Paducah Bound...

This is what happens when your husband starts hinting he needs to go on a trip. You look at your calendar and say, "I have Wednesday and Thursday clear this week." Okay, time for an overnight trip. Where to go, where to go?  Remembering how much we enjoyed Dogwood Trail in Paducah a few years ago, I Googled and learned it would be this week! Fantastic. I secured the last river view room in the Holiday Inn Riverfront for Wednesday night. I found possibilities of other things to do. Then I took my findings upstairs to Claude's office and assured the Big Guy that I had done my part. Now he had to pick what he wanted to do and drive us there and back. This all happened on Monday, April 12th. 

Wednesday, April 14th, we got up and headed out in time to get a biscuit and a soda for breakfast a Hardee's in Sadieville. We would enjoy this traditional-for-us breakfast as we pointed the car onto I-75 southbound. As we left Love's Travel Plaza, in front of us was a tow truck with a hearse on it. We just found this interesting and a bit ironic. As we drove and munched away on our biscuits, I told Claude the saying should be, "A biscuit a day keeps the doctor away!" We were off to a good start on a very rainy morning. The forecast was for it to clear the further west we got. 

The drive went very well. We stopped once in Beaver Dam, Kentucky for a little burger for lunch. We crossed the Tennessee River. We enjoyed all the red bud trees in bloom with the dogwoods blossoming with them.

Upon arrival in Paducah, we let Goggle Maps guide us to our hotel . We found Big Foot along the way!

As usual, we forgot to take into account that Kentucky is split down the middle with a time zone change. We were an hour earlier than when we left Sadieville and way early for checking into our hotel. We opted to go to the National Quilt Museum and see if it was open for visitors to fill our time till check in. It was open! Yeah!!

The rounded part of the building is where their conference room is located. It has stained glass windows in it. This little bird came up an posed for a picture! 

On the lawn of the museum is a statue titled On the Road of Discovery.

We entered the museum and asked for tickets at the Old People's Rate. The nice lady suggested we go into their conference room first and look at the wooden quilt. Okay, we can do that. I took a picture of a quilt done in water colors on rice paper with cotton fabric and silk thread on the left wall as we entered. 

I found myself looking for a wooden quilt. The room was sparsely decorated and I didn't see anything that resembled what I imagined a wooden quilt would look like. So, I opted to take pictures of the stain glass windows. 

On the last wall of the conference room hung a beautiful quilt. It was made of wood!! I was totally surprised. There was one sample piece that you could touch. There were explanations of the work on display. Another couple was there from Florida. She had heard of this artist in Florida, learned there was a piece of his work at this museum, and they stopped to see it. The things you learn. The artist is Frazier Smith from Tampa, Florida. The quilt is actually made of many smaller blocks of wood glued together to look like one large block of wood. This was an amazing piece of work. Even up close, I still thought it was a cloth quilt. Stunning.

I did not take pictures of every quilt in the museum. I tried to take pictures of the ones I really liked and the ones Claude really liked or that either of us found interesting for whatever reason. It seems quilting is a way to express your opinion about things, to remember things, to share about the field in which you work, to count the days in a year, to use up things you have saved and they gave you an idea of how to make that quilt, to remember a loved one, and the list goes on and on. Here are the quilts we enjoyed to most. 

The first picture is titled "Dusk" and the second picture is "Silk Road Sampler".

This quilt reminds me of the Pennsylvania Dutch items we found often in Pennsylvania in the Amish communities. I love Pennsylvania Dutch items. I love when they are done in bright colors. Since taking a picture so you get the entire quilt in a picture misses some of the detail, I would take a close-in picture of a bit of the quilt to get that detail. This quilt is an example of an appliqued quilt. It is titled "With You".

The next set of quilts are from the Modern Quilt Guild (MQG). The first one is titled "Right Matters". If you look closely, you will find the words 'Right Matters' in the quilt. The quote was made by Colonel Vindman who said, "I believe that in America, right matters." The maker of this quilt hopes that quote is always true.

This quilt is titled "Somethings are not Easily Seen: Poverty". This quilt actually spells out the word 'poverty' in red. Took me a while to see it. Claude looked at it before me and he was able to help to find it. 

