USPS Ridiculouness

I had to make this it’s own entry since it’s so long.

Back in December I posted this to Facebook:

Let us count the ways in which the post office has screwed up in the past two weeks, shall we?

– 1 package was marked delivered 12/12 but has never materialized. Filled out a form on 12/17 and have never heard a peep from anyone. Since as far as the seller is concerned, it was delivered, so we have no recourse (it was a Christmas gift for me from Joe) and are out $20

– 1 Christmas card envelope was delivered without the card inside

– 1 Christmas card (from Terri) was in our Informed Delivery on December 23rd but has never materialized

– We received 3 village newsletters (1 on one day and 2 together on the same day)

– We received 2 pieces of mail that are not ours (one for the next door neighbors and another for someone who lives two miles away)

– My Cure Wish box set is missing. I pre-ordered it over the summer and it was supposedly shipped in November. This one might possibly still show, but I have no way to ever know where it is because the seller doesn’t provide any tracking information. Lesson learned; will not order from overseas again. To add insult to injury, I’m out $31 and could have gotten it from Amazon already for $10 less.
Until this year we’ve never had an issue with the post office but this is beyond ridiculous!

In January I posted this update:

1 – Today a man left the missing Christmas card from Terri in our door. This was caught on my doorbell camera. I do not recognize him from the neighborhood and when I went out to retrieve the mail, he looked to be sitting in a car out front, so who knows how far away he came to deliver it, but that was super nice of him! Unlike whichever neighbor got my Christmas gift and kept it. Lord help me if I see someone in the neighborhood wearing my t-shirt….

2 – I previously filed a second claim, this time online, for the missing Etsy package and the post office came back saying the postal carrier delivered it (I’m sure they did – just not to the right box), so I spoke to Etsy customer service, opened a case, and was refunded yesterday. I tried dealing with the seller directly but all they kept saying is “tell me how I can help” even after I told them how they could help. I was even willing to order again from them if they could ship the item UPS (which I told them I would pay for) but their response was “tell me how I can help”. I think there was a language barrier. An Etsy rep assured me the refund would not be deducted from the seller before I summitted my claim (I think Etsy eats the cost) as I did not want to harm a small business. It’s not their fault the post office sucks!

3 – I’m still waiting to hear back from the place I ordered my Cure box set from. I submitted an inquiry a week ago and it said to expect 5 business days for a response due to heavy volume. I wonder how many other people never got their orders. Without a tracking number how can I confirm they even really sent it? Ugh.

The Universal Music Store, where I ordered my Cure box set, did in fact reimburse me, so I ordered the set from Amazon and not only did it arrive in two days, it was $10 cheaper. Lesson learned; no more overseas pre-orders for this gal.

Family Dinner

The kids came over Friday (just them) for dinner. They were a bit late (we agreed on 5:30, they texted earlier in the day to say they’d be over closer to 6, but arrived around 6:10 (turns out K had been at Indiana Beach with her SO and they caught traffic getting home)).

E brought us another copy of Aggravation.

I’m not terribly fond of this version. It’s sweet how he always buys them for us, though.

He also got me a Cure vinyl import called Pillbox Tales I had never even heard of!

I made spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread for dinner, which they loved (my meatballs came out fantastic even though I haven’t made them in years) and we played UNO all evening. They left around 11 pm.

Yesterday I realized you can make public portions of your collection in Libib (a free app/website I use to track all our music, DVDs, and video games) so I published my vinyl collection and shared the link with E. He in turn shared his whole collection from the same app, haha! I wonder if he got the idea to use it from an Instagram post I made a few years ago when I started using it. I’ll have to ask him next time I see him.

Christmas 2021

I am so glad Christmas is over! Why does everyone obsess over Christmas to the point where it begins in October now? By the time the actual day arrives I’m just over it.

I took all the decorations down yesterday and spent hours photographing and documenting it in hopes it will be much less stressful in future years. I have a decent pile of things to donate/sell too.

This year was extremely low-key with just Joe, me, and Wookie. Joe and I exchanged a few gifts, mostly off our wish lists, except for a tray for the Crosstrek console that he found. I haven’t driven my car in awhile so I haven’t tried installing it yet. He also got me a plastic divided tray to store all the pieces for my letterboard, and a Blu-Ray set that has Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World’s End.

My favorite gift were these drink coasters of some of The Cure’s more colorful albums:

Aren’t they awesome? Strangely enough the Esty account he purchased them from has since disappeared which is unfortunate since they are so nice I wouldn’t mind ordering more. Not that I would actually use them. I have them displayed on the shelf over my computer desk.

