#1 for 2011

The #1 post on my blog for 2011 was this one:

Leaving It In the Hands of My Readers

You know, where I asked for your opinions on whether I should go with a nose ring or not.

Overwhelmingly, the vote was for "go for it".

As you can plainly see from this photo:

I so didn't get one.

Not that I don't want one, I do.

I just got a ton of flack from my family about it.

Although I think the Aunt Erin was pro nose ring but then again, she has one.

At my age, 25, 30, 38, ok fine at my age of, ahem, 41, I feel I might be a bit over the age of appropriate nose ring peeps.

I could always get it & take it out, the hole closes, right?

Then again, at 41 & overweight, will people just think "Look there goes another fat, middle aged woman trying to recapture her young adulthood?"

Well perhaps 2012 will bring that nose ring.

It's his mission

Cheeks is on a mission.

His mission, which he obviously chose to except is to embarrass me at every turn.

This mission includes his father but not as often as me.

Most recent embarrassment happened Christmas Eve.

Yes folks, he doesn't even take the holidays off.

We were at Bobster's Aunt's house for a little soiree.

Bob's grandfather is still living.

Mine, unfortunately, is not.

Cheeks has meet Bob's grandfather but it's been about 2 years since he last saw him.

So in his 5 yo mind, "Pop" doesn't exist.

Well Bobster & I were making nice with "Pop" when our angelic boy walked up.

Bobster says "Cheeks this is your great grandpop"

Our sweet, innocent child takes a step back, looks up, cocks his head to one said & proclaims

"I thought you were dead~!"

Well after we picked ourselves up off the floor, both of us diffused the situation with Bobster's Pop.  Thankfully he is deaf as a doornail so he had no idea what Cheeks had said.

We explained to Cheeks that was not a really nice thing to say & that it was my grandfather who was in Heaven.

My grandfather would have gotten a kick out that had Cheeks said it to him:

(that's my Aunt Darlene & my Grandpop)

Anyway that is the story of our holiday embarrassment.

How did you holidays ring in?

And it's over...

Christmas 2011 has come & gone.
Sigh.
I love to see it come...the anticipation, the preparation, the wrapping, card writing & sending.
All fun.
Then Christmas morning comes.

In over an hour the gifts are unwrapped & the house looks like war torn Beirut.
It's fun tho.

Cheeks couldn't contain himself.
He was so excited that he was getting up extra early in the days leading up to, asking me "Is it Christmas?' at like 5am.
Good times.

Christmas morning, he would open a gift, go "Awesome!" & run to me or Bobster to open it.
We would tell him in a bit, keep opening.

Finally his turn was over & he had to hand the gifts to his brothers.
He wasn't thrilled with that because that took away from playing.

He didn't eat all day except for 2 crackers & a cupcake.
Mother of the Year I am, no?
He's fine.
Trust me!

All in all it was a great Christmas.
I am blessed to have a close knit family and blessed that we are all healthy (for the most part) & all have jobs.

How was your Christmas?

How to embarrass your Mom #512

So this past weekend, I took the Cheekers to see a movie (The new Chipmunks...cute but not going to win an award...know what I mean?).

The ticket taker was a young African American boy with Vitaligo.
For those who are not aware of what Vitaligo is, it looks like this:

Now everyone is thinking Michael Jackson.
Right?
Right.
Come on...you know you were.

Anywho, my son was handing the boy the tickets when he says:

"Hey you are two different colors! I've never seen anyone with 2 different colors, do you know you are 2 colors?"

At this point I was hoping the floor would open up & swallow me.  That obviously didn't happen.

So I sort of laughed and said "Hey, everyone's different. I look different, you do, those people do..."
Luckily the boy had a great attitude and he responded to my little guy "Yep, I think it's awesome"
To which Cheeks said "Yep! It is"

He proceeded to talk, loudly, all the way down the hall to the theater about the 2 different colored boy.
I proceeded to tell him it's not polite to comment on other people and it's really cool how that boy looks.

I've never pointed out differences among people to my son.
He is just now starting to notice.
I just never thought he would comment on it.

Thankfully everyone he's ever said anything to, has laughed it off & explained things to him.
People are good!

How has your kiddo embarrassed you lately?

Mittens & Gloves with a Wish for a Merry Christmas

I'm thinking future rockstar!

Are you smarter than a Kindergartener?

Apparently, I gave birth (or they ripped him from my stomach…whatever…he was 11 pounds is the claim to fame) to a genius!

Tis true.

A few weeks back the Aunt Erin & Cheeks were having a discussion in the back seat of the mini van. Well it must have gotten heated because next thing all of us knew we heard Aunt Erin (who is 28) say “Oh yea, well spell “THE””.

Cheeks responded: T…H…E.

The next sound was Aunt Erin’s jaw hitting the bottom of the mini van.

While out shopping I let Cheeks throw a quarter in the fountain & make a wish. Aunt Erin asked him what his wish was. He said he wanted to save the world from peril.

Here is where Aunt Erin went wrong, she said that perhaps the world was not in peril & that Cheeks didn’t even know what the word peril meant.

At that point he piped up & said “Yes I do. It means someone or something is in trouble and or hurt.”

Again, a speechless Aunt Erin.

What has your little guy/gal said lately that shut you up?

Picking off Pixars!

Poor Cheeks.
The kid doesn’t know what to do.

Every year, we get the kids their own ornaments.
Cheeks picked out a Lighting McQueen ornie from Target.
Before it even got on the tree, the spoiler on the back was mysteriously broken.
We charged on & decided to hang it on the tree.
Within minutes, Lightening hit the floor & shattered.

