Damn It!!!!

Just went out to check the pool cover to see if all the water had been drained off only to find out that we have no water INSIDE the darn pool now! Seems that we had what the pool supply company is calling "the bathtub effect" take place. In other words, as the water on the cover got heavier, it pushed the water inside the pool up and under the top rail, between the walls and out onto the ground.....all.....winter.....long. Now waiting on the water hauling service we used last year to call me back with a price quote. I know it's going to be way more expensive this year since the cost of fuel has gone up so much. What do you do though? I bought that pool to swim in during the summer, I'm not going to just let it sit there.

EDIT: $35 per load plus $65 per hour, averaging 3 hours per load. That is the quote from the water hauler. I know when he first filled the pool, it took 4 loads. I figure this time will take at least 3 loads. That is going to come to around $690! It only cost us $500 to fill it completely last year!

To Moderate or not to Moderate

I've had my blog for about 4 years now and this question has always puzzled me. Should I moderate my comments or not? In the beginning, when I first started blogging, I set my comments to only allow registered users to post. This kept spamming and unsavory characters away, but it also made it hard for some of my readers to leave comments because they weren't registered users. So, about a year ago, I changed the setting to allow any and every one out there to leave comments. It worked well for awhile, but now I'm seeing that I'm getting spammers leaving comments again.

It's just frustrating. I don't want to limit those wanting to leave comments, but I'm sick and tired of getting on here and seeing things like "here's that website where I make all this money. check it out". What do you guys think? Is there anyway that you know of to moderate comments without excluding some people from leaving them in the first place? Let me know.

Bah Humbug!

I have NEVER had a problem ordering stuff online. That is until now. Found out today that one of the websites that I ordered a gift for hubby from has been known to charge your credit card or whatever and then NEVER send your merchandise. Great. I feel like an idiot, but they really fooled me. They had the little lock in the bottom corner of the order page, it was an https website, etc. After checking my order status though, I'm thinking that it is a scam. And after checking my charge card, well, the order came to $88.18, but the total taken off my card was $97.54. Hmm, doesn't sound right, does it? So, I called their 800#. This is what I heard: "Hi, you've reached our customer service center. Our customer service hours are from 8am-10pm Mon-Fri. Please hold for the next available customer service representative" I hold for a couple of minutes when this chipper little voice comes back on the line and says, "We're sorry, there's nobody here right now. Please leave a message and we'll call you back." Ok, I have never gotten through to any customer service that wants you to leave a message. Stay on hold for hours on end, yes, but leave a message and they'll call you back? No, can't say that I've ever done that before. I didn't leave a message. I hung up. I did call back though. Four more times, to be exact and got the same message each time. Wonderful customer service...NOT! I did call the credit card company and they said that I can get my money back, but I'll have to go through their fraud section and it might take awhile to do, but at least I'll get my cash back. I know it could have been worse, but it is still frustrating. I had to make a mad dash to find the dvd's that I'd ordered from this place and now hope, hope, hope that they get here in time for Christmas. Some people are just real jerks!

How Often Does It Change?

Ok, I'm getting a bit annoyed with Google right now and their everchanging pageranks. I've gone from a PR3, down to a PR1, back up to a PR3, down to a PR2 (two days ago) and now I'm at a PR0! What the heck?!?!? How often do they change the rankings? Every day? It wouldn't bother me so much if I wasn't trying to earn some extra money by writing sponsored ads. But, a lot of these sponsors go by pagerank and when you have a low one, you get less work. I know there are several people out there that say not to write sponsored ads on your blog, it drives readers away. Maybe they're right. Maybe that's what is going on here even though I'm still showing a lot of traffic to my site. I don't know. It's so frustrating.

Edit: After much searching on the web, I've noticed that several blogs that write sponsored ads have been knocked down to a PR0. Several of these blogs have speculated that google is "out to get" those of us who write these ads. Personally, I think it's a crock to have high and mighty google punish you for what is written on your blog. what happened to freedom of speech?

PageRank Changed Again

I'm so confused on this whole google pagerank thing. When I first started my blog, it was ranked a PR3 then it dropped to a PR1. I know why it dropped then. I pretty much quit writing and lost a lot of readers. Anyway, I started writing again and last month got it back up to a PR3. But, I logged on this morning and it is now showing that it's dropped to a PR2. Argh! I've not done anything different so no idea why it dropped. I guess I'll just go with the flow. It would be nice if it would stay at a consistent number, but I don't know how to do that so will just go along for the ride. I just hope it doesn't drop any lower.

