Best Buy, a Fussy Kid, and a Teenage Salesperson

Poor Brayden woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. He was tired and cranky from the get go and we couldn't do a thing to help him. Food, water, juice, fresh diaper...nutin'! We loaded up as a family about 11:15 and headed to Best Buy with the intention to purchase a new television for our living room. Here's the run down of the situation

Michelle's Goal: Get more space in the small living room and move all of the devices out of site (i.e. hall closet).
Greg's Goal: Get the best TV ever.
Best Buy's Goal: Hire the youngest, most ill-informed high school minimum wage worker ~ who also confuses numbers ~ to wait on us.

Michelle and Jason - friend's of ours - were there already in the shopping process and well on their way to getting what they wanted: a new tv for the living room and a tv for the bedroom - both beautiful Samsung flat panel LCD TVs. They were gracious enough to help us manage a fussy kiddo who just wants to push the cart around 90mph (see yesterday's blog for more details) while Greg asked all of the necessary and important questions of the not-so-informed salesperson. In that conversation, he settles on the most amazing television ever. Goal met!

After 45 minutes, 1/3 of the movie Cars, half of a McDonald's Happy Meal (that is apparently now called a Kid's meal and comes with MILK!), and 48 rounds of "Brayden, don't push that button, please", our salesperson informs us that she has located a television that we should consider. It is big, "out of the box", refurbished, and fantastic. Also, she quotes us a price that is $900 less than the retail price. NOW WE'RE TALKING! We start making things happen... sorting through the type of wall mount we would need and how we could get it mounted over our stairwell...and how much installation costs. After another 35 minutes, 14 more rounds around the electronics section fulfilling Brayden's cart pushing needs, we get down to the nitty-gritty and schedule a consult for tomorrow (Monday) with one of the installation guys to determine if this gi-normous television (52") will even fit in the space we have in mind. We decide to purchase the television and wait until the dude comes to our house before bringing it home - in case we determine it won't fit. They'll just refund our money and we're out nothing.

We get all the way to the purchasing and I watch our not-so-speedy 17 year old girl enter the sales information. The slower she goes, the fussier Brayden gets. We're already 45 minutes into regular nap time and dangerously close to a meltdown. Remember, he did not wake up happy this morning! As I watch, she rings up the television at $100 more than the actual retail price. Ironically, that makes it exactly $1000 MORE than she quoted us, so I naturally think she typed the number wrong and point it out. She says, "no, the television is that much". I say, "no, sweetie, remember? The television new is $100 less than that, so how can a refurbished one be $100 more?" She gets quite confused at this point and stares blankly at her paper as if it will answer my question for her. We walk to the wall displaying the television we are getting (well, the new ones) and sure enough, I'm right! The price on the TV is $100 cheaper than the price she just put in the computer for our refurbished one. She says she just doesn't understand what is happening and has no memory of quoting us a more than $900 cheaper price just a little over 40 minutes ago.

She disappears into the Best Buy abyss and returns 3 minutes later to report that she guesses the since it is the morning of the first day of a new sale, not all of the sales prices had been updated in the computer when she first came to us. According to her, the regular price of the TV was actually $300 more than the sales price, which is now more than $1200 more than the original price she quoted us for the refurbished one!! WHAT?? When I asked her how in the world she ever got the number she quoted us, she replied that she must have gotten the numbers all mixed up. YOU THINK? Anyway, she said the manager would be okay to sell us the television with an additional $150 off the sales price, which is absurd, so we informed her she just lost a huge sale and promptly left.

IRRITATING!

Back at home, Brayden barely made it to his bed before crashing for over 3 hours. We still haven't made it all the way through is birth story. Meanwhile, Greg and I spent the afternoon evaluating the logistics of the whole TV situation and realized that it would be incredibly expensive and a whole lotta' work to do everything we want to do (Well, everything I wanted to do. Remember my goal?) So, instead of getting something now that will sit on the television cabinet we have and risk Brayden pulling it over and killing him, we'll probably wait until Christmas or later to get started on the mounting project (no snide, inappropriate jokes here).

