Hey, Yo, I Beeped You…Why You Ain’t Call Me Back?

Why is it sooooo difficult to get anyone in a customer service position to call you back? I work in the service field and deal with anywhere from 15-50 phone calls each day. Of course, I can’t answer the phone every time, especially if I’m on it, but how hard is it to call the person right back? I’m currently dealing with: a) a kitchen/cabinet supply company whom I’ve been trying to get a call back from for about 6 days now, b) a mortgage lender who said she would call me on Monday after I called her twice on Friday and then just showed up at her office Friday afternoon and happened to catch her (she did not call Monday and I just left her another message), and c) a gas line installer person who said they would call me Saturday with an estimate, but only called me back Monday afternoon after I called them. What’s up with that? I mean, at least just call me and say “I’m not ready yet, give me another day or so” or whatever. It would not be so frustrating if it didn’t seem like everyone was ignoring me. If it was only one person not calling back, I can give the benefit of the doubt. I’m nice that way. But please people, if someone calls you, JUST FRICKIN CALL THEM BACK!

Cabinetastic! or Cabulous!

We picked up our new cabinets on Tuesday.  This involved driving about 75 miles, renting a U-haul, going to the guy’s house, loading up the U-haul, driving back home, unloading U-haul, heaving a sigh of relief.  My living room is jammed with the cabinets until we order a countertop and get started yanking out the old junkies.

We’ve pretty much decided on a Quartz countertop and are working on a few estimates, although I don’t know that there will be much difference in price once it really comes down to it.

Here are a couple of pics:

Trying Again.

Mostly this blog has been about how I never blog, but that ends today!  You heard it here first! Exclamation Point!  I need to really commit to something, see it through, make it mine, so I’m starting here.  I may even tell some people I know that I have a blog!  Imagine!

We’ve been redecorating our kitchen for about, ummm 2 years now.  We painted, then painted again, installed new trim and wallpaper, all over the course of about 24 months, with the last work being done about, oh, a year ago.  We finally got off our asses and bought some new kitchen cabinets.  This is very exciting for a few reasons:

1. Our current cabinets are gross and ugly.  Obviously someone built them sometime in the late 70’s.  I can’t believe they’re still standing.
2. The cabinets we purchased are new, but we found them on Craigslist (love you, Craigslist!).  Someone bought them for their own remodel, but changed their mind and bought something else.  I think this guy works for a builder, so he got a deal, which means that we, in turn, got a deal too.  I think we’re only going to have to buy one cabinet to make this work in our floor plan.
3. We saved a ton of money buying not-retail.  A ton, which means that we can splurge a little more on the appliances we want.

I plan to post some before and after pictures.  I think you’ll be amazed.  And bewildered.  Maybe awed.

New Year/Old Year Insights

What will this new year bring? Ideally, it will bring me a small charming house in the mountains near my family and a new job in the mountains with just enough pay to take care of my husband and I and my small charming house. And food.

But this year has been good to me. I live in a house in a small city-ish place, and my mortgage is low and I make pretty good money and so does my spouse and we can buy food and yarn and internet access whenever we want, so life is good.

My life is always been conflicting this way.  I’d like to live more simply, but I always see things I want/need.  Then I buy things and I have all this stuff that is really in my way and doesn’t get used, etc.  I should really take this year to scale down my stuff and simplify.  Maybe I will.  It’ll be easy, won’t it?

~Originally written on Dec 30, 2008~

It’s all my fault

I don’t blame you for giving up on this blog. I have slacked it away. It had the potential to be borderline interesting, but right now it’s on its deathbed. Is it too late? We shall see.

Bring your own balloons…

It seems like lots of you readers are interested in visiting the dentist. Well, probably more in the nitrous experience than the actual teeth cleaning and stuff, that’s way more interesting. Let me describe this experience for you, since I think that’s what you are looking for.

1. It’s better with music, so see if they’ll let you wear headphones. I advise something more on the mellow side, like Sarah McLaughlin or Brandi Carlile. Maybe leave the Rage Against the Machine at home.
2. Breathe deeply and relax. If you attempt to be too aware of the experience, then you’ll just be thinking “do I feel it do I feel it do I feel it?” and you’ll kind of miss it.
3. You’ll feel very relaxed once the nitrous kicks in, not too swimmy-headed, but a little. Even though the dentist is pulling on your face and power-tooling the shit out of your teeth, you don’t really notice that much.
4. You will smile.
5. You will be a little woozy when you’re done. I had to collect myself in the waiting room afterward, but after a minute I was back to normal.
6. The end.

Favorite Movie Quotes – Friday (the original)

“How the hell you gonna get fired on your day off?!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Every time I come in the kitchen, you’re in the kitchen, in the got-damned refrigerator, eatin’ up all the food…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Boy, I smelled your shit for 22 years, now you can’t smell mine for 5 minutes?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You need a trade…take a look at that paper on the c-c-c-counter there…”

“Man, I ain’t trying to be no dog catcher!”

“Why not?”

“I don’t even like dogs…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Whodafuck you go to the show with last night???”

“I didn’t go to the show last night!”

“Yes you did!  My sister-in-law’s baby cousin Tracy, she went to the show last night and she saw you there all hugged-up with some tramp! Now tell me who she was…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“My grandmama gave me that chain!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Pop’s trippin’…he wants me to ask for my bike back…you know I wouldn’t trip…”

“THAT’S MY BIKE, PUNK!!!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey hey hey hey hey…what are you doing?”

“I’m throwing this away, we ain’t even got no milk!”

