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Category Archives: House & Home

GRRRRRRR, stupid taxes.

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Short version: Oh. My. God. Do I ever hate doing taxes!

Long version: Okay, so for the past few years, we just take all our forms into the tax office on base and sit there for 20 minutes while they do it all for us. For free. And I don’t worry about it, because (1) it’s free and (2) we never get back that much to worry about it (i.e. paying someone $100 to get us back $300).

When I told my friend/coworker this, she thought I was nuts. She says every year, she does her taxes on TurboTax and Taxcut online to see which gives her more, than does it herself online. She said she gets back quite a bit more because she can take her time to go through EVERY little thing. She told me I could probably write off some of my business expenses, which I never do because I don’t really make any money and I don’t really have that many expenses (i.e. I use cable internet, but we’d have it and pay for it even if I didn’t use it for the business—and I buy toners, but I’d buy those anyway, even if I do use more for the business, and besides, it just scares me to deduct for business things because I do not want an audit).

So anway, I thought fine, this year, I will follow her lead and do them online to see where I end up. Which I attempted to do this morning. And 4+ hours later I now have the biggest headache imaginable.

I did TurboTax first (the $80 premier business version, figuring if I was going to do the business deductions, I should at least do that one) and that was quite involved, but I felt good about it because it asked a me a lot of stuff about the business and square footage of my office space and my utilities and it took the percentages and whatnot and figured my deductions. In the end, after an hour of messing with it, I had a measly return of $435—in other words, not too much more than we’d normally get just doing the regular tax return (compared to previous years)…so I wasn’t sure if it would be worth it (I estimated some of the figures, because I wasn’t about to go digging through my checkbook for the past year’s utility payments, etc.).

So then I went over to Taxcut, but only selected the regular (non-business specific) version, and ended up with a refund of $337—only $100 difference for a shitload less work. When I quickly added some business info (granted, not using the business version of the software), they told me that I was not able to take any home office deductions with the info I input!

So then I went back to TurboTax and created a new account just using the basic version (which would cost $30). After another hour, it came in with a return of $345 (vs. the business-edition refund of $435). So, I would save $50 by using a lesser software edition, but would lose $90 in refund (net gain $40). Big whoop. And it seems stupid to go with the Home & Business TurboTax because while it would get me $100 more, I would have to pay $80 to use it. (I didn’t even save my TaxCut info because I just wasn’t thrilled with the site.)

I guess worst case scenario I take my basic forms (i.e. no business stuff) into the base tax office and see what they say my return is. If it is a significant difference from either of the two I did online (say, if I owe money!), I will have to either (1) go more in-depth with the base office and dig out all my business stuff or (2) just push the button on one of the TurboTax versions and deal with it.

This all just seems like a lot of work for very little return (no pun intended). And while I would like to take some home office deductions, I really don’t want to “poke the bear” and take the chance of an audit because really, you’re only supposed to use your home office as your office (100%) and that’s certainly not the case here.

I just don’t understand why this has to be so difficult… But in this case, I think I blame my coworker, LOL (you hear that, Jennie? :>>)—if she hadn’t tried to convince me this was for the best, I would have just taken everything to the tax office like the past five years and been done with it, not knowing anything different.

So, I can’t wait to see what happens…stay tuned.

Comedy of Errors

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So I got off work early (due to construction going on in our office) and figured it would be a good night to take dinner down to Rob and Cindy’s since I had extra time to fuss with it. (I have offered to have them down for dinner, but with their little one, it’s easier to eat down there. So sometimes, we take a meal down there.) So I called and left a message that I could bring down steak or chicken to grill, along with a side.

They called about 5pm and said that sounds good, but they have stuff to grill (brats and burgers), so just bring the side! And that’s where the comedy of errors really starts.

I had been planning on making candied yams to go with the steak/chicken, but that didn’t really seem like a suitable side for brats/burgers, so I went to the pantry to find something that would go better with that meal.

I thought “Oh, green bean casserole sounds good!” but of course I didn’t have all the ingredients (only one can of soup).

So then I thought “Oh, I will just take green beans and put cheese and bacon in them.” Except that the frozen green beans were a little freezer burnt and I won’t do that to friends.

So then I thought “Oh, I will make rice!” but by then I had wasted like 10 minutes trying to decide what I was making—and I was supposed to be there at 5:30—so I didn’t have time to make rice.

So it was back to the candied yams. I turned the oven on to preheat while I started reducing the sauce. I thought I smelled something burning/cooking, but there was nothing on the burner, so I didn’t think much about it. So five minutes later the oven beeps and I open the door and—OH. MY. GOD. I had left a cardboard box in there from my spa party the day before…and the edges were turning black and the plastic covering on the box was melting and there was a bit of smoke pouring out. So I grabbed it and threw it on the floor, had to grab tongs to get out a small piece of cardboard that was actually on the heating element, and then hurried to turn on all the fans and open the doors and windows—the last thing I needed was all the smoke detectors to go off! 88|

It all turned out okay, but it was not the experience I had anticipated!

Expired goods.

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So the other day, I pulled out a bag of dry soup mix (Asiago Asparagus something or other) that I know has been in the pantry quite some time. As in, I know I’ve moved it from one house to another, so it’s been in our pantry at least 1.5 years. I started to make it and although it smelled okay, it didn’t look quite right. Then I tasted it—and it was horrible. I checked the expiration—and it was 2002. Yes, 2002. Which means it came with us from Virginia 3.5 years ago when we first moved here! Needless to say I dumped it all out.

