As the Dryer Fails...

Two weekends ago our dryer took a turn for the worse.  No matter the setting, we kept getting a sensor light. 

For whatever reason when we purchased this set we did something we seldom do - we purchased the extended warranty.  No reason why we would have done this but when the washer of the set passed, we were overjoyed to learn it was covered.  We didn't sweat it - just knew we could call and make arrangements for the maintenance to be done.

Monday AM we got on the phone and set up appointments.  Piece.of.cake.

Tuesday came to an end with a dryer certified ready to go...   They replaced a fuse and the sensor.  I ran one load, finally finishing up what I started over the weekend.  The second load had a different outcome.  Yep.  Same problem. 

Wednesday my dear hubby was back on the phone asking for a second repair call.  A different repairman was out on Thursday.  He was told by Whirlpool to have us clear the dryer ventilation.

Mike started out with a long vacuum hose inside the house and pushed a brush under our kitchen floor through to the vent outside.  Then he went outside and pushed the brush into the house.  Yes he did get an accumulation of lint but with air flow still substantial we didn't think it was the cause of our problems. 

Friday after work I washed up a load, confident I would finally be able to spend the weekend getting caught up.  The dryer stopped before the time allotted and when I went to check it out, the outside dryer housing was extremely hot to the touch.  We quickly removed the damp clothes and put a fan on the open door.  Of course the sensor light was once again illuminated and the dryer inoperable. 

Unfortunately it was Friday night.  Calls to both RC Willey and Qualified Appliances were unsuccessful to raise assistance on Saturday so we did what any desperate household would do - we opened up the fresh air ghetto laundromat and hung laundry from rope tied all over the patio cover.  Thank goodness for high desert climate, triple digits and low humidity.  I figure my letter from the HOA is in the mail...

Monday the phone calls took a new attitude.  One of desperation.  We had been without a dryer for over a week.  I called RC Willey and Qualified Appliance asking for a repair person to come out.   I shared how dissatisfied we were with the customer service.  They asked if we cleaned the vents as we were told and I said we had.  I was told they'd get us on the schedule and call back.  RC Willey's phone staff actually told me "the good thing is you are not out of pocket for any of this..."  Wrong answer.   Then they told me I would get a call from Qualified Appliance.  Qualified Appliance said RC Willey told them I would call and set something up.  Neither bothered to call us and tell us anything.  It was always left to us to place call after call.

I took to social media.  I found RC Willey on Facebook and "Liked" their page.  I was still unable to tag them in a comment but that didn't stop me from sharing my frustration of our dryer-less saga.  I decided to "message" them and shared a long step by step story of the customer service - or lack there of - and how there seemed to be a serious miscommunications between RC Willey and their contracted repair company. 

Much to my surprise within the hour I received a call from R C Willey's corporate customer service office in Salt Lake City.  Followed by a call from our local customer service office.  Both assured me we would have a repair person come to the house Tuesday as it was too late to get us on the schedule for Monday. We were last on the schedule for Tuesday but we would see a repair person.

At 5pm the 1st repairman called to say he was on his way but first wanted a recount of the week's events as he needed to call Whirlpool.  I waited until 5:45 when he finally called back only to tell me Whirlpool wanted him to order parts.  He started naming off a shopping list of items:  new motor, fuses, thermostat, wire harness - and they would rebuild the dryer but would have to make sure there wasn't any other damage from the overheating.

At that point I asked him two questions...  1. How long will these parts take to arrive?  (A week to ten days) and 2. At what point do we declare the dryer a lost cause and look into replacements? (That wasn't his call).

First thing this morning I call Chris at the corporate and Megan at the local offices to share yesterday's update.  Chris said they would track down the estimate.  Megan called me back to offer us a loaner while we waited for parts.  Later Chris called to say the repairman was out of the area and no estimate had been submitted.  At this point I asked how much longer this would take - and explained it has been two weeks and we desperately wanted to resolve this before another weekend passed.  My next call from Chris was to let us know we had two options - repair or exchange for new. 

We are exchanging the old dryer for a new AND she has us on the delivery schedule for Friday!  Whoohoo!

As a wrap up, Megan from the local office called to share they are looking at the processes between RC Willey and Quality Appliance and will make changes to the way things are set up in order to see where the lack of communication is occurring. 

Way to go Ladies!  Once more we are very satisfied customer!  And once again I'm turning to Social Media to share the positive ending to our story.

Happy Dance!

Tribute to our Favorite Place and a Week Together

Erin and I have been pondering for a long while about a mother-daughter tattoo.  This week while they were in town we decided to act upon our vision.

