​Ever since we started dating, Mike has asked my opinion on things for the house, and I love it! It makes me feel valued and decorating is fun for me. We went together to choose the bedroom furniture, the couch, the dining room set, and the artwork we’ve hung throughout the house. And that was all in the first six months of dating. When it came time to have the house painted, I didn’t get to select the color palette, but he did ask for my opinion on which of the ones he chose did I like. I think it’s sweet and I like feeling like I have a say in important decisions. It’s his house but he’s never once made me feel like I live in his house, rather that we live in a house together. Here’s the thing…Mike likes everything to be neutral and I like color. I have done some small decorating that adds color to the kitchen and bedroom, we always have fresh flowers on the table, but from the walls and floor to the couch and linens, they are all variations of browns and beiges and grays. It drives me nuts!
We are currently doing a rather large DIY backyard overhaul. One of the conversations we keep having is about the plants to put in the new backyard. Do you know how expensive these things are?? And fingers crossed they survive! Windowsill succulents and cacti under my care apparently have a 50/50 shot at surviving, I’m not sure I’m up to the task of nurturing young agave, especially when we’re approaching a season where frost is a possibility. Even when my brother had his yard redone professionally, not all the plants made it, so what hope do I have?! Last night, Mike proposed the idea of buying metal plants rather than real ones and I thought it was a great idea! It would continue to cut long-term costs to not have real plants. We’re already doing away with the grass in an effort to lessen the water bill and general cost of maintenance. I had actually suggested adding a metal agave plant or two as a simple, colorful decoration about a year or so ago when I was trying to find easy ways to brighten things up, though he doesn’t recall that. Sometimes I feel like Claire Dunphy when Phil told her his friend encouraged him to order a wedge salad at lunch, it was the greatest thing ever and had she heard of it. Spoiler: she’s been recommending it to him for years.
I got excited that we could then be adding some color now too! Until he says “well, no, I think I want the rust color type ones.” Let me tell you, I got mad! I said I didn’t understand his love affair with beige when there are so many colors we could use, and it won’t look over the top. Maybe it’s because he’s lived in Phoenix his whole life and Arizona is so freaking brown, that he’s used to looking at life in sepia. I’d just like some color in my little corner of the world! Maybe when I say ‘color,’ he’s picturing fuchsia when I’m really referring to something more subtle. He also might feel he doesn’t have the ability to coordinate colors, judging by his wardrobe. I don’t know, but there will be a follow up when it’s all done, hopefully by the end of the year.
(pictured is an example of something I’d like a fake version of, not too crazy, right??)

​Oh Em Gee! You guys, I can’t possibly describe to you the sense of elation I currently feel! I did it!
For months, I have been trying to get the newest version of my insulin pump. It’s a closed loop system, meaning that it will communicate with my continuous glucose monitor (CGM) and will self-regulate. I’ll still take insulin for food I’m about to eat like I normally would, but it would prevent me from dropping while sleeping and catch and address any unusual high blood sugars that I might miss. I can’t tell you how excited I am for this. I have pretty decent control, but it could always be better, and this is the answer. It only took about 20 years for me to take this stuff seriously and I want to do the best I can.
I have had to walk over coals to get here! My insurance company doesn’t like to approve anything. A prime example of that is when I first enrolled with them, I was told my insulin pump and CGM were “medically unnecessary” but that’s a whole story of frustration in itself.
To get anything approved, it requires an insane amount of extra hoops and all I can do is call people relentlessly to keep things moving and make sure they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing...squeaky wheel and all that. Combine that with my doctor’s office moving slower than cold molasses and I was approaching my wits end. I won’t bore you with all the details, but I made at least 20 phone calls trying to get everything figured out.
My doctor’s office had finally called me to say everything was in order and all I needed to do was call this one company and after I spoke to those people, I’d be able to get my items directly from my pharmacy, rather than in the mail as I have since going on a pump several years ago. It felt like I was at the finish line! It didn’t really make sense because I knew the supply company I have been using carried the upgraded version, but I was just following the instructions I was given. Should have know that people who seem to not care about doing their job don’t always know what they’re talking about, even if they think they do. I wish I had asked questions, but I was so happy to get this call that my mind was racing.
