Oh, and one more thing…

I took Jasmine and Booger and Isaac to the vet. For those counting…2 cats and a 2 year old.

Maeve’s response when hearing I did this?

“No thank you. You’re insane.”

I knew that.

Of toilet seats and almost exploding cookie sheets

This is the adventure weekend I’ve had. It’s been one of those weekends. First, we had the toilet seat fiasco.

Friday evening, the toilet seat cracks in half. Verrrry uncomfy. So, Isaac and I take a trip past the road construction to Home Depot. We get to the depot to find out that there are 2 kinds of toilet bowls. Elongated and round. I have no clue what we have, so Mr. Super Helpful Home Depot guy (SHHDG) takes me over to the section of toilets and explains the differences. Thank god for SHHDG! I would have bought the WRONG seat! We get some coffee (milk for the boy) and head home. I toss little into bed and attempt to figure out HOW to put on the new seat, being as Doug wasn’t home and I wanted to surprise him with a NEW toilet seat! Wheeeeellll…leave it to the new house to have a toilet seat that is most unconventional. There was no way you could get through the top of it to get to the bolt and nut. You had to unscrew the bottom plastic bolt and then pull out the metal screw. Lovely.

Doug starts the job Sat. Morning. He gets the first side off, and then I hear the typical Doug tantrum of frustration coming from the bathroom. He can’t get the 2nd side off. OF COURSE it’s the side right next to the wall, so you really can’t get into it. I kick him out and start working on it while Isaac’s down for a nap. I end up cracking the nut and basically being screwed. No pun intended. So, I go on about my day, get caught in a rainstorm (another post…) and come back and start working on this stupid toilet seat AGAIN. I finally get SOOOO frustrated that I do the last resort item. CALL MOM AND DAD. They come over, and dad ended up having to break the plastic nut and pull it out that way. This was after working with my new vice grips that we got from a SHLowe’sG and a hacksaw we purchased from same SHLG. So, I installed the toilet seat as well as a new shower head that we needed, as the other one was cracked and spraying water all over the place.

This morning, I decide I want to make breakfast for the crew. While Isaac was watching “Donald Grump and the Grouch apprentice” on Sesame street, I went in to the kitchen to make french toast sticks. Sounds nice, right? I t hought it was a good plan. Someone had other ideas.

I preheat the oven and put the cookie sheet into the oven with said french toast sticks. All of a sudden, I hear hissing and a popping sound. I figured it was the oven working, because I’m not totally used to the gas oven yet. THen, I hear IT. A large BANG and POP. I zip into the kitchen, ask Doug to keep Isaac occupied and turn on the light in the oven. The cookie sheet is now tented and so popped up, food is falling off of the sheet. I quick turn off the oven, grab whatever french toast sticks out of the oven I can (to throw out as they weren’t done!) and quickly shut the oven JUST IN CASE. I started to pray that things wouldn’t blow up the house.

Doug came back to the house before me, and pulled the sheet out of the oven. I got a good look at it…it’s puffed up STILL and there is a split at the seam. I emailed wearever, the people that make the sheets, and we’ll see what they have to say. In the meantime, I’m throwing it out, and NEVER buying something like this again.

Now…does anyone have any NEW home improvement projects for me?

oh, and one more thing…

My last day at Little Flower is 8/4/2006.

There are 5 working days left until I leave…and let Snotty assistant try to do it all.

No. I’m not counting days. Not at all.

Toilet seats and the mere mortal

So,t he toilet seat cracked shortly after my last entry. Lovely. So, through a series of mishaps, I ended up at the depot. I was so desperate to get a toilet seat that I let Isaac sit in one of the “racecarts.” It was a #20. Ick. Tony Stewart. Busted ass driver. But I digresss.

I got a toilet seat. I figure “easy installation” on the box was just the truth.

Hahaha. Silly me. It’s NEVER that easy.

First, I can’t figure out how to get the OLD seat off!

Second, there are no instructions. I’m not a guy. I require instructions, even if they’re the wordless, Swedish Ikea type.

blah.

and I don’t wanna sit on the broken one!!!

Puddles

We have rain. And that means…PUDDLES! In CA, we always would walk under the carports so that we could avoid the terrential downpour long enough to keep the groceries dry. Therefore, Isaac never, ever had the joy of puddle splashing. Today, that all changed….

