Movie Madness Rant

I've been with Blockbuster for the last eight years.  Back in the old days when I was single, living alone in a studio and broke watching movies was the highlight of my week.  Who am I kidding.  It was one of the highlights of my life.  Between in store exchanges and movies by mail I was watching a new movie almost every day and spending a lot less money then it would cost me to rent them individually.  I still remember the day I walked in and found that the supply of VHS tapes was very limited that the movie selections had dwindled.  I was forced to upgrade to a DVD player.

Mj and I both love to watch movies.  When I met him he had a Blockbuster online account too so he cancelled his and we kept mine.  It was fun to still have the option to rent movies the old school way by going to the actual store and picking it out.  We still had the mail movies and there were no due dates so it was all very convenient and cost effective. 

Over the last year the store nearest to my house finally shut down.  It was one of the last to go.  It's a sign of the times and I accepted it and as long as I could still get new release movies conveniently, and I was but apparently those days are over.  The service at Blockbuster pretty much sucks right now.  I've had House at the End of the Street at the top of my queue for months.  It's on Very Long Wait along with everything else we want to see so they keep sending me filler crap from the bottom of my queue.  Everything at the top is either very long wait, long wait or short wait so we're hardly getting any movies that we really want to see.  I don't want to buy it on demand or go to Red Box just so I can finally see the darn movie when I'm paying for a service that's supposed to send it to me.  The turnaround time on receiving movies is excellent; the problem is that I'm not getting the ones I want.

They have some on demand service for TV, tablets, computers or phone that I could look into.  Netflix may be a viable option.  I don't know how their wait list situation is but I think they are more expensive.  They are $7.99 per month with $2 extra per month if I want Blu Ray and that's only for 1 movie out at at a time per month.  I can't even find a price list for any other options.  We already have Netflix streaming but most of the movies are pretty old.  I don't want to do Red Box because I've been spoiled and haven't had a due date on rentals in years and I don't want to start now.  It just feels like a hassle to actually have to drive somewhere to pick it up and bring it back at a certain time.  I have a hard enough time just getting my mail movies out to my mailbox.  I definitely don't want to get movie channels because our cable bill is high enough and they show the same movies over and over.  We DVR what we want during the free weekends.  We could get rid of Blockbuster and just order movies On Demand but at $4.99 per movie Blockbuster is a much better bargain at $18 monthly for 3 movies out at a time unlimited.  When it works.  

I have no idea why Blockbuster won't increase their inventory so that they can meet customer demand.  That's the obvious solution right?  Unless they don't want to spend the money or just don't care.  When I tried to send them an e mail to complain I couldn't even get the darn thing to send.  I just kept getting a stupid circle going round and round saying submitting when that clearly wasn't happening.  So I can't get the movies I want OR complain about it? Sigh.  What's a movie loving girl to do?  Complain here on her blog that's what.  Maybe they will find this post and call me up to offer free service for life with preferential movie access to win back my love.  Not likely, but at least I get to vent.  So that is my rant for the day.  If anyone has any suggestions on how to rectify this problem I'm all ears.

May Update:  I contacted them on twitter a few days after this post was written.  They got  back to me right away which was nice.  They could not get me House at the End of the Street but did give me a one month credit on my account and I very much appreciated it.  However, the problem remains.  We are still only getting movies at the bottom of our list.  Last week my husband signed up for a Netflix free trial.  I put House at the End of the Street at the top and we got it immediately.  I could not get Blockbuster to send me that movie since it got released in January.  That's a long time to have wait for a movie.  Looks like we will be switching.  I don't know why, but I'm sad about it.  I've been with them for so long.  They were the first ones doing this movies in the mail thing so I don't understand why they can't figure this out.  If they can't increase movie availability to serve their customers better I won't be the only one leaving.


