(From knightaudit)
Rules:
1. It’s harder than it looks!
2. Copy to your own post, erase my answers, enter yours and tag people if you want.
3. Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following questions.
4. The answers have to be real; nothing made up!
5. If the person before you had the same first initial, you must use different answers.
6. You cannot use any word twice and you can’t use your own name for the boy/girl name question.


01. What is your name: Deb

02. A four letter word: Diet


03. A boy’s name: Derrick

04. A girl’s name: Dianne

05. An occupation: Data Entry Clerk

06. A colour: Dark Orange

07. Something you wear: Dress

08. A food: Divinity

09. Something found in the bathroom: Dental Floss

10. A place: Dallas

11. A reason for being late: Delayed Departure

12. Something you shout: Doodah!

13. A film title: Dave

14. Something you drink: Dr. Pepper

15. A musical group: Doobie Brothers

16. An animal: Dog

17. A street name: Dundee Drive

18. A type of car: Datsun

19. Title of song: Deck the Halls

20. Something you use in school: Desk

Tags: meme

Last I wrote, I was limping along with one medium (preferred size) ear-tip and one large, torn ear-tip. The torn ear-tip scampered away this morning, and I can't find the other large one that I thought I had. Diving into my supply to get a small ear-tip, I decided to do one more search for replacements.

Lots of site sell replacement ear-tips. One mentioned the size it fits, in mm. The Apple headphones are smaller than 6 mm across. Another mentioned Apple in-ear, but there are two varieties, and the older ear-tips are very different from the newer ones. Finally, I found a site that not only referenced Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic, but included a picture. Yes, I'm ordering five pair. And yes, I'm putting this in my journal so I can find them again when I run out. I expect the Apple headphones to hold up that long.

mood: pleased Tags: iphone, shopping

Or, Why We Don't Have a Service Policy on our new washer/dryer.

The driest facts:

We wrote a check for $2,693.98 on April 11 to a company called ADI. For this price, we were to receive an LG washer/dryer pair, installation - including repair to the outside vent cover - and a five year service contract. We were given an installation date of April 17, and told that home installations are done in the afternoon.

I have a lovely LG pair fully installed except for the outside vent cover, a refund of $34.06 for installation costs, a refund check for $208 in the mail, and no service plan. ADI has put me on their no-future-sales list and their service company, Prather Services, has put me on their no service calls list.

A little flushing out of the details:

I got no call to tell me that my installation would be delayed. When I called them on April 17 in the early afternoon to get an ETA, they told me "The truck is still in Nashville, we should be able to bring it out on Monday." At that time, the salesman offered to refund my installation fee so that I could use a laundromat to wash clothes in advance of my roadtrip -- I wouldn't have time if I waited until Monday.

When I called them (still no call to inform me!) on Monday, they said that the pair was not on the truck when it arrived: LG had back-ordered it. I didn't complain too much, since the installation fee refund would cover up to three trips to the laundromat and it sounded like the back order wouldn't stretch out that long.

The washer/dryer were delivered on April 27. At that time, they did not fix the outside vent cover, or connect the dryer venting to the side. They put a temporary hose on the dryer and said they would arrange a service call to complete the installation.

After receiving no call, I called ADI on April 29 to schedule the service call.

A serviceman came out on April 30, declared he did not do anything outside the home, that he needed to order a part to change the venting, and left without touching the equipment.

On May 5, Prather Services called to tell me a serviceman would come out the next day from 12-2.

On May 6, the serviceman came, told me that the part would be $85 and that I had to pay him directly. I called ADI to get the salesman to waive the charge, since I had been promised a compete installation, and he agreed. Meanwhile, the serviceman had left the house to make his own phone call, and I had to call him back in to work.

His story and mine disagree. He says I yelled and screamed and waved a finger in his face. I say he left the house at least three times to make phone calls, and at one point left his phone open while he was working, claiming I was being hostile and this was no big deal. I asked him whether he thought $85 was no big deal, but "that wasn't what he meant." He refused to do the work, and the company sent another technician out to finish the job.

In the process, I was on the phone with the ADI, with Prather Services, with employees, manager and finally the owner. They decided they had "wasted too much time on" me, and decided they no longer wanted to service any appliances in my home, even though it was my understanding that I had bought a service plan for five years with THEM. Mind you, the only paperwork I had was a one page receipt that I got at the time of the check, and the service plan paperwork was supposed to come in the mail within SIX weeks.