Then last night, I was going through the pantry for the Boy Scout food drive, and realized quite a bit of the stuff was expired. Now, I’m not talking years old or anything (like the soup!), but like a cake mix and frosting (10/06), salad dressing (8/06), cans of V8 (2/06), and canned chicken (6/06). Of course, I would still eat these things after expiration (hell, some times long after expiration) but it hit me—should I donate these things? Is something better than nothing? Honestly, some of the things are items I don’t make often (like the cake and frosting, obviously) so if I don’t donate them, they’re going to sit in my pantry even longer. The short version is I am not donating anything expired, but…

That story, combined with the soup incident…take one guess what I’m doing this weekend? Yep, I’m going through everything and tossing like crazy. 🙂 And then NOT buying more stuff until we need it!!

Strange coincidence of the day, v2.

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Earlier tonight I talked to Tom. During our conversation he asked if he could call me at work and I said “Most certainly!!” I then continued and said “You can call me ANYTIME! But, really, don’t #$&@ call me at 3am if you can help it.” 😀

An hour or so later, I was talking to a friend (one we met at New Years in Raleigh), and we were talking about how we really enjoyed talking to one another and how he can always make me laugh…and he told me I can call him any time day or night—except, he said, “Don’t #$&@ call at like 3am.” :))

Of course, I had to tell him what I had said earlier and he got a big kick out of that. We are so much on the same wavelength sometimes it’s frightening.

Strange coincidence of the day!

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So earlier tonight I was catching up on my message board posts, and I clicked on a thread from a recent meet where people were posting their pictures. As I scrolled down, I saw a photo of a group in a hot tub. At just that moment, my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number but picked it up anyway—and it was one of the people in the photo! The even stranger thing about it is that he had never once called me before that night. Bizarre.

The Saga About My Raise

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The short version is that last Friday, I was told that we would FINALLY discuss my raise/evaluation (which was technically due in November). As I predicted, they were too busy to get to me and other things got in the way—even after John said (around noon) “We haven’t forgotten about you. We will get to it this afternoon.” I know they’re busy, but to me, it sort of implies “We really don’t care that much and your raise isn’t important to us.”

The long version is really long—get ready.

So in the work world, you typically get a review and/or raise on your anniversary, right? You’d agree that’s commonplace? Okay, so on my one-year anniversary (which would be November 2005), nothing happens, nothing is said, no review, no raise, etc. Well, actually, John or Sue might have made some mention, but it was small (so much so that I obviously can’t remember), but I just thought/assumed that after the holidays Sue would get to it. Well, that is right about the time that things got crazy at Coldwell Banker and we were talking about moving and then we did move to the new office (March 2006). STILL nothing had been said about any raise—and we were already four months beyond my anniversary. I was ticked, to say the least. I mean, they kept telling me how great I was and how much they appreciated me—but they apparently couldn’t be bothered to give me a raise. (Now, I know they were busy—even crazy busy at times, especially with the opening of our own office—but you just don’t mess with someone’s raise.)

So one day while John and I were out shopping for the new office, it came up that I hadn’t received a raise. He was surprised, saying that he thought Sue had given me one back in November when it was due. Nope, nada, nothing. At that time, I made the comment that I sort of had an offer to go elsewhere (I hadn’t officially had an offer, but our good friend Roger had suggested that I might come work with him) but that they [John and Sue] had been good to me and I wanted to stay true to them. John appreciated me telling him that, and said he’d have a talk with Sue. A few days later I got that $2.50 raise. Since it was so much, I didn’t really feel I could complain about not having gotten it on/around my anniversary four months prior. (Of course, I still didn’t think it was what I was worth—but honestly, who ever does? 😉 ) But I was still thrilled with the raise.

Fast forward to November 2006, my second anniversary—technically only eight months since my last raise, but remember: my last raise was technically four months late. So, again, no review, no raise, no mention, nothing. Before I left on vacation, John did mention something about it, but of course nothing ever happened and then I was gone for three weeks. Upon my return, nothing was said FOR 2 WEEKS. Finally John brought it up or I mentioned it and he said he was “still working on her” because she feels that raises should now be based on WHEN WE OPENED THE NEW OFFICE, as opposed to WHEN I ACTUALLY STARTED. What the hell? He blathered on about how that’s just the way she thinks and she “just” gave me a raise in March! WHAT THE HELL? was my first thought. I mean, do they not remember that the March raise was technically the PREVIOUS NOVEMBER’S RAISE????? And he said…it’s easier for her to budget if the new girl and me are on the same schedule (which apparently means that the other girl will get her raise two months early, since she started two months after we opened) and something about tax-wise it’s easier and how she just has a hard time thinking about hourly wages because she’s so used to commission.

Needless to say I WAS PISSED. Now, I realize she doesn’t have to give me any raise at all, ever. But with how much they say they love me and how great I am and how they couldn’t live without me, you’d THINK they’d show a little more appreciation. John said something about “How would you feel about $12 an hour?” Yeah, great, that’s another $1.50/hour (a great raise in and of itself), but I think $12 is still SHIT for what I do for them. I joked that I could quit, charge them my regular fees for such things as design, website stuff, etc., and I’d be able to work half as much while making the same amount. They just DO NOT realize how much I do and how hard it would be to find someone who could COMPETENTLY do what I do if I ever left.

