5-13-12 Sunday (Wine In The Clouds)

Thursday night we put out our big “For Sale By Owner” sign along with our take-ones.  I emailed Adams:

At my last update, Tim, the Haskell's repair guy said he'd be at my house around 5:45pm.  He said "I have your number and will call you before I come".  I'm shocked to tell you that again, he did not show up.  You call Haskell's and tell them I want someone out at my house at 8am.  Let me know what date.  Inform Chris Morris of my entire file including today's typical let down.  Hell, forward him the million emails we've got going back and forth... but I can't get a tree? 

I was pretty hot.  Friday at about 11am I received:

I am so sorry, Chris does have your file and we talked about it in depth yesterday and they have at least agreed to plant what ever tree you want being similar in size in the same spot.  I had a thing at my son’s school this morning and am just seeing this email but have sent this to Chris as well so he can call Haskell’s directly.

Was it the Better Business Bureau complaint?  Did they see the flyers and for sale sign?  Did the manager view my file?  Was it the Facebook comments?  Was it my visit to the salesman?  Whatever it was hopefully it will be over soon.  I didn’t even get to snap a photo of the for sale sign.  When we got home (Friday night) we removed the sign, started dinner and settled in for the night.

While dinner cooked, the phone rang.  It was a repair guy from Haskell’s Hardware asking if he could come over now to fix the garage door.  I agreed and this time I let Jim deal with it.  The repair was a simple adjustment and he was gone in 10 minutes.  I replied to the builder:

That's a very nice gesture, thank you. We'd certainly love a Magnolia. The Haskell's guy called this evening, came over, made some adjustments and the garage door has no gaps. Yay!

Professional of me, no?

Saturday Jim and I made some returns.  All the Mikasa Wine glasses we had bought went back.  Some were from Macy’s and some from Dillard’s.  Every box we had, had at least one deformed wine glass.  We’re back to keeping the glasses we already had.  I’m just not sure why they keep fogging up.  I clean them, they look nice and then a month later, they’ve fogged up.  The champagne flutes in the same cabinets don’t do that.  I’ve already cleaned these glasses in rubbing alcohol, vinegar, Dawn, any other suggestions?  Glass isn’t porous so how is this happening?

Later in the evening we met up with Mike and Billy and went to the Rocky River Grille which is the Embassy Suites restaurant.  The food was good, prices decent and ambiance great.  We’d go back there.  We went there with one of Billy’s Restaurant.com certificates.  Another plus was that it wasn’t busy for a Saturday night.  It might just be one of our hidden gems that non hotel guests know about.

On Sunday we saw a movie.  The Avengers.  What a great movie.

5-10-12 Thursday (Fatal Cuts & Bruises)

Friday’s hospital visit got me thinking about me and Jim’s legal set up.  What if he was unconscious?  What if he had to undergo emergency surgery?  What if something more tragic occurred.  How would I have been treated?  Could I have made any decisions?

(Sobbing) “It’s just a cut and needs a bandaid?  He can’t live like that, pull the plug.”

“Uh, sir, he’s not hooked up to any life supporting machinery.”

“Oh… uh carry on then.”

We’ve been putting off a Living Will since 2005 when Terri Schiavo’s case hit the media.  Remember that?  What exactly do we need to protect ourselves since closed-minded people prevent us from getting married?  A Living Will, but what else?  Should we get a lawyer?

Now with the unfortunate passing of Amendment One I’m not sure what protection options we have.  What a bigoted state I chose to live in.  It’s all about not letting the gays have their way even though there’s already laws in place against the terrible homos.  I wonder how many non-gay families this will ruin?  I’m such a non-political person, so much so that I’m so ignorant about so much of it.  This my friends, has me feeling so down though.  One man, one woman.  Whatever.  There’s simply no separation of church and state.  Why would anyone care what goes on in my bedroom anyway?  The sanctity of marriage?  My ass.

An Adams Homes update:  As you know I mentioned that the builder has agreed to replace the dead tree but only with a maple.  I pushed them and threatened them:

What's wrong with your company?  Really?  The garage door people called me Thursday and set up an appointment.  I had to wait a month for that.  A month Misty.  Why?  Is it them?  Is it you?  Is it Adams Homes?  No, it wasn't an important repair but the lack of care/service is terrible.  I'm still waiting on the roofer.  Why do you hire these subcontractors?  Awful. What about the tree?  Now I really want that Magnolia tree for all this hassle.  Can't do it?  Have a manager call me.  Let's not forget you are still trying to sell homes in this neighborhood.  Word of mouth is your best asset or worst enemy. 