Matt wrote them a complaint letter, in lots more detail than I've the patience to write here, used words like "deceptive trade practices" etc, and they replied to this letter by saying they would refund out $208.

I found out today that Best Buy can only sell their Black Tie practice on merchandise they've sold, no exceptions. I also found out that if I were to go back to ADI and demand a full return and refund, I'd be starting totally from scratch: LG is apparently in the middle of a model number changeover. Best Buy currently has outstanding orders for more machines of the models I'd bought that they'll be able to fill, and they've discontinued the models from sales. The newer models won't be available until the end of the month.

We never had a service policy on our old washer/dryer, so we're going to keep what we've got, and hope for the best with regard to future maintenance needs.

But I am completely fed up with ADI and Prather, and as Mom says, I'm just as well rid of them.

And yes, these are the names of the companies involved, because I'd just as soon anyone I care about be forewarned before voluntarily getting involved with them.

mood: angry, upset, fatalistic Tags: customer service

Okay, so the next bit is about Apple. Which means I talked to Apple Care, which means that at least I had bright, friendly, helpful people trying to help me.

The only problem is that currently, they don't have the ability to help me with my problem. :(

The earbuds I use with my iPhone are Apple's In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic. Technically, they are only supported for various iPods. They work great with my laptop and my phone, although the phone doesn't support the volume controls on the remote.

The problem I have is a usage problem common to in-ear silicone headphones: I've lost one of the silicone ear-tips. They come with three sets, one pair in each of three sizes. Obviously, I've lost one of the pair that is the best fit for me. I'm currently using a different size for one ear, and actually that one has torn, but it's still usable. When the first tip got lost, I also lost the mesh cap to which it was attached. Two replacement mesh caps are provided, so I'm not screwed.

Yet.

To my horror, I find that Apple makes no provision for buying replacement ear-tips or mesh caps! Which means that as time goes on, if I lose more tips I'll be wearing less and less suitable sizes, and I'm essentially three tips and one cap away from total loss of utility.

Heh. I got two, count-em two, warranty replacements on my vibes headsets because they kept having cable failure at the stress points. I switch to Apple because of their near magical durability/flexibility of their cabling, and I face the real possibility of losing utility of the headset to replacement part loss rather than actual product failure. Sigh.

If I ask you to help me find a silicone ear-tip that's popped off, perhaps you'll understand the urgency of my request. ;)

FWIW, I'm not the only person to have complained of this. The best the Apple Care tech could do for me was send me a URL for a site that sells urethane tips that fit the headphone. I've used urethane tip headsets before, and I prefer the silicone, but at least there's some relief.

Apple sent me a follow-up "Please take this survey about your customer service experience." I replied with high marks for the person, but dissatisfaction with the answer.

Maybe they'll start selling replacement parts before I have to turn to third-party foam.

mood: annoyed Tags: customer service

I have three customer service stories to write up, so I'm starting with the good one.

Okay, background: Flar is on Medicare because he is a kidney patient -- home dialysis is an automatic qualifier. We didn't find out it had started last year until they were billing for third quarter, so we had this big bill to pay off just as finances were getting awful. We finally caught up when I got to pay bills after the Really Big Deal™ funded a few weeks ago. That check was mailed on April 1, and I figured I would pay the bill for the second quarter in May, a month late.

We got two letters in the mail, one dated April 1, telling us coverage was terminated due to non payment, and then the next day we got a second notice billing for the second quarter.

First I called Matt's social worker at the dialysis clinic. She recommended to ignore the termination letter and pay the bill. She also gave me a phone number to call to inquire about payment by phone. It was for social security, and they also told me to go ahead and pay the bill, but gave me a direct Medicare number to inquire about payment by phone.

So here's the Good:

(Once I got through the irritating "Voice Recognition" voice menu to speak to a real person,) I told the story of the two letters to the woman who handled my call. I told her that I wanted verification that I could just pay the bill, but that if I could ask for the moon, I'd like to pay our bill monthly automatically from our checking account. Well, she gave me the moon. Yes, I can pay the current bill. And she would mail me the application form for direct payment, and the way it would work was that we would continue to be direct billed, but eventually the bills would be statements and include the phrase "This is not a bill" on them, and then we would know we were successfully enrolled.

I was frustrated by the voice recognition menu because it kept reacting to background noises in the house: barking dogs, etc. But I was really pleased by the conversation. She was not merely polite, but friendly and very helpful.

