Getting lazy again

I fear I am getting lazy again but it's difficult to keep up a blog when your co-blogger goes silent. In my defense, it has been that kind of week. I've tried to keep check on my neighbor regularly even though I probably haven't been much help. She seems to be improving every day though. Having been down that path, I know how she feels!

Still fighting allergies. During all this, I somehow managed to injure my knee and finally wound up getting a shot in it after ultra sound etc. didn't help much. Also had a 4th allergy med added to my regimen in addition to the shorts. I gave the company that owns this apartment to either get rid of the mold here or I would be looking for a new place. I may have a new, inside advantage in this matter. I learned from a condo board member that in the future, when a tenant vacates a property, it will have to be sold. Outside owners will no longer be permitted to use it for rental property. It that holds, this means they need to keep me here in order to recoup some of what they paid for it.

To cap off the week so far, I got caught in a sudden downpour while waiting to cross Peachtree this afternoon. Not a shelter in sight and I looked like a drowned cat before I could get across and into CVS. Then I realized I had left the moon roof on my car tilted because it was hot and sunny when I left it about 20 minutes before! Water in the parking lot was so deep that I had to wade through it to get to my car to close the roof. The rain was blowing sideways so of course it was getting soaked. I started home and learned it had only rained right there in that little area. Workers six blocks away were raising dust on at their road project.

And it's only Wednesday!

Maybe customer service isn't quite dead yet

How is this for customer service? (I’ve frequently found it lacking so I want to share some good experiences for a change.)

An order for a specialty order from Papa John’s a few weeks ago took 45 minutes to get to me. (I posted earlier that they had cooked my order incorrectly and this gave me both pizzas.) Not long after that, I received a post card in the mail from them said my recent order did not meet their delivery standards and they wanted to give me a free pizza. That meant 3 large specialty pizzas for the $10 promotional price I paid for one. Outstanding!

The second instance was last Sunday when my son and I were in Target after having brunch at Radial’s. A huge thunderstorm started before we finished and the power went out. (Do you know it’s really, really pitch black in Target when you’re standing at the back of the store where there are no windows and the lights go off?) The backup power kicked in a few minutes later and when we got to the registers, there was a young woman standing there handing out coupons for $3 off everyone’s order for the “inconvenience” experienced. A very pleasant surprise since they had no control over the weather and it wasn’t like anyone was leaving with lightning crashing all around and buckets of rain falling! Good touch though and I commend them for it.

More this & that

It's been a busy week. Might have been busier if it weren't so darned hot! Wonder why you can sit at home for days on end but when you really want to relax and chill out, the phone rings almost insessantly with someone wanted a piece of you. Go figure!

Exciting (?) news on the homefront but cannot share it publicly just yet. Soon though.

Enjoyed the girls visiting on Monday. Mom brought them over to swim and visit a while. Still funny to watch the little one push her sister's buttons. One of those "pushes" took place in the pool.

I had gotten those kid-sized boogie board type things for them to use in the pool. Little Bit's was green (her favorite color) with a cute alligator so she promptly named it Captain Alligator. Holding it tightly in her arms, she told her sister, "First one who gets Captain Alligator wins. I WIIIN"!" Naturally, this brought the expected, "Mama!" reaction from her sister. Wonder how many times a day that happens?

Of course, they were playing like nothing happened in the next minute. These two love each other as much as I've ever seen siblings do this. So nice to see that in action.

They "helped" Mom make Daddy an ice cream birthday cake this weekend. In retrospect, perhaps the blue and green Cool Whip was not the greatest idea ever but made a good photo op.

As for me, I have to recuperate from actually cooking two things today. My good deed for a neighbor who had surgery last Thursday. I'll be back to normal soon, whatever that is!

Elections are (mostly) over

Unfortunately, somebody won..

So many words...

Election time in Georgia is upon us and with all the words that have been used, I'm still waiting to hear something meaningful to be said.

It takes forever (if then) for our legislature to pass reasonable laws like banning texting or, heaven forbid, regulations to protect the air we breathe, but ones allowing people to keep roadkill and legalize other inane, even irresponsible, activities breeze right through.

It seems to me time would be better spent passing legislation that is helpful, not a law that lets people take a possum frisbee home. Does anyone honestly think a person who would actually pick up road kill would care if they have permission to keep it or not? It makes me so proud…

Life Snapshot

Observed at CVS yesterday afternoon (when I went back to pick up the botched prescription from Wednesday):

A slightly harried-looking young woman with three little doorsteps, one of whom she was holding in her arms while she was herding the other two around, trying to shop. The little one was being distracted by gnawing on a pack of condoms she apparently was planning to purchase. I was thinking, ‘If he bites a hole in that, there may be another rung in the family ladder.!’

A "why me?" kind of day

Considering that I slept less than an hour last night, I thought my day was getting off to a decent start, reading the paper and relaxing. Then the plumbers who were supposed to call when they were on their way over, knocked on my door with no warning before I even got dressed. (Okay, it was after 9a.m. but this crew didn’t show up at all yesterday as they were supposed to). They made a mess and the problem is still unresolved.