To add to this saga, whenever we get together with our friends, the conversation always ends up at real estate…and they ineveitably have to listen to me bitch. And as good friends, Roger (the agent I mentioned above) wants what’s best for me, so he is trying to help me get a raise—and he is the one who pointed out that since we left Coldwell Banker, we have TWICE as many listings (i.e. twice as much work for me)…meaning I should get a raise just for the fact that my workload has at least doubled. Add to that we now belong to three MLS boards (not just our local one) which means an additional 2x the amount of work on 2x the amount of listings as we used to have. The actual saga comes when I mentioned these facts to John, and happened to say that Roger was the one who actually pointed out that information out to me. Well, let’s just say there is NO love lost between the two…so right away, John thinks that Roger is trying to steal me away again and makes a comment to me [to the effect of] “I know how you play us against him.” WHAT? I did that once, and it was not really even playing one against the another—I was being honest and saying that someone else might offer to hire me and left it at that. (That said, I am not sure I could work for a friend—I mean, technically I could, but I would hate to chance ruining our friendship.)

So a week ago Friday I emailed everyone in the office to let them know I was going to be taking Thursday off (when Tom left). It was going to be unpaid, as I have no vacation left. (As a semi sidenote, Wendy and Jennie were completely AGHAST that Sue wasn’t going to give me the time off and I just shrugged it off—technically she doesn’t have to do anything, but I agreed it would have been a nice gesture.) So Wednesday afternoon, I think it was (maybe Tuesday), John emailed me to say that I could use my banked hours for Thursday and then have the remaining time off with pay…and that we’d talk about my raise Friday. Wow, I was completely surprised about the day off, and of course was geeked about my raise.

So, as mentioned earlier, Friday comes and goes with no raise. I did get a call at 8:30 that night (voicemail, actually!) saying “We just realized we forgot…we will do it Monday.” Again, making me feel extremely UNimportant.

And that’s the story.

As I was writing this post, it was 4:30 on Monday afternoon. I had actually written:

Stay tuned, I’m sure the meeting (whever it actually happens—it’s 4:30 today and it hasn’t happened yet) will be a doozy…

Then I got called into the office at about 4:35!

Long story short, I sat down, John basically said “How about $12 like we said?” and Sue said she did appreciate me, even though she doesn’t say it enough…and John agreed with her. We chatted a bit, and that was it! So I have a raise, effective immediately, and all future raises will be March 1.

Again, Wells Fargo ticks me off.

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So, I wanted to check my mortgage account information. I do have online bill pay set up, but full account information is NOT available through that account. I swear I had an account set up, but I can’t find logon info anywhere, and none of the “I forgot my username/password” links work because they can’t find my account. Of course, what makes matters worse is that I don’t know if the account is under Tom’s social or mine (or both) so I try a variety. I keep getting errors and then finally I get “We are unable to process your request without further information. Please call us at…”

So I call. After waiting on hold for at least 10 minutes, I give the guy my name and social and nope, he can’t find me. So I say it might be under hubby’s social and he immediately got snippy and said “Sorry, we can’t do that.” I totally understand the privacy issue, but told him my husband was deployed, I have a POA, and what do I need to do to gain access? He again says he can’t do anything, hubby has to do it, and suggested I have my husband call and put me on the account. I said that really was not a feasible option at this point, this can’t be the first time this has happened, what do I need to do to get online access? He tells me I could probably go to a local office, show ID and POA, but there’s nothing he can do for me. Which I guess I understand his hands are tied, but he was just waaaay too rude and snippy about it. I said “Are you sure there’s nothing you can do?” He then said “Well, I guess I could call the mortgage people and make sure.” Oh, you think? 🙄

So he puts me on hold for like three minutes, comes back and says “Here’s the number, I will transfer you.” I still have to go through all the voice prompts and entering of account numbers, and I was thinking “I thought you were going to transfer me to someone?” The gist of it? The mortgage department is closed on Sunday. Like the rep didn’t know that and couldn’t have told me that? GRRRRRRRRRRRR. >:(

I guess I will call our local Wells Fargo lady (she’s always in our office, know her pretty well) and see if she can help me. I have never had good experiences with any of the 800# reps—every time I have to call them I get ticked off.

My new friends are awesome.

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So, I know I never talked about our New Year’s Eve that we spent in Raleigh with the group of friends I had met online (but had never met in person). Now so much time has passed that it seems silly to go back and write about it, so suffice it to say the weekend was probably in our top five weekends of all time! (Tom even agrees with me—he had that much fun! I think he was 100% surprised at how good a time he had.) We got along smashingly with everyone, had an absolute BLAST, and made some great new friends that we can’t wait to see more of.

That said, it was a great thing to do right before Tom left, as they all got to meet him and are now really excited about sending him (and his entire unit) packages. So far, we have about 35 volunteers (of which we have actually only met about 20) and they are COMPLETELY excited about it. There’s even an Excel spreadsheet involved in the planning!

In addition to that, they are all EXTREMELY supportive. I have had numerous offers to call anytime, night or day, home or work, etc. Of course, I am not big on calling people, but I know the offer is there and it means a lot. (I know my friends and family have offered that as well, but to have people I met for one weekend offer that? It really touches my heart.) I may even take some of them up on it sooner or later, you never know…

So, imagine my surprise when Thursday evening—the day Tom left—I got a phone call from one of them. He knew I said I wouldn’t want to talk to anyone, but he called anyway because he wanted to cheer me up. He kept me on the phone for over an hour, telling me great stories (about his life in general and stories about people I’d met) and keeping me laughing. Tonight, another one called…just to say hey and to let me know she was serious—I could call her (or her hubby) at any time, day or night, just to say hey or vent or whatever.

So, now, in addition to the great friends I have here locally, I also have great friends across the country. 😀

So, I found a new “diet” but…

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So, I found a new “diet” and got all excited about it—Oprah’s diet guru Bob Greene’s The Best Life Diet—and now I’m pissed.

Why?