So sometimes you can ask for the moon, and even get it. :)

mood: pleased Tags: customer service

I've been tracking my weight on Livestrong.com (the easiest place to track, since it's on an app on my iPhone) since last November. I've been following NutriSystem®'s Flex plan - 5 days of their meals, 2 days regular foods - since April 4th.

According to Livestrong, I've lost 6.8 pounds since April 9th. But, my weight chart shows a history of up and down. The real test will be whether I stay on the diet and continue to see steady weight loss. I'd be happy with a pound a week, as long as it's consistent.

The foods are yummy, although some don't appeal to me as much as others.

I've downloaded an app for my iPhone called Couch to 5K, but I haven't started the exercise program yet. I've been pretty distracted by life this month.

location: IKON mood: okay Tags: diet

The current plan is to get up bright and early tomorrow morning, but I have a short list of things to do before I sleep.

I'm driving to Jackson tomorrow, and then on to Houston on Thursday. Friday morning, after we pile Critter's belongings in the mini-van, the two of us will reverse the trip.

If you're anywhere along the route, give me shout, maybe we can get together for a short visit. Phone calls welcome, I'll have a headset; I don't believe in texting while driving however. ;)

mood: rushed Tags: bibble, laundry, travel

SIgh.

First we were waiting for the loan to fund. Then we were waiting for the one week delivery prediction (last Friday). Then the truck was delayed.

Today, the truck arrived with no new LG pairs. pouty-face. Apparently there is a back-order and now I'm waiting for them to get a call-back from LG before I get a new ETA.

Meanwhile, It predictably takes 2:10 & $10 to wash three loads simultaneously at Mr. Suds. They're going to rebate $34, so it looks like we're ahead-even for two more weeks of waiting.

I'm just not good at waiting for new toys.

grump grump

mood: bummed Tags: bibble, laundry

I am worn out. I stayed up too late last night to make sure the kitchen was clean enough for cooking today, although I did manage to get 8 hours of sleep. I made banana pancakes for breakfast, and we were done eating 30 minutes before it was time to leave for church. I read the Sunday paper, then napped while Flar showered. I loved this article about a local artist with a fresh look at Jesus. The accompanying picture is of Jesus in white tee and blue jeans, showing off his tatoo.

Quest's Easter service was the wrap-up of EPIC: The Man Series. This week was "The Hill Men Die On." And the focus was on overcoming pride, and coming to the cross in surrender.

After service, we came home to fix Easter dinner. Tigger alternated between serving as sous-chef and arranging the dining room and family for company. Bébé and Scarlett and her son all came over. We had lamb (a preseasoned roast), kasha, rice, jaipur & kerala vegetables and garlic flavored nan. I made a lemon-lime jello salad with mandarin oranges and mini marshmallows, and Scarlett brought a yummy coconut cake for dessert.

Flar turned the Masters on in the family room for background music, and we watched the final few holes including the play-off rounds, before we ate dessert.

I deliberately picked an easy menu, but somehow I still ended up worn out by the end of the day. No doubt due to still fighting this infection. The ceftin doesn't seem to be helping, so it's either viral or I'll need a round of stronger stuff. Meantime, I'm continuing to take Nyquil at night, and get as much rest as possible.

Yesterday, we made the rounds of the appliance stores, ending up at ADI, who gave us a better package price including delivery, taxes & service plan. On Friday afternoon, we should be taking delivery of a brand-new washer & dryer: the LG WM2455WH 4.2 cu.ft. front loader and the LG DLE5955W 7.3 cu.ft. dryer with pedestals and 5 year service plan.

Like any good geek, not having my new toys in hand, I am setting out to memorize the owner's manuals which I have downloaded to my laptop. All my "spare" time this week will be devoted to cleaning the laundry room to get it ready to receive the new machines.

Now, sleep beckons.

Happy Easter!

mood: sick Tags: easter, health, laundry

Last night, Flar was up and down at least hourly, sometimes more frequently. Even though I'd only had four hours of Nyquil-enhanced sleep, I determined that he shouldn't drive this morning. So we all piled into the Audi to take Tigger to school and Flar to his scheduled test, with the intention to follow-up with a visit to his GI or the ER. I threw the least bulky NutriSystem foods into my purse to tide me through breakfast and lunch and grabbed a bottle of water.

