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Category Archives: Rants & Gripes

Craigslist Job Titles – UGH

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I hate job titles on Craigslist that have NO bearing on the duties listed.

For example, I was intrigued by a job titled “Proposal Coordinator/Editor” under Writing Jobs. Now, tell me how the following job is anything but a secretary? :crazy:

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES:

Manages telephone coverage and assures coverage of the reception area at all times. Answers phones according to the office’s procedures, routes calls to appropriate staff, takes accurate messages, maintains a record of telephone messages, and holds messages for pick-up. Retrieves messages from voice mail as appropriate. Greets all visitors and assists them while waiting; directs and distribute deliveries to the appropriate staff. Presents a courteous and cheerful attitude to visitors and staff. Assists the Vice President with all building management calls and helps to develop appropriate protocols for fire drills, key maintenance, security, and other building related matters. Provides clerical support for the Vice President and staff, assisting with research activities and special projects as requested. Writes, edits and types correspondence, reports, memorandums, and other materials as assigned. Schedules meetings and tracks project timelines. Assists with mailings, including federal express and UPS, copying, assembling, stuffing and posting. Maintains all office supplies, equipment and other office support activities. Performs other duties as assigned by the Vice President Fishery Conservation and Management.

One of my friends commented:

The first section I have cut out 100% describes a receptionist position:

  • Manages telephone coverage and assures coverage of the reception area at all times. Answers phones according to the office’s procedures, routes calls to appropriate staff, takes accurate messages, maintains a record of telephone messages, and holds messages for pick-up. Retrieves messages from voice mail as appropriate. Greets all visitors and assists them while waiting; directs and distribute deliveries to the appropriate staff. Presents a courteous and cheerful attitude to visitors and staff.

Now in between “assur[ing] coverage of the reception area at all times” the candidate is supposed to sandwich in three other jobs:

  • Assists the Vice President with all building management calls and helps to develop appropriate protocols for fire drills, key maintenance, security, and other building related matters. Provides clerical support for the Vice President and staff, assisting with research activities and special projects as requested.
  • Writes, edits and types correspondence, reports, memorandums, and other materials as assigned. Schedules meetings and tracks project timelines.
  • Assists with mailings, including federal express and UPS, copying, assembling, stuffing and posting. Maintains all office supplies, equipment and other office support activities. Performs other duties as assigned by the Vice President Fishery Conservation and Management.

The proper job title for the non-editing tasks would be “Administrative Assistant” (which is NOT just a high-falutin’ euphemism for ‘secretary’ — it reflects the fact that the job requires more skills and responsibility than an ordinary secretary would have).

So this job description describes three different jobs.

1) receptionist
2) AA
3) proposal writer/editor

Translation: we need someone to write and edit proposals, but that only happens once a year. You’ll really be a receptionist most of the time, except during proposal time, when you’ll have to make the proposals appear like magic, on top of your regular workload. Oh, and while you’re in the office, you may as well keep busy, so do all the stuff we need an AA for as well.

:crazy:

Gas bill shocker

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So we thought our previous bills of about $200 were bad… This month? Just over $300!! >:XX

The summer months had BETTER make up for this, because this is INSANE.

That said, we think they screwed up this month. Why? After last month’s $200+ bill, we turned the heat down, we turned the water heater down, etc. so the bill should have at least been the same, or less.

And then we started thinking…no one came to the door to read the meter! (Normally they wouldn’t come to the door, but since we have the fence up, they can’t just get to it on their own, and last month the guy told me he’d have to come to the door. And no one came.) So we are thinking they just used last month’s figures to extrapolate this month’s figures…and it was way off. So we have to put in call to them. Maybe next month will be WAY cheap!

25 Random Things

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I got tagged on Facebook to create a list of 25 Random things, facts, habits, or goals about myself. It’s great fun to read other people’s lists, and while you are reading their lists, you can think of a hundred things about yourself…until you try to write your own list. Anyway, I thought it was kinda fun, so decided to cross-post it here. Enjoy!

  1. Today I am laundering baby clothes for the first time.
  2. For the past month, I have spent just about the majority of every day on the couch with a laptop and remote at my side, and with a dog and cat on my lap under a blanket. It sucks being 7-8 months pregnant and having no energy.
  3. I really really really miss all our friends in North Carolina.
  4. We have no friends in Michigan (that are really close enough to do things with).
  5. I think I would go insane without our TiVo.
  6. I am aghast at the monthly gas bills here ($307 this month). That is insane, when you add the electric bill in, too. And we thought NC summers were bad!
  7. I love my Slanket.
  8. We have lived here almost three months and there is still unpacking to do. The basement is scary full of junk.
  9. BUT WE HAVE A BASEMENT!!
  10. Prenatal vitamins have done NOTHING for my nails. My nails are pathetic.
  11. Wooly Mammoth Crocs are the shit.
  12. I think our local Krispy Kreme should have a Twitter feed for when their donuts are Hot & Fresh so I know when to go.
  13. I love grocery shopping! You should see our freezer and pantry!
  14. I really don’t want to have this baby early, but DAMN I want to be rid of the acid reflux, heartburn, and neverending peeing.
  15. I thought I would love having wood floors, but turns out I don’t. They’re noisy and cold. At least in this house.
  16. I want fries.
  17. I am watching Bob & Tom Radio on WGN on the TiVo as I compile this list.
  18. I am trying to decide what shows to cut out of my viewing schedule, as I know that having a newborn will not be conducive to watching the same amount of TV as I do now. Damn kids. 😛
  19. I would KILL to go on a style show like Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style. I need a new style, a new wardrobe, a new haircut…and not the first clue how to go about it myself.
  20. I can’t wait until the day when we can have our dream house, in our dream location, with great friends, a basket of Bostons [Boston Terriers], and maybe one or two more kids.
  21. I watch “Jon & Kate Plus 8” because I figure if they can handle EIGHT kids, I can surely handle ONE.
  22. I really should be taking more pregnant pictures of me because, although I hate how I look now, I am sure I will want pictures of me later.
  23. I am not doing well on my everything-I-thought-I-would-get-done-while-I-wasn’t-working-before-the-baby-arrived to do list.
  24. Skip the Pet-i-Cure. It was great for the three or four times we used it until it died. That was $50 down the toilet.
  25. I am watching American Idol for the first time in years.

Impossible to find a heater

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So after we got our first heating bill of about $200—and only having had the thermostat set to about 67°—we decided to turn it down even more and try to find a small heater to heat just the living room (where we spend the most time).

