Today's events

Took the cats out as usual and the light outside my door is out. A paper falls from the doorknob to reveal the frustration of the apartment managers of violations of their pet rules. Yeah, well a rule is only as good as its enforcement. It stressed renters are to sign a pet agreement, pay pet deposit, and monthly pet fees with their rent. Violators will be evicted. Then it continued how dogs are to be on leash at all times outside their apartment, waste is to be picked up, please call office if pet station needs new bags or basket emptied, and pets are not to be left unattended outside on porches or balconies (define unattended) nor tethered to their porch railing. Fines will be placed upon violators.

After our half hour on the staircase and 2 minutes outside in the cold, I waited for my father to call to say where my Mom was located. She had her surgery today. Had to get going to my sister's house so I left. Dad called sister's house. She sounded awful on the phone and was in misery so we didn't talk long. She goes home on Saturday. I will try to visit tomorrow. I bought a flower pot since they have no vases for sale for their carnation bouquets. I got a balloon with band aids stuck on hearts saying Get well soon, but it untied itself and flew away when I walked out the door. It is in heaven now. I cut the last pieces of my niece's cake. She wanted to eat the candles too. I removed them despite her protest.

Now I'm getting worried over my cats. I went to clean the litterbox and the litter has not been disturbed. It doesn't stink as usual either. Their food hardly touched, but canned food was mostly gone and cat treats were gone. Why are my cats not eating or pooping in eight hours? Perhaps they will by tomorrow. Frodo was racing the laser light so he should get hungry from the energy he used up. Precious jumped at it, but Frodo got in the way. Precious got his exercise running up and down the stairs. Nothing else to report. Post later. Bye!

Taxes done

Packed up my Christmas decorations to place in my storage facility (parents' house) and went over to my brother's house to get my taxes done. I stink in the math department so I prefer someone good in math doing them for me, plus someone who understands lawyer talk that confuses me (and customers I rent cars to). The standard deduction and tax exempt amount went up so I got more back than last year from the Feds. I broke even with State because they do not mail refunds for $1, but at least I don't have to pay. With my tax refund I think I'll get a pet, perhaps ferret or hedgehog. Yes, I know I have 2 cats to love but since no guy wants my love and affection, I'll surround myself with animals who desire my attention. I'm happy. Cats are happy, especially when I come home.

It was such a lovely day yesterday I put on a lighter jacket rather than my heavy winter coat. Cats didn't want to go back inside. Then this morning I wake up to flurries outside the window. Brrrrrrr. Grab a donut and orange juice bottle at a gas station for my breakfast, and it is so windy I'm afraid to let go of the wheel to eat my breakfast, plus the orange juice bottle won't open. Closer to my parents' house it got peaceful, so took off the gloves to open the bottle and eat my donut finally. Put on the cruise control hoping I'm passed the worst of the storm. Then, it gets worse as I reach my parents' neighborhood. Mom is freaking out with worry that I'm going to crash cause schools are letting out early in the area. Put the Christmas decorations in the closet the way Mom wants the placed (I put them away once by myself and she got upset that I didn't do it right). Mom wanted me to stay rather than drive in this storm. Got to feed to cats and go pick up my niece from daycare. Must brave the wind. Get home and call Mom. Take care of cats and visit outside a few minutes.

Call sister's cell phone asking if her class is canceled due to the weather to double check that I do need to pick niece up. She says class is still on, but they can leave early. She could pick my niece and I just stay home. It suppose to get worse and I might get stuck at her house if I stay to do laundry. I can stay home (I'm not arguing against driving in this mess) and come tomorrow for laundry. I did one load here so I wouldn't have as much tomorrow, as I told Mom I would try to visit her in the hospital. She goes in for her new replacement replacement surgery tomorrow morning. Perhaps, my sister, niece, ane I can go together. I watched movies after the news advising to stay home, the worse is yet to come. Better go to bed now. Post later. Bye!

