Mortimer's Mom

Wallpaper Rescue (UK Branch)

If only I used my powers and determination for something more worthy than wallpaper, I could solve some serious problems in the world. But instead, I channeled all my energy into solving my wallpaper crisis.

Thursday broke down something like this:

• Google the crap out of Graham & Brown Axium Wallpaper
• Order it from Target and ship it to D.'s house
• Find out from Graham & Brown that they fill Target orders, therefore, cannot get it from Target either
• Re-Google the crap out of it and find a UK source that claims to have 1000 rolls in stock.
• Notice they don't ship outside the UK
• Remember that I have a bloggy-friend Jo who lives in the UK
• Totally overstep the boundaries of internet friendship and email Jo informing her I need her address to ship wallpaper to her house and have her re-send it to me.
• 5 min later, get an auto-response that Jo is out of the office for a week, PANIC!
• Since there is NO WAY I'm waiting a week to solve this situation, email Alisa, who is actually friends with Jo, and beg her to forward my message to whatever other address she's got for Jo (they spend the day on IM, I knew Alisa would know how to reach her!)
• Attempt to email the wallpaper company but have trouble, so instead, I call them directly in the UK
• Speak to a lovely lady who can't understand a word I'm saying, so she passes me to Tom, who sounds just like Jim from Coronation Street (remember Jim? I  miss Jim!)
• Jim thinks I'm a little over-excited over this particular wallpaper but he does some checking and it turns out they do in fact claim to have access to 1000 rolls (basically, he called the Graham & Brown warehouse and has to get it transferred to him)
• Jim is confused when I explain to him that since he won't ship to Canada (something to do with VAT) I will send it to my friend Jo, but I need to get back to him with her address because I don't have it, since I've never actually met her.
• He tells me to call him back when I know where I am shipping it to
• Hear from Jo 10 min later, surprisingly, she agrees to my crazy scheme (And titles her email Wall Paper Rescue, UK branch, which I stole for this post!)
• Call Tom back. In the meantime, he spoke to someone else. he's not 100% convinced he can get the wallpaper, but if he can, he feels very bad for the whole situation and agrees to ship it to me directly so I don't have to pay to ship it to Jo and then for Jo to ship it to me.

That, my friends, is what I did on Thursday. I was at work but I got little accomplished, because I was 100% focused on solving the Great Wall Paper Crisis of 2008. Oh, I also spent several hours trying to cancel my Target order. The stupid website wouldn't let me cancel it, I called them and I they couldn't cancel it either. Meanwhile, the lovely, lovely customer service person at Graham & Brown USA promised me that no matter what, the order wouldn't ship (since she didn't have enough). Really, she and Tom were life saviours!

In non-wallpaper related news, it was a rainy weekend and we were stuck inside, driving each other crazy. We ended up driving to the country house on Sunday to see BB's new bedroom, which used to be the mezanine. She loved it! Tomorrow, PICTURES!

I'm crying over wallpaper

yes, I realize that there are way worst things in life than screwed up wall paper. Trust me, I know. I've been telling myself over and over again that I should just forget about it and just remember that last year at this time, Hubs was in the hospital....

but you know what? For one day, I want to cry! The wallpaper situation is dire. The company doesn't have enough to resend me the entire quantity. Well, maybe they have enough rolls in total, 9, but not all from the same batch. And also, 9 rolls total doesn't leave me the one I want to keep in the closet just in case. But I could live with that, except I'm worried about the non-same batch.

So when I got their email while driving to work this morning, I burst into tears. Seriously. Because I waited 6 months to have this stupid PERFECT wallpaper put up. And now if I have to pick something else, NOTHING will be perfect. And every time I go into that room or walk by it, I'm going to be reminded of what it SHOULD have looked like and how much I hate the stupid 3 scary Russian Dudes and the moronic Olga the project-non-manager.

I got excited for a few minutes when I remember that Target carried the wall paper. I IM'd my friend D online, and though she has her own crap to deal with, begged her to take delivery of my wallpaper and reship it to me (as Target doesn't ship to Canada). She agreed and I ordered. Only to find out a few minutes later that Target only passes the order onto the same warehouse that I am already in touch with, therefore, I still can't get the wallpaper.

There is a small, very very small possibility that I  can get it from the head office in England, but she is not hopeful. In the mean time I can't decide: take the few rolls they have from the different batches and hope that it's enough AND that there isn't a significant color difference between them OR just mourn the loss of the perfect wall paper and move on.

