Bad Customer Service

What is up with all the bad customer service lately? Our cable company, for example, has a monopoly on TV and Internet cable service in this area. If you want high-speed internet, and cannot get DSL (like us - we're out of range) you're stuck with the rate increase and service decrease. They took away DIY as a TV station, but raised the rates. WTF!

I got my fussy-pants discriminating brother a gift for his birthday. He's hard to buy for - he has everything and is hard to please. To paraphrase from "Ferris..."

If you shoved a piece of coal up his ass and came back a week later, you'd have a diamond.

Love him to death, but seriously... So I got him knife sharpening from Holley Knives. Great, right? He loves his chef knives. Very fussy about them. He sends them in to be sharpened. He gets the box back. Not his knives. Aaaakkkk! He calls. An answering service takes the call. I call. Same answering service. I email. Twice. No response. I am not pleased. I'm afraid I'm going to have to replace his knives. Double aaaakkkkk! Now I see according to their web site, they're DOWN until May 11 due to physical restructuring, but will do their best to take care of "emergencies." Well ****. I think this is an emergency. I'll update this so that if/when they solve the problem, I can either praise or pan them!

No More Babies

My baby is 4. I have no more 'babies' in the house. I have to admit I'm a little sad about it. If I didn't have to have a job, I think we'd have more. B is certainly in favor, but he knows the reality. Three kids and a full time job - no thanks. I spend enough time as it is wishing I could just be 'wife' and 'mom'. Sigh. Whine. Bitch. Moan.

So L had her 4th birthday on Earth Day. I loved that she was born on Earth Day. Naturally. No drugs. I was a psycho bitch about that. Until transition, I think I would have killed any nurse that suggested it, but frankly, there wasn't time. I shocked 'em all! In to the hospital at 3am at 3cm, and L shot out at 4:25. Wheeee! It (later... much later!) brought to mind the old Bill Cosby sketch about the OB with the catcher's mitt 'like Johnny Bench"...

She wanted the American Girl Picnic Set. I splurged and got it. She's played with it every day since Sunday. Major hit. She also wanted a butterfly net so she can catch and release butterflies. I think she wants to be Diego from Noggin/Nick Jr.

I may miss the baby, but I do love the 'big girl' (even if her shoes are dammit!)

What a difference a week makes

It's in the 40s this morning, but the sun is out, and it promises to be near 60 today. Much more seasonable for April. I'm just glad the snow is gone. That's our lovely forsythia bush. It's really beautiful this year. It was just starting to bloom when Mother Nature tip-toed up behind us and dumped 10" of snow on our heads. Towns 30 miles away got nothing. It was that wonderful, wet, snow-man snow. The bratty girls made a great snowman... and it was gone by Thursday.

DH is looking into renting "a machine" this weekend. Something big and 'manly' to push around dirt. The last time one was rented, it was to dig post holes for his mother's fence. They rented a skid-loader for the weekend, with the 'hole-digger' attachment. I went out to the store, and came home to find our driveway reconfigured. They finished the post holes, and he brought it down to our land and started playing. Sigh.

This time, he's going to make a spot for a cement pad that will be the beginning for a garage. "The Baby" is finally here in our yard. The 73 Maverick would have been a complete rusted hulk, he thinks, if it had sat in that junk yard for one more year. As it is, he's going to have to replace a ton of metal. But he's happy. People seem to be willing to help him. It reminds me of that episode of "Just Shoot Me" where the David Spade character ran around trying to get things done for "two women" and all the men helped. B tells the story of how he found HIS car, and men bend over backwards to help.

I just want him to do what ever it is he's going to do with the yard so I can plan my planting!

My big mouth

So, apparently now that L is 4, she is a big girl. She copies Mommy. Bad mommy!

She was sitting on the floor yesterday trying in vain to put on a pair of shoes. She had them confused, and was getting more and more frustrated. By the time I found her, she was near tears.

Mommy: L... you look mad.
L: I am mad at my shoes. Them hurt. Them won't go on. (L's voice wavers as she gets even more frustrated.) Them are dammit!

Well. I nearly peed myself trying not to laugh. I helped her with her shoes which ended the frustration and near tears.

Mommy: L, that's a grown-up word. Next time you're upset, please try to find a different word to use.

Guess it's a good thing I've managed to not use the "mother of them all" as C likes to call it. The F bomb. Of course, they *do* ride in the car with their father...

Dreaded Mom Hair

So, I have an appointment in less than 2 hours at our favorite Snooty Spa to get my hair colored and cut. It's in a chin-length bob with bangs right now. Does this mean I have the dreaded "mom hair?"

Fact is... I am a mom - but the youngest is going to be 4 in a few short weeks, and maybe it's time to reclaim a bit of ME instead of just being MOM. She gave up nursing a year and a half ago, and we don't use the sling any more... she's an independent girl sportin' hot pink nail polish begging to play on Daddy's computer (Noggin and Nick Jr have great games...)

Who knows. What do I do with this hair? Who is the ME I'm trying to reclaim, anyway? To date me... from thirtysomething (I was a teen when it was out, but I still loved the show!) I'm a little bit Hope, and a little bit Melissa. Happily married with the cute house and great hubby, awesome kids, love to putter in the kitchen, wishing those Laura Ashley jumpers were still in style... but then, I'm also the artsy graphic designer who loves to break out the blue nail polish and wear tie-dyed socks with my Birks or Earth Shoes. (akk. Blue nail polish at my age? Sheesh. 37's not dead...) But I don't want to be the Joan Cusack character from Raising Helen, either.

Quick, quick... I have 2 hours to go... LOL