Good one

The FBI has arrested a woman in Michigan for soliciting a hit man on craigslist to kill the wife of a man she met through an online college course and physically met for 2 days in Reno. Their only other comminucation is through phone and email (not much of an affair if you ask me). The posting was vague as a freelance job and only people emailing her were told she was offering $5000 to eradicate a female living in California. She gave phone numbers along with work and home addresses. Gotta watch out for those vague job descriptions.

The article on msn.com stated prostitutes have been noted advertising on find work sites and a Minnesota woman was killed responding to ad for a babysitter. Gotta be careful about people you meet on the internet, they might be crazy. And learn to do background checks. I met a few weirdoes on myspace.com offering tongue lashing or a good time (neither man had a profile beyond age and city listed, or pic of themselves), and a woman with a link to look at naked pics of her since myspace can't contain nudity. I hit delete on those offers. Post later. Bye!

Ka-boom

Took the kitties for our daily walk outside and I could hear the ice melting, cross between a snap and pop. Then a loud ka-boom wush wush sound of ice chunks ran down the gutter pipes (or whatever the terminology for the pipes than run from the guttered eave to the ground). It made the cats jump and race back inside. OK, the first time Precious jumped out into the snow and got his paws all wet. Poor dear. The second and third time both cats ran inside. Then we met a dog and the cats hid behind the door and me. Then another dog came outside and gained the interest of the first dog so kitties crept outside until the ka-boom wush wush down the gutter pipe. Cats ran upstairs to go home. Precious grabbed at Frodo to play on the steps, but Frodo wasn't ready for play. He hates going outside from his fear of people and any moving object bigger than him, but he hates being left behind in the apartment. I can hear his lonely yowl all the way downstairs when he refuses to come out and I get tired holding the fire door open.

No crazy people tonight. But I discovered a car washer next door quit his job when it was announced that he would be laid off for a week from the slowness of the season and the company couldn't justify the expense of having all these car washers with the lack of business. That threw a monkeywrench into the gears and people working by themselves doing a 4-person job. But that's business for ya. Oh yeah, and they close an hour earlier than usual on Fridays and Saturdays now. Lucky ducks.
Post later. Bye!

New Insult

Had a guy call up asking if I was (my company name) at the airport. I answer, Yes I am (my company name) at the Des Moines Airport, How may I help you. He asks again if I am (my company name) at the airport. I answer again I am (my company name) at the Des Moines Airport, How may I help you. He yells, Lady! I'm asking you a question!, Are you (my company name) at the airport. One more time, Yes I am (my company name) at the Des Moines Airport, How may I help you. Excuse me, it is not my fault his cell phone keeps cutting out. He asks again if I'm in a airport. Yes, I'm in the airport in Des Moines.

That established, he tells me he has one of our cars and the GPS he bought from us is a piece of shit. They almost got into a car crash following the instructions. It says they located at the Houston Airport when they are really in the parking lot. I say, OK. This is piece of shit. I say, OK, what can I help you with. He says I'm not listening and asks if I'm in the Houston Airport. No, Des Moines, I answer. Where?, he asks. Des Moines, I answer. You're a f-cking retard!, he shouts. I hang up, I had enough of this conversation. He calls the wrong location and I'm a f-cking retard. That's a new insult. When I left work I noticed there is indeed a full moon out. Post later. Bye!

No water

Yesterday, I dumped out the kitty water bowl to get fresh water and the water is shut off. I melt snow in the microwave in order to give the kitties fresh water. We go out for our walk and come back to hear the toliet tank filling up so turn on all the faucets to remove the air from the pipes. And frighten the cats when the water spits out. Refill water bowls cause the cats are accustomed to chlorinated water.

Hours later I go to wash my hands and the water is shut off again. Damn these people. Do I need a bottled water supply for the repeated shutting off the water? I rinse my hands in a kitty water bowl and melt snow to refill it. This time there is a note on the front door that was not there last time announcing the water was shut off. A water main leaked needs to be fixed to get our water back and note says not to drink the water for a couple of days. Wonderful. Does that include cooking and brushing teeth with bottled water too?

I go pick up my niece from daycare and do laundry at my sister's house. Come home and the water is refilling in the toliet tank. I check and it just came back on. Plus the stopper chain is twisted up so it is good it has not been running a long time and flooded the bathroom. Turned on all the faucets to remove air from pipes again. Then, brushed my teeth and went to bed.

