Engagement ring maintenance.

I noticed that I was a bit remiss on taking my ring for the 6 month check.  I was so remiss that I was almost a year out.

Oops.

I've never had that happen.  Life has, well, happened.  I also hate the mall.  (Hate is a strong word, but I really do.)  The store that holds the guarantee is in the mall.

Drat it all.

I go to big box jewelry store and a gentleman helped me and K.  At first, I couldn't tell if he was going to.  I thought he had just walked away, but he was readying himself to check my rings.  He called us over, I handed the rings over and he started his inspection.  He pulled out the mandrel and started pulling.

Yup.  I knew that she was out of round.  She was more so in oval.

:(

He checked.  He cleaned.  He was truly the most thorough that anyone has ever been.  Then came the news.  The news that I knew was a few years coming.

"The shank needs redone."

"I've known that for some time.  I figured that you'd tell me that."

"The ring is just about to break.  If it breaks, it may fall off and be lost."

I knew that the shank was thin when I had the great hand squashing incident of 2012.  I was hoping that when they reshaped it that by some miracle, that the shank could be made whole again.  Well, it was.  It just didn't earn anymore metal in the transaction.

So I bid my engagement ring a short farewell.  I had to pay the $160 in full to get her into repair.  (Redoing the shank does not fall under the warranty.)  It kind of irritated me having to pay for a repair before the item was actually delivered, but people stiff the jewelry store on repairs all of the time.  I understand the need for the change in policy.

My engagement ring isn't at all large.  I'm good with that.  Though I have my wedding ring on, I do feel a little naked without it.  I didn't realize how much I played with it until I had to hand it over.  Soon enough it will be back with another shank repair that will last me another & years or so.

What's funny is that the gentleman was apologizing for everything taking so much time and for the fact that they were essentially dead, then everyone came in.  "I work retail.  I understand how it goes."  He asked where I work and I told him.  Apparently, he is a customer.  I told him how I work display and sales.  He said it explained a lot about my ring.  He also made a comment about my energy.  "That would be a good job to keep you busy.  You seem to have a lot of energy."  "I was blessed with ADD.  Sometimes, I suppose, that it is a bit more manic than I give it credit to be."  And I thought I was being a bit more sedate than my usual self.  :shakes of the head:  He chuckled, handed my credit card back and I was off.

Smile! A post about the church directory photos.

This week has been picture week.  K had soccer photos on Sunday.  I had to send her back up the hill because they didn't take her single shot, just the group shot.  Since I paid for it, I kind of wanted it.

Yesterday was school picture day.  K went all rainbowy and if I didn't have an issue posting her beautiful 10 year old face on the internet, then I would.  Just take my word for it-- she looked fabulous!  A 10 year old in her rainbow glory.  :)

Last evening was the church directory photo session.  M came home feeling a bit under the weather, so the fact that he was even with us was pushing it.  His coworker has been sick and though she missed a day, she came back to share.

As church directory photo sessions always are, it hearkened back to the days of Olan Mills.  When she had me to the hands on the shoulder thing I did comment, "Really?  :snarly nose:  You want me to do the Olan Mills pose?  I'm feeling very 1980's."  She laughed.  I wasn't being snarky, but I'm thinking that they need to update the posing a hair.  She did after that.

To their credit, they did take a few nice photos of us.  The time came for us to view and select and all that.  We got a free 8x10 and a directory.  Super!  We haven't had a family portrait done since K's adoption.  We discussed which portrait for the directory and chose the free one.  We decided that 2 additional 5x7s would be great for the parents.

"Okay, then that will be $70.35."

"Um, the 8x10 was complimentary, right?"

"Yes."

Y'all, it was $50 for the 2 5x7s and then the additional $20 was for tax and ship.  The last I checked, it shouldn't cost $15-$20 to ship two little 5x7s.  I'm just saying. Oh, and especially with the 5x7s being shipped bulk to the church and not to the house.

"I'm so very sorry.  I didn't expect 2 5x7s to cost more than the picture package that I bought for my daughter today that includes 2 5x7s along with 6 other sheets of photos.  I apologize.  We should have asked the cost.  We will just take the complimentary 8x10."

I felt bad to lead her on, but we couldn't have been the only people to have sticker shock.

I understand that they are trying to make a profit.  Good for them.  However, highway robbery was spoken to me many times last evening when telling people our story.

Eeek.

If you choose to purchase church directory photos, and I know folks who have, just know that they are going to be photo studio prices.  My comment to my friend?  "It's not like Lance Mercer or Annie Leibovitz came out and took the photos."  Now for them, $70 would have been just fine.  They wouldn't have made me do an Olan Mills, either!