My daughter has had a bit of a growth spurt recently. She’s still a short little thing, but some of her jeans are suddenly looking a little questionable in the length. So, to avoid her getting teased in preschool for wearing “high waters” (Kids, these days.) I decided it was time to get rid of the jeans.
As I was stacking the clothes into little storage box, I had an amazing idea. One that would save us money! Because it’s a recession! I was all “I’ll just cut these jeans and turn them into shorts!”
I cut coupons, why not cut my daughter’s jeans?
Logical, yes?
There were only two possible problems.
1. The only thing that I have ever sewn in my entire life is potholders made from my Grandma’s material scraps.
2. I do not own a sewing machine.
But who needs a sewing machine when one has a sewing kit in a bag that one bought at Target on clearance for $4.99?
If thine can thread a needle, thine can turn jeans into shorts. (I learned that from The Bible. Of FRUGALITY.)
I was very confident I could do this and make it look good. So, I laid the jeans on the floor and began to cut. I did my best to make sure the cuts were straight and even. (Keep in mind that “my best” probably equals “your worst” when it comes to cutting things. See: This Post.) After I finished cutting the jeans, I threaded the needle and began to “sew” away. I can’t lie, I was totally excited about a)my desire to do something so “homemaker-y” b) saving a little money on buying new shorts for my daughter I even had a blog post in mind titled something like “Y’s guide to save money on back to school shopping. FRUGALITY RULEZ!”
But about 8 stitches in I realized I couldn’t sew a straight hemline. Nor could I space the stitches out properly. The vision I had in my head of a slightly flawed, yet well done hemline started to look a little bit like this:
But I kept going. I started this bitch, I was going to finish it.
It only took me about 30 minutes and 67 bad words to finish. And in the end, I had a cute little pair of shorts.
A cute little pair of shorts with an effed up hemline that she can’t wear anywhere in public.
Which, fine. Whatever. PLAY SHORTS!
I’d love to hear any stories you have of “frugal gone wrong.” I mean, I’m not the only one who fails hard at these kind of things, right?
Yesterday, I was touched by an Angel
Yesterday, I joined a group of people for the March of Dimes to walk in honor of Maddie.I almost didn’t make it, because I almost stayed in bed. I was sick, fatigued and woe is me! I have a disease!
Yesterday, I walked alongside a women who is going through treatment for cancer. Brain cancer. And yet, she was there, walking 3 miles to support a friend in need. To honor a baby she loved.
Yesterday, I was reminded that life is bigger than myself and my own feelings, problems.
Yesterday, I was inspired to be a better friend, a better mother, a better partner.
Yesterday, I was reminded how precious life is and how quickly it can be taken away.
Yesterday, I knew it was time I changed the way the way that I live my life, no longer seeing things through my own selfish eyes, but trying to see it through that of others.
Yesterday, I saw in action the true meaning of love and friendship and I have been forever changed. And those are not just empty words that I am typing.
Thank you for that, sweet Maddie. Thank you.
[vent]
Several weeks ago, it contracted a virus from some whore of a site. It was bad for a few days, but I did everything I could to try to clean things up and get it running normally again. I thought I had succeeded as things seemed to running fine again.
However, the other day when I turned things on, and tried to log into windows, it booted me off. I was all “huh. WEIRD.” So, I tried again. The same thing happened. It would start to load my settings, then it would be all “saving settings. Logging off.”
I was all “oh! I’ll just reboot in safe mode!” Because safe mode solves EVERY PROBLEM!
Except, not this time. It did the exact same thing in safe mode.
And that is when panic set in because I have photos to download! And documents to scan! And the boys have homework that needs printed!
I mentioned it on Twitter the other day and everyone was all “just put in the recovery CD and fix it that way!” And I would totally do that IF I COULD FIND THE RECOVERY CD. Last night I found every single CD that came with the computer EXCEPT FOR the recovery CD. I mean, of course I can’t find the one CD that I need! Why would something ever be that easy for me?
