the redbox-good samaritan-avenger

I have been using redbox for a while now. When I fly on planes, sometimes I have work to do. Sometimes I catch up on some reading or even sleeping, especially if it's an early flight and I've been up since 4 or 5 in the morning. But many times I watch movies. I have always liked movies. I don't remember the first movie I ever saw, but I love a good story and I have come to enjoy all genres of film over the years. I hear that cool people call them films at least.

What I'm about to share might incriminate me. I'm not sure, but so far my conscious has not led me to believe that what I do is wrong, though it may be illegal? I'm sure the laws have changed a lot in the past couple of years, but I digress.

I own an iPad and happen to believe that it's more convenient while traveling to watch content like movies on it as opposed to my laptop. Smaller, lighter and just cool, right? So I hop onto redbox's convenient website that allows me to pick a particular location, my favorite is the 7-eleven just up the street, and can reserve up to 5 movies. Now redbox is pretty good. They have new releases and once in a while they bring back an oldie, like Home Alone or something like that. Buyer beware, sometimes they have some of those straight to dvd movies and I've been tricked a time or two, but no more.

So last week on Thursday I did the above. Picked out my movies. Took the short trip to 7-eleven, swiped my card and got 5 new movies. Melissa and Charlotte were with me and Charlotte has always like playing with the cases that the redbox movies come in. She figured out how to open the cases a while back, so I try not to let her play with them anymore, but if she sees one she grunts until you give one to her. So I handed her one, she played with it on the short drive home and we pulled into the driveway. I collected the 4 other dvd's and snatched the fifth from Charlotte. She got upset, so when she wasn't looking I just put all five of them on the top of my car. Remember that. We'll come back to that.

After running a few errands that afternoon we decided to go out for dinner because the two meals we had left took well over an hour to prepare and all three of us were showing hunger signs. We hopped in the car and sped off towards a pizza place. After the first stop sign we heard something sound like it fell off the roof of our car. Now, since our recent move we now have lots of oak trees around our house and so consequently, a lot of acorns that gravity is constantly pulling toward the ground. They hit our porch, our heads, our deck and our cars that sit in the driveway, so without thinking, we hear the noise as we sped off and I say oh, its just some acorns. You see where this is going don't you?

We eat dinner, head home and after we put Charlotte down for the night I begin my process of putting dvd's on my iPad for my upcoming trip. It's takes anywhere from 30-60 minutes per dvd, so I wanted to get started so I could be sure to return the dvd's the next day. Redbox only charges $1.20 per dvd per day. So it's pretty cheap. They make their money on people who forget to return them by 9pm or lose them, etc. And up to this day I felt like I was sticking it to the redbox man, by being prompt and responsible and returning my dvd'd the next day before 9pm.

So I go to find the dvd's so I can start and they can't be found. I check inside the car, I check every room in our little house and then like a lightbulb over the cartoon character's head I remembered, "I think I put the dvd's on top of the car and I don't think that the noise that we heard was a couple of acorns." I inform Melissa of my hypothesis and she tells me to go look outside on the street. The noise we hard wasn't long after we pulled down our street so maybe they would still be there. I rush out and look, but nothing. Melissa finally convinces me to let her go outside with a flashlight and look herself. No dvd's anywhere. The "oh no" feeling settles in my stomach because I'm pretty certain I know how this plays out. So I go to the faq's section of the redbox website and my worst nightmares are confirmed. After so many days of the dvd's not being returned there is a flat fee that will be charged to my credit card kind of like when you lose the ticket that you get in a parking garage and they just charge you the full amount because you can't prove when you arrived.

$25.....each.....noooooooooooooooo!!!!!!

I majored in bible, not math, but my brain quickly calculated a $125 charge. It was my fault. I put them on top of the car. I brushed the sound off as a couple of acorns and now I'd have to pay the piper. My only hope was that a nice person in our neighborhood saw them, picked them up and decided to be a good samaritan.