The title of this quilt is "Frequency". It is a modern interpretation of soundwaves. They alternate directions but follow a continuous wavelike path. Start at the top left corner and you have a continuous white line all the way to the bottom left corner. Cool.

This quilt is titled "Vote". It is really a four block quilt.

"Big Love" is a quilt of what the word 'love' would look like as sound waves. 

I told Claude the next quilt made me think of our Bailey. He agreed. It is titled "For the Love of Squircles". The quilter used scraps and cut her squares free hand. She did a block each day for a year. It is hand quilted.

The final quilt in the Modern collection actually had one corner of a room with many quilts of this type. I picked this one for my picture with a close up of the work. It is titled "Pattern Fusion No. 18: Motherboard 9". The quilter is actually a male professor at the University of Kentucky. He weaves strips of film from a projector to make the surface and applies other materials. This reminds me of Hayden who is good with electronic things and would love a career making movies. 

Now for a quilt that is full of detailed quilting stitches. Titled "Roses in the Round", this is a memorial quilt. It is the last quilt the quilter and her husband worked on together. He passed away and she finished it as a fitting memorial to all their years together. It is made of cotton and is all hand appliqued and hand quilted.

If you are a Beatles fan, this is the quilt for you. It is correctly named "The Beatles Quilt". I have included the plaque describing it as it details what all the songs included in the quilt are. 

The next quilt is an example of machine piecing and machine quilting. The title is "Big Bang".

The quilter of "Turkish Treasures" was inspired to make this quilt after a visit to Turkey. The designs come from ancient Roman ruins, the Byzantine and Ottoman empires, and is made of silk fabrics. The quilter made the Oya needle lace that edges the quilt.

"Pop Stars" was made by a quilter from Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. My sister, Neffie, lived in Saudi Arabia for six years when her hubby, Mike, worked there. Neffie is an avid quilter and does beautiful work. I kept thinking she should look into exhibiting some of her work here. I liked this because of the connection to my sister, Neffie.

Ever seen a metal ceiling? Now you have in quilted form. This quilt is titled "Painted Metal Ceiling". It is machine pieced but hand appliqued and hand quilted. 

I spied this beauty from a room away. We visited Japan and a Torii Gate. I love purple but I do believe my second favorite color would be red. This was made by a lady from Roy, Utah. The name is "Harmony Within".

Oh be still my heart. This is a quilt I found amazing. Not a lot of explanation about it. It was named "Alabaster Relief". 

A lady in the Philippines made this beautiful quilt. It is named "Le Jardin de Nos Reves" which means "My Garden of Dreams". 

"Tiger, Tiger" was a quilt Claude and I stood in front of for a long time. Embedded in all this quilting are 16 tigers. You can see one of them in the tree branches. We did not find all of them. Not anywhere near. Amazing!

"Forest Walk" was inspired by a walk the quilter took in Redwood Park.

This quilter apprenticed to a 92 year old African-American woman in her home who taught her how to make pine cone quilts. She continues to teach others pine cone quilting. This piece of her work was in a section of the museum that had small quilts in it. "Vintage Rose Garden" is actually 20" x 20". 

"Fire Dragon Rhapsody" was inspired by an iron grillwork in an old post office in Pueblo, Colorado. The man who made this quilt has 32 dragon motifs quilted into the quilt. 

This quilt caught my eye because it is of a St. Catherine's Chapel in Allenspark, Colorado. We lived Denver, Colorado for 8 1/2 years. It is titled "Mountain Chapel, 2008".

Claude particularly found this one interesting. The quilter realized she had almost a complete set of charms for the alphabet. That set her to work creating this "Charm School" quilt. Very clever.

Our next quilter loved using her longarm quilter. When her husband passed away, she decided to try something different and make a quilt just for her with no time limit on getting it finished. She made "Arandano, 2016". I love the colors and the pattern of this quilt a lot.

"Unexpected Beauty" caught my eye because of the purple color. Around the border of this quilt, starting at the top left, it reads "If you open your mind, beauty can often be found in the most unexpected places." Lovely! I agree!!

So many more quilts in this museum. It is truly worth the visit. We decided to check out the gift shop. There is a patio area with a statue in it titled "The Strength of One". 

