We're meeting up with the Milton Adoption Group (2 other Milton couples that are adopting from Ethiopia through the same agency) and attending a seminar on adoption at one of the nearby universities. After that we're going out for lunch (Mongolian Grill? I hear it's good but I've never been). It will be good to see them again, we haven't seen them since our New Year's Eve "party". After that Andrew & I will be premiering "Jerk Off 2010". Let me explain. We're almost out of the Jamaican jerk paste we normally use & couldn't find the same brand at the grocery store, so we bought the brand they did have. We've going to cut a pork tenderloin in half, marinate each side in a different jerk paste, then compare to see if the new paste is up to our exacting standards. It was my idea to call it Jerk Off, cuz I'm clever like that.
In other news, I do believe we've found a home for the sofa bed that currently resides in the baby's room, so once that is out of the way we will be able to start painting & putting the room together. I can't wait!
That's all from here - have a great weekend, everybody!
Lilypie Birthday tickers
Friday, January 29, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Don't lose my number!
The agency released our "number" today. For those not in the know (I'm guessing that's all of you), this is where we fall on the List, the list of families waiting for the referral of a single child (as opposed to a sibling group). So, without further delay, we are are number 111! This is a lot better than we thought - since there are 270 or so families waiting for children (not sure how many are waiting for siblings) I thought we'd be somewhere around #200, but then I had a dream on Wednesday night that we were #86, so this falls nicely between the 2 numbers. And since we received our number there have been 3 referrals, so we are really at #108 now. 111 is our "official" number, though. And what is cool is that 1/11 was the birthday of one of my grandmas, so it's a special number! It's been a good week in the Imagine Adoption world.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Meh.
In the Well Duh files, there continues to be not much happening around here, which kind of suits me down to the ground, as they say. In the past week or so we have: become addicted to Wii Frisbee Golf (more Andrew than me) & Swordplay (more me than Andrew), seen the movie Avatar (soooo good, see it in the theatre if you can, the 3D effects made my dizzy & nauseous at first, but then I was okay), and worked. That’s pretty much it. Exciting times, n’est pas? In the actual good times column, there were 4 families with our agency that got referrals in December, and another 4 families have received referrals so far in January. How cool is that? There were approx 270 families waiting for referrals when the agency restructured, so I guess that’s now down to 262! Not sure where we are in that list, I’m guessing we’re between 180th and 200th. In other words, it’ll still be awhile before we receive our referral. That’s okay – we can use that time to reduce our debts & get the house & nursery ready for her arrival. We went ahead & bought the birdcage & bird decal for her room, now we just need to move the sofabed out of the room, paint it, put up the decal, set up the crib & buy a dresser for that room (it will serve as a dresser/change-table – it’s a small room). Still trying to decide if I want to paint the crib. Some days I’m all gung-ho about doing it, other times I can’t be bothered. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with the finish right now – I just REALLY like the look of painted cribs. If I did go ahead with that, I’d paint it a slightly darker shade of green than the walls. I found the PERFECT crib bedding set online (Kidsline Birdsong - get it - Wren? Bird? I know, I don't give you enough credit) but wouldn’t you know it – it’s discontinued (at least, I can’t find anyone who still sells it). If I don’t end up finding that I’ll go with a purple set of some sort.
On another note, my mother in law is turning 70 soon. Does anyone know if there is a special gift or type of gift you give for the 70th birthday? Keep in mind we’re in Canada & she’s in remote Australia, so it can’t be anything too big or too expensive.
Well, that’s really all from here. No news yet from Alamo, except to say that they responded to Andrew’s email & didn’t answer a single question that he had asked. Way to actually read the email, Alamo. My poor opinion of you has improved NOT AT ALL. Alamo consists entirely of FAIL.
Have a great week everybody!
On another note, my mother in law is turning 70 soon. Does anyone know if there is a special gift or type of gift you give for the 70th birthday? Keep in mind we’re in Canada & she’s in remote Australia, so it can’t be anything too big or too expensive.
Well, that’s really all from here. No news yet from Alamo, except to say that they responded to Andrew’s email & didn’t answer a single question that he had asked. Way to actually read the email, Alamo. My poor opinion of you has improved NOT AT ALL. Alamo consists entirely of FAIL.
Have a great week everybody!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Not much
Hope everyone out there had a great New Year's, we spent it quietly, with our adoption friends & Wii Sports Resort. I tell you, that game throws in some pretty awesome spectators - in our 2 hours of play we spotted Star Trek's Mr Spock, Batman (actually, one table tennis match was graced by the presence of 2 Batmen), Darth Vader, Catwoman, a cyclops & a green monster with very pointy canines. If they can do Mii's like that, why can't I get my Mii to look anything like me? Andrew's looks so much like him it's spooky. On the Sunday we visited with my brother & his family & Andrew gave Evie her bottle for the first time. Well, she holds it herself now, but he held her & made sure the bottle was tipped towards her mouth. They were both wearing navy blue, they looked so cute together! She's so smiley & giggly, so squeezeable! What a sweetheart - I hope our girl is the same. Not news from Alamo yet - slackers. I have other names too, but none are suitable for this blog. Well, that's it for now. I'll be back when I have something new to say (actually, that might be a while!)