The living room sits on a slab and is FREEZING. We have covered the bay window with plastic and we have plugged the fireplace with styrofoam, but it’s still cold (even before last week’s arctic cold front). On average, a thermometer registers 55-57°. 88| >:XX

We obviously don’t want anything expensive or anything that will crank up our electric bill. And we thought it would be easy to find a heater. Just do a bit of research then go buy one.

Ha.

HAHA.

I think after two weeks, we’re on our fourth heater.

The first was the highly recommended DeLonghi mica panel radiator for $80 at Home Depot. I didn’t like it, as it didn’t seem to heat up the room enough. It’s a hard room to heat, though, as it’s open to the kitchen.

The next one we tried was a friend-recommended Vornado electric heater—for about $140. That didn’t heat up the room well, either. A few degrees, but I wanted more than a few degrees, because that only put it up to like 61° or so. And for that much money, I wanted better results.

The next one was a parabolic heat dish from Costco for $60—we had high hopes because it put out a lot of heat on the display. Just not when we got it home. Well, if you stood directly in front of it you got warm…just not the whole room.

The next was an oil-filled radiator from Lowes which pretty much everyone said would be perfect. Can I get a big HAHA on that one? We gave it the few hours to warm up and…nothing. Another few degrees to 61° was all we got.

So now we have no idea what to try next.

Stupid winter.

Homeowners Insurance – UGH – Part 3

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I have honestly HAD IT UP TO HERE with homeowner’s insurance. Or maybe it’s Farm Bureau. Or just our local agents.

So Tom just called me to say they need a credit card for some authorization or whatnot. Fine. I assume it will be so we can pay the monthly $250. Fine. We decided we’d rather do that than have the bill sent to the mortgage company, so we don’t have to deal with a refund when the house sells or rents.

So he calls back and says “No! They wanted to charge the entire $3000!” Um, NOT. >:XX

So why the hell would they break it down into a monthly payment (in their email to us), if we are not allowed to make monthly payments? Give me a >:XX break. It’s like these people are telling us as little as humanly possible and then acting surprised when we have questions or are confused by something.

So now we apparently have seven days to get the mortgage company involved and payment made, so we don’t lapse coverage…which we could have been doing ALL THIS TIME had anyone told us we needed to do that.

I hate insurance companies.

Homeowners Insurance – UGH – Part 2

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I just want to cry. :'(

So we got the new quote for unoccupied homeowner’s insurance: $2939/year. Yes, THREE THOUSAND >:XX DOLLARS A YEAR.

We called USAA to give them another chance. They don’t even insure unoccupied residences. They said “Here, let us transfer you to one of our referral agents” (or whoever). Once I gave her the address? “I am sorry, we are restricted from insuring anything in that area.”

Of->:XX-course.

Round and round we go, with no one being able to insure us, except those that want to charge an arm and two legs.

This house better sell, because this insurance BS is enough to drive me to drink.

Homeowners Insurance – UGH

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Good god, will someone please rent or buy our house?

After dropping USAA because they doubled our rates (they want to get out of the Wind & Hail insurance), we had to research a bunch because apparently NO ONE wants to insure anything in North Carolina due to hurricanes. >:XX We eventually ended up with Farm Bureau who were a little cheaper.

Fast forward to us actually moving, and calling them to let them know. And oh, what a nightmare (I can barely remember all the specifics but basically) first they say they can’t insure us since we live out of state, then they say they can but they have to rewrite the policy, but then they say they can’t insure an empty house and give us 30 days to sell or rent. Then we get a notification that they are going to drop us, effective such and such date—but after we called them, they said they can change the policy for an empty house, but it will likely quadruple the price. >:XX

I told hubby we might have to check back with USAA and their $2600 might now be the best price (if they will even insure an empty house).

This is just such a pain in the ass. I can’t believe we’ve had so much problem with insurance. It’s like we’re the only people in the history of the world that have had an empty house in a separate state that needed insurance.

Two car garage my ass.

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We were so excited that this house had a two-car garage…until we actually LOOKED at it and measured it, and saw that it was QUITE small. (And not just small compared to our last garage, which we know was larger than normal…but just plain small.) And pretty much every house on the block is like this (no wonder everyone parks in the driveway).

Just parking two cars in the driveway next to each other was a tight fit—parking in a normal manner, the driver (of the car on the left) and the passenger (of the car on the right) would exit directly onto the lawn. Which wouldn’t be a big deal…WHEN THERE’S NO SNOW. So I couldn’t imagine trying to get both of our cars in the garage, which is technically narrower than the driveway (since the walls of the garage come out about a foot on either side).

But, for the most part, it didn’t really matter right away, since the garage was filled with boxes and odds and ends.

Until tonight.

Tom had finally moved and organized enough stuff so that there was room to get his car in (it had been decided beforehand that his would go in the garage, since he’s the one that has to work!).

And if you can believe it, HIS car—his tiny car—is a tight fit (length-wise)!! I am not even sure I’d attempt to get my car in, even if there was room width-wise.

My first thought was “Well, this house is old. Built in the 70s I think.” But what kind of excuse is that? Do you remember cars from the 70s? Huge things! I would hazard a guess that no car ever parked in this garage…except we can see some oil stains.

So, that’s something else to add to our Dream House List—a HUGE garage. Or, at least one big enough to fit two cars.

Sleeping. Ugh.

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Well, sleeping is becoming more and more uncomfortable.

As time wears on, I find I can spend less and less time on each side before something goes numb. I tried the pillow between the knees but found it didn’t do much. Turning over has become a major chore. And of course, I am still up every few hours to pee.

The only somewhat good thing is that I seem to fall back asleep fairly quickly.

Keys lost in the move.

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So I finally decided that today was the day to finally put all our files back in the file cabinet. (Yes, unfortunately, they take them ALL out and pack them in boxes.) >:XX

Yes, I know it makes the file cabinet lighter, but what the hell difference does it make if the weight is concentrated in the file cabinet or if it’s dispersed throughout six small boxes? It’s not like they can’t pack/lift/move/transport heavy things. GRRRR. I know there must be a reason, but it still irritated me.

So anyway, Tom brought down all the boxes and I went to open the file cabinet and—oh crap! that’s right!—they had me lock the cabinet so the drawers didn’t pop open. And I distinctly remember locking it, taking the keys, and putting them….somewhere obvious so we’d know where they were. (We NEVER lock the file cabinet and the keys are always hanging from the lock.)

