Pansyiana: January 2006 Archives

Our new apartment has a pathetic, little bathroom. I went right to work sewing a matching curtain and sink skirt set to liven it up. My sewing machine is calld a Singer IZEK, which means the stitch controls are actually programmed on a Gameboy game, and the Gameboy hooks up to the sewing machine.

My husband put the game away for me from a place I knew where it was, so I wouldn't lose it, and lost it, so the project was on hold for awhile until he found the game. While we were waiting, I had all the materials I needed-thread, fabric, and velcro to hang the sink skirt up on the sink. The kids got hold of the velcro, and one day while I was looking under the couch for something, I saw the roll of velcro there. I figured "oh good, now I know where it is" and left it there. If it was hidden, so know one else should have been inclined to bother it, and I knew where it was for future reference. I am not one to store things under the couch, I just really did not have a free hand at that moment to put it away-away.
My hubby found the Gameboy game, so I proceeded to finish the sink skirt. When it was all done, and I was ready to hang it up. I looked under the couch, and the velcro was gone! I called my husband and asked if he saw it.

"Yeah," he said"I put it with your sewing stuff."

My sewing stuff! Who would have thunk!There he goes again, disturbing the careful balance of my sewing things! I plunge into one of my sewing boxes, and there it is! I proceeded to take it out of the package and start to unroll it-there is only one side! I look at the package and it says on the bottom along with "SELF STICK!" "HOOK ONLY!"
Hook only? Wha? Why would anyone want that? Was this like some kind of mortification task? "I could use this velcro if I had the other side, but since I don't, I'll stare at it, let it annoy me, and offer it up!"I know, there are probably lots of uses for hook only, but right at that moment, I could care less.

After all that nonsense and finally finishing the darn thing, I wanted it up.I knew if I didn't put it up, I ran the risk of my husband putting it away. I did the next best thing-got out my husband's wide roll of masking tape, made lots of donuts and taped the stupid thing on until I got velcro the next day.

Rosey Posey's reply to this was "Mom, that looks nice, but taping it on-that's so ghetto."

Yep.

They have the worst customer service in the world. Everytime I go there, it is always filled with people who know nothing about the products they are supposed to be selling-that is if you can get a hold of one.
Last year, they were supposed to repair my husband's chain saw that he purchased there, and was thankfully under warranty. They fixed it wrong, and when they fixed it again, they lost it. Finally they called a week after he went to pick it up, to say they found it. When he returned, they could not find it for a half hour. I have tons of HD stories like this, so it is my fault for returning there.

Today I had a cut and simple chore. I went to the customer service desk, and when I finally got the attention of the woman behind the counter:
Pansy: Hi (smiles), do you have lye in stock?
CSR:(bristles and speaks very loudly and very slowly) IIiiii don't know. That would be in the garden section which is mostly empty now, and I can't guarentee it would even be there...
Pansy: Um, OK.(baffled...considers walking away, but just had to ask)Why would lye be in the garden section?
CSR: Lye! Lye! Isn't that what you put in a garden?
Pansy: (Even more baffled, and resists the urge to say "no, you are thinking of lime which is calcium chloride, I am looking for lye which is sodium hydroxide" but figured I would sound like a smart ass, because if I said that, my purpose would to be a smart ass...)No, it is what you pour down a drain...
CSR: Well Honey, what you are looking for is (long, and slowly again) draaaaiiinnnn cleeaaner(at this point, the woman thinks I am nuts for wanting to put calcium chloride down my drains...). That would be in the "plumbing" section.
(Incidentally, I looked down the wrong aisle in the plumbing section, but with my husband's aid, not the CSR's I did find the right aisle.)

People annoy the heck out of me.

"Answers to your problems are not at the bottom of a bottle-they are on Wikipedia. Have you seen that thing? it's incredible!"

I am a horrible photographer, but I guess bad pictures are better than none.

Polo, Gorbulas, Posco, Rosey Posey, and Fastolph looking at meat-eater fossils.

On the Saturday before last, we took a trip to the American Museum of Natural History. Things went pretty well as far as the trip goes. We left Amsterdam early armed with lots of muffins for breakfast, and only stopped twice for potty breaks. Amsterdam is approximately 2.5-3 hours from the city. The kids are used to this trip as we make it often to visit family.

The parking situation was awesome, thanks to a heads up from Dinka for site to make parking reservations. (We did ask the Souzeks if they wanted to hook up in the City, but Dinka is too busy doing this and being uber-pregnant and tired).

Man oh Man, what a few months!

1. We tried to buy a house, but got thumbs down from the mortgage company after a preapproval, and after 6 weeks of waiting for approval. I was so heartbroken, but timing was bad. My dh lost his job in June, then the records we had of rent payment for the previous 12 months were insufficient because we paid with money orders, blah, blah, blah. It was nightmare because I really had my heart set on this newly renovated Victorian. So we moved and are renting for another year to tie up all those loose ends that prevented us from getting the mortgage.
2. So we moved the day after Thanksgiving to Amsterdam, NY (home of Judge Going of The Judge Report). We have a nice apartment. We planned on staying here for only a year, but I am soo tired from the move, I am not rushing.
3. We have electricity again, and my kids do not know what to do with themselves (that is a pro and a con).
4. My father got a stem cell replacement on December 6. His prognosis looks pretty good. He is just feeling pretty crappy.
5. We have been homeschooling using St. Thomas Aquinas Academy. I am so far very pleased with them and recommend them highly.
6. My brother, Thomas, returned from Marine basic training December 2. It was so good to see him and spend time with him. Sadly, his visit was short lived as he returned for combat training New Year's Day. Then he has some sort of other training, then he is off to Iraq. May God look out for him.
7. Please pray for the repose of the souls of two women-one is Lee Shelton. She was a family friend, and a very classy lady whom I will always think fondly of. The second is Marcia Hill, whom I did not know, but is the sister of another family friend, and I said I would pray for.
8. I have taken my brother's old job washing dishes at the diner on weekends. I enjoy it very much because I get out for a bit, and make a few bucks for my Ouidadery, and other materialistic feminine urges (such as my cloth diaper fascination), and John the cook and proprieter feeds me. Not sure if that is good or bad because I have no self control. When I am watching him every morning create Eggs Benedict, French Toast, and walnut, blueberry or chocolate chip pancakes, it takes too much will power to say "oh yheah, I'll have the oatmeal." My grandmother said "oh you're going to gain more weight, and you can't gain anymore!"
I have lots of stuff mulling around in my bizarre mind to talk about. Stay tuned...