I Need An Aspirin!

AGAIN, our G** D*** truck is in the shop! Hubby called me this morning and said the turbo was going out on it. This is getting ridiculous! We've had transmission work, rearend work, turbo work etc. done on all three of our trucks in the last month and it's really starting to wear me out! I really thought that after getting our truck back this last time that it would be the LAST time, but I guess not. And to top it all off, I've had an ongoing migraine since last weekend. It comes and goes, but it's always there, lingering and just waiting to strike again when I get stressed.

Busy as a Bee

I'm beginning to think that this really isn't Friday, but that it's Monday instead. The way the phone has been ringing and the way my to list has been growing, it just can't be Friday. Friday's are supposed to be quiet and calm, easy going, not too busy. Monday is supposed to be the hectic, everything going on at once, pulling your hair out day. Did I fall into some sort of time warp where my days are opposite? Maybe I'm still asleep and I'm dreaming about everything that is going on. Whatever is going on, I want my usual Friday back! Enough of this crap that's going on today.

It's Just Another Manic Monday

And I'm going to go insane if the phone doesn't stop ringing. Since I started work at 8am, I think I've easily answered over 100 calls. Most of them are wanting construction dumpsters either removed or delivered. Any other time this would be fine, but today, for some reason, everybody and their mothers are calling in and wanting it done right now. Sorry, but we can only pick up one dumpster at a time. I've also had to make two trips into town (1st to take my son to school, 2nd to take his gym clothes to school) and then another trip to pick one of our trucks up from the shop. That was the best hour of my day:) It was nice and quiet with just the sun streaming through the car window. I could have easily just kept on driving instead of returning to the office. But, no, I was a good girl and came back to my desk with the annoying, nonstop ringing phone.

My head is going to EXPLODE

Reasons for an exploding head:

1. Went to the bank, lines were out the door. By the time I got to the cashier, she closed her window so she could take a break!

2. Went to the new Super Walmart to get groceries. Couldn't find anything. Spent $50 more then if I'd just driven to the other grocery store in the next town!

3. Came home to a cat who coughed up a hairball and strung it all along the living room carpet. Cat has avoided me since...no comment on why!

4. Have to make a 2 hour trip tonight to drop off our truck at the shop for repairs...again! Why can't anyone within a 20 mile radius work on our trucks?

5. It's been raining all day and we now have a leak in our garage!

Yep, just one more thing and I'm going to look like a balloon that is about ready to burst. Not a good look for me, I might add.

I'm Just Chillin'

Literally! When I wondered earlier when the autumn weather was going to arrive (read here)I didn't think when it did finally get here that it would be enough to make me drag out the extra blankets.

Ladies and Gentlemen, October has finally arrived. After several weeks of above average temperatures, we're now experiencing cold, wind and rain. Granted, temps are average for this time of year, according to the all knowing weather forecasters, but when you go from 80 degrees one day to 50 degrees the next, I'm telling you, IT...IS....COLD!!!

I even had to turn our furnace on last night! NOOOOO!!!! I was so not ready for that to come on. I must admit though that it did feel good to wake up this morning to a toasty warm bedroom instead of the icebox I awoke to Wednesday morning.

I guess this will teach me to "complain" about the weather.

If it's not one thing, it's another

Last Friday, we had to take one of our business trucks to the shop. It started out with a leak in the rear seal and ended $4500 later with a new rear end. It was out of commission from Friday until this morning. Now, our other truck has decided to be a pain and break down too so it is also in the shop. Unfortunately, we can't go without this truck and are having to rent one to the tune of $1500 per week! It seems like every time something breaks around here, it's never something small. It's always something big and expensive. Argh!

To top it all off, my back is still bugging me (read about that here ) I was really hoping that by now, my back would be back up to par, but I guess it is going to be temperamental just to give me something else to deal with. Lucky me.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Good: I am finally starting to feel better. This cold has really knocked me for a loop. It's been the worst one that I've had in ages (knock on wood). The weekend was pretty much spent feeling awful. Stuffy head, nose, ears, dizziness, diarrhea, coughing, aches, etc. NOT FUN! But, like I said, the good thing is that I am now feeling a lot better. The stuffiness is pretty much gone. The dizziness is also gone as well as the diarrhea (thankfully!). The coughing is still here, but getting better each day although my sides are really sore from using those muscles. I still believe it is just a cold, not the flu, as I've not had any fever with it.