We purchased Claude a cane in the gift shop. He did not need a cane. But it had the Air Force logo on the top and that drew him in. 

We could now check into our hotel room. It was on the fifth floor and had a balcony. We spent the later afternoon sitting on the balcony watching the Ohio River.

I had asked the front desk clerk at the hotel about a local place which she really like to eat and would recommend to us. This is always fun to get to eat something local to the area. She suggested Flamingo Row. It was on the other side of town. We found it, put our names on the wait list, then dined. Excellent food with a Caribbean flare. 

Our evening was the true purpose for our visit. We would drive the Dogwood Trail in Paducah. The residents light their dogwood trees and it is a beautiful drive. 

Time to find a pillow an rest our weary heads. 

Thursday, April 15th, we slept until we wanted to get up. I found this on the Ohio River from our balcony. 

We found a Hardee's on our way out of town and got our biscuit and soda for the road. We would travel back home the same way we came. So a view of the Tennessee River from the other side of the bridge is in order.

We drove thru Muhlenberg County and over the Green River. This brought song lyrics to our minds. I searched for the lyrics to Paradise by John Prine. I found them along with a recording of him singing the song. We listened to it and sang along.

When I was a child my family would travel

Down to Western Kentucky where my parents were born

And there's a backwards old town that's often remembered

So many times that my memories are worn

And daddy, won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County

Down by the Green River where Paradise lay

Well, I'm sorry, my son, but you're too late in asking

Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away

Well, sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River

To the abandoned old prison down by Airdrie Hill

Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols

But empty pop bottles was all we would kill

And daddy, won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County

Down by the Green River where Paradise lay

Well, I'm sorry, my son, but you're too late in asking

Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away

Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel

And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land

Well, they dug for their coal 'til the land was forsaken

Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man

And daddy, won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County

Down by the Green River where Paradise lay

Well, I'm sorry, my son, but you're too late in asking

Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away

When I die let my ashes float down the Green River

Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester Dam

I'll be halfway to Heaven with Paradise waitin'

Just five miles away from wherever I am

And daddy, won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County

Down by the Green River where Paradise lay

Well, I'm sorry, my son, but you're too late in asking

Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away

A little more research and I found Airdrie Hill where the Public Television station had done some video of that area. There was a mine. It is long finished mining. There was a town called Paradise. It was originally called Stom's Landing and was on the Green River. It no longer exists. We felt like we had been in a part of history for a bit there.

We also passed a military convoy. Don't see many of these anymore. We used to see them often in Louisiana when I was a child because of Fort Polk. Fort Know is in Elizabethtown. This convoy may have been coming from there.

We stopped in Lexington for dinner at Montana Grill on the way home.

This was such a fun trip for us. No pressure time wise. Just find a spot and have a little time away enjoying this beautiful world. Claude thinks we should do this once a week. I don't think he was kidding!

Flowers & Electronics...

Monday, April 5, 2021, I woke up and checked the tracking on my 2nd new cellphone. It was due to arrive before 4:30pm. Yippee!! I posted this in a previous Blog entry about getting this phone. 

I made it to Dr. Fine, my podiatrist, after leaving a treat bag for Papa. Dr. Fine gouged his way through my big toe on my left foot to get a hangnail out. I go back in a month to be sure all is okay. Previously he sold me a nice set of inserts for my really good sneakers to help my feet, which seem to be falling apart. He asked about them and I assured him they hurt like all get out when I did our mile walk at Moss Park. We determined I need to take the inserts out that were made in the sneakers and that might alleviate some of this pain. Go figure. I then assured him I was a Southern girl and that meant barefoot for me as much as possible. 

I spent Monday evening learning my way around my new cellphone so it was set the way I thought I would like it best. There are definitely things that are a bit different but I believe the learning curve with this phone will be less that when we purchased the Samsung 7's. 

Tuesday, April 6, 2021, I found a voice mail on my phone that I had not received while trying to use two phones at one time. It was from Glen at the Nursing Home. When I had my first visit with Papa the previous Tuesday, I noted Papa was using a different walker than his. It seemed the seat in it was smaller. I asked Glen about it when setting up the appointment for this Tuesday. His voice message was telling me Papa was using a different walker as he has a wheel that broke off. 

