« March 2006 | Main | May 2006 »
April 30, 2006
Oh yeah...
..um, we're home.
I saw The Alamo...I'll remember it.
I bruised my knee while racing an armadillo...we won our race.
I did not chase piggies. They started pooping the minute the first piggie chasers got in the pen with them. No way I was going in there to slip and slide around...eeeewww.
I sat on a steer wearing a red cowboy hat..no no..*I* was wearing the hat, the steer just stood there then turned his head for his photo-op.
I remembered to make my calls to get FF tickets to Maui...I held fast, I was determined; we have tickets.
As if I didn't already appreciate our own fresh roasted coffee, a week away drinking Charbucks was enough to make us react with glee over "medium grade" coffee. (our medium grade is pretty darn good by the coffee world standard)
Leo gutted our downstairs bathroom while we were gone. I was thrilled he did NOT leave the blue toilet outside with the cut up shower stall...I know the neighbors were poised with potted plants just waiting for the opportunity to decorate. So far we have no walls but we do have new sub-flooring. The room is small to begin with but looks smaller all naked like this. I wonder how everything gets in there! I wonder how long it will take to be done...I should set a timer the will record the first official flush. In the meantime we will be using the upstairs bathroom.
It's a long way up the stairs to use our only bathroom. It's not so bad until you realize just how many trips in and out of the bathroom one makes besides that purpose. I may just look a little more disheveled during the next few days or weeks...do I really need to brush my hair every time before going out? I didn't think so. I do know I don't want to waste too many of those trips into the bathroom, stand there, and wonder why I'm there, though. If you can't fine me, I may still be standing in the upstairs bathroom..thinking.
Have a fine day all...I'm going upstairs to shower now...something I haven't done...well, never...
Posted by frani at 09:01 AM | Comments (1)
April 22, 2006
Here we are
We made it Safe and mostly sound to San Antonio
I forgot it was School vacation around our area... Packed flight and we couldn't have been seated any further back I slept, I sudokued and we got to our connecting gate in Chicago with no problem but no waiting to board either. Maybe it was just my not panicking about making the connection
So far, our swanky accommodations have been lacking - first no internet access then no functioning phones with which to complain. after a couple of visits from the tech boys whom I'm sure wondered if we had our pc's on, we changed rooms.
Things seem to be working better and we even seem to have found the outside balcony the first room was missing. This room has 2 patios Go figure.
Will try to Keep you informed of our goings on -
Have a fine weekend all
Posted by frani at 08:12 PM | Comments (2)
April 19, 2006
Tidbits...
Leo is back! He starts the bathroom renovations on Monday, yea yippee!. We had a couple of sticky issues to deal with but Leo came up with solutions and Greg came up with solutions and I of course nodded my head a lot since visualization is just not my forte. I get the general idea and I'm just happy knowing the blue stuff is going away.
Did you know there are shower fixtures that cost upwards of $5000? I'm sorry, I won't even spend $1800 on one I DID like....Ok Ok, they aren't just your everyday shower heads and all...they have extra jets. I liked that and there are some in the more modest price range. They may be excessive but sometimes it's the little things we pamper ourselves with that just make the day. Besides, I just might develop back or shoulder pain someday and I'll NEED this hydrotherapy. Yeah, therapy...can I claim this on our taxes?
I got an email from my tenant last night. Seems he has a new pet and he didn't even ask me first! Geesh, I told him I just hate to see pets left home alone all day especially tied up but ya know, I just don't want that beast anywhere near me or my cats. I bet with a hairy body like that it will shed like crazy! Sigh...and Aaron has always been one of my favorite tenants. Snort...I'm so glad he shared not one but TWO photos with me. Willies.
In other news/as if the world really cares: Anyone else find it amusing that Brooks Shields and Katie Holmes had their babies on the same day? For those of you who are confused, Brook Shields' much publicized postpartum depression and ensuing book prompted Tom Cruise to make equally public comments on his thoughts about postpartum depression....he's studied this and knows about these things, ya know. Please can we be done with this? Oh not yet...we still have to anticipate the Jolie-Pitt baby...be still my heart.
