So. Get this…

 

A couple of months ago we rented movies from Hollywood Video. I returned them and rented more movies. I know I wrote about this, but more has happened since. So, I returned them, but the store said they never got them. It was four movies all new releases. I had kept in contact with them over the course of this whole thing and the last time I talked with them they said that they would take care of it. Okay. Fast forward to yesterday. I’m balancing my checkbook (joy of all joys) and discover that Hollywood Video has taken $199.96 out of my checking account. !!!!!!! Are you kidding me?! They said they’d take care of it and 3 days later they are taking money out of my account without giving me any sort of notice?! I was beyond livid. So, James and I went in last night to talk to the manager about it. She said to call back this morning and talk to the store director, but that I’d probably have to end up calling headquarters about it. So I called first thing this morning and she said that I’d have to call hq, but that she would do anything on her end to have it taken care of. So I call hq and I get transferred to their internal collections dept. and the guy is a complete dick. Seriously. I told him all that had happened and he says “well, unfortunately there isn’t anything we can do on our end…” I cut him off at that point and said “No. There IS something you can do…you can fix this…” when he interrupted me and RUDELY said “Let. Me. Finish.” He said there was nothing they could do without consent from the store manager. Okay, people. Stop giving me the runaround and get your stories straight. She tells me to call them, they tell me to call her. I’m done with it. He notices the hostility in my voice and says that if I’ll hold he’ll call her. He gets back on the phone and says that she has authorized the refund (darn right!) and then proceeds to be a jack@ss and asks me “WHAT were you doing just setting the movies on the counter…that’s like just asking someone to take them?!” Right. Because I wanted to have $200 stolen from my checking account and have to deal with all of this…I thought it’d be fun. J.E.R.K! The second that I see the refund in my account we are closing our account with them.

 

So the past few weeks have been a test of my faith in God that he will provide for me. It just seems to be one little thing after another. I don’t know how much more of it all I can take. First we run out of fuel for our heat on the first really cold day of a cold spell. I call the fuel company and they won’t be able to get out until the next day. Okay. I’ll just deal with it for a day. So James builds me a nice hot fire in our fireplace. I’m stoking it as much as it can be just to get the internal temperature of our house to raise a bit. I had just gotten the boys down for a nap and settled down in front of the fireplace for a few minutes of peace and quiet when one of the glass panels explodes shooting teeny tiny glass shards everywhere…did I mention I was all of two feet away from the glass? So, now we had no heat ($$$ for a fill up on our fuel tank) and it’s kind of unsafe for us to use our fireplace given that the glass barrier is gone ($$$ to fix). A few days later the boys heater for their room breaks ($$$ for a new heater). Then a couple of mornings ago I am in the kitchen and go to turn on the faucet and find that it’s broken ($$$ for new faucet). And then I discover the whole issue with Hollywood Video ($$$). Not to mention that all the bills are coming in from my knee surgery ($$$) and I know that we’ll be getting billed for James night stay in the ER ($$$). I just don’t know how much more I can handle.

 

One of the cool things that happened, though, with the movie thing is that God really was watching out for us. A couple of weeks ago I was updating our checkbook and figuring out how much money we had left in our account and apparently I figured wrong because I thought we only had about $20 left so I told James we can’t use our checking account any more, we need to use our cards. I had figured wrong to the point that Hollywood Video could have taken out the money and we wouldn’t have overdrawn. If I had figured it out correctly we could have had hundreds of dollars in overdraft fees to deal with. The thing is, I figured out our checkbook twice…both coming out with the same figure…when I balanced it yesterday (using the same figures) I came out $200 off…I know that God was taking care of us throughout the whole thing and I know that He will continue to do so…I just can’t help but think that something else is coming.

 

*sigh*

 

So, Logan just had a birthday. He had a Cars theme and I made him a Mater cake. It turned out pretty cute. I’ll have to post a picture. The kid made a haul. Seriously, he got more stuff on his birthday than he got for Christmas…and he got a ton of stuff for Christmas. My house has been a disaster ever since his party because I just don’t know what to do with all the stuff he got. Did I mention that the boys have been fighting over his toys since the second he opened them? Yeah. Great fun, let me tell ya.

 

Other than that, things have been going well. Basketball is sucking for James and he’s questioning whether or not he should coach. Again. I just don’t know what to do for him. I want to encourage him but I don’t know how to. He doesn’t want to quit because “he’s never quit anything before and he’s not a quitter” Uhm. Okay. But if your health is at risk over this then you need to reexamine, okay? I think he needs to start taking his blood pressure meds again. He seriously looks like he’s going to explode when he’s coaching. It’s not a good thing. He’s stressed out beyond normal and he’s just not enjoying it at all. They lost the other night to a team that hadn’t won a game all year…they were 0-14 for the season…and they kicked our rears. It was a really ugly game. James keeps trying to see the lesson that God is teaching him in this…again, I just don’t know what to say to him.

 

I’m doing alright. My knee is great and I think I’m going to try to play volleyball tonight. I’m looking forward to it. I am, however, having some other health issues. Did I mention awhile ago that a doctor thought I could have endometriosis? Well, since then I hadn’t had any pains and was praising God for it…until the other night. The pain came back right after we had sex and I thought I was going to die. My body was like going into convulsions or something and the pain was excruciating. I’m debating on calling my gynecologist…I know I should, but that’s just another bill to pay later…

 

Okay, I’m getting depressed just writing this. I’ll be back. Just don’t know when.

 

<>< Kim ><>