Today I have water.

Care package for niece

I sent out a care package for my niece in college. She just got it today. It was very hard finding prepackaged food for a diabetic. Looking at the sodium content alone freaked me out. I don't want to get her diet plan stuff like Slim Fast or Lean Cuisine that would imply she's fat and insult her. I got her single serving soup and macaroni and cheese, cereal bars, Crystal Light packs for water bottles (0 calories), sugar free candies that are 5 grams of carbohydrate or less per piece (as long she doesn't eat the whole bag she'll be fine), microwave popcorn, some Conversation Hearts and Hershey Kisses (she can have a little sugar), purple mug on sale, new fashion magazine, and pink teddy bear. Niece loves her package. If I picked a flavor she doesn't like, she can share or just toss it. I love doting on my nieces, even if I have to be careful not to dote too much or too much becomes the expected.

Though in my browsing I noticed single serving cakes and brownies that you just add water and bake inthe microwave for 5 minutes and eat. But too much carbohydrate for my niece, her high calories should come from more nutritional food. My coworker commented how she started Weight Watchers and in group sessions people complain about hating their celery diet. No, my coworker heats up her single serving of cake, only a few points counted, and is happy. Better go now.

Post later. Bye!

Another snowstorm

One thing is for sure, we won't have a drought this year from all the snow that keeps falling this winter. It was snowing when we went outside for our daily walk and is still snowing. During rush hour, they were reporting cars sliding around and it is very slick out so stay indoors. Long list of cancellations on the TV. At nightfall is was suppose to get blizzard windy and unsafe to drive. I couldn't tell how windy sitting inside playing with the cats. I'll have fun wiping off my car tomorrow. I did a little cleaning. It needs more but it's a start. Precious is driving me nuts meowing to go outside. I open the balcony door for them. Two minutes sniffing the snow and they want back in to meow again 15 minutes later wanting out. It's still cold and snowing. I got my first Valentine from my aunt. I tried to take a picture of Frodo looking so cute spread out on his back on the floor, but the battery was dead. By the time I got a new one in the camera, he was curled up on his tummy again. I got plenty of those.

Babysat my niece Tuesday. Picked her up at daycare. Played usual games of Cinderella dolls, sang Disney songs from a cd cover, she even handled the songs by herself, kitchen, I draw pictures on her etch-a-sketch, and staring on the pictures of her Cinderella book. I swear she has a Cinderella addiction. She even did a weird thing with her Cinderella dolls. Cinderella and Prince Charming were dancing and then Niece claims Prince Charming is dead. Dead? Is Prince Charming sleeping? No, she says, he's dead. Then she says Cinderella is crying and very sad cause he's dead. Then the Fairy Godmother waves her wand and Prince Charming is awake. Must had a death in the family or friend's relative died. A little too abstract thoughts for a 4-year-old, I thought. Mommy came home and put her to bed. She announced she is sleeping at my place tomorrow. Not yet. Later. Well nothing to report. Post later. Bye!

Babysitting

I babysat my niece tonight so my sister could go to a meeting. My niece cried her eyes out because she wanted to go with Mommy. Then my sister got stuck backing out of the driveway, it is very narrow and I hate it. My niece and I were going, What is that noise? We looked out to see my sister running her tires but not moving. After 15 minutes she got unstuck with help from a neighbor, she hit the side going into the yard. And she was off.

She still refuses to poop in the toliet so my sister has switched from rewarding when she does with stickers to punishing her by not allowing any niece programs and movies until she does. After 3 days she is getting use to reading her books and playing with her toys more. She didn't eat any supper saying she wasn't hungry so about 7:00, when I needed a snack, we had some popcorn and granola bars. I thought they were more nutritional than cookies. We played kitchen with plastic food until my niece said she was full, played flashcards, Cinderella figurines (Prince Charming had trouble dancing with Cinderella due to the circle around his feet but it made niece laugh), read a Cinderella book, found the words to Disney songs on the paper from a CD, and I sang the songs for her. Oh yeah, and petted the cats. I got her in her pj's and gave her bedtime snack as requested by sister and waited for Mommy to come home. My niece kept asking when Mommy was coming. I gave my sister a good report.