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
ALAMO SUCKS, consider yourself warned.
To start off, I would encourage anyone who reads this blog (all 3 of you!) not to rent a car through Alamo, at least in the UK. I’m about to explain why, but suffice it to say, we are getting harassed & threatened by them for NO REASON except their incompetence. Here’s a brief description of what’s been happening since we rented the car in the UK in May of this year.
- Picked up the car from Heathrow on May 28. We had originally booked (and PAID FOR) a basic car while still in Canada. Since we were going to drop the car at Gatwick, we paid a little extra for this privilege. When we picked up the car we upgraded to the next level up & also requested & paid for a GPS (and also paid for the upgrade).
- Returned the car to Gatwick on June 2 & settled the account. We thought this would be the end of it. How wrong we were.
- During the next 6 months our credit card was credited & debited 6 times for various reasons (insurance, damage waiver, theft waiver, some other mysterious charges). They also sent us an invoice for GBP 372.51, for a car rental we had already paid for. We were confused but not too worried at that point. Andrew called & email Alamo to try to sort it out. He got a confusing, nonsensical response.
- On Dec 23 we received another invoice for GBP 372.51, this one stating it was the FINAL NOTICE!!!!, and failure to pay this account within 7 days (mind you, the invoice was dated Dec 7) would result in legal action & damage to our credit rating. FOR AN ACCOUNT THAT WE HAD PAID FOR 7 months earlier. It also stated that we had been blacklisted & would no longer be able to rent from Alamo anywhere in the world. No problems there, we won’t ever rent from them ever, ever, ever again. Seriously.
So, let’s review – we rented a car, we paid for the rental car, we were debited (4 times) & credited (twice), and now we apparently owe GBP 372.51 for a rental we’ve ALREADY PAID FOR, all because of the incompetence of Alamo. And we’re being threatened with LEGAL ACTION for an account we settled in good faith 7 MONTHS AGO. We’ve copied our travel agent on the correspondence & recommended that they not use Alamo for their other clients. Alamo are treating us as if we rented the car & deliberately did not pay for this privilege, when the error is entirely their own. If this is how they treat their customers, I wonder how they are still in business. In this day & age, this kind of customer service is DISGUSTING. In this recession, you’d think businesses would be striving to keep customers happy, to encourage repeat business. Alamo clearly thinks they are above this way of thinking. Shame on you Alamo, shame on you.
Please pass this story on to anyone you think might benefit from it, I wouldn't want anyone else to get screwed by these people. I want to get the word out there - DO NOT RENT FROM ALAMO!
- Picked up the car from Heathrow on May 28. We had originally booked (and PAID FOR) a basic car while still in Canada. Since we were going to drop the car at Gatwick, we paid a little extra for this privilege. When we picked up the car we upgraded to the next level up & also requested & paid for a GPS (and also paid for the upgrade).
- Returned the car to Gatwick on June 2 & settled the account. We thought this would be the end of it. How wrong we were.
- During the next 6 months our credit card was credited & debited 6 times for various reasons (insurance, damage waiver, theft waiver, some other mysterious charges). They also sent us an invoice for GBP 372.51, for a car rental we had already paid for. We were confused but not too worried at that point. Andrew called & email Alamo to try to sort it out. He got a confusing, nonsensical response.
- On Dec 23 we received another invoice for GBP 372.51, this one stating it was the FINAL NOTICE!!!!, and failure to pay this account within 7 days (mind you, the invoice was dated Dec 7) would result in legal action & damage to our credit rating. FOR AN ACCOUNT THAT WE HAD PAID FOR 7 months earlier. It also stated that we had been blacklisted & would no longer be able to rent from Alamo anywhere in the world. No problems there, we won’t ever rent from them ever, ever, ever again. Seriously.
So, let’s review – we rented a car, we paid for the rental car, we were debited (4 times) & credited (twice), and now we apparently owe GBP 372.51 for a rental we’ve ALREADY PAID FOR, all because of the incompetence of Alamo. And we’re being threatened with LEGAL ACTION for an account we settled in good faith 7 MONTHS AGO. We’ve copied our travel agent on the correspondence & recommended that they not use Alamo for their other clients. Alamo are treating us as if we rented the car & deliberately did not pay for this privilege, when the error is entirely their own. If this is how they treat their customers, I wonder how they are still in business. In this day & age, this kind of customer service is DISGUSTING. In this recession, you’d think businesses would be striving to keep customers happy, to encourage repeat business. Alamo clearly thinks they are above this way of thinking. Shame on you Alamo, shame on you.
Please pass this story on to anyone you think might benefit from it, I wouldn't want anyone else to get screwed by these people. I want to get the word out there - DO NOT RENT FROM ALAMO!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
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