If ONLY....

If only I could say what I really wanted to say when I get emails like this from the public!  This is the actual email minus some editing to protect the identity of one of the many whack jobs I get to deal with on a daily basis.   

Erin,

We rec'd the partial refund. I have to tell you... I'm not happy about the20% deduction for the admin fee. The class was NOT what was advertised and accordingly a full refund should be due. The class was advertised as lessons to learn proper stroke form but there was no instruction. The teacher running the class was running two classes at once with a total of about 40 students and spent his time on the deck walking back and forth between his two groups calling out instructions. That is why we withdrew... someone was going to drown. I am requesting a refund of the remaining balance for both the xxx family and ourselves. I don't feel we should have to pay the admin fee when the class was falsely advertised. We spoke with the main guy over there on day 2 and told him this wasn't going to work and nothing was changed which is why we withdrew. Please let me know regarding the balance of the refund.

Thank you-

Here is what I would LOVE to say....

Dear Pain IN MY Neck,

You must be dreaming if you think this email is going to get you the refund that you think you deserve, you were so very lucky that I was able to give you any refund at all based on our refund policy that clearly states that you MUST request a refund at least 5 working days prior to the first day of class and that you initialed indicating you understand the refund policy.  And as far as the way the instructor ran the class there were only 20 kids signed up not 40.  How do you know it was falsely advertised, you did not stick around long enough to see if your lame should be in tiny tots swimmer learned any proper stroke techniques.  And the main guy, does he have a name?  Without a name I cannot research who said you would get a full refund.  Anyways, you are not getting the refund, please do not waste anymore of my time and put the floaties back on your child cause he or she is gonna need them.

Sincerely,

The REFUND REFUSER

Yep, if I said everything I really wanted to say I would no longer be employed, therefore I have yet to respond to this lady's request because currently I have nothing nice to say!  Maybe tomorrow!

You've Got Mail!

The title of this post is an understatement!! I guess it has been awhile since I have ventured down the stairs and around the corner to my mailbox because on Saturday I opened up my mailbox and there was no mail except for a small blue slip of paper that said my mail service had been terminated because my mailbox was out of service.  OUT OF SERVICE??  I guess that is what happens when you do not check your mail for a long time (I am thinking it had been at least two weeks) and the mailman thinks you moved and did not forward your mail.  OOPS!!  So, I tracked Mr. Mailman down Saturday afternoon so he could tell me where the impound lot for junk mail is and how I go about picking it up.  Well, it turned out all I had to do was give him that little blue slip of paper and he said he would bring me my mail on Monday!  This is what he brought me.....

Wasn't that nice of him to bring it in one of those handy dandy boxes!

Look at all of the junk, talk about killing way too many trees!

I just don't like it,.....

this little guy is growing up!!!

Cole lost his first tooth today and he is going to kindergarten in two weeks!  Ahhh, it just seems like yesterday we were waiting anxiously for him to be born. I am not sure if I like all of this growing up stuff!

My tax dollars at work!

It has been a week since crazy man threaten to kill all of the jurors (you might recall the story a few posts ago) from the trail I was serving on as a juror.  Well, because crazy man knows my full name and where I work the OC Sheriff's Department decided it would be best to increase their patrolling of my work place and my home.  I have to say it has been kind of nice!  The first few days the Sargent in RSM would come by office several times a day to check in on me, there was a deputy sitting in the parking lot when I got off work, they have been patrolling my neighborhood more and the other night they did a welfare check (they came to the door) to make sure that I have not seen or heard from crazy man!  It has been great knowing that they really do take threats seriously and that they are there to help you out when needed.  A special shout to the RSM Sheriff's and the Aliso Viejo Sheriff's thanks for everything!

Underwater Weekend!!

I spent Saturday underwater with my two favorite kiddo's Cole and Mari!  Cole and I had fun with Grampy's underwater camera and spent the majority of the day underwater taking video's and pictures of us swimming together and Mari and I spent time together above water (she is not crazy about going underwater, even though she had a smile on her face as she went under).  Here are some pictures and video of our wet weekend!