Sigh.

Problem solved we will go get another ornie.
Saturday stopped at Target, Cheeks decides to get Buzz Lightyear.
This morning I asked him if he wanted to hang it on the tree before we left.
He hesitated & said he was afraid it would break.
Being the encouraging mom that I am I said “It won’t break, come on, put it on the tree! Anywhere you want.” So he did.
Very close to the end of the branch.
I encouraged him to move it higher up the branch.
As he went to move it
...
BAM!

Buzz hit the floor & was decapitated from the waist down.
The carnage was awful.
Cheeks immediately sprang tears.
I calmed him down by telling him we would get a 3rd one.

I’m not going to lie, I was sort of chuckling to myself as I went to get the broom because I thought: Poor kid, he can’t catch a break.

Of course, this could be my fault for allowing him to hang a delicate ornament that should have been hung much higher on the tree.
Shh! We won’t tell anyone.

So, tell me have you had any casualties this season?

I’m off to Target for another ornie!

Out for a Spin

Whose that?
Isn't that Chippy The Elf & Macho Man?
Looks like that Elf is four wheeling with the Macho Man.

Chippy gets all the fun!

I am hoping the Elf being here worked.
No principal for Cheeks today.
That's actually a plus.
He was so excited when I got home.
He came downstairs & said "I have something to show you" & he pulled out the yellow slip that means he got on the yellow traffic light, not red which means principal office.
I made a fuss.
We are just trying to get him to not go to the Principal.
Once that happens, we will work on not getting the traffic light.

Any ideas on what to have Chippy do while he visits?
Do tell!

The Elf, Chippy The Elf

He's arrived.
Chippy.
He's hear til Christmas Eve.

Made his grand arrival this morning by landing in our Christmas tree.
He even left his "story book" on Cheeks bed.
I was very surprised that he got it.
As was Cheeks because he knows I like this joint up like Fort Knox at night.
Cheeks told me it was magic that he got in the house.

I refreshed my son's memory on how the Elf, excuse me, Chippy works.
You know be good, Chipster reports back to the big man in red, yadda yadda.
You would think that would be motivation enough, no?
Yea, no, he went to the principal again.
Everyday since the start of school except for 5.
That's my boy! 

What's that keyhole cut out in his costume you say?
Chippy had a very unfortunate "burning" incident last year when he decide to try to get tan by clutching one of those light bulbs.
It is what it is.
I say the keyhole makes him unique, no?

Tell me, do you have a Chippy?
Is he mischevious? Or does he just hang out?

Buyer Beware, especially in this area....

So remember my customer service saga with Amazon and the seller, TechBargnz…yes, that was the third party sellers name.  The seller made good, charged a 15% restock fee + applicable freight out & back. Meh, on the restock but anything to get some moola back.  Still I would avoid Techbargnz in the future.  Especially since he was a little cocky in his reply email.

I digress.

Well I have another customer service doozy.  It’s especially imperative if you live in my area (South Jersey/Philly) that you heed the following warning.

Stay far, far away from Mini Trail Bikes in Lindenwold NJ.  Shyster is the only “clean” word I could come up with when describing this guy.

He states that he will service you even after the sale.

BAAHAAHAA (read that as a maniacal laugh)

Anywho, last week I had to purchase an item for a moped (don’t ask…long story & no, it does not involve me pedding around on a moped because that would just be God awful).  The gentleman assured me the part he was selling me would work for the moped.  I had the make, model & serial number for the moped to ensure I got the right piece.  The associate kept saying no, no, that won’t help me, I’m telling you this is the right part.  So upon looking at said part I asked “Um, is this used?” “Yes, but I only need it to repair a bike in the back…it’s good, I promise you”  Ok, give me the part…I was ready to get out of there.

Long story short, wrong part. I took it back & asked to exchange it for 2 items (correct item & chrome cover) that came in at a higher price.  I did this 24 hours later. The guy (same guy) was like “nope we don’t do returns” Right, I don’t want to return it, I want to exchange it…exchaaaaaange it…say it with me peeps!  This goes on for like 10 minutes with him using every excuse in the book, policy, shady individuals, raccoons eating product…you name the excuse, he used it. 

I left, with the wrong, used part in hand.  The kicker…I had to special order a part for the moped that he charged me for already plus he charged me freight to have shipped to the store…to the store! Not my home, the store.  Ugh.  I asked him to please ship it to my home since I was paying the freight.  The associate responded with…NO!

Ok, now it’s time to email the owner.

I did.

No response.

Emailed the owner again.

Again, no response.

Two more emails, two more no repsonsed.

I’m surprised I was this patient.

Third email to him, he responded “I’ll call you tomorrow”

I called him.  He didn’t call back.

Called again, got him, he’s too busy he’ll call me back in 24 hrs.

Today I got the call….5 days after he told me 24 hours.

He told me he thought about the issue of doing an exchange and he still says no.

No exchanges. I’m stuck with it.

Well, Ken of Mini Trail Bikes in Lindenwold NJ, your promise of “Parts, not promises. Service, not excuses!” really doesn’t resonate now does it? 

So if I were you & you are in need of mopeds, go carts, parts etc, go the store in Forked River, NJ… Cyclehouse…you’ll get way better customer service and won’t have to deal with shysters who have been in business as long as I’ve been alive.

Tell me do you have any customer service horror stories, I’d love to know!!!!