Since the puddle sitting incident of a few weeks ago, he’s been itching to get at the puddles that the rain has been leaving. Today, I finally gave in.

You have not truly lived until you have seen the sheer joy of a 2 year old splashing and jumping in a puddle. Isaac spent a good 45 minutes splashing, laughing and screaming “WATER!!!!” I sat on the porch and LAUGHED.

Between that and the Chinese food we ate tonight…he’s all good.

I swear…I should Join Meg as a lightning rod for customer disservice!!

So, I know this chick, Meg, who has this blog, called “adventures in rotten customer service.” It’s kind of a side project of her normal peeonastick.com website. That one’s quite interesting, but not why I’m goingo n about her…it’s the adventures in rotten customer service….

WHELLLL…I think I should join her. She blogs constantly about her adventures with the idiots of the world and her quest for just one day, idiot free. I think I”m getting to that point…let me explain…

Since the F-bomb mcdonald’s episode, my world has been a bunch of idiot driven moments.
Let’s examine this…

My brakes went. Figures…4 days before payday, my brakes go. Mom saves my tushie and spots me brake money. I go to Monroe in BJ’s, after calling and getting a “worst case scenario” estimate, I bring the car in. No problem…WRONG. FIrst, turns out they don’t have my brake pad in their store. This is what happens when you own a saturn!! WHY I CALLED IN THE FIRST PLACE!! So, they say they have it in their other store. Ok. fine. WHELLL….no go. They search high and low int he other store, and nope. No brake pads for my ’04 storm grey adventuremobile. (I have trademarked that…the adventuremobile title,t hat is….but back to the story)So, snotty worker at the counter starts calling parts places, and getting frustrated. Meanwhile, Darling little 2 year old is getting antsy. I ask “ok..how long is this going to take?”
Answer: “Oh, prolly an hour.”
Time check….5:15 pm.
Me: “Ok. I’m going into the club. I’ll be back.”
I push Isaac into the club and we meander around, get my contact solution and then go and get some popcorn. We return to said monroe at approximately 6:00. Is the car even being worked on? NOPE. Is car sitting t here, completely disasembled? YEP.
Snotty worker starts throwing the phone and demanding that I pay upfront for this work…and it’s 80.00 over the original estimate!! SOOO, I tell him about my phone call, and he says “well, our manager is lazy. he prolly didn’t want to dothe work and run the quote.” I roll my eyes, and say “ok..then what am I supposed to do? I got the money spotted to me based on this worst case scenario estimate, and now what?”
Snotty worker says “fine. I’ll call the manager.”
He calls manager, gets all pissy…and then comes out and does it for what the original estimate was.
MEANWHILE. HE’s still calling places for these stupid brake pads! He gets so irritated that he throws the phone several times. Great…are you 2 or 20?

So, I make the mistake of asking “ok..hate to bug you, but are we going to be done anytime soon?”
Time check: 6:30. Time promised….6:15. We’re already 15 minutes over promised time and 2 year old is getting antsy, and sick of animal crackers and popcorn.

Sooo, snotty worker procedes to go off on me about how hard it was to get pads, and how they should really charge me 20.00 extra for this because that’s what it cost him in fuel to go and get it. He went on and on and on, and then had the nerve to tell me that I had no right to be “pissed off” at him, because I’m the one with the busted car.

RIGHT. I wasn’t upset until that tirade. again…2 or 20?

Time check….6:45.Yes, you read that right. Arrival time was 4:45.

SOOO, he leaves, my car gets done, and I tell gentleman who is ringing me up how I was ok with the wait…because I know things happen, but I took serious issue with the guy going off on this temper tantrum. Manger was there, heard whole thing….*grin* WILL be dealt with. Manager was beyond irritated at stupid worker.

And you think that was it? Nope. Let’s discuss my issues with Northland transporation and the busdriver who will be unnamed to protect his stupidity and idiocy.

Today, Isaac gets on his bus to ECEC and has no problem. This is after the series of problems with the bus being LATE and then yelling at Audra for not being out there when he pulls up. I don’t want to hear any complaints about US not getting Isaac out until they show up when they said they would.
Problem today came with getting off the bus. We got a call around 12:57 that the bus was running a bit late, because some kids were still being loaded. It was just one of those days. No problem! We can handle that…

Bus pulls up at 1:10,and we get a phone call at 1:09 that Isaac has been sitting ont hebus for 15 minutes and no one has come to get him. Excuse me? I saw that bus pull up. It pulled up at 1:10. Ashley ran right out to get my monkey! For ONCE this issue is NOT with day care and what they did. IT’s that stupid bus company!

