Spring, Summer & Surprises

Last week was Harrisburg PA and the Mid Atlantic Hearing Expo.

It went something like this.

Thursday: Check in to our room.

Thursday night:  Dinner with Siemens Reps and other business owners and specialists, compliments of Siemens.

Friday: 6 AM wake-up.  7:45 off to the meeting room where I grabbed an OJ and some scrambled eggs from the breakfast buffet before joining our friends who saved us a place at their table.  

Then- Presentations - meetings - sitting- learning - etc. etc.  

All. Day. L-o-n-g

Didn't sleep well the night before so when we got back to our room at 6:00 PM I thought ... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh  finally.  peace.  quiet.  relaxation.  and...  "I'm too old for this"

Then our Siemens rep phoned us and invited us to go with him and some others to the Hollywood Casino for some food and fun.

Gary enjoyed seeing the race track where his dad used to go.

And I won $40 on the slots!  Yay me!  Back to the room by ten, then winding down and praying for a good night's sleep.

Saturday Morning:  Another early 6AM wake-up.  More meetings.  

Then.  Home.

Now, its time to rest up.  

We'll be home now for a couple of weeks, and then I have a surprise getaway for Gary in honor of his 60th birthday which will be MAY 1.  Our 'getaway' will be on April 4 and 5. 

 Where is it?  What is it,  you ask?  

Oh, but I can't say. It's a surprise!  

You can try to guess, Gary.  And, I will tell you if you get it right.  But no, it's not NC.  Guess again!  

Spring is just days away....  and Summer was here yesterday.  If you want a dose of sweet stuff today, watch her little video:

Gracie, how did you and Justin get along while we were gone?

Well.  I like that Justin's staying with me when you go away.  It beats the kennel.  But could you please tell him that I am in charge, not him? He's constantly giving me orders.  It's very annoying.

Random Memories

Did you know that the Mall Of America in Minnesota has a ferris wheel and roller coaster inside the mall?

We visited there in 2002 I believe it was...  we had the girls with us.  Lindsey was a teenager at the time and Athena was about five years behind her.  The Mall of America is huge, so we decided to buy the girls walkie talkies so we could be separated from them without losing them.  This was before cell phones were all the rage.  It turns out all parents had the same idea because there was not one single frequency on those walkie talkies where we could reach the girls.  The channels were jammed.  Yes, they got lost.  And yes, we found them.

   my bedroom BG (before Gary)  So girly, right?

  Just some family and friends gathering on Thanksgiving.  Look at how tiny Gracie was...  awwww


Any random memories for you Gracie?

My first Christmas.  When Santa bought me Mr. Monkey.

Junk Mail

 I could never understand why people get so upset about getting junk mail....

Till one day...

I got a deep paper cut from one of the useless & manipulative pieces of waste found in my mailbox.

Of course, not all mail is junk mail.   Anything with Amazon packing tape means something I want is inside.

Then there is the organizations that want money.

Here is what I have found happens when people donate to charities:

The organizations want MORE>MORE>MORE!!!

The following piece of mail that we received today, gave me pause.

Now why in the world wouldn't this organization give that dollar to the troops instead of sending it to those who they are hoping will send money to the troops?  Must we continually manipulate to get results?

Why would the fact that they send me a dollar make me want to send them $25?

Does money really motivate people to that extent?

Which brings me to my final piece of mail that I would like to share with you today.

Here's how our office works:

We do hearing tests.  We sell hearing aids.  We counsel.  We listen.  We teach.  We exchange.  We counsel some more.  And in the end, if our customer is not satisfied, we give them a full refund.  Every once in a while we get burned out with a customer after going over and over and over everything....  but we smile and soldier on....  and in the end, if they return their hearing aids in spite of our efforts, we suck it up and tell them we are sorry we couldn't help them.

Well, this guy wanted help for his elderly mother and she was...  shall we say... a true challenge.  I did all of the above and in the end, she wanted to return them.

"Please take this $100 for all your work..."  her son said.
Of course, I refused...   But it was kind of him to offer.

A couple of days later I got some good mail from that same guy:

A card with kind words....  Worth so much more that a hundred dollar bill!!!

What is the silliest junk mail you've ever received?


Dear Diary,

T.R.O.U.B.L.E. awaited me the other night under the covers where I was NOT ALLOWED!
I was:

Tortured through whiny words of disrespect.
Read the riot act
Ousted from my safe spot
Under the covers without permission
Beat with a belt.  I lie.
Loved in spite of my transgression.  Yep.
Entagled in covers that I couldn't get out of.  Really. I didn't mean to get under the covers.  They got on top of me.