As luck would have it all of the gang was in town at the same time.  Chris and some friends were attending a concert and he had an interveiw.  AND it was Mom's birthday. 

Naturally I stopped to reflect on our life.  Our children are all happy and healthy with their soul mates.  They are realistic and know it's not always about what you can have right away.  Matt and Brit are enjoying their summer nights and weekends together with their little family.  Krieg and Karissa have moved into their new home and are working on projects to fix it up - putting their own mark on it.  Erin and Chris have big news too but it's not mine to share - yet! 

I've also discovered how to let go of annoyances, which puts me in the right frame of mind when dealing with that which is out of my control.  I've settled in for the ride and let other's take the reigns.  It's just not worth stressing over.  I'm in control of my own self and that's all that matters.

Mr. T wanted to do something special for Drahma's birthday.  For months he has been planning our Forced Family Fun to celebrate.  He wanted a family trip to Roaring Springs water park, a BBQ at Papa and Drahma's house and then fireworks at the park.  We all talked about the idea of the water park and triple digit temperatures on a holiday.  Not so fast.  Luckily Brit recalled Despiciable Me 2 was opening on the 3rd.  We all met up at the movie after our work day, watched the movie and then wrapped up our evening with frozen yogurt.  Highly recommend the movie.  It was adorable and once again, a lot of humor is lost on the younger audience and enjoyed by their parents.

Erin and I used the time together to work on our business plan, combining our photography skills.  We are creating an account to sell matted photographs and card sets; and a new website is in the works.  We worked a wedding together in June and have already had a referral for another wedding in August.  We feel we both have a great eye for scenery and like to focus on preserving the natural look in pictures - thus we created...

As a way to combine our love for Kalaloch we headed to Black Cat Tattoo.  Normally Mike has done all of our work.  As luck will have it, Mike was at work when we stopped in to show our ideas.  We worked with Erin Ruiz instead.  She's a great artist and heard what we were saying.  The next day we returned for our new ink. 

We are very happy with our mother-daughter tattoos.  Not your average experience together but then this is a very unique family.  I especially love the way the sand dollar doves turn into a heart.  My heart.  Where my family will always be held near and dear.

Memories. ..

Today I went back in time. Back to a place in Gram and Grandpa Apfel's backyard.  Memories of Grandpa pretending to fuss at us for eating more raspberries than we picked.  Memories of being rewarded for lawn mowing with fresh sweet raspberries on smooth, cool ice cream. Memories of Gram's stories of gypsies, train hobos and the circus travelers. 

Such a small sweet fruit and so many blessings!

Just a thought...

Karma...

Today I had to stand up for myself.  And I did. 

Another's miserable feelings were pushed on to me.

I was surprised and disappointed as I had hoped the effort to open lines of communication would help to resolve the animosity. 

Instead I heard a martyr tell me I was unhappy at my old job and carried it to my new job.  Imagine my surprise.  I loved my old job.  I loved the mobile visits to small town Idaho.  I loved using my Spanish speaking skills to meet delightful little ladies.  I left to improve myself and use the skills I knew I had buried.  I did not close those doors and remain in contact with many on a regular basis.  I was informed the only reason my coworker has been seeking employment elsewhere was to make me happy...  completely overlooking the fact this job hunt has been ongoing since my arrival. Don't put that on me.

Admittedly I was unhappy a couple weeks ago.  The silent treatment will do that to anyone.  After a talk with my boss last week I explained myself somewhat and shared how I felt about the relationship with my coworker.  I shared how upset I was and had considered another job offer...  I shared how after the offer, the reality of my situation was put before me, making it clear where I needed to be. We both knew it was God's hand revealing itself.

Today we agreed to create a means to 'communicate'.  I see it as a way to avoid speaking to one  another.  I tried to share today and it was turned back around denying any negativity.  There seems to be concern about the future for our position.  I guess I don't have that sense of urgency.  Early on I had to seek out opportunities to prove myself and make myself avaialable to everyone in the department.  But in the end whatever happens is out of my control.

We are suppose to be a team and work together. Somehow everything I say is deflected. Instead it's what I say or do and still at the end the day feeling you've been wronged. I'm sorry you feel this way.

I return to my work week tomorrow with the fresh attitude I gained last week.  I have a fine outlook on life and enjoy working with the folks around me.  I've done that on my own.  I have been tasked with finding my own routine, my own niche.  I have great coworkers and friends.  And I have an awesome family to come home to every night. 

Proudly today I stood up for myself. 

Renewing my Cheesehead Status PLUS TWO.

This was the year for our bi-annual trek to the Cheesehead State.  My oldest nephew (and Godson) as well as my oldest niece (and Mike's Ajihada) graduated from college and high school respectively.