I call ECEC on my lunch break…and get Laura the receptionist. She’s so sweet….she tells me SHE made the first call…and Marsha (director) took a call from the bus company regarding Isaac. SOOO, I get on the phone with Marsha. I tell Marsha about the phone calls…she knew about the first one…and then she gave me some disturbing news….the bus had been int eh BUS LINE at 1:00 pm. If at 1:10, Isaac had been waiting on the bus AT LITTLE FLOWER for 15 minutes, (let’s do some math here…) they would have had to have been sitting there from 12:55. A FULL 3 MINUTES before we got the call from Laura! So, she tells me “there is NO WAY he was on that bus waiting!” So, I also inform her that the bus driver was rude AGAIN to my teachers. 2nd time this has happened!!! NOT OK. She calls Northland. We’ll see what happens. When I switch back to home/subbing/whatever I decide to do next…most definately teaching, this guy will STILL be Isaac’s bus driver. Great.

My response when I heard that? “Crap.”

Maybe after I’m done at work, I’ll drive him. That will solve it all until they get a new driver. I’m not dealing in this weirdo ANY MORE.

See? This blog is Meg-worthy.
Maybe the customer service bitch-fest will end with this. Don’t make me go after someone else!!!

Ya know, the sad part in all of this is that I have to laugh. Like my mom said after the F-bomb McDonald’s incident…This is just like a bad SNL skit that just keeps going and going and going!

The F-bomb McDonald’s

I know I should have blogged this when it all went down. BUUUUT, I was kind of waiting for the corporate response. I went to get breakfast for the crew one early morning at McDonald’s, and I was greeted with several uses of the f-bomb by both staff and managers. It was the most entertaining visit to McDonalds, seeing as there were lots of disgruntled customers and others waiting around. Best use of the f-bomb in all of this?
Employee:”Everyone hates this f-ing job, no one wants to f-ing be here.”
Manager: “then clock the F out and go the F home!”
Save me.

So, Laura does the responsible thing and reports it to corporate the day it happens through the website. Gets an auto response. Hears nothing, and nothing and nothing…until today.

So, today, I get a call from the OWNER of the store. He was just as disgusted as I was with hearing what happened. He watned to send me 4 free meals! I turned that down….just because I was so impressed that they called me back and were willing to take action. I just dont’ want any other family to hear that nasty language in any place of business. SOOO, action WILL be taken.

This is why I go to Bruegger’s. It’s hard to curse out a bagel.

Adventures in Coffee

Tomorrow is dad’s bday. Sooo, with him being the coffee addict that he is, I decided that his gift will be Starbucks Coffee. mmmmmmm…..starbucks…..

The only starbucks stores I knew of are in ALBANY. Living in Niskayuna, that’s a problem. I’m NOT driving a half hour to get to one of the stores. Nope. Not happening. Hence, I decided to get on my trusty rusty computer and go from there.

Lo and behold! A store in NISKAYUNA!!! Not too far from my house…. This is bad. Very bad…and good all at the same time. I map the store on the starbucks website. Here are the directions…keeping in mind the acutal address of the store is 2321-3 Nott Street East.

1. Depart start at Laura’s house (addy withheld to protect the east boondock innocent)
2. Turn left onto Mayfair Road, then immediately bear left onto Rosendale road.
3. Turn left onto Ruffner road
4.Turn left on to Whammer Ln. (Who names a street WHAMMER????)then immediately turn Right onto Rowe road. (Debbie Rowe anyone? IF you get that reference, you deserve to be in the World Series of Pop Culture!!)
5. Turn left onto Angelina Dr, then immediately turn Right onto St. Anne Dr.
6. Turn left to stay on St. Anne Dr.
7. Turn left onto Windsor Dr.
8. Name changes to Nott St. East.
9. Turn Right onto Comanche Trail and then immediately turn LEft onto Mohawk Trail.