The good news is that when I got the virus, I was worried that something like this would happen, so I created a Carbonite account and had all of my files backed up. The bad news is… I can’t restore them to my laptop (it’s for work) so um, even though they are safe, I CAN’T ACCESS THEM. Nor can I access the programs I have installed to download, view and edit photos. Needless to day, I’M ALL TWITCHY AND SHIT. Am calling dell customer service as soon as I publish this. HOLD ME.
[/vent]
Edited to add:
Quite a few people have said “This is why you need a Mac! This wouldn’t happen with a Mac!” I have no idea what makes that statement true, as I know nothing about Macs, so anyone out there care to give me your thoughts on Mac -vs- PC and why one is better than the other?
Adding this to the list of reasons The Middle Child is THE BEST.
Him: Can u pick me up?
Me: take the bus, please.
Him: Fine! Let me burn!
The Mother Effing Bird Whisperer
Anytime my cell phone rings at 3pm, I immediately think “it’s Jenny!” And it usually is. It’s awesome to have a friend who calls just to check up on me every once in a while (or, sometimes, to tell me that she thinks the Pope is out to get her.)
During one of our more recent phone calls, the conversation turned to fear of flying. I was all “I just started to get over my fear of flying and then the mother fucking birds took that plane in NYC and now I’m afraid to fly all over again because BIRDS CAN TAKE DOWN A PLANE.” And Jenny was all “I know! And birds are everywhere! I think we should kill all of the birds!” And I was all “YES! WE SHOULD KILL THEM… WAIT. No, I can’t agree with that. Because… I love birds.”
I think she thought I just meant “I love birds in the way that normal people love birds. Because birds are pretty and make beautiful music.” So I had to make her understand.
“When I was in high school, I was obsessed with birds. Birds were pretty much my life.”
I continued.
“I subscribed to Bird Talk Magazine. And I would cut pictures of birds out and hang them on my wall. Because I loved birds THAT MUCH.”
Then, I was all “but that’s not all! My dad built an aviary so I could breed lovebirds. And I would spend hours after school with my birds. AND ONE TIME! My breeder escaped and I was trying to catch her and a HAWK SWOOPED DOWN AND TOOK HER AWAY! And I screamed and my Mom and Uncle came running. I was all “A hawk took my bird! He landed somewhere over there!” And my Uncle grabbed a bat, hopped the fence, found the hawk, beat it with a bat and rescued my lovebird! But she was all bloody and near death, so I did a little research in one of my BIRDTALK magazines and read how to nurse her back to health by keeping her in a shoebox in one of my drawers in my bedroom. And she lived and laid eggs again.”
Jenny was all “oh my God, you’re a fucking WEIRDO and I love you even more after hearing that story.” Which I’m pretty sure was code for “Looooser.”
So, yeah. While you were enjoying things like “homecoming dances” and “dates” I was busy hanging up centerfolds of COCKATOOS and nursing half dead birds back to life.
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I said I would choose the winner of the raffle for the camera this morning. I had Ethan help me this morning and we recorded it, but it is now 5 minutes until noon, and I do not have time to upload the video. SO, I’m going to go ahead and just tell you that the winner is Matthew. I will post the video later on today.
When I set this up, I didn’t think it was tacky, nor were there any selfish motives involved. I was hurting for a friend who had lost her only child. I didn’t want her to have to worry about how she would pay for the funeral. I knew she had been laid off from her job a few months ago– I know the expense of the funeral would be overwhelming and I wanted to do whatever I could to help. If I had $1,000 to help her, I would have given it. Instead, I thought “how can I turn my $100 into $1,000?” I’ve participated in car washes and bake sales to help people who needed to raise funds to bury a loved one. You can’t do that on the internet. I thought this was a good alternative. And the fact of the matter is with your help, we raised over $1,800 to help a mother and father who suffered a sudden and tragic loss. That’s what matters to me.
Thank you to everyone who donated to The Spohrs. You are wonderful and I appreciate your generosity more than words could ever express.