Caution: Whining Ahead

So Julie noticed that I hadn't posted about my new decor..... yeah.... I don't know what to say.

We came home on Sunday to find the house in shambles. I guess I wasn't surprised. It's the kind of thing that happens if you are not there when they do the work. But there were issues. Like the mantel wasn't painted white, even though we spelled out both in writing and verbally to everyone involved that all wood other than floor was to be painted. And there were paint spots on the floor, from the lack of drop cloths. The floor was protected in some areas... With strips of the brand new wallpaper! Of which only one strip was up.

It was Sunday, so we made some calls, but no one was picking up. Then we noticed that they used our cute Miele vacuum to clean up after themselves. Clearly my tiny Miele wasn't intended for construction clean up.

For the last 2 days, all we have done is be on the phone. With the owner of the company, the business manager who signed the contract, the supposed-project-manager who was supposed to supervise (but clearly hasn't even stepped in the house) and also signing and speaking in simple sentences with the 3 scary looking Russian Dudes who are doing the work.

Here's the thing: The paint looks great. And the fire place glass tile looks FANTASTIC! But the wallpaper....oh the wallpaper! First, we are short. Although I had bought PLENTY. As in what the wallpaper company told me (including the extra to account for pattern aligning) and an EXTRA roll to keep in the closet because I'm anal about stuff like that. But now, there is 2 full strips missing. And what is up looks like ass. It's crooked vertically AND the pattern isn't aligned horizontally. By over 2 inches. It really looks like ass. At first, I was only pissed at the shoddy seams and the spots where plaster was stuck behind the paper. They stuck the seams down and made a small cut to release the plaster bumps, but when I started to take it all in, the crookedness started to dawn on me. And now it's driving me nuts.

I only see one solution. They have to reorder the paper and redo the whole thing. From scratch. I already ordered 2 rolls to finish the job and have my extra roll. But we'll need to start over. And I'm not sure I want them to do it. I for sure don't want these 3 particular dudes doing it, but I'm not sure I want the contractor anywhere near it either.

We've been waiting for a supervisor to come see for themselves, but they aren't rushing over here.... At this point, we are "ahead" because we only paid a deposit, and while I am happy to pay the painter and tiler, there is no way we are paying a dime for the wallpapering. We'll have to see which option they choose: buy the paper and redo it for us or forget that part of the payment (and a hefty deduction for the price of the wallpaper) and let us find someone else to start over with.

And if this wasn't enough stress for one day, the girls had checkups today. Dumpling needs to have a full blood work up done for possible blood disease that would cause the severe bruising (maybe clotting issues) and BB needs to be watched because her weight/height ratio isn't very good.... the chubbiness, it's starting to be worrisome. We did run into Susan and her girls, which started the visit on a good note. But it ended with Dumpling screaming like a banshee and fighting 3 adults NOT to get a shot.... They heard her screaming outside the building.

In the mean time, no pictures, because it depresses me too much. The only thing that can lift me from this funk is the upcoming evening: chocolate torte, wine, Grey's Anatomy and the gals from the store!

Licking my wounds

I'm afraid to say I'm finding it very hard to let go of yesterday's incident. It shouldn't be so hard, but it is, and I'm trying to figure out why.

In the end, I know who the person is, I withdrew from the swap so has to not have to interact with her (can you imagine? she was going to send me her quilt?!? like I would have wanted it after that!) but it is still upsetting me. Here is what I have figured out thus far:

I blog because I enjoy it. I enjoy putting down the goings on in my life. I'm not a paper/pencil kind of journal girl, so electronic it is. I love that if I don't remember when something happened, I can just search my own archives and find it. So the obvious answer would be to password protect, right? Wrong, at least, not for me. Because I have met some really great people through blogging. Some are still only "in the computer" and some are real life friends. Heck, I'm just about to leave for Texas to meet up (for the second time) with one of my very very first on-line friends. We've known each other over 5 years.

So if I were to password protect, this would be it. The people that I know now would be the only people I would ever get to meet. And while I have met some terrific people thus far, I think there are still more great people to meet. Just this year, I found Funky and Delightful and we've been sharing a lot of DYI ideas. And A Girl's Gotta  Blog and I plan to meet during Passover. (I am purposely not linking to anyone. This post is not about that)

Sure, some of these friendships didn't work out. Some people just moved on. Others just stopped replying to my emails, which I admit, stung quite a bit, especially when it was people that I thought I was actually good friends with. But people move on, and that's why I feel I need to keep meeting new ones.

