I usually buy the kids’ winter coats at LL Bean because of the great quality and because I know that they really stand behind their products. When Aliya was at Next Generation, her teacher told me that the zipper on her (LL Bean) winter coat kept splitting apart. I had every intention of exchanging the coat and even called LL Bean one time to start the process. Unfortunately I called at the end of the season and they didn’t have any suitable replacements in stock.

When Adlani reached size 4T, he wore the coat too. The zipper split apart every so often but I still never got around to taking care of it (story of my life). This year, nobody wears a size 4T, so the jacket has been sitting on the piano waiting for me to do something about it. Last week I started up a live chat with LL Bean. They told me what color jackets they had in stock in that size, I picked one, and called to give them my credit card number. I received the new jacket, which was on sale for $45, and returned the old one which I had originally bought for $59. The old one was in somewhat rough shape, but amazingly I received a refund check from LL Bean yesterday for the original $59 purchase price!

Is that amazing customer service or what?? When I was at the LL Bean outlet in December, a customer brought in a bag to return. It had no tags and she didn’t have the receipt. The cashier asked her how much she had paid for the bag, and immediately refunded her $40. Companies with great products and service like this will be the ones to survive in this economy.
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The BLOCKS PTO sponsored a really fun event tonight at Adlani’s preschool. The kids dressed in their pj’s and Elaine Kessler performed. She is SO CREATIVE! Her show was a winter theme and she sang songs about snow boots, penguins, snowmen, snowflakes, etc. The kids were hysterical over the bird puppet in the penguin song. She showed them how to skate using paper plates on their feet, and had a snowstorm and snowball fight with cotton balls. It was a great show and everyone was all tired out by the time she got to the goodbye song. On their way out, the kids were able to swap one of their old boring books for a new exciting one. They loved it…Norah is so ready to go to preschool.

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Yesterday I received some advice about motherhood that I’ve heard umpteen times before…”Enjoy every moment. It’s gone before you can believe it.” I try. I really do. But some moments just cannot be enjoyed without medication.

Snow days should not come in pairs. That should be a rule. We are in the middle of Snow Day #2, and even though I worked until 2 a.m. this morning, I still have things I need to do. While I was talking to one of my coworkers on the phone, I heard Aliya and Norah having way too much fun with their birthday crown painting project and wandered into the dining room in time to see them slathering paint on themselves like it was Oil of Olay. I remained calm until I hung up the phone, and then I turned into a raging beast. There were blobs of paint on the rug, the furniture, and somehow I’m finding it in other areas of the house. I just found a big blob on one of the new leather chairs and a smear on the kitchen floor.

I’m sure some day I’ll look back on this and laugh, as long as I survive my own rage without having an aneurysm.

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