On the show, I SWEAR Oprah said [something to the effect of] “Go to the [best life] site and sign up for free!” So today I ordered the book and just now I went to the website to sign up and…nope, not free. They want $20 a month or $150 a year for access to everything!

WHAT THE HELL?

Yes, I want to change my life, but I honestly wasn’t planning on forking out $150 up front—especially since that part was NOT mentioned on the show (I’m pretty damn sure I would remember that).

So, it either feels like “pony up the bucks to vastly improve my Diet experince and chance at success” or “I feel my health is not worth $4.50 a week.” >:(

When smells attack!

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So we cleaned up the living room tonight, finally putting away all the Christmas boxes and whatnot, and I (re)plugged in one of those air freshener dohickeys. Well, I have to say I LOVE Febreze Noticables but there is one scent that Tom bought that I cannot stand. And it so happens that was the one I picked up and plugged in (damn, I thought I had thrown it out!) so now, my hand smells like that scent that I hate. And it’s extremely overpowering. And the smell will NOT go away. I’ve washed my hands a bunch of times, put lotion on, and even went so far as to “rinse” my hands in nail polish remover…yet the smell remains. It is so horrible and overpowering that I now have a raging headache.

Better Rice-A-Roni

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So last night we were making dinner and I was going to make plain rice. I already had the 1 cup of rice in the pan when I thought “You know, I should really use one of the 10 Rice-A-Roni boxes we just bought…” so thought I would just wing it and combine the two, and just added a bit more butter to saute the rice/vermicelli bits in, and then just added an extra cup of water. And you know what? It was perfect!!! Regular Rice-A-Roni is always too salty and there never seems to be enough. But, with the addition of the extra rice and water, it was really yummy! Perfectly seasoned, plus you got a lot more!! I love it when spur of the moment things like that actually turn out!

RRNYE!

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I don’t even know where to start…so I will say that this past weekend had to be one of the best weekends of my life. Seriously. We both had so much fun it was crazy. (This morning wasn’t too fun…but at this point, I’m still recuperating…but it was well worth it.)

So, what happened this past weekend that was so great? RRNYE, that’s what!! And what exactly was RRNYE? A huge group of people I’ve “met” online that were all meeting in Raleigh for a big NYE bash (Rockin’ Raleigh New Year’s Eve)! People came from all across the country and we just had a complete blast!

To start, I was completely nervous about meeting everyone, and welcomed the chance to pick up someone at the airport, so I would have at least met one person in a calm setting! I recognized her immediately, and the meeting went well.

That said, walking into the bowling alley (the first meeting spot) was an entirely overwhelming (wait, OVERWHELMING) experience. Us three walked in, and immediately all heads turned toward us, then all I saw was a mass of people moving towards us in one big rush. There were introductions and hugs and I was trying to place names to faces and trying to remember to introduce Tom, as well.

At dinner that night (we broke off into groups and went to different places—we were dining on Italian), I was still feeling a bit overwhelmed, but it got easier. It took probably an hour or so before I finally started talking and being more myself. By the time the group lunch and trip to the fun park rolled around (mini golf, go karts, etc.) the next afternoon, we were having a great time and felt way more at ease! I even took a spin on the go-karts, which I haven’t done in probably 15 years!

By the big party, with more than a few drinks in me :)) it felt like I’d known everyone forever and we were having a blast! Everyone made me feel very welcome and I think Tom was surprised at how much fun he had with everyone. The food was great, I had a fun time being a bartender (with another girl who actually was a bartender in a past life), and we had a great White Elephant gift exchange, in which I ended up with a Christmas ornament (perfect!).

The funniest thing, I think, is how many people expressed their hesitance/reservations in meeting me. I’m not quite sure what they expected, but needless to say they were a bit unsure about me. But, apparently, from everything everyone told me (and what I heard from others), I fit right in and they needn’t have worried about me! Anyway, hearing that people’s worries were unfounded and that people actually liked me…well, that made me feel good, because of course I was sorta scared about the whole thing anyway.

The only bad thing was that we didn’t get to say goodbye to people! We sort of rushed out of the party because I wasn’t feeling well (too much to drink!) and honestly it was sort of a blur…and I was thinking we’d get to see them in the morning…but, alas, I was definitely NOT in any shape to go to the planned brunch, and Tom wasn’t much better.

Now, we can’t wait to go to more meets—we loved everyone and can’t wait to spend more time with them!

Our Office Christmas Dinner

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Our Christmas dinner this year was at Port City Chop House—a premier steak house in neighboring Wilmington. I had actually been there once before, in 2004, for a Builder Appreciation dinner when Tom was deployed…and was eagerly anticipating returning with him. The food there is TO DIE FOR.

We started with a few bottles of wine and (I think) five appetizers, including two orders of Oysters Rockefeller, Baked Crab Dip, Sashimi Tuna, and a Crabmeat Cocktail. And more wine. And soups and salads (I had Fresh Mozzarella and Tomato). And more wine. I think everyone got some form of steak, and a few of us got Tide & Tundra, which included a Tristan lobster tail (I think the waiter said it was Australian), and it was the biggest lobster tail I have ever seen in my life!! I also got an Oscar accompaniment. And then we had more wine. And then four “desserts for two” including the Mile High Chocolate Suicide Cake, Colossal Carrot Cake, New York Style Cheesecake, and White Chocolate Créme Brulee. And more wine. 88| (At one point, I asked the waiter just how much wine they stocked, as we were on our [I think] fourth bottle of a particular Reisling and the waiter said they had one bottle left!)

Let’s just say the bill for our table of eight, with tip, was a hair over $800. We would go back by ourselves for dinner (chicken or pasta only) with no appetizers, drinks, or desserts!!

