Two Step and Outback

Ok, so Dave didn't play Two Step which is probably my favorite song, but it was a really great show.

We left after work on Friday to go up and spend the evening with Murphy and Kristin. We took Ainsley over to their apartment in Arlington and we kept her up WAY past her bedtime. I tried to put her to sleep, but seriously, it's hard enough to get her to sleep in a quiet, dark room. So she fell asleep around midnight and woke up about 15 minutes later, so that's when we left. It was nice to see them though. We don't get to hang out with our friends as much as we used to, so it's nice when we get the chance, even if we are chasing Ainsley around the apartment all night.

Saturday, we went to lunch with Kip and Denise and Ainsley double-fisted some pickles which I really thought I had a picture of, but now that I browse through my pictures I do not. Instead here is a picture of her shaking the daylights out of some pill bottles. She just really likes to make as much noise as possible.

After lunch, Clif and I headed to the show while Kip and Denise took Ainsley back to the house. We got to Nissan a little after 4 and we had a few drinks. It was really hot out, but we had a lot of fun.

Clif and I sat at the back of the car and watched all the much younger patrons hanging out with their large groups, and we felt a little old. Not because we were going to see Dave, because he exploded during our college days, so really what age group has more of a right to love him than ours. However, we never get together with those big groups anymore. Just 4 or 5 years ago we had a whole slew of people at the Dave show, having a few drinks, having a few laughs. It is sad in a way, everyone just is so busy now with kids or weddings or husbands or wives or jobs or whatever becomes important when you grow up. You don't forget your friends, and you still love them, but it's just hard to get everyone on the same page. Growing up kind of sucks. Not that Clif and I are sad with the life we have...it's fun in a different way...but watching all those younger people made us a little nostalgic for the olden days.

We got to our seats just in time for Dave to start playing. It was really awesome. I just love Dave. There are so many good things about a Dave show, but I will say that the best parts are 1) he has amazing lyrics. They're just beautiful and meaningful and he uses his words to connect with everyone. Everyone can relate on some level, and 2) every show is different. He mixes this song with that, then that song with this, then throws in some random cover in the middle. Really, it's such an experience and I'm just such a fan.

While we were at the show, Ainsley was having her first dinner at Outback. Nanny and Popa said she ate all of her broccoli, all of her cheeseburger and most of her sweet potato. She was a hungry little bug.

After the show we met up with my cousin Eddie who works at Nissan. Here is a picture of us.

We got home really late, I think it was like 2:30, but really not sure. I did have a couple of drinks :)

On a side note...the refrigerator drama continues...stay tuned.

Nothing Exciting

So, I wanted to post because I was so bad last week, but nothing very exciting going on. I do have another video of Ainsley dancing for you. That's always fun. My mom called me this morning asking what was the deal with the head bob. I have no idea where she gets these things. She picks up on stuff so easily and quickly. It is pretty hysterical though.



We are heading into a very busy summer, starting this weekend really. We are nonstop through labor day weekend. I will cherish the 2 or 3 weekends we have at home. This weekend we are heading to Northern Virginia to see Dave Matthews. YEA!!!!! I'm so excited. Clif and I have been at least once a year, every year that we've been together...except last year. Last year he was only coming around in August and it was just too much with a 3 week old baby, so we skipped it. This year, Ainsley is staying with Nanny and Popa and Clif and I are going to the concert. Should be fun.

Then we are home for the long holiday weekend, we made no plans because that is usually my family reunion, which we did not attend last year, again because of the bug. It was the weekend before we had her and travelling through the WV mountains didn't sound like a good idea. However, my family reunion is not that weekend this year, instead it was pushed out the the following weekend. Good and bad. Good, we get to spend the long weekend at home together...bad because now we have to make it such a quick trip because we can't leave until Clif gets off work on Friday. Luckily we are taking a vacation the following week. Well we're taking a whole week off, but we're only going to the beach for a few days. Then we're back home to get ready for Ainsley's birthday party on the 19th.

So, busy times. At least I'll have lots of pictures and lots to write about.