PS: I've included a preview of my "house for sale" flyer that I'm considering putting in my yard.  Maybe we'll need to sell the house if we can't get stuff rectified.

I really couldn’t help it.  I’ve been trying to remain professional.  I try to keep my cool.  Every warranty repair is a cluster-flub.  Obviously they didn’t like my reply so they responded:

Ted Simpson, my Production Manger was in Crab Orchard today and has called the roofer directly to nail down loose shingle.  Our warranty will not cover the tree.  He says he recalls the Realtor breaking a limb off of the tree and it was living at time of closing.  My General Manager reviewed the Restrictions for the neighborhood and it does not designate type of tree for existing home.  Haskell’s will be out Thursday to look at the garage door.  I am sorry you feel the way you do about Adams Homes and our customer service and I am well aware we have some “issues”.  I will continue to work on any problems I can help you with on your home and will hopefully get to the point of being satisfied. 

So I replied:

We recall our realtor doing that too.  We also recall Ted assuring us it was fine.  Yes it was green inside but had NO leaves.  It was September 22nd that we closed.  The other tree still had plenty of leaves.  The other tree came back in the spring, the leafless one did not.  I told Ted I would trust him.  So when a tree dies, is it dried out right away?  No.  Of course not.  My realtor is not an arborist.

So before it was OK to replace the tree and now it's not?

And they replied:

I am sorry but no, you have signed in your contract that landscaping, trees or shrubs are not covered by warranty. 

So we’ve been leaving FACTUAL comments on their Facebook page(s).  I submitted a complaint to the Better Business Bureau.  I intend to call their corporate office once I get their number.  I’ve also stopped at the sales center Tuesday night and spoke with a salesperson, Mel.  I told him what was going on and that I intended to spread the word about my problems.  He was very empathetic, invited me into the sales center, in the living room, on the couch with concern in his voice.  He said he’d look into the situation and call me back.  As I type this on Wednesday evening, I’ve not heard back.  My guess is perhaps he tried to rectify it but higher-ups snuffed it.

Thursday morning: The garage door people are supposed to be here between 8 and 9am.  I’ve prescheduled a half hour PTO at work just in case.  As of 8:25 I’m left thinking I’ll probably need it.  This was all first reported December 21st.  Jan 13th they asked me to take a picture of the light coming in on the sides.  Jan 30th they asked if anyone ever came out about the garage door.  April 1st sent pictures of light.  If it wasn’t for blogging and email I’d never be able to keep this stuff straight.  I’m totally bad about writing notes about who/what/when.

At 9:00am I called them.  I was told that the repair guy, Tim, was loading his truck now.  I said, “Really?  Just now?  You guys said between 8 and 9.  You said I’d be the first stop and just now he’s getting ready?  What’s he been doing since 8?”  Naturally that got a “Uhhh, well, we had some scheduling issues.  hold on.”  Suddenly Tim on the line.  He said he’d be over in a half hour.  I told him that wouldn’t work as then I’d be severely late.  He said he’d come after my work.  He agreed on about 5:45.  As of 6:51 he never showed up yet again.   Adams Homes and Haskell’s Hardware sucks.

5-6-12 Sunday (Informational Flyers)

Saturday was really laid back.  Jim is still recovering from his illness so he’s been relaxing.  At one point he took a long nap and I went to work on a “for sale” flyer for the house.

Above: Click on it to open a new window and biggerize it.

It came out pretty good.  It could be better but I spent more time than I should have on it.  We’ll just chalk it off to entertainment.  The even sadder part is we live with those trims and paint jobs just the way it is.  We gave up on some of that.

I had to buy a new version of The Print Shop to make that.  Apparently my older version won’t work with Windows 7 anymore.  It’s OK because Amazon had it cheaper than the manufacturer.   Also on Amazon I found a $25 kit that I’ll hold off on ordering for now.