I got Joe some hunting knives, bar soap (hey, he asked for it!), coffee beans, and lotion from Bath & Body Works. It seems lame, but he was happy. We’re just getting to the point where we don’t want/need many things so we haven’t been going all out on gifts.

Timeline

On Christmas Eve we went to K’s house to exchange gifts (she gave me my birthday ones as well). We usually have lunch when we visit but thanks to Omicron we decided to stay masked and only visited for about an hour so that we could get home and have lunch (which ended up being White Castle because Joe had a craving). That evening we had leftover chinese food from the night before.

On Christmas Day we opened our presents before a big breakfast consisting of my three cheese grits casserole, bacon, toast, and eggs. For dinner we had ham (warmed up in the crockpot), buns, corn, and garlic mashed potatoes. Personally, I could do without the ham but Joe likes it. We also watched a few Christmas movies like Home Alone & National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

Father’s Day

A couple of weeks ago K reached out to me about coming over for Father’s Day. I thought it was a great idea, and we decided I would handle the food and she could make a dessert for Joe. She and E arrived around 1 (side note: I LOVED that she texted me when they left the house and also when they were five minutes away) and stayed until just after 6.

We ordered pizza, boneless, wings, and stuffed mushrooms and I made some toasted ravioli (side note: why did Aldi stop selling toasted ravioli? It was so much better than the stuff we got from Walmart). The kids brought some alcoholic drinks for Joe (Crown Royal Washington Apple Whisky Cocktail & Not Your Father’s Root Beer) and we made a new mixed drink that K and I had – Simply Limeade mixed with whipped cream vodka which tastes like key lime pie.

Key Lime Pie Drink

So good I had two drinks yesterday and a small glass of it this morning… don’t judge!

We had cupcakes K made – yellow cake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles – all of Joe’s favorite things.

After eating we played 5 games of Aggravation before moving on to video games where we played Mario Kart and Bomberman. I wanted to play Penguin Wars too but the game wouldn’t load. It’s a digitally downloaded one so I’m not sure how to fix that.

The kids were so generous – not only did they get Joe a $50 Starbucks gift card, but they bought Wookie two toys.

Wookies Gifts

E surprised me with a picture disc of Faith by The Cure from Record Store Day and a magazine with Robert Smith on the cover and a bonus CD cover version of Why Can’t I Be You. I was so touched!

Cure Gifts

I don’t actually own Faith on vinyl so it’s a great addition to my collection (and such a great album).

The evening ended with us attempting to go to bed early but the weather had other ideas. A little after 11 pm it started storming. The rain was coming down so hard it was deafening and unsettling. Then I heard an eerie whistling noise which scared the crap out of me because I couldn’t identify what it was. I later figured out it was a tornado siren a town over which is why it was so faint. Luckily we weren’t hit by any tornados but other towns in the area weren’t so fortunate.

May Wrap-Up

Happy Memorial Day? I dunno, does that sound weird considering what it represents?

Abandoned Golf Course

In any case, we started our day with a bike ride at an abandoned golf course and I once again was reminded that I’m not in that great of shape even though I walk on my treadmill multiple times a week (more days than not lately). I always think biking is going to be fun until I hit that first incline and then I’m guessing whose bright idea that was. Needless to say, we made it around one lap (approximately 15 minutes) and came back home. Definitely need to stick to flatter terrain like the park we sometimes take Wookie to for walks.

Memorial Day Lunch

I wish it was just a little warmer out today. It’s overcast (but not rainy) and in the 60’s which would be fine if we had some sunshine. But it wasn’t meant to be. We made some hot dogs for lunch and watched Sofi Tukker on their last scheduled live DJ set. They won’t be able to commit to a schedule now that they’re vaccinated and doing shows in real life. I’m sad that I won’t be able to count on seeing them weekly, or in person since they play either clubs (too loud indoors for my ears) or festivals (very expensive and unappealing). Oh well. I am looking forward to their new album which I suspect is being released very soon. Plus I’ve discovered a lot of other DJs on Twitch to listen to, some of which seem to have similar tastes to SF.

Oh, speaking of DJs, Moby did a live set right after Sofi Tukker the other night and I was so excited, but then let down. It was rather boring. Plus I’ve read some not so nice things about Moby so while I like some of his music he isn’t as appealing as he used to be.

In other music news, I don’t think I wrote about the Cure t-shirt I bought (online) back in March!