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The Horrible Wedding Cake Mistake

                                Exhibit A-The cake we asked for                                          

Exhibit B-The cake that was delivered

It was only a matter of time before I got to the Horrible Cake Mistake of my wedding.  I wanted to get to all of the good stuff first because that is what's most important but the glaring cake debacle unfortunately will always be some part of our wedding no matter how hard I try to forget it.  That night there was so much going on and I was having so much fun that once I realized that my cake was an impostor I had to shrug it off and get on with it.  I refused to let it ruin my night.  That's probably why I felt sadder about my cake the Monday after when we turned in our cake stands then I did the night of.  I had finally allowed myself to get upset about it. 

We told them that our cake was the wrong color and that we wanted to know what happened.  The girl at the counter went and got our paperwork and told us that the baker wrote down "Black and Silver stripes."  SILVER?  Where in the hell did they get silver when at no time did the word Silver ever cross my lips when discussing my cake.  The colors of our wedding are Pink and Black and that's the color that our cake was supposed to be.  We had our original sit down and discussed cakes with Pink, Black and White designs.  We continued to shop around and when we finally decided to book the cake with this bakery I did it over the phone.  I e mailed them a picture of how we wanted the cake to look-see Exhibit A above.  I told him over the phone we wanted a Pink cake with Pink and Black stripes.  How much clearer can you get then that?

Not only do I feel badly that my cake was the wrong color I also feel badly that I didn't prevent it from happening.  They are a reputable company and I e mailed them a picture but if I had asked them to confirm the colors when I made the final payment then chances are this would not have happened.  Shame on me for thinking they would get it right instead of pulling some random color out of their ass [I don't cuss unless at rare times I really feel the situation warrants it and this clearly does].

The man we booked the cake with was not in the day we went in.  To their credit someone was kind enough to get back to us right away.  I explained the situation and the person who I booked the cake with did call me back about an hour later.  He tried to tell me I signed off on it and I explained that I did not.  The cake was booked over the phone.  I e mailed him the picture again and he said that on his monitor the stripes above and below the black look silver to him.  This shocked  me because at no time did I EVER look at that obviously PINK & BLACK cake in exhibit A and think that there was any Silver in it at all.  I know that colors on computers can vary so I'm not even going to get too upset about the fact that you could barely even tell the darn cake we got was pink because they made it so light but C'MON!  Even if the reflecting of the light off of the picture gives the illusion of very light Silver stripes on that example cake it still looks way different then the cake that was actually delivered to us.  HELLO!  BIG DIFFERENCE!!!  The stripes on the cake we got are DARK GREY not a subtle light silver and it looks way different then the picture we sent.  Can you tell I am angry?  Well I am and I think I have every right to be.  I didn't spend freakin' $425.00 on a cake for this company to get it wrong.  We did two other tastings and came back to them.  The most expensive of them all-because Mj preferred their flavors-and they turn out to be the bakery that screws it up.

In conversations with both representatives from the company they did allude to the possibility of offering us a store credit-NO THANK YOU-or a partial refund.  They did not admit to any wrong doing.  He claims that he thought we confirmed Silver and that there does appears to be Silver in the cake stripes-but that he is sorry that we didn't get what we wanted.  There isn't a refund big enough to make up for this error but there isn't really anything else that anyone can do.  The question is how much?  Obviously, we got a cake and fed our guests with it-as if we had any other choice-so I doubt they will give us a full refund.  Even though I don't think that would be too much to ask for.  I believe that this error is so egregious that even though I think 30% is somewhat reasonable I am going to ask for 60% and hope they agree to 50%.  I know it will pass but right now every time I look at the beautiful picture of what our cake should have looked like I get angry and that is a bummer.  I hate it that this cake thing is always going to be THERE as the one negative about our wedding day.

Continued......Cake Closure

RSVP Angst

I have to admit I am feeling pretty outdone by this whole RSVP process right now. It was so delightful when the first batch started rolling in.  It made it real that we were actually having a wedding.  We had guests!!  But now it's become a source of angst.  A couple weeks ago I came home and saw that someone RSVP’d for 4 when I sent the invitation out clearly indicating two names. They decided they wanted to bring their 12 year old daughter and someone else. I don’t even know who that someone else is because they didn’t write in the name to inform me who was coming to my party.   I’m not sure why someone would assume they can bring whoever they want.  

