Food For Thought

Is this the world we are allowing to be created for ourselves..? The legacy we will leave for our children and grandchildren..? Is it really so far from incorrect..?

Crisis Averted – Conclusion

So I went to Wally World last night, and Debetta the Beta now has a new home. He also has new rocks, although I kept the hidey hole for him…Yanno I don’t think I’ve ever seen a hidey hole in with a Beta before, but he seems to really like it – you know, to hide in. I even got the Chlor-out stuff, the right one! Of course, the bowl I grabbed didn’t have a tag on it, just like all the other bowls back there, so the cashier had to call a manager. At 10:30 pm. Can you see where this is going..? Yeah, she was at the other end of the checkouts, apparently chit chatting with someone. And that’s where she stayed. For 10 minutes. As I started her way she decided it was time to respond and headed towards us. Since I was tired, I just went to the ATM, thinking I would soon be on my way home. But apparently that wasn’t to be. I walked back up to the register just in time to hear her say “Page someone in pets” Huh? IT’S 10:30. PM. There isn’t anyone in pets at 10:30 on a Thursday night! Oh Goody, I get to wait ANOTHER 15 minutes. Yeah, I said it out loud.

So we stood and waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, the manager came back

Her: “Do you know how much it is?”
Me: ”$4.97, I’ve said ten times by now…”
Her: *to cashier: “Just do an override.”

You couldn’t do that 15 minutes ago..? Or even 25 minutes ago, when you were originally called..? I mean c’mon – I read a whole magazine waiting on her! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!

Oh well, such is life 🙂

So. Debetta the Beta has a new home. He seems pretty pleased about it, too – although, how would a fish show displeasure? Really? They don’t bark or yowl, they don’t bite – well most of them don’t bite…My mom had an Oscar that sat at the end of a “bar” in her dining room. Her cat would get up on the bar and torment it – or it would torment the cat – either way…She came home one day to find it flopping on the dining room floor & the top open. We assumed it got tired of the cat messing with it & jumped outta the tank trying to eat it….Needless to say, she did put a paperweight on the top of the tank.

But anywho. Debetta is all set up – see for yourself:

No more “Everything looks cloudy! OMG I’m losing my sight! I’m GOING BLIND!!!” for Debetta. I’m sure it’s a huge load off of his mind…

Not to be outdone, the crazy kitty had to make his presence felt last night. Bel seems to be under the impression that any piece of anything  dark colored is his personal hiding place. If it’s dark colored, and it can be gotten to, it’s his. The dark blue blanket on the bed. The dark blue carpet runner coming in from the garage. Never mind that laying on these things tends to get him stepped on! And it doesn’t matter how small it is – he’ll lay on a 4”X4” piece of cloth & think he’s well hidden…

My reusable Wally World bags are black. Well, some of them are. The ones I used last night…See for yourself:

 

Yeah, there’s a cat in that pic. You can see him if you look really close…it a cag (cat/bag) or maybe a bat – no wait there’s already a critter called a bat…

See how well he hides..? He seems to think the dark colors in the multi-colored rug hide him…You can kinda see the runner towards the top of the pic. He is blending pretty well with the bags again, tho. He was actually trying to get inside them, but gave up before I got the camera out      😦 He’s never net a small, enclosed place he didn’t like. When I bought a new printer it took all of 3 minutes for him to claim the box. Since it had a big plastic wrap thingy and styrofoam (have you ever tried to clean up styrofoam a cat has decided was too big and needed “brought down to size”? which translates to a bazillion little pieces of super-light-can’t-be-sucked-with-the-vacuum-because-the-updraft-blows-it-away-before-the-sucker-can-get-it…). I closed the lid, you know the old fold over & under thingy? 30 min later I looked up to see a cat’s rear legs & tail sticking out of the middle of the flaps on the top of the box. His front half was firmly inside – and my camera was nowhere to be found…go figger!

Anywho, I gotta go. Today & tomorrow (my 4 hour Saturday! Woohoo!) Then I’m off for 8 days. In a row. All together. I won’t know how to act! Well, I will, I’ll do laundry, clean the house, organize my closet, get the garage cleaned out (you remember – the two-car garage you can’t get even one in..?). Oh yeah, and blogging! I hope….

See ya laterzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!

Really..? REALLY..? Someone Truly Believes This..?

Really..? REALLY..? I mean, this is a joke, right..? Today was a “day off” For any of you who come here regularly—> yes I mean YOU TWO! you know that as a rule a day off is anything but. Today was a bit different from the usual craziness. I did take the boy to school, go to the drug store, stop by the new flea market, clean the house and make dinner, but that was IT. So I have had some time to go blog hopping. I usually blog hop using Blog Explosion or Condron, but today I did it a little differently, by following links from one blog to another. I found a lot of interesting new places to visit…while visiting Lover of Strife, “A character from the epic Mabinogion, whose tendency to bash heads first and ask questions later leads to a terrible war between Britain and Ireland. Also, a modern-day, kind of high-maintenance, very male Witch from Houston, Texas. He can often be found not keeping his mouth shut and taking creative liberties with What Really Happened.” I clicked on a link to The Blogess, “Like Mother Teresa, only better” based on his comment that she has “The funniest site on the internet” Intriguing. Of course I had to check that out, ‘cuz I read some funny shit on a regular basis, she must be good…actually, I was pleasantly surprised! She is humorous. From the get go – go on check out the splash page…I’ll wait.