Getting in touch with this company was a joke! The first time I called, I waited for someone to answer for half an hour before I decided to call back the next day, but earlier. I’ve been successful by using this technique in the past, so it was worth a shot. No idea why, but it seems most people don’t like to make these calls in the morning, so thank you procrastinators! Second time I was on hold for an hour! AN HOUR! Listening to the same damn message repeat every 30 seconds about someone taking my call shortly. They didn’t even have good hold music. After exactly 60 minutes, it goes BEE DOO BEEP (you know the sound) this number is not in service and disconnects me! I had a breakdown. How can I be so close to something yet so very, very far from it too!? I cried, excuse me, sobbed for a few minutes. I am a stress/frustration crier. I hate it. And when I feel defeated, I need to let it out before I can regroup and think clearly again. I thought it was sweet that the dog was coming to comfort me, but in reality, he shot me with a side eye as he went upstairs where it was quieter. He might have rolled his eyes too.
I took the rest of the day to assess my options. And for like the hundredth time, called my insurance company to verify if they had or had not received the information from my doctor for this stupid prior authorization and they confirmed they had not. Which was confounding since my doctor’s office indicated everything was all set. I called my doctor and left another impatient message. I hate to be rude, but this was borderline ridiculous, and I had a timeframe in which this needed to be completed, and it was nearing the end. I always give them a few days to respond, I understand I’m not their only patient, but also, there is a department dedicated to prior authorizations so it should not have been taking this long.
The next day when I got the mail there was a letter from my insurance company! Dated a week prior! Stating that they have approved everything and here’s the authorization number. I didn’t know what to think! Maybe incredulous is a good word to describe it. How could the person I spoke with just yesterday have zero clue as to what was going on?! All they do is look up my information!
Immediately I call my supply company and ask if this is what I’ve been waiting for. Indeed it is! This helpful person said he’d call my insurance company and get it all worked out and call me back. And he actually did! I couldn’t believe it! Someone did their job!! The sense of relief that swept over me was immense. I could have cried! But didn’t. I fought so hard for this, and to finally have success was amazing! Sweet relief! And as I currently type, I’m wearing the new system! Still learning some things about it, but I was too excited to wait!
Side note: my doctor’s office never called me back 😊

​Having lived in three vastly different parts of the country, one thing I have noticed is the difference of the proximity to your neighbors in each state! In Connecticut we had a lot of space between houses, lots of privacy and thick trees to separate you from your neighbors. Winter was a little dicey because the trees had shed their leaves. Suddenly you could be making eye contact with a neighbor in a position you’d rather not be seen in! In Florida, houses are closer together but there is a lot of greenery for privacy, and everyone has a lanai. For those who don’t know, a lanai is kind of like a screened in porch and usually includes the pool. The houses are fairly close together, but it doesn’t always feel like it. Arizona is a whole different story! They wasted no land here to build on! You have a yard, but you really need to get lucky with a corner lot to have a spacious backyard. Or be wealthy. Properties are defined by a cinderblock wall and the neighborhood Mike and I live in, one wall of the house is right on the property line. So, when we got the house painted recently, the painters need permission to enter our neighbor’s yard to get to that side of the house.
Being so on top of your neighbors sucks! If you have a smoker next door, better get used to it!  As far as the neighbor lottery goes, we could be worse off, but I absolutely can not stand our neighbor’s dog and the fact they don’t maintain their property.
As many yards in Phoenix tend to be, they have rocks as opposed to grass, but it’s still wildly overgrown with weeds. Last summer we got a notice meant for them about the front yard being a fire hazard and to take immediate action. It was slightly funny because it took two morons, the first being the person who reported the disreputable yard with our address, and the second to come out and confirm that there was indeed a hazard that needed to be addressed. Neither of them realized it’s not our yard, despite it obviously belonging to their house.
They also have this huge bougainvillea that’s so overgrown, it’s now fully intertwined with the tree it was planted too close to, I honestly don’t even know what they’d do about it at this point. If you’ve ever experienced a bougainvillea, you know that they are quite beautiful when they bloom but then you spend the next few months with bright pink petals literally everywhere. The placement of it and the lack of maintenance means that twice a year we are constantly sweeping them off our little patio…a fool’s errand if I ever saw one!
