Everyday Randomness

Well most of today has been a total loss.  We had so much planned to do, and not one single thing has gotten done today.

For starters the check engine light came on in the truck last week.  The code it threw is a very vague code that could relate to a number of things, and the only way to pin point it is to take the truck to a shop and stick it on the machine.  We’re loyal to one particular mechanic when we need things like that (aka things Hubby can’t do himself), so we took the truck by his shop last week, but our guy wasn’t there, and the guy working for him couldn’t work us in.  He told us they’d be closing for vacation through Wednesday, so to bring the truck back on Thursday or Friday.

I was going to call the shop yesterday to see if he could work us in, but I had forgotten the phone number had recently changed. The new number isn’t listed in any online sources or on Free 411 yet, so I didn’t have the new number.  I forgot to put it in my phone when he gave it to me.  This morning we loaded up the little one and headed out that way (45 minutes away) thinking if he couldn’t see us then we’d schedule an appointment to get the truck looked at.  We got there at 11am, and the place was closed.  Bummer.  As loyal as we’ve always been to our guy I think it’s time to find someone closer who can actually do something for us.  I know the code that’s being thrown has something to do with the fuel system and the way fumes are vented, so I want it pinpointed and taken care of asap.  I can’t keep waiting around.

We stopped for a bite to eat, and were planning to head to my Grandmas to drop off the little one then off to the hay field to help my dad.  Daddy called and said his tractor isn’t cranking, and he figured out what’s wrong, but he’d have to go to Anderson to get the part.  That sent us right back home since there’s nothing we could do.  We thought about taking the little one to the lake, but we didn’t want to do it during the heat of the day, and soon after the typical afternoon popups started.  It’s been booming for a couple hours now, so I doubt we’ll be doing anything outside today.

Plus I was supposed to run up town to pay the taxes on both the bike and the truck today.  I even facebooked about it this morning, but I completely forgot about it after that.  I remembered I needed to do that about 20 minutes ago, but Ellie’s in the middle of a nap, and by the time she wakes up I won’t have time to get up there before the office closes.  I guess I’ll have to do that Monday before I forget again.  The bike taxes are due by Wednesday, but the truck taxes aren’t due until the end of July.

Sigh.  I guess I’ll just chock this day up to being one of those days when nothing goes right.  I’d say the best part of my day was getting home to find a voicemail from Buitoni on my home phone.  After I wrote my review yesterday I submitted it along with the photos as part of a complaint to the company.  Apparently someone from consumer services attempted to call me back at 9:30am this morning, so I’d say that’s a pretty quick turn around for a company.  I normally wait days before I hear anything from a complaint I’ve filed.

I called back with the case # they provided in the voicemail, and the consumer services rep went over my complaint with me, took down a little more info, and said a care package hbad been mailed out to me today that includes free product coupons and a few other things.   She said she knew there would be 2 free product coupons included, but she wasn’t sure what else.  I’m just happy the company was so quick to respond to my complaint!

Last night I purchased a Buitoni Shrimp & Lobster Ravioli with Garlic Butter Sauce meal for Hubby and I to try.  I had planned to write a review of this meal as it says it’s quick and easy to prepare in 5 minutes.  It comes with a bag of pasta, and a bag of sauce.  The kit is supposed to be a “complete dinner for two”.

For a mom like me quick and easy is great, especially if the meal tastes great as well.  Hubby’s Italian gene has him wanting to eat Italian as much as possible, so I thought the Buitoni meals might be as close to the real thing as I could get without having to make it myself.

The prep and cooking were super easy.  You just drop the bag of sauce into 4 qts of water, cover, and bring to a rolling boil.  In a separate pan bring water to boiling, add the ravioli, and gently boil uncovered for 5 minutes or until tender.

Dinner was on the table in 5 minutes, and we were sitting down ready to chow down.  Hubby asked that the sauce be kept separate instead of adding it to the ravioli so that he could control how much sauce he put on his.  He added his sauce, and took a bite.  With a weird look on his face he said “this does NOT taste like shrimp and lobster.”

I took a bite, and sure enough it didn’t taste like shrimp and lobster at all.  In fact it tasted just like sausage. I cut open a piece of ravioli, and what I found inside was definitely not “lobster, shrimp, and custom Impastata Ricotta cheese.”  It was definitely sausage. Read more…

Hubby and I used to frequent one of our favorite restaurants at least once every 2 weeks, but last summer the restaurant closed while the old building was being demolished for a new shopping center.  This was going to be a long process, so we had to find a new place to eat with a similar setting.

