Months ago I received an email from my umbrella group notifying me that there was a 10% group discount available for purchases made before a certain date through a graduation supply company that they made arrangements with.  I right away sat down to prepare my order, but decided to order everything at once (including having the diploma professionally printed, which I thought I needed the completed transcripts for) rather than make two separate orders.  After getting the transcripts finished just a few weeks ago, I learned that I could have placed the entire order months ago without the transcript.  So I missed that chance for saving.

No problem, so I’ll pay a little more, I figured – the main thing is to have what you need when you need it. Several weeks ago I placed my order at full price and ensured that the gowns/caps/diplomas would all arrive at least two weeks before the official graduation date.  But time was passing and it didn’t come.  I had wanted to make a change to my order but figured it was too late (I was sure it had been shipped already), and finally called to find out what was happening. And it’s a good thing I did.

I was informed that my order hadn’t been shipped and wouldn’t be shipped because my credit card didn’t go through, and they left a message for me three weeks earlier and were waiting for me to get back to them.  Oh, dear. Picking up my phone messages is seriously a weak point of mine.  If I do it once a week it’s a lot.  Anyway, I checked the messages and a family member apparently had listened to it, but not told me about it.  🙄

By the way, I asked dh (who took over dealing with the finances several months ago) what was going on with the credit care because this was the second time this happened in three weeks, and it’s never in all these years happened before.  He said he thinks the the security setting was changed.  This was kind of frustrating since there was an ample balance and once I placed the order, thought all of this was taken care of well in advance, but instead ended up seriously scrambling to get this all taken care of.  But since that’s what happened, it’s clearly what was meant to happen.

Back to the order.  Since someone had a graduation gown that I could borrow for dd, I cancelled her cap and gown, figuring I would save on that, then paid an extra fee to have rush service so it would get here in time.  (It’s supposed to arrive Thursday, which is cutting it way too close to comfort for me since the graduation is on Sunday.)

Then I went to pick up the gown that I was offered on loan, and learned that a master’s graduation gown has different sleeves than the regular gowns.  Dd15 wasn’t happy at all with it, even though I told her I could pin it and the difference wouldn’t be noticeable.  So today (3 days before the graduation), I went searching for a used graduation gown, since there’s no time to buy a new one and have it arrive on time.  The thrift store ironically had exactly the color and size she wanted (royal blue), but we don’t have a cap to match it and there’s no time to order it.  There was also a master’s black gown in her size (which we do have a cap to match), and I told her if I bought it, I’d be able to cut the sleeves and make them look just like the regular gowns, but she didn’t like the material.

Then I found someone on Craig’s List who was selling a black gown.  It was a size bigger than what we needed but at this point I couldn’t be choosy!  I spent an hour today driving to pick it up, and since I’m feeling tight for time, was quite relieved when dd said it didn’t need to be hemmed even though it’s a little long – she noticed on the website it said that if you prefer a longer gown, to just buy one size up, so she felt comfortable with the way it fitted her. I really didn’t want to have to deal with hemming it at this point!

So in the end, I’ve had some excitement with getting this gown, and despite that haven’t saved much even after canceling the original gown order.  Once I factor in the rush shipping fee, the money spent to buy it used, and the gas getting there and back, I pretty much come out even.  But the main thing is that I got a suitable gown for her – and I’m looking forward to having the rest of the order arrive tomorrow!

Avivah