Remembering Maddie
Doing What We Can
I was going to donate money to the paypal account that has been set up to help the Spohr family cover the cost of Maddie’s funeral.
I decided against donating.
Instead, I went and ordered a digital camera. A Nikon Coolpix 10.0 mp camera.
But. The camera’s not for me.
I bought the camera with the intention of trying to raise money for The Spohr family. It is my wish that we can raise enough to cover any and all expenses so that they don’t have worry about such things. They have enough to deal with right now.
Here is how I’m going to do it. To enter, all you need to do is make a donation of at least $10. For every $10 you donate, you’ll get an extra chance to win. (Example: If you donate $30, you’ll be entered 3 times. If you donate $25, you’ll be entered twice.)
How you enter:
Click on the PayPal link set up in Maddie’s honor. Make a donation of at least $10.00.
When you receive your confirmation number, fill out the information on the form below:
*I’ve removed the form. Winner of the raffle will be announced tomorrow. (Saturday) Thank you so much for your donations.
How the winner will be chosen:
When the contest is closed, I will use random.org to select a number based on the number of entries I receive.
I will ship the camera to the winner on the day the winner is chosen, provided the order has arrived.
When will the winner be chosen?
I will stop accepting entries on Friday night (April 17th) and will choose the winner Saturday Morning. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments and I’ll get back to you as soon as I possibly can.
For Those of You Who Want to Help The Spohr Family
Shame on them.
I didn’t sleep much last night.
I kept waking my husband up to tell him I couldn’t believe that Maddie was gone. I felt a sadness I’ve not felt before. When I woke up this morning, I felt a sense of helplessness. A friend had just suffered an unimaginable tragedy and there was nothing I could do to heal her heart.
I logged onto her blog this morning and saw that it was down. Having this incredible desire to do something useful, I contacted Bluehost to find out if there was anything they could do to help.
I put in a help ticket on behalf of thesphorsaremultiplying.
Here is the email exchange:
From me: I see the account has been suspended. Probably due to a surge in traffic. Is there something you can do to bring the site back? The owner of the site’s baby girl died yesterday. She was only 17 months old. That’s why she’s getting so much traffic, people want to help. Can someone help with this?
From Brandon:
Before I can give out account info I need you to validate the account with password or the last four of the credit card on file.
Thank you,
Brandon
From me:
Brandon. I don’t have that information. I was just wondering if there was anything anyone there can do to help get her site back up. It’s a long shot, I know, but people want to go to her site to get information on how to donate to her March of Dimes page in honor of the baby that just died.
From Brandon:
I do apologize but with out account password or last four of the credit card on file I am prohibited with giving out info of why the suspension has occurred or how to rectify.
By the time I got the last reply, her site was back up for a few minutes, so I responded with the following:
For the record, I didn’t want to know why it was suspended, I just wondered if there was anything you could do to get her site back up. Thanks for your help.
And that was the end of the conversation.
I know that others tried to contact to ask for help.
From @temptingmama
When I spoke to @bluehost about @mamaspohr I said “they ‘re not email spammers & their daughter just died.” They said that’s the rules.
“That’s the rules.”
I get it. They’re a business. They have rules. GET IT.
But, what THEY don’t seem to get is that their customers are REAL PEOPLE. And in this case, real people who just lost their daughter. Real people who are making funeral arrangements for their daughter. They really couldn’t have overlooked the rules in this case? Even for only for a couple of days while the site was moved elsewhere?
I’m outraged at their lack of humanity.
Updated:
A comment from Deb that says so beautifully what I failed to say.
I’m concerned that they not only did not help, but also sounds like they
did not acknowledge the human issue under the tech question when talking to
both of you. All customer service front line folks should know how to say
(when a red flag of media, high-profile, or special need like this goes
up): let me find someone who can work with you on this special situation.
Talk about alienating influencers.
I hope that the higher-ups at Bluehost are appalled and feel moved to make
a substantial donation to March of Dimes in acknowledgement of their poor
handling of this.