We had a great time, though—we exchanged our gifts and shared a lot of laughs. There are some pictures, too…but we won’t go there. Thankfully Jennie was our designated driver so the ride home was fairly uneventful (except when her husband gave Sue and John a bare moon doing 75 down the highway).

Should I get paid more for the IT work I do?

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So as you all know, I just LOVE my job ( 😈 ). There are so many little issues that make me crazy, I won’t even begin to go into them all. That said, I just have a question.

I was hired as a real estate assistant/secretary. To me, that means things specifically associated with real estate like paperwork and phone calls, etc. To me, the pay I was told I’d get is for the work I was told about.

Well, as it happens, I also know a little bit about computers (such things as web design and email, etc.)…so of course, I quickly got sucked into doing those things, as well.

Now, I know that all jobs come with duties that weren’t explicitly stated … and new things pop up that need to be taken care of … and stuff along those lines. But it seems as time goes on, I’m becoming more and more responsible for anything computer- and IT-related. Just because I’m the one that knows the most—even if I have no clue, it becomes my job to figure it out/solve it.

So, where does it become the end of my initial job duties/being a peon and having to do everything the boss says…to getting paid more for doing stuff that really shouldn’t be my job or wasn’t in the original job description? Meaning that I was hired as a secretary, not a computer or IT person; I was hired with a secretary’s pay, not a computer or IT person’s pay. (I know I don’t deserve like $30k for computer/IT work, because that’s not my entire job—but some type of additional pay would be nice.)

I just think that she is lucky I know how to do this stuff, and I should see some sort of compensation for it. If I didn’t know how to do it (i.e. had my boss hired some yahoo who didn’t know how to do ANYTHING), she would have to hire someone else (at a much higher rate) to come do this stuff (as it is, she pays Tom $20/hour for networking stuff that I know nothing about).

So, do you think I should I get paid more for the IT work I do? Or should I just suck it up? Of course, I’m thinking about this now because I just had my two-year anniversary a week ago and haven’t heard ONE WORD about a raise. 😡

Not a good weekend for food.

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We invited our friends, Tom and Karen, out for dinner Saturday night. We were going to Freddy’s, a local sports bar that has prime rib TO DIE FOR—Saturdays after 5pm only. Tom had previously had it there and said it was the best he’d ever eaten—plus the boys REALLY REALLY love steak—so they were really looking forward to it.

So we get there around 6:15 and when the guys ordered their steak, the waitress said “We’re actually out at the moment. It’s going to be about a half hour.” We asked how they could be out of the special barely an hour after it started, and she said they had had a run on it earlier. Okay… well, we had ordered an appetizer anyway, so we didn’t think a half hour was TOO long to wait—especially since it was going to be SOOOOO good. Both guys ordered it medium rare (this is important for the rest of the story). I then tried to order a sandwich and asked for texas toast instead of the regular bread. She said they were out. Oooookay—half their sandwiches are on texas toast, but whatever. So I said “Just give it to me on the regular bread then.” Oh, no, she says, they were ENTIRELY out of bread! After the issues with the steak, we just had to laugh at them being out of bread as well.

Fast forward AN HOUR, and we finally get our meals—the guy’s steaks were finally (apparently) done. Except that they were too done—meaning both of the steaks were medium to medium well, almost bordering on well done! Tom said it tasted horrible, probably the worst he’s had. Our friend Tom agreed that it was horrible. When the waitress came over to see how everything was, they both complained, said the steak was completely overdone and ruined, and they wanted two more. She said they had gotten the last ones! WHAT? 88| They were out when we got there at 6:15, and then an hour later they were out again? The waitress did say that a bunch of steaks had been sent back earlier because they were cooked wrong…which we’re guessing is why they ran out! The boys ate them anyway, since by that time we were all very hungry.

We just kept talking about it and sorta laughing about it, but the more I thought about it, the more pissed off I got—so I went to get a manager. And guess what? He wasn’t there! Ironically, he had gone to their sister restaurant/bar to get…bread! And no one on the premisis had any authority to take care of us—we had to wait until the manager got back! Thankfully, it was only a matter of minutes before he was back and over to our table. I told him how horrible the steaks were—aside from having to wait an hour, they were completely overcooked and a complete waste. And it was even worse because we had had the prime rib there before and it was absolutely fabulous. He apologized and basically said he would talk to the kitchen so it wouldn’t happen again—and that he hoped we’d give them another chance. He didn’t appear to be saying anything else, so I said “You WILL be taking care of the bill, right?” Oh, yes, of course he was. And of he went.

About five minutes later, the waitress brought our checks and said that the manager had taken….30% off our bills. Wait, excuse me, WHAT? For the steaks to be completely horrible, he only took 30% off our bill? I wasn’t too happy, but figured I just wanted to be done with it and get out of there. Until we saw that he didn’t take 30% off the entire bill, but rather just took 30% off the price of the steak! OH NO NO NO, that was NOT going to fly. And by that point, I was so pissed off that I was not going to accept anything less than a full comp for the two steaks.

Now, let me just say a quick word about our waitress… She was a cute little thing, and she felt HORRIBLE when she had to tell us the steaks would be late, then when we told her they were overcooked, then when we complained about the bill. One time, she looked like she was about to cry. She felt so bad about everything—but as a waitress, what can you do when the kitchen screws up? We made sure to tell her it was not her fault and we knew that—and that she was doing just fine. We also made sure to tell her that we’d be letting the owner know about the whole thing (she’s a fellow realtor and we used to work in the same office) and that she [the waitress] was great!

