The tech seemed mildly surprised that I didn't want to pick it up as is. He actually said, "The computer works just fine, ma'am, it's just banged up on the outside." We bought this computer in May. There was no way that I was going to accept a damaged computer!

Trigonometry -- yuck!

We took our computer in to be serviced back in July. About 8-9 days later they called to tell us that the computer had been fixed, however, it was severely damaged during shipping (they had sent it to another state). The tech told me I could either pick it up as is (severely damaged) or that they could send it back to be fixed. I opted to have the computer sent back and the tech told me it would take about a week. Well, fast forward to today -- they still have our computer! I've been calling 2 times each week to check on the status and they keep telling me the same thing: they're waiting for a part to arrive from the manufacturer. They never have any updates for me. Today when I was talking to the tech I was a little upset. I told him that I realize this was not their store's fault but I was tired of waiting for my computer. Honestly, I think they lost my computer and they're trying to stall until they can find it. They won't give me the phone # to the place where they sent it so I'm kind of at their mercy. Any suggestions on how to handle this?

I recently sold an item on eBay and the buyer paid via PayPal. I refunded the buyer's money because of an error in the listing. After receiving the item back, I hit the "refund" button via PayPal and I thought everything was fine. Fast forward two weeks later: I received an overdraft statement from my bank. Instead of refunding the buyer with the funds in my PayPal account, PayPal debited the bank account I have on file with them! :banghead: That account is solely used for PayPal/eBay so the balance is always very low. There was not enough money in the account to cover the refund so my bank charged me a $35 overdraft fee and a separate $30 fee because my account stayed overdrawn for over one week (I didn't find out about the situation until 2 weeks after I sent the refund). I transferred the money from my PayPal account into my bank account, but I still had to pay the $65 in fees (my bank refused to take anything off). Needless to say, I am very ticked off about this. I don't have $65 to throw away like that. Thanks for letting me vent!

Woo hoo -- way to go! I'm trying to lose 15 pounds. Your post has inspired me!

Such a beautiful, precious child. My heart aches for his family. I will be praying for them.

Brilliant idea -- thanks! We have the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle Treasury. I think we will read that story tonight! Thank you everyone for your suggestions -- I truly appreciate it!

Not long ago, DD4 was eating a mini powdered donut. She took a big bite and chewed it for awhile but she didn't swallow the bite. It got kind of goey and stuck to the roof of her mouth. She didn't choke or even gag. I just cleaned it out with my finger and that was that. Now because of that situation, DD is refusing to take normal-size bites of anything. She takes itty bitty little minute-sized bites of everything because she is afraid she is going to choke. It takes forever for her to finish a meal; she sat at the table for 2 hours trying to finish a cut up hot dog (without the bun). The other day at breakfast she refused to eat GrapeNuts because the granules were too big for her! I've explained that she is not going to choke as long as she takes normal-size bites (and chews it up well) but nothing I say is helping the situtation. Is there anything I can do or say to help her? Or, should I just let this phase ride its course? Thanks!

Swellmomma - I'm so sorry that your DD had to go through this. It sounds like you handled it very well. She is blessed to have such a great mom. Take care!

Oh my goodness -- how tragic! I don't think anything could be worse than that!

This has happened to me too. One time I got an irate email from someone who was getting spam from my email address. He/she told me in a very rude manner to stop sending them so much spam. I was shocked by the email because I hadn't sent anything! I contacted my email provider and informed them of the situation. The customer service rep. explained that spammers have ways of making it seem like their emails are coming from legitimate addresses. She said this is very common. I wrote the irate person back to tell them it wasn't me sending the emails. I asked them to let me know if they ever received another spam from my email address so that I could forward it to my email provider. They wrote back and apologized for being so rude and I never heard from them again.

I have a honeymoon horror story: DH and I were just out of college and totally broke when we got married, so we decided to drive our old heap of a car out to Vegas for our honeymoon (it was about a 12-hour drive). When we were about 4-5 hours from Vegas, our car broke down in some teeny, tiny little town. We had to check into the town's only motel for the evening. This place was beyond disgusting; the linens looked like they hadn't been changed for months. It was truly repulsive! The town's only mechanic towed our car to his shop. The next morning, we paid the owner of the motel $10 to drive us to the next town so that we could catch the Greyhound bus to Vegas (we were too broke to rent a car). What would have been a 4-5 hour drive by car turned into a horrifying and miserable (I'll spare you the details) 15-hour trip! When we got to Vegas, a very kind relative wired us some money. We rented a car and drove home. On the way, we stopped by the mechanic's shop and paid him for the tow and for the work he did on the car. It turned out that the repairs were going to cost more than the car was worth, so we just left the car there. Many years later, we took another honeymoon trip which more than made up for the disastrous first one!

Welcome! You are going to love this board!

Forgot to say that I've found great maps at Dollar Tree.

:lol: I've seen that video several times and it NEVER fails to make me laugh! ETA: The look on Mario Lopez's face at the end is priceless!

Golden Girls is one of my all-time favorite shows. :crying:

I don't think any of our Starbucks stores will be closing. However, we live within 5-10 minutes of 5 different Starbucks so I wouldn't be surprised to hear that one of them was closing. My favorite drink is a Cafe Mocha. :)

I used to love Coach bags until they became so logo-y. I prefer simple, understated leather.

I think it is very tacky to ask someone else to help finance something they cannot afford. However, I'm not at all surprised to read this. We were recently contacted by someone who wanted us to contribute to a very expensive trip their family was taking. The trip had already been booked; they just wanted help paying off their credit cards!

My picture is of Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced Bouquet) from Keeping Up Appearances, one of my all-time favorite TV shows.

Due to the nature of the medication, I would try to find out what happened to it. Unfortunately, you probably won't ever learn the truth. This happened to me once. We had some houseguests for a few days and shortly after they left, I discovered that the brand new refill of my prescription was missing. It was non-narcotic medication, so I'm not sure why someone would want to take it. My dh insisted that one of guests had NOT taken it. He thought maybe I had just misplaced it. I always kept my medicine in the same place so I knew exactly where it was when it went missing. It was in a kitchen cupboard and would have been extremely accessible to anyone who opened the door. I did not ask our houseguests about it because the medication was not anything potentially dangerous (plus, I didn't want to offend anyone). I decided to drop the issue and now I keep my medication in a more secure place.

If the auction gets pulled again, you can always try selling on Amazon.

I've been craving Ivar's, a chain of seafood restaurants in the Seattle area. I was craving it about a month ago and now the Seattle thread kick-started the craving again!

Wow -- congrats! Do you mind sharing how you lost the weight?

I don't know much about homeschooling in Seattle but I can tell you that it is a wonderful city! You're close to the ocean, mountains, and Canada. The restaurants are excellent (especially if you like seafood) and there are a lot of fun things to do there. On the downside, traffic is bad and housing is very expensive. All in all, it is a great place to live!