It’s emptying out in here. Yesterday we moved all the shelves and product to my
house, a project that I was convinced would take three days, took a mere one.
After we had reorganized it all, Marshall and I loaded up his jeep and drove
trash to dumpsters, working so fast that we looked (and giggled–he smirked)
like con men on the job. The garage looks great and the rest of the house is
taking shape, little by little. Today when the Cox guy (fingers crossed, prayers
to heaven), comes to turn on the internet, we’re going to haul the computers
over there. I just can’t be internetless–it’d feel naked.

I mean, really, haven’t had one like this in years. Started out getting up at 8,
so that I’d be ready when the cox guy showed up by noon, right? Made a couple of
phone calls, did some reading, cleaning, coffee-drinking, told a showroom why I
thought their fee was ridiculous if they were going to write orders on the road.
Noon came and went–I took a shower, dried my hair, drove to the office, got the
cox phone number and called them leaving ranting messages no less than three
times about how I had wasted my morning waiting for them. The guy called me
back, promising me that someone would meet me at my house in 20 minutes. Right?
So I head back home, on hold with Citibank to figure out why on earth some
account number no one can identify is showing up on my credit report with a
balance. Twenty minutes come and go, still on hold with Citibank, still no Cox
guy. Finally get someone at Citi, who can tell I’m in a mood, quickly gives me
another number to call and hangs up. Call that number, on hold for another 20
minutes with Citibank, still no Cox guy. Cox guy shows up at 2:20, and I meet
him on the lawn, practically accousting him, “Are you the Cox guy?” “Yep,
sorry.” One sheepish dude. “Well let me tell you how much it sucks sitting
around all morning waiting for you to get here.” Dude says nothing. Smart dude.
I show him the backyard, tell him to leave enough wire for my dad to take the
line to the center of my house and he tells me (no kidding, he’s been there for
less than 2 minutes), that he doesn’t need me anymore–I can go now. As I’m
pulling out my drive, I roll down the window. “Sorry for being cranky.” I at
least owed Cox dude an apology for griping him out. He laughs. I could have
kicked he little Cox butt then and there. Citibank still could not identify the
6-digit account number; I told them I was going to report it as fraud. The
balance is on my credit report, if they can’t tell me why it’s there within 4
phone calls, I’m not going to try to figure it out. Finally got back to the
office and had to write a letter to yet another rep group (think used car
salesman, this group–really not classy at all), telling them I didn’t wish to
work with them anymore. Seriously, it’s really bad when you’re willing to go
without reps rather than deal with them. And it’s not even really the reps that
are bad; it’s just too much fishy stuff. People not getting paperwork, info
that’s really and truly basic, gotta-have-it type stuff. Like which
manufacturers have contributed to which commission check. Basically, we’re
talking a bunch of people with no records that think they shouldn’t write my
orders because they’re not sure I’ve paid them, even though I send them a
simple-to-read report each month. Too much distrust. Orders aren’t going to get
written that way anyway. Good news is, I’ve got Amanda and Marshall, and bicker
as they might, they get things done.

Sting is in Dallas the 19th of September. Austin City Limits music festival
thing is the same weekend–September 18th – 19th. Which one? And no, can’t do
both–so don’t suggest we drive to Dallas after Austin to see Sting. Won’t work;
too much $$$. I can only pick one, and Drew wants to go to Austin; I want to go
to Sting. Which one?

The day started on a coffee/Katie Couric high. We got the garage painted on
Saturday, and now I’m on a roll to get moved in. Cabinet doors, counter tops,
kitchen sink, furniture. I ordered this really cool computer armoire from the
Mattress Brothers this morning. Set to be picked up by the end of the week. It’s
black, I love black furniture, it totally anchors a room. I think I need some
funky black and white leapord pillows to go with it. I know, I know–stop me
now. I just mentioned leopard print. I went to Wally World last night and bought
a cheapo stereo, 5-disk changer, and promptly filled all five disk trays with
Frank Sinatra, turned it up, and cleaned out the kitchen cabinets. I’ve actually
made a concentrated effort to get the place cleaned. Life is getting organized.
I also bought a snazzy, stainless steal, GE toaster that looks exactly like one
Frank probably had in his kitchen. I LOVE retro! I’m getting alot done, not
gonna stop and chat now, just thought everyone would like a little update from
the pink world.