If you were brave enough to choose “Bring it on Bitch” you by now probably agree…Well, me being me, I never read just one post. Well, at least not if I find it the least bit interesting, anyways…So after exploring not-so-wiped-off-the-face-of-the-Earth childhood illnesses and the dangers of spontaneously combusting babies, I realized she goes through her comments and picks one to be “comment of the day” (Yep that’s me! The post on Lover of Strife that said – and I quote – “Jenny the Bloggess took this kind of horrifying thing I said and named it her official Comment of the Day.” wasn’t quite spelled out enough for me…). Then I read the chosen comment. IT was funny, too. Then I realized there were 125 comments on one post. So I went in and read the comments. And visited the sites of the commenters that struck my fancy. Then I found the link to Ask The Bloggess –

“What the Hell does any of this have to do with the obvious outrage displayed in the opening lines of this post?” You ask..

“I’m getting there!” I say – “and really, you’ve been here before…if I didn’t ramble and wander you’d be emailing me wanting to know who the Hell was posting on my blog and what did they do with me..?”

“Well, yeah…but c’mon!” You say.

“I’m working on it!”

So where was I..? Oh yeah, Ask the Bloggess – that’s some funny shit, too! So on to the comments I went. Yanno, it’s been my experience that the comments are a very important part of each post (a part many of mine are sadly lacking…), and enjoy reading them almost – mind you I said ALMOST – as much as the original posts on the blogs I like. Following a link to a commenters blog, I stumbled onto Mayopie. Whose latest post bears the title “Ohhhhhhhhhh…Fat people cause global warming”

DO WHAT..?

Fortunately my initial reaction was wrong. Mayopie was responding to an article on The Sun. They are the ones who posit that overweight people are contributing – a lot – to global warming. In an article titled “Fatties Cause Global Warming.” Apparently in all seriousness….

Yeah I have an issue with that.

While in my current incarnation, I am about 5’5”, and weigh about 140, a large part of which is muscles from dancing allowing me to weigh 140 but wear a 9-10-11 (depending on manufacturer. And WHAT is the deal with THAT..? Why doesn’t a size 9 have the same waist/hip measurements across brands..? Length differences are necessary but Really..? How can a 29” waist, a 30” inch waist and a 31” waist ALL be labeled as size 9..? I mean c’mon, why is it so….huh..? What..? Did you say something..? Oh yeah, oops *blushing* will save that rant for another post…) Shit, I’ve even lost myself, hang on while I go back and read what I wrote…

Oh yeah, I wear an average 9-10-11, not teeny tiny by any means (I’ll NEVER be that) but I look pretty good, if I do say so myself : ) But I have also been 5’5” and 180 lbs – not so svelte. But I still looked good! (What!?!? I did! It’s all in how you present yourself & how you carry yourself)

Even if that weren’t true, where the f^*k does someone get off insinuating – no outright SAYING such a thing? In print? In front of the Goddess and everyone..? I could come up with a few choice actions I’d like to take in that author’s direction (my post/spell on How to Change Someone Into a Frog is at the forefront of my mind…)BUT…

As much as I am offended by this, I won’t. I can’t. I am not a flowers and light witch, and firmly believe that the world is all about balance, and if you can’t/won’t hex, neither can you/will you be able to heal, I am not personally hurt by this article. Nor is my family. So it isn’t MY PLACE to take retribution. But if you have been…well, the link is there…

Ok, it’s 9:30, Idol is on (well it’s been on for 30 min, but we have it DVRed, so it’s all good *grin*) and I am done for today. But go check out some of my new finds! And I’ve added to my blogroll, too, so be sure to visit them, too. Wonderful blog like The Vinyl VIllager, Faerie♥Kat, The Gods Are Bored, and Trench Warfare to name a few…and a very varied selection it is, too *grin*

See ya laterzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!

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In Praise of HH Gregg – Chapter 5

When last we checked in on our heroine, she was moving from the House of the Plants….LOL

Ok, We thought we had hit paydirt when we found the house we moved to. Nice neighborhood, out of Indy, good school district, close to friends, etc. And it was huge! 25600 sq. feet! What does a family of three need with 2600 sq feet? you ask. Well, somehow we have acquired a lot of “stuffs.” A lot. And you know, I’ve pared down with each move…

Oh wait – this is “In praise of HH Gregg” isn’t it? Remember I mentioned the dishwasher at the House of the Plants died..? Well after the first flood experience (I think we ended up with a total of 4 floods while there…) we decided that it would just be easier to use ours. It was new – well relatively new, we had bought it at the demon store (for you newcomers, that’s Best Buy) less than 2 months before we moved. So Hunny took the one that came with the house out to the huge shed, and put ours in. I was excited! I loaded ‘er up & turned ‘er on. 15 minutes later, I found water on the kitchen floor. A lot of it. (But not one of the aforementioned floods). The dishwasher was leaking. No biggie. Would be an inconvenience for a few days, maybe a week, but I had a warranty! 

