and those around me. You never seem to prepare for such things and then once they are out there you try to figure out what steps to take next. Let me explain:

I went to the Doctor's office on Friday to discuss medication to help my high sugars as well as talk to him about my basal temperatures that he told me to track.

All last week I had been tracking what I ate, what my blood sugar levels were, how much weight I was loosing and how much exercise I got. I did a line graph of my blood sugars so that it was easier to see the peaks and such. My doctor took one look at it and said, "Yeah, you are diabetic." I was fortunately a little prepared for that as I had been researching all week and just before I got to the doctor's I had told Amy that Dr. Yeash was going to say that I was in fact Diabetic.

He was surprised that I was taking it so well, but said he can see that I have already been working on things and that I appear to be very organized. He even asked me for a copy of my charting so he could put it in my file.

He was then talking to me about Diabetes and pregnancy, and if I get pregnant, He said I will need to go on insulin. He then asked if it is possible that I could be. I told him that there is nothing stopping it, so at this point I transitioned into my basal charting.

He looked at the charts and informed me that there really doesn't appear to be a trend at all and I seem abnormal in this. I told him I have heard that I am abnormal from every possible doctor so that doesn't shock me.

While looking at the chart he tells me that if I ovulated when I said I did, then I should have started and might be pregnant. I just thought, "Whatever."

I went and did my blood tests and asked if they were running one for pregnancy which they weren't.

I went to the store and bought some tests just to see. I have taken several of these since being married and they all just had one DARK pink line. This time I took 2 and it had such a faint pink second line that I thought I was making it up or they were defective. I didn't say anything to Torrey and asked a few of my girlfriends and my sister to see what they thought. They informed me that a line is a line.

I still didn't want to tell Torrey in case it was wrong. He wants a baby so bad. My sister changed my mind though. She called to tell me that Torrey should get to go through this with me. She also mentioned that she had done some research and found out that a lot of people that are diabetic or close often find out when they are pregnant. I did further study to find out if often goes away after pregnancy. VERY HOPEFUL.

So, I went and got the Dad's rootbeer from the closet and the card from the drawer and gave him the test. He saw the line and instead of hugging and kissing me, he pet his dog. This caused a reaction because I wanted the attention and he told me that I had said not to kiss me because I had a cold sore. A friend of mine told me that this reaction was enough to determine pregnancy. It was a bit over reactive. I had time to sit with it and he was just learning with it and trying to keep it in check too.

I was bummed because I had it all planned how I wanted to tell him and it didn't work out.

On Monday we decided to go get a test that said yes or no and not fuss with the lines. We went to Kmart and while we were there, I LOVE to check clearance, there were maternity clothes on great clearance, so we decided to check while we were there and if I was, get the clothes cheap before I have to pay a ton. So, Torrey went and bought the test and I went to the bathroom. As I was reading the directions, I determined I didn't need to read them because the test popped up to say yes+. I showed Torrey and he started to cry and I started to laugh. A poor lady walked by and I think she thought we were nuts.

I told Torrey that is seems right we should find out at Kmart since I met him at Sateway in checkout lane 4.

All of this explains so much of what I had been feeling. I was afraid to be hopeful, but had bought some pregnancy clothes that were on sale at Target a week ago.

So, God used this baby and my husband to help me find the diabetes and get me in gear to take care of myself and work to get rid of it and be healthy.

Amy knew from the start so there wasn't much to say to her, Cristina I asked her if she would always have gum (just like how she told me with Christopher - from Friends) and mom and dad we told last night. We gave dad a goodbye card and asked if he was ready to start two hand waving to us when we leave (he does this for the grandkids when the leave) and we gave mom a card asking if she was ready to make us a sea shell blanket (she had made one when I was in HS and I told her I wanted one when I had a baby). The family know and work will get out fast as some friends know too.

We are not telling Torrey's family until Torrey's birthday where he will be sporting a #1 dad hat and a Greatest Dad T-Shirt if we can get our hands on one.

Oh, I also found out that my thyroid is not working anymore either so have to take meds for that.

Please pray with us as our desire is that I can stay home or at least work from home when we have this baby and right now it doesn't appear it can happen, but we are looking with eyes of flesh and not God's. He can do many things and we are open to see how He will work in our lives through this.

Where has Customer Service gone?

We must find humor in everything, Right?

Well, today I am trying to find great humor in the process I am encountering and am having a hard time, but I seem to be able to pass on humor to others even when I am in the midst of the pain...so, I thought I would give it a shot and maybe it will help me move faster to the humor side of pain.

I have been working with a certain company trying to get measurements and installs done for my basement. Now, I would have thought that this would be pretty easy, but I don't think easy and Lynette work together for some reason.

Let me detail the steps I have experienced as you can hopefully see the pain and find many laughs at the same time.

