I'm Published!

I've never considered myself a great writer. It was my least favorite subject in school. But I guess you don't have to be the best to take on an opportunity. Jessica, my Girasol Bakery boss, asked if I had any casserole recipes (sans creamed soup) that I would share for an article. So I made up a recipe using a couple of recipes that are family faves...I had to rework it to make it worthy of a spot in Amarillo Magazine and to claim it as my own (since the family fave recipes were from other cookbooks). Lucky me, it worked and now I can say, "I'm published." The spread was 4 pages with a group photo of Girasol employees at the end. Even though I haven't "worked" at Girasol since February, Jessica still considers me part of the crew and I love it.

Ironically, a few days before the magazine was printed, my refrigerator decided to go kaput. It happened while we were in NC. Mom and Dad called the Monday we were flying home to break the news. They woke up to a puddle of water on the floor. Since the fridge is just 2 years old but outside the warranty, I wasn't too happy. I first called and talked to a guy in India who asked me a bunch of questions that required me to be in front of the fridge so I had to call back the next day. The second guy had me press some buttons and then told me that they'd have to send a service man out. Samsung has their own service peeps (not everyone can repair a Samsung...I called my appliance repair guy and he confirmed that indeed, I had to go through Samsung because even if he could determine what was wrong, only Samsung approved repairmen can get the replacement parts). I was kind of cranky and got him to agree to send the repairman free of charge (YAY). Unfortunately, since it was outside the warranty, they don't have a computer system that allows them to get the ball rolling without important people signatures on the free visit SO, I didn't get a call back from Samsung repairmen until Friday about scheduling an appointment for the following week....I think he ended up coming on a Wednesday. He arrived and pushed some buttons on the fridge and the digital readout had a couple numbers to which he replied, "Oh crap." Turns out it was the compressor and required parts he didn't have so he had to reschedule an appointment for Monday or Tuesday but for sure before Friday of the following week. Why they didn't have me push those same buttons and give them the digital readout numbers so that they could have brought the correct parts initially?, I'm not quite sure.

Of course, with my appliance luck, the repair didn't happen until Friday. Mind you, I had to take off work each time they scheduled a 2 hour window. The first visit ended up being a 4 hour window (not of my choosing) because the guy had a doctor appointment. Again, not sure why they didn't plan around the doctor visit when initially scheduling the 2 hour visit. I was just glad to finally have the right parts. But as luck would have it, the 2 hour visit turned into a 6 hour visit and ended with the repairman telling me he had broken it beyond repair and so I would have to get a new refrigerator. He promised me that because of all that had happened, Samsung would be buying the refrigerator. I joked that it would probably be a month before I got a replacement and he said "there is no way it will take that long." I patiently went another weekend without a refrigerator...it's not so easy to plan family meals without a cooling agent.

The following week, I didn't hear anything from Samsung. I called to follow up and got a little run around until finally Thursday, they let me know that all my paperwork had been lost and they would have to start over. The amount of red tape that prevented me from just getting a quick reimbursement was crazy! Once they received pictures of the broken part, I had to find a copy of the original receipt showing what we had paid. Then I waited some more. A week later, they sent me a note approving the reimbursement but asking for me to cut the appliance cord in half and take a photo of it for them. Then they would only reimburse me for what I spent via credit card on the fridge (despite the fact that it was a labor day sale and we had a gift card as well)...only the credit card expense counted. I argued and argued about the stupidity of not counting the gift card but they wouldn't listen and I just wanted to get a fridge. I promptly ordered one online from Lowes in which they promise delivery in 3-7 days. On the 7th day, I received a call that they didn't have it in stock and so it would be a few more days....try 4 weeks. I requested a loaner fridge and thankfully Lowes agreed. However, the loaner fridge (that I had to take some time off work to be there for) ended up being a dud. I seriously called an electrician to see what the possibilities were of an outlet losing enough power to still work but not work on refrigerators (nil). So then we had to get ANOTHER loaner refrigerator delivered. It was just a small apartment fridge but it made such a difference to be able to have cold milk right there in the kitchen. How did the pioneers do it? I was ready to dig a cellar, just for the convenience of keeping things cool. All in all, it was 9 weeks before I finally got the permanent replacement fridge. I almost forgot how to cook.

Our new refrigerator is beautiful. It's basically the same as before but this is a Whirlpool. I will NEVER buy a Samsung refrigerator again. So thankful, all of that is back to normal.