My Sweet Revenge

I have been waiting for a phone call for about a month.
Waiting.
Today. It came
Some woman told me that I have an opportunity to lower all of my credit card rates. She warned me that if I do not act right away this opportunity will expire. She cautions that this will be the last time that she will call to offer the opportunity.
I pressed the prompt.
I was transferred to a man who asked me a series of questions about my credit card debt.
Do I have cards with interest rates above 10 percent?
How much do I think I owe?
He then congratulated me on my good credit history as reported by Experian.

Finally he asked, would I like to lower the interest rates?

Well of course.
He began to explain the process ....

And I hung up on him.


I have been waiting to do that for almost two months. I was afraid they were never to call again after I registered my office number with the DoNotCall website. I only wish that I had been knitting when they had called. I would have pretended to have dropped a stitch or something while....

Those sneaky bast@rds
In the past, when I used to ask to be removed the assistant would pretend to take my number and then hang up on me when I was talking.
The time that I requested to speak to a supervisor, she said 'okay,' put me on hold then I heard the dial tone.


My mission, is to hang up on them each time they call. To answer their questions. To feign interest. To lie if it is funny and to HANG UP on them in midsentence.

Lovely

Latest Swap

It finally came
I have been waiting since October 31st for my magic ball of yarn.I love the cotton yarn
My cat wanted some attention.
I really don't think she cared about the items in the swap box. She wanted to rub against the camera.
I received a neato chapstick cozie in the form of a penis. I can't wait to put that in my purse.


And now for some somber news.


Making cookies this month, I ignored the smell of a smoldering motor for far too long. I didn't stop using the mixer until I began to see smoke coming from it.
I unplugged it and it continued to smoke for at least 20 more minutes.
I am saying good bye to my first hand mixer.
1997 - 2010
Rest in pieces Sunbeam Hand mixer

Needless to say. The cookies did not turn out well. The oven was too high.

I want a new one for Valentines Day

UFOs of the past

Somewhere around the place I've got an unfinished short story about Schrodinger's Dog; it was mostly moaning about all the attention the cat was getting”

Terry Pratchett

I decided to take a look at my UFO (unfinished objects) from years prior to 2010. I found two that were in serious need of reevaluation.

The clown pants of 2008

At first, I loved this jumper. But... as the stripes began to form and I realized that it was only suitable for a girl, it stopped being cute to me.

Later I realized that the yarn is 80% wool and not 80% acrylic as I had originally believed. I knew that any mother would probably not want to use the pants that were not easy to wash and hard to get on and off the baby.

This weekend, I decided it needed to be frogged.
I feel so much better now. I think it will make a great hat and scarf set for a mom and her daughter. Next year or so.
Then there was the skirt from 2009.

I pulled it off of the circulars.
Then I turned it into this pretty ball.


I feel so much better now. A weight has been lifted.
Now I have to tackle my personal health care crisis.
My employer made significant changes to my health care plan. I learned of the changes on Thursday after making an inquiry to the health plan about my sketchy insurance card.
In the past, my insurance card gave me tons of information - the name of my PCP and the cost of the co-pay. This year it only listed my name. It was a little disconcerting to receive it in the mail. I had no idea what it meant.
Now I do. I pretty much have to change my three specialists and possibly my primary care physician. Or pay double the co-pay and be subject to deductibles.
Hmmmm

This is not going to be fun.
At least I am making some progress on Christmas presents 2009.
I finished my nephew's scarf this weekend. One more scarf and three more hats to go and my gifts will be complete. And yes, I know what the calendar date is.

This is the preemie cap that I am knitting during my lunch hours. I think it is delightful. The nice thing about preemie caps is that I can make them different sizes and wip them out pretty quickly.


I have been doing my bit for Haiti. I have been buying yarn from dyers and spinners that are donating their profits to Haitian relief. I have decided that buying yarn designated as a Haitian fund raiser does not violate my "no new yarn" promise for 2010.
I can finally buy yarn without feeling guilty about it - until the specials end at least.
I love loopholes.


see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Overheard

overheard AT THE DOLLAR STORE

Yesterday the dollar store had some drama.

Someone committed a hit and run. Hours later the victim recognized the car that had hit her in the parking lot of the dollar store. She restrained the car by blocking with her own. The owner of the car insisted that she had not been driving the car at the time of the accident.
The police were called.
Here the story gets fuzzy. The woman unblocked the perpetrator car. But the police would not permit the owner of the car to drive it home until she provided proof of insurance. There was some agreement that the car would be unmolested in the lot while she retrieved her insurance information.

Apparently, she did not return fast enough. This was predicated by the fact that she did not have car insurance prior to returning to the store.

I am getting ahead of the story. At some point the police left the parking lot.

