People are seeing news tonight, about the storms in Oklahoma, and checking in on us already. We had a trip to Nashville planned for tomorrow, to celebrate Annie's birthday, but I think we will likely end up staying home. Unstable weather is due in tomorrow and I do NOT like leaving anyone at home alone on days like that, nor do they much care for it to happen, either. Especially as far away as we would be.
This time of year one learns to be flexible. We'll just have to go up next week instead. As long as nothing 'ugly' comes in then... roll with the punches, I say. What other choice do we have? I also think it's good that the kids are learning to roll with the punches now, while they are still young, it's a good characteristic to have.
addendum: We ended up going, we left early, and got home early, it's 8:30 now, we are home, safe and sound. Lon came home with us, we are looking at some potentially ugly storms tonight between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. I was nervous enough I asked him if he could work from home tomorrow. His boss ok'd it - and we also got to meet the nice lady who hosts him, on the nights he spends up there. Her husband was not home from work yet, so we didn't get to meet him, but she was a very sweet gal. It was nice to meet her finally.
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Need to start calling ATT every day!!
Last time I called, they figured out a way to save us $20-30/month, by combining Lon and I into a shared Data plan (and I was calling to complain about repeated bill reminders, which I had already scheduled a payment for, and they also credited me $50 for my 'trouble')
Today I called, just to ask about the possibility of getting Annie an i-phone, since her i-pod button quit working several months ago, and Lon tried to fix it, and apparently made it worse in the process. We sent it in, to get it fixed, and they called today and told us it was going to be closer to $120 to fix it than the $30 we were expecting (planning to 'give' it back to her, for her birthday tomorrow)
So, I'm thinking, an i-phone wouldn't be THAT much more than that, and then she would have a phone, too... and so many more features!
So, I called ATT - the lady was AWESOME - first she says, WHY do you have TWO plans? Last month, when they changed Lon and I to shared Data, they apparently set up a new plan for the two of us, and left the girls on our old plan. She said that combining them would save us about $50/month. I'm good with that! Then she said that she would check and see if there should be a credit, if they had done it back when they combined our bills. I was thinking, it's only been a few weeks, so I doubt it would be much - turned out to be $142!! That will show up as a credit on next month's bill.
So, then we go shopping for phones, there's a re-furb, but the new one we could get, if we just add a new line, is only $50 more. So we add a line for Em, and the new phone will be Annie's and we will switch the sim's at the ATT store, after it gets here (she said it COULD even be delivered today!) And the total bill, even WITH a new line, will be less than what we WERE paying, before we added it.
Annie is helping to pay the difference between what we would have spent to repair the i-pod plus what we would have spent on her birthday, and the total (about half of the cost). And she will be paying the difference in how much it costs to have another smart phone on the plan. She has a job now. What a difference that makes in EVERYTHING.
I really think I need to just start calling ATT every week or so, to see how else they can save me money!
Today I called, just to ask about the possibility of getting Annie an i-phone, since her i-pod button quit working several months ago, and Lon tried to fix it, and apparently made it worse in the process. We sent it in, to get it fixed, and they called today and told us it was going to be closer to $120 to fix it than the $30 we were expecting (planning to 'give' it back to her, for her birthday tomorrow)
So, I'm thinking, an i-phone wouldn't be THAT much more than that, and then she would have a phone, too... and so many more features!
So, I called ATT - the lady was AWESOME - first she says, WHY do you have TWO plans? Last month, when they changed Lon and I to shared Data, they apparently set up a new plan for the two of us, and left the girls on our old plan. She said that combining them would save us about $50/month. I'm good with that! Then she said that she would check and see if there should be a credit, if they had done it back when they combined our bills. I was thinking, it's only been a few weeks, so I doubt it would be much - turned out to be $142!! That will show up as a credit on next month's bill.
So, then we go shopping for phones, there's a re-furb, but the new one we could get, if we just add a new line, is only $50 more. So we add a line for Em, and the new phone will be Annie's and we will switch the sim's at the ATT store, after it gets here (she said it COULD even be delivered today!) And the total bill, even WITH a new line, will be less than what we WERE paying, before we added it.