Of course, two months later, I have no earthly idea where the stupid keys are. I should have just put them on my keychain (obvious NOW) or taped them to the file cabinet—but at the time, wherever I put them made perfect sense.

I have searched all the places that seem obvious to me now (like my purse or the junk drawers) but pretty much every place I can think of where the keys might be are places/things that were originally packed—so I would not have put the keys there.

So I decided to check the HON website…and for $10 (shipped) I can get a new key. I figured it was worth it…and of course ordering new keys will mean I will find the original keys (because that’s how life works). But at least then we will have two sets.

I hate Kroger bottle return.

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I was SOOOOOO damn frustrated today, I would have rather just thrown every last bottle and can away.

We had two FULL garbage bags of returnables. I assumed beforehand that there might be one or two that made the trip from North Carolina—so I was prepared for that.

So imagine my surprise—and frustration—when the very first can I put in got spit back at me.

Well, wait.

First, of the four self-serve stations, only two were working. And of the one plastic station that was working, it didn’t seem to be working too well. (Once I moved on to the glass bottles, and saw that the plastic guides were constantly moving once you started putting bottles in, I realized the plastic station wasn’t working right.)

So my first can got spit back. I looked at it, and it had a Michigan deposit. Ooooo-kay. So I tried again, and it spit it back at me again. Fine.

Bottle #2. Ditto.

Bottle #3. Ditto.

What the hell? These were ALL Michigan cans and bottles!! >:XX

Then I remembered that stores won’t take the bottles if they don’t sell the product…but these were like 2-liters of Faygo and Coke that I KNOW we bought there.

So I tried some of the rejected bottles again. And what do you know? THIS TIME they worked. So with each can I tried, I had to try it two or three times before it finally took. >:XX

And since the moving guides weren’t working, I had to practically shove my entire arm down the chute in order for the machine to read the bar code. And then, of course, 75% of the time it would spit it back at me anyway.

I started to try to flick them back there (so I didn’t have to stick my arm in) and then I got the error message “PLEASE DO NOT THROW CANS.” >:XX

I finally gave up on the plastic and moved to glass, which worked like a charm (as smoothly as I had expected the whole process to work from the beginning).

Then it was back to plastic for another go-round with my Michigan rejects.

I ended up bringing half a bag home and only getting about $2.00 in actual returnables.

As it also happened, I think Owen decided to sit on a nerve or something, because I could barely stand, let alone walk, so my actual planned shopping trip was out the window, and I hobbled back to the car, fuming all the way.

Needless to say I think “bottle return” now falls under Tom’s Honey Do list. |-|

I hate computers today.

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Everything was working peachy when I decided to run Windows update and install whatever it needed (important stuff). I also ran Secunia and updated the things it told me were insecure.

I rebooted.

A while later, I realize I can’t print. Interesting. It says I have no printers installed.

Huh? What?

I check, and nope, no printers. :crazy:

I reboot, just because that’s what you always do first when something like that happens. RIGHT? RIGHT!

Now I had printers, but I got Windows error messages about the “spooler subsystem app has stopped working” and you couldn’t actually manage any of the printers…meaning I couldn’t add a printer or delete a printer. Not even in safe mode.

Well, this is when I realize that maybe it had something to do with the updates, so I did a system restore to before the updates. It didn’t work. I tried another, earlier, restore, and there were errors during the process, so nothing was changed. >:XX So then I tried to revert back the initial restore I did—and there were errors with that, too—so who the hell knows where my system is at. All I know is now there are like two more programs that aren’t working, antivirus being one of them. >:XX

After some googling and an attempt at a solution (that didn’t work) I just kept rebooting I did manage to get the printer installed again, but it still won’t print and I haven’t the first idea why. (Of course, this all started because there is something we HAVE to get printed out.)

Then, after one of these reboots, Outlook decides that it wasn’t shut down properly, and when it finally comes up after checking the “bad file,” all of my email account passwords are gone. WTF? (I get the popup boxes asking for my password.) I mean, how the hell does that happen? I assume since Outlook thinks I shut it down incorrectly, which I am pretty sure I didn’t. So I fill in what passwords I know and have to login to my admin stuff online to change the passwords I don’t know/can’t remember. GRRRRR. >:XX

In the midst, of course, I am trying to receive a lost password from HP, but the email address I used? I no longer have it, so the password reset email is lost in the ether…so I either keep guessing at passwords (it’s not one of my three major passwords for sites like that) or create a new account (major pet peeve of mine).

So I email Tom to tell him to print out what we need (it’s for him and he emailed it to me this morning) because my computer is hosed. He calls and asks what’s up, and I briefly try to tell him, and he gets a little snotty with me (sorry hon, you did!) because I can’t print it for him and he’s busy and can’t talk. |-| Well, I didn’t call him to tell him what was wrong, did I? He asked! (And with these pregnancy hormones? Watch out!)

So at this point I still can’t print, my antivirus isn’t working, I can’t get my HP password—and I am ready to heave the computer into the garbage.

Man I hate cold sores.

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You get used to not getting/having them (I maybe get one or two a year anymore), so when one pops up, it’s very disheartening.

And unfortunately, not only did one pop up, but TWO popped up. One huge one that’s about half my upper lip (it seems) and a tiny one on my lower lip.

>:XX

I even started putting Abreva on both right away, and it hasn’t seemed to help at all.

I hate canker sores, too, but at least they are inside and no one else can see them. :'(

Irritating coupon usage

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It irritates me when you use a coupon at a store (say, $10 off $50) and it takes a certain percentage off each item you buy—instead of just a generic $10.

Why?

Because when you return something, you “lose out” on part of that $10 you saved because they return the item at what you paid for it.

Now, I am sure they do this to make the cashier’s life easier—that way they don’t have to wonder “Now, with this return, did the customer still qualify for the coupon?”

But it screws the customer.

We spent $150 at Lowe’s last night. Used a $10 off $50 coupon. Today we returned $30 worth of stuff—still enough to qualify for the full amount of the coupon—but got penalized for returning something because now our $10 coupon was really only worth about $8.

No, not a big deal in the grand scheme of things…but irritating nonetheless.

This has also happened at Lane Bryant, and I’ve fought it before (and won) but it wears you down and it’s almost worth losing the $2 or $5 not to have to deal with it.

This is when I hate having a car.

