Internet, Phone, Birthday.....OH, and a new car!

We have been running crazy every day trying to get the shop open.
Not to mention Permit Hell and dealing with the Texas Secretary of State who sent our Certificate of Assumed Name to Jim's work....because that's where he faxed it from.  Even though I filled everything out with our shop location address etc etc etc.  Because he didn't fill in "ship to shop location" in the Special Instructions box on Form 807 (form to pay via credit card when faxing application) they sent it to the location where it was faxed from.  And then the guy acted like I was stupid because we didn't put a note in the Special Instructions box stating that we wanted the Certificate to be sent to either our home address or our shop location.  Um....yeah!
So I called them back and got a different operator who said that happens all the time and that they have talked about changing how the form is written and what the instructions are.  Then The Nice Lady said that she would send me out another copy to our home address..........which arrived the very next day!
Thank you, Nice Lady!

Last Sunday we drove to Lago Vista (BEAUTIFUL!!!!!) to buy a Tea Cart and then to Cedar Park where we got a heavy duty steel cash drawer for $50 and the receipt printer for $50.  YEA!!! Now I have a working POS...........that I can't get to work yet.  I am pretty sure that I installed the printer on the wrong port after Jim and I talked about it.  I'll have to set it back up and work with it some more.  BUT, that's kind of moot point as we have decided to go with a desktop for the shop computer, so we have to get an OS installed etc etc on one of the skeletons that we have laying around here.
So after the guy came to install the internet/phone I went to Automax Ford to get some things looked at/fixed on our 2008 Escape.  It has started to make some icky noises lately and, although Jim can fix almost anything, he really can't work on the Hybrid at all.  Besides, we wouldn't want to void the warranty.  The Service Guy suggested that I buy an extended warranty from Ford......and you can only buy them if you are still under warranty.  Now, we were under the impression that we had a 3yr/30,000 mile warranty and my mileage was 29992.8 miles when I arrived at the dealership.
While I was waiting for the person to discuss the warranty I saw a GORGEOUS Metallic Steel Blue SUV sitting in the showroom.......my FAVORITE car color.  Our Escape Hybrid was white.......because it was the only one in Texas when we bought it and we were lucky to get that!  Of course, the salesman suggested I get it etc etc etc......I just laughed....yeah, right!  I was on the phone with Jim and he told me to tell the salesman to go ahead and see what it looked like.  Well, it turns out that we were way NOT upside-down on our Hybrid........and they gave us quite a good deal on the trade in (several thousand above Kelly Blue Book) and we got a great deal on it.  So, when Jim got off work I picked him up in our old one, we signed the paperwork and now have a GORGEOUS 2010 Ford Escape Hybrid!

First Day Of Spring!!! Bring on the sleet....

One more blast of winter on the way

One more blast of winter on the way Posted On: Saturday, Mar. 20 2010 04:50 AM

By Jackie Stone
Killeen Daily Herald

Today marks the first day of spring, but lawns and flowers will have to wait a few extra days to see the return of sunny skies and warm temperatures.

Temperatures are expected to drop from a high of 81 degrees last Sunday to near freezing tonight, with rain and winds, according to the National Weather Service.

However, chances are good that this weekend will mark the last freeze of the year, said Victor Murphy, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Fort Worth. Since 1900 the average date of last freeze of the year in Killeen is March 11, putting the area about 10 days behind if this weekend becomes the last freeze.

"Statistically speaking, the odds of getting a freeze (after this) would be extremely slim. Basically this looks like the last hurrah for winter time," he said.

A cold front is expected to move through Killeen today, bringing with it a forecast of an 80 percent chance of thunderstorms and rain and winds as high as 40 miles per hour. The National Weather Service has predicted a low of 33 degrees tonight and cold temperatures through the weekend.

The area from Waco to Killeen is coming off the fourth coldest recorded winter since 1901, and the coldest since 1984, Murphy said.

Even though things will warm up again next week, Murphy said the same conditions and El Niño pattern that kept cold weather sustained throughout the winter will likely keep temperatures cooler than normal through the rest of spring, and bring more rain than usual as well.

Here's a screenshot off of my iPhone showing the sleet just to the north of us.
According to the AccuWeather app, it has dropped from 57°F to 43°F....and it's supposed to keep dropping until it hits 39°F at 11:00am, then hold steady right about there..........and then drop lower over night.
So much for the First Day of Spring!
LOL!