Notice something drastically wrong with those directions being that the Starbucks is on NOTT STREET EAST????
Yeah. Me too.
I figured that since the Starbucks was obviously in a shopping plaza, these cutie pie directions were taking me in the back route. Ok. Fine. Nope. not soo fine. (Insert the sound of a buzzer here.)

I turn onto Comanche and then Mohawk…and end up in the middle of this subdivision that I had been driving through to GET to Nott St. East. Yeah…cute. I don’t end up anywhere near the Starbucks, But I end up near a GE plant! Just where I really want to be! So, the brain surgeon in me and the California driving instinct kicked in, and I followed the roads and made a series of random turns until I came back to Nott St. East. I followed that, and found the Mecca of Coffee.

I go into Said Mecca. Breathe deeply and call my mother to see what kind of coffee my dad would enjoy. She keeps coming at me with “Oh, just whatever.” No, that’s not the answer I want, Mother dear. So, I say a few choice words in Spanish and roll my eyes. The barista notices and says “Is there someone you need to smack? That’s what riding crops are meant for!”
Me: “I like cattle prods”
Barista ” Naah. those leave marks. I like digitalis. The stuff in white oleanders”
Me: “yep. Know that stuff. Best friend is an ag major in undergrad.”

So, I go on to purchase said coffee and said mug for darling Daddy and barista goes and gets his partner pound of Komodo blend. He says “I’m not going to use this. Might as well give it to someone who will.” and has the chickie ring it up and puts it in my bag!!!

SOOO, then, I got a free Michael Jackson Frappucino out of the deal. For those out of the loop, that’s a half mocha, half white mocha. Get it? Michael Jackson??? One of the baristas in Riverside came up with that one…

I walked out a happy camper…
then proceeded to get turned around again coming home.

All this for the love of a beverage with tons of caffine. Yummmy.

Why I hate my job

This week, snotty assistant has been in rare form. She seems to believe that SHE is the head teacher and can basically tell me what to do and how to do my job. Yeah, RIGHT. She has even taken it upon herself to let me know in front of other people in the room in the way that pisses me off beyond belief. I’m not in any sort of mood to argue with her, so I just went to the boss and had a chat with her about it.

Assistant boss wondered why I never said anything to her. Why? She LOVES snotty assistant. Nothing would get accomplished by me telling assistant boss because she believes that snotty assistant is always right. She even wants to hire snotty assistant as her nanny when she finally has her kids. Take her, please.

So, Boss talks to snotty assistant yesterday, and lo and behold, I get more attitude from snotty assistant than ever. She didnt’ even lift a finger to do diapers after she dang well knew I had done my set for the day. God forbid if she does more than one set in a day…she goes ballistic. I could care less. I just do.

Why else do I hate my job? I was told that I may not be able to get the time for Isaac’s surgery off. Yep. you read that right. I was told that if I had the time,and no one else with more senority had taken that time off,I could have it. FOR PETE’S SAKE! I’m not going to sit on my butt on a vacation here. My 2 year old is having surgery! I have 80 hours of time…trust me I do. This is disgusting. If I can’t get the time. I’m going to put in my 2 weeks. I cannot, cannot, cannot work at a place with that kind of attendance policy, where a vacation trumps a surgery, and if they’re super short staffed, I’m going to get a phone call that I have to come in. Nope. Not happening. SOOO, I’m bracing myself for writing the letters.

In the meantime, I’m getting my school violence thing done, and getting all of the paperwork done to reinstate my NY teaching certificate. I’ll be on the phone to state ed this week to find out what I have to do. If I have to, I’ll long term sub somewhere, but I know there are special ed jobs out there ripe for the picking. I just have to get my tush in gear and get it all set up. That should make some friends of mine very happy. SHe’ll think I”ve finally come to my senses and decided to stop wasting my talent…

It’s another day in the land of toddlerville

Today, I took Isaac to Build A Bear. It’s not like he’s NEVER been there, but I finally think he gets it. It took that kiddle long enough!

So, we wander in, I say hi to everyone who knows me and is still there, and I let Isaac pick out what he wants. He picks a COW. Ok. fine.

We go to stuff said cow. He pushes buttons, and the sweetie working the stuffer says “So, Isaac, what’s your cow’s name?”

Isaac responds: “Moooo”

Sooo, that became the cow’s name. It’s so non creative, but come on, he did name it himself, and it wasn’t ELMO.