Busy Weekend

Some of you get to hear plenty about my job, others probably don't even know what I do. Even others probably hear plenty and still don't know what I do. That's cool, it's really not that exciting. Well, one of the really frustrating things about my job is all of the sudden BAM I can be so busy I can't even breath, then just as quickly NOTHING. So today I am in the world of nothingness. Lucky for you, cause now I have time to blog.

This weekend was very busy, and a lot of fun. Unfortunately for me, it wasn't very relaxing. But it was fun. First of all, we went to go see Ainsley's newest little friend in the hospital. Her name is Lucy and she was just one day old when we met her. So tiny. I can't even believe Ainsley used to be that tiny...but she was. Lucy is the second child of our very good friends Corey and Jill. We are so excited for them and her big sister Charlotte. I stood there holding this tiny little baby and looking at Ainsley practically running around the hospital room and I can't believe it's only been a year...and in the same moment, I can't believe a year is gone already! It's the strangest feeling. Most things you feel either drag on or speed by. With Ainsley, it's kind of both. I have to try really hard to remember my life before her, but I can't believe she'll be 1 in 2.5 weeks.

Unfortunately we did not bring the camera, so we do not have any pictures...plus I'm not sure her parents want her on the Internet, I'd have to ask them first.

Friday night/Saturday morning I did my normal run around the house and clean as much as possible before 1) someone arrives or 2) we go out of town. I feel like I really got the house nice and clean this weekend. I even cleaned bathrooms which I freaking hate, but must be done. Even more amazing, I cleaned mine and Clif's bedroom. That is the room in the house that never gets cleaned. Crap just gets thrown in there and the door gets shut. Very sad, because it's supposed to be a nice, relaxing place. Instead it is usually covered with clean clothes on one side of the room and dirty clothes on the other side. Plus Gatsby loves to lay in our bed when we're not there, so our red velvet comforter is covered with black and white Gatsby hairs no matter how many times I wash it. So instead of going to bed and relaxing I usually walk in there and say "Oh, I hate this room, maybe I should sleep in my clean living room." And I wake up thinking "Ok, when can I clean this, tonight...tomorrow...maybe I can run by during my lunch break..." But right now it is clean and all is right with the world...probably won't stay that way very long.

I also hung Ainsley's swing on Saturday, she was very excited to play in it. I got a couple of cute pics on Sunday. Saturday afternoon Clif's parent's showed up to babysit Ainsley while we went to the movies, dinner and a new bar in town. It was quite a big night for us. Poor Ainsley threw such a fit when we left. She was so tired and she doesn't like it when I leave. It's always a toss up every morning when I leave day care. I don't know if she'll wave and say "Ba, ba, ba" and blow me a kiss. Or scream and hold her breath while she follows me to the door. Saturday night was a scream and hold her breath kind of night. I know she was fine five minutes after we left though.

Clif and I went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. I like those movies, and I thought it was pretty good. I have to say, I am very disappointed in George Lucas's cop out ending though. I won't ruin it for those of you who haven't seen it, but let's just say anytime a writer throws this particular little plot point in, I feel like it's a big let down and completely without talent or original thought.

We had diner at Sakura, a Japanese steak house. We love Japanese steak houses and haven't been since before I was pregnant. I had diabetes during pregnancy so I couldn't eat there, and now I don't think Ainsley would do so great with a long dinner like that.

Finally we went to a new bar called Bar Louie. We just talked and watched some non married, no children, out on the prowl types try to hook up with each other. Very entertaining. We were home by 10...yes we are losers.

Ainsley was still awake because she had taken a nap from 5-7. Yeah, she never takes 2 hour naps for me! In her crib no less!

Sunday, Auntie Caitlyn came for a visit. Ainsley got to play with her and she showed us some new moves that Nanny had taught her...snapping her fingers. Ok, so it's really not snapping...but she's trying. Here's a video of that...

Then Sunday afternoon we brought out Ainsley's new wading pool. She got to put her bathing suit on for the first time. it is kind of big on her, so I think we'll have to get her a smaller one before we go to the beach. The pool attaches to the hose and water runs through this little canal and it sprays little fountains up in the air. She liked it for about 15 minutes, and then she was shaking her hands (baby sign for all done) and saying "Da, da, da" (that's done for all you non Ainsley speaking folks out there). I think it was a hit, I just think Ainsley doesn't do anything for longer than 15 minutes. I hope that's not a sign of ADD...I hope it just means shes interested in a lot of things.