Any party cost money and people invite not only who they want to be there but also who they can afford to be there. Not to mention space limitations.  Imagine if everyone just brought even one more person to a Bar B Q without telling the host? Then imagine it’s a wedding where the cost per person is counted and a lot higher then any other party you will ever throw in your life.

I don’t see anyone offering to pay for additional guests. Even if they did the answer would be no.  If your name was written on the invitation come and if not don’t come.  If you feel you must bring an additional guest please ask.  End of story.   Some have weddings where they invite everyone to the ceremony and then exclude a bunch for the Reception. The ceremony is really what its all about but the reception is where the money is. I'd feel totally uncomfortable doing this because it just seems so exclusive and those not invited must feel a bit like a B list D list celebrity who couldn’t get into the VIP party. Way harsh.  I couldn’t do it but I understand the concept and those that do. The bottom line is that weddings are not cheap and sometimes you have to make those kinds of tough decisions.

Since it is her friend I am enlisting mom to inform the 2 invited/4 RSVP group that there is only room at the Inn for 2. When I got an RSVP from my cousin, husband, and little girl I was like uh, oh.  This is gonna be awkward.  Mj and I for the most part invited friends/family + their significant other if they had one but decided on no children. This is partly for budget reasons. When you count up all the potential kids it adds up and we didn’t want to open the flood gates on that. Our reception is preceded by a cocktail hour. To me that means screams adult party and chances are that a child won’t appreciate or enjoy it so it doesn't make sense to pay to have them attend.  Even if we could afford it.  The ceremony starts at 4:00pm, dinner doesn’t start until 6 ish and people aren’t likely going to hit the dance floor until around 8:00pm. It takes about 4 hours just to make it through ceremony, dinner and cake.  It’s a long time for a kid and it’s a party. With alcohol. There will probably be drunken people there at some point. I just don’t see why anyone would plan on bringing a child but then again I don’t have children myself so perhaps I just don’t understand. Anyhow, very politely I sent her a message that we had decided no children would be at the reception and she promptly responded that her and her husband would only be able to attend the ceremony then. I love my cousin. She is the sweetest and most wonderful girl and I want her to be there. I am not here to be mean and create hard feelings among family so I took the higher road and told her that if she didn’t feel comfortable leaving her daughter with someone then it would be OK to bring her and meant it.

Looking down to next year and years to come she is always going to be my cousin and this is just one day. It’s just not worth it to me to take a hard line like that and risk hurt feelings. When it comes down to it it’s really not going to matter that much. Even so I am annoyed because it IS just one day. My day and it kind of bums me out that I can’t make a decision and have that be respected by others. I don’t enjoy being in this position one bit. It bothers me that I have to play guest police and that I feel like the bad guy here when in reality I am just trying to have the kind of atmosphere that I want and keep it in the price range that I need.

It's probably not over yet.  As it gets closer I will inevitably have to track people down to get them to reply at all or be irritated by those rude enough to say they will come and then not show up or not RSVP and be right there as if they did. Sigh. Whatever. That’s really all I can say for right now. I can’t let it get to me. This is supposed to be fun and it’s about family and good things so I won't let these petty little issues get me down for too long.

Mean People Suck

I was so determined to skip the whole angry and irritated phase and not allow myself to waste any energy on being upset. Bad things happen. They just do. There is nothing you can do about it so keep moving forward and don't let it get to you right? But after a day of looking at the two ugly rows of deep grooves that run along the driver side of my new car hitting three different panels I finally got angry. I last saw my car on Saturday so it happened sometime between Saturday night and Monday morning. Although I didn't notice it until I walked out to my car on Monday after work, I am pretty sure it happened at home during that time. It is obvious that it was an intentional act. Someone literally walked along the side of my car with a key or some other sharp object and dug it along the side for probably no good reason at all. I have no enemies that I am aware of. Why would someone do that? And now I am left with another expense that I don't really have the money let alone the time to spend on fixing it.

