SÖZ KURABİYELERİ

İzlem & Onur çifti için hazırladığım söz kurabiyeleri

DİŞ BUĞDAYI KURABİYE VE KAPKEKLERİ

Son anda resimleyebildiğim minik prenses Karen in diş buğdayı kurabiye ve cupcakeleri

YARIŞ PİSTİ PASTASI

Tan ın 4. yaş doğum günü için hazırladığım doğum günü pastası

KELEBEKLİ ÇİÇEKLİ 1 YAŞ PASTASI

Minik prenses tuana için hazırladığım 1 yaş doğum günü pastası

Quick Quote

When Seth broke his arm a few months ago, our awesome cousins were out of town.  So thoughtful (as ALWAYS), Aunt Heather wanted to tell Seth they were thinking about him and sent this:

When Emma saw it, she had this to say:  "Geez. I need to go break my arm or something!"

Emma, if it’s between in a $1000 broken arm or a $40 cookie bouquet…I’ll buy you the bouquet!

Never Come Between A Baker and Her Oven

You know how I post the recitals, the soccer games, the report cards, the improved behavior, the milestones?  Well, I get very few of those Big Finishes all for my very own self.  Motherhood/Homemakerhood just has very little of those…clothes are getting dirty as I finish the last load in the hamper, food is being digested after I clean up from the last good meal, my good-handling of one kid situation happens while another arises.  Not many “touchdowns” in my life, you know?

Except today.

I have a nice Jennair oven.  It’s large, gas, grill-top, stainless steel.  It also has an electical control panel that breaks every 6-9 months, since it was new 4 years ago.  When the buttons that say “Bake” and “Temp” and “End” break…you can’t use your oven at all, just in case you were wondering.

This is how it goes: I call Jennair, they send out THE EXACT SAME REPAIR GUY EVERY TIME to check it out, they report THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM EVERY TIME, order THE EXACT SAME PART EVERY TIME, they bring it to my house and replace it.  The whole process takes 10-14 days.  I have no oven and it’s annoying to come up with meals that I can cook on my range/bbq/crockpot.  Do you realize how FEW desserts you can whip up without an oven?  I do (ice cream, no bake cookies, peanut butters bars)….it’s a total tragedy around here.

Anyway the last time it happened, I got really angry when they said they were going to do the SAME repair.  “It won’t work!” I said “Get me a new oven”.  They told me if this fix didn’t work, they would.

So when my electrical panel failed (mid chicken-and-rice baking—I literally had to turn off the breaker to turn off my oven) this time, I happily skipped to my phone and called the direct  number I’d been given in case this happened again. 

The girl on the phone said they could either 1.  repair the part again or 2.  I could get a new oven….for the prorated cost of $800!  (This is when I started Mormon swearing:  “Are you FREAKING kidding me? Do you really think I’m going to pay you more money for your crappy products?!”)

Now.  I have quite the Gift of Gab.  It’s not always a good thing:  sometimes I let slip family secrets (hello Kelsie!), talk too much in the back of a classroom, go on and on while I Enlighten my children about their behavior.  But when it comes to stuff like this…I must admit:  I’m kind of awesome.  I should’ve been a lawyer.

So after I put down my “Oh No You Dih-nt!” homegirl finger, I asked to talk to a manager.  I calmly explained that it was

a.  not fair.  The MONEY I gave them for my oven worked just fine and the oven they gave me in exchange didn’t.  I told them I would think they’d be embarrassed for all the irritation and poor service their product had provided me and would want to rush to repair the wrong.

b.  ludicrous to think I would want to give them another dime for their product that had served me so poorly in the past.

c.  bad business sense.  By the time they paid the repair guy parts and labor for the next 8 years, they would pay waaay more than $800.  Plus, I told them I would spend a morning, going to every review site I could find on the internet to warn people aware from their poor products and poor customer service.

Great logic, right?  Well the supervisor didn’t think so.  Neither did his supervisor (though this one did tell me he’d feel the same way, if he were me.)  So I said “I know that there is someone in your organization who can authorize this.  I want the person over you, please.” 

He said she was in a meeting and, to her credit, she called me back and we played phone tag over the weekend.  Today, we finally got in touch.  I gave her my list of reasons (see above).  She put me on hold.  She came back.

“Mrs. Romney.  We have an administration/installation fee of $150 dollars.  If you are willing to pay that, we will begin the process of ordering you a new oven.”

OH yeah.

I agreed ($150 for a brand new oven without broken knobs, scratched and stained surfaces and a short-circuiting electrical panel?  NO PROBLEM.)