Tigger got to school early as is his preference, then we waited for Flar's GI's office to open. I had my breakfast while we waited: a NutriSystem® Cranberry Orange Pastry that was a combination dry/sticky not quite pound cake consistency -- not my definition of pastry thank you very much, an ounce of cheese and a half-cup of juice.

No doctors on Fridays - they're all doing procedures and hospital rounds. Time seemed to drag in the waiting room for nuclear medicine. It was longer than usual before Flar was taken back, and the hour-and-a-half that followed seemed to take forever. Mostly, this was due to me being congested and the waiting room being cold. At noon I had my lunch - a NutriSystem® Fudge Graham Bar which had a satisfying quantity of chocolate chips, and another ounce off cheese.

The doctor told Flar that if his gall bladder is the problem, it could cause the symptoms he's been having, and that he should just dose up with Immodium and wait for test results.

On the way home, I went in to the RIte Aid and picked up Immodium for Flar and V-8 for the rest of my lunch (I've remembered the solution to reducing the sheer bulk of veggies). While I was in the store, Flar called the bank and verified that the Money™ had finally hit his business account. We stopped on the way home to deposit a Very Large Check™, and the teller was sweet enough to get the bank phone number from us and call to verify the funds so that he didn't have to put a hold on the check. Yay for Great Customer Service!

Now Flar is checking email, and I'm going to sit down to write some Moderately Large Checks™ to deliver and mail today. Tomorrow we get to go buy a new washer/dryer pair to replace our Kenmores. Hey - they lasted 20 years, what more can you ask of a large household appliance?

mood: sick Tags: bibble, finances, flar, health

I goofed off this weekend, got plenty of sleep, but was still exhausted when I was done working with the two year olds. I'm the lead teacher in the classroom, and I think that has a lot to do with it. When I helped in the three year old room Wednesday night, I felt fine. Easter weekend there are seven service times, and I will be serving in early childhood during two of them. I feel like that will be challenging.

In goofing off, I cleared out my LJ inbox. Since I gave up on staying caught up on all my friends' journals, I was relying on notifications for some journals, but I'd gotten behind by 300+ messages.

I started NutriSystem this weekend with two flex days in a row. Today is my first day eating the NutriSystems foods and so far, it's been yummy. I had a cereal with fresh banana slices this morning, and flavored my milk with a sugar-free malted-chocolate mix (5 cal.) that I found at Kroger. Some people can't stand plain water. My achilles drink is milk. The chocolatey flavor helped. For lunch, we walked next door to Fourth Street and got subway salads. I'd brought NutriSystem Fettuccini Alfredo (in a cup, like instant ramen) and an ounce of cheese to go with it.

Saturday was rough. I got my mealtimes all screwed up and hadn't planned ahead, so figuring out what to eat wasn't easy and I was really hungry in the evening. Since then, I've been "pleasantly empty." It's not a raging hunger feeling, and it's nice not to feel like I'm stuffed. My issue will be staying with it, and overcoming the challenge of planning balanced meals when I go off NutriSystem. Using the flex system - 5 days on, 2 days off - makes me learn while I'm losing. ;)

Flar spent the weekend in bed. He ran a fever on Saturday, but that was gone on Sunday. We think he's reacting too strongly to the Reglan -- lots of trips to the bathroom -- and he's just feeling really drained. He stopped taking the Reglan on Sunday, and that seemed to help. Today, his doctor suggested he take half a pill, only before big meals, rather than a whole pill before every meal and at bedtime.

We didn't get to planning a budget. :( Maybe I'll tackle some of the work on it this week.

The bank's lawyers are now talking about closing the loan paperwork tomorrow, so the new forecast for Money™ is Wednesday. Which means I'm making a trip to Wal-Mart tonight for more undies for me. So far we've been able to avoid a trip to the laundromat, but I'm giong to be a busy laundress whenever new machines do appear.

mood: okay Tags: bibble, diet, flar, health

Flar saw his GI specialist yesterday and his Nephrologist today. She prescribed Reglan to help empty his tummy faster, and scheduled him for a gallbladder function test. He looked at the CT from Tuesday and said it showed bleeding from a blown cyst. There is also some concern that the internal part of his PD cath had gotten badly situated. They may be able to do something about that. Meanwhile, he is staying in bed on Lortabs as much as possible.

He finally got a closing statement for the development loan that's generating the Money™ and there is a more believable forecast of funding on Monday.

