Diary of Me

Sears..... NOT impressed

Time:

8:05 am.

Don't get me wrong, so far the appliances are great but I am NOT impressed with Sears. They delivered all 4 appliances on Monday. The dishwasher was scheduled to be installed yesterday but they don't tell you the time until the day before schedule delivery. OK.... that didn't happen. I called Sears Exton Monday evening at 8:30 p.m. No answer, got an answering machine. I left a message, no return call (despite the answering machine message stating they'd try to return my call in 60 minutes). I called twice yesterday morning telling them someone needs to call because my fiancé is not going to sit at the house for hours waiting for them (why should he?). As of today, no one has called me! Luckily I had the 800 number in my cell and called the delivery people who then gave me the installation people.

Then the same thing with the microwave hood. I called Monday afternoon to tell them that no one called to setup an appointment. Only the dishwasher people called to pick a day and some guy called saying he needs to take measurements, I asked "What for?", and his answer was "I don't know. Sears told me to call you". Um, NO. You're not coming to my house and not know why you're there. Monday afternoon I actually talked to our sales guy and he gave me the delivery 800 number (I think he should have called them had them follow up). It was scheduled for today but again, they were supposed to call last night to give me the 2 hour window.... and that never happened.

I called the installation 800 number again.... they couldn't tell me what time but stated they were emailing the contractor to call me. Yeah, okay... they were supposed to do that yesterday, not a reassuring option. Then they said it wasn't installation, it was an estimate. I said "For what? The wiring is already setup. They just need to install it". So now I have to go to the store to get a refund and they couldn't change it in the system from estimate to installation since the appropriate department was closed.

I called Frank and asked him "You did say your cousin did the wiring for the microhood, right?". He told me yes and even told me that the dishwasher people said that we're ready to go and that it was a shame that Sears didn't tell them because they could have installed it. I'm tired of getting the run around and the lack of help. Frank is getting pissed, too because they would have wasted our time & money today with an estimate. He told me to call the 800 number back and cancel, his cousin and him will take care of it on Thursday since his cousin is working on the plumbing in our house (you have no idea how lucky we are that his Uncle is a contractor and his cousin is a licensed plumber and electrician).

I forgot about the fridge. They told us a head of time that we'd need to update our wiring for the fridge if we hadn't already since the house is 30 years old. They were going to charge over $100 for copper wire to be installed for the water pump thing for the fridge. His cousin took care of updating the wiring but put vinyl wiring since it was better than copper. Sears delivered the fridge, saw the vinyl, agreed that vinyl is better than copper but then said "But we're not authorized to touch vinyl, only copper". WTF?

When the store opens, I will be calling Sears Exton and demanding to speak to the store manager. If they don't credit back the estimate then I'm going to the BBB and corporate. This is freakin' ridiculous.

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I must publicly acknowledge this

Time:	11:39 am.
Mood:	happy.

I am SO proud of my fiancé. Seriously. He has amazed me so much in the last week or so. Some background before I get into my appreciation and amazement with my fiancé. My Father was a very handy man..... definitely a "Mr. Fix It". He would force my brother to help him with tasks so he could learn. My brother hated it at the time but he is so glad now because now he's able to do a lot himself which in the end saves money and it's something to be proud of.... "I fixed it".

Frank on the other hand.... his Father HATES fixing things. He can do somethings but it's not his cup of tea. So Frank never had an opportunity or a reason to learn these things. Frank's Grandfather from his Mother's side was a very talented builder but he passed away before Frank was born. His Uncle (Mom's brother) and his cousin (Mom's nephew) are contractors. His cousin is probably going to fix our plumbing and install an outlet in our kitchen for our new oven for us.

Despite everything, he has really stepped up to the plate. Before settlement he started watching videos how to fix things, he's been playing on doityourself.com a lot, and he's willing to learn more things from his Uncle. He's also getting enjoyment doing things himself. He was so happy that our house came with a table for his tools in the basement. One of his co-worker's husband is a painter professionally and they wanted to paint some of the rooms for free for us. Frank was right there, learning and doing. I haven't taken pictures yet but I love the color of our bedroom. Charcoal grey. Yeah, it's dark but it was a compromise. He wanted black, especially since he goes to bed early. It looks great though. We just need to paint the windowsill and trim white but I love how it looks already. He's going to try to finish the living room this week. Once that's done, I'll have to shampoo the carpet, move our bedroom furniture in, order a mattress, and we'll be set to move in. Because of Frank, it might be the last weekend in July instead of the beginning of August.

I am so proud of him and thrilled with his attitude about doing things ourselves. I love it, love it, love it. I definitely love my Honey and I am so proud. :D

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Bleh

Time:

8:48 pm.