Annie is helping to pay the difference between what we would have spent to repair the i-pod plus what we would have spent on her birthday, and the total (about half of the cost). And she will be paying the difference in how much it costs to have another smart phone on the plan. She has a job now. What a difference that makes in EVERYTHING.
I really think I need to just start calling ATT every week or so, to see how else they can save me money!
Thursday, April 11, 2013
An Unexpected Storm Watch
I'm keeping a private blog with two dear friends, where we do book clubs together and right now, we are also counting 1000 things we are thankful for. Thought some of you might like to read this one... (the numbers are the counting thing, to 1000 - as you can see, we have only just begun a few weeks ago...)
37-45) Stormy day - but mostly over now and no big storms (well, not BAD ones) we knew there were thunder storms headed our way, that had made ugly stuff in Mississippi and Arkansas, but it seemed to be fizzling on the 'severe' aspect of things. Then, suddenly, at about 11:00 this morning, they put us on watch. (#37 - much as I hate it, I DO appreciate - am THANKFUL for - the warning system) So, instruments went in the closet, shoes were found, just realized now, we TOTALLY forgot about Jackets... anyway, all the precautions were taken - well most of them. But, I had to take my student home, get groceries and take Em to a Chiropractor appointment. The main squall line was not due here till around 2:30 or 3:00 - so I called the Chiropractor to see if we could move her appointment up a bit. They said no, Dr was out till 2:30, and the schedule was packed. But a few minutes later, they called back and said there was a cancellation (#38) and we could come at 2:15, so she could get her traction and see the Dr. as soon as he got back from the dentist, at 2:30. So we raced out the door, dropped off my student, and grabbed groceries - of course with a storm on the way, the grocery store was not your typical 'early afternoon quiet' - there were lines, and I knew we only had about 20 minutes to get to the Chiro's office. But we managed to get to the car with more than enough time to get there, in fact we got there early. (#39) and then the Dr called and said his Dentist appointment had gone bad and he was not coming in for the afternoon - too much pain. We could do the traction, but she would not get adjusted. They didn't even charge me for the traction (#40) and we got home WELL before the storms arrived (#41) (I do NOT like leaving the kids home by themselves on days like this - I even considered taking them all WITH me, but didn't feel that was the safest route to go!). There were several warnings NEAR here, that really put me on edge, the storm was approaching from the same direction, and on the same path as the big ones did two years ago (though, honestly, they ALWAYS come from that direction - well, almost always) though it was clearly less 'organized' and less severe than that day. There were reports of a funnel cloud sighting about 30 miles from here. THAT made me nervous. But I couldn't turn the TV on to see what the damages were, because Tommy freaks out, and because we had everything unplugged due to the lightening. Then we went on warning. It was a 45 minute long one!! (usually they are about 20-30 minutes) We crammed ourselves into the shelter, pets and all, and started sitting it out. They ended it early (#42) at about 4:30, and we came out, nothing had happened. A few trees were down, way down in the FAR south part of Huntsville, other than that, not much took place. (#43) We are all safe (#44) And we can re-schedule the TaeKwonDo testing that was supposed to happen to next Wednesday, and skip Pathfinders, so we have a quiet evening ahead of us (#45) (other than prep for the garage sale, tomorrow, but I'm not going to stress about it, what will get done will get done, and what doesn't won't.)
