This, folks, is why you buy name-brand stuff!!

For those of you who don't know, I bought a Cuisinart Grind & Brew coffeemaker off Woot.com a while back. I absolutely love this coffeemaker, as it allows me to have regular or decaf coffee whenever the mood strikes me.

However, somehow I got a little tiny stone amongst my coffee beans one morning, and when I cleaned out the grinder, I noticed the plastic was all chipped up, as well as the blade.

I emailed Cuisinart from their webpage to ask how I could purchase another part and how much it would be. I never got a response back, and honestly I totally forgot about it.

Until just now, when UPS showed up on my doorstep with a package from Conair. Knowing that Conair is primarily a haircare company, I was trying to think of whether my sister had sent me some new cool hair styling product to try out.

I opened the box, and lo and behold was a new grinder/filter part for my coffeemaker!!! Free!!! No charge!! Not even for shipping!!!! Not only that, the reason I needed a new one was of my own doing; it wasn't Cuisinart's fault that I got a tiny stone in my coffee beans.

I am absolutely floored. So I highly recommend Cuisinart to ANYONE wanting a coffeemaker!!!

Oh my God. Stop the world, I want to get off!!!!!

Whew! What a week!

So if you've missed me, I'm not dead. Simply way too busy for words. And mostly of my own creating, too.

Friday I went shopping all day with my friend and her kids to get ready for school. It worked out -- Grace got a new highchair that works wonders for keeping her entertained while I'm cooking or eating my meal, I was able to visit the new Old Navy here in the area, and I got lots of stuff for really cheap at JC Penney's. I'm kind of irritated at Old Navy; they have really awesome maternity shirts that I practically lived in when I was pregnant, but I had to go all the way to Oregon to get them. Now the new Old Navy here has a lovely maternity section, and it's only a half hour drive from my house!!!

Saturday I went shopping all day with another friend. She wanted to go to Costco, then we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant where I had the BEST lo mein that I've had since I left Virginia, we stopping in at a thrift store, and finally ended up at Target. We were gone from 10:30am to 5pm!!! Both days Grace got NO nap... poor girl. Then Saturday another friend of mine, the lovely HC, came up to visit me and have Movie Night!!!!

Sunday I spent all day cleaning in preparation for the visit of my mom's friend from college, A. A finally arrived at my home at 5pm after accidentally taking the wrong ferry. We went out for dinner, I got Grace to bed, and then we sat up talking about EVERYTHING till 12:30am. It was quite lovely!!! It's so nice to talk to someone who shares your political beliefs. My county is supposedly predominately Democrat, but I have no clue where all the Democrats are hiding. Most folks I know are die-hard Republicans and huge supporters of both Bush and the war in Iraq. So if I start voicing my opinion on both matters, I get some really odd looks.

The next morning we got up and went downtown to look at all the cute touristy shops and meander around the marina. I went into TWO bookstores, one new and one used, and didn't buy a single book!! But A had given me several paperbacks for me to read, so that was probably why I managed not to buy a new book.

Hey, I'm a bookworm. Isn't everyone?! :o)

Then yesterday I had to take Grace to the dermatologist, only to be told YET AGAIN that her birthmark was fine and that I should just keep an eye on it. I swear, it's a waste of my time and energy (and gasoline, damn them!!!) to go all the way down to their offices only to be told that Grace's birthmark is just fine. I could have told them that!! Since it's on her left hip, I look at it each and every time I change her diaper, so I'm looking at it at least five times a day!!! I would know if it's changed any! The doctor measured and said that it grew a little bit, but it's keeping pace with HER growth. Besides, Kurt's got the same birthmark and has had no problems with it for the last 31 years, which makes me think that it will be just fine on Grace as well.

But the dermatologist wants to see Gracie back in a year. The receptionist asked me at the desk what time of day would be best for me next August. How the heck am I supposed to know Grace's schedule a year in advance?! I don't even know if her schedule will change next week, let alone next year!!!

Freaks.

The upshot of all this is that I AM NOT GOING ANYWHERE TODAY. I wish I didn't have to spend tomorrow doing laundry and packing, but it's off to the extremely hot state of Arizona for me on Friday. This is my last day to relax till I get to Tucson. My in-laws assure me that I won't have anything to do because they'll take care of Gracie, so it will be nice to have a break. I do hope they let me do some stuff. I enjoy taking care of her!

Not to change the subject, but....

WARNING: Political themes ahead. If you are pro-Bush and pro-war, you may not want to finish reading. Thank you.

So for the folks that are all gung-ho about this war and using September 11th as their rallying cry... What the HELL does September 11th have to do with Iraq?? We did not invade Iraq as revenge for September 11th. If you paying any attention at all in the spring of 2003, it was because President Bush assured us that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. So please do not use September 11th as justification as to why we're in Iraq. One had not a damn thing to do with the other. If you want revenge for the attacks on September 11th (and who doesn't?), then please look to the troops in Afghanistan. That's where Al Qaeda is, and that's where Osama bin Laden is. NOT in Iraq.

And if we want to start wars because a country has weapons of mass destruction, why don't we go after North Korea?? Apparently Kim Il Jong is testing nuclear weapons. So let's go in and depose him, like we did with Saddam Hussein, because he's not a very nice guy either.

But wait. Korea doesn't have oil. I guess we don't care about Korea.

If we're trying to bring democracy to other nations, why don't we go in and get rid of Castro? He's one of the last strongholds of Communism, and he's sitting just 90 miles off the coast of Florida. Why don't we get rid of him and bring democracy to the Cuban people??

Oh yeah. Cuba doesn't have oil either. I guess we'll just have to leave Castro in power.

If anyone can tell me exactly why we're in Iraq, seeing as Saddam did not have weapons of mass destruction, which is the reason President Bush gave when he was trying to convince the United Nations to help us out, and because Iraq had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks of September 11th, I would appreciate it. But I firmly believe that the war in Iraq is simply a diversionary tactic since we were doing so poorly in Afghanistan, and Bush needed to whip up some public sentiment. Remember the Taliban? We ousted them. Now what? Do you ever hear about Afghanistan on the news anymore?? Not unless we lose another soldier over there. Isn't that odd, though? Aren't we trying to get justice for those we lost on September 11th? Somehow people have equated September 11th with the war in Iraq. I don't know how we got there, but it's just not true.