I stole borrowed Mari's googles so I could take pictures of Cole and I, is it bad to do that to a 2year old?

I cannot believe Cole and I have gone from this to this....

I cannot wait until next summer when baby #3 is here!  Look out little one, Auntie Erin is going to teach you how to swim before you can crawl!!

What is it?

If it is......

Then what is it?

Lol!, get it NOT A BUS (Nada Bus)!! :)

My Civic Duty!

For years now I have dodged the jury duty bullet by very carefully placing my jury duty summons in the garbage can as soon as it comes out of the mailbox.  Some might wonder how I could possibly due something like that, well it is very easy I opened up the mailbox pulled out the summons and threw it away.  Nope, I am not concerned that they are going to have a warrant out for my arrest, there is no way to prove I every received the jury summons in the first place.  Once the government starts sending things certified mail then I will start to worry! 

On day one of jury duty I was picked to be on the jury, yep that is right ladies and gentleman you are friends with juror number 6!! We went through hours of questions and many potential jurors before both parties agreed on the jury.  The trial was about a guy we will call "D" and a girl we will call "E" who were involved in a traffic accident in Huntington Beach on Halloween night.  E had made a left turn in front of D and hit D.  E took full responsibility of the accident and that was a non issue at this point.  D was suing E for $$$ to cover his medical bills, loss wages and pain and suffering.

 At first I kind of felt bad for D because he is young and he was claiming his life was in shambles ever since the accident occurred and that he was unable to work, go to school or have any quality of life.  That was until the moment D opened his mouth and started talking.  Man oh Man was D the biggest loser of losers.  OMG!  Seriously?  I don't even know where to begin with D and and all of his ridiculousness.   To make a long story short D was fired from his job 5 months before the accident, but yet claimed he quit his job a month before the accident so he could go back to school. HELLO retard school starts in August not September, so the whole quitting your job so you could back to school story is a lie.  D claims that he has been in so much pain since the accident that he cannot work, go to school or get out of bed, well again retard you made it to court so you must be able to get out of bed.  D only went to the doctor 6 times since the accident (the accident happened 3 years ago), one would think that if you are in so much pain you would be going to the Doctor more than 6 times in 3 years, I don't think the pain was really that bad!! 

Well, lets just say the rest on the morning on day 2 of jury duty and the trial for D & E did not go very well!  However, things did get real interesting at about 11:00am on day 2.  D was on the witness stand and was completely digging himself a hole that he was never going to get himself out of and his lawyer could see that things were going south very quickly and asked to speak to the judge privately.  The judge agreed and both lawyers and the judge went behind closed doors.  While the judge and both lawyers were back there everyone was asked to remain quiet so that the court recorder could listen through his headset and record their conversation.  Well, the star witness D started to get upset and was talking loudly and causing a scene and the court recorder yelled "STOP" to get everyone to stop talking so that he could concentrate and do his job.  At the same time the OC Sheriff's officer that was in the room went over to D to tell him to knock it off D's dad said in a loud voice "shoot the jurors with the gun". 

"Shoot the jurors with the gun?" what the heck?  I was shocked to hear that statement come out of this man's mouth and could not figure out who he was talking to.  It was crazy, was he telling his son to shoot the jurors with the gun? Seconds later the Judge and lawyers came out and we were told to take a break.  As I was walking out of the courtroom I had a chance to tell this man who was kind of in charge of the courtroom who I will call "R" what was said by D's dad.  A few minutes into our break I was called into the courtroom and I was told that the Judge wanted to speak to me.  The judge asked me what had happened and I told him that I heard D's dad say "shoot the jurors with the gun".  Well, D's dad starting yelling at me telling me that he did not say that.  The judge then asked me if I felt that I could stay for the rest of the trail (it was expected to last 7 days) and I said that I was not sure if I could stay.  I was so scared that D's dad was going to come after me on my way to the bathroom or parking lot and seriously hurt me.  The Judge then thanked me for my service and sent me home.  The judge did understand my safety concerns and had a deputy walk me to my car.  On the way to get my parking ticket validated both the deputy and myself heard through her radio that more deputies were needed on the 6th floor, the 6th floor was where I had just come from.  The deputy and I continued down to the 1st floor and we were standing at the security counter, as I was standing there I turned around and all of a sudden D's dad was right in front of me.  It was crazy, I thought he was going to come after me but he walked out the front door and did not cause a scene.   Later on I found out that after I had left the and the jurors all returned from their break D's dad went off on the them yelling, screaming and cussing them out.  At that point the Judge declared a mistrial and the case was dismissed and everyone went home. 

