Memorial Day
Our good friend, Jonathan, is in Iraq and shares this thought (among many) with his friends and family via email:
“Every day spent enjoying the sunshine under an American sky is a gift from the Soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines who have given their lives for our freedom and security. This one day a year, out of them all, please remember them.”
I extend this to you and ask that you please honor his request.
Busy year..
So you know sorta what we’ve been up to this month. A lot of work going on. We’ve done a tremendous amount of house cleaning and yard work as well as taking care of the family etc.
I’m working on a potentially huge thing, that I really can’t share yet, but will give details as they are available. (Don’t you LOVE the suspense we bring into your lives!??!?!?!)
Tracie is kicking butt at her work. I know she doesn’t like to brag, but she’s really doing well. Learning something new every day, and surpassing her own expectations. Not that I didn’t expect that to happen, I just wanted to sound off an applause for my hard workin’ sweetie!
Looks like it’s going to be a rainy Memorial Day weekend! Yay… at least it won’t be 95 degrees out when we help Ralph and Denise move! 
We send our love to friends and family. 
Jack
I should probably update this thing, eh?
No. I’m not Canadian. But I work with one and even though he rarely says “eh” I always expect him to so I think it for him. lol. Yeah.. it’s one of *those* kind of days.
Nothing much to update though. Jack’s been off in the clouds working on a new project. More about that another time. So we’ve basically been just doing the same old normal stuff people do.
Like…
Friday we went and saw Shrek 2. Loved it. Very good.
Saturday I worked and Jack did… well, I don’t remember. I was working so I don’t know what he did. Cody had a fever and Melissa coughed all day, I remember that. Kevin spent the night at a friend’s and Jack and I watched Stephen King’s The Stand (both disks!) while the kids slept off their colds.
Sunday was a day off for the both of us. The kids felt better. We picked up Kevin then did some shopping at the mall. I got a new purse and Kevin and Jack got haircuts. Kevin got some gel for his hair and has been spiking it every day since. It’s cute.
Monday, I worked as did Jack (duh). I don’t normally work Mondays but I traded with a guy from work so he could have a three day weekend. I get my turn this weekend since he’s going to work for me Saturday. Works out nice.
Tuesday, worked. Jack and Kevin mowed the lawn in the afternoon. Funny how that worked out. It rained all weekend. Was nice just long enough for the grass to dry out to be mowed and now it’s raining again.
Oh! Oh! I have to share what *else* happened Tuesday! Kevin brought home three laminated certificates he got from school. They were honors he was presented with for completing his work, doing good research (that one was called “Radical Researcher”, hehe), and cooperation. If all continues, he’ll be getting straight A’s and will make the Honor Roll this semester. Isn’t that awesome??? I’m very proud. He’s come a long way this year after such a rough start!!
So that brings us to today. Blah. Boring. Rainy. Depressing. Wednesday.
There. I filled up an entire page with mostly mundane boring stuff about our daily lives. (Except the part about Kevin. Nothing boring or mundane about that of course.) 
Giving you a PIECE of my mind…
Since we’ve purchased and moved into this house, we’ve had several solicitors about the exterior. Like siding, new windows, etc. The siding is fine and in great condition. But we do have older aluminum windows that we would like to replace. So I welcome anyone who wants to knock on my door and hand me a flier and possibly a quote.
However, I do not like pushy and/or rude people. (Who does?) Most of the time, these sales people show up around lunch time, or early afternoon, and almost always I’m working. I usually tell them that and that I can’t chat but to please leave a flier. Ninety-nine percent of the time, the solicitors will apologize for bothering me, hand me a flier and be on their way. But twice I was ignored and they started on their sales pitch anyway and proceeded to tick me off. The first time, I flat out told the guy, “I said I couldn’t discuss this at the moment” and shut the door in his face.
The second time was yesterday. This exterior designs guy came to my door and introduced himself as a worker for a company doing work “in our area”. Before he could go any further, I told him that I was currently working and did not have time to chat but if he had a flier, I would gladly accept it. He handed me the flier then started in on his sales pitch. I again explained that I was happy to accept the flier but I had to go and I started to shut the door. He says “ma’am!!” and I respond saying, “yes??” … he goes back into his sales pitch and points out my inefficient windows. This is the second time I’ve had to deal with people like this and I really don’t like it. It’s none of his damn business! And insulting my home is not the way to gain a sale.
Yes, the windows are out-dated. Yes, they aren’t as efficient as vinyl windows, but they aren’t broken, they are clean, they look nice, and have been well maintained. We don’t feel drafts from them in the winter (and believe me, after our last apartment, I know what that feels like), they provide adequate
sound-proofing, etc. They could be better, but they are fine!