Also, along with the Kellie Pickler Google searches, some people find my blog when they are desperately searching for answers after bringing home a little petrified child from China. And in the middle night, when they just can't figure out what to do and string along a Google search that goes something like "adopted child china won't sleep hurts mother throws-up" or any combination of those words, and they find my posts. And then they find the ones months later, when things have settled and life does in fact get better. I feel that those posts need to be public. I can't put a password on those.

So I remain unprotected. But does that mean I have to open myself up to a drive-by? Criticism is one thing. A pure slap in the face, kick in the groin is something else. Why do people do that? I can honestly say that while I may I left a few comments over the years that might have engaged in discussion, I have never just ripped someone for the heck of it. If I felt that I really, really needed to communicate my extreme displeasure with someone, I might have written to them personally, off their blog (most of the time, after writing the email, I just hit delete. Because writing it down made me feel better, so there was no point to actually send it). But I would never just rip someone in their comments section. I think that just goes too far. (over a quilt! A freaking toy blanket!)

The easy answer is to just delete Jayne's comment and forget about it. But that's also wrong to me. It happened. I can't pretend it didn't. I read it and it stung. And so it stays up. And for some reason, I keep rehashing it, rehashing the whole purpose of blogging. But at least I'm doing it while sewing.

just a tad more complaining

so the floors... ya, they are not done.... less War and Peace, more Chick Lit, but still, bubbles here and there.... we are not pleased. He offered to come back tomorrow, but that meant not sleeping at home tomorrow night. Frankly, the girls would have flipped out. Our night at grandma and grandpa's house was not restful. BB woke up in a panic, which in turn made Dumpling wake up and wail that she missed home. Resolution? I slept on the bottom bunk with the Roll-and-Kick doll known as BB. Fun!

So instead he is coming back friday and we will hightail it to the country for the weekend. he'd better get it right this time, or else, I might just lose it!

Adding to the stress is that we scheduled our new fancypants store website to go online this week. So I have been working overtime coding and categorizing products in the database and weighing and measuring every product we sell for the automated shipping-cost thingy...... it's a real bitch.

And just to make sure the end of the day was the cherry on the sunday, the kids and I got flu shots this afternoon. My arm aches and both girls cried in some manner, with Dumpling taking the Oscar for dramatic performance by a faking 4 year old.

aren't you just thrilled I'm blogging every day?!??!

We use our powers for good

In my last post, I sent you over to the article that had me and my gals up in arms.  Things got pretty heated over there, we weren't going to back down. We were all speaking on behalf of our children (and ourselves, of course).
And you know what, today, we got our apology. If even one reader *gets it* and changes their way of thinking regarding adoption and finances and refrains from asking someone at the store how much their child cost, it was all worth it.
That's what a bunch of adoptive mothers and mothers-to-be can do. So if you have a battle to fight, send it our way, we only use our powers for good (well, except for that one thing, but nobody knows that's us.....)

On to the Dumpling. She's still sick, though her mood has improved tremendously and she's back to being a naughty 2 year-old. It was mommy's day at home today, and by nap time, I was exhausted! So when hubby got home this afternoon, I treated myself to a rare manicure. I don't have long nails, but they came out pretty and... clean! Let's see how long that lasts.

Finally, on a fashion note, i just want to tell you this breaking news: Green is the new orange, which was the new pink. Never mind all the turquoise you see everywhere, the new color is green. I now find myself with 2 cute spaghetti-strap tops in green (one mossy, with sparkles, one minty and satin), and a green striped belt. 3 items in one week. the last time that happened, I went all pink a year before pink was in. So when everything is green next year, just remember, you heard it here first.

ragging on the husband

Because my husband and my father both read this blog, I have in the past refrained from complaining about real life people, namely them, in this blog! If I have something to say, I say it directly.

However, yesterday's events require a public outing of my husband's complete lack of capabilities as a grown up..... To say my husband is scatter-brained would be an understatement. In the 6 years we have been together, he has *lost* 4 cellphones (he'll claimed they weren't really lost, he always finds them months later): he once left it on the train, we once found it in the glove compartment of the vintage convertible we only used in summer, and I don't remember the specifics of the other times.....