I went home and was really shaken up, it was so crazy to have some random guy threaten to kill you for no reason at all.  I went back to work today and had to report the incident to the Sheriff's Department in RSM because this crazy man knows where I work and what my name is.  So for the next week I will have the Sheriff's department checking in on me throughout the day at work, waiting for me in the parking lot when I leave work and they will be patrolling my neighborhood more to make sure this crazy man is not lurking around waiting for me to come out and attack me.  I have to say this is one of the perks of being a city employee, it seems that we get better care than the average citizen, that is fine by me since I live alone and if you google my name my address pops up at the top of the page. 

This is the short version of this week's events, I am emotionally drained and I would of never thought this would of happened to me.  I hope and pray this is the closest I ever get to any violence and that it will never happen again.  Part of me is thinking that the next time I get called to jury duty I will go back to my old filing system and throw it away as soon as it comes in the mail! 

The bright side of the day was I got to spend my afternoon teaching swim lessons, playing and laughing with my friends the McCray's.  I so look forward to seeing them on swim lesson days and Brayden is just so cute!!!

Look Mom, I am doing my big arms!!

Say it ain't so!

After a few months of blogging I am very happy with the way my blog has turned out, I never knew that I would have so much to say and never realized how many things happen in day to day life.  I have wanted to start some kind of regular posts, kind of like "Wordless Wednesday's" or "This Moment" like I have seen on other blogs.  However, I never felt like those type of posts were right for me, so I have decided to start a "Say it ain't so" post, it won't be a weekly post, but it will come about when something out of the ordinary or something that does not fit the social "norms" arises and needs to be shared with others!  So brace yourselves, I might not be politically correct or I might post a picture that might be a wee be shocking, who knows, I hope you like it! 

Here is my first "Say it ain't so" entry, this one very mild but I thought it was funny.  If any of you work in Community Services, City Government or with the public in any way you will probably understand this post.  So here it goes....

Yesterday at work I received a phone call from a RSM resident, she introduced herself and said "I saw your name and number in the paper today and it says you are looking for volunteers for the Meals on Wheels program, the 2/5 battalion holiday activities, New Year's Eve planning, etc." and I was like "ok", I had no idea what she was talking about and where the heck did she see my name and number in the newspaper, so I let her ramble continue to talk and the whole time I am thinking "where did she see this?, where did she see this?", so after I broke the news to her that I had nothing to so with the Meals on Wheels program and New Year's Eve planning does not start until October we hung up.  After I hung up with her I decided to play detective and figure out what she was talking about.  Well, lucky for me I did not have to look to far!  It turns out on the second page of the local paper right there under the Mayor's photo was a great article written by the Mayor talking about out all of the great things happening in RSM and there in black and white was my name, phone number and direct extension! AWESOME!! So needless to say I think every resident in RSM who has a teenager that needs to do volunteer hours for one reason or another called me yesterday! AWESOME! Oh well, it made me feel good that the Mayor knows my name and knows what I do! 

So you are all thinking "that's not a bug deal" and it really is not, but, then later on that day one of our contract instructors came in to drop off fliers for his classes that he teaches at the Community Center.  After he left I took a minute to review his fliers and in big bold letters was my name, phone number and email address to contact if anyone had any questions regarding his classes.  Seriously dude, my contact information?  How about putting down yours since you teach the class?  AHHH!  So, lets just say if I am not already busy enough, now my phone is going to be ringing off the hook!  Would it be a bad thing to unplug it? 

It's A.....

Boy or A Girl!!!