Claude and I began our day with a biscuit and soda on the front porch. The first picture I took with my new cellphone was of our biscuit on the porch tradition. 

I went into Georgetown ahead of my visit with Papa to purchase him a new walker. I found one at J&L Pharmacy a block away from the nursing home. It is blue and Papa will have a hard time learning that the blue walker is his and he no longer has a red walker, but he will get it eventually. 

I was able to take Papa out of the nursing home for the first time in 13 months!! We got him in my car and away we went. I drove out to Stamping Ground and some of the old back roads out there. Then I took Papa to the park along Elkhorn Creek and the geese came right up to the car and honked at Papa. Then I took Papa to Burger King and got him a chocolate shake. Papa was so happy to be out in the fresh air and driving through the countryside. It is funny how he used to say the same thing every time were went for a drive. It had begun to wear thin on my weary nerves. This day, it felt like good to me to hear him notice the dead trees when we were out to see the beauty of the world, or to tell me all the houses were multi-family homes because he can't grasp that people live in bigger homes nowadays. These comments felt good and I was grateful to hear them from his lips again. I thought as I drove home how good it was to have this experience. If Heavenly Father decided it was time for Papa to come home now, it is okay because we got him out doing things he enjoys again. I did note as we watched the geese, that my poor father really needs a haircut. I sent these pictures to my family and my sisters. I commented to them that Papa might be giving our Hayden a run for his money on letting one's hair grow during Covid-19.

I purchased charging cables for the new cellphones as they have a different "C" connection. We are trying to get charging cables in all the right places now. We can't get rid of all the older types because we still have a few things that use them. I also mailed back the 1st new cellphone to AT&T. After purchasing dinner for us at Jimmy John's, I hurried home to have a nice meal with my hubby.

Wednesday, April 7, 2021, Claude had an ophthalmologist appointment in Georgetown followed by errands. That gave me some time at home alone. We have truly enjoyed being together for the past year. Now we will have to learn to not be together 24/7. 

I found some flowers opening in our yard. I am going to post all the flower pictures here. These were taken at various times during this week. I love watching things burst into bloom in the Spring. It never grows old. Even though the allergies flare and the sneezing begins, I do love the beauty of Spring.

First, my eye caught something blue in the center front flower bed of our home. I have not planted a blue flower there. I walked down to check it out. This is what I found. I do not know what it is. It makes me smile so it shall have place in my flowerbed.

This is a cluster of buds and blossoms on our crab apple tree. It will be interesting to see if we get enough crabapples to make some crabapple jelly. It is a favorite of our family.

When Lanny and Arlene were visiting with Cordell, I rode in their car and pointed out things they might find interesting about Kentucky. I mentioned that in a short time we would have redbud trees in blossom all over the state. They don't have redbud trees in Utah to the best of my knowledge. When Bonnie, Claude's mother, first visited in April, she fell in love the redbud trees. She had never seen them before. They burst out in spots all over the state. Not uncommon to see a forest of green trees with lots of redbud trees blooming throughout. I took this picture of a redbud tree in front of Dr. Richardson's office. Hope to get a few more along Hwy 32 and then send them to Arlene.

We brought back a few tulip bulbs a few years ago from the Tulip Festival in Holland, Michigan. This is the results of two of those bulbs growing in our hosta bed in our back yard. They are not fully open, but we were due to have a severe thunderstorm that night and I wanted to be sure I captured them in pictures in case they didn't make it through the storm. Love this deep color.

I planted a little groundcover like flower in our front flower bed. It just spreads and spreads. Sometimes it will hang over the edge. It blossoms all summer long. This year I found a darker pink growing in the front flower bed along with a lighter pink. Same plant. Different shades of color. 

Thursday, April 8, 2021, we received our new Genie Mini. This is a little receiver for the television in our master bedroom. We had not had reception on that television and the beginning of March we did an Internet chat with DirecTV and determined a new receiver was needed for that room. One was ordered but never arrived. After a month, I figured I needed to yank DirecTV's chain a bit. I called and they said there was a wrong phone number on my order and they couldn't reach me by telephone so they did not deliver the receiver. Clearly this was a typo on the person taking the order as I never entered anything in a computer or signed any papers. All was done via a cellphone call. No matter. They sent another receiver and made sure they had a correct phone number for me.