I called the demon store, they referred me to the manufacturer. I called the manufacturer, they referred me to a repair company they use. I called the repair company & made a warranty appointment for someone to come look at/fix it. A week later the repair guy informs me the seal . is bad, no way to fix, will have to replace. Ok, so maybe it’ll be a little more inconvenient than I thought – but still not so bad…But here is where I had to go back to the demon store. I shouldn’t have had to, the repaid guy called his company, who called the manufacturer, who contacted the demon store to tell them to replace it. Per the manufacturer, all I had to do was call them to schedule a time for them to bring out & install the replacement. If only that had been the case.

Me: Hi, I was told by (mfg) to call and schedule a time for you to bring out a replacement dishwasher & hook it up.”
demon store employee:”Oh, ok, let me transfer you to the appliance dept. They would set that up.”
Me: “Ok.”

**sitting on ignore, listening to bad music & even worse ads.

Next demon store employee: “Appliance dept, can I help you?”
Me: Hi, I was told by (mfg) to call and schedule a time for you to bring out a replacement dishwasher & hook it up.”
Employee: ”Ok, I just need to look up your warranty info.”
Me: ? Ummmm, I don’t really need warranty service. I already had service, and it’s been determined that it needs replaced. By the manufacturer.”
Employee: “Well, store policy says I have to follow these steps…I need your name, the item in question and the date of purchase.”
Me: “Oooooookaaaay…” and gave the requested info.,
Employee: “I show that was a (mfg) dishwasher,(model), that was purchased at this store, on (date), and taken the same day. We didn’t deliver or install it.”
Me: “Yes…”
Employee: “When would you like to bring in the bad one and pick up the replacement?”
Me: “Ummmm, according to (mfg) you guys are supposed to be bringing me a new one and installing it…”
Employee: “Oh no, unless we delivered and installed the original, we don’t do that. You’ll have to bring us the other one & pick up the replacement here.”
Me: “But (mfg) has told me that they are replacing it, and told me to schedule a time for you to bring it & hook it up..”

Do you see where this is going..?

Employee: “I’m sorry if there was a misunderstanding…”
Me: “What misunderstanding? (Mfg) said to me – ‘Call the store where you purchased the dishwasher and schedule a time for them to bring you a new one & install it. We are truly sorry you’ve had an issue with this one, but our policy is to make it right :)’ I’m not sure which part of that was misunderstood by me..? It seems pretty straightforward..”
Employee: “We’ll be happy to bring it out and install it for you –
    Finally! Wait – that was too easy…
There is a $50 delivery/installation fee. Do you want to pay that now with a credit card?”
Me: “Ummm, is there a manager there?”
Employee: “I can check that for you..”

**Back on ignore for 10 minutes.

Demon store Manager: “Hi. My name is (name) and I’m a manager here at Best Buy (really?) I understand you have some questions about our warranty replacement policy?”
Me: “Ummm, no, I don’t have any questions. (Mfg) has determined that the dishwasher you sold me two months ago needs replaced. The seal around the door is bad and can’t be replaced. So they are replacing the whole unit. They have told me to call you & schedule the replacement. Delivery & install. Your employee wants me to pay for the delivery/install portion of that.”
Manager: “Hmmm,well let’s look at the original purchase…”

***clicking of computer keys
Manager: “Ok, I show that it was a (mfg) dishwasher,(model), that was purchased at this store, and taken the same day. We didn’t deliver or install it.”
Me: “Yes, we’ve already determined that…”
Manager: “ Oh well, I apologize, but our policy is unless we delivered and installed the original, we don’t do that. You’ll have to bring us the other one & pick up the replacement here.”
Me: “Ok, guess I’ll just go back to (mfg) and get this straightened out…”

I called the mfg back to clarify what I was contacting the demon store about. They said I needed to schedule delivery & installation, on them. I explained what I had been through. The little gal apologized profusely, and contacted the demon store while I held. She informed me it was “all straightened out” and I could schedule that service now.

Do you see where this is going..? It took two more weeks and I-don’t-know-how-many more phone calls to get this accomplished. On one call, the mfg did a conference call, I heard them tell the demon store manager that they were  replacing the dishwasher, at their expense, including delivery of new unit, installation and removal of old unit, The manager “noted” it & referred me to the appliance dept to schedule. I had a repeat of the above conversation…Finally the mfg called and scheduled it, and about 4 weeks after it broke, I got my dishwasher replaced.

You see..? I always buy the warranty – and for good reason.