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I take good care of my car—if the dealer tells me I need something, I pretty much go along with it (spacing out the $500 recommended options as much as I can). So when the check engine light comes on, off I go.

Yesterday, however, it was the check engine light PLUS the ABS and BRAKE lights. 88| The ABS and BRAKE lights did eventually go off, but I still made the appointment.

The first |-| is the $95 just to diagnose the issue. Then the >:XX came with the return call:

  1. THE MUST FIX: $595 to replace the ECU (electronic control unit)—oh, not life or death, but “your speedometer may not work correctly”
  2. RECOMMENDED: $470 to change the timing belts (due soon)
  3. RECOMMENDED: $598 to flush all the fluids (due soon)
  4. RECOMMENDED: $94 for a new battery (apparently mine is still original and they’re only supposed to last for 5-6 years—and the car is on 7)

Of course we don’t have the money to do any of this right now (otherwise we may not have rent next month)…so I am in the process of making another appointment with another place to see what they say (and what their prices are).

It just stinks because I trusted my last dealership wholeheartedly and never questioned them…but in a new city with a new dealership, I am leery. I hate to pay another diagnostic fee, but I guess the benefit is it will either tell me that the Toyota dealership is dead on (and I can continue to go there) or they are way off and I just saved myself a lot of money and found a new, trustworthy place.

Hey—I wonder if I could pay them in office supplies? 😀

Pierogi

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We now live in the middle of Polish country (well, 20 minutes from Hamtramck, which is the real center). This is good news for me since I now have easy access to pierogi—at the grocery store—other than Mrs. T’s!

Don’t get me wrong, I fully enjoy Mrs. T’s when I don’t have Len pierogies in the freezer, but those are rare—and few and far between. So I have to make do.

Since we have been here, I have been tempted a few times by other homemade-looking brands I see in the stores. And today I succumbed: I got the Kowalski brand Farmer’s Cheese version, even though they were easily 4x as expensive as a bag of Mrs T’s from Costco.

I was excited.

I came home and cooked them for lunch.

And…

YUCK.

They were just about the most hideous things I’ve ever tasted. >:XX

They were SO bad I struggled to eat the four I had put on my plate—then tossed the rest. I know—normally sacrilege—but they were THAT bad.

They had some bizarre sweet taste, and the cheese had no resemblance (taste or texture) to any farmer’s cheese I had ever eaten. (Out of curiousity, I dug the package out of the garbage and the ingredients listed—are you ready?—COTTAGE CHEESE! How cottage cheese equals farmer’s cheese I have no idea.)

So, it was a big big big big disappointment.

Now I am scared to try other brands, although I am sure I will…eventually.

And we might have to have Mrs. T’s for dinner, just to get the other taste out of my mouth.

Sucky work hours so far.

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We knew Tom’s job would be long hours—we were told 6 days a week, probably 12 hours a day. And they weren’t kidding—at least so far.

I can honestly say I hate the hours. I am just not used to “I will be home at 6:30.”

Then “No, I will be home at 7:30.”

Monday it was even “Sorry, 8:30.” >:XX

You just can’t plan dinner for that type of timing…because it changes every day. At least if it was like 7:30 every day without fail…but no, of course not. Of course, it’s worse that I don’t get to see him much…I am used to him being home at an early hour (he was home 97% of the time when I got home at 5:15).

Bah humbug.

Running errands here is a nightmare!

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So today was my first day to run errands alone. Wow, it sucks.

First, I had to have the GPS because there is NO WAY IN HELL I am going to know where I am going, let alone where anything is OR how to get home IF I happened to find anything. 🙄 And as I was ready to pull out of the driveway, I realized I didn’t have my GPS—Tom had both of them! So I had to wait for him to come home for lunch!

Second, there is construction on one of the MAJOR roads, which slows traffic down considerably. I am sure there are alternate routes (and the GPS could give me one if I told it to) but I don’t want to get too confused this early—and most of the time the GPS just tries to reroute me BACK TO the under-construction-area. 🙄

Third, the traffic—just speaking generally—is horrible. Which leads to…

Fourth, it seems like no one is paying attention at any time. Today I came THISCLOSE to getting rear-ended because some idiot two cars back wasn’t paying attention and didn’t notice (I guess) that we were all AT A COMPLETE STOP. I heard screeching and braking and as I looked in my rearview mirror, heard a loud THUNK as some idiot careened off the road up onto the curb/lawn to avoid hitting the lady behind me. Then, as if nothing had happened, just waited for traffic to start again and he plunked down off the curb. (Well, I guess nothing did happen, and I guess he wasn’t supposed to just sit there looking like a moron, but still, it just seemed so nonchalant.)

Fifth, for the drivers that are paying attention, some are just plain rude. Yes, traffic sucks. But to wait in the center turn lane with your blinker on, waiting to get into traffic, and then have to cross THE OTHER THREE LANES of traffic to make your turn? >:XX Try going a different direction. Drivers are constantly wanting you to let them pull out into traffic, and then making other lanes wait as they cross multiple lanes of traffic. So you add this to the people not paying attention? Aye yay yay.

Sixth, we live right in the center of town (pretty much) so are right in the middle of all the major thoroughfares. Which mostly have no left turns. To make a left, you have to turn right, then get immediately in the special left-turn lane in order to go back the other direction. I’m getting used to it, but it’s a pain—especially when you add in the traffic and the rude and non-alert drivers. Luckily some of them have lights. But some are one lane and some are two lanes and you never know which ones have lights. Fun!

And I am sure I am forgetting some.

So today I was gone for about three hours, traveled about 15 miles total, and only made three of my six stops—the doctor, Petsmart, and Costco. I kept missing the post offices (wrong side of the road, too hard to get back over, GPS was wrong) and I gave up on the credit union (I missed my turn, which then sent me a half mile out of my way, at which point I was close to home and said screw it, I’m tired, I’m going home), and Kroger—which was actually ON the way home, but it was another screwy left turn and I was exhausted.

Are we done yet?

Cell phone companies suck.