We did get to spend the evening with Michelle and Jason, though, and had a fabulous time. We cooked steak, grilled veggies, and watched Big Brother. Brayden is fascinated with Michelle's iPhone, by the way. Brayden hit the hay about 9:45 and Greg and I are concluding the night with a a round of hurricane coverage with Jim Cantore on the Weather Channel before heading to bed. Tomorrow, I plan to catch up on laundry and any other details needed before going back to work for the first time in well over a week. I'm glad to be going back, but wish I had a little longer to rest up.

Oh, and Jason and Michelle got their new TVs home only to learn that one of them isn't working right! Arghhhh!

Oceans Eleven and Saturday Night

Today I spent the day with Brayden while Greg did his 6 month check ride. We went to Office Depot and bought envelopes because we're out and I needed to mail my check and RSVP for my Gamma Phi Beta reunion. Nothing like taking an 18-month old toddler into a store for one item. He was ready for a shopping spree. So, I let him push the cart around the store at full speed for 15 minutes. The patrons alternated between finding him cute and dodging his potentially lethal driving. He bends over and puts his hands on the bar where your feet go and pushes. FAST. I merely steer the cart and warn people of impending harm.

After that, we headed to the post office, to buy stamps, and drop the envelope in the mail. He has just recently started loving to walk everywhere on his own rather than be carried. It is so cute to see him reach up and take my hand! Then we got to the post office with the revolving door and he had to be carried it. That door, though, fascinated him. We got the envelope mailed and headed back home.

Brayden has been fussing at nap time lately, and today was no exception. Reading a book didn't help and neither did trying to hold him. I got a random idea to tell him a story and he LOVED it! I decided to tell him his birth story from start to finish and he was asleep within 10 minutes.

For dinner, we ordered pizza and watched the storms out on the porch. It was an amazing night! Greg and I cleaned the house and once we settled down we found Oceans Eleven on TBS. That's our all-time favorite movie. It was about 2/3 of the way through and we watched it to the end. It is being repeated now, so I'm watching the beginning while I type this. Brayden went down about 9:30...within 4 minutes, while I continued his birth story. Either I am dreadfully boring or incredibly soothing!

Tomorrow evening, we're having some friends over to grill out and watch Big Brother. Monday will be more relaxation and then back to work Tuesday. Blech!

And so it begins...

nothing like a little down time to create a sense of urgency to do something! As I sit here enjoying my week off from work, I felt the need to create a blog about our family and share with the world what goes on here. It isn't like we're all that chaotic - or interesting, even - I merely feel compelled to talk.

From where I sit, at nearly 7pm on random Wednesday, I see my son beating on the door...the very door I cleaned thoroughly about 2 hours ago, removing the thousands of overlapping handprints. He wants to go outside with his daddy, and after 2-3 minutes spent intently trying to open the door himself, he resorted to beating on it. It amazes me that he is almost tall enough to open it and go outside whenever he wants. That's going to present a problem because I'm not sure there are any safety locks for that type of door handle.

Today, Brayden is sick again. Yesterday, the doctor said he has impetigo, but I am not feeling that diagnosis. She claims he has strep and took a throat culture before starting him on antibiotics. What can we do, though? He seems quite prone to anything with blisters, sores, or rashes in the symptom list. In fact, that appears to be his primary illness each time. I can see the sores inside his mouth (again) and he has only had 3 wet diapers today. No question he is resisting swallowing. He is supposed to be able to go back to daycare tomorrow. I suppose we'll see how tonight goes.

Tomorrow, I am going to do nothing but "me" stuff. Greg is taking Brayden to daycare and I think I am going to rest and then maybe get a pedicure. About 5, I'll head to Jennifer Jay's and see her new house.

I got a lot of things done today - put together a list of Mary Kay products that I'm discounting 50% off (you can email me for details), got several meetings scheduled at work, and even took a nap. I did the dreaded bathroom cleaning and wonder how in the world we ever get clean in a room so disgusting.

That's all for now. See ya' next time.
~michelle