Fitty Bucks

Before I got pregnant, I had my own idea (read: fantasy) of what it would be like. I'd be "glowing" and happy and, of course, I wouldn't have morning sickness because I just love food waaaay to much. And things don't usually gross me out so, I'd be fine. Right?

WRONG-O. I was sick for a couple of months there. Whiffs of things made me just gag...but was I emotional? Nooooooo...no, problem.

Wrong again.

Fast forward to about a week ago. I'm meeting my girls at Esquire. We have a nice little Mardi Gras meal and we head home. My husband had joined us on his motorcycle in freezing, wet weather. (?!?!?!?) He brought the mail in to me because he didn't want to leave it in his saddle bags. I look through it. "Oh good! Our Verizon rebates." Well, it was just one of the rebates and it was made out to MARICA. NOT my name, but who cares, right? They'll cash it.

I get home and realize that I have all the other junk mail but not the friggin' check. Just my luck! And after thorough searches of my car and my driveway I decide to give Esquire a call. THEY HAVE IT!!! Yayyyyy!!

But, what about the other rebate?? Where oh where could that little rebate be? Since many people in this area have Verizon, I happen to mention something to my friend Amy. She got her rebates back. ALL OF THEM. And it comes up in conversation that I sent my rebates together. In one envelope. All at once. She said the "rules" stated to send them separately. Pfffffffff, I think. They're smart enough to open an envelope and see two, right? The other will come shortly...

Yesterday, with still no sign of the other rebate, I check the status online. Remembering to type my name in as MARICA, of course, I see only one rebate.

I decide to give them a call. This is when I realize I have completely lost control of my senses.
I explain the situation to the lady. I had heard that I should've sent the rebates separately, but I didn't...she they'll accept a copy.

"I didn't keep a copy!" I screech. I always, always keep copies of such things. But, I'm tired of cluttering up my life and I trusted them to process it correctly.

Well, the lady informs me that she can't help me. I'm absolutely livid. I'm so used to people saying: "We'll see what we can do..." She didn't say that. She didn't offer me any hope.

So, since I don't have a leg to stand on, I cling to this:

"AND you spelled my name wrong on the rebate I DID receive."

"They spelled it as they saw it on the form..."

"No, they didn't! It was a pre-printed form!"

"Let me look you up...."

[crickets]

"Did you hang up, ma'm?"

"NO!"

"How was your name spelled?"

I wasn't sure which name she wanted. MY name or the name on the rebate. So, I said:

"MARICA".

"That's how we have it spelled..."

"MY NAME IS MARCIA!!"

"Ma'm you're going to need to..."

CLICK.

I wasn't going to hear her say I needed to calm down. I was done. My face was red with embarrassment from yelling at the lady. I never do that. More flies with honey and all that jazz...plus, like I said, most people help. And I'm not normally nearly five months pregnant and surprisingly hormonal.

I felt terrible. I was rude. I was uncontrollable. I was one of those people I despise. AND I WASN'T GOING TO GET MY $50.

I finally calmed down and laughed as I told my husband the story. I said: "I don't think we were meant to get those rebates."

On my way home from work, I went by Valvoline to get my oil changed. It went very smoothly as usual and I paid my bill. Oil changes for me with my synthetic oil run about $49.00. I know it's expensive and I should really just pi$ my money away, but...

The guy says: "Do you have one of our punch cards?"

No, I didn't. And I didn't really remember ever even seeing one.

"Well," he says, "you've been here 17 times..."

punch, punch, punch, punch, punch

"Here you go. Your next oil change is free."

Woohooo! 50 bucks!!!!

Weird

Svenyboy tagged me. The task? List 6 weird things about me....hmmmm, shouldn't be too hard.

1. I have five cats. Pretty weird I guess. "Above" average to say the very least...




2. I set my alarm for odd times. Lately, I set if for 6:42 a.m. At nine minute snooze intervals, that means at 7:00 (after two snoozes), I can hear the weather report and a bit of news before I face the day. But, really - I got lucky on that combo. I always pick odd times. Usually a time ending in a 7 or a 3 but, you just never know.

3. I record every show I watch on my DVR. I usually say that I do this because I hate pesky, old commercials - which is true. BUT, it's also because I might get a phone call or I might miss something. This way, I can rewind it and "HA, HA, HA!!! That was soooo funny!" and replay it back...

4. I'm superstitious. I knock on wood, I keep certain patterns/routines, I always say "Be careful" to my husband everytime we hang up the phone...OK - I'm not superstitious - I'm OCD...

5. I save the most delicious part of a meal for last or, at least, try to savor the flavor longer...

6. I've run out of things...my mind is a little preoccupied right now....

Thanks for tagging me, Svenyboy!

OKC

I visited lovely Oklahoma City over the weekend. My husband was down there going to school/training for his job. I can't say it's the most beautiful of cities...but I can definitely say that wherever he is - I can happily be. We had plenty of places to eat and movies to watch and not a moment was boring...

We find entertainment wherever we can and happened to encounter a few locals we found purty interesting.

First, there was this movie ticket counter lady. She wasn't the friendliest person but she amused me to no end. I tried and tried to get a movie of her "quirk" until I finally succeeded. I overheard the guy in line behind us tell his wife: "She's been trying to do that for a while now." I turned around and smiled at him. "Yes!! I have! This cracks me up!!"





That's her sneezing. Mike asked me why, as a germaphobe who runs from sneezing people, I wasn't grossed out by this woman's sneezing. I don't know - it must be the cute, small little chipmunk-like way she does it...

Then there was THIS guy. We had decided we wanted a fast burger and we wanted to check out Braum's. It's this ice cream shop/fast food place/grocery store all-in-one. We got our burgers and sat down to enjoy them. That's when I noticed this guy. All settled in with his bucket of ice cream.



Yep. A whole bucket of ice cream. He was eating it with his plastic spoon. And drinking milk. At first I thought: "Well...OK. He bought a tub of ice cream and wants to have some right now." But he kept eating and eating and eating. Mike didn't believe me at first. "A bucket?? What do you mean, a bucket??" I finally got him to turn around and look. Aaaaaah, what a weirdy this guy...

Always the people watcher, I kept on observing him. I couldn't help but notice he was digging further and further into his bucket. Man! He was eating a lot! Then, I thought I saw a huge ball of ice cream on top of...something. The table? A plate?? Thankfully, the guy got up (to get a tissue of all things...wonder WHY he needed that???) and I rushed over there to click a photo. I headed back to my table just as Mike was signaling that the guy was on his way back...I closed my phone and acted casual....and lost that photo forever. What did he have over there on his table??? It was a melon sized ice cream "snowball" he had scooped onto the lid of his ice cream carton. I mean, he did all that with a plastic spoon????

I kick myself for losing that photo. No one's ever going to believe me.

Then again, maybe no one else finds this as strange/funny as I do. And maybe I'm the weirdo for stalking and blogging this guy.

P.S. No one is safe now that I have a camera on my phone. Not even me...I'm going to end up arrested or sued or something...