Confined to this yard is an obnoxious dog! This poor pupper never leaves the yard for some actual exercise. At least he’s inside the house more than outside. But if we go out into our yard and he too is out, he repeatedly jumps up so he can see what we’re doing over the cinderblock wall, and it gets our dog, Ricky, agitated. After I started spraying him with water as a deterrent, I guess they figured out he was bothering us and will make him stop if they’re around. I hope they had a period of confusion as to how their dog kept getting wet outside! When I walk Ricky in the morning, he’ll also jump at the metal gate that goes into their backyard from the driveway. This is super annoying and also kind of scary. I don’t know if this dog is aggressive, bored or both. I’m leaning more towards bored, but I definitely don’t want to know what would happen should that gate ever be latched improperly and he came face to face with Ricky, who already has an intense dislike for him. Since this dog is forced to do all his business in a tiny area, I can also smell the pungent odor of animal urine wafting from their yard. Picture this: summer in Phoenix…the relentless desert sun baking everything it shines upon… essentially cooking the excrement strewn all about their yard. As someone who wants a pool, I hate that they have a beautiful one I’ve never once seen them use. Though I’m guessing it would be difficult to relax if it smells like you’re inside a litter box!

​Last week, Mike got a second car ‘for funsies’ and is listing his main car on Turo on occasion to help offset the cost of owning a shiny Porsche convertible. Over the weekend we were playing musical cars. The Porsche went in his spot in the garage, the Mazda into mine, and mine outside because it was going to rain Friday night and we wanted the Mazda to be clean for the guy who was coming early Saturday morning to rent it for the long weekend. I was going to get mine washed over the weekend anyway, so I didn’t mind it being outside. We know how to compromise in this house 😊 And living in the desert makes this a weekly errand so it was on my To Do List.
During the process of moving my car from one side of the driveway to the other, I cut the wheel too hard and ran over one of the three decorative lights that are along the driveway. In my defense…I forgot they were there! It didn’t seem like a big deal, they’re plastic, at least one of them doesn’t even work so we were going to throw them away anyway. I looked at the tire and all seemed ok, so I kind of forgot about it.
Wednesday morning, as I arrived at the gym, the light went on my dashboard indicating that a tire had low pressure. When I returned to the car about an hour later, I looked at all my tires and none seemed at all low, so I made a mental note to get it to swing by Discount Tires to get them filled soon but wasn’t really worried about it. It’s not uncommon that as the weather changes, the pressure in my tires needs adjusting and it’s not enough to be urgent.
On Thursday, everything seemed normal. I picked the kids up from school, went to my brother’s house and hung out until it was time to take Paige to synchronized swim practice. As we’re on our way, I hit a small bump and then felt the awful and unmistakable sensation of driving on a flat tire. I was fortunately approaching a less busy street that I could turn into and pull over to assess the situation.
I haven’t had a flat tire in probably 15 years or more, but the process of changing one is not something you forget. I pulled out all the tools and spare form the back of my car and said to Paige: “You’re about to learn how to change a tire!” Interestingly, we had recently seen two ladies obstructing traffic while a nice police officer changed the tire for them, and I told her that when she gets her license, I would teach her how to change a tire so that she would never be helpless on the side of the road, so I was kind of excited to have this teaching opportunity occur.
I failed! The lug nuts were on so tight they just weren’t budging! Instead, I accepted my fate and called Roadside Assistance and Paige called her dad to get her to practice. ☹ To say I was disappointed is an understatement.
She got picked up and was on her way and I’m now just sitting in my car waiting. The ETA was anywhere between 30 and 90 minutes, you know, sort of like waiting for the cable guy. so I said, screw it, I can do this! I got back to the wrestling match of my muscles and the tire iron versus the lug nuts and the heat. HUZZAH! I got it to move! And then I got the next one! And the next one! I was so relieved! And out of breath and hot, my goodness! Have I mentioned recently how hot Phoenix is right now?? This is where my brother showed up and took over though. Not because I couldn’t! Changing a tire is really a one-person job, and obviously he wasn’t going to stand there and watch his little sister change a tire. HA! I am happy I was able to prove to myself that I could have done this. I’ve always enjoyed being able to do tasks that some men think women are not capable of. Would I have been cursing at the hundred-degree heat and growling the whole time? You betcha. But it would have been a personal accomplishment of which to be proud!
