The Things We Learn

Good morning! If ever a day turns out exactly the way I think it will, I will probably die of shock.

This morning has been alright. When I took Joanna to Gardner there were actually a couple of decent songs on the radio. Way too much talking in the morning to make radio worth listening to in my opinion. If I want to listen to people talk, I’ll wake someone up or have a conversation with myself. Usually that would be more interesting and better quality than what you might hear on the radio. Before we left, Trista and Scooter wanted out so I let them. When I got home, they still wanted to go for a walk so we did. It was pretty uneventful. There are times when I definitely prefer frozen grass to really dewy grass though. Like right now; my toes are cold because my socks got wet walking through the really dewy grass in Crocs. I suppose I could wear other shoes but that would be a pain.

I did have to wash stuff for milking this morning which did not excite me. Milking was okay other than the fact we got less than half a gallon because, guess what? The boys were in with mama all night. I’ve already warned children that I do not want the kids down with their mother today. They are ten weeks old now; that is high time to be weaned. Not a bad time for eating, either, but don’t tell anyone I said so. The only advantage to letting them get bigger is that the heart and liver are. Unfortunately, so is the rest.

Okay, so now I’m trying to figure out what I did to get sidetracked on Facebook. I’m not sure unless it was to post about George and Fred. They’re cute little boogers but they’re getting bigger and it would be easier to deal with them if they were not here. If you know anyone who needs a couple of 10-week wethers, let me know.

Yesterday wasn’t a bad day. I got my part of a group assignment done for marketing like I wanted to before I left to go to Leominster. I tend to be a bit verbose for a marketing class. I suppose I could be more succinct but that’s usually rather tedious and uninteresting. When I took sociology, the professor said, more is better; you cannot write too much. She was talking about for essay questions on test. Now, for marketing, the professor says, short and sweet; say what you need to and be done. So sad.

After getting that done and taking a shower, I went and picked up Elizabeth. Our first stop was the Verizon store in Leominster. I wasn’t sure I was going to get a phone but thought I’d stop and see what they had and if there were any better, or at least as good, deals than online. We looked around and I found a couple that I like. Of course, the one I really like is the one I still can’t justify spending the money on, a Droid Razor Maxx. There was one that would have been free, a couple that had mail in rebates which ultimately made them free, and a couple that would have been less than $50. I had an LG Ally and really liked it (until it stopped working after being dropped too many times) so I was looking at LGs. There was one. It was one of the ones with a rebate. There were a couple of Samsungs. When the young kid who was working there was done with the guy he was helping, I riddled him with questions. He said that if you can get by without a slide out keyboard, it’s probably good because that’s the direction technology is going. I said that’s fine but when I’m outside and it’s cold, the touch screens don’t work with gloves on and sometimes my fingers are so cold, the touch screen won’t work then. Hmmmmm, point for slide-out keyboards until they figure out what to do about it for touch screens.

I ended up getting a Pantech Marauder. The only real difference between it and the LG that I was looking at is that the Pantech is 4G and the LG was only 3G. I don’t really give a whoop-de-do about that since we can’t even connect to 4G at the house but it’s brand new—only been out a couple of weeks, and I could get it for nothing after the mail-in rebate. Cannot complain.

Learned a couple of interesting things yesterday. Used to be that you could either not have insurance on your phone or you could. You had to get it when you got a new one but could cancel at any time. We all had insurance but cancelled it because the monthly premiums kept going up as well as the deductible. When we first got our phones, it was $5/month and a $50 deductible. I think it’s like $10/month (this is per phone, so it adds up) and a $100 deductible. Now, you can either not have insurance or you have two options for it. The first is the $10/month, $100 deductible for which you will get a refurbished phone if anything happens to yours. The new one is $80 up front for the entire two years with a $75 deductible and you get a new phone. Hmmm. Well, I would go for no insurance before going for the first option. The second one sounded pretty good. Without having the time to go out and investigate on my own, I decided to take him on his word and went for it.