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And in other news, the grass is green and the sky is blue. |-|

We were excited to give up Tom’s cell phone (since he will be getting one through work) to save some money. I had planned to ditch our $80 family plan and had hoped to get a very cheap single plan. But what does it save us? Only $40/month. (Yes, it makes logical sense that giving up HALF our phones should net us HALF the bill, but I had hoped for a much cheaper plan.) But you see, once you get a cheaper plan with Alltel, you lose the MyCircle numbers (which I apparently use quite a few minutes of), so you need more minutes, which means a more expensive plan. It’s a catch 22. >:XX

And additionally, I may or may not have mentioned this already, but Alltel won’t cancel our accounts—even though the area we are being transferred DUE TO MILITARY ORDERS is not specifically an Alltel-covered area. What they “CAN do” is put our accounts on hold for the duration of Tom’s orders… what the hell sense does that make? :crazy: Just cancel the stupid accounts.

Ironically, we get great Alltel coverage in Troy, even though it’s not technically an Alltel area. And all of the other cell companies are spotty at best (from reviews I’ve read) and people in-the-know (on industry forums) have heavily suggested we keep Alltel.

GRRRRRRRRRRRR.

Insurance costs…YUCK!

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Okay, we’ve changed our minds, we are not moving to Michigan. |-|

We called to alert USAA to our change of location, and the prices are INSANE. Our car insurance is TRIPLING from about $800/year to $2400/year. We are guessing it’s due to a high auto theft rate in metro areas, plus all the insurance Michigan requires (as opposed to North Carolina). Still, that’s going to hurt since we expected it to stay about the same…but TRIPLING? 88| OUCH. >:XX

And homeowners? Eeeesh. What a pain in the ass. XX(

We currently have USAA and since we have lived here, our homeowners has been around $800-$1200—which included some line item things like computer, guns, jewelry, and artwork. However, for the upcoming year, USAA just DOUBLED the cost (to $2400/year) because of all the hurricanes (they apparently want to get out of the homeowners insurance business in this area).

Well, we saw the notice but assumed we’d sell the house and not have to worry about it, so didn’t bother researching/changing insurance companies. However, now it’s looking like we might have to rent out our house, which means we’d have to keep homeowners on it, so we are looking at other insurance companies. Nationwide is apparently the only one we’ve found that will insure us in NC hurricane country—other companies pretty much just laughed at us and said NO WAY. >:XX

Well, since we were checking with Nationwide for homeowners coverage, we also asked for a renter’s insurance quote. Tom gave them all the same coverage info that USAA had and gave us a quote for…are you ready??? $1500!! 88| WHAT? >:XX At this time, we have not yet talked to USAA about their cost for renters insurance…but if we have to leave them for homeowners, why stay with them for renters insurance? You see the mess this is? 🙄

We obviously had to reevaluate our contents coverage, because we realized it was $160,000—which we surely don’t have that much in contents. We have no idea how USAA came up with that amount for contents coverage, but there must have been a formula and that’s what was included (i.e. I am sure we didn’t pull it out of the air). Once we re-evaluated, it was more along the lines of $80,000…but then we got an email from USAA saying our renters insurance would be about $350 for the original $160,000 in coverage (Tom hadn’t called them back yet with the revised figures). So, I have no idea why Nationwide was so high at $1500 with the same coverage, and then USAA came back with $350.

It’s all just a huge pain in the butt. Tom is NOT having fun with it—he usually never has to deal with this stuff because I am the one that always takes care of it—but I thought it would be good for him to see what is involved so he doesn’t take it for granted! :> However, this round of research is unfortunately a bit more involved and exasperating than normal, so he’s earning major brownie points.

The final house-hunting saga!

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Well, that was certainly…an experience. It was 🙄 and 😥 and 👿 and 😯 and 😐 combined.

So when we last left you, we were still looking for a place and our agent was seemingly irritated with us. But we HAD to find somewhere to live.

As it happened, my dad and stepmom had come down to see us (Monday the 15th), so they were around for our last look. We only had like three places left, and we had already decided that if none of those worked, we were packing up and heading home a day or two early—we were THAT frustrated.

So we scheduled to meet our agent at the first house. The first good sign was the neighborhood—decent houses with well-kept yards (already miles above most of what we had seen). As a bonus, it was very very close—2.5 miles—from Tom’s new office.

Within 10 seconds of entering the house, we knew we wanted it. It had a nice open floor plan, wood floors, utility room, updated kitchen, etc. Only the rooms on the second floor could change our mind—but those were great, too! Tom and I were both ready to leave and go sign the paperwork immediately, considering how quickly we lost out on the last house we loved and wanted. We made the agent call RIGHT THEN to make sure it was still available—yes, we had to specifically ASK her to call. 🙄

Unfortunately, it was a bit above what we had wanted/hoped to spend, but this house was so far above everything we had already seen…and LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION—we HAD to jump on it. So we went back to her office and, honestly, everything seemed confusing to her—almost like she had never done a rental. I asked which checks she needed (although from personal experience, I know it should be the security deposit and pro-rated rents) but she assured me she just needed the cleaning fee and the first month’s rent. Okay, whatever. So we wrote some checks and turned in our application.

Then she was talking about how we needed to get the Sellers Disclosure and the Lead-Based Paint docs from the other agent. Huh, what? Those are only if we were BUYING the property, not simply RENTING it. Or so I thought… apparently things are done completely different than I am used to in NC. We didn’t have a lease to sign because we hadn’t been accepted yet…so we had to wait. The other agent had to share our information with the owners and see if they wanted us—apparently they had denied like eight people so far! Of course, that didn’t make us feel any better.

So we waited. And waited. We got a call that night that the other agent was still trying to reach his clients to discuss us. Good lord. Again, SO not what I’m used to. In our office, if the credit score is fine and there is nothing outrageously horrible about the people, they are accepted. MAYBE the property manager has to call the client to ask “Is three pets okay?” because that option was never requested before…but it was not a 2-day process.

So we waited. And were just about sick with nerves. Sleeping was just about impossible. I woke up throughout the night and couldn’t sleep due to acid reflux I am sure was brought on by nerves (it was the worst I had ever experienced thus far in my pregnancy). We knew our agent was going to be out with clients most of the following day (Tuesday) but we still expected a call. Which never came, so we had to call her. 😡

Of course, when we called, she had “just gotten off the phone” with the other agent, and told us that the other agents was getting together with his clients for dinner that night to go over our application. I just thought YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. This isn’t life or death here, it’s a freakin’ rental! You look at the credit score, look at our app, and be done with it. 😡

So again we waited. And waited. No call came that night. The next morning we called our agent—I mean, we are still sick with nerves and just waiting for an answer so we can either sign paperwork or GO HOME. We finally reached her and she said good news—they would rent to us with an extra $50/month due to the pets. That sucked, but we had to say yes. So, cool, we have a place…but GET THIS—she then told us that the owners WANTED TO MEET WITH US TO GET TO KNOW US. 😯

WHAT? You have REALLY got to be kidding me. I expressed my basic thoughts, but she was serious. Apparently this happens A LOT in Michigan. 😯 In NC, owners stay far away from their renters. In most cases, we try to keep them VERY separated. But these owners wanted to meet us? Good god. She assured us that it was just a formality, that we had already been accepted and nothing that happened at the meeting could disqualify us. Not that I didn’t trust that statement, but…I didn’t trust that statement.

