The Adventures of Being Me

My niece from Nebraska came to visit at my sister's house this week. They were afraid of answering the phone yesterday afternoon so they didn't get to swim in my pool. Sister got home about 5:00 when I was leaving. Stopped at Burger King on the way so sister didn't have to feed me. Watched TV and played with the cats. Read a book of sister's for her school library. I got through it in 2 hours. Then it was time for me to go home. Hugged nieces good bye. Typed up the book report for my sister and emailed it. She has 25 new books for the library that she has to read this summer before the kids do. I said yes to help her out, not for any love of children's literature. She also emailed asking to help her experiement with the school's new web cam. Sorry, I don't have one cause no one else I know does and therefore nobody would be on the other end. Got home to play with the laser light with Frodo and had to take an allergy pill to stop sneezing. It popped out of th...

Not much has happen this week. Saturday night had a guy whose keys dropped into the river on a canoe ride, he is out in the middle of nowhere, and can't get into his car. He is worried if he leaves his car, it will be vandalized. Give him the roadside assistance number. He calls back stating they are not answering the line for half hour and he needs help. He gives me his number to call back if I can get ahold of roadside and send him a locksmith. Wait 8 minutes and call him back. Apologize for the line not answering even mentioning I hung up when I got tired of holding the phone. He did too. Explain all I can do is send a new car via tow truck, take the other car to a car dealership to make a new key which won't be open at 10:30 PM, and charge him for the towing and new key. Wow, he says. Explain charges would go on his bill he pays when he returns to Omaha. I can't exactly send a Des Moines locksmith to the middle of nowhere in the pitch dark, highways only have street lig...

Had a frequent customer returned a car and handed me a gift card for a local grocery store. It's not my birthday, I said. He smiled and said it was for being so proficient when helping him. Thank you, I said. That was very nice of him. That made feel better after the schedule was changed yet again to remove all overtime from our paychecks. And I lost another half hour off my schedule, which means a total hour since last May has been removed. I hope all my flights are delayed now so I can keep my head above water. Plus I heard the owner has yet to accept an offer from corporate for the franchise, he wants more money. Let's see I had 4 customers complain how filthy our cars were with stains, smelled like cigarettes, scratches on the car, and one actually demanded a brand new car. They are all going to stink of cigarettes cause I'm out of nonsmoking cars and all will have stains/scratches/ something wrong with them. We don't have brand new cars. The one who wanted the bran...

Took kitties out for a walk as usual. Found a free newspaper on the floor of my hallway so tossed that in the apartment. Wandering to the shaded part of the playground where the cats love to play in the weed patch nearby, I found some black raspberries and one red on the gravel. I know you are suppose to clean fruit off first before eating, but I ate one anyway and made my fingers purple pulling it apart in the attempt to avoid the seeds. It was good. Then I went back to trying to skip rocks on the gravel. Cats came inside without fuss, it was cooler in the apartment. Then I think I need Shopaholics Anonymous cause I innocently went into Target with coupons in my hand and had to stop at the clearance section. It was too much to resist even if I told myself no new clothes this year to save money. I drop half my coupons on the floor when picking up hangers and putting the clothes next to me. I was happy to see longer shirts cause it is hard to tuck in when the shirt keeps popping up ever...

Had a lady yesterday return claiming she can not find her car, she pushed the remote button but none of the cars in the row are responding to it. Go outside with her and find her car exactly where it should be. Hit the unlock button to see the lights go off so I know the remote works. Since she has 3 bags, I hit the trunk release on the remote and lift up the trunk lid for her, to be nice. Oh, she says, she was expecting the trunk lid to automatically go up. So that is why she couldn't find her car, she didn't know she was suppose to lift the trunk lid up with her own hand. Last night, I was trying to pick up Precious from a lawn chair on my balcony so I can shut the door and go to bed. That weasel curled up on his tummy flipped over onto his back to start meowing and scratching at me trying to get my hands under him. So I picked up the lawn chair and carry it inside with Precious's confused "What is happening" look on his face. Then shut then door. Today one of t...