Last night we were so tired we all (Gatsby included) climbed into our bed and watched a movie. I don't think I've been to bed that early in months.

And now here I am back at work...weekends are just too short. Luckily, 4th of July holiday and our vacation are just around the corner.

Update

Ok, so I've been a really bad blogger this week. But I do have a good excuse...my blog is about Ainsley and unfortunately I have not spent much time with Ainsley this week. Work has been C-R-A-Z-Y and I don't just mean in the busy way. I mean that usually there are 7 account managers and we are down to 3 this week. One got fired 3 weeks ago, one got fired yesterday, two are on vacation. So, I have not taken lunch all week, I have not been home before 7 all week...some nights it's been much later. So, work is why I have not updated the blog...I definitely don't have any new pictures.

Well, it is Friday, thank goodness. So I will be spending most of the weekend with the little bug. Clif and I planned weeks ago to make this Saturday date night in order to celebrate our anniversary. So his parents are coming to babysit. I'm looking forward to a night out, but I am sad that this week was so busy and now I will be away from her Saturday night.

So, I am making this short, I'm going to leave work now so I can play with her before she has to go to bed tonight.

Check back this weekend, and next week will be much better.

Happy Father's Day Clif

Yesterday (I wanted to do this last night, but you know, stuff got in the way) was Clif's first father's day, and I think he really enjoyed himself. I woke up early and ran to the store to get a big breakfast feast. We had eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits, toast, hash browns, juice and coffee. It was quite an adventure trying to get it all to come out at the same time, and I realized I do not have large enough skillets. Oh well, we don't do that very often.

After breakfast we just kind of hung around the house, cleaned up, tried to get Ainsley to nap, normal weekend stuff. Clif got to open his presents...Guitar Hero for the Wii (I actually gave that to him on Saturday night) and a polo shirt that says "Ainsley's Daddy" on the left breast area.

That afternoon, we got ready and went out for Clif's surprise. Miniature golf and dinner at Maggiano's. Miniature golf was interesting with Ainsley. In my mind's eye, we were the only people there so it didn't matter if Ainsley wanted to sit in the middle of the putting green or play with all the balls. That wasn't exactly the case, but it went pretty well. It was a really nice little golf course with water fountains and rocks everywhere. Ainsley did pretty well. Unfortunately, her body temperature is just like Clif's...he's hot, most of the time. I think I'm pretty normal. I was pretty comfortable, but poor Ainsley's little cheeks were so red, and she was sweaty. So when we finished we sat in some Adirondack chairs in the shade for about a half an hour.

Next we went to Short Pump and walked around the mall a bit before our 6PM reservation. We were seated just before 6 and ordered our food about 15 minutes later. I asked them to please bring Ainsley's as soon as it was ready...I knew the poor girl was starving. Well, Ainsley's came, but ours never did. Ainsley was just about done eating by the time we were able to flag down a manager and have him check on our food. Apparently, the order was never put in. So we got our food, and Ainsley did surprisingly well for a very tired little bug. And, they made up for it. Free desert and 50% off the bill...way more than I expected. Way better than Samsung! See, I don't mind mistakes, and I can understand when things don't always go correctly, but if you're responsible, take responsibility...that's all I'm saying. More on that in a moment.

All in all, it was a very nice day.