In the meantime, she called to let us know she had the lease and we agreed to meet at her office to go over it. We discussed schedules, because she had clients later in the day, so agreed when to meet. Except when we got to her office she wasn’t there. We called her and she said “Oh, I emailed the paperwork to you to look over.” 😐 So apparently our discussion of “meeting at her office to discuss the lease” was…ignored? Forgotten? We were able, however, to use her computer to print the lease. Then it was off for lunch at BD’s Mongolian BBQ (mmmmmmmmm) where we were finally able to take a look at the lease.

And I didn’t like what I saw.

I was used to our NC lease which is like 8 pages and very detailed and really benefits the renter. This lease was like four pages, quite basic, and pretty much put the screws to the renter if anything went wrong. For example, there was a clause about the tenants paying $100 for every service call regardless of whose fault the problem was.

Huh, what?

I tried to clarify with our agent, saying “So, if the A/C unit breaks, and we had nothing to do with it, we still have to pay $100 for the service call?”

Yes.

“If the toilet stops working and it’s discovered that the internal plumbing is messed up, we still have to pay $100 for the service call?”

Yes.

We explained that we understood we’d have to pay for anything that was OUR fault (i.e. the toilet gets backed up and the plumber discovers a Barbie doll in there, or we break a window) and our agent just said “No, sorry, that’s how it’s done in Michigan.”

👿

This is completely, 100% different than how things are handled in North Carolina. Apparently NC is a VERY renter-friendly state and pretty much everything benefits the renter. In Michigan, when renting a house, apparently IT’S AS IF WE OWN THE HOUSE and we must maintain everything as if we owned it. Which makes NO sense whatsoever—that’s why we’re renting! 👿 We ended the conversation with us asking if maybe we could add an addendum or something to counter that clause, and HER asking US what type of wording we wanted.

Huh, what?

I wanted to scream “YOU’RE THE AGENT, THIS IS YOUR JOB. YOU FIGURE IT OUT!” So we just assumed our agent was not understanding us, and we decided to talk to the other agent at the meeting that night (when we met with the landlords).

We also had a problem with the late fees—NC law (which is obviously what I am used to dealing with) says you have a five-day grace period before late fees can be charged, and the late fees cannot be outrageous (i.e. they can be approximately what the bank charges). The MI lease was charging a $50 late fee if not received by the 1st, and another $50 late fee if not received by the 10th. Of course we never plan to be late, but that seemed ludicrous, so we wanted to double-check that. So I called our property manager and asked if she could quick google and see if she could find MI law on the issue so we could be prepared when we talked with the agent again. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find much of anything, so it appears we are screwed on that issue.

In the meantime, however, we stopped by a Kinkos to look up the “service call” verbiage in the NC lease (we have a sample lease on our work website). I copied the related sections and emailed it to our agent, along with a copy of the entire lease so they could see why I was having such issues with some of the clauses—I wasn’t just being an annoying renter, I was just used to something completely different. And, of course, we didn’t want to rock the boat, as we were sure we could still lose the house if we really annoyed the agents or the owners (even though they told us otherwise).

We ended up stopping at Kinkos for something else as well, paying a whopping 20c a minute to use the internet—but it was either that or drive the 30 minutes back to Lori and Steven’s to use their computer.

We ended up at the house a bit early, and met the husband and had a nice chat with him before his agent and his wife arrived. They were a very nice couple—she is a doctor and he is a priest (or some variation thereof) and they live in, I think, Auburn Hills. This is their second investment property, they just bought the house in April 2008 and updated it all, and we are the first people to live there. They were thrilled we loved the house, there was still some work to be done, and they were fine with us making some small changes. Most importantly, they were okay with us putting up a fence—and upon talking with their agent after they left, he assured us they would probably be okay with chipping in for the cost of the fence (we just have to email them to ask, and get everything in writing).

We also went over the service call/fee issue with him, and he told us the same thing—pretty much that everything is OUR responsibility. He said he had started to read the lease we sent, but he hadn’t made it through it since it was so long and detailed. 😐 But the owners HAD agreed to lower the fee from $100 to $75…which I admit is a concession on their part, but still, sucks for us. They also added an addendum which they THINK is doing us a favor, but really isn’t, because it basically says “If the a/c unit or heater has to be replaced, the tenants don’t have to pay for it” and says nothing about other “internal” issues or major house issues that SHOULD BE the owner’s responsibilities should anything go wrong. Of course, we are hoping (assuming) nothing major will happen in the two years we are there, but you…just…never…know.

We also asked about the slew of other renters the owners turned down, and the agent told us it was mainly people who had foreclosures in their past, or worked for their cousin for cash and couldn’t prove income. So that’s why the owners LOVED us—we were stable people.

So, it was interesting. The house is nice, it’s in a great location in the city, and the neighborhood is nice—but it’s more expensive than we hoped. And the owners are nice, but the lease sucks, but we can put up a fence. So all in all, I think it will be okay. But it certainly was a hell of an experience that we do not wish to repeat again anytime soon.

Do we have to move here? Ugh.

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Rentals here are NOT handled like I am used to. There seem to be NO property management departments. There seems to be a generic application you get from YOUR agent, and then they pass it on? (We haven’t actually done it yet—everything we’ve wanted has been taken.)

Right now we are still really pissed. Yesterday we FINALLY found the perfect house and said we wanted it. It was above our budget, but it was a million miles ahead of anything else we had seen, so it was worth it: three bedrooms, 2.5 baths, updated kitchen with a bar, huge panty and storage space, and a basement that seemed about twice the size of the house.

So, we were all exciting driving home, and checking the drive time to Tom’s office, when our agent called and said it was leased.

WAIT, WHAT? >:XX

It seems (we are guessing) that the listing agent had someone in the wings already and just wanted the house shown again. The lease isn’t being signed until today at 5 and it didn’t sound like any money had been deposited….so in my mind, it’s still available. But apparently not.