All things considered, this could have ended much, much worse, so I consider it lucky events unfolded the way they did. Small miracles!

​I have a hard time coming up with topics to write my articles about. I enjoy writing from experience, and I’ve already covered internet dating and diabetes, so I’m working on gathering data for something to write about. I started researching the effects of doing yoga daily for 30 days and I am loving it! I love having incentive to actually do it, too! Obviously, the main goal is to work on some self-improvement, but history has proven that’s not quite enough of a motivator for me. It’s easy to say, ‘not today’ on a day you’re just not feeling it, but I need to do it every day or the article wouldn’t be accurate. A working title of I Did Yoga for the Majority of 30 Days doesn’t have the same ring to it. It’s kept me accountable and even motivated me to get back to the gym. I’m already wearing most of my workout clothes and carved out some ‘me’ time, so it makes it harder to find an excuse. Actively making myself do things to benefit my physical health puts me in such a positive head space. I plan on continuing the yoga after I finish the research portion. Seriously, it’s only 10 minutes a day and quite pleasant and self-love is vital to one’s overall happiness! I found a woman who has a ton of videos on YouTube. She has a nice cadence when she speaks, doesn’t talk too much and I like her background music. My favorite though was when her dog walked in, kissed her and left. Yoga With Bird, if anyone is inspired by my post to do something for themselves! Namaste, friends.

​For my birthday this year, I wanted to go kayaking. I had read about this adventure tour company last year and had been looking for a good time to go, so Mike and I and my brother’s kids (Paige, 11 and Jack, 12) rented 2 tandem kayaks for a self-guided paddle down the Verde River in Cottonwood, Arizona. I’m unsure of the distance, but it took about 2 ½ hours. It had been so long since I’ve done anything like this, I forgot how much work it is! My arms were still sore days later. It was a blast though! Cottonwood is north of Phoenix, close to Sedona, so it was much cooler than the 100 degree temps we suffer through around here, even more so when we were on the water. It was also overcast, which was nice. I hate feeling like I’m being cooked by the sun.
After getting checked in you are driven to another location by a guide who keeps you entertained and points out important landmarks. On the drive up to the launch point, looking at the grey clouds, I asked our guide if he expected rain. He assured me we would be fine…that turned out to be incorrect information!
This really did turn into quite an adventure. During the process of getting prepared and getting to the launch location, we gathered that a teenager was missing. He and his family rented the tubes to go down the river and at some point, he had fallen off his tube, which had continued on down the river without him, and the kid was nowhere to be seen. The guide actually passed us in a kayak heading out to help look. So, during our whole trek, I’m keeping my eyes peeled while having thoughts like, what if he’s a no-good kid waiting to attack unsuspecting kayakers, or wondering what I’d do if we came upon his floating body. Sometimes I think I read too much news…I won’t keep you in suspense, he was located by the time we were finished with our trek.
Anyway, back to the fun! I haven’t laughed that much in a long time! Mike and Jack got in their kayak first and were on the water already while Paige and I got settled into ours. In the few minutes it took us to get in the kayak, on the water, and pointed in the correct direction, Jack and Mike are attempting to limbo under a low hanging branch they seem to have directed themselves towards like it was some sort of magnet. It didn’t work and they were being clotheslined by the branches instead and now must maneuver themselves out. I nearly wet myself from laughing so hard, watching their struggle. Mike later claimed that Jack was responsible for most of their crashes into the riverbank, but I don’t know…
 When you approach a rapid, they instructed us to give the boat ahead a good distance so that in case they get caught on something, you’re not right behind, about to make it worse. Sometimes they were in front, sometimes we were. At one point, Paige and I were waiting so long for them to catch up after we got through the rougher water that I started paddling upriver to make sure they were okay. They apparently got so lodged on a rock, Mike had to use his foot to get them unstuck. The scoot method didn’t work that time.
I don’t want to make it sound like Paige and I didn’t have our fair share of snafus. We certainly did a lot of accidental spinning around, inadvertent backwards kayaking through some rapids and unintentional ramming of the banks. As you’re helplessly watching yourself head towards a protruding branch, it’s easy to wonder what would happen if you were to puncture your vessel. Fortunately though, they’ve taken this into consideration and have constructed a sturdy product.
