…. another year of my love/hate relationship with referees and coaches who step RIGHT in front of me, at the exact moment I am trying to get the shot.  Too bad there’s not a burning need for blurry photos of the back of striped ref shirts …. I would SO have that market cornered. (sigh)

I needed to make 300 copies of a flyer, and I wanted them to be on brightly colored paper.  So I went to Office Depot, grabbed a package of neon copy paper off the shelf, and walked over to the self-service copy center.  The girl behind the counter asked if she could help me, and I told her I needed to make 300 copies of something, but that I’d like to buy this orange paper and use that.  She replied no problem, I could pay for the orange paper when I checked out.  She then helped me get the machine set up, paper tray filled, etc.

When the copies were made, the machine printed out my receipt, and I noticed the charge was nine cents per sheet, which is Office Depot’s normal charge for b & w copies.  I gathered up my copies, and the leftover orange paper that I hadn’t used, and headed to the cash register to pay.  As I walked past the girl who had helped me a few moments earlier, I paused, and we had the following conversation:

Me:  “Excuse me, but I notice here that I was charged nine cents per copy.”

Her:  “Yes, that is our price for black and white copies.”  I could almost here the undertone whisper “there’s a sign right there, Einstein.”

Me:  “I don’t get any sort of discount for providing my own paper?”

Her:  “Um, no.”

Me:  “But I am paying for the orange paper up front …. so technically I didn’t use your paper.  It’s not any cheaper that way?”

And she paused, and then looked at me, like I was the dumbest person to ever walk the face of the earth, and replied, “It doesn’t matter what paper its printed on, it still costs the same amount to make a copy.”

Me, annoyed at her snotty little tone, “Yes, but your nine cents a copy charge includes the cost of paper that is used.  I didn’t use any of your paper, I used my own.  And obviously I’m going to pay for that.  So I assumed the price of copies would go down that way.”

Her, still clearly superior to me:  “No, that’s not how it works.”

Me, who at this point could have given two hoots about the cost, but now?  It was a MATTER OF PRINCIPLE …. (aren’t those three of the most dreaded words in the English language?  Matter of Principle?  Because you know its simply code for “I don’t care what comes next, I am digging my heels in and will not budge.”)   “So, do I get 300 sheets of white copy paper?”

Her:  “Sorry?”

Me:  “I paid nine cents a sheet, which includes the cost of 300 sheets of paper, that I did not use.  Do I get to take the blank sheets home with me for my personal use?”

Her:  “Uh, no.”

Me, at this point, totally passive aggressive because I *knew* she wasn’t going to give me 300 sheets of blank paper, and I didn’t even WANT 300 sheets of blank paper, but by golly, I felt like I was ENTITLED to 300 sheets of blank paper!!!  I really wanted to drive home the fact that I feel I got ripped off.   But, with a half-hearted ”thank you for your help”, and a lukewarm smile on my face, I walked up front to pay.  Because my confrontational ability is non-existent, even if I feel like I have a valid point.  And even if I want to smash that point into someone’s smarmy face more than anything.

I was annoyed enough that for about one nano-second I considered asking for a manager simply to prove my point.   Would you take fabric to a seamstress, ask her to sew you a dress, then let her charge you for the fabric?  Would you take left-over bricks to a mason, ask him to make you a mailbox to match your house, then let him charge you for the bricks?  Would you buy trees and bushes and flowers and shrubs, hire a gardener to plant them all in your front yard, then let him charge you for the plants?  Would you take ……….. oh, never mind.  You get my point.

Of course, in the time it took me to get from the copy center to the front register, I realized my point was ridiculous, just pay the nine cents apiece for the love of Pete and go home.

Still.  I’m kind of thinking Office Depot ripped me off today.

Clearly Kendrie and her best friend Katrina are at odds about whether you run faster wearing the hat on your head, or holding it in your hands.  Or, as Kendrie told me later, “I knew I would run so fast it would blow off and I didn’t want to have to walk back and get it.”

See?  Winning — It’s all in the power of positive thinking.

“Run like the wind, Bullseye!!!”

I told him this morning I was going to yell that when he ran by me today.  He was not amused.

To: kristieokc@cox.net

Subject: Blog  

Ok, your blog has been dead for a month now, are you taking a winter break or is your computer still dead.

Long Kendrie Stalker

Sandra in H.

********************************

Sandra, no, my computer isn’t dead, but its nice of you to check.        I find myself with too little time, and the circumstance of having kids who are really too old for me to blog about anymore.  They don’t do funny, cute things like toddlers, and the teen and pre-teen issues we face, I won’t share out of respect for their privacy.  We are a (gratefully) typical family, crazy-busy, but not sure our life is really blog-worthy these days.  So I find myself staring at the site, hating to close it, but also hating that it never gets updated.    I guess I need to get up off my tush and do something about it.   Hope you are having a great day!!

Kristie    

************************

So, that’s about the best I can do right now.   I won’t delete the site until I find the time to move it to a bound-copy site somewhere ….. so in the meantime, here it sits, mocking me.  And I think, honestly and sincerely, about updating.  And then …. I just don’t.

(sigh)

All the cousins from OK came to Georgia to help us celebrate.

After 26 months of no dairy before bed (due to a potential medication contraindication with one of her chemo meds …. all leukemia kids have this restriction ….) on the first night after treatment ended, we went out for ice cream!

Getting ready for the final countdown … “0″ days of pills left after this!

SO happy to know this is the final dose!

Say ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…..

Aaaaaand, this is the face she made every night for 26 months.  That was some nasty-tasting swill.

Off-treatment party.  Was she ever really this little?

Throwing the last of the chemo pills in the lake — what a great feeling!!!  (now, lets just hope we didn’t radioactivate too much fish or plant life, ha!)

Congrats, Kendrie.  Here’s to five, 10, 50, 550 more years of celebrating!!

My consolation prize was a photo of all three kids by our administration sign when school let out for the day.  What you don’t see is my friend Alisa, waiting behind me to do the same thing with her kids, as well.  Good to know I’m not the only one faking photos in the afternoon.  Although if I were taking odds, I would bet her husband won’t have to put on “fake” work clothes and pose for more pictures this weekend.

**Surveys coming later …..

Brayden, age 13, grade 8

Kellen, age 12, grade 7

Kendrie, age 10 (but 11 in just two weeks, as she continually reminds us!), grade 5

Um, just how the heck did they get to be these ages, in these grades, when I wasn’t looking???

PS.  and yes, those of you who are Facebook friends with me might notice I just posted this as my status update … all that proves is a)  I am a multi-tasker, b) I have nothing noteworthy to blog about today, and c) I am really, truly sad about the cookies.  It was almost a full package!!