Perspective

It’s amazing how quickly Vince’s view of things can change – when he’s in the middle of the situation. I’m sure, at least to some degree, I’m the same way.

Walmart Delivery:

When I first talked to Vince about signing up for the Walmart Plus account (free delivery) for $99 per year, you would have thought I’d asked if we could buy the Walmart building! He saw no value in doing that and thought it was a total waste of money but in the end, I got a curt little “do what you want to do!” response so I did. I was here by myself, there was snow, it was cold . . I didn’t want to go out and I was doing a good job of only getting groceries every three or four weeks, which meant I ran out of a lot of fresh fruits and veggies. Thank goodness ice cream kept nicely in the freezer! 🙂

As soon as I either pickup a grocery order or have a delivery, I start another shopping cart online so when I run out of milk or something I really need, I can just hit the button and have a delivery or go pickup groceries.

You know Vince . . he WANTS to go to the grocery store. He doesn’t have a clue what we have here . . especially since he hasn’t been here. If I gave him my list and he went to the store, I have no doubt he’d come home with at least double the amount of things I had on the list. I just don’t want to find a place for all that stuff! We had a talk. I told him . . NO! You’re not buying groceries! You can go for spray paint, air conditioner filters, WD-40 . . but I don’t want you buying groceries! He hasn’t agreed but so far, it hasn’t happened. I ask him several times before placing an order if there’s anything he needs or wants and so far, he’s said no.

We needed a few things for the weekend with Addie – not much but we needed milk and hamburger buns. I had enough to meet the $35 minimum. Not wanting to start another discussion about delivery, I scheduled a pickup for the groceries. Thursday I told Vince I had to run to Walmart Friday morning to pick up groceries. He said “Why are you doing that? Didn’t you already pay for delivery? You can barely go there and back for the cost of the tip!” I told him that I’d prefer delivery so I changed it to delivery. The driver drove up, dropped off the groceries, I got the text that they were at the door, Vince and I brought them in and put them away.

I said “Wasn’t that easy?” He said something like “Yes! Why would anyone go to the grocery store any more?” I did not laugh but I almost did.

The Cell Phone:

I never buy expensive cell phones. I need a phone that makes calls, can use a few apps I like, takes decent pictures and I can use to text. That’s it. If a $50 phone will do all that, then I’m happy with a $50 phone! I generally pay about $150 for a phone and they usually last about two years, barring any Humpty Dumpty type events. I’ll admit I’m hard on a phone. It’s all I use for pictures and you know that I take a ton of pictures. Even for one blog picture, I’ve probably taken 10 and decided which one was best. I keep a decent case on my phone and it does get dropped too often. I’m trying to carry too much. I have it in my lap in the car and stand up, forgetting it’s in my lap.

If I call you and we talk, or I send you a text message and you respond, I don’t know (nor do I care) whether you’re using a $1,500 phone or a $150 phone (or a $10 phone). Of all the things in life that matter to me, my phone is not one of them . . so long as it’s working. For friends who have tried to talk to me on the phone lately, it’s say a few words, call back; say a few words, call back because the phone will not stop dropping calls. We’ve updated. Turned it on and off a million times. It’s been time for a new phone!

One night when Vince was in Texas, he called me on Facebook and was really upset, and it was understandable. He had been trying to call me for hours, and it was fairly late at night, and I wasn’t answering. My phone was not ringing. That went on for several months but once he learned to call on Facebook, it wasn’t a problem . . he didn’t worry about me if I didn’t answer my phone. I kept telling him . . I need to get a new phone but his response was always “We’re not buying anything right now!”

It’s just gotten worse and worse.

Last week Vince called the phone company and changed our address. Then he tried to order a new phone for me but there’s some security thing that you can’t change your address and then order a phone right away. We had to wait a couple of days but it’s been over a week.

Lately it drops calls. I was trying to talk to someone yesterday and in about a 3 minute phone call, I had to call them back four times. It hardly ever rings and when it doesn’t ring, it doesn’t show a missed call. Last night I was sitting right here by the phone. Chad called Vince. “Where’s mom and why is she not answering her phone?” This morning . . same call from Nicole to Vince. I tried to make a business call and it kept disconnecting so I asked Vince if he would make the call. He did but then he said “Stop right now . . order a new phone. Pay the extra to get it delivered next day (which is really two day and this was Friday so I probably won’t have it til Tuesday).

I ordered a new phone and a new case and a couple of screen protectors. I should have a working phone for at least a year! 🙂