Everything can change in just a second. That is what has happened recently. The week that Maddy went off to camp it was going to be Hubby time and then "me" time. Maddy went to camp, had an amazing time and I will share that soon. Instead of what I had planned I spent the time tending to my Mother.
The day Maddy left for camp Mom fell in the shower a split second and a hard fall later she had a burst fracture of her L1 vertebra. Her doctor was out of town so she went to an Urgent Care place and got some meds. The two days that were supposed to be mine were spent at her house trying to make sure she was ok. When I was there she seemed on the mend so I went back home. (We live just over an hour from each other.)
The day we picked Maddy up from camp we had been home a couple of hours and things had gone from bad to worse. I had to leave and go pick Mom up and bring her home. We got her all settled here and then it became obvious that she needed to be in the hospital. It is then we learned about the vertebra. After spending 36 of first 48 hours at the hospital I was finally able to begin to go home for longer periods of time.
She is now in a back brace that she will wear more hours than not and for several months. This week we believe she will move from the hospital to a Rehab facility in her home town. After that we hope that she can be back in her house for the rest of the recovery.
We are thankful that things are not worse and that she will heal and recover from this accident. Once things get back to a more routine schedule I will get back to my typical Maddy stories.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Camp
Maddy is going away to camp today. This is her first time at summer camp and since she is almost 18 you can imagine this is a big deal for everyone. There was a time when we thought she would never be able to do something like this.
She is looking forward to it and I know she will have a fabulous time. I loved going to camp as a kid and she will be able to do things that she can't do at home. We are so grateful I am able to stay at home with her, but any chance she is about to do something in a safe enviroment out of the house I am thrilled!
We have the schedule for her day and they are keeping these kiddos busy. Multiple activities during the day and themed party every night. She is packed and ready, all we need is for the gates to open this afternoon!
She is looking forward to it and I know she will have a fabulous time. I loved going to camp as a kid and she will be able to do things that she can't do at home. We are so grateful I am able to stay at home with her, but any chance she is about to do something in a safe enviroment out of the house I am thrilled!
We have the schedule for her day and they are keeping these kiddos busy. Multiple activities during the day and themed party every night. She is packed and ready, all we need is for the gates to open this afternoon!
Monday, June 20, 2011
For Dad
For Fathers Day this year Maddy wrote Mark a note.
For Dad
10 Things I Love about you.
1. Your Smarts
2. Your Kindess
3. You get me into new things
4. You take me places
5. You take care of me
6. You are always there for me
7. You are the Best Dad ever
8. You love me for who I am
9. You are so much fun being around with
10. You are easy to talk to
Happy Fathers Day
Love Maddy
For Dad
10 Things I Love about you.
1. Your Smarts
2. Your Kindess
3. You get me into new things
4. You take me places
5. You take care of me
6. You are always there for me
7. You are the Best Dad ever
8. You love me for who I am
9. You are so much fun being around with
10. You are easy to talk to
Happy Fathers Day
Love Maddy
Monday, June 13, 2011
Customer Service
Customer Service - The long lost art of a person providing a customer with assistance in a mild and friendly manner.
I had two run-ins with Customer Non-Service this week.
The first was when I needed to call AT&T about our U-verse service. We have been AT&T customers for several years with many of their services and are happy with them, but any time there is an issue trying to speak to an actual person is like trying to break into Fort Knox. Our TV's had been losing the signal quite often and after I would reboot the main router or the cable box they would fail on initialization. We are a pretty tech savvy house so once I had done all that I knew to do and when reboot the router would no longer work I decided it was time to call. The first time I called I never spoke to a person, instead a computer voice told me to please do all the steps that I had already done three times. Then the computer voice politely informed me that the last step would fix the problem and since it would take up to 20 mins it was going to hang up the phone now. It also informed me that a note was made and if I still had problems I could call back. (Gee thanks).
I waited about an hour and suffered through several sighs and eye rolls from Maddy. When I called back I was on hold about 10 minutes and enjoyed hearing all about how if I went to channel 411 it would give me helpful information regarding my tv service. Finally a young man answered the phone and assured me that when we got off the phone my problem would be resolved. After we did all the things I had now done 5 times, he stated that a service call would need to be scheduled. I did not point out that my problem was not resolved, but while we were waiting on the service schedule information, he mentioned that I could go to channel 411 to get helpful information regarding my TV service I did let him know it is hard to read that information when you don't have a TV signal. Four days later the service man showed up, rebooted the router and of course we all know what happened.....the TV's booted up just fine.
My second Customer Non-Service was with Wal-mart. I know that is a surprise. I had a very simple question regarding their price match policy. (I may or may not have been asking about beer price matching for the Save on Brew business.) A young lady answered the phone thanking me for calling Wal-mart, mumbled her name and wanted to know how she could help me. When I said I had a question about price matching she transferred me to the service department. The phone rang and rang and rang and rang and rang and rang. It finally went to a voice mail box that was full so I could not have left a message even if I wanted to.
There was an option to go back to the operator so I chose that option. The same girl answered my call and I explained that she sent me to nowhere land and I just had a simple question regarding price matching. She said hold please and the phone rang and rang and rang and rang and rang and rang. It finally went to the same full voice mail box. Once again I chose to return to the operator.
The same girl picked up the phone again and when I stated again that I had a very easy question regarding the price match policy and she kept sending me to nowhere land. She stated that she did not know about the price matching policy and that was why she was sending me to the service department. She wanted to know if I wanted to be transferred there again. When I stated no I did not want to be send to nowhere land again she told me to have a nice day and thanks for calling Wal-mart!