My NutriSystem food came today, along with a food journal, and a recipe book & restaurant guide for the flex days. I've been practicing at recording my foods: no wonder I'm not losing weight on my own -- my caloric intake is way over what it should be (duh).

I'm going to officially start eating NutriSystem foods on Monday. That gives me tomorrow and Sunday to plan menus and grocery shop for the dairy and fruits and vegetables.

Powers finally gave up my car to me yesterday. There's a code that only a dealer can clear, so I get to sit at Don Jacobs sometime next week. Sigh. I traded Critter's van for my bug. Powers is going to change the oil and run road-trip type checkups on it.

Didn't get my Revive homework done this week. Talked to my phone buddy though. Thoughts about fighting perfectionism and why I started going to Revive made the talk extremely worthwhile. More talking needed tonight with my group leader.

Need to read my homework in Thin Within now.

mood: okay Tags: bibble, cars, diet, flar, the mat

He really only called to let me know where he was going. He was honestly surprised that I would meet him there. He kinda had a skimpy raising when it came to "family goes to the hospital. period"

It started on the driving home - sudden pain, waves of nausea. He was this side of the river, so he stubbornly drove himself to the ER, just calling to tell me the plan. I got there while he was still in triage.

heh. modern ERs call it triage, but there's no big blark marker, no X on the forehead. Just paperwork questions - confirm what the computer already knows, etc.

We waited a good while to be called back - always a good sign in the ER, when they think the other people are more sick, right?

Overheard from the next ER exam room: "Hey, I heard you were looking for rooms, it's only my hand that's messed up." "No sir, we're looking for a room upstairs to admit someone; you're fine where you are." Good people are everywhere, even in pain.

Flar was attended by two nurses, as his ER stay spanned a shift change. Two nice looking male nurses as it happens, not that Flar noticed or would have cared. ;) His nurse questioned him, palpated him, then hooked him up with an IV lock to (a) take blood for a CBC and (b) give him morphine. That sounds like everything happened at once, but there was actually an uncomfortable wait before the IV, and Flar was in a lot of pain (7 on his 0-10 personal scale) until they gave him the morphine. They wheeled him out at one point for a CT scan and later wheeled the ultrasound cart in to see him.

They ruled out infection and any other stay-in-the-hospital diagnoses, came up with a couple of theories to explain the pain, and sent him home with a prescription for Lortab. Theory is, it was either his gallbladder complaining about Flar switching back to high-fat American food from his healthy seafood consumption in Barcelona, or a cyst burst in his kidney causing a bleed-out. Or both.

Knight and Ro met us at the hospital, so Knight could drive Flar home in Flar's truck, by way of the 24 hour Kroger pharmacy. I went on to work, and got home around 2. I picked up an Arby's Roastburger on the way in, and I've gotta say after this second try, that I don't care for them. Give me a regular Arby's sandwich or a real hamburger.

So Flar's spending the day in bed, sleeping as much as possible, and riding out the pain on Lortabs. They recommended he follow a liquid diet until the pain subsides, then a low-fat diet. Since he's also on a low-sodium, low-phosphorus diet, I'm going to pop out today and get a chicken and some beef bones to make up some healthy broth for him to sip while he's on the liquid diet.

Thanks to everyone who prayed and sent well-wishes.

mood: calm Tags: flar, health

I haven't been writing. At first it was an attempt to avoid "time-wasting" but I haven't been journalling and it's a loss, and i'll start again.

but for today, just bibble.

still no Money™

it's payday though, so Flar said I could go ahead and order the Nutrisystem. I'm starting back on the most successful weight loss plan I ever tried, now with convenient home delivery. I'm also going back to the Food Group, since all the Nutrisystem really does is conquer portions and make food prep easier.

I also made the hotel reservations and arranged an hour of movers for Bringing Critter Home™ I'm driving down there in his van the 22nd and 23rd and driving back here the 24th and 25th after packing up the van with the contents of his room. Bonus, the first hotel stay in Jackson is free because I cashed in Choice Rewards points.

I listed the washer and dryer on Craigslist. We've done the initial shopping; I need to check reviews, then after there's Money™ we're heading to ADI to see if they can beat all the other prices. And we have agreed to be content to buy new underwear if needed to outlast the advent of the Money™ or if we have to order the machines. Bonus, we're looking at front loaders, which are tres nifty.