It was such a lovely, peaceful outing. Getting out of the city and listening to the beautiful sounds of nature was exactly what I was hoping to experience. There were several times when the river was wide and moving slowly, so we’d lift our paddles, chat and hydrate while lazily enjoying the great outdoors.
The guide had given us directions to remember along the way and told us about some good indicators of how far into the trip we would be when we saw each one, so we knew we didn’t have far to go when the sky started to really rumble. A few minutes later it started to rain so now we’re paddling with more effort. And we can see the landing point!! Now it’s raining quite a bit, so we pick up the pace. But we have to go under some low hanging brush, so I told Paige to stop paddling because the oar would get tangled above her. She didn’t hear, or didn’t listen, it’s hard to know with an 11-year-old, and I watched her oar get caught on a branch and force her to lean backwards until she’s almost lying down in the kayak. Again, I’m laughing pretty hard at this.
Finally! We’ve landed and gotten out of the kayaks, some of us struggled with that more than others. We’re hustling up the hill because it is now absolutely pouring! And hailing! Oh my goodness, that hurt! It was like someone throwing pebbles at my bare skin! Then the loudest thunder! Immediately followed by a lightning strike that was scarily close! I screamed, Paige starts crying and we. Are. High stepping it until we got to the little shop where we did all the checking in to wait out the rest of the storm before we can get to the car and grab our stuff and head to the bathrooms to change into clean, dry clothes. They were so nice and cozy warm from being in the hot car all afternoon, it was so nice.
The whole trip was such a fun memory for me to have with my love and the kids. Even though I could have done without the adrenaline inducing ending, I can’t wait for our next adventure!

​Cell phones are great, you have all the information and entertainment you could possibly need right at your fingertips! It has, however, come to my attention that people no longer have boundaries about when and where it is appropriate to be having a personal conversation on their cell phone. I started noticing it more and more frequently at the grocery store. Depending on what part of Phoenix I was in, sometimes it was like watching Jerry Springer! At least in a store I can walk away. Lately I’ve been spending an extensive amount of time in waiting rooms and that’s where it really gets under my skin.
I go to a retinal specialist for my eyes (yay diabetes!) and this process can take up to 3 hours, 2 if I’m lucky. It’s broken into 2 steps, so it’s not like I can call up and ask how late they’re running. First, you get your eyes dilated and do some basic tests and whatnot. Then you go back into the waiting room and wait until it’s your turn to see the doctor. Don’t ask me why it’s this way. It wasn’t when I saw my doctor in Florida and my insurance has like 2 doctors per specific field that I can go to, so I don’t have a lot of options. I also like the staff at this place. And it’s not super far from home.
The waiting room has 20 to 25 chairs, I’ve never actually counted. It can get packed in there! A good percentage bring a companion who stay the whole time. Sometimes there’s only a couple of seats open and I’ve even had to stand for a few minutes until someone gets called in.
There’s a television on one wall that is most often set to a channel that plays shows like Monk and MacGuyver. Not something I’d watch at home, but it helps the time go by and it also means that most of the room is quietly watching, with the exception of anyone talking to the person next to them, but that doesn’t happen a ton.
If you were sitting in a quiet, crowded waiting room, do you think that’s an appropriate time to take a call?? If you said yes to this question…I hope you stub your toe and it makes you cry! It’s so rude and obnoxious! I know it’s summer in Phoenix, but seriously, go outside! Even if you think you’re being quiet, I assure you, you’re not! We can all hear every word! Last week was especially frustrating because she was directly behind me, not even trying to use a hushed tone and I was far from the tv, so it made trying to watch frustrating. Someone finally did get up, so I gathered my things in a huff, turned and glared at her for a solid 10 seconds, hoping she’d take the hint, and sat in the newly vacated seat.
Just kidding. I’m so non-confrontational. What I did instead was sit there glancing at the empty seat, thinking about moving, but hoping she’d end her call at any moment, because who could possibly be so oblivious to the fact that they’re being a nuisance to everyone around them. I also didn’t want to move
I have had a lot of time to think about my fantasy reaction to situations like this because it happens way more often than it should. My dream is to ask someone to call me so I can have the following aggressively loud conversation:
“Hello?...Oh, hey! How are you?... I’m just in a doctor’s office waiting room, I can talk…Oh, really? You think it would be rude to take a call right now?...You know what, you’re right, I’ll call you back when it’s more appropriate.”