After accepting my $125 fate, I sat and waited. Redbox sends an email as soon as you return a dvd, so I kept checking my email every five minutes. At 8:11pm that evening I checked my email and wouldn't you know, I had an email from redbox. At 7:53pm, someone returned one of the dvd's to a redbox location at a local grocery store we shop at. My first feeling was excitement, but then my second was to drive over to the grocery store and demand to see the video footage for the camera with the redbox machine in sight so I could track down and catch the person who returned it. After I realized that my idea was ridiculous I went to bed knowing that my debt to redbox had been decreased by $25. Now I just had to wait to see if the other 4 dvd's were returned.

I checked my email with excitement the next morning hoping that maybe another dvd had been returned, but nothing. I continued to check my email frequently all morning hoping for the best. I put Charlotte down for a nap around 12:30 and worked on a few things for work. I checked my email around 2pm and to my surprise I found that three more dvd's had been returned to a different location at 1:42pm. Wow! Now the maximum that I owe redbox is only $25. One of my theories from very early on in my experience has come true as I write this. One of the five dvd's I rented was a small little known film called The Avengers. I hear it did OK in the theaters, but nothing exceptional. Unless you live under a rock, you know that my last two sentences were a sarcastic's dream. The fifth dvd has yet to be returned and I'm betting good money...at least $25...that it will never see the inside of a redbox machine again..

My best guess is that my good samaritan watched the other 4 movies and returned them, but to compensate themselves for their good deeds kept just one token in the form of The Avengers dvd.

I can't be mad. Anyone could have picked those dvd's up and I'm just thankful that it has only become a $25 lesson and not a $125 lesson.

Redbox-1

Good Samaritan-1

Me-0

You can't win them all...

-jay

pumpkin pickin!

One of the things that I love about having a young growing family is the ability to make traditions with friends.  Taking these cute little pumpkins to a local pumpkin patch has become one of my favorite family traditions that we have made.  It is even more fun to look back at what these two looked like a year ago!  I will say it was much easier a year ago to pose them in any positions that we liked, but man, they are so much more fun this year!  Two little 19 month olds so full of energy and personality!

Who doesn't love beautiful farm equipment in the fall?

Charlotte checking the place out with Daddy.

It is physically impossible to get a picture of these two this year with both eyes on the camera and smiles.  They are so wiggly!  Charlotte more so than sweet Connor.

Enjoying a hayride...

I am sure Scott can hold everyone for a better view!

So, Charlotte wasn't so impressed with the patch part of the pumpkin patch.  Here is a family shot either way!

One of the few pumpkins she actually touched this year!

Had to get this shot, to compare to last years with C and her Daddy!

While I was trying to get C to smile Connor decided to perfectly position himself on this machine!  He is such a cutie!

She was happier once we left the giant field of vines that she was constantly tripping over.  Especially when she got to sit next to her good friend on a fun tire!

This was honestly her favorite part of the whole trip.  The farm dog.

Future farm girl?  I did hear she was moving to Ohio soon!

And of course, a group shot! I think the sun and two tired toddlers really makes this picture don't you think! :)

We had a great time, it was nice that this year was so cool, it really felt like autumn!  We came away with another year of memories and three pumpkins, one for Charlotte to paint when it gets a bit closer to that spooky night!

-melissa

va state fair

We've always talked about going to the virginia state fair and so with what we know about Charlotte, we decided that she would probably like it. She loves animals, food and people and that's pretty much what the state fair is. We arrived about 30 minutes before the gates opened. After scoring a great parking spot, we bought our tickets and had some time to kill, so here's what we did first. I stood in line and Melissa and Charlotte cruised around the area. But first a shot of Charlotte waiting in line for her first state fair experience.

Like most little girls, she enjoys pushing the stroller around, so we did a little bit of that.

I was able to get this cute little shot of Melissa and Charlotte. I just think its cute how they are just sitting there together on the curb.

