Heavy Sigh......

Eric and I went to Venue today to drop off a few more things and check on my inventory. When I say Eric and I went to Venue, I really mean Spidey and I went to Venue, and I really mean that I forced/bribed him to go. The Spidey suit is literally coming apart at the seams and I accidentally caught the mask in the vacuum the other day, which did not help matters. But he insisted on wearing it again. As in, a new day has dawned, we've had the clean underwear argument, and it's 8:30 a.m. so it must be time put on the Spiderman costume for the 458th day in a row. You think I'm kidding. You think I'm exaggerating. This has been going on for such a long time, I cannot remember when it began. There are weeks when Eric has noticeably less laundry than the rest of the family because of the pajama/Spidey suit combo.

And although I rarely allow the boys to watch a video when we're just tooling around the city, I did let Eric bring a movie along (current favorite: Muppet Family Christmas) to prevent the usual amount of whining I experience when we have to drive on three different freeways to get to Venue.

When we arrived in Ballard Eric was greeted by several "Hi Spidey!"s, which annoyed him so much. I explain each time he wears it in public, people are going to notice. It is September. No one else is wearing a costume. Anywhere. You will be the one and only Spiderman on the street. People will take a second glance, elbow their neighbor, and snicker a bit. That is what grown ups do when they see a 4 year old in a Spiderman suit held together with duct tape and a binder clip walking down the street. I offered to help him take it off. Nothing doing. He is Spiderman, damn it! Just don't look at him!

At Venue I discovered that I had sold very little since my last visit. I did sell three cupcake hats, but that's all. No Minnie Mouse booties, no Bumblebee booties, no pumpkin hats...c'mon! What is wrong with you people?! And after seeing some of the same old things that have been there week after week after week, I decided to pull a few hats, and (sob) Cinderella to freshen up my display. Caitlin, the manager was very quick to tell me what a great idea that was, which led me to think that they have been having discussions about those hideous hats and that wretched doll.

So now I've convinced myself that the magic is over. People from all across the land have decided that The Knitting Queen's hats are soooo last month and they've moved on. I'm going to end up a crazy lady with 50 hand knit hats no one wants and CPS knocking at my door because my kids have been missing under a mountainous pile of laundry, eating goldfish cracker crumbs off the floor.

On the bright side, this give me a few more things to add to my Etsy site and bring to Mike's cousin Audrey's holiday bazaar.

I am nearing the finish line on Peter's birthday gift, which is good because his party is on the 30th. I'm still knitting the giant birthday cake and I was beginning to knit a darling pair of court jester booties, but now that no one will ever want my booties, ever, in a million years, maybe I'll just put those aside for a couple of days.

Adding insult to injury, our satellite receiver died today. It happens to us every couple of years and we're on a plan where they send us a new one, free of charge, so it's a minor inconvenience for a few days. We're moving the box from the kitchen into the living room during this time of trial and, although we won't have DVR capability for a few days, I think we might make it through this crisis. What I'm annoyed about is this: after hanging up with tech support, Mike asked me about upgrading our receiver to one where we can record one show while watching another. So I called Dish back and waited an eternity on the phone. When I finally got someone and asked the question, I was told that we're not eligible for that.

We're not eligible to get a better more expensive receiver that we are willing to pay for?

No.

Why?

The computer tells them so.

Can I talk to someone else?

Apparently anyone I talk to at Dish will look at that computer and have no option but to recite that same information. They don't want more money from us and they don't want us to have a more enjoyable system.

Again, what would make someone not eligible for an upgrade?

Apparently they take things into consideration like length of contract and type of plan.

But we've been with you forever and have a cheap contract. Are you telling me we wouldn't be prime candidates for an upgrade?

Not according to the computer.

Can I speak with the person who put this information into the computer? Surely someone there must be responsible for making a decision.

Sure--let me put you on hold.

And of course we became disconnected.

I so want to call them back and continue this ridiculous argument where I offer them more money and they keep declining, but I don't have another 95 minutes to sit on the phone.

So that has been my day. Oh, did I mention that Eric refused to take a nap?

My silver lining? Mike told me that the Keith Urban concert had the most impressive video production he has ever seen at a concert. And this is from a man who saw Madonna in 1985. With his dad.