One of THOSE Days

I'm going to blame it on the cold and snow because I am never at my best when there is snow on the ground or if it is cold and cold is basically anything under 35 degrees.

Here is my long list of today's grievances.....are you ready.

My phone sucks.  I put in a new battery two months ago and it still loses it's charge almost immediately.  So today when I needed my phone to work, I had no bars.  I put it on the charger and then couldn't get the touch screen to work properly.  I tried to call my mother and nothing would happen.  I am now fielding mutiple calls from my mother because my phone is now dialing her number every 10 minutes.

Shouldn't a $300 phone last longer than 2 years?  Am I asking too much?  That's 150 bucks a year plus what I pay for service.  Back in the day a rotary phone would last FOREVER.

I learned a long time ago to order parts etc well in advance of needing them.  So two weeks ago I ordered two black porcelain bathroom sconces and two black porcelain electrical covers from Rejunvenation for the master bath.  The covers arrived earlier in the week in good condition.  On Saturday the sconces arrived but I was busy and didn't unpack them until today.

I was shocked at how they were packaged.  I do a lot of shipping and receive a lot of items in the mail.  The sconces themselves were wrapped loosely in brown paper without any tape to secure the paper. They were surrounded with those air bags that they use to take up space but there was still a lot of excess space to allow for the sconces to move around.  Luckily the sconces stayed put in their brown paper but the shades didn't fair as well.

The shades were in a separate box laying next to one another and covered in just one layer of that small style bubble wrap.  The box had a lot of excess space on top.  This would have been the perfect spot for those air bags but there were none. One shade was in pieces.  I am shocked that they both did not break.

Am I asking too much for $431.61 worth of breakables items to be wrapped properly?  I'm sure they will replace the shade but I've lost time and energy trying to get the photos and info to them because my phone isn't working properly.  I thought I would expediate the matter by sending photos in an email along with the details.  But the receipt didn't have a contact email just a phone number and remember I was going through that phone thing.

Which brings me to my camera.  Last night as I was taking watch photos for my Etsy shop, my camera batteries died.  I opened a brand new package of batteries and installed them and went to bed. So today when I get my camera out to take a photo of the broken shade my camera is dead....nuttin....nodda.  So I had to go back out into the snow and cold to get batteries for the camera.

Back out?.....yes, back out into the cold and snow.  I actually started my day with great hope of getting a lot done and at the top of my list was to remove the vintage thumb latch door handle and lock set from the front door and take it to the locksmith up town.  We've been having trouble with the lockset not keeping the cyclinder lock in place.  There are long fine threaded screws that hold it in place. You have to locate the screw on flat spots on two sides of the cyclinder lock.  We do this but after several locking and unlockings the lockset jams.  One of the long screws is slightly bent so it will probably need to be replaced and we just didn't have a replacement piece.  I relayed what the problem was to the girl behind the counter (not the locksmith) to which she says "so what is it doing?" Really? So I repeated myself again saying that the cyclinder lock moves and when we put it back in place the lockset jams after several uses because the cyclinder lock moves.  If I have to diagnose the problem, I might as well just order the part and save myself a bundle.  This locksmith isn't cheap and I am probably looking at least at $75 if not more.

So let me recap

I hate the snow and cold but went out first thing this morning to the locksmith.

I had to go back out into the snow and cold to get batteries for my camera so I can document the broken sconce shade.

I put in the new batteries and take the photos.  Then I hunt down the email address because my phone is unreponsive because of dead batteries and cannot call them directly.

I then realize that the house is a little chilly.  I walk over to the thermostat and what do I see? Dead batteries and not a good AAA battery in the house.  So I go out in the cold and snow AGAIN.

After rereading this post I think I have figured out what the root cause is of all of my problems. Batteries.