I'm so tired and my allergies are driving me nuts today. I am at my Mom's house since we're pretty much done all we can do this weekend. Originally his co-worker's husband was going to paint the master bedroom and living room for us for free (he's a professional painter for a living). He was supposed to come at noon but since he finished a current job a lot sooner than expected, he swung by at 10:30 am and we weren't there. Frank's reception is crappy in his parents' house so we didn't get the message until 11:00. It works out better this way, he's coming out Monday morning and bringing one of his workers to help him. Still free! w00t! It looks like we'll be moving in a lot sooner than expected.

Thursday evening we went to K-Mart to pick up some stuff for the house. We looked at appliances while we were there. In case you didn't know, K-Mart sells Sears appliances. Our oven in our house does not work.... it looks like the original oven that came with the house back in the 70s anyway. Our dishwasher looks ancient, too. So we looked at dishwashers, too. They were having a really good sale that ended today but didn't want to make any decisions on Thursday. Frank and I decided yesterday to go for it along with a microhood. Our microwave is perfectly fine, it isn't old at all, looks fairly modern. However my counter space is an absolute joke. And no, and island won't fit in there (although I have room to put it up against a wall where the eating area is). I also have a toaster oven that his parents got us our first engaged Christmas, a coffee maker, and I found out Lori got us a regular toaster. I would have no more room for food prep! So the microhood will help a lot. Our refrigerator is very old, a bit beat up but it works. We originally wanted stainless steel appliances but the cost difference between a white, bisque, or black model and a stainless tell model was ridiculous. So we decided to get black. Our fridge is white. My Mom calls his parents' house while I was still sleeping..... Frank woke me up and told me to talk to my Mother. I mumbled "NOO, I just woke up" (I woke up in the middle of their conversation.... especially when Frank was patting my butt to wake me up lol). He told me why she called.... she's giving us $500 for a fridge! w00t! She said that way it's new, it'll match the other appliances, and our fridge was making a noise while she was over and was afraid it would crap out in a few months. It's our wedding gift from her.

Instead of going back to K-Mart, we went to Sears at Exton Mall since we figured their selection would be better. Not only were we correct, but the salesperson at Sears was more knowledgeable than the salesperson at K-Mart.

Here's what we're getting:

Dishwasher:

Microhood:

Fridge:

and the piece I can't wait to start using..... the stove!

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Nice surprise :)

Time:

10:25 am.

I left work early yesterday and as I pulled up to our house, I noticed something different right away..... there were REAL flowers in my flower box on the window sill (opposed to fake ivy that the sellers had). That would be my FMIL's doing. She knows a lot about flowers and about flowers that are okay in the shade. Then she put a hanging flower basket in our yard. I was so excited. See? This is why I was upset when she was treating me different (and it turns out she was depressed). She's usually one of the sweetest people you'll ever meet.

Frank changed the triplever plate in the bathroom and now it works perfectly! I helped and I was the one who pushed that it was an easy fix that doesn't require a plumber. He thought it was going to be complicated but I told him "Hey, my brother knows nothing about plumbing and he changed the one in Mom's tub. It's really easy". Then I helped him change the front door locks. It makes me feel better since originally the seller was supposed to stop by the day of settlement and pick up his clothes that he left in the washer and leave his last key (he said there were 4 keys total, we had 3, he had 1 in his car). Then he didn't know where it was. I was going to anyway but that made me get on the ball sooner about changing the locks. Especially since the locks that were on the door weren't working properly. To lock the deadbolt, you had to lift the door up but then you couldn't lock the bottom lock. Or you could lock the bottom lock but not the deadbolt. Now we had new locks including a deadbolt and you can lock both at the same time! :D

Will came over yesterday and was laughing at Frank & I be domesticated (we were changing the locks when he came over). He needs to meet a nice girl. Anyway, Frank and I went to Lowe's & K-Mart and picked a bunch of stuff up for the house. Today we're going to change the toliet seats and my Mom is coming over for the first time and she said she'd help me finish cleaning the kitchen.

Frank told me yesterday "I haven't seen you this happy in the longest time". I'm just so happy that we're about to live together in our house. OUR house. I'm usually not a fan of the song but I keep getting "Our house, in the middle of the street, our house..." stuck in my head. :-P

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Thanks Everybody! :)

Time:

8:13 pm.