I had two run-ins with Customer Non-Service this week.
The first was when I needed to call AT&T about our U-verse service. We have been AT&T customers for several years with many of their services and are happy with them, but any time there is an issue trying to speak to an actual person is like trying to break into Fort Knox. Our TV's had been losing the signal quite often and after I would reboot the main router or the cable box they would fail on initialization. We are a pretty tech savvy house so once I had done all that I knew to do and when reboot the router would no longer work I decided it was time to call. The first time I called I never spoke to a person, instead a computer voice told me to please do all the steps that I had already done three times. Then the computer voice politely informed me that the last step would fix the problem and since it would take up to 20 mins it was going to hang up the phone now. It also informed me that a note was made and if I still had problems I could call back. (Gee thanks).
I waited about an hour and suffered through several sighs and eye rolls from Maddy. When I called back I was on hold about 10 minutes and enjoyed hearing all about how if I went to channel 411 it would give me helpful information regarding my tv service. Finally a young man answered the phone and assured me that when we got off the phone my problem would be resolved. After we did all the things I had now done 5 times, he stated that a service call would need to be scheduled. I did not point out that my problem was not resolved, but while we were waiting on the service schedule information, he mentioned that I could go to channel 411 to get helpful information regarding my TV service I did let him know it is hard to read that information when you don't have a TV signal. Four days later the service man showed up, rebooted the router and of course we all know what happened.....the TV's booted up just fine.
My second Customer Non-Service was with Wal-mart. I know that is a surprise. I had a very simple question regarding their price match policy. (I may or may not have been asking about beer price matching for the Save on Brew business.) A young lady answered the phone thanking me for calling Wal-mart, mumbled her name and wanted to know how she could help me. When I said I had a question about price matching she transferred me to the service department. The phone rang and rang and rang and rang and rang and rang. It finally went to a voice mail box that was full so I could not have left a message even if I wanted to.
There was an option to go back to the operator so I chose that option. The same girl answered my call and I explained that she sent me to nowhere land and I just had a simple question regarding price matching. She said hold please and the phone rang and rang and rang and rang and rang and rang. It finally went to the same full voice mail box. Once again I chose to return to the operator.
The same girl picked up the phone again and when I stated again that I had a very easy question regarding the price match policy and she kept sending me to nowhere land. She stated that she did not know about the price matching policy and that was why she was sending me to the service department. She wanted to know if I wanted to be transferred there again. When I stated no I did not want to be send to nowhere land again she told me to have a nice day and thanks for calling Wal-mart!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Lauged so hard my sides hurt
Had a most wonderful weekend with family. My aunt and I went up a day early to spend the night at my cousins house on Lake LBJ. It is a beautiful lake house and we stayed up way to late every night of the reunion. One of the best things about my family is that we laugh, we can laugh with and at eat other and none of it is mean spirited.
We had a couple of events that had several of us in stitches and once we would get settled down something else would happen or we would have to repeat the story. Honestly we spend a solid hour on Saturday morning laughing.
Once we were home on Sunday my aunt was asking about our dog. Her and her husband are currently
"dogless" but will get one in the next few months. I had stepped into the pantry for something and as I am exiting I hear her ask the hubby a question regarding Bruiser.
Mark's answer was "No, not really very much", I quickly chimed in and said "you can be honest, he does and boy does it stink sometimes". They both looked at me and started laughing. She had asked does the dog bark and I heard does the dog fart.
Laughter is wonderful and when you get the opportunity to do it with 50ish members of your family it is pure joy.
We had a couple of events that had several of us in stitches and once we would get settled down something else would happen or we would have to repeat the story. Honestly we spend a solid hour on Saturday morning laughing.
Once we were home on Sunday my aunt was asking about our dog. Her and her husband are currently
"dogless" but will get one in the next few months. I had stepped into the pantry for something and as I am exiting I hear her ask the hubby a question regarding Bruiser.
Mark's answer was "No, not really very much", I quickly chimed in and said "you can be honest, he does and boy does it stink sometimes". They both looked at me and started laughing. She had asked does the dog bark and I heard does the dog fart.
Laughter is wonderful and when you get the opportunity to do it with 50ish members of your family it is pure joy.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Lunch with friends
Yesterday I met a couple of friends for lunch. I watched what we all ordered and it make me reflect on what I eat for lunch has changed over the years.
This year: chicken, steamed broccoli with water to drink
2-3 years ago: club sandwich, a few of the fries and a mojito (or another type of fancy drink, followed by a nap at home.) Share a dessert
4-5 years ago: burger, fries and a couple of beers or mixed drinks (possibly a nap after) Eat part of a dessert and take rest home for later.
6-7 years ago: appetizer, burger or sandwich with fries, couple of beers or mixed drinks and a full dessert.
The amount of food is smaller now, not nearly as exciting and yet I have the weight as if I was eating 7-10 years ago. Dang you older, slower metabolism!!!
This year: chicken, steamed broccoli with water to drink
2-3 years ago: club sandwich, a few of the fries and a mojito (or another type of fancy drink, followed by a nap at home.) Share a dessert
4-5 years ago: burger, fries and a couple of beers or mixed drinks (possibly a nap after) Eat part of a dessert and take rest home for later.
6-7 years ago: appetizer, burger or sandwich with fries, couple of beers or mixed drinks and a full dessert.
The amount of food is smaller now, not nearly as exciting and yet I have the weight as if I was eating 7-10 years ago. Dang you older, slower metabolism!!!
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