Wednesday, March 21, 2012

4 weeks, 3 people, 2 hours and $50...

My day job used to be in customer service..  I worked in a local hospital taking phone calls from the public and making appointments for everything from a mammogram to a blood draw to an xray to surgery...  it required a lot of customer service...  The goal was to make the customer happy, whether that customer was the public, the hospital department or the physician...It was hard work and I loved it.

We live out here in the middle of freakin nowhere...our only option for internet service is satellite... or dial up...  The satellite is ok most of the time...it's not the fastest and there are limits on downloading and uploading...   Four weeks ago, we realized that our satellite company was offering four new packages with faster speeds and higher downloads (or uploads or whatever loads)...  I called to get us set up...

No problems...I get the package I want at the speed I want at the price I want... Too good to be true, right?  Yea...
Their computer gets an error..
I'm told to call back in 72 hours.. to reorder
I call back..
Their computer is updating..
I'm told to call back in 72 hours...to reorder..
I call back..
I get the package I want at the speed I want at the price I want...
Their computer gets an error..
I'm told to call back in 72 hours...
I call back...
Computer error on their part...
Can I call back "MOUNTAIN TIME"...  um...why can't I call back in MY TIME???  No response...
I call back in two hours as mountain time is two hours different than central time. (that's really all I can figure out to do as silly as it sounds)
Computer is still in error mode...
Please call back in 72 hours...
This continued until last Wednesday when I was told that the package I wanted was no longer available...as of the day before...  EXCUSE ME!!  After 1 hour I was told that she would "manually add the order" and we would receive a call within 72 hours to schedule the installation day...

Will it surprise you to find out there was no call?  I didn't think so..

Today I finally talked to a supervisor...I didn't get the package I wanted...I didn't get the price I wanted...but I did get an installation date and $50 for "my troubles"... That's not nearly enough...but it's over...

So I went back to the sewing room...

I have been on quite the kick lately...something started me making these cute little skirts for the grandkids...   While at retreat at the beginning of March we visited the local quilt shop.  One of the ladies was holding a couple of jelly rolls and I asked her what she was planning to do with them..(as if we need a plan!LOL)  She started telling me how she makes her girls the cutest skirts and explained the whole thing to me... I fell in love and immediately grabbed two jelly rolls...


This is the first one I made.  I sewed enough strips together to measure one and a half times her waist measurement.  It wasn't quite full enough...but Abbie wears it..




This one is close to 3 times her waist measurement...  and much fuller..


and I got tired of sewing all those strips together and made these for Abbie...

And these are for Ava... 

I don't have photos of all the skirts...  I made a total of four for Ava and four for Abbie and somehow I ended up making one for Abbie's mothers boss's daughter..(did you get that?)

So then I got brave and bought a pattern for shorts!


 Epic fail!  They are way too long...the crouch is way too long.and bunches all up..very unflattering even on a 6 year old....and when I had Ava try them on she said "Grandma, this was supposed to be a skirt!".. well, that's the last pair of shorts I make...Apparently the girls would rather have skirts...and they are so much easier to make and fit...

So let's change things around and make something different...

A friend will tell you that this is a lot of pins for me to use!!

What's wrong with this picture?  Look carefully at the ruffle at the top of the photo... Yep..I sewed it on wrong side out. And of course I finished the edge and trimmed it so I spent another 1/2 hour unpicking the whole dang thing... Will revisit this one next week...
The next two days I will be granddaughter watching...our four year old has shingles of all things...she is miserable and isn't sleeping and it hurts and she can't go back to school for two weeks...  wish me luck tomorrow..and Friday...  I think I'll take the iPad and let her download the cupcake game...lol

And I finished my two blocks for our RedBird Bee...



These are for you, Tess.  They look wonky, but it's just the photographer...

Thanks for hanging in with me until the end... 

Nancy

11 comments:

Osage Bluff Quilter said...

Oh the poor little girl! I though only old people got them. Wait my 33 year old son had them.
I remember the governor making a promise for everyone to have high speed internet. What happened to that plan???
Happy sewing.

Quiet Quilter said...

Shingles are making a comeback,,,if it ever went away...it really can be miserable.

We are sort of out in the boonies also...imagine a U-shaped road and we are at the bottom of the U...the sides have DSL (2 ranches), but we don't, and won't in the foreseeable future....satellite only..
no Skype and seeing grandchildren...

Splendorfalls said...

Oh my gosh - that's crazy about the cable! Whoa!
Cute stuff you are sewing up!!

Tangos Treasures said...

Wow you have been busy! Ekkkk on the cable??? That's just wrong??!!!

Annie said...

You've been a busy bee!

Deanna said...

Those skirts are really cute.

I feel so bad for your grand. Shingles are miserable - and she is so young! I had them when I was 13, when I was 35, and unbelievably am suffering through them again now. Why is it so many people are getting shingles these days? Hope she gets feeling better very, very soon!

Oh and I would be sooooo upset about the internet fiasco.

Pat said...

Oh, gosh...I had no idea little ones could get shingles......how sad for her! The skirts are cute. What the heck is wrong with those folks who provide your internet?? Geesh......

KellyS said...

Sounds like Charter, but you said Satellite, so I guess not. LOL Those skirts are adorable. I need to get back into sewing for my little girl. I bought plain onesies to add a cute applique on, and she will outgrow them before I make them! Maybe this weekend... but oh, I need to get those Redbird bee blocks done too....

Roselie said...

I didn't know children could get shingles. Poor little girl. Hope she is feeling better.

The skirts are so cute. Stupid question, but how did you determine how much elastic you need in the waist? Oh one more thing, the skirts that are not in strips, are those 3 times the waist size, too? Can you tell I am not a garment sewer?

Roselie said...

I didn't know children could get shingles. Poor little girl. Hope she is feeling better.

The skirts are so cute. Stupid question, but how did you determine how much elastic you need in the waist? Oh one more thing, the skirts that are not in strips, are those 3 times the waist size, too? Can you tell I am not a garment sewer?

Jean said...

So sorry that your grand has shingles! Hope she is doing better now. I thought only "older" people could get shingles and that it only manifested itself as chicken pox in kids? Learn something new every day.
Aurgh... no internet? What a mess!
Hope that it's all worked out now.
Jean djcogdill@q.com