The Bad: I had a big long post typed up and my computer crashed! So, had to write it up all over again. DANG IT!

The Ugly: The pool guy STILL hasn't shown up to close our pool for the winter! They called me two weeks ago and said that I needed to get our water sample up to their office ASAP in order to see what type of chemicals they were going to need to bring to add to the pool. Well, I did that last Monday. I took time out of my BUSY day to run twenty minutes over to the next town to take this water sample to them. I spent ten minutes driving around because they'd changed their office hours and neglected to tell me that when they called. I then spent another thirty minutes waiting on them to run the water sample and figure out what I needed to buy to put in the pool. All of this when I'm feeling like crap anyway (that was the day I first started getting sick). They told me, as I walked out their front door, that they would be sending the guys out one day that week (last week) to get the pool covered and closed. The only thing I had to do before they came was add the chlorine that I purchased that day. That was it. They'd be out that week and I wouldn't have to worry about buying any more chemicals or running the pool pump, using electricity that really wasn't necessary anymore. But, do they show up? NO!!!! So, now I'm into another week and having to add more chemicals and use more electricity to circulate water in a pool that we haven't used in the past THREE WEEKS! The temperature of the water is down to 66 degrees so even if it warms up this week, like the forecast is saying, I doubt it warms up the water enough to swim. If I don't get a call today from the pool guy, saying that he'll be out here tomorrow, I'm going to give them a call AND a piece of my mind. Ok, maybe I won't give them a piece of my mind. I really can't afford to be giving that away, but you know what I mean:)

Who's Right?

Two different opinions here. Please tell me which one is right.

The background: Work at Home business has informal office. No set hours really, work out of the house, take care of home, family and work at the same time.

Side #1: Office help answers phones from time she gets out of bed in morning until she goes to bed at night, does billing and any other business stuff that is needed, but if something comes up with kids or family takes takes the time during the day to take care of the problem then works later into the evening to make up for it. If cars oil needs changed, she goes early in the morning then comes back and answers any messages that have been left. She does not take a lunch hour but rather answers phones, does paperwork, etc. while eating at her desk. She does not take specific breaks either and usually has the phone with her wherever (and I do mean wherever) she goes so as not to miss any calls. Also works on weekends, but does not get paid for anything or get thanks or gratitude for doing anything.

Side #2: Owner of business is out working physcially from 4am to 6pm most days of the week. He does not take a lunch or a break either. When something needs done he calls office help and expects it to be done at that exact minute. Expects office help to be on call 24-7 whether it is weekday or weekend. Does not want office help to do anything except set by the phone, waiting for people to call. If office help needs to get things done with kids, owner does not want it to be during business hours however also doesn't want office help to take the day off to do those things. For example, doctor's appt. should always be on weekends but our doctor doesn't work on weekends and other things like that which can only be done during the week. He also expects office help to drop everything at once if HE needs her to run somewhere or do something for him. Never says good job, never says thank you for any job that office help does. Contantly yells at office help when things are not right, but when office help gets upset and yells back it is her fault and she shouldn't do that.

Ok, I'm sure you realize that office help is me and owner is hubby. But please tell me who is in the right here? We've always said from the very beginning of this business that if things had to be done during the weekday that it would be fine that I do them as long as work didn't suffer. Work has NEVER suffered from my being gone a few hours during the day. Very rarely do I leave this house unless it is at the end of the week and things are slow business-wise and even when I do leave, if I come home to messages I IMMEDIATELY return those calls. We've NEVER had set office hours in the entire 5 years that we've done this. People call anywhere from 5am to 11pm so how can we? I do put a limit on when I take phone calls, but apparantly even that is wrong to do. Now hubby has forbidden me from going to lunch with my grandma who will be turning 99(!!!) years old this Saturday because it will interfere with "the workday". I am sick and tired of it. If this was an actual office setting then I could understand it, but it's not. If any other "boss" treated me this way, I would have quit a long time ago, but with it being my hubby I can't very well do that without risking marital strife too.

So, anyway, anybody that has any comments I'd really appreciate them. Even if they are comments stating that I am in the wrong, please leave them here. It's entirely possible that I am not seeing how wrong I am in this situation.