A few years back (pre September 11th), he went to the US with a friend, but left his wallet in said friend's apartment before departing. So he entered a foreign country with no money and no ID!!!! For 3 days! (OK, friend had money and credit cards, but no ID?!?! I didn't sleep the entire time he was gone, convinced I would have to go pay a bond at the border!!!)

When we went on a vacation to Florida a few years back, he managed to lose his wallet between the cab and the check-in counter at the airport. He claims he was pick-pocketed, but it was 5 am..... he lost it, I'm sure. Thank g-d, I had the passports, otherwise he couldn't have come!

He's constantly leaving the house without his wallet or some set of keys, or the diaper bag. When we went to Quebec city 2 weeks ago, he forgot the diaper bag, then forgot the special blanky, not once, but twice!

But yesterday, yesterday is the reason I will once day end up killing him or divorcing him..... I'm very tired, exhausted from setting up the new store. So after lunch, I called my parents to see if they would Dumpling-sit for a few hours for hubby and I could go catch a movie. 2 hours of non-parenting, non-tiring activity.... My parents live 20 minutes away in suburbia, over a bridge. We packed her up and took her over there, then crossed the bridge again to return to the city to see a movie (they have movies in Suburbia too, but not the funky ones we like to see, and usually in French, not English).

We saw the movie and then had to return back to Suburbia to pick up the Dumpling. Now, I admit it, I had forgotten something at home. I was meant to return the pressure washer to my parents, so rather then make them wait til Monday to get it back, I figured I would go home to get it, (5 minutes drive) and leave hubby there to get started on our dinner. He could cook while I was making the 40 min return drive so pick up Dumpling over the bridge (the same bridge I had the blow-out on a few weeks back).

When I drove away, my dear hubby was busy organizing his many CDs in his car..... I drove there, drove back, only to be met by my husband in the driveway, for some strange reason wearing his jacket..... You see, he was locked out of the house! He had car keys, but no house keys, and no cell phone to call me.

Now, a smart person would have gone to the neighbor's, used their phone to call their responsible wife who had HER cell phone, get her to turn around immediately to let him in the house and thus continue the plan of preparing dinner....

But no!!! He stayed on the porch for 40 minutes, driving the dogs nuts (why can't you come in daddy!??! woof! woof!!!) and waiting for me to return. By the time I got home with the sleepy baby, even more tired myself, and by now starving, I didn't laugh at his predicament.  Noooooo siry bob! I didn't laugh at all. I wanted to kill him. I believe I called him an idiot and a moron. Harsh, I'm sorry dear. But at the time, I just couldn't think of anything polite and constructive to say.

So this is it. From now on, his silliness and scatter-brained adventures are fair play for this blog. Otherwise, I'll need to call a divorce lawyer!

(PS: thankfully, Dumpling wasn't with him at the time.... can you imagined being locked out on the porch with a cranky toddler.... maybe THAT would teach him a lesson......)

Sucks to be Me!

I love Avenue Q. When I saw it in New York in February, it totally spoke to me. Everybody IS a little bit racist. And sometimes, no matter what it may seem like on the outside, it does suck to be me. Today is one of those days.

Don't get me wrong, I have a *charmed* life. We own a beautiful house, we are the parents of a fabulous Dumpling, and not having regular jobs is GREAT!  But there are some days when being your own boss just SUCKS, and today is one of those days....

Balancing full time motherhood with part time work is very hard. I end up procrastinating with things I don't like to do, which makes my list of things to do grown longer and longer everyday. Some days, I just end up doing nothing because I just don't know where to start, so it becomes easier not to start at all.

A few months back, we decided to launch the on-line side of the store. The idea was to increase sales and revenue with minimal effort. Except of course for the minimal effort part. I did have the site done by someone else, but listing all the products, translating all the listings to French, taking pics, nobody else can do that for me. And it sucks. I need to get my butt in gear and do it, but I just get so overwhelmed by the size of the task, I end up doing very little.

But if I want this to succeed, I need to act. So last night, after a big heart-to-heart with my husband/business partner, I light a fire under my own ass. This morning I gathered all our personal tax documents, I prepared our adoption file to be deposited at the social services office and I did some Internet research on something we had discussed. And just now, after a short Internet surfing break, I just downloaded 58 product pictures, which I now need to transform into the right size an format, write a product description for, translate into French and upload to our site..... Well, at least the pics are in my computer now.... let's see how much I do manage to get done.

But today, it sucks to be me.

