WHERE is my GUM?!

I have had a favorite gum for several years. Actually, I think it stems from my childhood days, as I remember my mother carrying the very same type of gum in her purse when we were kids. My absolute all-time favorite gum EVER is Trident cinnamon. And I don't mean Trident White, or Trident Supafly or any other of those fancy gums that everyone makes nowadays. Just regular old Trident. The kind that comes with 18 medium-sized sticks in a pack. In cinnamon, of course, because cinnamon is the best gum flavor ever.

For the past few years, I have been purchasing this staple from Sam's Club in bulk. If you buy gum in bulk, you are more likely to share with others, which makes people happy. I like to make people happy. Well, the past several times I've been to Sam's, I couldn't find my gum, so I settled for either Trident White in cinnamon or regular Trident in spearmint. I do NOT like the blue flavor. I don't like peppermint gum. It's just weird. Anyway, so I keep checking the shelves at Sam's for them to restock the Trident cinnamon Val-U pack. In discouragement, I started checking the checkout lines at Wal-Mart, frantically searching for my gum. Where is it? Why has everyone run out of my gum?

Well, after some research on the ever-so-reliable and always truthful internet, I found out that Trident is discontinuing this gum. Tragedy has ensued. What will I do? I can't just find a new favorite gum. I've been chewing this gum forever. (And yes, I have tried other gums. I'm not a recluse.) So the best thing I could think of was to write a letter. When something in corporate America bothers me, I say something. I call Sonic HQ when I have bad service. I contact Coca-Cola when I get an expired can from a drink machine. I let McDonald's know when their location on Taylor Road has the worst service possible at any fast food restaurant (yes, I'm still bitter about that one). Anyway, so I sent a letter to the makers of Trident. I let them know how disappointed I am that they are discontinuing my gum. Sometimes when you politely complain to companies, they send you free stuff. So if anyone from Trident is reading this, please feel free to send me some free cinnamon Trident in the Val-U pack!!

And please, all of you loyal readers (insert witty joke here about "all two of you") - if you see cinnamon Trident in the Val-U pack, PLEASE let me know where I can find it! There have to be a few packs still floating around out there. I found it on Amazon in the 5-stick packs, but come on. 5 sticks? That won't last me a week. PLEASE HELP!!!

thanks, Jack Ingram. really.

If you did not catch the sarcasm in the title of this post, you will after you read the story.

For those of you who don't already know, Baron & I got a "new" car about a month ago, after our Maxima died of a blown head gasket. We absolutely LOVE our 2002 sorrel green metallic Nissan Altima. It drives so smoothly (especially compared to the dying Maxima), it has great features, it looks good, and it has a sunroof. The only thing wrong with it is that the service engine light had been on since we got it. The guys at Pigg Enterprises (shout out to the Piggs, who gave us a SQUEAL of a deal) had it checked out & told us it was the catalytic converter. They reset the light & told us to have it fixed if it came back on. They also deducted the price to replace the part from the overall cost of the car, which was great. We had also been noticing a rattling noise over the past week or so that was getting progressively worse. We were hoping that was part of the same problem. So one day I was talking about this at work, and one of my co-workers - who knows a good deal about cars - said that he thought there might be a recall on the catalytic converter for my car. So I called Jack Ingram & asked about it. Sure enough, there is a recall on the exhaust system, which includes the catalytic converter. There are also 3 other recalls on my car for minor things, so we decided to take the car to Jack Ingram to have all of the recall issues taken care of. We took the car in Monday morning. That afternoon, I asked Baron if he'd heard back from Jack Ingram.

"Are you ready for this?" he answered. That didn't sound good. That usually means no, I'm not ready for it. "They think it might be a blown head gasket." What?? Are you kidding me? There's no way. That's like going to the doctor with a sore throat & having him tell you that your femur is broken. Besides the fact that this diagnosis (or, more accurately, THEORY) sounded ridiculous, it was going to cost about $480 just to take out the engine & LOOK TO SEE if the problem is the head gasket. No thanks, Jack. So we called them back & told them we were going to pick up the car that afternoon and take it for a second opinion.

We took the car to Roger's Automotive in Prattville, where our good friend Jennifer Copeland works with her dad, who owns the shop. She & her "guys" looked at it yesterday and called Baron with a possible solution. Are you ready for this diagnosis? Anyone care to guess what was wrong with the car? It needed oil. Yep. Apparently, it was REALLY thirsty, because Jennifer put in about 3 quarts out of a possible maximum capacity of 4 quarts. So, either the car is leaking oil, which we see no visible signs of, or the place where Pigg Enterprises took it for an oil change employs a bunch of idiots. And according to Jennifer, we shouldn't be surprised if the latter is true.