After several months of monitoring flights we finally narrowed down our travel plans.  Flying is ridiculously expensive now and we tried to think of how to introduce my family to our newest Grand as well.  My hubby opted to give up his seat and invited our daughter and grandson to join me. 



Deb PLUS Two

Baby C's 1st Flight was uneventful.  We left at oh-dawn-hundred, on three hours of sleep, which enabled him to board, eat his breakfast, play a bit and sleep some more. 

We arrived, collected our rental car and headed north for Milwaukee.  My nephew has an adorable one bedroom apartment just two blocks off of Lake Michigan, very near the Shedd Aquarium - and I love the overall lifestyle in  Milwaukee. 

While others attended the Baccalaureate Mass we wandered around the neighborhood with my brother and our cameras.  Uncle lived in Milwaukee for a few years and happily pointed out different sites for us while we snapped away.  (On a side note those pictures will forever be in my memory as I have managed to completely delete them from any other source...). 

After Mass we joined the extended family down along the river at Water Street Brewery for dinner at a cozy table for 15! It was a delightfully, yummy meal and great chatter with so many I love to be near.

We overnighted in a Brown Deer hotel, sharing a room with my parents.  Think exhausted baby, road-weary travelers and two alternating snorers.  Not sure WHO drew the short straw but it was either a very LONG night or a very SHORT night depending on your perspective. 

Graduation at Marquette University was held in the Bradley Center.  We took advantage of the baby and let everyone go on ahead while Erin fed and dressed him.  We joined up just as the graduate procession was finishing.

  

Bill Cosby was the speaker and did NOT disappoint!

My sister (far right) and her family. I love them all so much.

A little fun with the decor in the Delta Building.

After graduation we returned to Kevin's apartment and celebrated together.  It was my only opportunity to see my brother again and I hated when we all had to head our separate ways again.  We headed for Janesville to spend a couple of days with the Great-Grandparents.  It was nice to be in one place and rest for awhile.  Until that point the traveling had been nonstop with scheduled events and poor Baby C was all out of sorts.

Erin with her grandparents

Erin and Auntie Di

I was able to spend a couple of hours visiting with my dear friend Shelly.  She still has a daughter in high school and finds herself running ragged with sports and activities.  We've all been there.  I was prepared to attend a soccer game if that was the only way to get in a visit...  not so extreme.  There was one year I joined her in the Suburban driving around Rock county running errands.  We definitely get it done!

Shelly

Baby C gives Raymond a test.  Still a little young for a solo ride.

 Great-grandma Denie and Baby C.

On Tuesday we headed for Chicago.  We tried to spend a few quality days with the great-grandparents, and get to Chicago so that Baby C's grand-pop from Michigan could come visit, as well as think about what is best for Baby C and maybe do something I wanted too - like spend time with my sister.  And it all worked out. 

Wednesday morning Erin's FIL and his fiancee joined us in Chicago for a visit.  We took them out for lunch.  

Thursday was my niece Nicole's graduation from high school.  It's mind boggling to think she is 18 years old and heading off to college in the Fall. 

Nicole (the Flamingo)

And honestly, THIS is how I still think of her...

But alas, she's a beautiful young woman, about to embark on a new life path.  We are so very proud!

And for my sister Di, you are super woman!  How you manage to keep up with everyone is beyond me.  Your oldest graduated from Marquette.  Your second oldest attends Notre Dame.  Now after surviving a year of THREE daughters in high school and THEIR schedules you are sending your oldest daughter off to Marquette.  I'm sure you have mixed emotions right now but know you are doing an amazing job!  I love you.



Doing What You Love.

This weekend I was fortunate to spend the day doing something I truly enjoy, working alongside one of my favorite people.

  

Some time ago our daughter was contacted about taking photos for a wedding.  A friend recommended her to someone.  This couple checked her out on her FB page and liked what her work.  When asked if she had an assistant, without hesitation she responded "yes" and then called Mom - always the ever-able photography assistant...  have camera will travel.

So months pass and suddenly the week after our whirlwind week in Wisconsin and Illinois is here. As soon as my extra long work day was finished Friday we headed north.  Six hours later and a new day (just barely) we arrived to a quiet household, quick shower and into bed. 

Erin and I headed out Saturday for Colfax, WA around 8am.  We scouted out the church property, created a plan to divide and conquer and confirmed our day with the Bride and Groom. 

Not only was it uber special to be spending the day doing something I love, but I was able to do it along side our daughter AND witness two very delightful families merge as one.

I extend my heartfelt gratitude to our daughter for offering me this opportunity.  And to the families, you are all such very special, loving people.  If our world would live by your example we'd all be in a better place.