Damm! I’m outta time again, and haven’t even gotten moved yet…LOL. Oh well, such is life, and patience is a virtue! Gotta go get ready for work, again! So…to be continued!

See ya laterzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!

         

  

In Praise of HH Gregg – Chapter 5

When last we checked in on our heroine, she was moving from the House of the Plants….LOL

Ok, We thought we had hit paydirt when we found the house we moved to. Nice neighborhood, out of Indy, good school district, close to friends, etc. And it was huge! 25600 sq. feet! What does a family of three need with 2600 sq feet? you ask. Well, somehow we have acquired a lot of “stuffs.” A lot. And you know, I’ve pared down with each move…

Oh wait – this is “In praise of HH Gregg” isn’t it? Remember I mentioned the dishwasher at the House of the Plants died..? Well after the first flood experience (I think we ended up with a total of 4 floods while there…) we decided that it would just be easier to use ours. It was new – well relatively new, we had bought it at the demon store (for you newcomers, that’s Best Buy) less than 2 months before we moved. So Hunny took the one that came with the house out to the huge shed, and put ours in. I was excited! I loaded ‘er up & turned ‘er on. 15 minutes later, I found water on the kitchen floor. A lot of it. (But not one of the aforementioned floods). The dishwasher was leaking. No biggie. Would be an inconvenience for a few days, maybe a week, but I had a warranty! 

I called the demon store, they referred me to the manufacturer. I called the manufacturer, they referred me to a repair company they use. I called the repair company & made a warranty appointment for someone to come look at/fix it. A week later the repair guy informs me the seal . is bad, no way to fix, will have to replace. Ok, so maybe it’ll be a little more inconvenient than I thought – but still not so bad…But here is where I had to go back to the demon store. I shouldn’t have had to, the repaid guy called his company, who called the manufacturer, who contacted the demon store to tell them to replace it. Per the manufacturer, all I had to do was call them to schedule a time for them to bring out & install the replacement. If only that had been the case.

Me: Hi, I was told by (mfg) to call and schedule a time for you to bring out a replacement dishwasher & hook it up.”
demon store employee:”Oh, ok, let me transfer you to the appliance dept. They would set that up.”
Me: “Ok.”

**sitting on ignore, listening to bad music & even worse ads.

Next demon store employee: “Appliance dept, can I help you?”
Me: Hi, I was told by (mfg) to call and schedule a time for you to bring out a replacement dishwasher & hook it up.”
Employee: ”Ok, I just need to look up your warranty info.”
Me: ? Ummmm, I don’t really need warranty service. I already had service, and it’s been determined that it needs replaced. By the manufacturer.”
Employee: “Well, store policy says I have to follow these steps…I need your name, the item in question and the date of purchase.”
Me: “Oooooookaaaay…” and gave the requested info.,
Employee: “I show that was a (mfg) dishwasher,(model), that was purchased at this store, on (date), and taken the same day. We didn’t deliver or install it.”
Me: “Yes…”
Employee: “When would you like to bring in the bad one and pick up the replacement?”
Me: “Ummmm, according to (mfg) you guys are supposed to be bringing me a new one and installing it…”
Employee: “Oh no, unless we delivered and installed the original, we don’t do that. You’ll have to bring us the other one & pick up the replacement here.”
Me: “But (mfg) has told me that they are replacing it, and told me to schedule a time for you to bring it & hook it up..”

Do you see where this is going..?

Employee: “I’m sorry if there was a misunderstanding…”
Me: “What misunderstanding? (Mfg) said to me – ‘Call the store where you purchased the dishwasher and schedule a time for them to bring you a new one & install it. We are truly sorry you’ve had an issue with this one, but our policy is to make it right :)’ I’m not sure which part of that was misunderstood by me..? It seems pretty straightforward..”
Employee: “We’ll be happy to bring it out and install it for you –
    Finally! Wait – that was too easy…
There is a $50 delivery/installation fee. Do you want to pay that now with a credit card?”
Me: “Ummm, is there a manager there?”
Employee: “I can check that for you..”

**Back on ignore for 10 minutes.

Demon store Manager: “Hi. My name is (name) and I’m a manager here at Best Buy (really?) I understand you have some questions about our warranty replacement policy?”
Me: “Ummm, no, I don’t have any questions. (Mfg) has determined that the dishwasher you sold me two months ago needs replaced. The seal around the door is bad and can’t be replaced. So they are replacing the whole unit. They have told me to call you & schedule the replacement. Delivery & install. Your employee wants me to pay for the delivery/install portion of that.”
Manager: “Hmmm,well let’s look at the original purchase…”

***clicking of computer keys
Manager: “Ok, I show that it was a (mfg) dishwasher,(model), that was purchased at this store, and taken the same day. We didn’t deliver or install it.”
Me: “Yes, we’ve already determined that…”
Manager: “ Oh well, I apologize, but our policy is unless we delivered and installed the original, we don’t do that. You’ll have to bring us the other one & pick up the replacement here.”
Me: “Ok, guess I’ll just go back to (mfg) and get this straightened out…”

I called the mfg back to clarify what I was contacting the demon store about. They said I needed to schedule delivery & installation, on them. I explained what I had been through. The little gal apologized profusely, and contacted the demon store while I held. She informed me it was “all straightened out” and I could schedule that service now.