So I slammed the door in his face. I was about to toss the flier in the recycle bin but saw that it had a website, so out of curiosity I visited it real quick.
They list what services they have to offer on the main page, as well as this:
* Family owned and operated
* Quality craftsmanship
* Quality products
* Quality service
* Affordability
* Piece of mind
Isn’t that fitting?? I about died laughing. So I sent off this email to them from their “contact us” page:
Unless you plan on yelling at your customers, I suggest you change “piece of mind” to “peace of mind”. There is a difference.
I also grumbled about the pushy and rude salesperson and told them I would not be calling them when I replace our windows. UPDATE: I just went and checked their site again. They updated it and have the right spelling now. At least they read their email!
Totally unrelated but I took this adorable picture today too. Click the “there’s more” link. Read more
Trees and… The Phenomenon
Yesterday our neighbor reminded us that the city is going to be doing a project on our street and requested us to be sure that no plants were hanging over the curb and that all trees had at least 13 feet clearance from the ground. The notice said if we didn’t do it, they would, for a fee. It was due to be done by today. This was at 4 pm yesterday that we were reminded. UGH!
The plants part was easy.. we just had one small flowery ground-cover stuff that was hanging over only slightly. Got that taken care of. But our 
only had 9-10 feet of clearance (with no snow/ice on them, hehe). So we had to chop some limbs off. We got done in record time though. Jack removed 5-6 limbs and then chopped them up for firewood, and Melissa and I cleaned up the mess. Just cleaning up the mess took Melissa and as long as it did for Jack to chop up the wood… So that was yesterday afternoon.
Today is my day off and is the one day of the week I can make important calls and such. We’re in the process of repairing our credit.. this is a tedious and sometimes frustrating project. Well, today I had to make a phone call. I set the boys up watching PBS and got the information ready to make my call.
I’m on hold for 5 minutes or so and all was well. The boys were quietly watching Sesame Street then finally a real person gets on the line.
Now.. those of you who are parents will totally understand the phenomenon that occurs as soon as one begins speaking to a live person on the telephone. By now you’re probably even nodding your head knowing what I am about to write….
You guessed it. The Phenomenon that makes children flip out at the precise time the live person on the other end of your telephone speaks her first words went into effect. Long ago I came to the conclusion that there has to be some supernature force that makes this happen so precisely. It’s truly a miracle when The Phenomenon does NOT occur.
Ok, so yeah I’ve lost it but seriously, this was just … awesome. The second the lady on the other end of the phone began her introduction, Cody let out an ear-splitting scream and yelled at Casey to stop touching him. Casey of course giggled loudly and touched him anyway. I made a mad dash for the back porch, ever thankful for our cordless phones, and tried to coherently identifiy myself to “Brenda”. (I did manage to hear her name.)
She asked me to verify my address. But I needed to ask her which address she had on file for me (since we’ve moved twice in the last 3 years). She repeated that I just need to verify my mailing address, and before I could answer, Cody comes screaming out the back door trying to escape Casey’s torture. It was evident that his escape route was through the kitchen as he managed to pick up a breakfast plate full of syrup and was licking the syrup off as he dodged Casey. Casey’s giggling wildly behind Cody as Cody’s yelling at him to stop and saying , “Moooooooooooommmmmmmm! Casey won’t stop!” while stuffing sticky syrup-fingers into this mouth. Brenda is saying, “Ma’am? Your address? Your address please, Ma’am?” I’m trying to wave them back into the house but they were too busy freaking out to notice.
Of course this all happens simultaneously over the course of about two seconds. I wasn’t sure who to address first; The sticky child, or the wild child, or Brenda repeating herself. I told Brenda to hold on a sec while I got my kids quiet, but she ignored that and continued to repeat herself asking me to verify my address, and Casey continued to giggle and squeak (yes squeak) while Cody yelled at him and at me to make Casey stop while slurping up syrup… I just wanted to scream at all of them to SHUT UP! I didn’t of course.
I asked Brenda to hold on a second (again). Brenda, clearly did not have children. She just got annoyed. I shoo’d the boys back into the house and told Casey to stop bugging Cody, then told Cody to put the plate in the sink. Then I told Brenda my address and asked her the question I wanted to ask. She was snotty and rude and had no patience. So I asked to speak to someone else. She hung up on me.
This at least gave me time to get the sticky plate from Cody and send both boys to their room for 5 minutes of TIME OUT!
When I called back and got Jackie, she was much more understanding. And she laughed when I told her what happened the first time I called. She knew all about The Phenomenon. I got my questioned answered before it could occur again and we hung up. The boys are now playing quietly and contently… not a peep out of them. Of course. I’m not on the phone. :crazy:
