Buy Columbia

No, I am not advocating cocaine use.  Last year I had the misfortune of having the zipper on my winter coat break.  Other than the zipper being broken it was fine.  And it wasn’t really broken per se, but the stitching had come out on it.  And not the stitching that holds the zipper in place with the coat, it was what holds the zipper the strip of material that is sewn to the coat.  So I basically had about two inches of nylon dangling.  It actually happened almost two years ago, and the first time I spent what seemed like three or four hours hand sewing it back on.  Then it let go in a completely different spot.

So not wanting to spend all that time trying to fix it, I had asked my mother if it was something she thought she could sew for me (since I have totally forgotten how, and even if I did remember, I think this would be something beyond my expertise).  When she was here toward the end of the winter she thought she would give it a try.  If she couldn’t do it, the worst that would happen is that I would need to buy a new coat anyway.  She happened to mention it to my aunt apparently who told her that Columbia has a lifetime warranty on their coats, and that she should try contacting them and see if it was something they would replace before ripping everything apart and trying to sew a new zipper in place.

When I heard that I thought, well I can do that, so I had her bring it back early this summer when she was here for something.  I finally got around to contacting Columbia in the middle of August, and they told me to send it in and they would repair it if possible.  If not, I had an option (I forget exactly what my choices were) for replacing it.  I selected a credit for a new jacket.  After a couple of weeks, I got a notice saying that they had deemed my jacket unrepairable and were giving me a credit for a new jacket, and emailed me a code to use when buying the new one.

I decided to go to the Columbia outlet store figuring they would have the best selection.  It turns out that with what they gave me in credit for my jacket that was 5 years old, and purchased on sale at Kohls, I was able to purchase a new lightweight waterproof jacket, and a new outer shell for the winter, and was able to get Sarah (2) new jackets for the winter as well.  And even after all that, I still have about $30 left over!  WHOA!!!!  Best warranty ever!  All I need to look for now is a new inner liner (if I need one).  I have a Columbia fleece I wore at work a few years ago because they kept the thermostat down in the wintertime, so I can try that as a liner.  If not, I can always go back and get a new one for what I am thinking is going to be a little more than what I have left on my credit.  So how cool is that?! I am definitely going to keep buying Columbia jackets, and I recommend y’all do the same!

New Boyfriend

Sarah came home for the weekend for the first time this year. I am not quite sure why, other than her roommates were coming home as well.  She then however, spent Friday night hanging out at a boy’s house.  A boy who has been to our house a few times before, but someone who was just supposed to be a “friend”.  Tonight however, Kris and I wanted to take Sarah out for a decent dinner, and when we suggested going to Jose’s Blue Sombrero, she asked if this boy could come along.  Kris has been prodding her for information about him, while I have been trying to get her to just butt out and let her be.  I had an idea that she may have an eye for this boy based off of a few things I have heard her say in the past, but I thought bugging her about it is not going to result in anything productive, and would more or less get her mad (because that is how I was when I was her age).  It turns out that Kris did get out of her finally that they are “dating”.  Like I said, I had an idea.  

Mean Girls

As Homecoming is approaching next week, we found out today that Alison is still unsure of her plans.  Last year she went with a large group of friends, and was planning on doing the same this year.  However, one girl (who incidentally was not part of the group that she went with last year) had decided to have a dinner catered at her house (or more like her parents did).  She invited some of Ali’s friends and requested that they give her a list of people that should be included.  Her friends included Alison’s name, but when people were being invited, this girl did not include Ali.  There were going to be in the neighborhood of 30+ people there to take pictures beforehand, then have dinner there before going to the school for the dance.

As I said, several of Alison’s friends were invited, and they all wanted Ali to come along.  So some of her friends thought of a good idea so she could be with them.  One of her friends who is going (who is a boy by the way) asked Alison to go as his date.  Problem solved, right? Wrong!  Apparently when this little snot found out that Alison was going to be this boy’s date, he was uninvited to the gathering beforehand.

So rather than make a big ordeal out of things, Ali just decided to go with a few other friends who were going out to eat at a restaurant beforehand.  I feel bad for her and her friends because they are all letting this little snot of a girl dictate to them what their plans are going to be (and believe me, little snot is a nice word for what we are referring to this girl as, and her parents, in the confines of our home).  Planning for next year is beginning as I write this so that Alison and her friends don’t have to be subjected to the will of a girl who feels she needs to buy friends because she is such a spoiled brat that she feels the need to tell everyone else what their plans will be and what they will be doing.

Long Term Solution?

Kris had a care meeting for her dad today and we got some tentatively good news.  I say tentatively because we have gotten good news before.  But the therapists at the Rehab center her dad is at asked if he was going to be going back to his apartment in the Arboretum.  She said that was the hope, and was then told because if he couldn’t go back there, they would gladly take him at Linden Grove (the second floor of the facility is a long term care facility/nursing home).  That would be awesome!

It is very close to home, Kris knows several of the people on the board of directors because they are also related with CMH so she knows what to expect for quality of care.  The only problem would be that he would have to share a room, but we could figure that out.  And they also accept his type of assistance.  If it is true that we can keep him at Linden Grove, it would be awesome.  I have really not been happy with the level of care he has gotten for the last couple of years, but never wanted to say anything because of fear that they would kick him out.  Things really look like they might be looking up.

Glazing A Window

Since I finally have time again, I am getting back at trying to get the basement windows re-glazed.  What I should really do is to see what it would take to replace them with glass block, or even a whole new casement window.  But for the time being, this is what I have to work with.

When I was interrupted to take Kris’s dad to the hospital, I was in the middle of removing the old glazing, which was proving to be a little harder than I initially thought.  There were big chunks that had cracked and simply fell out, so I thought it would be easy taking a screwdriver and just chipping the rest away.  I was wrong.  For the most part, it wasn’t bad but there were a couple of spots where it didn’t want to break loose.  In fact, I ended up putting a small crack in one of the edges trying to get it out, but I eventually did it.  I was hoping to get all of the basement windows re-glazed before winter, but that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen now.  I am just going to be happy with the one that I did get done and I’ll have to finish the others in the spring.  As long as I have the window covers on them, it should be OK (I hope).

Move To Rehab

Well the good news is that Kris’s dad is being sent to rehab.  The bad news is that he is being sent to rehab.  The problem is that the Arboretum is not going to let him return unless/until he can help support himself more (I knew it was going to be a precursor to kicking him out).  Since he has been in his wheelchair he has lost so much strength that he can’t assist the aides in getting him out of bed, or other sort of transfers from his wheelchair.  And until that happens, he won’t be allowed to return.  What a headache!  I suppose that we won’t worry about it too much until he has gotten into his therapy and see what sort of strength he develops.

Touch of the Flu

We stopped back at the hospital to check on Kris’s dad and see how he was doing.  Since he failed his swallow study, it looks like he’ll be there a little longer than we expected.  And on top of the pneumonia that he has, they tell us that he also has the flu.  He was barely conscious when we stopped, and he did not sound good at all.  The snoring/wheezing when he breathed, and when he was awake and talking it sounded like he just smoked a carton of Marby Reds.  So we’ll see what happens when the speech pathologist comes tomorrow.