When I called this unmentioned company, if you want to ask me I WILL tell you, I asked them to come measure my basement. The measurements went pretty well. I didn't even have to pay for the measurement and that was a first time ever.

Once the measurements were in, the company representative called me to offer me a quote. Let me tell you that first off, she only ended up offering me a quote on the tile as she didn't have the other items recorded. Well, to top it off, she didn't break down the quotes to the upstairs and basement as I had asked and had included removing the toilets and taking out preexisting floors. Let me explain to you...the basement had NO toilets in and no preexisting floor outside the concrete...can't really remove that now can you. On top of that she included the floor boards.

I informed her at this point that I do not need floor board from them, I don't need toilets removed and I don't need old flooring out. I do in fact need the upstairs quote separated from the downstairs.

She finally calls back and only had the downstairs quote this time as she says I didn't want the upstairs. I told her to go ahead and give it to me and then I would be in to her place to write down the other materials I wanted a quote done on.

She informs me that the basement (300 sq ft) was going to cost me &4,000 to have installed and there still might be supplies that I need. I told her if there might be supplies, she needs to tell me now. I am looking to you to be the expert as that is what is claimed. Your team did the measurements and assessments so tell me the quote for all that I NEED that I did not ask to be excluded.

At this point, I went back in to discuss the types of materials that I wanted quotes on. I told them that I would like the Upstairs Bathrooms and Vanities quoted out with tile and vinyl, both with install and without. Then I asked for the family room to be quoted with Carpet,install and basic padding and then bathroom, craftroom, laundry room and landing to be quoted in vinyl and tile with install and without.

When I got the call back, NOTHING was right. I had even written down EXACTLY what I needed and the sales associate argued with me saying that isn't what I said. I told her to check her file for the note that I wrote...she said there is nothing in there. She asked me if I wanted to talk to her manager and I told her only if they will answer my questions, listen to what I am saying and not talk to me like I was stupid.

She ended up helping me, kind of, after I asked her to fax me the report to my office and I would review it and call with questions. I then asked her to please not call me every other day to try to set up an install. I told her that I had informed her before that this is a basement finish and I am still in process, but would like to get some quotes to know what direction to head.

Today I am sitting here getting my vinyl installed in the basement. When the installer showed up, he went down and told me what I needed done and that it was not in his statement of work. While he was there, the company called me to ask me when I planned to pick up my merchandise.

The installer left to call the company to find out what was going on and I went and called the company back. I told them that I was not aware I had to pick up the items as it was part of the contract that it would arrive with the installer and then informed them that the installer said not all things were listed that needed to be done. Next think I know I was transferred to another person without knowing why. They wanted to then pass me off to the expediter and I told them no thanks, I want the manager.

I explained in very brief detail the fun that I have been having since the start. I told him the current fun that I was having and asked what am I to do. He said he would take care of me and get me the stuff if he had to deliver it himself. He asked to speak to the installer and then the installer went to pick up the stuff.

After about 20 minutes had passed, I got another call from the company and they asked for directions. I told them that my installer should be there picking up the stuff and he said he had left because they still needed to pull more of the items as they didn't have enough vinyl ready.

When the installer got here, he informed me not only did they not have enough, but they didn't have anymore and it was coming from another of the stores.

My installer started rolling out what they had and found out that what they told him was in the roll was in fact not accurate. There was to be enough to do 2 of the rooms while he was waiting and it wasn't wide enough to even do anything with it.

The company just now (1:30pm) dropped off the roll for the installer to use.

Here is the icing on the cake. The installer needed to roll out the vinyl to cut it and decided to use my neighbors yard as it had less leaves and trees. My neighbor came out and yelled at him about it.

My installer came in and told me about the encounter and said, "Your neighbor sure isn't very nice." So I asked if it was to the west. He said yes. He said he was rolling out the vinyl in his yard as it was open and didn't have trees and the guy came out and gave him a tongue lashing. The installer told him that he wasn't trying to hurt anything and that usually neighbors are nice and like to help each other out.

The installer told me he is sorry if he caused more trouble for me. I told him that it doesn't matter. They don't like me anyway and seem angry at everyone.

The day isn't even over yet, so this story may have to grow, but thought I would share the fun of the day.

There is so many details that I left out of this, but I think you get the pain of it all. What has happened to Customer Service and being proud of your work?

Seriously...The perfect tree.

It was the Christmas of 1997. Heidi and I were anxiously awaiting the weekend so we could go get our Christmas tree. We were so very excited and had rearranged our whole house to fit it in the perfect spot for all to see.

We were given a tree stand by my company and we decided that we should take the ring with to make sure the trunk would fit it. We jumped in my car to head off on our adventure of finding the perfect tree. We drove only a few short feet and got out at Home Depot.

We were able to get a very close parking spot so that we wouldn't have to lug a tree forever, especially since we are girls and we are supposed to be weak, and we didn't want to show up any of the men there.