Charlotte just taking it all in and watching the lines get longer as we waited.

Our fellow early bird fair-goers.

For organizational purposes this post will now be split into three categories. 1-Farm 2-Fun 3-Food.

So let's start off with Farm. As soon as you get past the main gate there is a petting zoo area that attracts the little kids like none other. And Charlotte wasted no time getting her hands and face all up in those animals' business.

She was not shy whatsoever, be it people or animals, even pushing big kids out of the way to secure a better spot to look at these new creatures.

This is the face she makes when she chases our dog Jack around the house.

You can see it was a pretty busy place.

She really liked this longhorn. And so did we. The sign says that they stay this shaggy all year around. Pretty cow if you ask me.

Great shot of my girls!

A man was selling feed in small cups and these animals were well aware of that fact. "Please feed us...we're right over here"

Cute alpaca.

The face of wonder.

There was another petting zoo area that was advertised for toddlers, which we were really looking forward to. Turns out that a toddler zoo means that there are two layers of gates in between the toddler and the animals, which Charlotte did not appreciate, so we didn't spend too much time in that section.

She did however like the chickens.

Melissa being all crafty with the camera.

"Hello Mrs. Chicken. I love your work. The egg, the chicken strip. I'd like to have you over for dinner some time."

A couple of cows getting their grub on.

Time for some Fun. Here's a great shot of the two of us. An older man in the chicken house gave us a little bible, which Charlotte carried around for the rest of the day (see Charlotte's left hand). We're pretty sure that he mentioned something about Barack Obama being the anti-christ...funny stuff.

One of my favorites of the day.

Charlotte was a little too small for ferris wheel, so we opted for the ferris wheel car that doubled as a rest area.

Just taking it all in.

Had to take advantage of this photo op.

We found a flying banana ride that Charlotte was big enough to ride with an adult. Melissa isn't big on rides like this so I became a pretzel and squeezed myself right in. We had a lot of fun

Smokey the Bear came across our path and Charlotte got a little shy at first, but then gave him a hug and got a sticker.

Now time for some Food. Melissa was enticing Charlotte with some chili cheese fries. She loved the fair food, as you will see.

One of the cutest pictures of the day. Just eating my corn dog...no big deal.

And how could you visit the fair and not get a funnel cake. She wasn't sure at first, but after we gave her her own piece, she went to work. I'm amazed she didn't vomit due the quantity and quality of food she ate throughout the day.

We had an amazing time as a family. It was a great experience with the animals being Charlotte's favorite. Not sure that it will be an every year kind of a thing, but we did have fun.

baby quilts and family quilts

Over the summer two of the favorite girls I have met so far in my life had babies.  Of course I could shower both ladies with cute outfits, toys, stuffed animals, the works.  But that isn't me.  They needed homemade quilts! Because I was very first trimester all summer long, I was kind of a loser when it came to making two completely unique quilts.  I found fabric that I liked and decided to use the fabric on both quilts, but of course I used two different patterns.

The first quilt was for a sweet little boy named Lincoln.  I wanted to make a genuine richmond va little boy quilt.  What do you think of when you think of richmond little boys?  For me it is bow ties!  So here you go, one little bow tie quilt!

I just drew out the pattern on some paper and it worked out pretty nicely.  One quilt for a sweet little boy!

For the second quilt that was up to be made was for one family that we hold very dear to our hearts.  Mom and Dad are one of our dearest friends, Baylor is one of C's besties and I knew that new baby Chatham would be beloved by our whole family.  Because Baylor was born literally months before I started quilting he never really got a baby quilt.  So instead of baby Chatham getting a baby quilt and poor Baylor not having one, I just made a family quilt.  Same fabric as before but this time I used a pattern by one of my favorite websites cluck cluck sew.

I hope this quilt will be used by their family for years to come.  With years of stains and memories made on it!

Congrats girls!  Love both of you and your families dearly!