“You better put some water on that damn shit!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I got bit in the ass today, son, by a stinking-ass filthy dog…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“My neck! My back! My neck and my back!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What’s up with your daddy’s hair?  Looks like a bunch of spiders having a meeting on his head!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(There are so many more, I really love this movie….)

I am hungover today.

Not the puking-all-day hangover, just the woke-up-with-a-headache-still-kind-of-have-one hangover. The kind of hangover that’s nurtured by a gallon of tea and lots of cheese. But I had a great time last night. Bill went out with a couple of guys he’s known since childhood, and accidentally ran into his high school reunion. I went out with a girlfriend and we both drank too much and ate pizza, so it was a good Girl’s Night.

Now that I think about it, I ate pizza from 3 different places the last 3 days, kind of weird. It’s ok, though, I love pizza. Friday night, the pizza was homemade with Trader Joe’s dough, sausage, feta and onions. Saturday pizza was from my regular bar, which has some of the best pizza I’ve ever tasted. This was supposed to be a White Pizza, but accidentally come as a Greek pizza, with gyro meat, olives, feta and onions. I HATE olives, but these were whole, and it was close to the end of the night, if you know what I mean, and I think you do, so I could just pick them off without too much gagging (olives are REALLY gross). It was still an awesome pizza. Today’s pizza was Papa John’s Indiana Jones Super Gigantic Pizza. This was pepperoni, pineapple, and again, onion. I think if I could only have one pizza topping for the rest of my life, I would choose onion. This pizza was good, but definitely in 3rd place.

In other news, my family lives about 5 hours away. I don’t go visit often enough, and the drive is incredibly boring and long, which is most of the reason I don’t go enough. I had the bright idea that I would fly home, since there’s an airport 5 minutes from my house and an airport near them too. Any idea how much a ticket is? Anyone? Well, the price is (cue drum roll) $1307! Holy Crap! I thought I’d go out there next weekend, but, needless to say, I won’t be flying.

New shows I’m watching, and also, old shows I’m watching…

I’m really enjoying some of the new shows so far this season and some of the old favorites as well. I plan on watching “Crusoe” tonight, looking forward to that one. I like period shows and movies and stuff, and maybe there will be wenches and pirates. Aaargh!

Speaking of period shows, “Life on Mars” is good so far too. The guy playing Sam, Jason O’Mara, is pretty hot, which doesn’t hurt, and the episodes don’t seem to be predictable (to me) yet. I’m actually interested in finding out what happens, so if you know the British ending, I don’t want to know. I like how they’re beating up the bad guys during questioning and using typewriters and baking pot in the lasagna.

I’ve watched a couple episodes of “Fringe” and “Eleventh Hour” too, both just ok. I can’t look at the guy from “Fringe” without thinking of “Dawson’s Creek” even though I didn’t watch that show. For some reason I can’t take him seriously.

I had my doubts about “Kath & Kim”, but it’s truly, truly funny. I know it’s getting bad reviews, but there are really some laugh out loud moments. How could you not laugh out loud at Molly Shannon??? ETA: I just discovered that Selma Blair is, like, 36 or something. I really enjoy her character in this show, she plays a good early-20-something.

I was (am) really excited for some of the not-new shows to start, like “Life”, “House”, “Eli Stone”, “Biggest Loser” (token reality show) and “30 Rock” (can’t wait for 30 Rock!). Not much to say about them, they’re all good and exciting and I love them.

Gotta go, show’s on.

One million days since the last post…

I went to the dentist last week. I had to get a filling. I have to be honest, prior to last May, I had not been to the dentist in about 4 years. My mother would not be proud. Anyhoo, I was having some tooth “issues” (I broke a tooth eating free bread samples at the grocery store), and knew that I needed a check up anyway, so I decided to go to the dentist that my husband goes to. (He has excellent oral hygiene and gets his teeth cleaned every 90 days, I think this is worth mentioning.)

I had never been to a dentist like this before. The office was so nice and luxurious and the staff was so nice and the dentist was super duper nice too. Turns out that I needed a bridge or an implant for the broken tooth, so they scheduled me to come back to get a temporary filling while I decided which option was best for me. So I come back for this filling, they hand me a cd player and headphones and hooked me right up to the nitrous tank. It was like I was in my living room, soooo comfy. Literally, the best dental experience I have ever had, and I have had a LOT of dental experiences. The dentist was so apologetic the entire time, because, hey, I might have been floating on air, but I was still getting an intense filling. I felt like she truly understood that I was uncomfortable, I mean TRULY. So they scheduled another appointment, a “consultation” to determine all the drilling I needed to have done and the priority of each item. They really should have talked to me while I was all high on nitrous because when they said it would be close to $10,000 OUT OF POCKET, I almost fell out of the chair onto the lush, luxurious carpeting. No wonder it’s like a country club in that place, they are charging millions of dollars for the lavish-ness. Not to mention, this particular dentist is not in the network of dentists that “cooperate” with my dental plan. Needless to say, I made an appointment with a random dentist in my network so I don’t have to sell a kidney for the luxury of eating something besides chicken broth for the rest of my life. The filling I got last week cost me $35 instead of $300 and I guess I’ll end up spending about $2000-ish for all the mouth renovations I need. Still sucky, but less sucky than having to sell my house and move into my car. So for $35 I got no cd player and headphones, no fresh-out-of-dental-school-dentist stroking my poor, pitiful ego, and NO NITROUS! This is the stripped down dentistry I’m used to, lots of tugging and pulling and teenaged dental assistants talking about Project Runway, but I gotta tell ya, in that one visit to the special dentist, I got spoiled.

I took a personal day for the filling, by the way.