While she was gone the victim began calling the local news stations to elicit coverage of her actions. this made the employees of the dollar store upset. They threatened to call the police if a news crew arrived. Sometime between 5 and 6 p.m. A girlfriend of one of the employees contacted the owner of the parking lot to have the offending car towed. The victim left the scene. The employee and his girlfriend left the store.

The owner of the car returned with a crisp newly printed copy of an insurance card for a missing car. The employee on duty had no idea what happened to the car. The employee contacted the owner. She explained to the car owner that she would have to retrieve her car from the impound lot.

Then the two of them began to discuss the motivations of the victim, the police, the girlfriend and parking lot owner in keeping her from driving her car home. The owner insisted that she had not been driving the car and saw no reason for it to be towed. The employee was on break during towing ruckus and could only comment on the audacity of the girlfriend.

The car owner left the store to secure her impounded vehicle.

By now, you have got to be wondering how it has come to be that I am able to relay this story to you in so much detail.

I will tell you why, it is because people don't care who knows their business. They talk on their cellies about results of STI tests and how is the cause. They yell at their husbands for forgetting to pick up milk. They try to convince dollar store employees that they would never commit a hit and run even thought they had no insurance.

I was looking for the cupcakes. I couldn't get the employees attention in order to ask her where they were. So I kept looking for them. The story only took a few minutes. The gals kept repeating parts of the story as if they were practicing with a lawyer.
When I was ready to check out, she didn't deign to acknowledge how I had been inconvenienced by the drama. the store employee did however share with the customer in front of me and parking lot owner via phone her personal aggravation with the drama.

If the store didn't carry snacks for work for cheaper than the grocery stores I wouldn't bother shopping there at all.



Crafty Update

I have been suckered into taking a break from my selfish knitting and crocheting in order to make preemie hats for a co-worker's sister. This is my first time working with 4 in bamboo needles. I am not having fun

The final hook

I spent part of my vacation visiting my sister in Georgia.
She has an 18 month old. Just so you know, the baby ignored me preferring to play with the 6'4" bald guy.
The joke was on him because she gave to him her stomach virus.
Of course, then the joke was on me. Driving a 6'4" bald guy from Georgia to Northern Ohio with the sh!ts is not fun at all.

More about that another blog.
I discovered some things while travelling. I would like to share them with you
0. People who text, log into FB, or try to use GPS navigation while driving, have no idea what kind of dangerous situation they are creating. It is best to take over the driving. a. GPS navigation on your cell phone is just plain stupid....
1. Never, ever, ever, ever eat at a sushi restaurant that is down the road from a Waffle House. Just go to the Waffle House. You will thank yourself in the morning.
2. Kentucky is hiding a secret. Ale 8 one is the best most delicious soft drink not sold in your state. I am negotiating with a truck driving friend to bring me this drink when she is passing through Ohio. This ale is the answer to a long work day. The taste reminds me of my favorite comfy leisure suit and a glass of wine without the buzz.
3. Lagunitas Brown Shugga ale should not be legal. Don't they know that sugar will mess you up????? I learned that I CANNOT handle 9.84% alc AT ALL in a bottle. If you like beer, you simply must seek this ale and try it. Eat first.
4. Anyone who is sick for 24 hours is not capable of making any decisions related to travelling after the 25th hour. Trust me.....
5. If you can take the queen size bed from the teenager, take it. There is no reason to be nice to a teenager who will not loan to you her house slippers for the cold mornings anyway. Just take her bed and make her sleep in the baby's room on the balloon (air) mattress
6. Never, ever, ever be okay with sleeping on air mattress. Doing so will not guarantee your spot in heaven so don't bother.
7. Speed up on Green light violations SUCK! They are the most cowardly, idiotic violations you can get. Any municipality that uses them should be targeted by missiles.
As a motorist, these are the options when the light is changing:
a. Speed up - speed on green ticket
b. Stay at speed limit - red light ticket
c. Slam on breaks and hope you don’t enter intersection - Rear end collision.
8. If you are using text banking. Don't count on it to provide and up to date balance. I used this option outside of every store I entered. I forgot that some businesses take days to post a charge. Nice

Crafty Update
I decided that with my bizarre weight gain and losses, I should switch to wearing cloaks and capes rather than coats. I have decided to use some of my stashed Ella Rae classic wool yarn to make a ruana. I began it on the drive to Georgia. I have used three skeins so far.
I am making it on the bias. My hope is that it will hang better this way. Beginning at the right edge, I am adding a stitch at the start and end of each forward row. When I the left and right edges measure 48 inches, I will only add a stitch at the start of the forward row and decrease a stitch at the end. I will post pictures as I go.
These are the nieces scarves for 2009. I suspect they will receive them sometime in 2010. Oh well.....