Then went grocery shopping. I'm shocked there is much Valentine stuff to look at and I can't find any stickers. I made up a care package for my niece in college. I wish they made better prepackaged food for a diabetic, but then my sister commmented how when she goes on a fad diet she has to cook much more to keep the calories down. Such as life. Post later. Bye!

Oh lovely

Oh how lovely, I hit one of my boss's cars while backing out to go home in my personal car. Didn't turn fast enough. I didn't have manager's number on my cell so I called her from home. I didn't feel a thing, just heard a crunch and thought oh shit. It is just red scratches and a crack on it. My car is the same with white scratches on the rear bumper (suv I hit was white). It hit the same place a white car scratched me years ago when we parked in the employee lot. I don't know who own the white car but everybody I know had white scratches and dings on their cars and the reason we stopped parking in the employee lot. I didn't look at the license plate, but remember the stall number. I wans't sure if it was ours or another city's, but thinking about it I think it is another city's because I gave away our suv to my reservation, so it has to be another city's. Manager said she'll call the morning person and I can fill out a damage report when I come to work tomorrow (or rather today). Post later. Bye!

I love my job, wait, I hate job

I had an usually slow day for a Thursday, but the problems never stop. I extended a rental originally prepaid through Priceline and the guy asks to extend under the Priceline rate. Sorry, to get that wonderful rate he has to make a new reservation for it through Priceline, any extension of a rental is under our rate no matter how much customers dislike it.

Another phone call from a guy complaining how his tire pressure warning light and the oil change light came on. The car drives just fine, but he wants us to know that. The moisture in the air often sets off those microchipped warning lights. I didn't go into the fact that mechanics don't always reset the oil change warning light after changing the oil and cold temperatures make tires shrink setting off the tire pressure light. I explained that if he feels uncomfortable driving the car, he can come in to exchange them. He answers back that his car is suppose to be prepared when he picked it up. I bet he would not like me coming to his office and telling him how to do his job, but many customers feel entitled to point out they know how to do my job better than me. I refrained from explaining that cars are machines and do often go awry with or without routine maintainence. I offer a second time to come into the counter and exchange cars of he feels uncomfortable driving the car. He replies it is too inconveinent to exchange cars. Whatever, it will be him sitting alongside the road waiting for a tow truck and that is more inconvienent than exchanging cars if the weather isn't setting off the warning lights.

Next I get a woman returning a car to complain about her rate. I didn't rent this car nor did I sign her company's account with my company's sales reps so I don't know what this bitch expects me to do about it. She continues on how another company charges a better rate (so why didn't she rent from better company instead of whining to me about her company's contracted rate?). She explains she will just rent from this other company from now on. OK, the better company owns my company so she is not breaking my heart.

Then I get a woman in desperate need of a car and she doesn't have much on her debit card. My price was a little steep so she decided to check around. I pointed out the car rentals that take debit cards and their conditions for using them that I am aware of. She comes back a few hours later (I thought she already left) saying someone transferred money into her account and made a reservation for a better price than I quoted earlier. She is on the Do Not Rent List so couldn't rent to her. Drat, it was a good walk up revenue too.

Even better, a guy returned his car and didn't have the mileage so I went out to check it. The headlights were still on. Good thing I checked the mileage or that car's battery might have died. And he would be fortunate not to be charged for that, leaving lights on and running the battery out is not covered under any insurance we sell.

On a better note, my coworkers got all excited about the basketball players dropping off keys came by. The owner is buddies with the coach so the players leave their personal cars in our lots when they travel. I don't watch sports so couldn't care less.

I'm done whining. Post later. Bye!