37-45) Stormy day - but mostly over now and no big storms (well, not BAD ones) we knew there were thunder storms headed our way, that had made ugly stuff in Mississippi and Arkansas, but it seemed to be fizzling on the 'severe' aspect of things. Then, suddenly, at about 11:00 this morning, they put us on watch. (#37 - much as I hate it, I DO appreciate - am THANKFUL for - the warning system) So, instruments went in the closet, shoes were found, just realized now, we TOTALLY forgot about Jackets... anyway, all the precautions were taken - well most of them. But, I had to take my student home, get groceries and take Em to a Chiropractor appointment. The main squall line was not due here till around 2:30 or 3:00 - so I called the Chiropractor to see if we could move her appointment up a bit. They said no, Dr was out till 2:30, and the schedule was packed. But a few minutes later, they called back and said there was a cancellation (#38) and we could come at 2:15, so she could get her traction and see the Dr. as soon as he got back from the dentist, at 2:30. So we raced out the door, dropped off my student, and grabbed groceries - of course with a storm on the way, the grocery store was not your typical 'early afternoon quiet' - there were lines, and I knew we only had about 20 minutes to get to the Chiro's office. But we managed to get to the car with more than enough time to get there, in fact we got there early. (#39) and then the Dr called and said his Dentist appointment had gone bad and he was not coming in for the afternoon - too much pain. We could do the traction, but she would not get adjusted. They didn't even charge me for the traction (#40) and we got home WELL before the storms arrived (#41) (I do NOT like leaving the kids home by themselves on days like this - I even considered taking them all WITH me, but didn't feel that was the safest route to go!). There were several warnings NEAR here, that really put me on edge, the storm was approaching from the same direction, and on the same path as the big ones did two years ago (though, honestly, they ALWAYS come from that direction - well, almost always) though it was clearly less 'organized' and less severe than that day. There were reports of a funnel cloud sighting about 30 miles from here. THAT made me nervous. But I couldn't turn the TV on to see what the damages were, because Tommy freaks out, and because we had everything unplugged due to the lightening. Then we went on warning. It was a 45 minute long one!! (usually they are about 20-30 minutes) We crammed ourselves into the shelter, pets and all, and started sitting it out. They ended it early (#42) at about 4:30, and we came out, nothing had happened. A few trees were down, way down in the FAR south part of Huntsville, other than that, not much took place. (#43) We are all safe (#44) And we can re-schedule the TaeKwonDo testing that was supposed to happen to next Wednesday, and skip Pathfinders, so we have a quiet evening ahead of us (#45) (other than prep for the garage sale, tomorrow, but I'm not going to stress about it, what will get done will get done, and what doesn't won't.)
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Another Busy Sunday
Started the day with some upset boys who had been asked to clean their room before breakfast, and when it came time to sit down (nearly two hours later) they were disappointed when they got sent upstairs to DO the job before they ate! They threw a 10 minute fit, and after an 'attitude adjustment' got the whole thing DONE in less time that THAT. Humph. Anyway, hopefully they learned something from the process...
The rest of the day way ubber productive! We made a list of 20 things
that needed to be done, and divided it out, so that everyone had
something to do. Mayahna and I cleaned the Garage - oh MY - does it
look GOOD! The boys were busy moving dirt for the cob project and
moving leaves into the burn pile. Lon put new motors in for the vent windows of
the van - that took WAY longer than expected - installing the motors
themselves was not that hard, but getting the interior panel pieces back into
place when he was done was a BEAR. Emma cleaned/tidied in the utility
room. Annie and Sarah spruced up (deep cleaned) the screened porch,
since spring has finally arrived and we will want to be out there more
now. And when we were done with the garage Mayahna got busy with
putting all the cardboard into the back of the truck, to take for recycling, and I got busy
with a building project that I've had materials for for almost a year -
three planter boxes for the back deck, with benches in between them, so
that we have seating around the fire pit, and space to plant some
zucchini and cucumbers. Annie lit a fire in the fire pit, just before
dark, and we roasted hot dogs and marshmellows as a treat after a long
productive day.In the end, there were 9 items not done on the list, but two of them are well on the way, and several other things that were not on the list, got done too, (like securing the screen on the girls' bedroom window so that the cats can't push it out. They did that, today, and it landed on Tommy's head - fortunately the SCREEN part was what hit him, not the edge - or the whole day would have gotten side tracked by a trip to the ER for stitches, I'm sure!!) (and did I mention that securing the screen involved a trip to the church to pick up the ladders that were still there from way back when the truck broke down?) (and I also got my basil plants in their big pots, and ready for some tasty pesto this summer)
So we go to bed, tired, but happy and with that awesome 'We got at TON done today' feeling - and - I'm SO happy with the planter boxes/benches - I can't wait to get the dirt into them and the plants planted!
Monday, April 1, 2013
A little April Fools Day Fun
So, Lon wanted to do some fun prank on the kids for April Fools day - I found this idea, and while it wasn't exactly a prank, it was fun, and cute, and we are having a lot of laughter popping up, throughout our morning, as the kids find the various things that have 'come to life'. April Fool! (PS - don't buy googly eyes at Target - they have a wax-paper-like backing on them that does not stick to the glue dots - had to make a quick run to Walmart last night at about mid-night, to get different ones that, thankfully, worked!)
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