Ok, the resolution of the refrigerator...you guys really aren't going to believe this. So last I wrote about this, the guy was supposed to come Thursday night around 9 or 10, but at the time I wrote it was 10:30 and still no word. Well no surprise, he didn't show up. Clif called first thing the next morning and was told that "Dylan" was in an attic at the Girl Scouts Camp working on an AC unit until 1 in the morning and by the time he saw what time it was, it was 11:30 and he didn't want to call. Thanks Dylan! But he could be at our place by 9 am. So Clif called me and I'm going to leave work to meet him. Well, it is about 8:40 when Clif calls again to say "Have you left, well don't, the guy is having chest pains." Ok, but wait...instead of just sending someone else, he really wants to be the one to take care of it since we've had so many issues, so he'll stop by ON HIS WAY TO THE HOSPITAL! WHAT?!?!?! Are you kidding me...please go to the freaking hospital and don't keel over of a heart attack in my kitchen! I'm really not trying to be cold hearted, but it was with this latest incident that Clif and I decided that we really do have bad luck. I'm not saying we aren't blessed and I'm not saying that the good lord hasn't provided for us...all I'm saying is that our luck pretty much stinks. Do any of you remember the wedding cake incident? Remember how we got the wrong cake and when we tried to get it resolved we got the run around for months because the owner, and apparently the only person who can stroke a check in the joint, had died of cancer? Yeah! So that is playing through my head...wedding cake all over again. Especially since the guy owed us money for the part that he couldn't get, but we got. (Remember the part in the secret warehouse that can't ship to us?)

Ok, this is getting too long...so finally about 6PM some guy...not Dylan (because Dylan was knocked out by the doctors and sent home...see they overheard him talking about coming to work after his heart attack scare and drugged him, yes it's very ethical)...shows up to fix the fridge. He's in and out in approximately 11 minutes. Sweet! Wish I could make 260 bucks in 11 minutes.

So, the fridge is fixed...hopefully. We lost most of the food. We tried desperately to salvage it, but in the end I'm not eating grayish-reddish meat, even if it has been cold. We won't know for sure if it's fixed until it has time to accumulate frost again, which would be about a week. So Friday if you hear about someone blowing up Samsung Headquarters and "Dylan"...you'll know ;)

Wedding Picture

So this will be real quick, because I have to go make breakfast for father's day, but I got the pictures from my mom. Here is a picture of Ainsley in her pretty little dress with a bit ole smile. I will post more later today.

Dancing Ainsley

Ainsley has a new trick...well, she's been doing it for a couple of weeks but I've never gotten a picture. I wish her head wasn't cut off in one of these, but she is definitely dancing. I love dancing babies. They are just so funny with the way they just bounce, bounce, bounce and bob their big ole heads. Ainsley is no exception, she starts grooving the minute she hears music. Even in the car sometimes she'll just bob her head up and down. It really makes me laugh.

She's also talking like crazy...not real words of course, but I think she thinks they're real. She'll talk to anyone and anything; the person driving the car next to us, a ball, Gatsby, the checkout lady, a book...whatever. She just jabbers away. She's also started gesturing with her hands. That's really the only way I can describe it. I don't really think shes trying to get a point across, but those little hands just get to waving every time she's got a lot to say.

Here is a picture I promised a long time ago...Ainsley in her tennis shoes with matching socks...looking like Punky Bruster. This picture is so funny!

So, we are having trouble with sleeping again. Not as bad, but we had gotten really good, not perfect, but good. She was going down really easy...I could hardly believe it. Then she'd wake up once before Clif and I would go to bed, and then she'd wake up around 3 to nurse. Well, we went out of town last weekend (PS: Grandma Livingston is sending wedding pictures, I bet I have them this weekend sometime, so you'll get to see the pretty little dress) and now Ainsley's schedule is a bit screwy. I haven't been able to get her in bed before 9:30 all week...oh did I say bed? When I say bed, I mean my bed, because I haven't been able to get her to sleep in her crib at all. So it is almost 10:30 and I finally just put her down...and in her crib tonight, so hopefully that's a step in the right direction.

Of course she never has any trouble sleeping on daddy's lap no matter how odd the position.

Yesterday was Clif and my second anniversary. We got a card from Ainsley (thank you Denise :) It was very sweet. We didn't really do anything special last night. Since we have no refrigerator, that means we have no milk or butter or meat...so I wasn't able to make the nice dinner and dessert I had planned. Instead we had a frozen meal and frozen cherry turnovers from Target. We did drink a bottle of Dom we had from our engagement party. It was good, but not great. Maybe we waited too long to drink it. Not too exciting, but we are going to have a night out in about a week when my in laws come to watch Ainsley for the evening. I am looking forward to that.

