So get out of the house I did.
But before I did, apparently it was required that I argue with Sprint beforehand. See, I have had a Sprint cell phone since 2001, and Kurt's had one for probably ten years now.
Side note: You should have seen the cell phone he had when we got together in 2000! The damn thing was a brick! It's amazing how small they've gotten in recent years.
With Sprint, you either love 'em or you hate 'em. I wouldn't say I love them, but I've had nothing bad to say about them thus far.
About a month ago, I noticed that my phone was active on the internet when I picked it up. A little munchkin who shall remain nameless had decided to play with the buttons on my cell phone, which caused it to access the internet. I don't have a data plan on my phone, so I am charged for every kilobyte I download. I freaked out a bit, wondering if my bill was going to be a zillion dollars when I got it, so I called Sprint immediately.
The Sprint rep very kindly refunded the $1.76 or so I had run up in internet charges (I didn't realize it was that little), and I also asked for a block to be put on my phone so that a certain little munchkin could not engender a repeat performance.
I thought nothing of it.
Then I kept bugging my sister to buy me a ringer. I like that she picks out random ringers for me to use for when she calls me, and she doesn't mind buying me such a small gift. So she goes onto Sprint.com, looks through the ringers, and picks one out.
It won't go through.
I finally figured out that it was because I had an internet block on my phone, so I had that taken off. This morning my sister attempts yet again to send me a ringer. Again she's rebuffed.
Finally I got a hold of Sprint and asked them Whiskey Tango Foxtrot???
(D'ya know, my parents used to say that every once in a while, and until I was in my 20s it went completely over my head???)
After speaking with one rep who just wanted to give me a free month of their data plan, which is $15 a month afterwards, and who didn't understand why this wouldn't solve my problem in the long run, I finally got switched over to a real tech support guy.
This guy had a pretty thick southern accent. I'm guessing Al'bama or Miss'ippi; either way, it really brought out my latent accent. That, and I was getting pretty hot under the collar. No one was giving me a decent reason why I could receive ringers as gifts from my sister in December, but not now.
What it boiled down to is in order for a Sprint customer to give someone a ringer, the recipient must have a data plan. There is no way around it. I can buy myself a ringer and download it by just paying the per-kilobyte fee, but my sister cannot be charged for it.
That makes no sense whatsoever, but there you have it.
I was so upset by this turn of events my southern accent didn't go away for a couple of hours.
Grrrrr.
Off Gracie and I went to Walmart!! It was the weirdest kind of weather today. It couldn't make up its mind whether it wanted to rain or be sunny, so it alternated between the two or did both at once. And it wasn't normal Seattle rain; it was actual drenching rain. Normal Seattle rain is just a mist that won't get you wet unless you're out in it for an extended time.
At Walmart we just wandered around, looking for various things. I finally remembered to get business-sized envelopes; I am so proud of myself. I also checked out the clock radios to see if I could get something newer and/or better and/or smaller than my current alarm. What I don't get is why in the world do manufacturers still make clock radios with a tuning dial?? Why not make it digital?? Everything else is digital, for crying out loud.
I hate analog dials. You never can get the radio station spot on.
Then I went to Payless to get Gracie a couple more pairs of shoes. All her shoes are a size 7, which is too small, according to two different shoe salesladies who measured Grace a couple weeks ago. But a size 8, and even the 7½ size, is just a tad bit too big. Go figure.
I was about to go home when I realized I wanted to look for some more training pants for Grace. I had found these ones that have a waterproof outside in Babies R Us months and months ago, but the nearest one to me is in Tacoma, an hour south. I decided to try Toys R Us.
I didn't find the training pants, but I did find two sets of jammies and two outfits (one of them very similar to Eliza's birthday present) on massive discount. They were already on clearance, and then they were 50% off that. So I paid $3 for one outfit, $5 for another, and so on. We also got some big-girl panties with Elmo all over them. Grace was all about wearing them, but wet through them quite quickly when she was wearing them this afternoon.
Oh well. She'll figure it out eventually.
Or my washer will die from overuse.
But hey, if my washer dies, then I'll have to get a new one! YAY!!!
I am such a housewife. A new washer/dryer (because you can't buy one without the other... well, you can, but then they wouldn't match!), a new fridge, a new dishwasher... these all excite me.
What a nerd.
So now I am home again, and while I am fighting the blues a bit still, it seems a bit better.
*crosses fingers*