Apparently this plumbing service can come out the same day, yet they can’t make a previously scheduled appointment. The worst part was we had a 1-4 time frame in which we sat home and I couldn’t do any laundry, since the water would have to be shut off, and 4 o’clock came and went without a peep. Joe called the place and got the answering service which was no help at all. The plumber ended up calling us after 5 pm to say he was on his way. Joe told him not to bother. We have the kids here and we couldn’t delay getting dinner ready any longer (we wanted him to look at relocating the gas pipe to the stove among other things). I don’t get why businesses feel they can treat people as if their time isn’t important. Had they at least called earlier in the day to let us know they’d be late, we would have been annoyed, but we could have rearranged our schedule. We definitely won’t be contacting them again. And now we have to locate another service and schedule another call. What a pita!
Category: House & Home
Poopy weekend
God, it is so damn gloomy out I want to hang myself. Seriously, the weather really affects my moods and it’s been raining all weekend. I had my camera batteries charged and ready to go … but for nothing. I ended up spending most of yesterday just cleaning and organizing (I hate hate hate clutter) while Joe worked on insulating and dry-walling the unfinished side of the garage. He’s almost done now. There’s nothing to do when it rains. Let me correct myself. There is nothing to do that doesn’t involve spending money and/or consuming fattening food. And after breakfast, it’s probably not a good idea to go out to eat, although if I don’t get out of this house I am apt to go a little crazy. I don’t know how those people you see on tv manage to live inside their homes for weeks, months, or years at a time without ever leaving. I feel like if I don’t go out and have some fun over the weekend that the time off was a complete waste.
Yesterday morning we decided to go out for breakfast after running some errands to return a few items. We originally headed for a local mom and pop restaurant but the line was out the door, so we headed over to this Mexican restaurant we like. I had the huevos la mexicana and Joe had something similar but with chorizo. Carlos Mencia wasn’t kidding when he said all good Mexican good gives you diarrhea. I think I’m going to throw out the leftovers we brought home. The food was delicious but not worth the pain, you know?
Just stuff
Been up since 8 am doing … laundry. Fun, right? When we moved here I thought the convenience of having a washer and dryer in our place would allow me to do laundry whenever I felt like it, but I’ve found that I still save it all up for the weekends. In my defense, there’s only two of us, so if I did loads during the week, I’d probably have the same number of loads to do at the end of the week, only they’d be smaller, so what’s the point?
Anyway, Spring has finally come to Chi-Town! Friday we bought some flowers and Joe planted them in pots yesterday for the patio. We even had the windows open all day which was a nice change. I love the smell of the outdoors, at least when the neighbor isn’t sucking on their cancer stick, that is.
We also got the fluffiest, softest bath towels (in Lavender Frost) at Kohl’s. They normally sell for $19.99 each but were on sale for $9.99 each, plus I had a 15% off coupon. I am in love with these towels. I could live in them, I swear. I also wanted a new pair of sandals but couldn’t make a decision on the two pairs I liked, both Skechers. The one with the strap at the ankle was more comfortable, but I felt like it could keep slipping down while I walked, which would be really annoying. So instead I ended up with a white pair of Keds. I couldn’t believe how comfy they are! They are made from microfiber and are really cushy inside. I still need a black pair of sandals, though. I was almost going to get brown ones, since I don’t own any brown shoes, but black shoes would better match my outfits and even though I currently own more shoes that I ever have in my life, I don’t want to go insane.
Last week when we had Joe’s son birthday party, we spent some time outdoors even though it was on the chilly side because we had bought him a bike. He really wanted one, so Joe was teaching him how to ride. Joe’s daughter kept bragging how she doesn’t want a bike or want to learn how to ride one. Is that cool nowadays to not have a bike? Every kid, including myself, had one growing up. It was weird. She did say she wants one of those Razor scooters, but she said she wants it for Christmas and not her birthday, which doesn’t make any sense since she’d get more use out of it getting it for her birthday since it’s in August. Apparently she’d rather have yet another GBA game which we’ve already decided she’s not getting from us. So a scooter it is, but I hope she’s not expecting the motorized one because a) it costs too much and b) she could use the exercise. Plus I honestly can’t see her using it very much at all. She’s just not very athletic like her brother. She’d rather sit in front of her computer all day or watch tv. Gee, that sounds like me, actually, but I’m an adult. As a kid I got more exercise than any of the kids nowadays do. God that makes me feel old. ;)
Anyway, one thing she had outside with her was a jump rope. Admittedly, not a good one, although I was able to teach her how to anticipate when to jump since she kept tripping herself. It made me miss grammar school and playing double-dutch. Did any of you do that in school? It might be a black thing because it was usually the black girls who always played double dutch. The white girls would try, but we didn’t have the same coordination. I loved it, though. It was very exhilarating to play, not to mention challenging. And I guess they even have leauges now. Cool.
Going to my parents’ in a bit to celebrate Easter, although like my boss’ boss likes to say, I am a recovering Catholic. Happy Easter to all who celebrate!
Home Improvement, DST & NIN
We had a really productive day today getting some stuff done around the house. Ok, to be truthful, Joe was productive since he did all the work. He installed new vertical blinds in the dining room, replaced the shower head in the master bathroom (which broke and just fell off as I was taking a shower on Friday morning), and put up a shelf above our tv for the center channel speaker (the other two speakers look like they are sitting on the shelf but they are actually hanging on the wall just above it). I put together a cute shoe rack for the laundry room (in addition to cleaning the dining room and kitchen), so I wasn’t completely useless.
Oh and for the record I am SO happy that Daylight Savings Time is here once again. If I hear one person complain about losing an hour of sleep I will frickin scream. Same goes for the person who rants about how it’s not like you’re gaining an extra hour of sunlight. I know that the period of sunlight is just being shifted from the morning to the evening, but that’s what I like: it feels like the evenings after work are longer because it gets darker later.
P.S. Nine Inch Nails is coming to Chicagoland in July and we got tickets. Can’t wait! I was supposed to see them on my 18th birthday but I caught the chicken pox from my brother, so I missed out. I’m thinking this is going to be the year of concerts/events. We’ve got Dane Cook in less than two weeks, Chicago Rush Arena Football a week after that (if we decide to go, but hey, the tickets are FREE, so why not), Depeche Mode in May, and now NIN in July.
Blinds and Kitties
We didn’t do anything terribly exciting this weekend, but it was productive. We got a lot of errands done, including finally ordering new vertical blinds for the dining room. We’ve been wanting to replace them ever since we moved in.
One of the other things we did was torture ourselves. Or at least I tortured myself by dragging Joe to two different pet shops to look at animals we can’t get. I must be insane, right? I just can’t help it; I want a cute and cuddly pet! On Saturday we played with these cute ferrets at the Petco and this morning we saw the cats up for adoption at PetSmart. There were so many adorable cats ranging in ages from five months to two years old. There were at least four I would have easily taken home if I could. One was a black and white male who was full of energy, trying to swat at me whenever he could. Two were beautiful grey darlings who enjoyed licking my fingers. One was a white and tan longhair who was incredibly fluffy.
*Sigh* I love kitties!