There is one other local restaurant, Atami Express, that provides the same food and atmosphere.  They only offer Hibachi style food, and that was fine with us.  We have other places we visit when we’re in the mood for other things such as sushi.

Upon visiting Atami Express at the end of last summer Hubby immediately loved the place.  The service has always been fast no matter how crowded the restaurant is, and the food is quite delicious.  Being that the restaurant is a fast food sort you order and pay for your food then seat yourself.  The food is then delivered to you when it is ready. 

The portions have always been large enough that we both take home leftovers that are enough for a full lunch the next day.  I normally pay $10.95 for Hibachi Steak and Scallops, and this is reasonable to me as it provides me with 2 full meals. Hubby always orders Teriyaki Steak and Chicken, and our combined total with tax is usually $25.25.

Friday night our experience was far from normal, though.  We stopped by the restaurant on our way to the hospital to visit my sister because we knew we would be in and out of there pretty fast.  When we arrive the restaurant wasn’t crowded at all, about half of the tables were occupied, and there were 2 other couples in line to order.  We ordered our food, grabbed our drinks, and seated ourselves within 2 minutes of arriving.

Then we sat there and waited patiently for our food to arrive which normally happens within 5-10 minutes on a crowded night.  We waited, and waited, and almost 30 minutes later our food was finally brought to our table.  When our food arrived I was given a plate that was completely different from what I had ordered.  I had ordered my usual steak and scallops, but the plate presented to me was shrimp and scallops.  I told the waitress the order was wrong, and she argued with me that this was what I had ordered, there was no way it could be the wrong meal, and it could not be changed now that it was prepared. 

I continued to argue with her for a couple minutes, but Hubby wasn’t in a great mood, and he didn’t feel like listening to us argue any longer.  He stepped in with a “just don’t worry about it.  I’ll eat the shrimp and she can have my steak.”  I wasn’t very happy that he did this, but I didn’t feel like arguing anymore.  When the waitress walked away Hubby mumbled that he just didn’t have the energy to deal with it or listen to me argue about it, so we’d just ignore it. 

Unfortunately the fact that I received the wrong food (and a plate priced cheaper than the one I ordered) wasn’t the only issue.  Our plates consisted of a massive amount of rice, and neither of us received very much of our steak or seafood at all. I received 3 shrimp, and 5 rubbery and overcook scallops that were the smallest scallops I’ve ever seen.  They weren’t even as big as a quarter!  The seafood was mixed in with a very small amount of broccoli that was basically still raw and a few mushrooms.  In fact the plates were so small that neither of us had enough food to fill us up let alone take home any leftovers.  Like I said I normally take home at least half of my plate, and I left there still hungry. 

Needless to say I was not happy at all with the service or food we received, and I doubt we’ll ever be patrons of Atami Express again. 

Yep.  I did just say that, and I mean it.

I’m so tired of hearing all the ways Pampers is trying to weasel out of the problems with their new Pampers Swaddlers and Cruisers with Dry Max. 

At the end of March I saw a message from Pampers on Facebook about the new version of the Swaddlers and Cruisers coming out on the market.  They were marketing these diapers big time, so of course I was interested when I discovered they were supposed to be much thinner than the old version.

I was also hoping they would help us prevent night time leaking since we’ve used the Pampers Baby Dry at night with great results.  I was under the impression that the new Swaddlers and Cruisers would be more like the Dry Max diapers.

I headed to Walmart to pick up the new version of the Swaddlers as soon as they hit the market because I wanted to grab the special box that included a diaper bag and a pack of wipes.  There were a few packs of the old version still left on the shelf, and oh how I wish I had picked those up instead.

We started using the new diapers later that night, and by the next day we noticed a problem.  Not only were the diapers leaking every single time she peed, but Elliana was developing diaper rash like she’s never had before.  The rash itself didn’t look too bad, but she was developing sores.  She’s never ever ever had any type of sore with a diaper rash.  For that matter she’s never really had a diaper rash.  She’s been a little red from time to time in the fat rolls on the inside of her diaper (and she does have massive fat rolls), but we’ve never had to deal with a rash.  I slathered her up with diaper rash cream every time I changed her diaper for the next 2 days, but it was only getting worse.  We visited our best friends that night, and I showed her the rash and the diapers.  Immediately she said “these aren’t soft anymore!  They’re scratchy now, and what’s that smell?  It smells like a chemical!”  I hadn’t noticed the chemical smell, but I told her other reviewers had mentioned it on Amazon.