I really don’t want it to come to this.  I don’t want the innocent sales people in the model center to be affected.  This isn’t their battle.  I sent a copy of my flyer to the warranty woman at Adams Homes.  You’d think that with all this constant crap, Adams Homes would be up the sub’s asses making sure things got done.  Nope.

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For whatever strange reason… probably because I’m strange… I decided to make a Facebook profile photo into a Fembot.  It was then that I realized that I’m old.  Sure I’m a mere 41 but in some circles, that’s old.  Old enough that younger generations have no idea what a Fembot is.  If this describes you then by all means, click on the link to see what it is.  I’ll wait.  We’ll all wait.  We want you to feel loved here.  Now hurry up.

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Meanwhile… in our backyard…

We watched it from the back door.  Once it spotted us, it just watched and watched until finally running away.

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The Jeep’s brakes are now making scrubbing/grinding noises as if it’s metal to metal.  Seriously.  First I plan to see if their (Monro) computers are interconnected by location.  I’m thinking about bringing it in to another store and saying “I brought it to another shop and they can’t get them right.”  Then I’ll see what they say.  Jim wants me to demand all of our money back.  I’m so tired of it.

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It seems to be avocado season or something.  They are so ripe and wonderful.  That means lots of guacamole.  So easy to make too:

Avocadoes, salt, Pico De Gallo.  Yum!

5-4-12 Friday (To Err Is Human To ER Really Sucks)

While at work Friday, the supervisors passed out ice cream.  It was a “just because we appreciate what you do” gesture.  I have a rant… several really.  Please don’t think me as ungrateful.  There’s humor in it and irony.  I love that my company does stuff like this.  It’s really a great feel-good thing.  Here comes the but…

First thought: Ice cream in a call center?  We work on the phones.  That means I have to talk, type, listen, etc. Some processes take 45 minutes on the phone.  If I’m not ready to take a call at the time I receive said ice cream, I could get in trouble.  If I’m in the middle of a call, it’s extremely difficult to eat ice cream and talk on the phone at the same time.  Maybe it will just melt while I’m reading a 3 1/2 minute long disclosure only to have you say in the near future, “no one ever told me that” because you were too busy yelling at your kids.

Second thought: Most of the games, competitions or whatever that we play at work have prizes.  Most of the time it’s food.  If you win you get a treat.  (wagging tail)  Have you seen the size of me?  Yes, I like to eat so in general I’m all for the junk food shoved in my face.  Sometimes I’ll even chose the healthier peanut snack things instead of the candy but even those are loaded with sugary goodness.  They try.  Maybe they should have a mini fridge with bags of carrots?  Hand out fruit maybe?  Oops, off topic.  Anyway, junk food is already used by so many for completely opposite reasons.  “Hey, that was difficult.  I did great.  I’m rewarding myself with junk food.”  OR  “What a crappy day.  I need junk food.”  Junk food for feeling bad or feeling glad.  As my friend Norma said in a post, “emotional eating”:

On that note, I responded recently to another blogger's post about how to handle sweets/treats with kids.  I'm the first to brag tell you that there's no junk in my house and my Spawn understand that ice cream is not an everyday thing and that they eat cherry tomatoes for an after school snack, which is all true.  But they of course have their special treats; Emma  can put away a massive plate of blueberry cake French toast at our favorite breakfast place and Veronica is still talking about the dessert cart at the Brazilian Grill from our visit there in February.  What I have tried to do these past four years is NOT paint junk food as a reward or a comfort or something to be earned; i.e., a good report card does not equal going out for ice cream.  A hurt knee or hurt feelings does not equal going out for ice cream.  Behaving at a boring function does not equal going out for ice cream.  Ice cream should just be enjoyed once in a while for its own sake, not tied in with the emotions of daily life events, right?

Norma is a previously overweight woman who is now very fit and very active, takes care of 2 intelligent young daughters while maintaining a relationship with a younger studly guy who shares her love of fitness.  Her blog is 90% about the healthy stuff she eats, while “preaching” about the evils of junk food, preservatives, sugars and the like.  I’m so opposite of her and she accepts that.  She’s even jabbed at weightloss programs I’ve been on in the past but I don’t take it personally and definitely listen to what she says.   She’s spot on but alas, I continue to ignore and eat my way to fluffiness.  Sigh.