TALK ABOUT FRUSTRATING. >:XX

And our agent is starting to get annoying (sorry Lori and Steven, LOL). I am sure she isn’t thrilled with us to start with, since we are renting instead of buying (i.e. less commission), and we have trusted her when she says “That’s too far away” or “You won’t like that area” because for the most part, she’s been right. But we went to “find” some of the houses on our own and they are NOT too far away and others she didn’t like we thought were okay. So apparently we’re not really on the same page.

She also seems to give up a little easy when trying to get in touch with agents. Most of the listings say nothing about pets, so you need to call to ask. So she assumes, if they don’t get back with her, that pets aren’t allowed. We want her to call again and find out for sure! I mean, we are getting desperate here! And one on our favorite list is only available for show on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, so she says they’re too picky and probably won’t allow pets. Huh? 🙄

And this morning we got a guilt trip… Yesterday we had one more rental on our list to see, but we thought we had found our place so we opted not to see the last one. So today we asked if we could see it again, and she says “Well, you know that’s the one we cancelled yesterday…so I’d have to call the agent back and schedule another showing.” WELL, YES! We got screwed out of the house we wanted…so we want to look. What is wrong with that? But it was totally guilt-trippy. >:XX

I also think she’s a little irritated that we didn’t take the one OKAY one we saw (the one they had to get the okay for with the pets). Well, we could still take that one if there is nothing else (and that was our position all along) but she thought we were SET to take that one (i.e. we got a yes on pets, so she assumed we were done) so when we wanted to keep looking she was like “I thought you wanted that one?” and we were like “Not exactly. That was just the best of the worst we saw.” So instead of being “done” looking on Day #2 like she probably hoped, we are still dragging her around the county.

So, she is busy today—she says she might be available after 4. Wonderful. We have a feeling we are going to go home with no place to live, and will end up coming back here earlier than planned, so we have more time to look. It’s pretty impossible to look for rentals from North Carolina, since we have discovered we REALLY need to see them in person (and see what the neighborhoods look like and where they are) AND because the good rentals go VERY quickly. Steven and Lori offered to help us—to go take pictures or whatnot—but again, you have to make decisions quickly, and I hate to ask them to do that much work for us.

It would all be easier if we could spend $1800—there are a ton of awesome rentals in that price range. But that’s WAY above our budget, and with me not working, it’s just NOT possible.

So, the black cloud continues to follow us…

Depressing House Hunting, Day 2

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Today was worse than yesterday, if you can believe it. We decided to up our budget to $1600 (vs. $1400) hoping it would net us some decent rentals.

Nope.

They were just shitholes with more square footage. >:XX

I mean, I know we will have to make some concessions, but we are just not ready to pay a premium to live in a straight-from-the-70s-never-been-updated home.

We also looked at some resales—and those were even MORE disappointing. We are trying to keep the price down, so we were looking at some foreclosures… BAD IDEA. They were the worst shitholes of all. One we couldn’t even walk in because the smell was soooo bad. Even if we had found a decent one (or one of the MANY “short sales”) our agent said that trying to buy one was a nightmare—we might wait four months for an answer, and then STILL not get it. So all the short-sales (probably 75% of the market) are immediately out of the running.

There were about three or four new rentals that we had been excited about—that just came on the market—but, of course, they were already gone by the time we got around to calling on them. VERY FRUSTRATING.

On a somewhat positive note, we had a good lunch at Panera Bread. 😛

Seriously, on a somewhat positive note, the very first rental we looked at—that we had deemed the ONLY one with any decent potential (and that’s saying a lot because it’s FAR from being even close to what we want)—came back with a “yes” for pets, so that is an option. It’s still too much money for what it is, and doesn’t have a fence (and can’t get one), and is so small we will have to sell half our furniture—but it at least falls within our BAH allowance and is about 15 minutes from Tom’s new office (hopefully, we haven’t tested it in traffic).

We are just so thoroughly disappointed with everything here…it’s very depressing. Which is sad because we were SO looking forward to it and were SO excited.

Miscellanous Thoughts

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I hate it when I have a huge blog post written and IE decides to crash. :X

Cookies and cream Hershey Kisses. Yuckola.

Parents really SHOULD be allowed to use stun guns or tasers on uncontrollable, screaming children. Especially when they are in our small office. Giving me a headache. That is all.

I hate when people (i.e. my boss and another agent) always feel the need to say, when screaming children are present, “See what you have to look forward to?” Yes, I know children can be hellions, yet I still decided to have one. Why must you constantly make the decision seem wrong?

I don’t want to hear an agent bitch about having to come back to work (after leaving for the weekend) and having to work until 5 on Friday. You get no sympathy from me for that.

It’s very strange when you haven’t seen someone in over a year and when you do they are 150# lighter. And then you are so shocked you try to hide your shock but don’t say anything. And then you’ve bypassed the amount of time in which you could say something but haven’t. And eventually HE brings it up by saying something like “I probably look a lot different than the last time you saw me.” Like I could have possibly missed it. Doh.

STUPID *BLEEPING* WORK

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Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand my boss just screwed me. 😡 Deep down I love her and know she can be awesome, but sometimes the things she says/does just completely FLOOR me.

So…you know when I said that if they sold my house in-house it would be 0%? Yeaaaaah, NO. Any selling agent, including those in our office, gets 2%.

Overall I know it’s fair, but still, why didn’t she say anything before now?

I just went in to go over the paperwork, to make sure I typed the variable rate terms out correctly, and the big boss overhears talk about variable rates and she says “It’s not a variable rate” and the other boss (the agent I am working with) says “It most certainly is, it’s 2% to the selling agent, but if we sell it in-house it’s zero.”

She repeats that NO, it’s not a variable rate, ANY selling agent gets 2%, whether it’s someone outside our office OR one of our agents. The agent and I look at each other like “Um, okay” and he said “That’s not what we were thinking.”

She says “You mean to tell me that if your clients wanted two houses, and it was down to that one, you are going to tell them to take the one that doesn’t pay you?” He said yes, in this case. She was like WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? IT’S GIVING UP MONEY? He says “Because it’s Jen’s house?”

She about had a coronary.

So, apparently when we were discussing the rates before, and she was sitting right there with us, she either completely wasn’t listening or was completely ignoring us.

