A No Good, Awful, Very Bad Day

I know I usually tell stories about my crazy father. This one is about my mother.

One day last week she was getting ready for work. The pants she put on would not button. (Who hasn't been there?!) I guess this is more funny if you actually saw her. She's about 4'10" and probably not even 90 lbs soaking wet.
A new pair of pants probably with an elastic waist was selected.

Next she went to fix her hair. Bad hair day.
She decided to forget about both things and leave for work. On the way there she saw a gas station with cheap gas so she decided to fill up. Others had the same idea. She waited for a pump for quite sometime. When she finally got her turn, her credit card got rejected by the outside machine not once, but 3 times. The pump instructed her to "See Attendant." Inside the store was a line of people buying soda and cigarettes. She waited again. She was late for work.

At the counter the attendant asked her how much gas she wanted so he could charge her card. She told him she had no idea how much the car was going to take. How could she possibly know that? The attendant told her to go fill up and come back in for her card. At this point she'd had it and told him to nevermind and she'd just come back later. Now. She swears she was not mean and nasty when she said this. Her nerves might have been shot, but she wasn't mean.

Outside the door stood the woman who had been in front of her in the line. As my mother walked out the door the woman said to her, "Why Don't You Go Back To England???"
I can pretty much guarantee that my mother has been living in this country longer than that woman has been alive in this country. It just so happens that she has not become a redneck like most of the fellow citizens of her state, and has retained her English accent somehow.
What a nervy, ballsy, rude thing to say.
My mother just kept walking. I have no idea why. I can think of a whole string of comments I would have said to her. I would not have let that slide by any means.

Anyway, since she's already late for work she decides to make another stop at the grocery store to buy some chicken for dinner. Unfortunately when she goes into the store, they only have the large, family packs of chicken which is far too much for a family of two. She leaves the store empty handed. When she reaches her car she notices that her gas cap is missing. She forgot she unscrewed it at the gas station and when she drove off, it fell down.
Back to the gas station to search for the cap. She doesn't find it so she goes to work.

On her lunch break she goes to the auto parts store to buy a new gas cap and finally gets gas in the car. The weather was nice so on her way back to the office she decides to put the window down for fresh air. When she presses the down button, it goes down all right. All the way down and it won't come back up. Broken. It will cost almost $400 to get it fixed.

When my father heard this he offered to take her out for dinner. She obviously needed a break. Probably out of fear for what could happen next she declined his offer and opted to drown her sorrows in the hot tub with a bottle of wine.

Disappointment

We got the call just after midnight. It was a call we were expecting but the results were not as we had hoped. SIL and Nephew had just left the US Consulate where they had their visa interview. Both were denied visitor's visas. This means that Nephew won't get to see Disney and SIL won't get to see what life is like somewhere other than in India. This also means that FIL and MIL will not travel here to see our new house and baby, even though they have the visas. They won't leave those two at home.
We spent months preparing for this interview. It cost Husband several hundred dollars, not to mention the time and paperwork gathering.
In case you are wondering, this is how it works. The first step was for SIL to go to a certain bank branch and pay the money and get a receipt which would allow her to make the actual interview appointment. Between those two steps was the paperwork preparation. Passport photos had to be taken. Husband and I prepared most of the paperwork which included financial proof on our end, notarized support documents, etc. We sent the entire packet of paperwork via express mail several weeks ago. Certain documents then had to be delivered in advance to the Consulate. They could not be mailed or couriered there. Only hand delivered. This could create a problem for some people if you don't happen to live in the city where the Consulate is located. Fortunately there are relatives who live in Mumbai. So said documents had to be couriered to the relatives who in turn took the documents for hand delivery.
All this and then to find out they are denied. I fully expected it due to SIL's unfortunate circumstance of being a widow. But I was hopeful beyond belief. The agent asked SIL several questions about her job. Then asked why she had never applied before. Then asked where was her husband. As soon as she said he was deceased, the agent informed her that he was unable to grant the visas because she probably wouldn't come back. She assured him that they would indeed come back. He apologized and returned their passports.
Sure, she could go through this whole process and try again. Most likely she will not. We are sad because this puts great pressure on us to do all the traveling and possibly move there in the future. We certainly don't blame that agent. He was just doing his job. Nevertheless there is disappointment all around.

Help Wanted

I need several appliances for the new place. A refrigerator, washer & dryer to start with. I'm interested in suggestions. What brands do you recommend? It is so hard to research these things. You don't want to buy anything if you read the online reviews. I have some ideas, but I'd like opinions. Help me.