Claude and I carefully installed the new receiver making sure all the connections were set up exactly like the old receiver. Then we got the remote and tried to follow the instructions on setting up the new receiver. It did not work. The remote was being extremely weird. I called a phone number with the instructions, explained the situation. Barbara was very kind and eventually came to understand it was the remote. I asked if the remote could be reset. She told us how to do that and we went through the process with her. Eventually, it all worked great. Barbara assured us she was sending us a spare remote just in case this one went whack-o again. I honestly believe technology is what is going to do me in!!

Friday, April 9, 2021, I awoke and asked my poor hubby if he would give me another haircut. He agreed. It is a humbling experience to watch my left-handed, large hubby use my haircutting scissors the right size for my right hand reflected in the mirror as he cuts away at my hair. I put the hair up in clips so it can be layered down as he cuts. He starts at the bottom with a thin layer of hair to cut a baseline. I assure him this should only be about 1/2-inch as it will be more than that when he reaches the top layer. Sure enough by the time he got to the middle of my hair, he was cutting an inch off. He kept leaving one side a bit longer than the other. I would point out what I saw after he finished each layer and he would cut a bit more to be sure it was even on both side. Quite a pair we make. It is a humbling lesson in patience for me since I have cut his hair for 51 years now. But, he did it and he did a great job. He is now sure he needs to start a new profession. 

I got the laundry going while Claude tried to see if he could fix Papa's old walker. Alas, it is truly a goner. The brake broke (that sounds funny) and we didn't feel it was safe to give an elderly person who can't walk a repaired walker that had a broken brake. 

We went to Georgetown in the afternoon to take Papa his treat, mail back the old Genie Mini, return a wrong charging cable, pick up prescriptions at CVS, take our walk at Moss Park and have some dinner. Whew. Felt like we were going back to old times. Except everyone is wearing a mask and staying away from everyone else. 

Saturday, April 9, 2021, we had a day at home. All day long. My plan was to find a phone number for my HP Printer and call someone to help me get it to work. I tried on Friday to scan a packet of pictures Claude found. Could not get my laptop to recognize my printer when trying to scan. It would print just find. But scanning it was not inclined to do in the least. I finally gave up and went upstairs on Friday and worked on entering my paper scripture markings to my Kindle Gospel Library. So, Saturday was the day I was going to, once again, try to get electronics to behave. Imagine my pure delight when I tried to scan a picture and the very first time it did scanned a picture. Not an issue at all. I decided to sit there and scan as long as it would scan for me. I have several stacks of items that need to be scanned as part of our family history. After several hours, I went upstairs and got a drink. When I came back downstairs, the laptop once again didn't recognize my printer/scanner. Ugh!! I did spend the rest of the afternoon being sure some of the pictures Bonnie gave us were truly in my picture files and did not need to be scanned. So I did get a lot of scanning done and then some other work done on this 3-foot tall pile of things with which to deal. 

All I can say at the end of this week week is: Thank heaven for pretty flowers to offset electronic issues. I am grateful that Covid-19 is lessening in Kentucky and around the world. There are still some hot spots but it is so much better in Kentucky I get to actually take Papa out of the nursing home. What a blessing! What a blessing!! That, my friends, is a tender mercy of the Lord in my life.

A Few Moments in Time through a Camera Lens...

I miss so much have a cellphone with a working camera. I love pictures. I love having them to look back at and remember. Capturing that moment that struck me in a positive way is just plain fun to me. I don't claim to be a great photographer. But I enjoy looking at life thru the eye of a camera lens. One day this past week, I was driving out of Eagle Bend and, as I crossed the bridge, I noticed a fawn standing in the creek looking at me. I stopped the car and reached for my cellphone. Then I remembered I had a cellphone but the camera didn't work. I have greatly relied on others to keep me in pictures the past couple of weeks to tell my life story. I am posting the ones I have collected here. I did take the poinsettia one with my real camera. When it started to snow, Claude reached for his camera and said, "Take a picture!" He knows me well. Enjoy these snippets from my life that past two weeks.

Monday, March 22, 2021, Raelyn finished reading her 200th book. She was allowed to get a free book for accomplishing this goal. Yeah Rae!!