With that awesome segue… I bought cookies.  On Thursday a coworker brought in 3 different kinds of cookies to try.  Her friend has a new home based cookie business.  She offered up a Salted Chocolate Chip cookie.  This was heavenly!  Next a Honey Maple Peanut Butter.  Holy crap.  The name of her business?  “The Best Cookies I’ve Ever Tasted”.  It’s totally true.  They were.  She had another kind.  Some chocolate chipotle something or another that I was too much of a wuss to try.   I immediately ordered a dozen ($10) of those peanut butter cookies.  Next time I’ll order the salted chocolate chip.  Today, my order was waiting for me.  Believe it or not, I behaved and waited to get home to share them with Jim!  You’ll see how that went.  Read on.

I came home from work and Jim was upstairs, still clothed and in bed.  He said he left work a little early, had to stop roadside to puke, made it home and crawled into bed.  His stomach was hurting a lot.  Some bad Wendy’s that he had for lunch?  I got him some water and darkened the room.  He puked up the water.  He puked a dozen times.  I asked if he wanted to go to the Emergency Room but he wanted to wait a little.  Eventually we were off to the ER.  Our very first ER visit for one another as a couple.  It was to be an hour and a half wait.  After about a half hour he was feeling better and decided to leave. Frankly the characters waiting for care were probably enough to make him feel better.  Through the evening he felt much better. 

We   rewarded ourselves   celebrated   ate cookies.

5-3-12 Thursday (Guilted Gifts)

On Sunday I received a blog comment:

Crap, she was right.  I wasn’t even thinking about Mother’s Day.  The point of the gift was to be encouragement for feeling better.  Why give someone a gift as a get well?  What’s the message I’d be sending?  “Sorry you’re sick, here’s a gift.”  So I ordered the Kindle cover and had it shipped directly to my mom.  It’s a “glad you’re feeling better slash Mother’s Day” gift.

As for the cracked corn idea… I suppose next time.  I’m a city boy; what do I know? 

Jim and I went to the RV in the morning.  We jump started and charged the batteries.  We inflated the flat tire.  We ran the generator and RV engine while we went to Mimi’s for brunch with Ruby and Jamie.  We’ve gotten them hooked on Mimi’s.  I had a couple of Bloody Mary’s and damn they’re good.  With alcohol, it was an expensive brunch but we’re worth it.

Monday was uneventful.  Jim wasn’t feeling well and called out sick.  I had one of those moments, “awwww, I wanna stay home too.” but I went in.

Tuesday Jim stayed in bed again.  He’s just not feeling well and has had an upset tummy too.  I had an 8:00am appointment with the cabinet people.  At 8:30 I called for a status.  The dispatcher guy said he’d check into it and call.  The tech called back saying he went to the wrong community.  He arrived at 8:56. I was late to work.

One of the benefits my job provides is free legal advice.  I’ve asked if I would have any repercussions if I put a sign in the yard saying “Pray you don’t need warranty repairs” or as I’ve mentioned before do a twist on Adams Homes “Price… the ultimate amenity” with “Quality… the ultimate sacrifice”.  On Thursday the garage door repair people FINALLY called me.  Hey, I’ve only made this warranty request back on April 1st.  Nice.  Jim has started commenting on their Facebook pages about our unhappiness.  We’re keeping it clean:

I bought one of your homes in Charlotte, NC. The quality and service has been the worst I have ever experienced. I wish I had never bought it.

The shingle hasn’t been addressed.  As far as the dead tree in the yard, they said:

The landscaper also has gotten back to me and said it is per code they install the maple trees in the front yard and will not plant anything else.

I doubt that code has anything to do with a replacement tree.  At first we offered to pay for a magnolia tree and they take care of the labor.  Now I’m pretty much wanting them to pay for the tree and all.  It’s the least they can do.  Really.

The wine glasses arrived.  What a frickin’ disappointment.  2 wobble, 2 have warped stems.  That’s 4 out of 12 wine glasses.  I’d prefer to return them all, Jim wants to exchange the problem ones.  For glasses with an original price of $50 per 4… that my friends, is totally shitty.  Since he’s the one who really, really, really loved them, I told him that if left up to me, all of them would go back.  In other words, do what you want, leave me out of it.  I have enough on my plate with Adams homes and the recent Jeep repair tragedies.