Do you see where this is going..? It took two more weeks and I-don’t-know-how-many more phone calls to get this accomplished. On one call, the mfg did a conference call, I heard them tell the demon store manager that they were  replacing the dishwasher, at their expense, including delivery of new unit, installation and removal of old unit, The manager “noted” it & referred me to the appliance dept to schedule. I had a repeat of the above conversation…Finally the mfg called and scheduled it, and about 4 weeks after it broke, I got my dishwasher replaced.

You see..? I always buy the warranty – and for good reason.

Damm! I’m outta time again, and haven’t even gotten moved yet…LOL. Oh well, such is life, and patience is a virtue! Gotta go get ready for work, again! So…to be continued!

See ya laterzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!

         

  

In Praise of HH Gregg – Continuation

Alrighty then We’ve gotten through the cars. Now I will move on to get you closer to where I was going with this. Closer – not necessarily there. I was going on about my luck with thing electronic & mechanical…while we’re on the subject, let’s not forget to include Sprint & the cell phone, ‘cuz, yanno, it’s electronical. . .I won’t go back over all the ugly details again, if you didn’t get em the first time, just click the links, they’ll take you to relevant posts.

So…last year, we moved right about tax time. Now I know houses aren’t mechanical, or electronic, but my “luck” apparently runs to them, too. I don’t think I’ve touched too much on that before, so I will do so now.

We lived in the same house for almost 7 years. We initially got it on a “rent-to-buy” type set up – the payments came outta Hunny’s check each week and were split between “principle” & “interest”. It was set up as a series of 6, five years leases, at the end of which we would “purchase” the home for $1. We also had the option to purchase at any point if finances allowed. After about 5 years, they did, so we went the mortgage route. Life was good. Our payment went from about $700 a month to about $500 a month. It was a fixed 30 year term. That’s supposed to mean your payment doesn’t change. Note I said supposed to.

But apparently, somewhere along the line, the taxes weren’t figured properly, so the amount we escrowed for them wasn’t right. By a whole bunch. On top of that, our mortgage was “sold” by the initial issuer – you know the one with human employees? That you could actually talk to..?It was bought by the Demon Store’s (Best Buy for you late-comers) big brother – The Demon Lender aka Wells Fargo.

I received a notice saying our payment was increasing by approximately (‘cuz I don’t remember the exact amount – I’ve slept since then) $200 a month. $200 a month! That’s a big jump on a “fixed rate mortgage.” I did what I could, and actually managed for a few months, but then I made a payment late. I freely fess up – I made the payment late. About 3 weeks so. And because I had jumped into that vicious cycle, each payment after that was about 3 weeks late. And the phone calls started. I tried to make arrangements with them, to send an initial amount, by a certain date,then add to each following payment, and I did so. But they claimed the payment arrived about four days later than it needed to, and hence, I “broke the agreement.” More phone calls.

I created a new agreement with “Haji” over the phone, and sent off more money on the date I agreed to. Again, it “arrived” late. WTF? I knew damn good & well I had sent it correctly. I‘m sure you can see the vicious cycle beginning here…? By this point, they want me to send them $800 “now” and $1000 a month to catch up. You see, every time I “broke” the agreement, there were additional fees…big surprise there, huh? For a minute, they almost convinced me I was the one fuc*ing up. Almost. I was very stressed, to say the least. But this time, I got smart. Rather than having my bank send it (something I rarely do, but it gave me an uninterested third party verification of when it was sent, so I had gone that way…) I decided I would send it Priority Mail, Signature Required. I got my receipt – with signature – back, and had verification that my payment had arrived two days before it needed to. But wonder of wonders, it didn’t post to my account until 5 days later. See where this is going..? Yep! Broke the agreement (and added hefty fees) again.This time they wanted another $1500  and $1200 a month…Not happening. My signature receipt..? Useless. As far as they were concerned, didn’t mean a thing. By this point, the combination of this & the fact that my car had burned to the ground was just too much for me. The stress was making me physically ill. Hunny and I decided we were done with them. But they had us screwed royally.

You see, they were reporting us 60 days out on the mortgage (we weren’t) and refused to revise it. On top of that, they were also the finance company on the Impala. The one that was now a burned out shell..? Now I know large companies tend to have large numbers of incompetent employees and poor communication, but what happened with the Impala borders on asinine. They were repoting us 90 days out on that car. The same car that my insurance company, and my GAP company had sent them payment in full for a month prior. (It gets better – a month after that they sent someone to our house to repo it!) Really!

What I was getting to was that not only were we screwed by them on our mortgage, we couldn’t refinance because we were screwed by them credit wise. Never mind every other account was reporting on time, consistent payments. Between the mortgage & car loan they were mis-reporting, no one would even look at a refinance…so we moved.

