My Trusty BMD

As you may have learned from the road trip post with Norah screaming and throwing her shoe, I have a secret weapon for when the kids get unruly in the car.  I call it my BMD or Behavior Modification Device.  People with no imagination might call it a spray bottle.  Lana loved the tool so much that she stocked up on personal-sized BMDs that fit into the cup holder, and she gave me a pink one of my very own. 

This morning I was dropping Norah off at school and she was talking about getting her driver’s license someday.  Here’s the conversation that followed (I did not give her the idea.): 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4yQr-foI8I&hl=en&fs=1&]

If it sounds too good to be true, it’s probably B.S.

I’m a loyal Jordan’s customer, but a few years ago I needed a rug for the dining room and I went to Bob’s because I didn’t want to spend a lot of money for a rug that would have food dropped on it daily.  Today’s drama involved that rug, pictured below.  Refer to my letter to Bob (also below) for details.  So far I have not heard from Bob.

Dear Bob –

In 2005, I purchased a rug for my dining room from your Natick store. The salesperson sold me on the “protection plan” by telling me that I could have the rug cleaned any time it was dirty – just call the customer service phone number to schedule. Four years later when our dog had an “accident” on the rug, I decided to take advantage of the cleaning protection I had paid for, and stopped by the store. The two people working at the desk confirmed that I just needed to call customer service, and gave me a card with the phone number. When I called, I was directed to call another number, which I did, and I explained my situation again. A form was emailed to me and I was instructed to print it and fill it out, including a drawing of the stain (I included a drawing of the dog just so the problem was clearly described.). I had to mail the form back (fax and email not acceptable), and wait while my claim was evaluated. Several weeks went by and someone called me to schedule the cleaning. He warned me in his phone message that I needed to call right away or the warranty company would cancel the claim. I called and made an appointment for a week later – today.

This morning I removed all of the furniture from the dining room in preparation for the cleaning and waited for the carpet cleaner to arrive. Imagine my surprise when he showed up with a “carpet and upholstery cleaner” with a 5” wide nozzle. He very politely explained that he was not responsible for cleaning the whole rug, just the stain. When he left my house I had a 6-square-foot area of rug that looked brand new, and 72 square feet that looked like a family of 5 with a dog and 2 cats had been dropping food on it for 4 years. The technician was kind enough to confirm that I could use my Bissell carpet cleaner on the rest of the rug without damaging it. Honestly, I could have cleaned the rug with my Bissell cleaner about 4 times for the amount of time I’ve invested in this carpet cleaning. Not to mention that I dealt with my dog’s accident long ago, since I obviously couldn’t leave it while my claim was being considered for several weeks.

I don’t expect a refund or even a response (especially if you respond that I should have read the “fine print”), but I think your salespeople should understand and explain the policy more accurately to future customers.

Sincerely,

Lori Greene
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Norah’s Birthday Recap

Now that we’ve established that I’m insane (quite a few of you have agreed with me, and Lana bought me a mini zen garden), here are some photos from Norah’s birthday last week.

Cupcake for breakfast:

The infamous homemade cupcakes (the kid with the allergy ended up being out sick that day!):
The Bedazzled shirt:

Family tradition, dinner at Bugaboo Creek:

Welcome Baby:

Out of the Mouths of Babes

This morning I kept telling Adlani to get dressed for school, starting with my Nice-Mommy voice and progressing through Stern-Mommy, Exasperated-Mommy, Incredulous-Mommy, and all the way to Furious-Mommy, getting louder each time. 

Finally he started crying the angry-cry and yelled, “IT’S NOT FAIR!!!” 
Me (Thinking, “This is gonna be good.  I need to write this down for the blog.”):  “What’s not fair?”
Adlani (still yelling):  “It’s not fair that YOU get to just WALK AROUND, and WE have to do EVERYTHING!!!”

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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