Then I’d hang up and stare at the offender until they got the hint and I’d be met with a round of applause!
Not really.
Maybe one day though…I’ll keep you posted 😉

​The return trip was fairly uneventful, just some shady stuff about ‘gassing up’ in North Carolina, but then they made an announcement that while we were waiting one of the pilots timed out and we needed to find a replacement, which didn’t really make sense, but since I don’t have insider knowledge to how these things work, I can only observe and speculate. We ended up departing about an hour and a half late so in the grand scheme of things that could go wrong I was happy that was it.
The real crisis occurred at home. We treated ourselves to some Thai food as a final guilty pleasure before getting strict on the diet again. It was delicious, as usual. When I went to input some insulin to correct for the rice I had just eaten was when the nightmare started…I realized I left the device that controls my insulin pump on the freaking plane! It was already after 9 so there wasn’t much I could do. I called the airport to talk to someone in lost and found, but obviously they don’t have someone there 24/7. I wasn’t yet in panic mode. My blood sugar was low when we ate and I ate pretty light, so I was okay through the night, which to be honest was a bit of a miracle. A waking blood sugar of 250 isn’t ideal, but if I had eaten more it could have been more like 350 or higher.
Woke up, skipped breakfast and headed to the airport to see if, God willing, it was there. Mike drove me, otherwise I would have had to park and all that nonsense. Spent a lot of time waiting in line to talk to a person who told me elsewhere to go in the airport. Kind of wish the idiot I spoke to first hadn’t told me to get on that line, but whatever. Head down to the American Airlines lost and found and told the woman there details of what I was looking for and when and where I had left it. She does not have a hopeful answer but goes to take a look through the things she had just gone and collected from the various gates of items left behind on the planes.
I’m standing there hoping and praying but also on the verge of panicking. She comes out to tell me it’s not there. I’m not going to lie, I cried. This is now a big deal. I was extremely lucky that I had only changed my pump late Thursday and it was now Saturday morning, which meant I was still getting my constant drip of insulin until about 4 AM Monday.
I took a deep breath and regrouped. I called the company from whom I get my pump supplies and they were of very little help. I would have needed to speak to the pharmacy department, but they’re closed on weekends. Dude on the phone wasn’t grasping the seriousness of the situation so I flat out asked ‘what do you tell people to do who are having an emergency?’ He suggested calling my local pharmacy.
My pharmacy couldn’t help, neither could this Walgreens or that Walgreens. I was running out of options. I tell ya, though, asking people what they suggest is a good idea. The person at the second Walgreens suggested calling a hospital, who suggested a local medical supply company, who then had the brilliant idea of calling the manufacturer of my insulin pump! It seemed so obvious! I think I was more focused on trying to get my hands on a replacement that day, so I hadn’t thought of it immediately. On the plus side I was able to get one shipped out for the low low price of $199, down side was that I wouldn’t get it until Monday, which turned out to actually be Tuesday
Next, called my doctor’s emergency line to get a prescription for syringes so I could take shots for what I couldn’t program in my pump, meaning every time I ate or needed a correction. I hate injections more than I can express; it was a loooong few days until I could get my hands on my replacement!
It was a frustrating and expensive mistake I hope to never make again!

​I haven’t flown American Airlines in a couple of years after I had such an awful experience that I decided to stop using them. But when so much time goes by, it’s easy to forget that they’re just that awful! It’s always things that don’t necessarily ruin my vacation but cause me a lot of stress. Last time, both my flights had major delays, making a long day of traveling just exhausting. And not simply having your flight delayed but being on the tarmac and going back to the gate…on both flights! Second one, we even had to get off and go to another gate and get on a different plane. All in all it added about 3 hours to my travels.
Let’s get back to current events though. I landed in Florida at 9:33 AM, where my aunt is waiting in the cell lot for me to give the signal that I’ve got my luggage in hand, and she should proceed to the curb.
I’m standing at the luggage carousel, watching the bags go around…and around…and around…until I’m now the only one still there. Awesome.
I see a woman removing all the unclaimed bags, walk up to her and simply say “Um, so, what do I do?”