And I’m outta time 😦 So…..To Be Continued *grin*
See ya laterzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!         

Proposition 8

This was sent to me by my cousin with the following message:

Hey ya’ll! Just wanted to send this email because it’s something that’s very important to me and I would appreciate it if you all watched it…

Hope everything is going well and I miss you all!! Feel free to email me anytime, I love to here from everyone!

Thanks!

Love, (name removed, ‘cuz I don’t have his permission to post it here *grin*)

I watched it, and found that it something that is important to me, too. I am not currently in a homosexual relationship, but I have been. But even if I hadn’t I would still feel strongly about this particular subject – Gay Marriage – Who the Hell do you think you are to tell someone that their love isn’t valid because it doesn’t conform to your teeny, tiny narrow-minded definition..? I’m a firm believer that closed minds should come with closed mouths, and believe you me, I ain’t a bit afraid to tell someone so, either on line or on terra firma…

So, here it is, and I hope you watch it, too. And I hope you forward it, too. And I hope you have enough kahunas to stand up and tell these asinine, ignorant, petty people to tend to their own marriages, and leave those of others alone.

 

My message to anyone who thinks it is okay to pass judgement on people they don’t even know..?

MIND YOUR OWN FU*KING BUSINESS!

Ahem….sorry, just one of my "Things…"

Ok gotta go get ready for work.

See ya laterzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!

The last few days….

In my continuing effort to keep those who have faith in me (ha-ha) from looking bad, here I am again. Although it’s pretty bad that the only way to get me to post is psychological blackmail, so to speak…but hey, whatever it takes, I guess.

I have been riding a roller coaster stress-wise the past few days. as I said earlier, we have to move. We thought for minit yesterday that maybe we wouldn’t have too, but speaking for myself, not really. My Hunny is a bit more of a trusting soul than I am, sweet man that he is. You see, we met with the folks that we are currently renting from, in an effort to come to an agreement we could all live with. A little background…

When we found this house we were very excited. It has the potential to be a very nice house. Mind you, I said potential…It is relatively new, built in the last ten years, I’d say. But it’s has also been "rode hard and put away wet" if you know what I mean. Apparently the first owners were unable to keep it. Because they allowed themselves to get into a situation they were unable to maintain, they felt compelled to cause as much damage as possible before they left…The folks we got it from had done quite a bit of fix-it-up, but there’s a whole bunch left to be done. Bad carpet. Damn near every interior door has a hole in it. A whole bunch of the shelving has been torn down – mind you, I didn’t say taken down I said torn down as in there are big holes in many walls where shelves originally lived. There are also just holes in the walls for no apparent reason. One bedroom has had the window painted black with something that I can’t seem to get off of it…well, here, look at a few pics…

  

This is the door to my closet. As you can see, the hole goes all the way through the door….

This is the door to my boy’s bedroom…

The "painted" window. A side note here – my boy HATES this room. If the door is left even slightly ajar, he will pull it closed. Also the doorknob is "backwards," the lock is on the outside of the door. It’s kinda creepy that not only was the window painted black, but the room was also set up to keep someone IN…

This is the floor around our water heater. We think it broke & flooded at some point, and the floor was left as it was. The kitchen light, directly below it was fixed, kinda…

I mean technically, it was fixed, but I’m not sure for how long….

 

And finally, our stained & "bubbled up" carpet – have you ever tried to vacuum carpet that isn’t securely attached to the floor underneath it..? It’s a bitch, lemme tell ya…

In addition to all this, we have had to repair the toilets – at our cost – three times, there is no water pressure in the downstairs of the home,

This is my kitchen faucet ON HIGH…

no screens on any of the windows, there isn’t even a garage door opener installed…Now, understand, these things aren’t in themselves our complaint. It was like this when we moved in, and we felt none of it made the house unlivable, and we were willing to deal with it for the reduced rent we were paying (although I really have trouble calling $800 a month reduced…). We were told if we made repairs, we could take it off the rent, as long as it wasn’t a whole bunch all at once. Also good with that. Then it sold. The buyers assured us, sitting in our living room, while looking us in the eye, that they knew we wanted to stay here indefinitely – with purchase by us as the eventuality, they weren’t going to raise the rent, we could make repairs & deduct from rent, and everything would stay the same. This is the delusion we’ve been living under…

When I took the rent check to their home, I included a letter requesting the lease renewal be done early so we didn’t have to mess with it during the holidays, and requesting it be an extended lease, with our preference being a five year term. I my head, there should have been no problem, based on the conversation we had with them prior to this….Silly me.