Sucks to be Me!

I love Avenue Q. When I saw it in New York in February, it totally spoke to me. Everybody IS a little bit racist. And sometimes, no matter what it may seem like on the outside, it does suck to be me. Today is one of those days.

Don't get me wrong, I have a *charmed* life. We own a beautiful house, we are the parents of a fabulous Dumpling, and not having regular jobs is GREAT!  But there are some days when being your own boss just SUCKS, and today is one of those days....

Balancing full time motherhood with part time work is very hard. I end up procrastinating with things I don't like to do, which makes my list of things to do grown longer and longer everyday. Some days, I just end up doing nothing because I just don't know where to start, so it becomes easier not to start at all.

A few months back, we decided to launch the on-line side of the store. The idea was to increase sales and revenue with minimal effort. Except of course for the minimal effort part. I did have the site done by someone else, but listing all the products, translating all the listings to French, taking pics, nobody else can do that for me. And it sucks. I need to get my butt in gear and do it, but I just get so overwhelmed by the size of the task, I end up doing very little.

But if I want this to succeed, I need to act. So last night, after a big heart-to-heart with my husband/business partner, I light a fire under my own ass. This morning I gathered all our personal tax documents, I prepared our adoption file to be deposited at the social services office and I did some Internet research on something we had discussed. And just now, after a short Internet surfing break, I just downloaded 58 product pictures, which I now need to transform into the right size an format, write a product description for, translate into French and upload to our site..... Well, at least the pics are in my computer now.... let's see how much I do manage to get done.

But today, it sucks to be me.

Sucks to be Me!

I love Avenue Q. When I saw it in New York in February, it totally spoke to me. Everybody IS a little bit racist. And sometimes, no matter what it may seem like on the outside, it does suck to be me. Today is one of those days.

Don't get me wrong, I have a *charmed* life. We own a beautiful house, we are the parents of a fabulous Dumpling, and not having regular jobs is GREAT!  But there are some days when being your own boss just SUCKS, and today is one of those days....

Balancing full time motherhood with part time work is very hard. I end up procrastinating with things I don't like to do, which makes my list of things to do grown longer and longer everyday. Some days, I just end up doing nothing because I just don't know where to start, so it becomes easier not to start at all.

A few months back, we decided to launch the on-line side of the store. The idea was to increase sales and revenue with minimal effort. Except of course for the minimal effort part. I did have the site done by someone else, but listing all the products, translating all the listings to French, taking pics, nobody else can do that for me. And it sucks. I need to get my butt in gear and do it, but I just get so overwhelmed by the size of the task, I end up doing very little.

But if I want this to succeed, I need to act. So last night, after a big heart-to-heart with my husband/business partner, I light a fire under my own ass. This morning I gathered all our personal tax documents, I prepared our adoption file to be deposited at the social services office and I did some Internet research on something we had discussed. And just now, after a short Internet surfing break, I just downloaded 58 product pictures, which I now need to transform into the right size an format, write a product description for, translate into French and upload to our site..... Well, at least the pics are in my computer now.... let's see how much I do manage to get done.

But today, it sucks to be me.

Mortimer's mom gets the blues

Dumpling party came and went. comments and photos to follow later, must first find camera to transfer pics....

have you ever seen a movie preview that looked SOOOO promiseing, only to be disapointed by the movie? Of course you have. But it doesn't usually happen with foreign movies. usually, a trailer for a foreign movie is just enough to give you a taste, and then, you relly enjoy the movie. So when we saw Hotel Rwanda a while back and saw the trailer for Shultze Gets the Blues, I made my husband promise that we would take the time to go see this movie.

It had a ton of elements I was bound to love: a retired salt-mine worker (my year in Austria was spent living in a salt-mine town, where everyone was connected to the mine somehow) accidentally falls in love with Zydeco music and travels to Louisiana to find his musical roots. As a French Canadian, I was going to feel connected to the french-louisiana aspect, and the fish out of water theme is one of my all time favorites.

I was going to go to a chick movie this afternoon by myself as a treat follwing the birthday party, but when I noiticed that the German movie was ending tomorrow, we packed up Dumpling and dropped her off at my parents so hubby and I could go to a movie this afternoon. Enter disapointment. Now, don't get me wrong, it's an intersting movie, filled with wind-mill symbolism and lots of digs at small town life in rural Germany, but all in all, it was disappointing. Too slow, not enough music, just blah....