199: it's been a long time...

hey y'all!

i feel like i've been on an extended vacation.

i've missed y'all. what's been going on around here? :-)

my life has been busy, busy, biz-zeeeeeeeeeee!

saturday was the court-ordered parenting education class. it was an interesting and challenging four (4) hours. i learned a few tidbits that i'd heard before but just didn't sink in until i heard them from our facilitator. the challenging part was admitting that some of my parenting skills are in need of overhaul and promising myself i'd grit my teeth and dig in, for the good of baby bliss. it was also challenging to stay awake for four (4) hours cuz i'd stayed up into the wee hours flitting off nervous energy the night before.

sunday we drove down to my sister's. that's a whole post of its own. '-)

yesterday i had an interesting conversation with a telemarketer. i forgot his name and the company he claimed he was calling from. some sweepstakes place or another, he said.

it's my own fault really. i've been a sweepstakes entrant for many years now. i never use my first name, only my first initial and my last name. i do give my phone number (cell) because i enter sweeps from "reputable" companies. but sometimes i forget to check the box (or uncheck it) that says they can't give/sell my info to anyone else.

i also forgot to register my new cell numbers with the national do not call registry.

the guy who called yesterday was a fast talker. and he had an accent. so it was a little difficult to understand him. add to that the fact that i don't like telemarketers.

he asked if he could speak with (first initial, last name). i asked who was calling. he said he was _____. i asked, "who is _____? do i know you from somewhere?"

he said no, he was calling from XYZ sweepstakes company and i had been selected to blah blah blah. oh, okay...

baby bliss and i were watching telly while i braided her hair and i was kinda bored so i thought what the hell. i decided to talk to him. for as long as it took.

he: hello (first initial). um, what's your first name?
me: it's (first initial).
he: oh, you only have an initial for your first name?
me: yes
he: oh... okay.

then he starts asking me questions about my hobbies, our eating habits, if we use coupons, how many children i have, am i married, etc.

i gave what ever answers popped into my head. he kept 'em coming and i kept thinking up off-the-cuff responses that sounded like good ole functional-family-living-in-middle-america stuff. (the total opposite of our family...)

then he got to the part where he tried to fool me.

first he said i'd been chosen to receive a free ladies diamond watch, free subscriptions to so-an-so magazines, and some other crap. then he tried to sneak in a subscription to a-nuuuuuther magazine but i noticed he didn't say the magic word: free.

aha! i thought to meself. he thinks he's got a dummy on the line.
i said, "oh no _____, we don't pay for magazines. we get all our reading materials free from the library."
_____ goes, "oh, so you're saying you're foregoing this wonderful offer because you like to go to go to the library to read for free?"

i said, "no. i'm foregoing the offer because i don't know who you are or where you're calling from. i didn't initiate this call and all i know is what you're telling me but that doesn't make any of it true."

____ digested that then he said, "well, we're a legitimate company and we got your phone number when you entered the sweepstakes."

"well _____, you know, you never did tell me which sweepstakes i entered. and how do you know i'm really (first initial)? just because you got this number from a sweeps entry doesn't mean the information is real. the person who entered the sweeps could have given you false information. i might not even be (first initial). i could just be a person who likes to talk to people who call me with wrong numbers."

___ thought about that for a bit then he said, "okay ma'am. you have a nice evening."

at least that's what i think he said.