Alexandra and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

You know those days when every little thing goes wrong?  Today was one of those days.

I got up, got dressed, and walked out the door to go pick up a package.  Halfway down the street I realized I forgot the slip from the delivery guy that I need to pick up the package.  So I go back inside and, of course, I can't find the slip anywhere.  Anywhere.  I spent a good 20 minutes looking in every drawer and stack of papers in this house.  I finally found it stuck in between two cookbooks on the shelf in the kitchen.

Now I'm slightly annoyed and on my way to the post office to get the package.  I wait in line for 5 minutes before looking at my slip again. Turns out, I needed to be at the Royal Mail parcel pick-up office, NOT the post office.  I couldn't google the address because I have the dumbest smartphone money can buy, so I had to call Mat and have him tell me where it was.  It sounded like it would be a short was but it was about a mile. And it started drizzling. I pick up my package and head to the store to return a pillow.

At Selby's, I return the pillow with only minor delays.  The problem came when I went to pay for the knitting needles and yarn I was trying to buy.  The lady behind the counter was just an idiot. I know that's mean, but there is no other way to describe her.  She was about 60 with drawn on eyebrows and blue eyeshadow.  In England, they use a chip and pin system for their credit/debit cards.  So you stick your card into the machine, put in your pin number, then remove your card.  Because I have an American swipe card, the cashier has to swipe it and I have to sign a paper receipt.  Usually they can figure it out.  This lady could not.  She printed out the receipt for me to sign, I signed it, then she hit the void button instead of the button to accept the signature and print out my copy of the receipt.  Then she kept saying "I don't know why this receipt says void..." BECAUSE YOU PRESSED THE VOID BUTTON!   I stood there for 10 minutes waiting for her colleague to run back and forth to the manager (instead of just asking the manager to come over?) trying to figure out if the transaction went through.  After 3 manager consultation runs and a lot of "I'm sorry we just never see these kinds of cards" they finally decided that the transaction didn't go through (DUH).  A different lady rang me up and managed to not void the transaction before it went through.  Holy cow it was frustrating!  And, for the record, they do see "those kinds of cards" because I'm in that store at least 3 times a week.

I stopped into Barclay's on my way home to inquire about opening a bank account.  The lady told me to have a seat and wait, it shouldn't be too long.  So I waited about 10 minutes.. they called me back and scheduled me an appointment to come back on Wednesday.  Not really too annoying, but I thought since they weren't busy they were going to let me open an account today.  No such luck.

Then, grocery shopping (like I said, it's been a great day).  I wanted to make Mat a birthday cake so I found a recipe in Cook's Illustrated, made a grocery list, and went to the grocery store.  I found everything I needed except corn syrup.  I asked two different people in the grocery store where corn syrup was and they both looked at me like I had 3 heads.  Apparently, British people don't use corn syrup.  Annoying.  Now I need to find a new cake recipe!  I miss having my Mom's kitchen/pantry with ingredients stocked and ready to go!

This is going to sound like such a dumb problem to have, but I can't find popsicle sticks ANYWHERE!  I think I've been in every store in a 1 mile radius of Holloway Road and no one has them.  It's hard to be crafty when I can't find popsicle sticks (or ice lolly sticks, as the Brits call them).  I'm just trying to make this:
http://www.lifeinthegreenhouse.com/2012/02/date-night-in-jar.html
I've decided to improvise and use money envelopes, labels and card stock instead.  I forgot to buy markers though.  Again, missing my Mom's ready stocked craft room!

On a happier note, I did remember to take my reusable bags to the grocery store with me :)

Mat's making Bubble and Squeak for dinner tonight (I love breakfast for dinner!) so hopefully my day will improve!