So when the poor waitress came back over and asked if we were ready with our bills, I said, “Unfortunately, no. I don’t mean to be a bitch about this, but he only took 30% off the steak. That is ridiculous! For two meals that were late in arriving, not cooked as ordered, and not able to be reordered…” She said she’d talk to the manager again. She was back in a few minutes with new bills, with the prime rib completely comped. Thank goodness.

So then we decided to go out for dessert, and we went to our little ice cream place up the street. Our friend, poor guy, ordered his favorite ice cream—and they were out! We had a good laugh about that.

So today Tom and I went out for lunch because we had a coupon for a “buy one get one free” sub at another sports bar. After taking probably 10 minutes to decide what we wanted (they have a huge sandwich menu), we ordered. And within a few minutes, the waitress was back to tell Tom that they didn’t even make his sandwich anymore and she wasn’t even sure why it was still on the menu! 88|

So, overall, not a good weekend for food!

Stymied at every turn!

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So I had THE BEST idea for Christmas gifts for the parents this year…

EXCEPT I didn’t make my mind up until too late that I was going to get it for everyone, so I only had one.

And of course, I wanted the same exact thing…

EXCEPT I couldn’t find it anywhere locally for the same price [I got for the first one] so looked at other similar things (to make life easier)…

EXCEPT the things just weren’t what I wanted so they got returned.

So then I decided to just order what I wanted online…

EXCEPT I found that three stores had it and had to make a decision: Do I shop at the store where I get the absolute cheapest price (but comes with a mail-in rebate)? Or do I shop at the store with a bit higher price, but where I earn almost enough points for a $25 gift certificate? Or do I shop at the store with a middle-of-the-road price that makes for easy returns (just in case)?

So I decided to go with the $25 gift certificate offer…

EXCEPT shipping was 5-10 business days at that store…which, if it happens to be more than 10 days…we’re screwed (since we’ll be on our way to Michigan) and then no one gets presents.

EXCEPT I decided to have it shipped to my office, on the off chance it doesn’t make it in time, they can reship it to me.

I never thought buying two additional presents would be so hard! :>>

A Successful Santa Stalking!

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An online board that I belong to did Secret Santas again this year, and I decided to participate since I actually have become move involved with the board since last Christmas. There was a whopping 115 people participating—including quite a few I didn’t really know—so chances were I’d have to do some “stalking” to do to find [what I hoped] was the perfect gift. (Now, by stalking, I mean researching past posts that person had written, seeing what their interests were, and deciding on a gift.) And on a board that is heavily participated in with subjects of all varieties, this could have been a very lengthy process indeed.

So everyone was excited and counting down the days until the names were drawn! I got someone I didn’t really know, but someone who I had at least heard of and posted semi-frequently! And the stalking began! And as luck would have it, I found a great hint within the first 10 minutes of searching! I kept stalking, however, in the hopes I would find something better, but it never happened—and I thought “Why waste any more time on this when I already have a great gift idea?!”

What was it, you ask? What was the perfect gift? Well, it was pre-Thanksgiving time and there had been a few posts about casseroles—actually, I had started one asking something about the typical green bean casserole…and then due to that thread, someone else started a thread about casseroles in general…to which my person had replied, simply:

Yum! Not only do I like eating them, I like making them.

And from that simple comment, it was off to Amazon! As I tried to decide which of the numerous casserole cookbooks to purchase, it turned out my additional stalking had come in handy—from his comments on Riedel wine glasses, new granite countertops, and a recent visit to a trendy and expensive restaurant, I gathered he had a sense of refinement about him…so I went with the Cook’s Illustrated cookbook Cover & Bake (which I then proceeded to put on my own wishlist!) and a 4-qt Pyrex casserole dish!!

We’re not supposed to open our gifts until December 22, but apparently he has about as much willpower as I do sometimes, and he already opened them and emailed me to thank me—and tell me I did an excellent job stalking!!

Phew!

Now I just have to wait to receive my gift….and wonder what my Secret Santa is learning about me from stalking!

I lost my lilacs!

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The bad news? I lost my beautiful lilac shower curtain in the master bath.

What, you ask, do I mean by lost? Well, we had both grown weary of the shower curtain sticking to us in the shower. I mean, the shower is a little on the small side…so you can barely move around in there without the curtain attaching itself to you.

So we had been looking at shower doors. And let me tell you what a nightmare THAT was—we have a somewhat odd-sized shower, so trying to find something in-stock (read: not special order = $$$) that was the size, color, and glass type we wanted was next to impossible. Most of the sliders were for typical tub/shower combos and started at like 46″ wide and 65″ tall—too wide and too short for what we had—and most of the pivot doors were too small and the wrong color (probably 98% of the ones in stock were silver and we didn’t want that unless it was our only option).

So last night were were at Lowes for the second time (having also made a trip to Home Depot) and were not having any luck. And just about the time our frustration level was at 100% (read: ready to give up and walk out of the store), we happened to see one standing there that wasn’t on their in-stock brochure!! And it was the size (43″x70″), color (nickel), and glass type (anything but clear) we wanted! What luck! It was a slider (as opposed to a pivot, which was our first choice), but at that point, we weren’t complaining!

And I looooooooove having a handyman hubby, who said he could install it (saving us $120) and then installed it with ease…although he did admit that the caulking was the hardest part and something he needs more practice on! 🙂

New Slider Shower Door

So, I lost my lilacs…but gained a cool new shower door!!

So, how was YOUR Black Friday?

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Everything I wanted was available online, so I set the alarm for 5:55am and was at the computer by 6am placing orders! It sucked to get up this early—especially when Tom initially said he’d go to town to pick up anything I wanted…then renegged when I said we could do the shopping online (stinker!).