New controlled substance

Move over meth. Step aside computer keyboard cleaner. Drop dead morning glories. Good-bye strangling yourself til you pass out. A news report just had a story of grocery stores noticing huge amounts of poppy seeds in the spice section being stolen to the point it is now behind the counter in Des Moines grocery stores and must be asked for in order to purchase. If you are uninformed, poppy is translation for opiates or narcotics. Opium, morphine, heroin, codeine, etc are best known pain killers with addictive personalities.

In the American determination to get high, pounds of poppy seeds are believed to being brewed into a tea that can get the drinker a high. A boy north of Des Moines was reported dying from drinking this tea.

I guess sniffing airplane model glue or spray paint is just too past generation's cheap high. Today teenagers need an unknown addiction their parents won't suspect.
Post later. Bye!

News update

In the category of I'm sure you don't care, I have baby news from work. I heard about the 2 fathers to be found out the sex of their babies. One is having a boy and one has a girl, if I recall correctly. Then I found the newly adopted foster kid of someone who not longer works at the car rentals had a her 2nd birthday party (I think, maybe 3rd) and got her little brother taken away from the same mother recently. The boy is about 4 months old. Apparently the mother is still on drugs.

I also received compliments on my sweaters that I have been wearing all winter. One guy was sure he hasn't seen me wear it before and asked if it was a Christmas present. No, had them for a year or two. I did get 2 new fuzzy sweaters the day after Christmas cause they were on sale. Maybe they recall me showing off my new sweaters (the fuzzy ones) and thought they were the same one.

We had a thick fog last night when I drove home from my sister's house. I could barely see the road signs or the line on the road where you stop for a light. I bet they had fun at the airport with diverted flights and people wanting one way cars cause flights were cancelled. It was foggy Sunday night too and I had to scrape ice off the windows. Weird. Anyway, post later. Bye!

Lovely day

Such a lovely day today (or rather yesterday since it is now officially Monday) that I had to carry the cats back in after they ran away when I opened the door. Naughty kitties. I hope it snows soon.

Anyway, thanks to the caucauses last week our cars are so crowded in our lots ready for washing and half need oil changes, that not much is getting done. I am sure a truck or two will be coming this week to carry off our overflow of other cities' cars that we send one way to other cities needing cars. They can have the oil change ones. Better still, a couple flights got diverted here but the rest to Cedar Rapids were cancelled instead of diverted. Damn them, I want to get rid of these cars and unsqueeze the squeezed in cars. Though I only got one w/out reservation person going to Cedar Rapids. Then she wanted a free upgrade and claimed she was a club member demanding that discount. That bitch didn't have a membership in the computer and if she doesn't like my price she is welcome to stand in other counter's line to find a smaller car. I did give the frequent flyer discount. She rolled her eyes stating she'll take it.

Well, I'm done whining. Nothing else to report. Post later. Bye!

Funny people

Hey there. The cop dating a car rental gal next door stopped by to chat with us since his woman was busy with a customer. He told a story of a woman talking on her cell phone at the front of the airport, realized his squad car was stopped in front of her, and crashed into him. She quickly got off the phone and after their conversation about her not paying attention to cars in front of her, she got back into her car and dialed up her cell phone and started talking on it again. He gave a sarcastic, Sorry to interupt your conversation but you just ran into me. Funny people. Post later. Bye!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everybody and for those in Iowa, Happy Caucaus. I spent the day shopping and got Christmas stamps out of the machine at the post office, usually they are the most boring stamps like a flag or bell. Watched Shrek 2 on TV and then Dick Clark's Rockin Eve. It has been tradition since childhood to watch Dick Clark. I started putting Christmas decorations away while listening to the music. Will take down the outdoor lights, tree, tree skirt, and bubble lights tomorrrow. I leave up the winter decorations like snowmen, sleds, angels, and ballerinas up. Even though I stopped going to church and often claim to be an atheist, I like surrounding myself with angels cause it reminds me that deceased loved ones are not that far away. The cats are enjoying their last naps on the fuzzy tree skirt. As the clock on the wall struck midnight, I wished my Precious strecthed out on the couch with his paws on my leg and Frodo under the blanket cuddled on the floor a Happy New Year and kissed their foreheads. My New Year's Resolution is to just be happy. I don't need much improvement. Post later. Bye!