Telephony

I have a total love-hate relationship with the telephone.

I love that I can chat with far-flung (and not so far-flung) friends and family, without anyone else listening in (except J. Edgar Hoover, naturally), and at my convenience.

I love that I can arrange business transactions from Lindon to Salt Lake to St George (and farther) from the comfort of my home.

I hate waiting for return phone calls, because I never know what the home situation will be when the call comes.

 And today the phone would NOT STOP RINGING.

I shouldn't (really, I shouldn't) complain.  Almost every call was someone returning one of my calls, mostly from yesterday.  I tried to get through a huge list of tasks yesterday, but apparently it was still Spring Break for most people, because most of my calls ended with messages to voice mail.

These return calls should not be a problem. (Yay!  People getting back to me, to answer my questions or help me out!)  However.  My 2.5 year old Yum-Yum has decided the phone is her best friend.  Whenever I am on it, she longs to talk.  She ardently desires to talk.  She NEEDS to talk.

This is fine when I am chatting with my sister or mother-in-law, but not so much when I am trying to get a quote for radon mitigation.

When I tell her "No", she reacts in one of two ways:  1) Collapsing on the ground in furious, screaming tears; or 2) Running three steps away, and then collapsing on the ground in furious, screaming tears.

What was that you say?  I should walk away from her, and let her have her temper tantrum alone?  Oh, my Yummy is far too clever for that.  She immediately hops up (still screaming and scolding), and follows me around, latching onto my legs if I am not fast enough to get away.  It's probably an amusing sight, mom running away from angry toddler.  Except, you know, when you're the mom and it's the city offices on the line and you're trying to explain the issue with not knowing exactly where your property ends and the park begins...and no one can hear a thing but Yummy screaming "NO!!!  I WANT A TALK!!!!!"

So.  That was my day today.

I talked to two sisters, one mother-in-law, one realtor, one headstone-cleaning lady, one Santa Clara cemetery official, one Lindon city official, one radon mitigation person, one plumber, one doctor, and a partridge in a pear tree.

I could be wrong about that last one, though.  It's hard to know, given the adorably exasperating little girl screaming in my ear.