Oh yeah, we're going to San Antonio Sat for a week. I hear it's a bit toasty there these days. Oh whew, I just checked the weather again and it isn't so bad...all those temps falling into the high 80s & 90s now but still some pesky thunderstorms. yeee-ha!
Moving right along....it's time to make the phone call concerning our FF tickets to Maui, then it's on to start moving stuff to the upstairs bathroom. Guess we'll be getting some exercise in the weeks to come.
Have a fine day all......
Posted by frani at 08:10 AM | Comments (0)
April 16, 2006
There's gotta be a better way.....
Sooooooo what do you have to go through to use Frequent Flier miles? First of all, you have to give some lead time...like a year in advance but it isn't really a year, it's 330 days. But then it isn't really 330 days in advance because that is for the flight out..you still need to come back and for that you need to be 330 as well. Soooooooo, you have to wait 330 days from the return date which becomes 316 days if you are staying 2 weeks, and why would you go to Maui for less than 14 days unless of course you couldn't get seat using your FF miles..first class or coach or wing tip. ...and let's not forget if you wait 316 days to book your flight out, the seats are already gone. So I have our seats out on hold and I call every 3 days to put them on hold until I reach the magic 330 days to book our return flight. So now that you have used all of your math skills, you are ready to make that reservation, right? Easy, right?
Wrong and please unstand, I am no rookie when it comes to making flight reservations....these are not revelations to me.
In spite of what the website states, I come to realize none of this can be done online unless of course I am traveling from say Denver to Seattle, non-stop, midweek on a day without a Y in it. This means I have to use the phone and we all know how much I like using the phone. I'd rather run barbed wire up through my nose.
First I get run through the phone menu. Using the logical menu choices, I get assurances I can do this online but if I insist, they'll still run me through an automatic voice recognition system and after 20 minutes inform me that MY reservations can't be done using this system so please hold for a sales representative. I was lucky when I made the first leg reservation, we had no communication issues once we got past the part about my being persistant about using FF miles and picking from many available airports. ( none of which are the one a mile from our home, mind you, but I already knew that wasn't a possbility) Many people would give up way before I did....BTW, we're flying through Phoenix, ya know.
Now today was the first of many where I have to call to put our reservation on hold again for another 3 days. Trip locator...AFCBSMFQ (for example). Ok I don't care what kind of accent he/she/I have according to the person on the other line..letters such as BCDEGMNPTVZ just shouldn't be used because they are hard to communicate. I can tell when they don't "get it"..and the last name is? (and please, most people have a hard time between Johnston and Johnson and they are our friends!) ....and you are traveling on what dates? and from what city? Hello, if you had our trip locator correct, you'd have all that information so you are still searching and you think I am some sort of idiot who can't get my letters correct and rather than asking me again for the letters you are trying to locate our trip by other means. I, of course remain pleasant and offer to clarify this dilemma by trying to give the correct code again. Alpha, Frank, Sigma, Mother, Frank, Queen..( of course if I were a younger blogger, I wouldn't have any trouble typing out the last 3 as Mother F**ker Queen, but I just can't do that.)....got it this time? oooohhhh good. Yes mam..what can I do for you today? Please put this reservation on hold for me...I'll get back to you in 3 days and try this allllll over gain, thank you.
Now, least you all leap all over me for being Xenophobic..I'm not. I have had issues with being understood on the phone with representatives from Bangalore, Chicago, Brazil, NYC, Charlotte, NC and Dallas! An Accent is an Accent and for some strange reason people seem to think even *I* have one! ...and you wonder why I don't like to use the phone. and don't tell me I can do this online becasue I WOULD if I could! sigh...
So maybe "they" need to come up with a different set of codes if "they" aren't going to let me do this online...
