Ask me how my day is going. I dare you.

Because this is going to be a heckuva long rant!

I woke up this morning to a 62 degree house, even though the thermostat was set to 68. Was the heater on? Yes. Was there any heat coming out? No. Did I JUST HAVE MY FURNACES CHECKED LESS THAN A MONTH AGO TO MAKE SURE THIS CRUD WOULDN'T HAPPEN?? YES! So I called Sears and they were nice enough to tell me that they could have someone come out tomorrow between 8-5, and most likely charge me $100 to see what was the matter, unless it was determined by the repair guy whether or not it was their fault. Boy, I'm sure the repair guy would just JUMP at the chance to admit mistakes to his company so he could give me free service. Also, wasn't the $160 I paid them a couple weeks ago supposed to be for figuring out if there were any problems? And isn't anything that is wrong right now basically their fault because that is THE WHOLE REASON I HAD THEM COME OUT TO BEGIN WITH!?!? So Dario decided to get up into the attic and see if there was just a switch flipped or something. When he got up there he found the furnace covers off, wires exposed and all. Fine job this service technician did. So he put the covers back on and hoped that would solve the problem because there was a safety switch that would be pushed when the covers went on. The heater did not come on. So now I was really fuming! My heater was working absolutely fine when I called to get the maintenance check. Now, after the technician comes out, it's not working, and he was obviously careless enough to leave the covers off, so who knows what else he messed up? I called back and asked for a refund of the $80. Okay, I didn't ask. I demanded. But of course they have to switch me to approx. 4 different departments before I get someone on the phone who can actually do something about my request. Right then, the heater kicks on. I don't know if it needed time to reset or what. But I was still ticked off and still wanted a refund because I think it's absolutely ridiculous that I've wasted a whole morning being frozen and talking to all their stupid reps and having to fix the stupid technician's mistake. So this is the lady's response, "No, we don't do refunds of maintenance fees." So I asked to speak to her manager. Then she goes, "ummmm, no, we don't have a manager". I say "You mean to tell me that you have no manager or supervisor on your department?" She says, "No, there's only six of us here." Nice. But she is helpful enough (and I say that in the most sarcastic way) to transfer me to another department. Then I get a bad connection. I talk to Monica for a minute and tell her I can barely hear her, then the line goes dead. So I proceed to start all over and call someone (the 6th person by now) and explain the ENTIRE situation for the 6th time, who proceeds to put me on hold for quite some time, and then when he comes back on he tells me, "I see that you've spoken to customer relations and they've already denied you a refund. Sorry." And folks, I didn't even put in all the details to this story, such as having to hear at least 3 times this morning "Thank you for holding. We are experiencing heavy call volume at this time..."

I am steamed. And yes, I have considered the possibility that I've overreacted to this whole thing because people make mistakes like leaving the cover off a furnace even though they may not be COMPLETELY incompetent. But right now, I'm just ticked, so let me be.


Frustration number 2. Can you guess? Yup, it's my 2 year old. Today he managed to find his sister's purse and scatter her birthday money in various parts of the house, pull out EVERY pair of his pajamas and scatter them all over his floor, and take out every toy he's ever owned, along with all the pieces of his "Go Fish" game, and throw them willy nilly throughout his bedroom, the hallway, and the stairs. Also, the icing on the cake. I went to take a shower and left my husband in charge. I don't blame him for this, by the way, I just had to add the husband part so you wouldn't think I left two 2-year-olds completely unattended. While I took a shower, these two pulled all the cushions off the couch, dumped my tray of pretty, don't-you-dare-touch-these candles onto the couch, and proceeded to unwrap the presents that were under the tree.


Frustration number 3. I belong to a freecycle group, which is a local online thing where people offer to give things for free to keep them out of the landfill, or just because they don't want/need them anymore. I offered a pair of brand-new, never used jeans the other day. They were too small and I'm never going to fit into them, and I'd had them too long to return them to the store. This lady wanted them and I put them in a bag and set them outside my door for her to pick up. Then I get this email saying that she drove all the way from Austin to pick them up and they weren't there. I checked outside and they were gone. They had to have been stolen right off my porch. I wrote her back and apologized profusely and told her they had been stolen. I even went out of my way to write to another woman who wanted them but had been turned down and make sure she didn't misunderstand me and pick them up. She didn't. So I wrote again to let this other lady know. Then today, a new member on freecycle who lives right in the near vicinity of me and is using the name "JaneDoe" posted the same size new with tags jeans. This is either a huge coincidence or she is the one that took them. So this other lady sees this message obviously, and assumes this is me posting under another name, and messing with people. She writes me a nasty email accusing me of pulling immature pranks. Also, she writes that I didn't even have the decency to email her back. So she obviously got none of my previous emails and thinks I'm a total scammer. Probably my emails went to her junk folder or something. People know each other a little bit on this list, so I'm now wondering how many people she warned about me.

And now, my kids are home from school, and the fighting has commenced.

And I can't even eat chocolate to soothe myself, because if I gain any more weight I'm going to have to buy a whole new wardrobe, as I know have to suck in to get into my fat pants.

So I am on the verge people. Don't you dare say anything mean to me today or I will punch you in the face.