WTF

Yesterday was Sophia's 6th birthday and since I will not be with my family for Christmas, I went to visit her yesterday with birthday gifts in tow. Actually only one gift. It was a bit more than I usually spend but she really wanted the Barbie Pet Vet Care Center. She was thrilled upon opening it but not me. I had to put it together. Not too difficult a task except for all the decals that need to be applied. Side bar - I thought my days of putting toys together were over then along comes Sophia and Audball. Oh well, so much for that! Once I finished the assembly process I began to put all the little accessories in their proper spots in the Care Center only to discover that we were missing the plastic scissors and the dental mirror. I promptly phoned the hotline where I was immediately connected to a live human being. SHOCKING! But even more shocking was what I was told regarding the missing items. The conversation went something like this:

Me: I am missing a couple of items from the Barbie Pet Vet Care Center.
Carlos: Oh, yes, we are aware of that.
Me: What?
Carlos: Because this is a new item this year, production has been slow on certain accessories. So many of the Centers are missing items.
Me: You mean to tell me that Mattel knowingly put this product on the shelf without these accessories?
Carlos: Yes, sir (he did actually call me sir which I corrected immediately! I realize I have a deep voice - thanks mom - but c'mon!) but if you give me your name and address we will ship them to you, free of charge, (oh thanks) as soon as they become available.
Me: And when might that be?
Carlos: Well, we just ordered them yesterday.
Me: OK, but when might that be?
Carlos: I have no idea, but as soon as we get them we will ship them to you.

What the fuck. That's a crock of shit if I ever heard one.

IllinoiSkating Takes the Bronze at Porter Synchro Classic

These girls just keep getting better. A bronze medal for the Collegiate team (Lauren's team) and a pewter for Open Collegiate at the 14th Annual Dr. Porter Synchronized Skating Classic in Ann Arbor. Pretty impressive and the season is young. I cannot begin to tell you how hard these girls work and how dedicated they are. It's inspiring to say the least. Here's to many good things for IllinoiSkating this year! Cheers!

OUCH!

As if my Dad dying wasn't enough. The night before his funeral as Lauren was driving home from U. of I., she hit a deer on the highway going 70mph. This is the result. $6800 in damage, but my baby was fine, not a scratch. The only casualty aside from the Jeep was her cell phone. When Rick and I showed up at the accident scene I just about collapsed. Apparently when she hit the deer her hood flew up and blocked her visibility, at which point she ran off the road just missing a slew of trees and a huge guard rail. It had been such an emotional week but when I saw that Lauren was OK, I lost it. In her effort to calm me down, Lauren simply said, "It's OK Mom. Grandpa was watching out for me." At that point, I realized that my Dad will always be with us, in the best of times and the worst. Thanks Dad. I miss you.