Happy Halloween from Wal Mart

I try not to venture in here. Especially after a comment from an acquaintance once when I mentioned I was afraid I couldn't afford to shop anywhere else for groceries: "Well, then, you should go to college and get a degree. Then you could afford to shop somewhere else." This was after I had graduated with my bachelor's degree and been accepted to nursing school. Oh, the joys of having a sociology degree.

Anyway, our bank happens to be in Wal Mart, so sometimes we have to make an appearance. This sign was the first thing I saw when I walked in.

Now I remember why I'm going to nursing school.

Trips

Chase and I have been trying to plan a trip for a long time. I have had a bunch of unused Delta Skymiles in my acount for years, accumulated mostly from business trips I've taken. It was never quite enough for a flight though, so back in June we decided to get one of those American Express cards that gives you Skymiles with each purchase, plus 15,000 bonus miles when you sign up. Or so we thought. We had originally planned to go to Maine in August, to visit Acadia National Park and my friend Brittany. However, we soon found out that the miles take 8-12 weeks to come through on your account. A couple of weeks ago I was thinking about this, and wondering why, though we'd waited months, these miles had stilled not shown up on my account. (We'd bagged the Maine idea a long time ago, traveling to Canada instead, and were now looking to fly to Florida for a cruise to celebrate our anniversary and Chase's graduation.) When I called American Express, they informed me that they'd "made an attempt" to transfer the miles to me in June, but because my name was different on my card (married name) than my Skymiles account (maiden name), it wouldn't work. Besides being annoyed they hadn't notified me of this little problem, I thanked the man and set to work faxing my marriage certificate to Delta so they could change my name. Despite this, the miles still did not appear (meanwhile rates to Florida are increasing daily). When I contacted them again, after forty minutes on the phone, twenty of them spent on hold, and a three-way conversation between me, an American Express lady, and a Delta lady, this is what I found out:
Delta lady: The name on your American Express card and the name on your Skymiles account don't match, so we can't give you the miles.

Me: Nice try, I faxed the marriage certificate in last week and they told me everything was updated.

Delta lady: It says here that the name on your Skymiles account is Ashley Raymond.

Me: Yeah, that's right.

Delta lady: Well, the name on your card is Ashley L. Raymond. That is not the same name.

After a little more negotiating, I agreed to fax in my drivers license, which lists my middle name, so that I could prove to them that I am Ashley L. Raymond, instead of the "other person" they had an account for, who happened to have my same first and last name, address, phone number, social security number, and credit card number. The conversation ended like this:

Delta lady: Before I hang up, would you like assistance booking any hotels or rental cars?

Me: NO! (Because of you, I probably can't even go on my *@$#?&#* trip!)

Delta lady: Would you like to apply for an American Express Skymiles card and receive 15,000 bonus miles with your new card?

Me: Aaaarrrghhh! (Hang up phone)

After a few more painful phone calls and several more painful days of waiting, I am pleased to say that we have now booked our flights and cruise in December. Finally...in seven weeks we will be here:

Stories, Updates, & Things Left Unblogged

So I've taken a break from blogging for a while...to focus on the election (ha! just kidding - although my candidate is pulling ahead...yay). So what has been going on...

1. A couple of months ago, in an effort to be more environmentally conscious, we downsized to one car and bought this:

Cute, fun, 80 miles to the gallon...but it broke down this week. I never really thought about how you'd get a scooter to the shop to be fixed when it doesn't work...you can't tow it, nor does it fit in your car. We're still working on that one...

2. I have learned how to can. Sort of. Some women in my ward were nice enough to teach me. Eventually I would like to know how to do this on my own, but since I don't have any of the equipment, I settled for canning in the church kitchen (applie pie filling!) the first day and in someone's home kitchen (tomatoes) the next week.



















































Next I'm looking to buy a wheat grinder so I can make my own whole wheat flour.

3. I'm going to have a niece! My sister already blogged about it here, and I am so excited...we guessed it would be a girl, and we were right. What else would you expect from my family?

Hilarious

Click here

Junk

One person's junk really is another person's (my) treasure. And there are a few times when my husband's job at the after school program working with mostly very disadvantaged kids comes in handy. Like when we get to go to the SLC Arts Festival or Raging Waters for free. Or tonight, when he called me from work and asked me to bring the car over, because today is the lucky day every year when the Salt Lake Airport drops off all the junk from their lost and found at the Sorenson Center. This is mostly so that the children can take advantage of the coats, clothing and other items that they might need. But there were many, many things that the children did not need, that we definitely developed a need for very quickly when we saw them. Like the 7 megapixel digital camera, the digital photo frame, the tempurpedic travel pillow, the brand new suitcase and electric razor, the plastic baggie full of quarters, the portable hand-held TV, and the brand-new women's size small Marmot rain jacket (yay! it was even raining today). Of course, there was a lot of real junk too, and some verrrry interesting finds. I think a lot of the stuff was removed or confiscated at security. There were a lot of belts. I know airport security is a big deal now since 9/11, but really, must we seize baby bottles with formula in them? And I did feel sorry for the poor diabetic person who somehow became separated from their glucometer, insulin, and syringes. But it was a great treasure hunt for us!

Street Fair

I spent Saturday afternoon at the Avenues Street Fair. My sister Allison debuted her new business, Shades of Jade. She has been making all kinds of handmade things to sell, such as photo frames, baby headbands, and onesies with cute designs sewn on them. She did pretty well for her first time selling the stuff, and we looked pretty cute in the little booth...

You can check out her stuff here

?

There are a lot of funny and...unique things around Salt Lake. Like this.





I wish I had 25 hours in my day.