On the fridge front, we have gotten the elusive part!! Whoo Hoo! Turns out the silly store can ship it from any of their warehouses...what a freaking concept!! We are currently waiting for the repair man to show up and install it. Yes, it is 10:30 at night. I'm sure we'll receive a phone call any minute that he's not going to make it until tomorrow sometime. Which means one of us will have to miss more work. So ridiculous...nothing can be done in a timely, convenient manner.

Well, hope to have the wedding pictures soon (thanks for sending them Mom). Until next time...take care and lots of love :)

Bizarro World

Ok, so I did not want to rant about our freaking refrigerator issues on this blog, but this is just too good not to share.

Poor Clif has been dealing with the appliance repair company and their parts supplier. Yesterday, the correct part still hadn't come in and it seems that now it is on back order. So Clif demanded to know where they were getting their parts and he started calling them. I took on Samsung and got absolutely no where.

Today, Clif finally got some information from the Samsung parts distributor. No, the part we need is not on back order...they have plenty in their warehouse. So he calls the appliance repair people back...why would they lie to us. They say they've been getting the run around so they finally just cancelled their order and were trying to find the part elsewhere. So then he works out a plan for the appliance people to reimburse us the cost of the part if we order it ourselves. They say they will do that, so Clif calls the distributor again.

This time they say that they have 3 warehouses and the warehouse that distributes to our area may be out and if that's the case they can't get the part to us. Wait a minute...do you have the part at all? Yes, they have the part in two of their three warehouses. Then you can send it to us? Only if it's in the warehouse that distributes to our area. So if a part is in a warehouse in California but it is not in the warehouse in Virginia, we can't get the part but a guy in CA can? That's correct. That makes no sense!!! I'll have to talk to my manager.

SERIOUSLY!!!! Do we not live in a world of rush orders and overnight shipping from anywhere in the universe!!!! How can they not get us a part if they have it no matter where it is?!?!?! Am I the only one who thinks that is the most ridiculous thing ever? Am I missing something? Am I being unreasonable?

I know that I don't work or live in the world of crappy refrigerator part replacement...but just seems a little bit strange to me that any part, no matter the size, no matter the location, can't make its way to me by the end of the week.

Did I somehow get trapped in a Seinfeld episode? Is this Candid Camera? Come on, come out, where's the hidden camera...

11 Months Old Today

Today Ainsley is 11 months old...so strange how fast a year can go by. She is just so big. I look at her and I can't believe that she's become this pre-toddler little kid. Sometimes she barely looks like a baby anymore. We even turned her car seat around for our big trip this weekend. She looks like such a big kid sitting in it

This weekend we went to my cousin's wedding in West Virginia. It was a very long drive there and a very long drive back. I do not have any pictures of the wedding because, as luck would have it, somehow our camera battery died. I charged it Wednesday or Thursday and when I tried to take a picture on Friday of Ainsley sleeping in the back it was dead. So no pictures of the wedding or of Ainsley in her very pretty dress that NonNon bought for her. I am hoping that my mom and sister can burn their pictures to CD and send them to me so I can post them here and send one of Ainsley in the dress to NonNon. This is my new way of sending thank you notes. The thought hit me when my mother in law bought Ainsley her shoes...perfect, a thank you note on the back of a picture. Personally, I hate thank you notes. I completely understand that you should send a thank you note to thank someone for something, and I am very appreciative of people's generosity, but I'd much rather just say thank you. And honestly, none of you ever have to send me a thank you note, because guess what...I don't keep them. I don't know how people keep everything. I just don't have room for it. I truly appreciate it when someone takes the time to write me a thank you note, but please know that I will never speak badly of someone for not sending one to me. I know life is hectic and busy and I barely get mine done in a timely manner. Plus, they ain't cheap! So hence came my wonderful idea to start sending thank you notes on the back of pictures. Right now, I really only get stuff for Ainsley, so why not send a picture of her using it or wearing it with a little note on the back. So much easier to write than a thank you note, and the recipient will actually use and possibly keep a picture. So from now on you all receive thank you notes on the back of pictures. Decision made!

Traveling this weekend was very exhausting. And now Ainsley is all screwy with her night time routine. I can't seem to get her to go to bed at 8 and she's not going down as easily. Probably because she was up until 11 both nights we were there and she slept with me and Clif. So, it should be easier then the first time we tried the whole routine thing, but right now it feels like we're back at square one.