New Cure T-Shirt

A fan made it to commemorate the weekly Cure watch parties we’ve gathered to watch on Twitch. It’s my official 2020 concert t-shirt and not only is the design awesome (anything Wish-inspired always is), but it’s very soft and fits nicely, unlike pretty much all of my Cure shirts. Most of them were made with thick stiff cotton shirts that do not fit well (either too small or too large). I’m wearing the shirt today, in fact, since the colors seem fitting. I painted my nails red, white, blue (with a glitter overlay) too. I’m so fashionable!

Excursions & Food Stuff

Earlier this month we went to Lilacia Park in Lombard to check out the lilacs and tulips. I’m not going to bother posting any photos from that little trip because we missed peak bloom thanks to the rainy weather the week before so nothing was looking it’s best. It was nice walking around outside, however. Plus afterwards we stopped at the new The Original Rainbow Cone location for a treat.

Rainbow Cone

(This is what was left of my cone by the time I realized I should get a picture)

I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about five flavors (orange sherbet, pistachio, palmer house, strawberry, and chocolate) of ice cream in one cone but I was pleasantly surprised – it was delicious! One thing I would change, though, is the size of the cone I got. I tried the baby one but for just $1.12 more you get a lot more ice cream in the small size. I’d definitely skip the baby size and go straight to the small. Or even better, I’d be tempted to buy a quart (currently priced at $12.49) and get some cones from the grocery store.

After earning TWO free drink coupons from Dunkin, I decided to try their new peach lemonade refresher yesterday and I won’t be getting that again.

DD Peach Lemonade

It smelled weird, like a tomato plant. I later realized that was the green tea which I forgot was in it. I’m bummed; I wanted to find a more affordable replacement for Starbucks’ shaken tea lemonade but unfortunately that was not it. So far other than the regular iced coffee, I do not like Dunkin’s drinks. Probably for the best since there is 320 calories in the large lemonade (32 oz). Interestingly enough, Starbuck’s trenta (large) is only 170 calories. I might have to treat myself to one at least once this summer. I have yet to try the peach.

Since Culver’s was across the street from Dunkin I snagged an order of their pretzel bites (a now permanent addition to their menu) and then we headed to the food truck near Walmart to snag a couple of corn dogs. We brought everything home and ate out on the patio. Those pretzel bites are sooo good! I’m glad they are $4.19 because otherwise I’d be ordering them far more often than I should.

I’m back up to 138 lbs btw. Shocking with all the eating I’ve been doing, right? I think I tend to top off at 140 lbs, or at least I hope so! I’ve actually been cutting back a bit. For instance, after all that food at lunch I had a very light dinner several hours later.

Retail Therapy & Shopping

We recently went to At Home to look for new folding patio chairs but didn’t have any luck. We also stopped at Bath & Body Works since I have a $5 gift card to spend but I didn’t see anything I wanted. Then a few days ago we went to Target for a few groceries and I had zero desire to even look at their Bullseye Playground section. I think this pandemic has soured me on shopping for the fun of it. It’s completely lost it’s appeal. I’ve moved into get what you need and get out territory.

That being said, we did go to Savers last Monday so I could look for a plain black t-shirt. I didn’t find one, but I did find two tank tops that cost under $4 total. Luckily they fit perfectly since the dressing rooms are still closed and they don’t offer refunds, only exchanges. The next day at Walmart I found a pair of capri leggings that would go perfectly with a grey tank top I had gotten at Savers a year or two ago. I love when that happens! I also snagged a vibrant pair of bike shorts that will be perfect for when I walk on the treadmill.

New Clothes

As I was photographing my new finds I realized the bike shorts have a pocket in them that is actually large enough for my iPhone. Not that I need it, but I’m sure it would come in handy for a lot of people. Oh, and when I was trying on my Savers tank tops at home Joe pointed out the black one still had the original Old Navy tag on it. Sweet! I got a brand new tank for $2.25.

So I guess you could say while I’m not about shopping much, I am not going to pass up getting a few new clothing pieces occasionally.

Misc Stuff

The other day my computer started installing updates and then stopped because I had ran out of space. You see, my computer has a solid state drive with a small capacity (250 GB). I have all my actual files on a regular hard drive, but unfortunately Apple is a bitch about installing iTunes anywhere but the main drive. While the actual MP3s are on that secondary drive, when iTunes backs up my phone it puts the backup on the main drive. My phone has a 256 GB capacity, and while it’s not full, it’s just a little under half full. You see where this is going, right? If I could just easily direct the backup elsewhere I would be ok, but it doesn’t seem to be that easy. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it requires messing with settings I’m not comfortable with. Plus these days my brain just doesn’t seem to be at the level it was pre-2019 sickness. Seriously, I have trouble with words sometimes and in general I feel like my processor is slow. Oh well. So Joe installed a new SSD today with twice the amount of space. All is right again with the world.