So what have we learned here today? 

1. Figure out whether you are really in the right; it was so much easier to do what I had to do because I knew it was only fair. 

2. Talk through/write out you want to say ahead of time;  I didn’t do this exactly, but man, by the time I got to manager #3, I had it DOWN. 

3. ALWAYS ask to speak to a supervisor; like I said SOMEONE has the authority…you just have to find them.

4.  Be willing to give…a little.

So that’s all.  I’m just a little elated, and felt the need to share my triumph with my internet friends. 

Anyone want some pumpkin cookies?  I’m in the mood to bake.

Try to Remember September

 

 

Faith is

• relapsing into difficult-ness.  I think this has to do with a) the change in schedules b)just growing up and changing phases.  The potty picture above is a way a distract her from a tantrum:  “Hey Faith!  Want to try to go on the potty.”  She is NOT potty training.
• saying “Paith duy-it” about everything—putting on clothes, buckling her car seat, getting out of the grocery cart…you name it, Faith thinks she can do.  This makes life with Faith even sloooower. 
• yelling, daily, from her high chair  “Love you, Jane!  Love you, Emma!” as they leave for school.  She really really misses them when they’re gone.  She also says “Seffy at keenergarnen” and it’s the cutest thing ever.

 

Seth is

• loving kindergarten, because basically the kid loves everything.
• invited to playdates ALL THE TIME.  I would never see him, if I didn’t turn some down once in a while
• kind of whiny and weepy lately and I’m thinking the time away from Mom is kind of sub-consciously wearing on him and so we’ve brought back 9 am learning time…just to have some one-on-one time

 

 

Jane is

• dealing with recurring bladder infections.  We’ve been on 5 kinds of antibiotics, had 1 ultrasound, 1 X-ray, 6 doctor visits.  We’ve found she has Vesicoureteral Reflux.  It’s very minor so we’re trying to treat with a low-grade, continuous antibiotic, rather than surgery.  Anyway…it’s been a lot of money and time.  And tummy-aches.  And fevers.  Poor thing.
• a super-star student.
• trying out soccer for the first time.  She is on a team with lots of friends, and while still very much a rookie, certainly knows how to hussle.
• always making us laugh, because of how much she makes herself laugh!  She also has the funniest imagination and the stories and songs and explanations she comes up, especially when she’s feeling silly, are a complete joy.

Gabe is

 

• wanting to be involved in everything.  I LOVE that about him.  He’s doing Webelos, Swim Team, piano, library assistant and will start Math Team soon.  We had to gently advise him that maybe 7 am Strings at the middle school might be too much.
• recovering from an apple slicer accident.  (I’ve cut my fingers a bunch of time of it…it’s really sharp!)  He sliced his thumb bad while preparing his lunch and we ended up in the ER, with 5 stitches.
• meeting his goal of being on time to school.  He had a HARD time with this last year and I’m pretty impressed with him track record so far.

 

Emma is

• really enjoying middle school.  The transition has been smooth.  She’s at the middle school football game and will leave from that to attend the Orchestra Party and won’t be home till midnight.  It made me feel all funny inside when she called today and said “Hey Mom, can I stay after school and go to the game with my friends and I’ll see you after the party.”  (Kind of too-big kid behavior, huh?)
• so tenacious.  She was placed in the (for lack of a better word) average class-block this year, which was surprising.  She was really dissappointed.  After calling and finding out that her test scores were high enough, but they were out of room in the class, she didn’t let up.  She made appointments with the counselor and I made phone calls and after a few weeks, someone moved and they let her in. 
• amazing with her hands.  Yesterday we watched a french braiding demo ONCE on YouTube.  (I don’t know how to do it.)  Emma said, “Hey, can I try to do Jane’s hair while we read scriptures?”  I looked up a few minutes later and she had done it.  First try, one viewing!  I was amazed. 

 

 

Ryan and Jessica are

• busy.  Really really really really really really really really really really busy.
• still going on dates.  We got free last minute tickets (yay for kids old enough to babysit themselves!) to Cirque de Soleil.  It was so fun.
• going to Red Robin, but not together.  I went with a bunch of friends following the Women’s Broadcast last week.  I walked into the restaurant and saw this sight:                                             Ryan decided to take the kids to Red Robin, too.  I was a teensy bit tempted to stay with them until I talked to them and 437 hands touched me and then I happily skipped back to my girls table and waved a few times.
• taking kids who finished the Summer Workbooks to the movies.                                     Obviously Summer Workbooks weren’t popular with the older crowd.

 

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• done reading this post.