So, I am not going to rant about our refrigerator woes, but I am going to say one thing. I believe I have found a company to hate even more than Best Buy, if that's possible. Samsung is by far, the worst company I have ever dealt with. Everyone out there, do yourself a favor, never buy a Samsung product. They are impossible to get a hold of. I tried for quite a bit today and all I could do was end up talking to some very rude people who "Don't work for Samsung" as they told me. They just distribute parts...well then you freaking work for Samsung!! Anyway, long story short...still no working refrigerator. Yes, still broken, one week and counting.

Ok, I'm done, I won't go on and on like I tend to do.

Mom, Carolyn, if you're reading this, please send me pictures from this weekend...I know my readers are just dying to see Ainsley in her dress :)

Little Curls

Here is one of the pictures I took yesterday, a little blurry but I think there are really some curls coming in there.

Here's another picture from tonight.

Finally here you can kind of see Clif's curls, just a little in the background.

Curly Hair?

Ok, so if you are reading this before I get home from work today then there is no picture. Check back this evening for a picture of Ainsley's curly hair...maybe. I tried to get a picture of it last night, but between Ainsley not cooperating and a dying camera battery...I didn't quite do it justice. So I'm going to take one tonight and load it up here this evening.

So, as you know, Ainsley really has just about no hair. It is growing, but very slowly. Up until this point it's been just blond fuzz...that sometimes looks red depending on her outfit or the position of the sun in the sky :) But last night I noticed that at the nape of her neck she's got a couple of little curls. Now, it would make sense that Ainsley would have curly hair since her father basically has a blond Afro and she looks just like him. Even I have some curl to my hair. However, it is very hard to imagine her with this full head of thick curls when she's so close to being bald right now.

Anyway, I just don't know if anyone will be able to stand it with her being so cute bald. I mean how will people deal with such an adorable little baby with curly Q hair. Oh my gosh, I just don't know!

Our refrigerator drama continues. We have a temporary fix and apparently the part is coming in today, so I'm just hoping it gets installed this evening so we don't have to deal with this weekend...since we won't be here so someone else will be dealing with it and we will be worrying about it. We had a slight glimmer of hope on Monday night when we called Samsung and they told us it was probably covered under warranty. Well we had a service man come out, and it's not covered. So we had to pay for it, but at least it's going to be fixed.

This weekend we are travelling to good ole West Virginia for my cousin Beverly's wedding. This will be Ainsley's 2nd trip to the farm, but since she was only 2 months old last time, I think she'll enjoy it a little more this time. I'll have to take her to see the cows! I probably won't update again until we get back, so have a great weekend and I'll talk to you Monday.

Oh and shouts out to my cousin Eddie for Graduating from high school tomorrow! I can't believe it! I wish we could be at your party on Saturday. You may not be reading this but I know you're mom is. Congratulations.

Why I HATE Best Buy!!!

So, this is not a post about Ainsley. This is a post of me venting my extreme anger so that I don't rip my hair out or burn down a building. Clif actually suggested that I type this up on my blog so that he doesn't have to listen to me tell this story anymore. I would guess that any of you that I speak to on a regular basis already know the story. But there have been new developments...so if you're interested in why I HATE Best Buy with a deep nagging passion from the bottom of my soul...please read on... If you don't care, you can move on now. Oh and Clif wants me to say that my rage has nothing to do with the fact that he now works for Circuit City.

So, almost 3 years ago, Clif and I move into our house in Richmond...we have to buy a refrigerator. So we go to Best Buy, the store that we always go to for everything. We have spent THOUSANDS of dollars at this store and we love it. We frequent the store. We go there on weekends because we love it so much. Anyway, we pick a Samsung refrigerator (I hate Samsung now too by the way). We buy the extended warranty that is supposed to cover us for three years. The extended warranty is $150 on top of the $1000 or so we spent on the fridge.

