Category: Neighborhood

The case of the missing packages

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Our mail carrier is currently on my shit list. Not for a mistake he may have made, either, but for his attitude.

Saturday, after checking our mail and not receiving two packages I was expecting, I logged onto the USPS website to check their status. Sure enough, both of them showed being delivered that day. Since the packages weren’t in our box, I checked between the doors just in case even though I knew they were small enough to be left in our box.

Today we checked the mail again in the hopes that our mail carrier accidentally put them in the wrong box. Since we’re in a townhome, there is one large box that is divided into sections for several units. The mail carrier opens the entire box from one side where he has access to all the slots and each resident has access via a key to their individual box on the opposite side. So it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that our packages were mistakenly put in the wrong slot, especially considering the fact we got one of our neighbor’s pieces of mail today.

We went to the post office to ask whether our carrier could check all the boxes tomorrow just in case. The woman who waited on us disappeared in back for a bit and then came out with our letter carrier. We calmly explained to him about the missing packages and what we suspect may have happened. He got defensive and insisted there was no way he put them in the wrong bin (because I guess people don’t make mistakes?) even after we showed him our neighbors mail that was in our box today. Then he kept talking about how he knows everyone by name (what does that have to do with anything?) and saying how he would have noticed putting it into the box for our next door neighbor.

We couldn’t understand why he kept talking about the box above ours (one of our neighbors’) when there is also a box below and to the side of ours. Is it not possible he could have put them in one of those boxes instead? Joe asked about the other boxes and the carrier replied “are you being sarcastic?” It was like he just wanted to start an argument.

Finally, getting nowhere with this guy, I asked if he could just double-check the other boxes tomorrow. He claimed he was going to go check it “right now”, but we had errands to run so I don’t know if he did. We checked our box when we got home and just as I feared, it was still empty.

I don’t know what that guy’s deal is. We’re not trying to get him in trouble; we just want our stuff. I even told the lady after he disappeared in the back that I understand mistakes happen. But come on, stop being so defensive! I never insist I know I did something because I’m not perfect. Usually if someone thinks I made a mistake and I don’t think I did, I will say “I could have sworn I didn’t do that” but I will also investigate. We do get our neighbors’ mail from time to time so our letter carrier isn’t perfect and I’m more offended by his attitude than the possibility that he made a mistake.

It is really frustrating since the packages contain Christmas presents. There are three CDs in one package and a PC game in the other. All but one of them is the girl’s.

I’m waiting until tomorrow to check our box once more in case they mysteriously show up. I will also ask both our next door neighbors whether they’ve checked their mail recently. The one neighbor is constantly sending and receiving packages so perhaps he got them by mistake and hasn’t even realized it yet. Contrary to what our mail carrier implied, I don’t think any of our neighbors would be intentionally hanging onto something that doesn’t belong to them, but if he put it in box of a person who is out of town, they wouldn’t have any idea about it.

If all else fails, I guess I will have to contact Amazon.com to file a claim. In the meantime the girl is out some presents. Merry Christmas!

Outlet stores = blah

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One of our local towns participated in a statewide kite fly this afternoon and we watched from the warmth of the car since it wasn’t terribly Spring-like out. The wind was gusty which made for some challenging maneuvers by the kite flyers. There is something relaxing about watching people fly their kites, so I’m looking forward to next month when our own town will have their own kite day. Maybe we’ll actually break out the kites we bought a few years back at Target (and never opened) and participate too.

Before checking out the kite fly we spent the morning at the Prime Outlets in Huntley. My only goal was to find a black sweater at the Gap Outlet after spotting the perfect sweater on a girl this week and asking her where she got it. Unfortunately all the sweaters were gone but I managed to spend $70 on a pair of capris and a lightweight jacket that I can wear in place of the sweater when I’m cold at work.

I’ll be honest – I couldn’t believe the price of the pants. Apparently I wasn’t paying attention to the price when I tried them on our I wouldn’t have bothered. They fit real good, though, so I’m trying to get over the shock of spending that much on one clothing item. I’m trying to reason with myself that at least they are a color I didn’t already own (chocolate brown) and the other capris I bought last weekend were cheaper. Like that balances out the cost or something. I have been a little clothes crazy lately but in my defense I just want to have some cute outfits for the summer instead of wearing a t-shirt with black shorts like I primarily did last year. Now I just need to find a cute pair of closed-toe shoes to go along with my capris so I can wear them to work. I don’t want to wear sandals or my feet will freeze in there.

I can’t say I understand the reason behind the outlet malls, though. Nothing I saw in any of the stores was a good buy. I’d just as soon shop at Walmart than go to another outlet mall.

Dusting off the bikes

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The kids’ mother picked them up this morning so we were able to get our Sunday morning grocery shopping done even earlier than usual.

After lunch, I suggested we go for a bike ride since it was, and still is, a beautiful day. We found a park by the library and biked along that path but I quickly became annoyed with the stupid woman who wouldn’t move over even an inch each time we’d come to the same point in the path. Seriously, that is the rudest thing I’ve ever seen. We were going in opposite directions, so she could clearly see us coming. She was walking three people across the path with her dog and refused to even try and move over. She’d just look at us and keep coming, so we had to go off the path in the grass each time. Unbelievable! It’s people like her who ruin the fun of biking on these paths.

We ended up taking the bikes to this reservoir where the people had better path etiquette than that douche. I estimate between the two paths we probably biked 5-6 miles which isn’t a ton, but was a good workout after being sedentary for so long. When we got home I was still feeling energized so we played catch for awhile. Now Joe is exhausted, but I’m feeling pretty good. I’ve been trying to get in at least 15 minutes of exercise every day with the focus being getting healthier physically and mentally. I noticed if I’m feeling depressed and I work out I almost immediately feel better mentally so that alone is motivation to keep it up. The forecast is looking good for the week so I’m hoping to get in more time outside after work too.

Earthquake

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I woke up this morning at 4:40 am with a start and attempted to swat Joe because the bed was swaying and it was annoying me. Except Joe wasn’t in bed; he was still downstairs from having stayed up most of the night playing games and watching tv (he has the day off from work today). I laid really still thinking maybe I somehow shook the bed, but it continued to move on it’s own accord. It was freaky.

So I jumped out of bed, met Joe on his way up the stairs (finally coming to bed), and asked him if he felt that. He had no idea what I was talking about, so I told him what happened. His response? “It was probably from a plane passing overhead”. Uh, I don’t think so, buddy. Planes pass overhead all the time and they don’t make the bed sway. So then he told me it was probably a train. Wrong again, bucko. There’s a difference between the rumbling we sometimes feel from the train and the bed moving back and forth as if something was underneath it. By this point he was exasperated with me because he just wanted to go to sleep so he told me I must have been dreaming. Grrr! I gave up and got ready for work.

The second I got to work someone asked me if I felt the earthquake. I was like, “Thank you! I knew I wasn’t nuts!” I immediately called Joe (and woke him up, muhaha) to gloat. Don’t ever insinuate I’m crazy, hon! I know when something isn’t right. And what an odd feeling that was. I can’t imagine how a big earthquake would feel. I hope to never find out.

Could they be any more annoying?

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It’s January, and yet my neighbors’ Halloween pumpkins are still by their front door. I guess I should consider myself lucky they didn’t put up any Christmas decorations or I’d have to look at those until St. Patrick’s Day at the very earliest. It’s bad enough last year’s Easter welcome sign is still propped up on the ugly-ass bench outside their door.

Seriously, they are the laziest people in the universe. Someone forgot to inform them that we’re not living in a trailer park.