The last couple of days that Flar was gone, I got caught up on "current" filing. There is no longer paperwork lurking in piles for me to sort out. There is still "old" filing hiding in the freezer room with the filling cabinets in disarray (I used the roll top and milk crates this weekend), and maybe some is hiding under the stairs. Dizzy has figured out how to pull files out of the milk crates for noshing, so I'm motivated to fix the filling cabinets next.

Flar just called on his way home from work. He's going to the emergency room in GI distress; pray for him. Cutting off the bibble to go meet him.

mood: worried Tags: bibble, flar

This year's Valentine's rivals last year's for romance. :)

We could really back it up all the way to November, when Flar agreed to attend the United Marriage class with me. During the class, G & M warned us that moving away from Distance to Intimacy would require moving through Conflict. We learned a lot about how each other ticks; we learned a lot about how each of us falls short, and even saw some glimmers of light about things we're occasionally getting right. We've had a lot of tears together and apart since we started this process.

In December, Flar broke up with Gaucha.

At the end of January, Flar restored contact with Gaucha, hopeful of reconciliation or closure.

At the beginning of February, Flar's company was finally given the loan approval necessary to move forward on a pivotal commercial development project. This was an answer to prayer, and there is still lots of prayer needed for the courage of the investors to follow through on their initial willingness to invest in this project.

Flar is hopeful that he will be going to Barcelona (where Gaucha is currently following a path that led to the ultimate disagreement with Flar) very soon.

I have started attending Revive, at The Mat, for wives of husbands who struggle with issues of sexual integrity.

That brings us to last weekend, when we agreed that I would be in charge of Flar's 50th birthday celebration, and he would be in charge of Valentine's. We entered the week on a very tight budget, working together on Sunday to figure out how to make the checkbook stretch until payday on Friday. I managed to throw together a nice birthday party at home, with yummy food from the Kidney Diet cookbooks and a delicious Inside-out Bourbon Ball cake. I scrabbled together a gift budget mostly out of my work money, and leaning only a little bit on the ever-stressed credit cards. We had Ro and Knight and Scarlett and Bébé and Vincedaddy over. Dinner and cake were delicious. After dinner, Flar opened presents: books, DVDs, an HDTV antenna, a decorative iPod dock, and a 50th anniversary Barbie doll. We watched House Bunny before a late bedtime.

Yesterday, I left the house right aroung 7:30 with Tigger, to go to the Quad C chess tournament, held in the north part of Lexington. We were there until just after 5, giving Flar plenty of time to do whatever he had in mind for the day. At one point in the afternoon, Flar called to see if we could make sure not to be home before 6. Tigger used up all his chess thinking in the first game, against an opponent whose rating is twice Tigger's. He almost managed to flag his opponent, whose clock had only 1:29 remaining at checkmate. TIgger only won 1.5 points, but his team once again took first place. They will be playing in the State four boards.

When we got home, Flar was sitting at the (clean -- not like I left it) kitchen table, and there was something baking in the oven. Tigger headed upstairs for bed - he was bushed. I joined Flar in the kitchen, where he had set out wine and brie. There was french bread baking in the oven. And Flar had iced down two bottles of Diet Dr. Pepper for me. :)

That was our appetizer. The next course (the most scary to me, picky eater that I am) was zucchini and parsley soup, served cold. It turned out to be quite delicious. After the soup course, the main course was bacon wrapped filet mignon with a red wine and portobello mushroom reduction sauce, asparagus, and Brennan's scalloped potatoes. Everything was prepared perfectly, and it was all delicious. I drank a little too much wine, because it was quite yummy, and we both decided that dessert would have to wait a bit.

After dinner, I put away leftovers while Flar prepared the bedroom. When I walked in, the room was covered with 30 red balloons and red streamers falling from the chandelier all over the room. He had lit a fire in the fireplace, and a rose scented candle on my bedside table. There was a card on my pillow, and 30 pieces of Almond Roca scattered over the bed. This was our 30th Valentine's Day together. In the card, Flar wrote that we are perfect together. I honestly can't remember the last time he wrote something so positive in a card, it was beautiful.

And the miracle was laying in the middle of the bed. Mom gave Flar a copy of Fireproof for his birthday. I've bought a copy of The Love Dare, and I told Flar my thoughts about watching the movie together, and then reading and following the book together. I would never ever have guessed that Flar would include the movie as part of HIS valentine's day plans!

We laughed, I cried (did I hear him sniffle?) and he averred that it was somewhat predictable. But we both stayed awake, and we shared the Almond Roca, and we snuggled for bed.