Goodbye, Old Washer/Dryer. HELLO, New Laundry Center!!!!

So last week our full-sized stacking washer/dryer almost caught on fire!  An underwire had somehow gotten into the dryer and then made its way the holes in the back of the drum....through them.....and then to the element.  It shorted out, over-heated, and then, THANK GOD!, kicked the circuit breaker!
I heard a "BOOM!" as the circuit breaker kicked off and then ran out there to see what was up.  I opened the dryer to pull out the sheets that were in there and they were so hot that I had to throw them down onto the dirty garage floor.  Even having them in my hands for that short time burned my hands!
Of course, the next thing I did was call Jim!  I didn't even think to call the home warranty people! DUH!
This was on Monday.  I knew that the service man that they contracted to only came up to Killeen on Thursdays, so I gave him a call and gave him all the details and the model number.
Thursday comes around and he took it apart and then promptly pronounced it dead! OM!
He had already looked up the parts and found that they were no longer available because it was over 13 years old!!
He gave me the claim number and told me that he would turn it in as "un-repairable" and that the home warranty company would be in touch with to replace it.
On Tuesday of the next week they called and offered us one that was similar, but was missing some really key features.....like temperature controls for the dryer and the upgraded agitator....instead of just a stick in the middle of the washer.  I had the high-end model with the fabric softener dispenser, hanging rack, shoe drying rack, etc etc, but the one they were offering was the same SIZE washer/dryer, but didn't have any of the up graded features.  The did tell me that I needed to go to Sears.com or to a local Sears and take a look at the one they were offering to see if met our approval.  And that we were welcome to take a credit of the price of the one that they were offering towards any other model that we preferred.
We went to Sears and the first thing we noticed was the agitator was VERY different!  The one that they were offering wouldn't even AGITATE the clothes......I guess it was just there to tell you where the middle of your washer was!
Also, there was no temp selector on the dryer!   GRRR!!!!
~hours later~

My new washer/dryer just got done with its first load of laundry!  Now I have nice clean sheets to put on the bed!

Silver Anniversary.....to a TWIT!

So today would be my Silver Anniversary if I had stayed married to The Twit.  LUCKILY, I didn't!  But, because I was married to him and we got stationed at Fort Hood, I found My Other Half.
And Jim and I went out to dinner tonight......and this was the best Anniversary With The Twit that I've had in 25 years!!!!!  Of course, it's not what I was picturing 25 years ago...............but it's so much better.
I'm married to a man who makes all my dreams come true.
What more could a woman ask for?

And THIS is what I found on our White Board last night:

YEAH!!!! Last patterned row!!!

Egads! My attention span must be getting shorter if I'm excited about
getting to the last patterned row on a freakin' DISHCLOTH!!!!!!
PATHETIC!!!!

HORRIFYING DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OMG!!!!!!!!! This has to rank up in the top 5 of all time worst days in my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I already took my sleeping med......................and a tranquilizer, so this is short and NOT so sweet.

Jim and I spent the day out at the shop painting. I came in the door first and Tucker was on the couch NOT greeting us...........which usually means that they/he did something bad. Then I looked down on the living room floor and saw Phoebe laying there. For the most micro-est of seconds I could understand why she was laying on the floor in the living room as it is not something that she does!!!! Then a split second later I saw it. The blood on the carpet. The open mouth. The mauled body. The pieces of fur everywhere. The open wounds all over her body.
It was horrific and I totally lost it. I just screamed and grabbed her and would let her go. It was a half an hour later befre I would put her down. She had been dead for some time as rigor had set in and she was starting to come out of it.
I didn't handle it well................I was hysterical the whole time...........and, Jim, as usual, was everything. I finally put her in her bed and we took her out to the shed until Jim can bury her tomorrow.
She was the MOST BEAUTIFUL.........MOST LOVING cat EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a horrible day.

GORGEOUS Sweater/Jacket!!!!!

I was looking at patterns on Ravelry and found one that was interesting. I wanted to see a larger pic of it, so I went to the person's Flickr page...........and then found THIS:


Isn't that incredible???????
You can see more of her stuff at Gwendolen2's Photostream