Here’s the response I got:  

i just wanted to let you know we recieved the payment and note from the mail box, Thank you.  We are in the process of working up a new lease, unfortunatly we cannot go into a 5 yr lease.  Also i need to put out there to you that the new monthly lease will be increasing from 800/mo to 925/mo.  While we appriciate you living there as the tenants and we can count on you to take care of the dwelling, we did buy this to be an investment property and we have checked around and rent is going for 300-400 more than what your paying now.  We were actually getting ready to contact you about the new lease info when we read your note.  We should have the new lease agreement typed up and ready for you to look over by this Sunday Nov 9, i can either drop it off or attach it to an email.  once you look it over, if you could just let us know what you decide by Nov 30.

(the spelling errors are theirs, I just copy/pasted it.)

Now, does that sound to you like someone who meant any of the statements made above…? Bearing in mind they haven’t done anything to the house. Which is actually fine, I can live in it the way it is, but I’ll be DAMNED if I’m paying MORE for it…What this email told me was:

a) Keeping us as tenants (never late on rent, making repairs at our own expense, etc.) wasn’t even worth a phone call.
b) They are consummate liars, as we believed what they said
c) They really aren’t concerned with keeping us as tenants at all, nor do they intend to sell us the house in the future as they had said they would, or why would there be a problem with an extended lease..?
d) We have to move, again. In December, again. No birthday party for my boy, again. Jacked up Christmas, again.

I stopped payment on the rent check. My self-preservation instincts are dominant in a situation like this…Apparently I need that money to move. And based on all the lies we had been told in the past, it was a safe bet we’d never get our deposit back (this has been since somewhat proven, as you’ll see).

Yesterday, we contacted them to meet and see if we could come to terms. I had the money for the rent in my pocket, in cash. What it came to was they offered us $850 a month (I’m willing to do that). We asked for something in writing, (protecting us from him saying one thing & doing something else, again). He assured us he was going home to prepare the new lease. He would then email it to us, last night. We would sign it & I would bring a copy to them, along with the rent & the $10 fee their bank charged them for the stop payment. Good deal, we don’t have to move! Silly me…

We hadn’t been home half an hour when Hunny’s phone rang. He couldn’t get the agreement done as the Colts were coming on, and he didn’t have time (?) But he’d have it done "sometime next week." Also, there was an NSF fee of $60 (again, huh?) that he wanted us to pay. Oh yeah, and we were supposed to either pay the rent then, without any form of surety, or we could pay $40 a day late fee until he completed the paperwork…

My Hunny had asked during that meeting if he was a man of his word, was his handshake good? and this man AGAIN looked us in the eye and lied to us. I told him I was willing to pay the rent, the $10 fee, and half of the NSF. I think that’s fair. He was very adamant that they had no intention of making us feel that we were being forced to up the rent or get out. My opinion..? If that’s true then you own equal responsibility for the fruits of your acts, and you can pay half your fee. I was willing to do that if he kept his word & provided us a new lease that evening. He called it blackmail, I called it keeping your word. Needless to say, it didn’t go well. He proceeded to tell me he couldn’t pay half the fee as he didn’t have the $30 dollars….

Now that opens up a whole new world in my head…How come you didn’t have the amount of a month’s mortgage payment put back in that account, in case something happened..? Renters default on rent all the time. I sure as Hell would have – had the payment put back, not defaulted *grin*. And where’s the money you’re supposed to be returning to me as my deposit..? Shouldn’t that be put in an untouched account, so it can be returned..? And once you found rent wasn’t being paid you could use that to cover yourself if you didn’t have the brains to have a payment at hand at all times…This is not the only rental property they have, and she works at a BANK  so they don’t even have inexperience as an excuse for any of that.

And really, if I didn’t have $30 dollars to pay half of an NSF fee, that I have to pay either way…and someone was offering me not only the other half of it, but another $810, why wouldn’t someone with fully functioning brain cells accept it..? Hello..? You don’t have $30, how are you going to make your house payment..? And if I choose to keep possession of the property until you evict me, how are you going to pay the next one, and the one after, not to mention pay for the eviction proceedings..?

Can I just say AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH !?!?!?!?

Anywho, ok, I’ve posted. LOL now I have to go get ready for work, going on very little sleep (I can’t shut my brain down easily in normal conditions, the last few days, if the slightest thing wakes me in the night – and something always does – I’m awake for an hour with all this crap swirling around in my head…)

Ok gotta go,

See ya laterzzzzzzzzzzzz!