This morning, we got extra snuggle time before I left for church, because we had planned for Flar to go to the 11:55 service with me. That meant I could leave for church just in time for serving during the 10:22. He met me at the nursery door at 11:50, and we attended the rocking out message of love.

In all, an amazing, romantic, loving weekend.

I am loved.

location: home mood: content Tags: bibble, birthday, valentines

This week's topic over at therealljidol is Blanket and God is busily covering our local area in His fluffy white winter blanket of snow. It's very pretty. And it doesn't stick and drag and destroy the way the ice did.

I think Oskar has a cold. I mean, it sounds like he just sneezed. Twice. He hasn't eaten all the baby carrots yet, poor dear. So much yumm!

I finished Flood's sweater, but I don't think she likes it. She'll let me put it on her, but when she's not wearing it, she doesn't "ask" for it before going outside.

So, the weather. Kentucky got hit by an ice storm last week that left over a quarter of a million customers without power. That might be an interim, after some people got their power back, number. We lost our power on Tuesday night, and according to Tigger's TiVo, it came back on sometime on Saturday.

Critter was in town for a funeral. A coach from his high school died of cancer Friday before the storm, and the funeral was Tuesday. The ice started early early Tuesday morning, and freezing rain lasted for most of the day. Flar drove Critter to the funeral; Critter took Flar's copper walking stick, and using it as an ice-ax for walking in parking lots in his dress shoes.

When the power went out, we switched from watching House before putting in a Bond movie to playing Monopoly in the kitchen by candlelight assisted by the snow/ice ground reflection of Lexington light pollution. I went bankrupt first, then FLar, then Critter. We all went to bed expecting power back on in the morning, since we rarely lose power for long amounts of time.

When the power was still off on Wednesday, we went out in search of power, heat and the internet. I had Cici's gift certificates left over from Christmas, so we ate a late lunch there, and stayed long enough to charge up our laptops and phones. I got caught up on finances, including all our online accounts. Without power, Flar has to do manual dialysis exchanges throughout the day. When we went home for his exchange that afternoon, the boys split all of our firewood. Then we ventured out to gas up the car, look for kindling, and spend the early part of the evening at Panera.

When we got home Wednesday night, Critter went upstairs to pack while Tigger played Phase 10 (cards) with Flar and I. We had a nice warm fire in our bedroom fireplace, and after it got going, Flar even gave permission for the dogs to curl up on the floor beside my side of our bed. I brought in their pillow and a bunch of blanket so they could nest, as well as the big-enough-to-share water bowl. Critter came downstairs before Phase 10 was over, then after Flar and I crawled into bed, Critter and Tigger played Chess on the floor in front of the fireplace, snuggled up in their sleeping bags. Tigger won Phase 10 - he was a phase ahead of Flar and two phases ahead of me - and two out of three chess games against Critter.

Thursday, Flar was all set to try to drive to Louisville to work. That's when he found out that the ice cover over the Tahoe was almost an inch thick. He couldn't even get the door open. My car was (still is) at Powers to get a valve replaced in the turbo system, and the minivan was under its own layer of ice. Since the Audi was our only working car, Flar drove to Kinko's Fedex Office to work until his laptop ran down. He doesn't ordinarily take his work laptop home at all; he had it for an after-work meeting Monday night and hadn't bothered to bring the charger with him.

Flar picked up Chinese for lunch and then came to pick us up. Meanwhile, once the boys and I got up, we started undercovering cars. We got most of the ice off of the minivan and started in on the Tahoe before Flar got home. Then we all bundled into the car and drove over to Ro and Knight's to eat in warm, and get internet and power and even, *gasp* TV!

Critter's much delayed flight was finally departing on Thursday, so we took him to the airport after a couple of hours at Ro and Knight's. Flar and TIgger and I waited in the airport lobby until the flight departed, just in case. Bluegrass airport has free wifi, so I found out then about the Quad C chess tournament getting delayed. Thus, when TT called Tigger, desperate for company, Tigger was free to go over there for the remainder of the week. Fayette County cancelled school all week. Sayre had classes last Monday, but they closed the campus the rest of the week. After we got home from the airport, we drove the Audi and the minivan back to Ro and Knight's. Flar spent the evening with them, while I drove Tigger to TT's and then spend the night at work. I *meant* to quit at 8 hours, but somehow that last hour got away from me. I think I clocked 9.5 hours for my only night of work for the week.