Yesterday was just one of those days. It started off fine. I did a bit of going back and forth with some different wedding location people. They are all booked for Saturday viewings until next year and the only other time to go is when I am at work. I don't want to miss out on available dates for the other locations but don't want to make a decision until we explore these other options. I already know that once the holidays are over all kinds of brides to be are going to come out of the wood works and start booking dates during the ever popular July.

I got a call from Chrysler demanding their $425 dollars that unbeknownst to me is apparently 14 days past due. When I turned in my lease I was never asked for money but it's in very tiny tiny print in my four foot long lease agreement so I should have insisted on site that the woman who collected my car take my money even though she didn't ask or tell me it was due immediately. I assumed I should wait until I get an invoice. I went to pick up my two prescriptions after a long day of work and find that only one had been approved so now I have to e mail my doctor and hopefully go back again and pick it up between today and Friday. I have some packages I need to mail but with the holidays I am not sure I can fit it in on lunch and by the time I get off work it's too late.

Just a bunch of little irritations and frustrations on top of the car vandalism and by the time I got home I was just really tired and upset. That much hated out of control feeling that there are things to do and no time to do it and that recurring stress about money got the best of me. But this time instead of an empty house and being left alone with my sad thoughts I had Mj to greet me at the door. He wraps his arms around me and tells me that everything is going to be OK and because he is there I know that it is. He reminds me that I don't have to handle everything on my own anymore and that he is there to help.

So, I tried to skip the whole getting upset about the fact that some mean person who sucks decided to vandalize my property but instead had a delayed reaction and got upset the day after. I have had my little meltdown moment so now I am OK. I will deal with the car damage next year. Mj has so kindly offered to go view the 3 military base wedding locations today so that we can make a final decision. He is also going to take care of mailing my packages.

Moving on.

Have You Seen My Bread?

Have you seen my bread?

Don't you hate it when stores suddenly, inexplicably, and without warning stop carrying a product or brand that you have grown accustomed to. They put it in the store, they make you love it, then they take it away! How cruel.

I am a carb fiend and sliced bread is very important to me due to my morning PBJ habit. I loved the Delightful Sara Lee bread because it has a decent whole grain and fiber content all for only 45 cal's a slice. What I don't love is the price. I was buying it for a while regardless, but when it got up to $3.99 (although I can get it for a little less at Walmart-if I am in the mood to deal with that madness) it became ridiculous and so I needed to find another option. Enter Nature's Own wheat bread. It showed up right on time smack dab in the middle of my bread dilemma. Only $2.19 with similar nutritional values as Sara Lee for only 5 calories more. It even had a few more slices per loaf. I found it at my usual grocery store and I could even get it at Walmart if I happened to be doing some shopping there. Problem solved!

Until I was at Walmart a couple of weeks ago and they didn't have it. "Darn it, now I have to stop by the grocery store too." And to my dismay, they didn't have it either. So, there I am still searching the bread aisle as if it will somehow magically appear out of thin air just because I want it to. When that doesn't happen I start examining each and every brand to find an alternative because I refuse to pay Sara Lee prices. I eventually settle on Orowheat "Soft Family." Yep, that's what it's called and the bread certainly lives up to that name. At 65 cal's per slice is the lowest I could find and it has a reasonable fiber content. The price isn't as good as Nature's Own but it will have to do. I supposed I could try other grocery stores but grocery shopping is such a huge inconvenience to me even when it's close so I am not about to go out of my way to other stores even for my coveted bread. You can bet that every time I go to the store I will be looking for it in case it makes a comeback though.

Am I being cheap? Maybe, but I have always been big on bargain shopping and coupon clipping not only in the grocery stores but in the shopping malls too. Am I obsessing too much over the calorie count of my bread? Probably!! As far as I'm concerned on both fronts it all adds up and every little bit counts.