I’m Still here & Sorry I Neglected You…

Ok, I’ve left this too long. I feel guilty. Why..? I’m pretty sure not too many have even noticed I haven’t posted. But I should. I said I would. And now I am 🙂
Work has been CRAZY! For the last 2-3 weeks, our phones have been ringing off the hook! I bet I’ve taken more calls in the last two weeks that I did in the 2 months preceding. No time to breathe between calls. I admit it makes the day pass more quickly, usually, but when most of the callers are arrogant or have an attitude, it makes me feel like I am back at ACSHell. I’m not. But still. I am losing my respect for the human race. Stupidity seems to reign. How do you come at me with an “I am God, and we’ll get along just fine as soon as you acknowledge it” attitude, and then not even be able to do something as simple as add 14.90 to 75.95..?
And what’s the deal with social security numbers..? I know it’s a bad idea to give your social security number to strangers, but let’s look at this…YOU CALLED ME! You want me to give you $1000 worth of equipment, but you don’t want to give me, someone YOU called, your social security number so I can verify who you are..? I understand the concept of not giving it, or your credit card number, or bank account info to someone who has called you, unsolicited – that would be a bad idea. But again, let me reiterate – YOU CALLED ME.
This is a utility company that you are asking to provide service to you. You know, like the gas company, the electric company or the water company..? Granted cable is still somewhat of a “luxury” utility, but we also offer phone & Internet. We are an utility company. I’m fairly certain that the person you’re talking to (in the case, me) isn’t trying to steal your identity when requesting this information from you…THINK once in a while, willya? Do you realize how you appear to be..? Can you say paranoid..? Pathetic..? Pitiful..? In need of medication..?
GRRRRRRRR…..!!!!!!!
Sorry, didn’t mean to go there, but there I am *grin*

In other news, I’m fairly certain my car is haunted. No big surprise, or at least it shouldn’t be, considering our family has dragons (3), a spirit cat, a civil war soldier’s spirit and numerous other entities and beings floating about. Now, what would make a person think (let alone admit) their car is haunted..? Well, I’ll present my reasoning, and you can tell me what you think…

I drive a 2002 Chrysler Concorde, Limited. It was top of the line when new, and is still in good shape. Not a hoopdee by any means. Yet my headrest won’t stay down. Yes you read that right, it won’t stay down. Now, last time I checked, gravity was still an active force on the planet, and things fall down not up. If I raised the headrest, and came out to my car to find it resting on the top of the seat, instead of four inches above it, where I had left it, I would simply put it down to the-car-is-getting-older-and-I-can’t-expect-everything-to-last-forever syndrome and gone on about my business. But that isn’t the case. No, not my car, that would be too much like right.
In order to raise or lower my headrest, there is a button on the side of the “base” of it that you have to push in. It won’t move unless you push the button. I’ve tried. Hard. No movement at all. Now, I had had the car for a while before I even realized this was happening. But then it started to get warm again, and I could go without a coat. If I am not restrained by a heavy jacket, I like to put one arm up behind my head, resting on the headrest, while I’m driving. It’s a good stretch… When I did this for the first time, I realized the headrest was up higher than I usually have it. So when I parked I made it a point to lower it. (This is where I found out it doesn’t move without pushing the button.) I put it down and didn’t really think much more about it.
A couple of weeks later, I noticed it was back up – not fully “extended” but about 3″ above the seatback. I figured my Hunny had done it when he drove the car, put it back down, and promptly forgot about it again. A week later I noticed it was back up. Hunny hadn’t driven my car since I put it down. My first thought was the-car-is-getting-older-and-I-can’t-expect-everything-to-last-forever syndrome, and started messing with it to see what the problem was. There isn’t one. It’s not a bit loose. It won’t go down without pushing the button…It won’t go up without pushing the button…not a bit. Yet, when I push in the button, and lower it to the seatback (‘cuz I am a bit short through the body), I consistently come out to my car to find it back up. I put it down, drive home, it’s back up the next morning. I put it down and drive to work, it’s back up when I get ready to leave.
My next piece of evidence is radio related. I have an FM transmitter that I use to listen to my MP3 player when I am in the car. The radio has to be set to a “static” station – you know, where nothing is being broadcast. needless to say, it tends to be a bit loud when I disconnect the MP3 player and forget to turn it down first. I also use earplug thingys and listen in one ear while at work. When I go on break, and go out to the car to read & smoke, I have to turn the key on, so the radio will show the time (I’ve killed another watch…that’s a totally different story…lol) and I know when I have to go back. I also have to have the radio on because if I turn it off the time goes away. Weird, I know!
So I go out to the car, turn on the key, and turn the static all the way down (cuz I’m listening via earplug thingy). The volume turns back up. Huh..? I turned it back down. It turned itself back up…This happened on several different occasions. Then one day, I went out, turned down the volume, and it switched from radio to CD and turned up. Huh..? Ok, I figgered I’d hit the button somehow. I flipped it back to radio, turned back down, and it immediately flipped back to CD. And turned back up. No way…I musta hit the button again (even tho I KNOW it’s on the other side of the radio). Hmmmmm… So I turned it down, carefully so as not to hit any other buttons, and changed it back to radio. I then pulled my hand back quickly and watched it go back to CD. And turn BACK UP. Again. Alrighty then. After 5 minutes of arguing with whatever wanted to listen to CD, I gave up. I tried turning the radio completely off, but that didn’t work either. It just came back on. I let it stay on CD, and turned up the MP3 player in my ear. I haven’t had any radio issues since I let it play….
So, whatcha think..? IS the car haunted..? I say it is, but I’d like to hear what you think.
Ok, time to go home! WOOOHOOOO!
See ya laterzzzzzzzz!