That was just the insurance stuff. I also learned that the Gardner Verizon store, which I did not like was closed because, get this—they were dealing drugs! Are you kidding me? All I knew is that I didn’t like the guys who worked there. Some of you may remember the story of when I went and got Daniel a phone. I decided that one, he really didn’t need it, and two, I really couldn’t afford it, so I took it back within the 14-day period you can. They said, no problem, we’ll take care of that for you. A few months later, I was wondering why the phone bill was as large as it was so I went in and looked and BEhold, there is a phone there. It isn’t the one I got, it is another one. I called Verizon because I was done dealing with them at that point and got it straighten out and the next month’s phone bill was almost nothing but told everyone I had the opportunity to about them and their dealings. I also had seen the manager with his wife when I worked at Ocean State and thought was incredibly rude and machoistic. No man should talk to his wife the way he did. No woman should talk to her husband that way either. Jonathan went there when he got his phone and they were still as rude and unhelpful as ever. I told him I wouldn’t personally go there but he did anyway and he found out why I wouldn’t. I was not surprised when they shut down but didn’t know the full extent of why. Can’t say I’m completely surprised, that’s for sure.

We stopped at Joann’s and I got some thread and two pieces of fabric. My lovely coupons I could not use because everything I got was already on sale. So sad. When I dropped Elizabeth off, we decided that we need to do this more often. It was fun. I just love Elizabeth. I don’t know how Jonathan managed to snag her but I’m sure glad he did so I could get to know her. Speaking of Elizabeth, she said that the kid at the Verizon store was really good. He took his time, he answered all my questions, she was amazed because in New York, they just hurry hurry hurry to get you out the door. When we walked out, she said, “Where are the building?” I looked at her and then pointed around at the stores. “There they are, there are too many of them.” We laughed. Coming from New York, she said she just can’t get over being able to see the hills and trees. Before coming to the US, she grew up in Lima, Peru, so she really is a city girl and is really loving it here.

When I got home, I worked on my school work and helped Joseph get his homework finished. Amena made peanut butter balls and then did her homework. Seth and Cedric did their homework (Seth took a while just because he’s an expert at dilly-dally). Joanna went to Walmart and bought three movies. I said they could watch one as soon as homework was done. Amena wanted to watch “Anna and the King” so she did in the living room. The boys wanted to cuddle with Joanna on her bed so they watched “Journey to the Center of the Earth.” We had to have supper in there and family prayer and scriptures. Amena had started watching first so it finished before she had to go to bed. The boys had to pause theirs until tonight. They had to go bring in the goats as well and did not put George and Fred in the crate.

Paul and Laura got home. Paul’s day wasn’t too bad although he did not get to talk to Blair about the more serious things that have been going on. A few smaller things, yes, big, no. Hopefully today will be better and everything will get worked out. I was able to get everything done yesterday that I wanted to school wise which was very nice. Then I went to bed. Ha ha ha. Very funny. I was tired. I finished my work by 8:30 and then sent Paul some pictures of the Mercedes that I’d taken a couple of days ago so he can list it on Craigslist. That took forever; I probably should have taken my laptop upstairs for better connectivity. I finally got to bed and then I had to use the bathroom. And I read a little. And then I had to use the bathroom. I thought I was done and went back to bed. Then I had to use the bathroom again. I took a book with me this time and this time I was done so I went back to bed. I was so tired, I almost sent Joanna a message saying I wouldn’t be able to take her to Gardner in the morning, but I didn’t. I did fall asleep and slept well.

Today’s list of things to do is short. Three things long. Start accounting homework (which I’ve done already), check to see if the quiz for phlebotomy has been posted (it has not as of 7:30 this morning), and maybe retake the marketing quiz for chapter 3. Then, if I feel like it, I can get started on my reading for next week. Pretty cool and exciting. More likely, I’ll feel like cutting out some fabric and throwing something together. Cedric and Seth do have soccer practice so we’ll see how it goes.

Have a fantastic day!