After using around half the pack of diapers I had the feeling the diapers were causing the problem.  We immediately switched her to another brand, kept her out of diapers as much as possible, and we began using Neosporin on the rash.  The rash cleared up in about 5 days.  I wrote a review on Amazon.com on April 2.  On April 7 I received a comment on that review from someone at Pampers claiming the products had been tested to be safe.  I also noticed ALL negative reviews about the diaper had received the same generic reply.

Fast forward to about 2 weeks ago.  I was on the Pampers Facebook page, and I noticed other moms complaining about the same issue with diaper rash, and also complaining that Pampers kept giving them the generic reply I had received.  I threw in a comment about us having the same issues.  I did finally find time to call the number provided in the reply, but I didn’t receive the answer I was looking for.  I was yet again told the Pampers were not the problem even though I know they were!  We haven’t had another issue since switching to another brand. 

Fast forward yet again to yesterday.  I was watching the news as I waited on Hubby to come home from work, and I saw the introduction to a segment about Pampers causing chemical burns and rashes.  I hit the record button on the dvr so I could replay it for Hubby when he made it home.  As soon as he walked in the door I had him watch the segment, and his reaction was as I had expected.  We knew the Pampers had caused her rash, and finally something was going to be done about it!  I somehow missed the quote that has me all fired up right now until I saw another story about it on the WYFF4 website tonight about an upstate couple dealing with the rash.

What pushed me over the edge?

"These rumors are being perpetuated by a small number of parents, some of whom are unhappy that we replaced our older Cruisers and Swaddlers products while others support competitive products and the use of cloth diapers," Jodi Allen, vice president for Pampers, said in a statement.

How dare the VP of Pampers try to say that this is a rumor that is being spread just because people aren’t happy with the new product. I feel like he is basically calling me a liar! I didn’t write the review because I wanted parents to buy another brand of diaper. I wrote the review to share my experiences with other parents in the hopes that their babies wouldn’t end up with the same rash that my daughter had! I don’t care what the product is. If it harms my child in anyway I’m not going to use it, and I’m going to share the info with others! My child developed a rash because of these diapers! Even though we do use another brand of diapers from time to time we chose to use Pampers because we loved them. The first diaper to ever meet her little preemie bottom was a Pampers Swaddler, and I wrote a positive review about them. We continued to use the diapers until this incident occurred, and we would still be using them if not for this rash. I find it funny how Pampers is trying to validate their claims that this is a rumor.

The company responded in a statement that these claims are "completely false," and that it has received less than two complaints about diaper rash for every one million Pampers diapers sold.

Do thousands of babies have to develop a rash and/or chemical burns for it to be valid? Because there are babies out there who haven’t reacted to the diapers and/or parents who haven’t contacted the company my baby developing a rash is a lie? That’s just absurd. What if all of the makers of drop side cribs had gotten together and said "well only 30 something babies out of thousands/millions/whatever died from our product, so the parents must not be telling us the truth about how their children died. It must be a rumor!"

Now Pampers is even going so far as to delete messages left on their Facebook page from other parents outraged over all of this.  I’ve personally read comments that have been deleted, and many others are complaining that their comments have been removed.  It’s like Pampers thinks we’re all stupid enough to believe nothing is wrong with their products if they simply remove the negative comments.

So yes, I say Pampers can suck it. The VP has made a comment that is basically calling me a liar, and in my book that means he doesn’t want my business anymore. So what if we are diehard Pampers Sensitive Wipes users? We have 2 packs left from the last box we purchased, and as soon as those are gone we will be finding another brand.

I chose the Pampers brand of wipes because we love them, but now I will be that person who refuses to buy another Pampers product. I chose to stop using the Pampers Swaddlers with Dry Max not because of another brand but because of my child’s HEALTH & SAFETY! If you’re going to call me a liar I refuse to give you another cent of my money. I don’t care if Pampers brings back the old version, keeps the current version, or comes out with something new. I will never purchase a Pampers product again!

Oh, and I have now contacted CPSC with info on our situation, and I urge all other parents who have experienced problems with these diapers to do the same.  The only way we’re going to have this situation rectified is by providing the facts.  We cannot let Pampers call us liars while harming our children!