We had a bit of excitement today: the revolving door caught fire. First there was a short beep of the fire alarm that quickly stopped. Thought maybe another kid pulled the alarm. Then I saw a red flash through the glass doors and ran to look outside to see nothing unusual. Thought maybe it was the security car making someone move their car. Next I smelled burnt rubber and wondered where it was coming from. Several minutes later, there are about five firefighters in their fire gear all staring at the revolving door. Lady said some wires in the center of the door caught fire and sizzled smoke causing the door to shut down. That would explain the smell. I thought I was losing my mind when I kept hearing a dog barking, but couldn't see a dog anywhere. Asked the counter next door and she heard it too, but couldn't see the dog or carrier anywhere either. I think it was some bored counter guys cause I heard some bad imitations of a dog too. Then we had a storm come in and no flights ...

I heard on the news of a new scam proving thieves never take vacations. Person calls up claiming to be your utility company. Person informs you that your last payment wasn't received so your electricity will be cut off tomorrow unless you pay now. The victims give out their credit card numbers and the thieves charge it. How they figured out they were scammed wasn't part of the story. Apparently these people don't have internet access to check if their last payment was not received or check if their mailed check was cashed. Post later. Bye!

Got out the cat carrier and Precious ran under the bed and Frodo went under a chair. Dragged Precious to the vet for our missed shot. Two dogs are waiting for their owner to pay their bill. Dogs go crazy and owner and vet nurse hold them back on their leases. Precious is panting in terror crouched down in his carrier. I give my name to the nurse. So we are here for rabies and distemper shot. Wait a moment, we got all the shots taken care of on our last visit two weeks ago. I got a notice saying our distemper shot was overdue. Rabies and distemper are the same shot, we got our rabies certificate but somebody didn't mark down the distemper was done in their computer system. So we can go home. Precious was traumatized for nothing. I said, See you next year, and went home. Let Precious out on the grass and he follows me upstairs to get Frodo. Frodo jumps on the fridge afraid of the carrier. He probably thought he's next. Next month he will be. Take our walk outside and come back af...

You might find this amusing. Last night I forgot to feed my cats. I always wait for them to grab their last morsels of food before changing it (I toss the old dry cat food back in the tub and measure the next day's dose). I wake up early the next morning to find the food bowls are picked clean, there is always food leftover, and I forgot to give the can food cause that wasn't out either. My poor babies, I thought they were meowing all night to go outside as usual. I fill the bowls and scrape out the can food. They were very hungry. I'm sure my cats would starve or start eating me if I died in my sleep. Then I forgot to bring the canvas bags for my grocery shopping. Otherwise had a quiet day off with the cats sleeping all afternoon. Our walk was about 20 minutes when Frodo ran back upstairs and dragged Precious back up. I think too many neighbors walking to their cars disturbed Frodo. Only one dog owner came out. One neighbor was startled when she opened the front door and P...

I was vacuuming the floor when the car rental next door guy started yelling my name. I turn it off and turn around. Lady at the counter said "I thought you were the cleaning lady". I reply, "I'm multi-talented". Even better, when he was yelling my name, the lady kept looking back at him wondering how he knew her name. My name is her name too. Let's see, car cleaner brings clean car over and leaves the keys in the car with the engine running. It is a kind that has the keyless ignition thing, so the actual keys have to be somewhere in the car. Personally, I would have demanded the car washer empty his pockets before calling a locksmith. The locksmith came to open the door before it ran out fo gas. I'm starting to think some of our disaster relief people have developed Name Brand Addiction. Had a guy want a car cause he just returned one from another company. Sold out. What does that mean? It means that I don't have cars w/out a reservation. Oh, so I ha...

I thought I was making progress with the cats outside. We spend 2 hours outside and after an hour or the two, they return to the door to go home. So on my work days I took them out w/out harnesses. First day they came back after 2 hours. Next day Precious was ready to go inside after 1 hour and 45 minutes, but Frodo was not. I called that bugger for 45 minutes and I hear his squeaks, but no Frodo appeared. I was 3 minutes late for work. Come home to lightening in sky and positive he will come in when it starts raining. Called him when I got home and he was at the back door and came around the building to the front door where I was. He was very thristy and hungry. It rained an hour after I got home. Good thing I didn't have a late flight like the night before when some jerk asked to make a long distance call on my put in the drawer business phone when I didn't have change and then on my personal cell phone when I said no. He couldn't hear the public phone very well. Hello, y...

