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It's been awhile since I've really had a good rant. I think that I am well overdue. I am not much of a whiner. Am I? But every now and then you just have to get this stuff off your chest.
If you are a long term reader of my blog you may have heard some of these before because, well, I tend to not let things go. I am a hoarder of things. Not real things, as in old baby blankets, tennis shoes, t shirts of any kind. Okay well I do hoard those too. But, I was referring to the things in my head that I can't fix but they drive me nuts anyway. Oh never mind. Let me just get to the ranting and you will understand.
1. Are turn signals even being placed on the 2009 models? I don't know if it is just my neck of the woods or the fact that I am on the road as much as I am, but people just do not just these little handy inventions anymore. I guess with all of the new technology, I should be able to read their mind that they are turning left across traffic and therefore will be coming to a complete stop shortly.
2. Why do you go through the drive through when you know your window will not roll down? For goodness sake. Get out and go in already. I actually got behind a man the other day at McDonald's that pulled up, opened the door, got out, stood at the speaker, ordered, got back in, drove to the window and repeated the process. Seriously, it would have been less effort if he had just parked and got out once! I was tired just watching him.
3. Why are the rules different for each person at work? Because some are lazy, management doesn't give them more responsibility. Instead of getting in trouble for shucking their work off on everyone else, they are rewarded with never being asked to do anything but show up and draw a paycheck. Yeah, that's fair.
4. When did customer service become a synonym for I'm sorry mam, that's just our policy? I have dealt with several large company's cs departments lately and no matter how many different people you talk to, no one has any idea what the reasoning is behind the policies. Actually, most don't even know the policies or just make something up. You can call one toll free number and get five different cs representatives, which are usually helping other people for more than 20 minutes before they talk to you. Ask them the exact same question, and get five different answers. But none of the answers is the one you want to hear, Yes mam, we appreciate our customers and want to make this right.
5. What happened to product quality? I know that somethings are made to be cheap so that we can just replace them instead of repairing them. I have no problem with that concept. But some of these things will not even withstand one use. Now where's the logic in that. Surely the manufacturerss of these items have never had to look a child in the eyes and explain that sometimes, way more than they used to, these things just happen.
6. Why do people think that they can be rudeby text and it is okay? I have seen this happening more and more. With all of the technology out there, text messaging, instant messaging, email, facebook, myspace, etc. There are endless ways to send messages to each other. I have seen it happen more than once within a week. People have learned to hide behind the written word. I am not sure if it is because they do not have to see the reaction first hand or if that is just we are going as a society, but it is a scary trend if you ask me. If the written word didn't invoke emotion and spark interest, this and all of the thousand of other blogs would just be sitting out in cyberspace unread. Not to mention the millions of books out there. I think that the written word is an amazing thing. I can be a lot more expressive through writing than I ever could in oral communication. So I understand it to some extent but it should not be used to hurt others just to make yourself feel better. I say if you couldn't say it to their face, don't write it!
Okay, putting the soapbox back for now. Thanks I feel much better.
Have a great weekend! Happy Friday!
Edited to add: Typepad wouldn't let me post this yesterday. Trying it again today.
It wasn't intentional just a small one. I fully intended on posting this yesterday but, well I just didn't. I don't even have a good excuse. I just didn't. So there. Now you know. I lied when I said in my last post that I would tell you why I had not edited Christmas pictures and I am not ashamed to admit it.
But if you can look past that and stick with me, I will tell you about it today!
I have been busy in the boys' room. I had decided long ago that they had WAY outgrown their decor and needed some new. So after weeks of careful deliberation by both boys they settled on this comforter set:
To be quite honest about it, it was more Britt's choice but Charlie said that it was alright with him when he realized that he got this:
and
Which are actually similar in size in real life (once again not sweating the small stuff!) and they make cool noises. Also the light color on the camo pattern glows in the dark. Now that was enough to convince my little pink loving boy to go camo!
So we have had the comforters and cool pillows etc, for awhile now. I just have yet to get in their room and get it ready to paint. I even went a couple of weekends ago and Charlie and I picked out the paint for their walls. That way when the opportunity to paint came along I would not have the excuse of running to Lowe's and then not wanting to get started because it was already noon because I had spent too much time in Lowe's looking at paints, magazines, dust on the floor. Anything to buy myself a day out of painting.
And the thing is, I love painting I really do. This time it was more the issue that I haven't cleaned out the boys' room in awhile. And we just got another truckload of toys to find a place for in there so it was time. This is what my living room, which I had just taken all of the Christmas decor down and thoroughly cleaned, looked like when we got all of the stuff from under the beds, off the floor, from every corner of their room. Oh and this includes their piles of new stuff from Christmas:
I know, call DHS they are so mistreated. And can you believe that they have nothing to play with at times? Oh and keep in mind this doesn't include what it in two closets in their room.
So after cleaning the room out, I started the process of getting the walls ready to paint. I had painted a mural on one wall and stripes around the whole thing the last time I decided to do this. Therefore the whole room had to be sanded. Sounds so simple when you put it that way. But the realistic view of that was pretty close to Goldie Hawn in Overboard; you know the scene where she had been working so hard using a power saw that all she could say was, "Babababababababa."
So after sanding here it is:
Sorry about the blurred picture but I did take it right after sanding the room!
I then cleaned the walls and base boards. Next I put the tape on the trim and painted, and painted and painted. It took three coats in some areas to cover the bright colors. Here's a peak at the walls, taken while still wet.
Now, I did all of this with the boys coming in supervising every so often. Britt said the whole time, "Your the best Mama in the whole world!" Now if that doesn't motivate you to finish nothing will. Charlie kept telling me that he did not know I was such a good artist!
Eventually I gave in and let them help me paint. I have the pictures to prove it!
Next, I had to paint the trim. This was more of a job than I had remembered last time. I got it done but it was essentially over a whole long weekend. And I still haven't even done the accent painting yet. I am going to have to do it soon before one of us breaks our necks in the living room.
I will post pictures of the continued redecorating. As I get things done. Maybe I can finish up this weekend.
I have had several people ask about the crafty gift that we made for Christmas. My mother-in-law was the lucky blog reader that was the recipient of said gift. The boys and I made her Christmas dish towels.
I had the boys draw pictures of their favorite food that Granny makes for them. Funny thing is I could have just said Britt draw ham and Charlie draw scrambled eggs because I knew that's what each of them would pick. And I was right. So each took their time and drew their best pictures of said foods. And colored them.
I scanned them into the computer. This little sentence doesn't seem to do this justice. I first had to find the scanner. Then I had to find the cords that connect it to the computer. One would think that these two things would be in close proximity, however that would make too much sense. Once all was found and connected, the scanner had not been used in so long that it needed to be cleaned. Then onto the computer to try and remember where the program that operates the scanner is located or what it called. Finally, scan the images.
Next, I sized the pictures to the desired sizes and flipped the images. I printed them on iron on paper. Then to the towels. I bought some basic white dish towels at Walmart. They are not terry cloth material so they work perfectly for this project. I ironed them and then ironed on the images.
Then to add the ribbon, I was not going to sew so I used the tack tape that is made for sewing dummies like me. Or people who are short and do not want to spend all of their days hemming pants. I ironed on the ribbon and voila! Cute little kitchen towels!
Here's a close up of Britt's:
And here's Charlie's (and a disclaimer: he spelled Scrambled right but the scanner kept cutting off the S and I was not going to fix it! Sorry but I was so in a don't sweat the small stuff kind of mood!)
Sorry about the pictures being so dark but I have not had time to edit pictures from Christmas yet. I will tell you more about why tomorrow!