So we will be keeping an eye on the Altima for the next week or so for signs of an oil leak. Hopefully, this will be the end of our car fiasco. The moral of the story? Don't take your car to Jack Ingram. I of course, did not need this experience to learn that lesson, but when you have recalls, you have to bite the bullet & take it to the dealership. But you would think that the SUPERB mechanics at Jack Ingram would know to check the oil. Nice.

P.S. A huge thank you to Jennifer for helping us out. Actually, we need to thank her & her husband, Justin, for being our heroes this week. Our dryer broke Sunday & we crashed their house to borrow theirs so our clothes wouldn't get all mildewy on us. They also helped us with our Maxima when it was dying, they helped us find our new car, and they are always willing to help us out when we need them for anything. Thanks, Copelands!!

a fun time was had by all...

My dad has already posted about this, but since some of you may not read his blog, here are some more pics from my bro's wedding. These are the "real" pictures, so they are much better than the ones I posted previously. If you want to see about 300 more, feel free to click here.

Enjoy!

see ya, Mogley!!

I would just like to let everyone know that I freaked out last night while watching American Idol. Logically, I shouldn't be so surprised that Sanjaya was voted off. However, this season has not been a very logical one. I was so excited last night when they said his name that I almost pushed Baron onto the floor.

Of course, knowing Sanjaya's luck, they'll have a recount and decide he really is still in the competition.

feel like dancin'?

I read Ashley's post about Aiden dancing, and I was jealous of his sweet moves. So, in an effort to keep up with the Joneses (or the Millses, in this case), Baron & I now have a video of our own. Watch for yourself & see who has the best moves.

Click Here

P.S. Because of our incredibly impressive dance moves, it takes a little while to load, so please be patient.

I need your help!!

Monday, when I got to work & went to the break room for my morning cup of coffee, I saw a few pieces of leftover Easter candy on the table. I noticed that one of them was a Cadbury Double Chocolate Bunny. "Hmmm...I've never tried one of these before," I thought. So I snatched one up to have for breakfast. I had no idea the extreme enjoyment that awaited inside that wrapper.

Seriously - this is my new favorite candy. It is a little chocolate bunny with chocolate creme inside that's kind of like chocolate syrup. OH MY GOODNESS...it's like heaven in a bunny. Anyway, I went to Cadbury's website, and they have no mention of these double chocolate bunnies. Apparently these are the secret Easter candies. So, I decided I would browse Wal-Mart's Easter clearance aisle in search of them. No luck. (I did, however, find Peeps for only 24 cents and Reese's peanut butter eggs for only 63 cents!)

So I need your help. Please search the leftover Easter candy aisles when you go to Wal-Mart or the grocery store. If you see any of these, PLEASE buy them for me & I'll pay you back! This is serious!! I can't wait a whole year before I have another one.

what we call the NEWS

To the media, who thinks that finally solving the "Anna Nicole's baby daddy" case is BREAKING news: sorry, but no. That is NOT breaking news. Seriously people - on the MSN page yesterday, it labeled this story as breaking news. And while I was in the break room at work eating lunch, they actually covered the story during the 12:00 news. Ok, so talk about it on Entertainment Tonight, or The View, or whatever, but please do not include it with the NEWS. My cousin is in the army in Kuwait, and his wife will be going overseas soon to serve as well, so let's talk about their 3 daughters who will be left in the U.S. without their parents for however long. But please. WHO CARES WHO DANNIELYN'S DADDY IS?! And while we're on the subject, what kind of name is Dannielyn anyway?

Now, to the women's basketball team at Rutgers: seriously? I don't think I've ever heard anyone whine as much as their head coach. No, Don Imus should not have said those things about the Rutgers players. It was an inappropriate comment, and he should have been sorry for it, which he appears to be. But can we please let it go? Good grief - this story has been at the top of the headlines all week. GET OVER IT.

And to these two stories that have been classified as BREAKING NEWS this week, I dedicate this video. And a special thanks to the media for wasting my time this week.

What We Call the News | Send To Friends | Funny Animations at JibJab

the big day!

Well, Mark and Lindsay are married now! The wedding was beautiful. It was an outdoor wedding, and in case you didn't step outside Saturday, it was pretty chilly. To compensate for the freezing cold bridesmaids in the strapless dresses, the groomsmen offered their tux jackets once we got down the aisle to the front. And yes, Mark gave Lindsay his jacket as well. It was very chivalrous. :-) So despite the chilly weather, we had great fun. Here are some pics I snapped at the reception. And no, my dad didn't tap into the keg - although by looking at these pics you wouldn't know that. Oh and thanks to Judy for doing the cha-cha slide with me! :-)

and now, a moment of laughter from our FRIENDS...