July 26, 2007 - Something to Remember, When...

Something to remember, when we get frustrated while trying to do something (anything) in Costa Rica...

We are adding a patio to our house in California. We went to a near-by rockery to order materials, and found that the selection was not very good; on the way back, we stopped at Home Depot - they had plenty of choices, and all the materials needed.

We arranged for my family to trek down here this weekend to help - many hands make light work, etc. We reserve a "vibe-plate" - the tool to rent that tamps down the pavers and sand - for Sunday.

Yesterday, we went to the Home Depot and arranged for everything to be delivered Friday afternoon. Pavers, sand, edgers, stakes - no problem. Hah!

This morning, HD calls - their inventory count was wrong, and they have no sand. They couldn't arrange with another store to get it for us, they didn't offer any sort of "o0ps, I'm sorry" discount, nothing.

We called another HD - they had sand, but no pavers. So now we have two choices. Either we reschedule for a week later (when we don't have help available), or we pay for deliveries from 2 different places. Well, we said "send us the sand" and we go forward with plans for this weekend.

This afternoon, the second HD calls (!!!) - oops, no sand afterall. Do I see a pattern? Am I destined to not have a patio?!? (to be determined). The HD guy says that another HD (about 30 minutes away) has a lot of sand, gives me the number, and I call. Yes, they have sand (where have I heard *that* before?). I get in just under the wire - 4 minutes before the "delivery" cut-off time. But it is a long distance delivery - those take 48 hours ;(. But the HD woman (thank you Delores!) checks - they can do it Friday! And they won't charge more!

So now I have two credit cards with sand refunds, two places delivering stuff Friday, two places to return pallets and bags (gotta get those deposits back), a vibe-plate rental, and *help*!

As I said, something to remember...