Friday morning, I finished the job of freeing the Tahoe from the ice so that Flar could drive to Louisville. That woke me up thoroughly enough that I spent the rest of the morning bustling in the house to keep warm. I cleaned up the nest we had made in the bedroom and bathroom, and then tackled the jacuzzi top. The house lets in lots of light during the day, and I was determined for it to be a neater place, even if I couldn't wash dishes, run laundry, etc. I got all the non-powered housework done that I could find, and then it was time to go out to lunch with my life group buddies. We had yummy food at Chick-Fil-A and I accepted the offer of a small generator. While I was out, I checked on Scarlett and Bébé. They had power and were able to get in and out of their neighborhood, so they were fine.

That afternoon, I organized paperwork and put together some bills to mail. I picked up a long extension cord at Lowe's, to use with the generator. While I was there, I picked up a bundle of kindling. After a warm dinner at Panera, I went to the Mat. Flar spent the evening at Asuka after he got home from Louisville, and met me at home after the Mat. We decided to put off figuring out the generator until daylight, and then used the kindling to start a fire with the last of our firewood. We brought the dogs into the bedroom again, and had a nice candlelit night by the fire.

Saturday morning, as we could see our breath again, Flar declared that with the last of the firewood gone, we should "move our flag." I called around and found a place for the dogs, then we loaded up the car with Oskar, the dialysis machine, dialysate, toiletries and changes of clothes. We lunched at Waffle House, then moved into Flar's parents house. Before we left for Waffle House, worried by the graphic on the Herald Leader that seemed to imply that we had power, I called KU and re-reported our outage. On our way out of our neighborhood later, we saw KU trucks for the first time.

Scarlett and Bébé were very pleased to have us spend the night with them on Saturday night. I was relieved to not worry about the cold, but it was really too warm for me. My poor body just didn't know what temperature to adapt to. We shared our leftover Chinese with them for dinner, and talked into the evening. It was nice, but I'm afraid I just never feel "at home" there the way that Flar can.

When I got home from church on Sunday afternoon, Flar was just finishing up lunch with Scarlett and Bébé, I got to join them for dessert. After Flar got dressed, we set out to pick up TIgger and check on the house. The power was back on, so we drove back to S&B's and picked up all our stuff. We stopped on the way home at Wal-Mart to get basic foodstuffs.

During half-time, Flar and TIgger helped me clean out the fridge. There were a few things that had obviously turned; other items that we didn't trust on principle (mainly dairy), and lots of stuff that was okay. The freezers had maintained cold enough temperatures that we didn't lose anything out of them. We watched the Superbowl, which offered some pretty neat football this year, in between commercials. It didn't seem like there were as many great commercials this year. I think my favorite was the Budweiser Clydesdale series.

We're back on a normal schedule now, with Flar driving off to Louisville almost every day, Tigger at Sayre, and me at home. K got the house nice and clean yesterday; I got the laundry sorted and running and TIgger got the clean dishes all put away. I worked about three hours last night and expect my normal four days of work this week.

Last week was an unexpected vacation and adventure. I think we're going to take next week's school vacation as an opportunity to kick back and relax in the warm.

Pray for the people who were harder-hit by this storm, who are still struggling to keep warm without power. Pray for the men and women working hard to restore their power.

mood: calm Tags: bibble, ice storm

OMG.

Rick Warren
Aretha Franklin
Isaak Perlman
Yoyo Ma

I'm watching the inauguration, because well, I can. I didn't expect to be treated with such amazing personalities to compliment our elected officials.

Simple Gifts is one of my favorite hymns. Courtesy of Wikipedia, here are the lyrics:

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where you ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gain'd,
To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come round right.

And now, he's our new president. May God bless and guide him and all of our leaders.

mood: happy Tags: inauguration

Snitched from roina_arwen:

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!


What I create will be just for you.


It'll be done this calendar year.


You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure! However, I *do* promise that it will be more than just a handmade card!


I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.



The catch: You have to put this in your journal as well. We all can make stuff!

mood: crafty Tags: craft, meme

Currently, I'm dead last in the LJ Idol Poll for this week. Since 10 writers will be eliminated this week, it looks like my time has come. If you were planning to vote for me but you haven't yet, you have until 7pm EST tonight. I've 16 votes less than the 11th from the bottom, though. It's not looking good.

mood: pessimistic Tags: lj idol poll