I am so tired. Frank and I continued working on the house today. I lugged a lot of crap from my Mom's house that we needed to continue to work on our house..... step stool ladder, shop vac, carpet shampooer, tools, etc. I helped Frank look for holes and cracks in the master bedroom, helped him with the caulk, and I worked on the fridge. Yesterday the fridge smelled like pasta that was left out in a hot car. Yuck! I took all the shelves out, scrubbed it good, did the same in the freezer, put a box of baking soda in the fridge & the freeze, and empty the drip pan. Big improvement! The microwave looks fairly new and it was slopped up inside. I swear, it's like they worked to be this messy. I took off the door knocker today.... I had to... it wasn't my style and it didn't have our last name on it.... it had the sellers' last name on it. Frank & I patched up the holes and after it dried, I put a hammer hook on the door and hung up a patriotic star for the 4th of July. :D

What else..... they had a box for plants hanging on the side of the window..... with fake ivy leaves. I'm sorry if anyone here does this but that's ghetto. I don't understand the point of having fake flowers outside. My FMIL is into gardening so she's going to help me with that. There's also two planters full of dirt, rocks, and some trash.... um, I'm not a gardening type (at least not yet) but let's put some plants in the planters. :-P

Tomorrow I'm off from working on the house. I have work tomorrow and Thursday so I'd barely be any help and it would be a waste of gas. I am going over after work on Thursday and crashing at his parents. Frank painted the ceiling in the master bedroom today and we're going to paint the walls and the trim hopefully this week. This is so exciting..... we have a house! :D

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Southwest.... Phew!

Time:

10:55 am.

I just checked Southwest's website to see if the November schedule is up yet (it's not). My FMIL scared me because she said she heard Southwest was following the trends of other airlines and charging a fee per piece of luggage per trip. I told her I had checked their travel information section and it said you could have 2 checked in pieces of luggage (I thought it was 3 before but I could be wrong and it's our honeymoon.... we don't need that many clothes ;-P).

Right on Southwest's homepage is a big banner that shows other airlines' fees versus Southwest. Next to "1st Bag Fee" in the Southwest category.... "FREE". Second.... "FREE".

I understand the rise in gas prices is hurting everyone but I think it's ridiculous of the other airlines to decide to charge for luggage all of a sudden. Yeah, they need help with fuel costs but let's not make up a new bogus fee, especially when their customer service never seems to improve. Yet Southwest has a high rating in customer service and you get to have 2 checked bags.

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Today was a good day :-)

Time:	8:09 pm.
Mood:	chipper.

Today was pretty quiet at work, quiet enough that I did the labels as I previously stated. I got home and the tie I won on Ebay for Frank's tie matches perfect! It's definitely light ivory and will definitely work! He'll be happy since he hated the striped diamond white tie at MW Tux. My Honey likes plain, plain, plain. And it was $10 (plus shipping). Not bad, not bad.

Here's the stock photo:

And then the government teased me today. I got an envelope that said "stimulus check" and "Do not throw away" and I thought Yay! Finally!. But it was aheads up that I should receive it by the 20th. Frank's is going to take forever, his last 2 digits of his soc are a lot higher than mine but regardless, it's good to know that I'm definitely getting it and how much I'll be getting. It's going towards the house.

I finished putting the address labels on the outer envelopes and placed the appropriate inner envelope in each one. However, somehow I lost

songbird9603's Mom's inner envelope. WTF? I have extra inner envelopes but I'm holding off... I know it has to be here SOMEWHERE.

Also, we got word that our front porch and side walk will be worked on this week by a contractor. w00t! Hopefully the rest of the crap will be scheduled to be fixed soon.

I'm just very chipper today :D

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Hehe, oops

Time:

10:21 am.

It's pretty slow today at work so I figured I'd take advantage of the time and cut out the Martha Stewart address labels for the wedding invitations.

I posted a picture the other day but here's what the label concept looks like:

I did about 80 labels. The stupid paper cutter at work squeaks so loud! At least 2 people came down from across the floor because they thought there was a bird in the building. lol When the second person came I was like "It's not my fault. Call maintenance if you want the squeaking to stop". Then of course everyone wanted to see what I was cutting (no one cared that it wasn't work related plus I had gotten the OK awhile back about cutting stuff for the wedding on my down time). Oyi. :-P

Speaking of work.....

hughcasey or

darknbitter, would either of you lovely souls do me the ultimate favor and email me a certain piece of information that is going to be announced at 4:05 p.m. tomorrow? Unfortunately I leave at 3:30 p.m. so I won't be present for the announcement. You can email me through LJ or at loving.martinis@gmail.com

Thanks in advance! :D

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Pretty good weekend

Time:

10:08 pm.

Friday was pretty unremarkable accept I finished the inner envelopes for our wedding invitations. They're black envelopes, I printed the names on each envelope and traced over with a silver pen. They look spiffy.

Saturday I got a very minor hair cut... as in a quarter of an inch. I need a hair cut though, it needed to be cleaned up and the dead ends need to be cut. I got a card for Frank's father for Father's Day. I don't mean this in a poor me way but I honestly forgot about Father's Day and had no clue it was today until last Sunday when his sister asked us if we wanted to join them for the Father's Day brunch. Since my Father isn't alive, I don't have that constant reminder "Hey what are you getting Dad?" or "What are you doing for Dad?". Frank is, well, your typical guy who forgets about the holidays or doesn't plan ahead. His Mom thought I would be sad today. I miss my Father but this holiday doesn't depress me. I was upset the first year but it doesn't depress me.