So, yes, I get that 2% to the selling agent is completely fair, and technically we are just not paying to LIST the house… but I thought the 0% in-house thing was just the “extra icing on the cake” FOR HAVING WORKED HERE ALMOST FOUR YEARS (and getting a somewhat low salary for ALL the work I do).

Yep, that black cloud is still hovering.

The agent did say he would do more thinking over the weekend and try to get the big boss to reconsider…but I know that won’t happen.

Oh well, at least we only have to pay 2% regardless.

Field & Stream? Really?

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So I get to work this morning and there’s a copy of Field & Stream—addressed to me at my work address—on my desk.

Yeah, exactly, HUH?

So I call the publisher and they say “Oh, it was ordered by m2mags, Vistaprint, here is their number to call them.”

Again: HUH 😕

So I call the number and it’s completely automated, saying we have not been charged, we received the magazine complimentary from a partner site, yada yada yada.

Okay, cool. But why the hell Field & Stream? What about ordering business cards gets someone on the Field & Stream list?

😯

I couldn’t even cancel over the phone—I have to send an email.

Interesting morning so far…

Just Totally Unbelievable

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Tom officially got orders to Detroit yesterday…and he’s supposed to check in no later than October 31, 2008.

Of course, things could change again at the drop of a hat, and he was still going to go talk to [someone]…so it may not be 100% guaranteed. But nothing like thinking about moving/selling/relocating within three months to freak you out.

Lord.

My mind is whirring like crazy and it feels like my head is going to explode.

The thing that just gets me is that yes, I know the military doesn’t care what our life is like, they just know they want someone there and hubby fits the bill so he gets chosen. But it would, quite literally, create a major financial hardship for us.

Houses here aren’t selling. Houses in our price range sell, on average, in about six to nine months (unless you price it to lose money, which we obviously can’t do financially-speaking). So making us move to Michigan within three months, where we will obviously need to pay rent/another mortgage, without having sold our house, is ludicrous. There is no earthly way we can afford two mortgages, especially if they just made me quit MY job. It just flat out doesn’t make sense and, frankly, pisses me off.

As a sidenote, he wouldn’t actually be an on-the-streets/in-the-schools actual recruiter. He would be the Operations guy, doing all the planning/scheduling/etc., and making sure it all runs smoothly. Completely non-IT-related. So nothing he can bring ANY of his experience to.

It’s crazy. They like to tell us they looked at a bunch of people and compared everyone and whatever, and determined that HE was the best qualified.

BULLSHIT.

They looked at a list, pointed their finger at someone, and said “this guy.”

Tom then called to tell me the latest RIDICULOUS statement. He was talking to someone (I believe a Major in charge of the monitor program) about not being able to sell the house that quickly, that we talked to a Realtor and it’s averaging 6-9 months, yada yada yada, and the guy said “Well, you have three options. One, be a geobatchelor [which means I stay here and he goes there, not sure how that works money wise but it’s not an option for us]. Two, sell your house for a loss. Or three [and this is the doozy], you can foreclose on your mortgage.”

What the hell kind of military advisor advises someone to FORECLOSE ON A MORTGAGE? Completely asinine.

This BS is precisely why we were going to get out of the military. It’s ridiculous.

Oh, also…if he takes this “three year” job they’re forcing on him? He is, effectively, being shoved out of the marine corps, because he will miss the opportunity (twice) to take the schooling he would need to become Major. Talk about a kick in the ass. (Not that he was planning on staying in that long, but just the fact that they don’t know that, and are still sending him here… Ugh.)

He also found out he cannot drop his papers (i.e. tell them he wants to get out) now. Because he has actual PCS orders, and you can’t do that when you have orders. You have to do it before you officially get orders. How convenient.

The only other option, he said, is REFUSING orders, and he’s not sure exactly what that entails or means. From what we have gathered, it wouldn’t actually do that much or be that detrimental…it would, of course, effectively end his career, but he wasn’t planning on staying in to retirement anyway. He would have to stay here a bit longer, but then we could continue on with our previous plans of him looking for a job and us moving in about six months.

I told him to ask what if he has a special needs family member…if I was a high-risk pregnancy, maybe that would keep us here. (Chances are decent I might be. I have an appointment in two weeks that might help determine that.)

So, needless to say we’re stressed. Tom should find out more Monday, but until then, we’re trying NOT to think about it. If we have to move, there is just SO much to do—and Tom doesn’t have the time and I don’t have the energy.

Stay tuned.

How many more months?

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We have a new keybox system. I was told by the bosses there would be no need for me to keep an inventory any longer. YAY!

Except now they ARE talking about keeping a list of the keyboxes and they are trying to figure out how to do it…which is fine, except OF COURSE they aren’t even considering asking me what I think, since I will be the one keeping the list. I just get to overhear their conversation from where I sit.

Much like when they were considering new means of advertising, which involved a new computerized method of submission, and they didn’t even think to even ask me what my thoughts were.

And it doesn’t matter if I try to speak up and give my opinion, because it won’t matter. Yes, they might listen, but will not take anything I say seriously.

Now you see why I have given up.

And in other news, long story short, my boss has NO sympathy for me whatsoever. After I told her I was pregnant, and how I had felt like shit pretty much 24×7 the past five weeks, she pretty much told me to “suck it up.” Yes, in her joking yet laughing yet totally serious way she has. Isn’t that lovely?

I guess you could argue it wasn’t the very first thing she said. I mean, she did make some small talk asking if we were excited, how far along I was, etc., and then pretty much said “Get up and walk around, you will feel better. That’s what worked for me.”

Which, yes, I appreciate the advice, but like what she does with everything else, she equates it to HER experience and assumes everyone will be just like her. She said she felt bad when she woke up, ate a few crackers, then felt fine. I said yeah, that doesn’t work for me. Then I mentioned that she might see me catnapping at my desk, or have my head in my hands, and THAT is when she said I just needed to “suck it up.”

I don’t need this. I really don’t.

A day or so later, when I actually felt EVEN WORSE, she made a comment to the effect of “Get used to it…you did this to yourself!”

Love it. Just freakin’ love it. 😐

Why are people so dumb?

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We have a table/chair set for sale, and in the ad we put LIGHT ASH for the color. So someone wanted to see it, asked about the color, hubby repeated it plus said it’s about the color of a baseball bat. The guy still wanted to see it, so hubby LEFT WORK to go home and show it (about an hour round trip) and the guy took one look at it and said “We wanted something a lot darker.”

So LIGHT ASH and LIKE A BASEBALL BAT wasn’t enough color description? |-|