After they left, I finished dressing and went for an allergy shot and to pick up a prescription at CVS only to learn the doctor’s office had faxed it to the wrong store. Waited while they got it transferred, only to find out the nurse had given the wrong dosage! Told them I would come back after they contacted her and got it corrected. Then, I tried to pay for a couple of little trinkets marked 90% off, only to have them ring up at half price, yet another, albeit brief, wait for a manager to correct this.

It was beginning to feel as though I’d stumbled into some sort of slapstick movie and/or someone would jump out and say, “Smile, you’re on Candid Camera!” any minute. Didn’t happen so I headed back to my moldy apartment and I’m staying here the rest of the day! I have Diet Coke and peanut butter and I think I hear José Cuervo calling my name…

From (almost worst) to first

Our team trivia usually has from 5-8 players on average but only three of us showed up tonight. In 5th place all night until final question when we apparently were the only ones who knew the 20 pointer at the end. I'm still a little ashamed that I knew what G.L.O.W. stands for. And I'm happy to say I didn't know what being anthropophagic meant even though I figured out the answer. Best part: we only have to split $50 three ways next week. This way I can even afford a Margarita!

P.S. to Just missed it

These were Mom's words about the previously mentioned planned concert: "just caught K**** smuggling maracas and other assorted musical instruments into her room. Apparently, the girls were planning a musical celebration first thing in the morning to wish us a happy anniversary...darn, words cannot express how sorry I am I intercepted that one..."

Just missed it by that much!

The girls enjoyed their uncle playing with them in the pool last Saturday but I should have known better than to leave him alone with them more than five minutes. Seems he planted the seed of an idea in their heads for a special anniversary gift for their parents.

Mom caught the oldest one trying to slip maracas into her room when she was going to bed. After a bit of questioning, it turns out the girls had planned to come marching and singing into their room quite early Sunday morning, as their own unique gift.

Of course, Uncle D says he only suggested they sing for them and Roo is known to take a simple idea and spin it into a huge project; but knowing their uncle as well as I do, you have to wonder...

Things you do for grandchildren

If you really enjoy self-inflicted pain (or just feel the urge to hurt yourself), spend a couple of hours at Dillards trying on bathing suits! No blood and guaranteed to induce extreme agony! Just the the trauma of seeing yourself half naked in a full length mirror is enough to make you want to run screaming out of the door. After putting your other clothes back on of course. I'm sure part of it was the lighting. Complete darkness would have been preferable.

That was yesterday. Today I've learned there's one thing even more embarassing: being seen in public in the one you finally settle on! The girls were here this afternoon to let  Mom and Dad have some time to themselves to celebrate their 12th anniversary and of course, they wanted to go swimming. So, if you hear of an outbreak of snow blindness in northwest Atlanta, it was just me taking them to the pool! I don't even remember the last time I was in a swimming pool and my legs (and some other parts) are so white you need sunglasses to look at them!

One of those double take moments

I was sitting behind a motocycle in traffic earlier today, vaguely thinking the head gear its rider was wearing was nice but wouldn't do much to protect his skin if he crashed while wearing those shorty shorts and t-shirt when I looked at the back of his head a little more closely. He was wearing his sunglass on the back of his neck, just beneath the back of his helmet and for the world, it look as though he had a face on both sides. So funny. I opened up my phone to take a photo but the light changed before I could. That's one shot I hated missing!

I knew this would happen

Okay, I've been a day ahead since last Wednesday. After a Monday holiday, now I'm a day ahead. Should be an interesting week!

It was a great weekend though. Several friends gathered at my son's apartment in Midtown with lots of laughs and camaraderie, good food, only a tiny bit of drinking, then watching fireworks over Centennial Olympic Park from the roof. The weather was incredible, not at all like July 4 in Georgia. Comfortable temperature, practically no humidity, and a nice breeze blowing all evening. It seems a little strange that the northeast part of the country is suffering from a heat wave while the past few days here have been moderate. Nice while it lasts though.

The week ahead is busy, culminating with the girls coming over Saturday afternoon while Mom and Dad celebrate their 12th anniversary. Just hoping the weather is good so they can get in the pool for a while. (I'm working on getting their uncle to come over and help entertain them at least for a while.) If it isn't, I have a feeling this little apartment is going to get really small before the day is out!

Don't you hate when this happens?

I thought Wednesday was Thursday, even to the point I called the doctor's office to apologize for missing an appointment scheduled for Thursday morning. Thursday felt like Friday, and yesterday was definitely Sunday-ish. I don't know what today feels like but I just know I'm going to hate tomorrow! In the meantime, I think I will head over to Midtown and watch the fireworks at Centennial Olympic Park.

What?

I've been flipping through one of those "modern" parent magazines. Albeit, there are some good ideas in it but I'm still shaking my head at some of the suggestions. One said to "encourage the effort instead of praising the deed." Sounds kind of okay until you read the example of praising a child for showing self control and not arguing with the parent.

Whatever happened to excercising the right to forbid your kid from talking back to you? You know ~ the old 'I'm your Mom/Dad and you do not sass/backtalk/ smart off at me.'

Another was to reward your child with a trip to the ice cream/shop when s/he is complimented on his/her behavior by someone else. Please! Why should you reward a kid for behaving in public? No wonder so many of them are confused!