Whatever can go wrong will go wrong...

Yes, considering that my weekend was a typhoon of errors, I lived through it and learned two very important things.

1. NEVER SHIP ANYTHING WITH DHL...Unless it is a DEAD BODY that you are looking to hide.
2. NEVER SHIP ANYTHING WITH DHL...Unless it is a DEAD BODY that you are looking to hide.

OK, now having learned that... 

Here is what happened.  And yes, I will digress on a regular so keep up...  Oh this is also the start of my official spew warning.

OK, so I get off the plane in the wonderful city of Detroit.  It was perfect weather.  The sun was out.  There was no humidity. 

Shelly, yes my friend from Nashville, came in on another plane to help me out.  She was the bomb, but that will be another blog entry. 

The confrence folks came and picked me up from the airport.  Then we went and picked up Shelly.  Whom I must credit with having an ICED VENTI CARMEL MACHIATTO 6 SHOTS OF ESSPRESSO THREE EQUAL STIRRED, just for me.

So off we go to Ann Arbor.  It was a great ride, great conversation, my gut is saying lets get there, get checked in and start setting up for the weekend.  I have 6 classes and I want to get a good nights sleep so I can be at my best.

Well, we get checked in, drop of our stuff in the room and off. I go to Whitney's office.  Whitney is the hotel contact that we were to use to make sure that we shipped our boxes to someone so that they would be safe.

OK, so here I am fired up, walking around and just being my happy self.  I was told that Whitney was in a short meeting and that she would be come out and get me so that I could go in the office and pluck which boxes are mine.

Jughandle 1:
Now, you have to remember that because I did not have 2 people with me I did not get a table in the vendor room to sell some of my altered stuff.  So on Thursday night there was an ATC trade and the instructors were given a table in the work area to sell their wares.  So that was the first thing that I wanted to set up with from the one of my 6 anticipated boxes.

Digression over...

So Whitney comes out to get me and I go in the office.  I see a wall of boxes.  I mean all kinds of boxes in all sizes.  None of them are mine!  Then I keep looking thinking if I touch them, maybe they will miraculously turn into one of my boxes.

Panic now sets in.  My heart is racing. I have not eaten all day, and it is almost 6 o'clock at night.

I really want to faint.  And there against the wall out of the corner of my eye, I see what I believe to be ONE of my boxes.  I reach down and move some stuff.  There it is the first of my boxes.  Keeping hope alive, I now move and retouch all of the boxes.

HOLY SHIT, DHL has only delivered one of my boxes.  Where are the rest of the boxes??

I cannot even contemplate what went wrong.  Inside I am cursing my mother.  Wasn't this her idea?  Did she put this bad MOJO in the air?  Why would she wish this horrible fate on me? 

OK, not a problem, let me go get the packing slips and call to see where the boxes are.  Maybe they got separated and the driver is just running late and he will be here with my boxes. 

I run back to the room and the whole walk is like the walk of death.  I could not think what happened.  I sent everything with more than enough time.  You know how we do.  Why, How come, what have I done so wrong in the universe to make this happen. 

Nothing!! I repeat Nothing!!!  So now I feel very justified in blaming my mother.

My wheels are spinning and I start looking for the slips.  Guess what they are not in my pocketbook.  They are not in my suitcase, they are no where.  Yes, they are somewhere.  They are probably still in Atlanta.  But I could have sworn that I put them in my bag, they were in my hand when I got in the car... 

Holy Shit!!!  They are in the front seat of the car in the airport.  No, No, No.  Yep, that is where they are.  So I put my head in my hands and think panic panic panic.

I run back to the one box I do have because the slip was on that one.  OK, not bad, I can find at least the other two boxes until I can get a "Plan B".

I call up DHL.  I get some crazy woman on the phone who is obviously not the most educated person in world.  Lets put it this way, she is not going to be the next Secretary of State.

Now y'all know that I love to curse, but I have made a decision to put on my big girl panties and deal with this like an adult.  I am obviously upset and this crazy BITCH on the phone from DHL tells me not to scream "at her". 

I paid for a service, your company did not keep its commitment to me and I am not suppose to be upset.  The boxes are 48 hours late now.  And the best you can do is tell me not to scream at you.  So I tell her to get me a supervisor. 

I told her supervisor, Matt, that she was not helpful, she did not even apologize for the mistake before I started losing it.  Her response was "I did not lose your boxes Ma'am, I just answer the phones". 

Oh HELL NO, that is completely unacceptable. So he does what he does and comes back and tells me that the boxes are in Michigan but they are three hours away.  They will be on the truck tomorrow but he is not sure if they will get to me in time for my 8 am class.

Well since I only have two classes tomorrow, I will come up with a "Plan B" for Friday.

He then tells me that I should have them by Friday afternoon.  So now I need to find the tracking number of the other three boxes that I have no clue about. 

So I call my Dad.  Mind you he and my mother are watching the kids for me this weekend with Virginia at their house because my husband is in Nigeria.

I make him leave the house and go to my house and maybe just maybe, I left the slips on the counter and he can just tell me the numbers.  I really know in my heart that the slips are in the car, but you never know.  So hey lets call, call and find out.

Dad comes to my house, he searches and does not find them.

So I say enough of this mess, time is ticking and I need to come up with my new plan. 

Jughandle 2: When I was coming, I also brought with me two very large suitcases.  I actually packed some stuff in them.  I actually had to pay 50.00 USD because they were over the weight limit for domestic flights.  I had all of my embellishments, all of my tools, the stamps from Andra and some other stuff. 

Digression over...

So I run down to the end of the ballroom and go grab these two suitcases and start unpacking in the work area.  The Star Book class and the Altered Coin Holder class.  So I do a quick inventory and I send my half full cup friend Shelly to the store to get some supplies.

As Shelly plucking embellishments for the coin holder class.  Shelly asks me why did I pack this stuff.  I told her the truth, I did not pack my bags, God did. 

Edie, an awesomely talented woman who is taking my second class, volunteers to go to the bank in the morning and get me 200 coin holders for the class. 

Shelly and I stayed up all night putting together kits for Friday.  We did not go to sleep until 4:45 am.

OK, so now I have a "Plan B"...

======================
I am beat, I need to get some sleep and take my son to the doctor in the morning for an auditory exam.  I will blog about my escapades later.

until we meet again,