That Blue Bin

Normally, I wouldn't be so excited to talk about a plastic bin, be it blue or any other color.  But in this case, I am very happy to be talking about a missing blue bin.

Our city is moving from small, green recycling bins to large, blue, lidded bins.  They're also moving from weekly pick up of recycling to once every two weeks.  The changeover for each route happens when the bins are delivered, along with information on when the first pickup will be with the new bins.

We saw bins delivered to our neighbors.  They were all sitting in front of their houses, shiny and not sticky or dirty or dented.  We didn't get one.  We waited.  Perhaps the truck ran out of bins and will be back on their next delivery day.

We waited until it was almost blue bin first pickup day and then we called.  They were very nice, they made sure we got a bin before the start of pickup because we were already two weeks out on recycling and we didn't want to think about four weeks of recycling piling up.

A week or so after the first pickup, a second blue bin arrives.  There must have been some confusion but we'll make good use of it.  Then they called the next day and said they wanted it back and could we please leave it at the street.  Sure, not a problem, it'll be out there waiting for your truck.

So it sat.  It sat for a week and we called.  It sat for two weeks and we called again.  Again it was still there at three weeks and another call.  At that point, I talked to a nice lady who said she understood the problem.  Because we had initially asked for a recycling bin to be delivered, the notes in the ticket were confusing.  The truck was coming by, seeing we already had a new bin sitting there, freshly delivered, and they drove off.  They did this more than once.   She corrected the ticked and said it would get picked up.

Four weeks and we still have our blue bin friend.  We're moving it around on the grass so it won't suffer from lack of sun.  I leave a voicemail for the same lady and she must have done something because the bin is finally gone.  My husband and I were standing in the kitchen when we saw them drive up and pick it up.  We were so happy we high-fived each other.

The Big Boy Update:  Does he know the word, "yes?"  We're not sure he does.  He only answers questions with, "no" and we even had a hard time tricking him into saying yes by the normal means of getting him to repeat new and interesting words.  It must be a toddler thing.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  pat pat, clap clap.  This stair climbing thing is going to get us.  My husband and I were at our computers and we thought we had the stairs blocked off, but we didn't.  In the distance, we hear a, "pat pat" sound that only sounds like that when a baby is patting on hardwood floors.  Hardwood floors that aren't on the level we're currently on.  We both launch out of our chairs and run to the basement stairs.  She sees us, from the top of the stairs, grins and claps her hands while we come upstairs to grab her and hug her and feel bad because we weren't paying attention as parents.

Someone Once Said:  ‘Random’ and ‘chance are not related. ‘Random chance’ is a nonsense expression.