customer service.
In the past year or so, I have had to contact customer service more times than I can count. It started with changing and then canceling all my European travel plans due to COVID. Amazingly, I was able to get refunds without ever having to “put on my NY”. Then I had a Company Store
“If I Can Do It, Anyone Can”
Boy, does that phrase just get under my skin. I won’t rant about it, but please, please, never say it. It’s never true. And it just makes the person who *can’t* do it feel pretty awful… or frustrated that you can’t see the situation from their point of view.
my not-so-tiny house.
Five years ago, our family of four went through a major downsize. We moved from a three-story, three-bedroom, 3.5 bath, two car garage, storage room, giant house (in the absolute best place ever – nothing will ever compare to Pine Lake) to a downtown Decatur condo. Two-bedrooms, two bathrooms, an office, a laundry room, and
thrive in place.
I think this has to be the title of my next (aka first) book. Maybe I should claim the URL if it hasn’t been already. Alas, looks like ThriveInPlace.com has been claimed already. But “Thrive in Place” (derived from Shelter In Place), has been my mantra for years now. I don’t love Atlanta. I never
a sigh (and cry) of relief.
I had no idea. I knew it was bad, but didn’t realize how bad it really was. When I stepped out the door to walk Phelix early yesterday morning, I realized how ABSOLUTELY, AMAZING, and WONDERFUL it can actually be and was hit by the realization that it had been awful for weeks now. WONDERFUL:
first of the month.
Once again, it’s the first of the month. A time to clean up, update, and prepare for the month ahead. At home, I’m nearing the end of the round of de-cluttering/cleaning; I wish we had finished last week, but there was just too much going on. On my computer, I’ve taken care of the long
100 mph
I heard the initial call. From the very first, I knew this was no standard call. My heart hurt. I knew more than one life would be changed. While I tend to find solace in listening to the scanner, once in a while the news isn’t reassuring. Is it worth it? No idea. 99% of
two steps forward.
one step back. Last week at this time I was feeling on top of everything. Work, home, volunteering, exercising and the rest. Today I’m feeling like I am barely staying afloat. I want to do some fun things with the kids during their spring break, but hardly see how I can get through the days
#firstworldproblem
This hashtag drives me batty sometimes. What’s the point? Are we trying to remember to be grateful and reminding ourselves that whatever the problem is, we can get past it and things will be okay even if it is annoying? Are we being smug? “My life is so awesome that my worst problem at the
jury duty
I am now 43 years old — middle-aged, in the general scheme of things. I’ve been registered to vote for 25 of those years. I should have been eligible for jury duty for 25 years. Except that I was a full-time student. Then a nursing mom. Then a primary caregiver/homeschooling parent. Thus I’ve managed to
ikea, oh, ikea
IKEA. I fell in love back when I was a graduate student. Living on my own as a grad student in Houston, I was thrilled when IKEA opened. I could have fairly nice furniture at low cost. I could “decorate” with things I liked. Quickly, I knew all the shortcuts. Visiting IKEA was always a
waiting, waiting
At 1pm, I had finished work, crossed a couple things off of my to do list, taken the dog out for a “business” walk and put him in his crate. I “flew” (while respecting speed limits, of course) down to Oakhurst. Chloe’s class was S…L..O…W in coming in from recess. We swung by the B&G
What 7am on a “vacation” day is like.
I very prudently saved up my limited vacation days in order to be able to take a week off at Thanksgiving and another at Christmas. At the end of the Thanksgiving week, I felt I had in some ways “wasted” my time off. I promised not to do the same with my Christmas break, but
mortified by past due bills
This morning I took Chloe to her pediatrician for a “sick child” visit. Before we got to see the pediatrician, I was mortifyingly called into the billing office – “You have a balance of $108. You need to pay this now.” I explained to the woman that if I had gotten a bill, I had
Do you know these people?
Seriously, I have to wonder who these people are. I don’t think I know them. Do you? Where do they come from? In the past few days, I’ve been researching (read: “googling”) a number of topics, and I find that the answers to questions (Yahoo questions mostly, I think) and comments on forums and blogs
cranky momma in the kitchen
Not the cooking part. I actually don’t mind that bit very much, and, now that Camille is doing a bit of the cooking, it isn’t a problem. Not the cleaning part. I admit, I do get very cranky when the kitchen doesn’t get cleaned up. Or when food gets left out in pots or on
ET, Donโt Phone MY Home
….because you will not get an answer. Leave a message, but there’s no telling when I’ll get back to you. It drives some visitors to our house nuts; I do not answer our home telephone. “Aren’t you going to get that?” Nope. Pretty much anyone I would care to talk to knows that the only
power? or fulfilment of a promise?
this weekend I was placed in a difficult position regarding an announcement list that i co-moderate. when my neighbor (and good friend) and I started a new pine lake yahoogroup, we created it with a mission. this mission statement has been clear form the start and is listed on the page for the group. though
Every Day is Earth Day
right? I was not too surprised at some of the backlash that I saw to Earth Day. No, these are not people that hate the earth, these are the ones that love it and think that *every day* should be Earth Day, so they don’t want to do anything special. There’s a little more to
Going to the Library
As with most families, we are frequent patrons of our library system. We generally have 30-50 books checked out at any given moment and are very thankful for the wonderful online system that allows us to order and renew books and manage our account online. Recently a couple of different library issues have arisen that
GBK Gwyneth
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