Fast forward to March of 2007 (that's right, last March, for those of you keeping score at this point the refrigerator is less than 2 years old). The refrigerator/freezer begins making a chirping/squealing sound. We call Best Buy and put our warranty to good use. Best Buy sends a repairman out...and I'm a little fuzzy on all the details here, because Clif was working from home so he was handling all the details. Basically the repairman came out 2-3 times and finally called us and said, they no longer make the motor that we need to fix the fridge so we get a brand new fridge. Yippee right?! Wrong.

We go to Best Buy the following weekend...mind you that I am about 5 1/2 months pregnant at this time. We are told (and we can read in our warranty packet) that we can pick any fridge of equal value. Equal value...that can mean two different things. Equal cost or equal specs. I figured it meant both. I figured wrong. Come to find out that there are zero refrigerators that cost exactly the same and that have the exact same specs. So we ask to speak to a manager. Instead of politely telling us that no we could not have the refrigerator that cost $200 more just because it is the same size or just sucking it up because we are good customers, this man basically tells us how stupid we are. I am not exaggerating. More than once he said "Come on man (lady), it's common sense, you can't expect to get the same thing you got a year and a half ago." Another direct quote "Nope, you either spend $200 or take a smaller fridge. I'm not taking money out of my pocket." This became a very heated argument where I literally had to hold on to the counter top as not to punch this guy in the face. It ended with his office door being slammed in our face. Did I mention that this guy is the General Manager of the Short Pump Best Buy? Oh yeah!

Finally, we get a fridge. We get the fridge that is a bit smaller because I have declared that Best Buy will never receive one more penny from me. So I will not pay extra money for a fridge that I already have. And I will not buy a warranty that I've decided is bogus.

Fast forward once more to April 2008. The new Samsung fridge we have is just over a year old (12 months and a week to be exact) so our manufacturer's warranty has run out. The freezer fan starts making a terrible noise. Loud, clicking...not quite squealing like before...but very loud and very annoying. We call a friend of a friend who works on appliances. No go, he doesn't work on Samsungs, you can't get parts for it. I'm really glad someone told me that a year after I bought the fridge. But he offers this advice "If the freezer's still freezing and the refrigerator's still cooling maybe the fan is just hitting something or there is ice built up on it" or something like that.

Clif did something to the freezer, I think pulled out some built up ice...not absolutely sure, things are very busy in my house. Anyway, noise stopped, we were like "Awesome!" That was about 2 weeks ago.

Today, Clif calls me...no wait...Yesterday I go do major grocery shopping. Between Costco and Kroger I spend close to $200. Now, Clif calls me today. He went home for lunch and he's pretty sure that the refrigerator is broken. The mayo, cokes and lunch meat are all cool, but not cold. The meat I put in the freezer yesterday is not frozen yet. WONDERFUL!!!!

So Clif spends the next 45 minutes calling repair men. One works on Samsungs, he maybe can make it over by 7 or 8 tonight. If not tomorrow. We should probably put dry ice in the fridge and freezer. So I, run around looking for dry ice (thank you Kroger, you are not on my bad list :)

So, all contents of our freezer are now packed in a cooler below dry ice. There is another block of dry ice in the crisper of our refrigerator. Hopefully the repairman will come tonight and fix our problem and not charge us too much money. If not, looks like we are buying another new fridge. That would be the 3rd in 3 years. Funny, aren't appliances supposed to have a longer shelf life than a year?

Well, here's what I do know...I will never buy anything Samsung again...not even a cell phone. They will be getting a phone call from me when all this is worked out. Also, my hatred and loathing for evil Best Buy (which actually was dwindling...Clif doesn't think so...but really it was) is now renewed and strengthened. Everyone I meet will know this story...I will tell it over and over again until Best Buy crumbles in a sobbing heap. Ok, I know I probably don't have that much power...but I do have a very big mouth and I do hold a grudge. So my children, my grandchildren, my great grandchildren will hear this story so much that they will roll their eyes and say "Here she goes again" under their breaths. Clif, I'm sorry that you have decided to spend the rest of your life with me and therefor have become doomed to listen to my crusade for all of eternity.

Ok, that's my story. I feel a little better having spewed it all out. Moral of the story is...don't shop at Best Buy. They suck and they don't know a lick about customer service. And they apparently sell bad products. Just my opinion.