Tuesday, March 23, 2021, Emelia enjoyed a great hair day. Katelyn calls this her Farrah Fawcett look. 

Sunday, March 28, 2021, I received a picture from Todd of Nissa, our firstborn, in her birthday present PJ's. Nissa's birthday was March 26th. I purchased me a set of these pajamas and, on my way home, the light went on. I should have purchased Nissa a pair for her birthday. Then we could have matching PJ's even if we live miles apart. I did drive back to Kohl's and purchase a pair for Nissa. After receiving the picture of Nissa, I had Claude take one of me to send to Todd and Nissa. So, Nissa's picture first and mine second.

Monday, March 29th, Katelyn posted a cute picture of Emelia reading a book about puppies. She was rockin' the head band this day. Emelia loves little critters and I believe puppies are one of her favorites.

Tuesday, March 30th, Raelyn finished reading her 300th book. So happy to get yet another book for her collection.

Wednesday, March 31st, my grandson, Hayden, knowing my love of turtles, sent me this adorable picture. Thank you Hayden!

Thursday, April 1st, was April Fool's Day. To make sure it felt like April Fool's Day, we had a light bit of snow fall in Sadieville. Look closely. There really are snowflakes in the pictures.

Saturday, April 3rd, I was delighted to see light shining through the bathroom window onto my 2016 poinsettia. The light and the bright red were simply gorgeous. I love when the poinsettia decide to turn red on its leaves.

And that day the Ropers got to enjoy their back yard. Katelyn got this great family picture of them. How fun to finally be warm enough in Michigan to enjoy being outside in the sunshine.

The Saga of Trying to Get a New Cellphone...

A friend of mine from my years in Shreveport, Louisiana posted this on his Facebook page. I just laughed. It so fits my week. 

Last week I posted about a week without my cellphone camera. Now, with company gone, it was time to remedy my life without a cellphone camera. Monday morning, March 29, 2021, Claude and I went into Georgetown. We would deliver a treat to Papa and fill that birdfeeder the birds enjoy so much. Then we would go to the AT&T store to check on new cellphones for both Claude and I. Claude's cellphone was working fine. We decided we would both get new ones at the same time. We perused the cellphone offerings now available. I settled on a nice Phantom Violet Samsung Galaxy S21 5G with 256GB. This would give me the latest in technology as they had only been on the market for a few months. Claude picked out a Mystic Bronze (it looks pink to me!!) Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G with 256GB. His phone had only been on the market a few weeks. Neither of these phones was in stock. We went across the store to the young man who would place our order and set up our contracts for these new phones. Then we finished our Georgetown chores with a stop at Walmart, CVS Pharmacy and a walk at Moss Park. 

When we got home, I sent a text to Jake because he also got a new phone in the past few weeks. I asked him what kind his was and if he was still using Verizon. He replied and asked me what we got. I looked at the texts on my phone about the orders placed. Our phones were each ordered separately and each had its own text with a link to the order. I opened up the first one and found my phone. That is when I realized the phone ordered for me was 128GB, not 256GB. In my mind I remembered when we bought our Samsung 7 phones and they came with 32GB and how blown away we were with that amount of memory. Now, we each have little of that left. I wanted the 256GB because I fully expect technology to change and we will need all that memory in the future. When you place your order at the AT&T store now, you are not given any paperwork. You sign nothing. You just agreed to the new charges and they tweek what your monthly bill will be. I am sure this is due to Covid-19. This is the third time we will have purchased phones at this particular store. Always in the past, we have had a stack of papers to review and sign, they have taken our old phones and transferred data to the new phones from the old phones. Not this time. Hence, it was only in sharing our purchase with Jake that I realized the young man ordered my phone with the incorrect amount of memory. Not a big problem, I would call in the morning and get that corrected.

Then, that evening, Claude received an eMail for each phone stating the phones were ordered and shipped. Okay, still not a concern. They could order me another phone and I would return the one currently on its way. 

Tuesday, March 30th, I spent my morning trying to call the Georgetown AT&T store. My phone kept ringing Ashley whose message box was full. I was not getting through with the number in my contact list. I checked the website and called that number. It was the same one in my contact list and Ashley's message box was still full. 