This weekend I’m painting the garage. That’s right, painting my garage. It’s
blue right now–blues clues blue, ceiling and walls alike. Quite a mess. When
we’re finished, it’ll be Gourmet Mushroom + three gallons of white mixed in. Oh,
and I’m babysitting tonight–for 4 kids (my usual is 2). We’re ordering
pizza–it ought to be pretty easy; they should entertain themselves. Now I’m off
to drop a package off at UPS and then run over to a carpet place to see if I can
pick up some remnants for my floors. Rugs are expensive, ya know that? A decent
one is at least $250 and a good one starts at $500! I’m tempted to go hook my
own for that price. But you’ve got to have a rug to curl up on and watch TV.

In an effort to not gripe about work, here’s a list of my happy thoughts for the
day: * Even though I would never sit through the movie again, imagining myself
Under the Tuscan Sun is a good place to be. * A cool August with lots of rain. *
My little hand-held sander thing that helps me refinish stuff. * Figuring out
the Build Booklet plug in on Pagemaker all by myself. * Hurricane Swirls at
Pearl’s Lakeside. * The new vintage/french/couture design I came up with for a
new invitation earlier this week. * all the ideas that one design spawned. *
Pictures of the Wormy Dog, newly labeled by number (2.4 = second series of WD
pics, pic # 4). * practicing the art of getting things done. * working for
myself, so if I want a nap at noon, I can have a nap at noon.

No, no, no. Get yo mind outta that gutta. I spent the day helping my dad rework
the heating/AC system at my house. I have a completely newfound respect for
air-conditioning men now. I don’t know how you remember what to do! From tearing
out walls, insulation, re-directing water, electricity, installing a furnace,
re-directing duct work–all of which require a plethura of other skills, like
knowing the difference between a skillsaw and a milwaukee drill! Yeesh! So I’ve
been without AC for 8 days now, and working every day to get it back on,
shacking up at my parents in the process. I can’t for the life of me figure out
how I did that for a year and a half. Seven days and I’m about to go looney. The
beautiful news of all this is, that we’re taking the old system out of the
laundry room, and moving it to the other side of the wall, which is my garage,
and clearing enough space in the process to install a swanky little butler’s
pantry. And I mean SWANKY, people. No more red-toile-country-french stuff for
me; I have new visions of Eames-era lamps, lime green and black, mixed with
classic rococo sconces. Not Empire on acid, as Jennifer calls it, but more like
Louis XV got high. So I lost a few of you there. Sorry. You’ll just have to
swing by and see the place for yourself. There is an impending party–I can feel
it.

This morning’s yard sales yielded some surprising finds: a roll of about 15
yards sage striped ticking, bright yellow curtain panels in an indienne print, a
couple yards of a muted toile, a wrought iron house number sign that has to be
re-painted, but solves the dilemma of how to put numbers on my house. And last
but not least, the find of the day saved me around $200–a brand new, stainless
steel, electric cooktop that I paid $30–retail value $250. My mom said “Praise
the Lord!” for that cooktop no less than ten times on the drive home.

I used to have a goal to be “the most positive and outgoing person I know”.
Needless to say, my venting isn’t positive, and it isn’t outgoing, and despite
the fact that it feels good, I don’t think it really gets me anywhere and I feel
like I have to hide it from customers. Heaven only knows Amanda probably gets
sick of it. So, I’m back to the old goal of “positive and outgoing”. This
doesn’t mean I’ll stay out past midnight, but it does mean that the blog might
get slightly more interesting to read and that creativity will hopefully start
to abound. And on that bit about staying out past midnight: I can’t sleep at the
moment (it’s 5:30 in the morning) and I have to help my dad put the new air unit
in my house today, and then I hope to move some furniture in the place, so I
don’t think the DB music festival is on the to-do list. I know, I know…me,
stick-in-the-mud-me, but I promise I’ll start to make a more concerted effort.
Here’s a start: a list of fabulous things to look forward to this coming day: *
walking across brand new wood floors * estate sale-ing with my mom since I’m up
early enough * a new chandelier hanging in my TV room * furniture, finally! and
lots of it! * learning a tad more about heating/AC units, just for future
reference * a new ambition to learn the art of HTML * morning coffee and shower
(yes, at the same time) Have a happy day, people!

They say Krispy Kreme’s stock fell last quarter because of the whole low-carb
craze. Tell, me, then, how it went up in the low-fat craze, or the low-calorie
craze? If you’re looking for an excuse, you can always find one. It’s either an
excuse, or the “craze” has moved into a more permanent lifestyle-movement,
possibly proving that for the first time ever a fad diet works and therefore
more people are doing it than did low-cal, low-fat diets?