Anyway, I slept over Frank's on Saturday. There was a thunder storm that we thought was going to get real bad but it wasn't as bad as the one a couple of days ago. I was real thirsty at one point, I didn't want water, I didn't want any thing carbonated, I wanted juice. This was about 10 p.m. when I had this juice craving. I was already in my PJs, Frank was in his boxers, and since we like to torment each other I was bugging him "Honey, do you have any juice?" "I'll go check". He checks, no juice. "Honey, go get me some juice, I'm going to die". "Drink some water". "No, I don't want water, I want juice". A half hour later, he said "I'll go to Wawa to get you juice". I felt so bad, I kept saying "Nonononono, Honey, no. Don't, don't. Don't go! You'll die. Honey, please don't go". He went anyway. I felt so guilty, I was just messing with him, yeah I wanted juice, but I didn't expect him to go get it. Wouldn't you know it, I look in his fridge today and I said "Um, you had Limeade this whole time? I would have drank that, it's juice like". "I thought you hated it". "No, I like it". "Dammit!". :-P

Anyway, today we went to brunch at American Bar & Grill. It was really good, we had a nice time. Lynne & EJ just got a new baby (a 6 week old female kitten). We stopped by to see her, she's so cute. It made me want a kitten for a minute but I'd be worried that Giz thought we replaced him. Plus if we got another cat, we'd probably get an older cat since kittens seem to get adopted faster than adult cats. We picked up the homeowners association docs from West Chester. Fonzanoon strikes again, she told us we had to sign something to indicate we picked them up. Um, we read the letter, it was to indicate that we received and accept the terms. Oyi. Then we went back to his house, played some WoW, snuggled, and then I took a nap.

I was driving home on the 30 bypass and all of a sudden I see a car going on 30 E (I was on 30 W), he was in the right hand lane and the grass on the shoulder was on a steep hill. He went flying up the hill, crashed, and flipped over! I was so scared! I saw a car going the same direction on 30 pull over so I didn't bother stopping (again, I wasn't on the same side on 30). Holy crap!

I got home and I did exactly what I put in my last post. Now I'm going to get some PJs on and relax.

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Soda Labels

Time:	9:51 pm.
Mood:	accomplished.

I just finished designing our Jones Soda look alike soda bottle labels for our rehearsal dinner. Each one will have a personalized message to each person at the rehearsal dinner (we're only having those actually involved with the ceremony and my Aunt since she'll be the only out of town guest). I think they look super cute. We had an old Jones soda bottle in the fridge..... Monster Mojito... it tastes like crap which worked out since I tested the label dimensions on it.... it's perfect.

I'd post a picture but unfortunately all the text is laid out in Quark and I don't have a PDF driver to create a PDF or JPEG. Once I get the rest of the soda bottles and the ink cartridge to print the labels in a higher quality, I'll post pictures. Woo-hoo! I feel accomplished. :D

In other news, Frank and I did a drive by to our soon to be house. We got all squishy, there's a "SOLD" sign on the for sale sign. It was also a good way for us to know which street we turn on (3rd on the left) and we drove and found where the pool area is. Tomorrow is 2 weeks until closing (and 2 weeks until we can get rid of ding bat Realtor). :D

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I have a craving

Time:

12:13 pm.

I'm really craving the antipasto salad I made for

lynneferd's bridal shower back in February. It was my first time making it and I thought it was very yummy. The recipe is from Everyday Italian. I usually hate making stops when I go home from work but I think I'm going to make a couple of stops so I make this when I get home. I just wish I had enough basil to make it without having to buy it. Oh well.

Antipasto Salad

(Picture from Food Network but mine was very green because of the fresh basil)

Red Wine Vinaigrette:
1 bunch fresh basil, stemmed and leaves chopped (about 2 cups)
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Antipasto Salad:
1 pound fusilli pasta
1/2 cup hard salami, cut into strips (about 3 ounces)
1/2 cup smoked turkey, cut into strips (about 3 ounces)
1/4 cup provolone cheese, cut into strips
1/4 cup grated Asiago cheese
2 tablespoons green olives, halved and pitted
2 tablespoons roasted red peppers, cut into strips
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Vinaigrette:
In a blender, add the basil, vinegar, garlic, mustard, salt and pepper. Blend until the herbs are finely chopped. With the machine running, drizzle in the olive oil until the dressing is smooth.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta.

In a large bowl, toss together the cooked pasta with the remaining salad ingredients. Drizzle with dressing and toss to coat. Serve.

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