I had my second appoint for an in person visit with Papa at 1pm. Claude had an ophthalmologist appointment an hour before my visit with Papa. We took two cars. I went in early and stopped at the AT&T store first. I was told by the sales person this would not be a problem. When the box with the new cellphone arrived, I was to bring the unopened box to the AT&T store in Georgetown. They would reverse the order and get a shipping label for me to return the 1st new cellphone. Then they would place an order for the 2nd new cellphone. Great. I finished up in Georgetown about the time Claude was getting ready for his walk. He waited and we did our walk together. 

Once home, I received the box with the 1st new cellphone. I did not open it. I realized the AT&T store in Georgetown closed at 8pm. I could get in and return this phone and then order the correct phone. Claude drove me in. This was a very fortunate move. 

The sales person took the unopened package from me. She tried to refund the original order. Nope, that wouldn't work. She tried to exchange the original order. Nope, that wouldn't work. She tried one other thing and that wouldn't work either. She asked me to dial 611 and explain my problem and have the AT&T Customer Service department figure this out. I did this and explained to the first person what had happened and what I was trying to do. She asked me to get the sales person on the phone. It seems they couldn't reverse the charge without putting the sim card in the new phone and working from it. I went back in the store assuring them that I only had a little bit of battery left on my old phone and didn't want to be dropped on this call. 

The sales person changed the sim car and started up the 1st new phone. Then I went out to the Jeep and plugged in while talking with AT&T Customer Service. It seems she could not find the phone I wanted in 256GB. I assured her that the display in the store showed the option. Turns out this customer service rep couldn't help so she transferred my called to someone with more authority. Hmmm. This person couldn't get the phone and said there was no such phone for sale. I assured her the sign in the store said there was. I went back inside the Georgetown store and checked the sign to be sure. The sales clerk assured me there was a phone in Phantom Violet in 256GB. Back to the Jeep I went so, while on hold with this customer service person doing research, I could charge my phone . Eventually I got a message stating my hold would be two minutes...hmmm....I had been on my old phone for 1 hour now. 

After a while another customer service person came on the phone who had no clue what I was calling about. I'm not sure if the call dropped and picked up as a new call or what. Ugh...I went through my explanation about what I was trying to do and what had been done so far. Again, I was told they could not exchange or reverse because there was no Phantom Violet phone in 256GB. I assured her I looked at one in the store. She told me there just must not be any in stock in that color and I would have to get a Phantom Gray version. I could get that in 256GB. Okay...let's go with that. I'll look for a purple cover. 

Back in the store I went to have the sales clerk help me get the 1st new phone set up so they could then exchange or refund or reverse or whatever it took to get me a mailing label to mail this phone back. By now it was closing time for the Georgetown store. I knew the three people working there were ready to leave. I knew I was ready to be finished. We ended with me saying I would use my old cellphone till the 2nd new cellphone arrived in the mail. I was given my old cellphone back with no sim card. I would not be able to use the telephone on the old phone but I could do all things I needed an Internet connection for with the old phone. I was given the 1st new cellphone which had a sim card and I could use it to make telephone calls. Oh My Heck!! A return address label was eMailed to Claude's eMail. 

Wednesday, March 31st, I spent my morning being sure I had everything off the old cellphone that I might need in case the transfer of data didn't go well on the 2nd new cellphone when it arrived. Claude received his new cellphone and was able to transfer his data very smoothly. He needed to have his sim card installed and would do that on Thursday at the Georgetown store. 

Thursday, April 1st, was a real April Fool's Day for me. Claude received a FedEx tracking number in an eMail regarding the 2nd new cellphone delivery. The eMail stated the cellphone would be to Sadieville by 4:30pn that day. That would give me time to get back to Georgetown to set these phone up correctly. The eMail also contained a shipping label to mail back the 1st new cellphone. In the late afternoon, Claude got another eMail and that tracking information said the 2nd new cellphone would now be delivered by the end of the day. 