The only minor snafu is that I decided to add another DVD to one order at the last minute and assumed that since I chose “pick up” for the first DVD, it would automatically select “pick up” for the second DVD—which it didn’t, so I had to pay an extra $1.79 for delivery. 🙁 That’s what I get for trying to shop when I’m barely awake! (It’s still a decent deal, but I should have had both shipped or both picked up, just for ease.) I just kick myself for not paying attention!

So, how was YOUR Black Friday?

Happy Thanksgiving!

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There are waaaaay too many good smells coming from our kitchen today—and we’re not even having Thanksgiving at our house!

I decided to make another loaf of Spaghetti Bread this morning, so we were smelling italian seasoning, garlic, and parmesean…

Then I made a new cornbread recipe (Tomatillo Cheddar Cornbread) for our breakfast—delish!—so we were smelling spicy-ish mexican.

Then, while both of those things were going, I toasted some pecans and coconut for the Sweet Potato casserole I’m making for dinner at our neighbor’s this afternoon!

I love cooking and baking!!!!!

Houston?

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I hate to say it, but we’re sort of maybe thinking of moving to…Houston. Where did this come from? Well, from what we’ve been hearing and researching, the job market in Michigan leaves something to be desired.

So we’ve been watching House Hunters on HGTV…and recently we saw an episode where they were house hunting in Houston, Texas.

Oh. My. God.

The amount of house you can get for the money is AMAZING. Take a look at one house we love. Can you believe it’s only $279,000? 88|

Of course, everything is a pipe dream right now, and you never know what the future holds, but man it’s tempting. Now we just have to find jobs!!!

What a cool surprise!

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So I got the mail tonight and there was a small box from my mom. I knew just from the size and shape that it was a “check box” but I knew she wouldn’t be sending me checks! :)) So, imagine my complete and total surprise to open it and find…….pumpkin seeds!! 😀 I had mentioned when they were here visiting that I loved pumpkin seeds but never made them—but that I loved hers! She remembered…and sent me some!

FRANKS, MOM!!! 😉

Not quite as crazy as last time…

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We had decided a few weeks ago that we wanted to have another party—this time, because a bunch of guys on our street are all deploying around the same time and we wanted to get everyone together before they all left (and before the holiday season occupied everyone’s schedules). We decided to have deep-fried turkey and make it into a potluck.

Of course, we were totally paranoid about throwing the party. I mean, we knew we had had a successful party in the past, but we are always scared that no one will show up and/or people will not have a good time.

Of course, we had nothing to worry about…we ended up with (I think) 22 adults and 14 kids! It didn’t get nearly as crazy as it did before, but everyone had a smashing time. And the turkey was a HUUUUUGE hit—I was surprised at how many people were trying it for the first time!

Oh, and Maggie? She was in pure doggie heaven—all those kids running around and wanting to play with her! Every time I looked around, someone was carrying her or chasing her or playing with her. One time, the kids were playing tag and were scattered, running all over—and she didn’t even know which way to run!! Towards the end of the evening, you could tell she was getting tired, so we put her to bed a little early and she slept straight through the night and didn’t even BUDGE in the morning!!

Free Hugs Campaign

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4

Yuu have to see this to believe it—I get the chills every time I watch it. He was also on a recent Oprah…

Juan Mann’s free hug campaign started two years ago when Juan went back to his hometown in Australia to find that his friends and family had moved away. “I was the only person I knew in my own hometown,” he says. “So I wanted to get out there and do something that spread a little bit of cheer and cheered me up, and this was the first thing that really came to mind.”

The first time he stood in public with his “Free Hugs” sign, Juan says it took an agonizing 15 minutes to receive his first hug. “This one lady came up and gave me a hug and it was really, really worth it,” Juan says. From that first hug a campaign was born! Thanks to a video on the website YouTube, Juan’s movement is spreading worldwide—he is even organizing a global hug day!

More information on the Free Hugs Campaign available on Wikipedia.

Make sure to click directly on the arrow to watch the video without leaving this page.

Talk about a DUH moment!

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So since it’s been getting quite chilly at night, we finally put our heated mattress pad back on the bed. However, instead of putting it on normally—where the plug is at the bottom of the bed—we reversed it so that we could keep all the cords at the head of the bed so they would be hidden from view.

So last night when we went to bed, Tom was cold so he turned his side on. Fast forward to the middle of the night when I woke up feeling a little warm. That sometimes happens to me when I wake up suddenly, so didn’t think much about it. A while later, I was STILL warm and threw the covers partially off. I could not figure out why I was so warm.

Well, it wasn’t until about 5am that I realized—DUH!—we had flipped the cover, so Tom’s controls worked MY side of the bed (and vice versa)! No wonder I was so warm!!!

In the morning, we had a good laugh when I informed him what had happened. His first words? “No wonder I was freezing all night! I could NOT get warm!”

I HATE STUPID DRIVERS!

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I really hate it when I get pissed off on the way in to work—it’s just not the best way to start the day.

This morning, some idiot pulled out (basically) in front of me. Since I was on a 55mph road, he really should have waited, but god forbid someone wait for a proper break in traffic. So, I pretty much had to slow from 55 to 25 in three seconds. Then, about 1/4 mile up the road, he slams on his brakes—which means I have to slam on my brakes, engaging the ABS and sending all the stuff in my car flying to the floor. Asshat wasn’t paying attention and missed some activity on the side of the road that he had to avoid at the last second.

Oh, and did I mention this idiot was on the phone? GRRRRRRR. >:XX I don’t mind people talking and driving if they can handle it, but some people obviously can’t.

