Blender Woes

Dear Black and Decker,

I used to have an old blender that didn't crush ice or frozen strawberries so well. So, I bought a Black and Decker crushmaster. This sleek new blender seemed to work very well. At the beginning of July, I made the mistake of making a smoothie and then rinsing the glass pitcher out in hot water. The pitcher cracked in half. The rest of this story is a sad sad tale of your customer service department.

Since I was happy with the blender, I first went to your website to see if I could order a replacement. It sent me to a website that was not part of black and decker and was no working for at least three days. Once the site was working I discovered that I could order a new blender but not parts. I emailed under the "contact us" button and received a response to call an 800 number. The number was to the "Volunteers of America." They did not carry black and decker replacement parts. I emailed again and received a different number to call.

I called to order a new pitcher. It took 3 days to order it because your call center response time is so slow that my work breaks and lunch hours were not enough time. The darn pitcher was $22 plus shipping. WHAT??? The blender was only $30. It was my fault the pitcher broke, so I ordered it. While waiting for my new pitcher, I craved my morning smoothie. The pitcher arrived and I was excited to make smoothies for breakfast again. It didn't occur to me to also order the blade, gasket, and collar for the bottom of the pitcher. How can I make a smoothy with a hole in the bottom of my pitcher?

I called again to order the collar, blade and gasket. They were $15 plus shipping!!! What???? I should have just bought a new pitcher. Thankfully, the girl on the phone took pity on me and said she could cover it under warranty.

We're getting closer to breakfast smoothies.

When the collar, blade and gasket arrived, they didn't fit. The collar was the same size as the bottom of the pitcher and no matter what I tried, it could not be screwed on.

I called back during my lunch hour today. It took 45 minutes to get through and order another collar. I explained my situation and the girl on the other end of the line said that the correct parts were ordered. I asked if they sent the correct pitcher. She said yes. Then, she told me to try to have someone else put the collar on the pitcher!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? Do you think I didn't try that already???? I may occasionally be a bit mechanically challenged but I'm not stupid. She asked if I wanted her to send a different collar in case the warehouse sent the wrong one.

I want smoothies - right?

I may never have smoothies again. If this last attempt does not work - I'm giving up. Everything in life happens for a reason and perhaps God thinks I shouldn't be eating smoothies. Or maybe it's the frozen margaritas.......

Perfect Minnesota Weekend!

We had a great weekend. The only thing that would have made it better would have been taking a few pictures to include with the blog!

Friday night, Mike's parents wanted to take Madison to see Great Grandma Lee. Since we had a free night, we thought we would catch a movie. Mike wanted to see the Simpsons. I thought - gee, do we want to waste a free night on the Simpsons? Isn't there a different movie that we should be seeing? We went to the movie despite my reservations. Let me say, it was worth "wasting" a free night! I laughed through the whole movie. One note, this is not a kid friendly movie....

Saturday was housework....we cleaned, did laundry and worked on a few projects.

On Sunday we took Mike's parents and Madison out on the boat. Madison is ALL about the boat. A few days ago Mike said "Madison, it's really hot outside, lets go to the mall and cool down." Madison said "no, go on boat." Anyway, we had a great time on the boat - the weather was perfect - not too hot not too cold. The lake wasn't too busy and felt like bathwater when we jumped in to swim. Afterwards we went out for pizza. When we got home it was so nice outside we didn't want to go in for the night, so we sat on the deck drinking Margaritas while Madison played in the yard.

It was a PERFECT weekend. I was sorry to see Monday come so quickly.

Who are you?

Mommy: Madison, what is your name?
Madison: (pointing at me) Mommy!
Mommy: I'm Mommy, who are you?
Madison: I'm ME!!!!!!!!

I don't know if she'll ever say her own name.

another conversation

The car is a great place for interesting conversations. This is what Madison and I talked about today:

Mommy: Madison, what do you see outside?

Madison: Babble babble

Mommy: Do you see cars?

Madison: Cars

Mommy: Do you see trees?

Madison: Trees

Mommy: Do you see people?

Madison: People (this was the first time she had said this and the way she says it is so cute!)

Mommy: Are the cars going fast?

Madison: Fast, like my boat!

Just when I think she has turned into a parrot, she says something all her own and it cracked me up!

This kid is definetely her mother's daughter! She loves the boat just as much as I do! If she sees a boat going down the road she says "Daddy, a boat!" She says boat a little funny too, it's almost like boot...Boooat. She uses the cutest high pitch little voice to say it too. If I ask Madison what she likes about the boat she says, "fast," "swimming," or "fishing." She likes them all, it doesn't matter as long as she is on her boat!

Earlier tonight Madison got in trouble for something so I gave her a timeout. After her two minutes were up I explained to her what she had done wrong and asked if she was sorry. She replied with a very matter of fact, "yep." I told her that she should say she was sorry and out came "Mommy, I sowwy." Ahhh...too cute. I almost wanted to give her another timeout just so I could hear that again!

MIA

We have been MIA for awhile - I'm TRYING to post a great new entry to the blog - but blogger is giving me issues with posting pictures. What is a blog entry without pictures???? I will post more once they have a fix to the problem.

Ahhh...this is the life

We have been a bit absent from the blogging world lately. In the past few weeks we have spent five days camping along Lake Bylesby in Cannon Falls with our good friends Heather, Terry, and their kids Jacob, Joshua, and Riley. Madison and Riley are great little buddies and had a blast camping! Each day we spent a lot of time on the boat. In this picture, Madison looks like she is just kicking back and soaking in the sunshine. I think she is actually sleeping!

In addition to camping, Chad and Jodi joined us for a day of boating the Mississippi River. It was a perfect day on the river! It was about 95 degrees but it felt great while we were cruising. We took the boat the farthest south that it has ever been. On our return trip to the Wabasha Mississippi Parkside Marina we had to wait for a barge to go through a lock and dam. It was the largest barge I have ever seen and it took nearly three hours - thank goodness we had plenty of snacks and water onboard! At the end of our hot day on the river we ate dinner at Slippery's. We usually dock and dine but we were tired so we pulled the boat out of the water first and drove there.

I also started school. Boy - it feels strange being a student again! I am a little overwhelmed as this is my first week of class. It's a bit different in an online learning environment and I am a little nervous that I will miss an assignment or deadline. I am developing a routine and I think once I get into a good groove this school thing will go just fine.

We are off for another exciting weekend of camping and boating. This weekend we will be camping at Bray Park on Lake Madison. It is just a bit east of Mankato. We have never been there before so we are hopeful that it is a nice place and the lake is great for recreation.