We emerged out of the car to head into our destination. We went to the section where the trees were the cheapest. We didn't look at how the trees looked, we just wanted to make sure that the trunk would fit. We found one that looked perfect, or at least we thought so, it was still bundled up.

We picked it up and started to head out when a gentleman asked if we wanted the trunk cut. We did and had actually mentioned it to him right before he asked. He takes the tree and cuts the bottom off so that it will stay fresh for us in our tree stand. At that point he asked it we wanted some of the branches trimmed off and so we asked him to please do that as well. Once the branches were cut off he asked us if we wanted to keep them. The two of us have never had so many questions asked of us about a Christmas tree. We just stared at each other until he broke the silence with, "Ladies, could you help me out here?" We finally determined that we would like to burn them in the fireplace to get Christmas in the air.

At this point, I decided to grab the tree and lug it to the front to pay for it. Once we get to the front, wouldn't you know it, only one lane was open. Why is it that stores have multiple lanes when they like to have them ALL closed but one?

I stand in line with this giant tree on my shoulders waiting for the slowest cashier ever, to finish with her customer.

Another cashier decides, at this point, to open another lane. Rather than announce that she was open and could help, she went to the man right in front of me to tell him she could assist him if he was ready to check out. The man was holding BATTERIES and was next in line for the cashier that was soon to be finished right where we were. I am sure glad he was able to get that heavy load out of his hands. I know that he was feeling pretty exhausted holding them for so long. We decided to wait for the slow cashier and hold our very light load on our shoulders.

We did finally make it to a cashier in which she looks at us and says, "Wow, you carried that all the way up here?" At that time I had every possible response running through my head. Things like, "no, it walked up here, but needed to rest on my shoulder for a bit", to, "I kind of had to as none of the men in this place offered their assistance and we needed a tree." I decided to go with a nicer response of, "Yes, we really wanted this tree and had to get it here somehow." To this she replied with, "you must be strong." Keep in mind that the whole time this is going on I am still holding the tree.

Once out of the line and having spent several dollars more than we intended, I get to the car and I can't find Heidi. I turn to look for her and hit her in the head with the tip of the tree, that is what happens when you have a huge obstacle in your way, your view becomes very blocked. After I made sure she was still conscious, I finally get the tree on top of the car and tied on for a quick ride.

While we were out, we decided we may as well stop at Walmart to get an Angel tree topper and some stocking for the fireplace. Heidi decided to wait in the car while I went in QUICKLY for the supplies. I got what I needed in a matter of 15 minutes and wandered to the checkout. I once again encountered the joy of many lanes being present but only one being open. It took about 45 minutes to get through the line. When I got back to the car, Heidi had turned into a popsicle. Now I would need to defrost her before we could tend to the tree.

We finally made it back to the apartment, 2 hours later, and got the tree up 3 flights of stairs. Once the tree was in the apartment, we cut the lines loose so that the tree could relax. We went to put the tree into the stand and found out that when the man helped us out by cutting off the base of the trunk he also helped us right out of the possibility of being able to use our tree base. Upon finding this out, Heidi proceeded to go out of the apartment and back to Walmart for a new base. In the meantime, I stood in the apartment holding the tree and praying that it would not be another 45 minutes as the tree was starting to relax and was starting to poke at me where trees shouldn't poke.

She apparently doesn't experience one lane with long lines as she was back in just moments and she had a base that looked like it would work well for us. She put the base on the floor, and since I have become pretty attached to the tree, I decided to place it into the stand. We were very fortunate for the hole was definitely large enough for the tree. However, we had a new problem. The whole was big enough, but the hole was VERY deep. Because it was so deep, the tree would not sit on the bottom as the branches kept it suspended. Since I really didn't want to hold the tree for the whole holiday season, we had to do something.

Keep in mind, we were two women that had not begun to acquire all the tools that we would like to have on hand, so of course we had no hack saw. Our choices were to go back to Walmart or to try the ginsu knives, which they say can cut through a can. We decided to try the later as we were tired of Walmart and wanted the task complete. We began cutting away at the branches. After an hour, we had cut away a total of 10 branches before the tree would fit in the base.

We now had the tree in the base and decided to position it where we wanted it. As we position it, the tree falls out. At this point, we realize that we didn't tighten the base to the tree, a bit late as it has already fallen, fortunately landing on nothing. We get the tree tightened and realize that the tree is not quite right. We cannot move it as easily this time because we had filled the base FULL of water. We had to work very carefully to get it in the perfect spot.

We finally got it where we wanted it and got the tree decorated. It was in fact a very beautiful tree and we were very pleased with it. We kind of had to be. We had never taken 5 hours to put a tree in a base, and a total of 8 hours to acquire the perfect tree and hoped we would never have to again.

We did end up with the perfect tree and enjoyed the smell of Christmas in our apartment and the memories and laughter made over trying to get a tree in a stand.