Not as fun as it used to be?

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I think I might be getting over my love of Halloween, or I might be getting crochety in my old age, or something else, but…. I think I could live without the handing out of the candy anymore.

To start with, people started showing up WHEN OUR LIGHTS WERE STILL OFF AND THE PUMPKIN WASN’T LIT. What gives? When we’re ready, we’ll look ready. (It was actually a neighbor and she said “Well I saw lights on inside.” Grrrr.) So as we were turning on the lights and lighting the pumpkin, a whole slew of people showed up so it was pure chaos.

Then, half the kids didn’t even say Trick or Treat, just rang the bell and stood there when I opened the door (all ages, not just young ones who might be clueless). Quite a few didn’t even ring the bell and just stood outside (we heard them approach because we were in the dining room listening with the window open). Then, of course there are the little ones who don’t know the drill and don’t move once you give them the candy—I had like three of these who just stood there looking at me like they wanted more candy and I said “I already gave you your candy, let the other kids get in here.”

And it’s not like we were really bombarded, but it was hard to take the time to look at all the costumes, which is the best part.

Maybe I would be more into the whole thing if Tom was, but he’s usually off doing his own thing. At least this year he sat with me in the dining room working on the laptop while I handed out treats!

Anyway, I was handing out 2-3 small pieces to everyone and only had a handful left when we turned the lights out at 7…we couldn’t have had more than 30 kids.

Long-lost treasure!

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So as I mentioned, mom and David brought down one of my old dressers. Well, of course, all of the drawers were filled to the brim—assorted stuff having accumulated over the multiple years it has sat in the basement waiting for me to have a home of my own to store it in. (It really didn’t matter to mom when I told her that, even though we have a big house, it’s already full to the brim. 🙂 ) So, due to space issues, we ended up giving the dresser away to a coworker—figuring who better than a 4-year-old girl to enjoy a Barbie-pink dresser?

my old pink dresser

But that meant I had to empty out the drawers. And find space to put all that stuff. But oh, did I have a grand time looking at everything, like…

  • A “memory book” detailing “The Blizzard of 1982” — each of us in the class had to write what we did over the three-day surprise snow break and then it was mimeographed (yes, mimeographed—not copied!) for everyone and made into a book. A book with construction paper covers and tied with yarn, but a book nonetheless!
  • An “autograph book” from the last days of school, circa 5th grade (I can tell because my teacher signed it). Heck, I think I had everyone at the school sign it, down to secretaries and janitors, I think! Hilarious. One funny thing? One of the kids in my class signed it…and I swear, his handwriting never changed through our senior year. Two neat things? I obviously carried on getting autographs after school, because both my Grandma Smith and Grandpa Len signed it. :'(
  • A periodic table of the elements from my chemistry class in high school… Why would I keep that? It has a story, of course! Which I remember like it was yesterday. The day our teacher was handing out copies of the periodic table to the class, it was my birthday (technically, it was Friday the 29th, but since we wouldn’t be in school on my birthday, my friends had put in the announcement for Friday). So, because it was my birthday, the teacher gave me his only color copy. I was the envy of the class. (Keep in mind, this was before the prevalence of internet research and color copies. What the teacher gave you is what you had.)
  • A letter from my dad, circa 1994. I haven’t reread this one yet!
  • Two cartons of my pysanky attempts, along with two kistas, an unopened box of dyes from Aunt Marge (I was always waiting until I had my own house/space to make all the dyes…I guess I have that now, don’t I?), and an egg-drying rack.
  • Four photo albums of Tom #1 era pictures. As you can imagine, that had some good and bad memories attached…but they were still fun to look at.
  • Three sticker books! (Don’t tell me you don’t know or remember sticker books…they were ALL the rage.) I still hate to part with these, but why on earth would I keep them?! I should just pass them on to Virginia who would surely love them. After I scan the pages into my computer, of course. 🙂
  • Two books of Sniglets. Yes, you remember Sniglets, too. You can admit it.
  • A brand new soup bowl/plate set that was a gift from my boss back in Traverse City 10 years ago (I’m rounding down).
  • But the best was the photo album Grandma Smith made for me probably 20 years ago…which I thought I had lost. After her funeral this summer, I looked high and low for it and couldn’t find it. I was devastated, because I could remember it clear as day—just not where it was. It was NOWHERE in this house, which meant it hadn’t been at the last house… So when I opened the drawer and found that… Well, it was a good day.

The sad thing? I still don’t know where I’m going to put all this stuff!

Way short version of mom and David’s visit.

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As you will read on the 10/28 entry, I lost my entire well-constructed thread with links and pictures…and there is NO WAY IN HELL I’m in any mood to even try to recreate it, so…without further ado, here’s the short version of their visit.

  1. They brought my old dresser and my old toybox because they were cleaning out the basement and I had to take my old stuff. They filled the toybox with Tom’s beer he requested, which I found funny.
  2. We cooked some great meals, as usual, plus ate at our favorite Thai restaurant. David made some yummy soup from leftovers and mom made Tom his favorite scones.
  3. Maggie LOVED grandma and I think grandma was surprised that she liked Maggie more than she thought she would.
  4. We went to our annual Halloween party/oyster feast at our friend’s house. We wore our new costumes and mom and David wore the scrubs that we had been banned from wearing again. My costume still needs some work, as it’s way too big and not slutty enough for what the costume should be (I couldn’t get enough cleavage).

The end.

P.S. You WON’T believe this, but I lost this post as well…another stupid error in the code. GRRRRR. There has to be something wrong with my cookies because this does NOT happen when I write in my blog at work. >:(