Update: Just got a call from Mr. Wonderful and now he is saying how sorry he is for acting like a jerk, I do a lot for him and he doesn't want to fight anymore. Ok, so apparantly he's had time to "think" about today, but you know what? It'll happen again in another week or two. This is a neverending episode in our lives right now. He yells, I cry/yell, he apologizes, I continue to walk around on eggshells. I just wish he'd stop yelling in the first place. If he has a problem, talk about it instead of immediately jumping down my throat. I guess he's never heard that you catch more flies with honey. Oh well, I guess this will make for an interesting evening. At least it won't be an extremely tense one.

Deck Problems

The deck that should have been done by this past weekend still hasn't even been started. Why? you ask. Well, the guy who we'd asked to do it, the one who promised it would be done by the weekend, the one who went ahead and bought all the lumber, decided at the last minute that he didn't have time to do it after all. His day job was keeping him too busy. Can you say p***ed off?!?!?

I've scrambled since Friday, trying to find someone else who would be willing to do it for us. Finally, this morning I get a call back from a local contractor who said he was on his way out to our house to give me an estimate. When he got here, he said it would be no problem to fit us into his schedule, BUT.....yes, there was a but. But he said from the looks of the pile of wood we have in our yard, he didn't think that our drop-out contractor bought enough! Great. We've already spent $1600 for lumber, concrete, nails, etc. and now this new guy is telling me that we might have to buy even more? Good grief! He is supposed to get a labor estimate to me this afternoon or evening. If it's not a lot then I'll go ahead and tell him to schedule us, but if it's way more then I'm willing to pay then I guess it's back to the drawing board.

I swear, this pool is just not working out the way we thought it would. First it seemed to take forever to get installed and now the deck is to. Must just be my luck.

My rant for today

I'm so sick of people who think they don't need to work and that everyone else should take care of them. My brother inlaw is the topic today. He doesn't have a job, lives in a trailer where rent is provided free of charge by his mom, and blows what little money he does earn from fixing cars on drugs. Today he had the nerve to call my husband and ask if he would buy a car trailer from him so that his electricity wasn't shut off! First of all, we don't need a car trailer. Second, we don't have the extra money to spare to buy the car trailer. Third, it is not OUR problem that my brother inlaw is about to lose his electricity.

This isn't the first time an inlaw has asked for help like this. I'm tired of it. I know that it is harsh, but if everyone continues to take care of brother inlaws bills then he will never worry about them himself. I say, if he can't pay for it then let them shut it off. He'll find some way to come up with the money to get it turned back on eventually. So, he won't have power to have the radio on while he plays around in the garage, working on derby cars. Who cares? Not me! I have my own bills to worry about paying without having to factor in someone elses! I'm not against helping someone out in a pinch, but this is getting ridiculous!

Am I wrong in feeling this way? Like I said, it would be different if C. had never asked for help before and was just down on his luck this time because of a job layoff or something, but this is an ongoing event. Every month, he's bumming money off one sibling or another. He takes major advantage of his mom by not even offering to pay her rent. He doesn't even offer a trade of services or something similar to make up for it. He just uses her kindness to his advantage.

And it's not just C either. I think all of hubby's siblings have been mooches at one time or another. His sister, J, owes his mom several thousand dollars for back car payments that his mom paid for so her car wasn't repossessed. M, a brother, uses his mom as his own personal banker to help fund his business. He's even had her take out loans so that he can pay his employee payroll! What the hell? Another brother, D, has also bummed money from us or his mom. It's a neverending cycle. Hmm, I'm seeing a pattern here. Mom inlaw has been involved in all of these matters. Maybe SHE should stop giving so much and let her children learn from their mistakes instead of always being there to bail them out.

Well, I know this time, even though hubby is wanting to help his brother out, it's not going to happen. I'm not taking money to C like hubby wants. He is just going to have to find some other sucker to get it from....and I'm sure he will.

It must be a guy thing

Had my sit down chat with hubby last night. I don't think much got through to him though. It must be a guy thing because while talking to my mom this morning she said that my dad does a lot of the same things that my hubby does. Hmm. Well, if she can put up with it for 40 years, i guess I can too:)

Sometimes I hate my hubby!

Today is one of those days. Normally, he can get away with a lot before I really get peeved at him. However, he's used up all those free passes this weekend. Between being a sarcastic pain in the a** and his constant putdowns, I've had it up to HERE! Tonight, whether he wants to or not, we're having a little chat about this!