We were taking dinner to a family who lived way out in the country. That needed to be delivered between 5pm and 6pm. We left at 5:15 to deliver this meal with no new 2nd cellphone received. After delivering the meal, we drove on into Georgetown and stopped at the AT&T store where they cheerfully put the sim card in Claude's new cellphone. He is set and ready to go on his new phone. He will keep his old phone in case he needs to reference the things on it as he learns to use the new phone. Once he is comfortable that he has everything right on the new cellphone, we'll take the old one back and they will erase everything on it.

We turned on the front porch light and stayed up until 11:30pm and no cellphone was delivered. If this was an April Fool's Day trick, it was not funny at all.

Friday, April 2nd, we again checked the tracking in the morning. We had errands to run and wanted to take the 2nd new cellphone in while in Georgetown. The delivery time would help us know when to go to Georgetown. Guess what the new tracking message said? No scheduled deliver date available!! It seems the package was sent to the FedEx main location at 4:57am on Wednesday, March 31st. It was picked up in Indianapolis at 1:10pm. Then it left the FedEx origin facility in Plainfield, Indiana at 3:00pm. At 3:20pm it arrived at the Indianapolis facility. All this was Wednesday, March 31st. The next record was for Friday, April 2nd, showing it departed the Indianapolis FedEx facility at 9:59am. Does not say where it went. The tracking record just said "No scheduled delivery date available at this time. I also learned that this day was Good Friday and that could affect delivery of items by FedEx. 

I made another call to AT&T's Customer Service number. A rude voice recording gave me a website to get a virtual assistant to help me. I tried that and got absolutely no where. I called the 611 number again and gave a fake need which got me to a real person. I explained the entire situation...again...and they checked all their records. She was able to tell me that FedEx had assured them the latest this new 2nd cellphone would be delivered was Friday at 8pm. Ugh!!

We waited until 2:30pm to do our errands. Then we left Sadieville fully expecting to pass a FedEx truck trying to deliver my 2nd new cellphone. Alas, that did not happen. We took Papa a treat. Ate a nice dinner at Sonic. Then we headed back to Sadieville. We would again wait until 11:30pm with no delivery of any cellphone. Nope. Not any delivery at all.

Saturday, April 3rd, we still had the same message of No scheduled delivery date available at this time. We would be home to watch General Conference on television.

Sunday, April 4th, we still had the same message of No scheduled delivery date available at this time. We would be home to watch General Conference on television. We were not expecting any delivery now until Monday.

Monday, April 5th, I grabbed my old cellphone as soon as I woke up and ran the FedEx tracking number. Imagine my delight when the message said the new 2nd cellphone would be deliver by 4:30pm Monday!! I hoped this would be right. I had a doctor's appointment at 10:40am. I was ready to leave our home at 10:15am. I thought I would just look on the front doorstep before I left. I opened that front door and there was a FedEx truck and the driver was walking up to my front door. I blurted out "My cellphone!!". The driver grinned really big and handed me the package. I went inside and gathered the box for the 1st new cellphone and put my original cellphone and the 1st new cellphone in my purse. I took care of my doctor visit and leaving a treat for Papa. Then I treated myself to a Bojangles biscuit to munch on as I drove to the AT&T store.

I entered the AT&T store and found two men working. One I was sure was the one who placed our original order the previous Monday. The other I didn't know from Adam. I was hoping the sales girl would be there so I didn't have explain all the story to her. Alas, she was not working. There were two other people waiting their turn. A third employee came in and helped one of those people. As I sat, I pondered which employee I hoped would be the one to help me. Sure enough, it was the young man who originally placed our order. He was very helpful and set up my new phone and transferred the data. It took me about an hour in the store with all the waiting for my turn and the waiting for the download. But I left so very happy. 

Once home I spent some time learning my new phone. I tried the camera since that was the piece that didn't work on the original phone. The picture screen was all blurry. I couldn't get it to show a clear picture to take. I opted to work on other things and come back to the camera. Claude came in from getting the tractor ready for mowing this year. I explained the blurriness of my camera. He said, "Is there something covering it?" I love this man. Of course there was. I had not removed the plastic shipping cover over the lens.

I now have a functional phone. I have found and updated most of my data. A couple of things to work on then it is just getting used to a new phone.  What a roller coaster of an experience. It all worked out. Now I will research for a cover for the phone. Maybe something with a purple bent to it. Grateful this is one area of our lives that is working!!