I am lucky enough to be an Aunt again, I am so happy for my brother Ryan and sister in law Shannon!  Baby is due February 16th, maybe we will get lucky and have a little sweetheart on Valentine's Day!

MMMMM Mimosa!

I spent yesterday afternoon sitting outside enjoying the sunshine, beach air and one mimosa after another with good friends in San Clemente.  I know mimosa's are traditionally a morning drink but I choose to make them an anytime of  the day drink! 

CHEERS!!

Get This Man A Badge & A Uniform!

So by now if you are a faithful reader (don't worry if you are not, I still love you!) you have figured out that I am not a fan of my homeowners association.  You are probably asking why does she live in one if she hates them so much, well reason #1 I cannot sell my house due to the real estate market and reason #2 every neighborhood in my neck of the woods is run by an association so I am kind of out of luck.  Anyway back to to my post, there is guy who is on the HOA board who I will refer to as "Mr. Jeepman", well Mr. Jeepman is stalking the neighborhood looking for any HOA violations he can find.  When I first noticed his constant patrolling of the neighborhood at all hours of the day I thought he was casing the neighborhood looking for a house to burglarize and I almost called the cops to come check this guy out and figure out what he was doing in the neighborhood.  Well, it was his lucky day when one of my neighbors told me who he was and I did not call the cops.  So, Mr. Jeepman is so obsessed with his role as a HOA board member he spends pretty much all of his waking moments patrolling the neighborhood, now you are probably thinking is that a bad thing?  The answer is YES!  It is like he is stalking everyone just waiting for them to make a mistake, he is bullying all of the neighbors in a passive aggressive way and making his role as HOA board member more official then it really is.   So my response to this is either get yourself a badge & a uniform or go get life.

This is Mr. Jeepman, he spent 30minutes patrolling the pool deck today!  Seriously dude GET A LIFE and leave all of us alone!

Maybe he can get a can of paint and paintbrush and fix the MPH or should I say MHP on street entering the neighborhood (previous post), he only drives past it 67 times a day, he must see it.

Homeowner's Associations at their finest!

About a year ago my homeowner's association decided that it was time to repave the streets throughout my neighborhood.  So after some logistical planning and notifying all of the residents what streets would closed on what days the project began.  Everything went smoothly and they were in and out in a short period off time and I have to say there was not much of a disruption to our daily life (one could hope that would be the case about every project they take on but, we all know the pool story).  So after all was said and done this is a picture of their handy work!!!

Really MHP?  Come on people, how stupid can you be? The old letters are already there all you have to do is paint over them, a preschooler could do better then this!  The person who did this probably the same bright individual who thought it would be a good idea to do  the "necessary" pool repairs during the whole month June.  All I have to say is "wow"!! 

I'm back on the wagon!

After a day of shopping, the horrible lighting in the dressing rooms at Nordstrom's and not liking what I saw, I am happy to report that I am back on the workout wagon.  I am not sure when the working out went downhill and the ice cream eating started but the results are not pretty.  So, I dragged myself to the gym yesterday morning for the first time in a long time (almost had to mapquest how to get there!) and today I am feeling all of the muscles that so badly needed some attention! 

Looks like Gracie wanted to come with me!!  Why does she like my shoes sooooooo much?

It drives me crazy that I have to guard them with my life!

A Sweet Tweet Visit!

On Thursday I ditched work and head down the Newport Coast to visit some old friends (the Tweet's) who were in town for the week.  We all had a really nice time together hanging out at the pool, watching the kids swim and play and having a tasty dinner courtesy of the Huntington's (our friends, not to be confused with the beach).  After an entire and entire afternoon and evening together the only picture I managed to get was a picture of this...

This huge sticker was on my car when I left, thank goodness my car was not towed.  However, I had to drive around with it on my window for two days until I was able to carefully remove it from my window, unlike the McCrazy's, they were not so lucky, they had two stickers to remove, one on each of their cars.  I contribute the ease of the sticker removal from my car to all of the dirt that my windows are covered in.

The McCrazy's sticker removal did not go as well as mine, I guess that is what you get for having clean windows!!