First, she has to finish removing all the luggage from my flight, which seemed like an oddly large number of them. She explained that this is the luggage of the people in my position last night. I help her get the bags off the carousel because I’m feeling more and more badly that my aunt is still waiting for me, and it seems like this is going to take some time. I also can’t just stand around and watch someone work when I can easily help. But mostly it’s because the faster this task is finished, the faster I can be on my way.
There is a pair of women ahead of me, they’re in and out because their bag was in the office. Then the husband of the couple also waiting just steps into the office ahead of me even though I was there first because, well, people are annoying. At least I got to love on their cat while I was waiting where I found out they had been traveling for 26 hours so I totally understand their desire to get home. Doesn’t make it right to jump in front of me, but whatever, I wasn’t going to make a stink about it.
Ok, my turn. She looks up my information and my suitcase is still in North Carolina! For some unknown reason it didn’t get on the same plane as I. Awesome. At least it’s not lost, and will be on a plane that arrives at 3:40 that afternoon and do I want to retrieve it myself or have it delivered? Well, that’s a no brainer! Why would I come all the way back to the airport if I don’t have to?!
I got an email update a few hours later that my bag will be delivered between 6 PM and midnight that day.
It was not. It wasn’t even picked up until 8 PM and they also say anything that would be delivered after 11 PM will be delivered the next day so that time frame of 6 to midnight is just a blanket statement. Which is a little worrisome. So, is it sitting in some person’s vehicle?
I spend the morning walking around in a towel while I wash my clothes because the thought of wearing them for a third day is repulsive.
I got another email update around 10 AM that it’s out for delivery. Hooray! As the hours tick by I’m getting more and more nervous. I understand they have multiple stops to make, but I was feeling like it shouldn’t take 8 hours.
It was Wednesday so I went out to play trivia and was extremely relieved when I got an email while I was out that my luggage had been delivered!! Even more relieved to have it actually be at the house when I got home.
It’s ironic that I haven’t checked a bag in years just for this very reason but I’m getting too old to use a duffle bag packed for a 2-week trip as a carry-on. Maybe if I didn’t have a layover which requires me to walk through a big airport. I also still have stuff in Florida to bring over to Arizona, so I needed a suitcase with extra room. It was a bunch of books and other items I wouldn’t want to have to carry on my shoulder, plus I wasn’t interested in hurting my back! I have enough naturally occurring physical problems, no need to create extra!

​Selling stuff on the internet is the worst! I’ve had some success on Facebook Marketplace, but you have to weed through all the scam artists. Usually, they’re pretty obvious. Most often they message you and then ask if you’ll communicate over text, where they’ll ask to text you a code that you would then tell them to verify that you’re real. HA!
Today was different, but I had my radar on because something about this guy’s profile picture rubbed me the wrong way. Having been forced to participate in Online Dating for the better part of my 30’s, you start to get a sense for these things.
He immediately asked for my address to come pick it up before we even discussed anything. Like I said, I was already skeptical so there was no way in hell I was giving him my address, especially when Mike is at work. I suggested a nearby bank for the added benefit of the cameras in the parking lot. If I’m going to get abducted, the least I can do is make sure there’s evidence for the police! We agreed on 6 PM so I was relieved I wouldn’t have to go alone.
Then he says his wife will be meeting me because he has to work late. That increased my skepticism, thinking maybe he’d said that to make me put my guard down and come alone. He follows this up with saying she can’t come with cash because her “bank is faulty for now” and how would I like to get the money. I suggested Venmo. It’s an app I use regularly with friends and family and any time I’ve needed to exchange money for a transaction like this. He countered with Zelle.
I checked my banking app because I’ve seen it on there, but I’ve never used it, and it was super easy. You don’t have to download anything, and it goes directly into your bank account.
But here’s the catch with Zelle…it requires personal information to make someone a contact with whom you can exchange money! He asked for my info to send it. I simply replied by asking for his and I’ll do a request. He said he’d prefer to send it himself. I vey bluntly said I wasn’t giving him my information and I’d wait until his wife can get the cash. I do not expect to ever hear from him.
You think you’ll always know when you’re getting taken for a ride, but a more trusting person could have given their name, address, email and phone number, and not realized until it was too late. I have no idea what anyone would do with this information, btu it just seems like a good idea to not give it to strangers on the internet.