A guy at work told me I smelled real nice, what was I wearing? Me, I answered. Yes you, he said, what are you wearing. I'm not wearing perfume so you are smelling me. OH. OK, you can call it "I took a shower and washed my hair." No scented soap, shampoo, or lotion so I don't what he smells. Then I thought of the period I'm having but guys get all squeamish with talk of women's stuff so I kept quiet. Want to know the weird part. I ran out of perfume last week and haven't replaced it yet. Coworker brought in her new 6-week-old kitten that looks just like Frodo. I had to check my photo of him in my wallet to compare. The kitten named Normal (Norm or Normie for short) has more white fur around the nose, but otherwise looks like Frodo. And I keep getting interupted with customers. He was so soft and climbed up on my shoulder. Frodo did that the first time I took him outside. They might be related. Then he jumped down onto the counter and hid behind the time clo...

My niece's daycare/preschool made the news. Today a news station came by to take pictures and interview the staff. The reason: They have been vandalized twice. The second time the police were called. They believe it is gang related. Since school is out my sister got a part-time aide job at my niece's preschool. They picked her right away cause she has teaching experience. My sister is a school librarian who also teaches computer classes. Every summer she gets a everyday joe job to keep from getting too bored relaxing at home all summer. Tonight she had to call a mother about her son being put in time out this afternoon. Boys are naturally active and noisy, but there are times they need to be quiet. Half the day is play so it is not like they are deprived of chatting with their friends, shouting is just not acceptable in confined areas inside. The mother understood. I had to rescue my sister yesterday. Her husband and her switched cars. Bad idea since the car he drove got a ti...

Two people at the car rental next door can't get along and both complain at my counter about the other. I'm a good sympathetic ear who doesn't get involved in other people's fights. That would be the manager's problem to deal with. Lady returns her car complaining that she had an understanding with the agent she rented the car from that she would waive the upgrade fee she originally charged. She showed me her original rental contract showing what the final charges should be. She didn't bother to show the second car contract that she is returning now with the higher total printed on it and I know my coworker would have given to her. Apparently she didn't recall I was present when she rented her car so I know she is lying through her teeth. She didn't like the car we gave her and demanded another. We had none the same size category so she had to pay for the larger car. She screamed and yelled threatening to call customer service cause this was so unfair. I...

The firecrackers are starting to die down now. Worked all day and saw a few fireworks driving home. Not much business today. Had a guy at the car rental next door that said he coworker arrived 5-6 hours late, called the city manager to leave an hour early, and then asked to make up the hours later in the week. I said she must kissing the right butts not to be fired for that. New smoking bans took effect causing my coworkers to walk further away to smoke their cigarettes. Which means to me that I can't page them back to the counter if and when I get busy. They don't take their cell phones with them. Had to call the manager about an exchange somebody wanted and I didn't have any cars to exchange with, what do I do since nobody is here to help me? And he explained that I don't understand, He works for the Government, here for our floods, so he gets whatever he damn well pleases. We still have no cars to give him no matter who his employer is. Luckily my manager was home an...

I received a notice that Precious is overdue for his distemper shot (canine flu). Strange, we just went last week for his yearly booster shots. He got the feline leukemia (virus not cancer) and rabies shots last week. Last year I didn't have to go back twice. Weirdoes. Not much happened my days off. Pick about 20 burs out of Precious's tail, legs, belly, and chest yesterday. It was an ongoing process finding more when I thought I got them all. When coloring pictures with my niece, she found a Thanksgiving picture from preschool and wanted to get ready for Thanksgiving by gluing hearts on paper and draw pictures of turkeys. I told Thanksgiving is long ways off. She said, Nooooooooo and got upset. Ok, Thanksgiving's tomorrow. Opened the box for the vacuum cleaner and swept the floors to the cats' displeasure. When cleaning the kitchen rugs, Frodo jumped down from the top of the cupboards and ran off. That was quite a jump. Cats love to jump in the box. Except the time I w...