One is Silver and the Other Gold

So last night Miss A and I went to graduation. She silently cheered as all her problem children walked across the stage and we celebrated as our friend K received her diploma. Afterward we attended the graduation party of one of the kids she tutors.

I expected we'd go, say hello, and cut out pretty quickly as we were sure the only folks we'd know are the tutoree and his parents.

Not so. We got there and some very good friends of ours were there. Then the guy who built our garage came in with his family. And everyone else was very friendly. Introductions all around which doesn't happen often in these parts. Normally people just stand around staring at each other. At 11:30pm we were still standing in these folks' kitchen chatting and laughing.

I had the best time at a party I really was expecting to bust. I guess it kind of makes up for all those parties we used to go to that were supposed to be all that and fell flat.

Anyway, it kind of felt good to get to know some more people in our own little town.

In fact, Thursday one of the teachers who showed up to Miss A's end of year teacher party lives here in Hartselle-town with us. She was so sweet while she was here and we hit it off. She actually called yesterday afternoon to find out how I make mojitos. She was at the grocery store buying supplies. Too funny.

I feel like I made some new friends over the last few days. It's been wonderful. Especially after a year of not seeing the few friends I claim to have.

Anyway, this morning I'm signed up to go to a knitting thing at the local Farmer's Market. More new people to meet. And I'll get to work on my mittens for a couple of hours. Yay!

Getting To Know All About You

I was tagged today by Jill over on Ravelry.

Rules:
Answer the questions.
Go tag some folks.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
Hmm...Falling in love...

2. What are five things on my to do list for today.
Don't miss the insurance meeting, it's the last one.
Keep arms close to body. Shirt has gap-o-sis due to enlarged boobages.
Go shop for new shirt.
Go to graduation.
Go to graduation party.

3. Snacks I enjoy...
Chocolate
Grapes, the darker, the better.

4.Things I would do if I were a billionaire...
Quit my job.
Pay off the house.
Go on a grand vacation around the world.
Come home and figure out what I really want to do with my life.

5. Places I have lived...
Brooklyn, New York
Edgewood, Maryland
Savannah, Georgia
Ohatchee, Alabama
Huntsville, Alabama

6. What jobs have I had...
Office clerk (filing, stuffing envelopes, fetching ice cream...)
Car tag sales clerk, urgh...
Board of Education Technology Consultant - I was the only one who knew how to use WordPerfect
Mathematical/Computer Whiz - 17 years and counting
Massage Therapist - Coming soon to theaters near you

7. Peeps I want to know more about...
Okay, so I'm invoking the 80% rule here.

Send Pepto Bismol

The party was a success. Now I'm tired or perhaps it's just that I'm hung over from all the party food. I always eat too much when there's trays on the table and people are bringing more interesting things in every few minutes. I always want to try everything.

I've got to start exercising. I promised myself that when school got out I'd start getting more exercise regularly. Guess how many times I've exercised since school got out? Yep, that would be zero.

I just can't seem to convince myself that it's a good idea. I hate sweating and I really don't enjoy exercise, but it's time. I've got to do something and apparently knitting and reading doesn't qualify as exercise.

Anyway, Miss Lacey is being squirrelly, I need to go figure out how to get her to calm down.

Question and Answer

DB: Why are you so jumpy today?

Sharon B: People have lost their minds!

It must be the weather. It's finally warming up here and everyone is out on the roads. Add to that all the kids out of school and it makes for hazardous driving conditions.

Driving to work this morning was wild. Driving around at lunchtime trying to run some errands was downright harrowing. I was almost run over twice before I could get back to work.

Speaking of work, I found out today that office #1 is moving before the end of the year. That makes all three offices moving this year. To make it even better, I've been selected with the honorable task of coordinating the move for all the servers in our group. Tomorrow I meet with the VP who elected me for the job. Sigh... I didn't really need this right now. But I've been assured it's a huge honor to be selected. Yeah, right. Bite me.

DB: So hostile... how's the knitting coming along?

Sharon B: Something else I don't need right now. I was all excited a couple of days ago because I'd finally found the perfect mitten pattern. Well, last night when I finished trying it on, knitting a row, trying it on, knitting a row, you get the picture. I finally finished it and tried it on for the last time and once again, it was not right. My bird finger was sticking out the tip of the thing and it was not nearly as roomy as it needed to be. Sigh... two nights of knitting down the tube.

I have decided my hands must be those of an alien since I just can't find a mitten pattern that fits me. Thus I have started this evening on a pattern of my own. I've taken two different mitten patterns and rubbed them together. Hopefully I'll get something out of it that I can wear that won't cut off my circulation. When it's long enough I think I'm going to take a sock pattern and rub it on the other two to give an oblong finish rather than circular. I think that's some of the problem with length. I'll let you know how that goes. It's going to be the weekend before I can finish this little experiment.

DB: Wait, what about that Roman blind thing you were making?

Sharon B: It's coming along. I've got the 70 X 88 rectangle assembled and sewn up. All that's left sewing-wise is to measure and sew in the horizontal pleats. Then it's off to the hardware installation part of it. I'm going to try and re-purpose the existing blind's upper rail and brackets. That would save me some time and money. I'll let you know how that goes.

DB: I thought you were going to slow down when you got out of school.

Sharon B: I have.

DB: Uh huh, what was that I heard about a party?

Sharon B: Tomorrow is Miss A's end of school teacher party. I've been prepping party food this evening and de-cluttering the house. The table cloth is currently taking a spin in the dryer and we'll be almost ready to entertain when we leave for work in the morning. Are you going to show up?

DB: Nope

Sharon B: Why not?

DB: Because you'll put me to work painting.

Sharon B: No I won't. I'm almost finished painting. Only trim and cabinets left...mostly...

Honoring Your Commitments

So I arrived home from work today to a message on the answering machine from our bug control company. They called to let us know that they would be coming to spray tomorrow.

Today though, the message ended something like this, "Please call us back to confirm."

This happens every month them coming to visit us and we're pretty diligent about making sure they can get in when they show up. We're not problem customers, is my point here.

Last month when I got my reminder phone call from the eye doctor there was a similar, 'call us back to confirm' tacked on the end of their message. I'd had that appointment on my calendar for a year.

This whole movement toward 'call us back to confirm' is really starting to piss me off. I don't need to call you back to confirm an appointment that we've previously agreed upon. You calling me to remind me is a courtesy and I do appreciate it. If I am not going to make it, I will let you know and reschedule. When you ask me to call and confirm an appointment it is somewhat insulting to me, not to mention inconvenient.

I have tried not calling back to confirm. The last time I didn't confirm, I got not one, but two panicked messages from the eye doctor's secretary wanting to know if they could give my appointment to someone else. I wasn't happy when I had to call them to find out if I still had an appointment.

Has anyone else noticed this kind of thing happening with appointment-based services in your area? How do you handle it?