Yes, My name is Fran and my trip locator is : Square, hexagon, rectangle, octogon, dodecahedron... No No..that's dodecahedron, you know, it has 12 sides...no no..twelve, comes after eleven...no, not Seven....
sigh... never mind...can you book me a flight to Cleveland using my FF miles? No? Oh, ok then..thanks for your help.
..and you what? This really has very little to do with using my FF miles and the notion of getting something for nothing which you know darn well, there is no such thing. It's still a matter of communication and there has to be a better way......
Posted by frani at 11:30 AM | Comments (3)
April 13, 2006
Some stuff.....
We watched The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe last night. I had recalled Son One's facination with CSLewis and Lloyd Alexander in the fourth grade. As a matter of fact one of his Best Performance while receiving a Christmas Present was for the box set of The Chronicles of Narnia. That said, I was totally unprepared for the motion picture I deemed inappropriate for a nine year old! ahem...one IM later, I was assured the book was "different". Of course I didn't go into how different but I'd like to think that I had not earned another notch on my "Mother of the Year - Not" belt so late in life.
I had a weird dream last night which had elements of a class reunion in it but I don't recall Jennifer Aniston being a member of my high school class. We'll also put aside that age thing. Anyway, I have a question....how is it possible to dream about and hear someone singing an operatic type aria ..it was enough to make one cry...when one couldn't even name one much less attempt to sing it. We'll also put aside why someone would be singing an aria at my high school reunion....but it WAS lovely!
We had a couple of great Spring like days...Leo came by and removed the pile of construction debris from the front yard. Wow...what an improvement. My yard woman came by to finish the cleanup she started last fall but the snows chased her away. (hey, she likes yard work!) We discussed how much lime and fertilizer and grass seed it was going to take to get some grass back in my yard. I'd suggest you invest in some Agway stock if you were in the market.
We also discussed a little fixer upper of the bathrooms with Leo. I get giddy just thinking about the blue sh*t going away. Anyone want a love blue planter for your front yard? Give me a boring old White crapper and I'll be a happy woman! So we went to Home Depot to check out some stuff...didn't know they made so many different toilets. decisions, decisions...however, I do know I wouldn't be comfortable "using" an expensive toilet. It's just not right.
Have a fine day all.........
Posted by frani at 08:41 AM | Comments (0)
April 09, 2006
GOOD NEWS!
All Good news all the time. I knew there was some out there somewhere!
Posted by frani at 06:51 PM | Comments (1)
April 08, 2006
So much time. .
So little to say.
We've spent the week at home; I have not done very much to write home about. So to Speak
However, we do have some new wireless connections in the house and some new gadgets, so I see an opportunity to add to the computer graveyard in the basement in my near future. I'm seeing a chance to reorganize the laundry room; that would be rather satisfying. I think I would need another dumpster to do the job up properly.
My mother in law gave mean African violet to kill. Its pretty and I just may try to Keep it alive for a bit. Hmmm, I noticed it sucked up a lot of water this morning; it could actually live another week a so.
It's still cold out 20s-30s, at least the sun is out. Wont complain though; I'll take cold over tornadoes and hurricanes anyday, thank you.
See? I said there was very little to write home about but I didn't want my minions to think I was dead.
Have a good weekend all.
Posted by frani at 08:56 AM | Comments (0)
April 02, 2006
Varoom varoom more Power
Spring made an appearance. I took advantage of 3 days of extremely nice weather this past week to clear away some leftover leaves & debris from last fall. I first made a little run to Home Depot and purchased a brandy new "Leaf Hog". No, I'm not delusional, I Know winter isn't over just yet. We've got a couple more good snow storms likely But I guess I'm a little ahead of the game this year getting some more leaves cleared away earlier than usual.
The sun is out again this morning. People are coming out of hibernation. Neighbors are gathering in clumps to chat while doing yard work or out for a stroll; and the best part is no one is grumpy. Cabin Fever has broken.
I have a couple of rants in me at the moment,though, but the sunshine is Keeping them at bay for the time being.
Enjoy the day and hope you see some sunshine as well.
Posted by frani at 09:55 AM | Comments (1)