Fiberaddict's Fiber Fumblings

I STILL have no refridgerator. The repair center was called 3x yesterday, and an alternate number was provided. They were informed that the home # was NOT to be used (the voice mailbox has been DOA since Embarq took over from Sprint 1.5 years ago); the service rep parroted my cell # to me as the #1 alternate, so I *thought* we were OK.

The idiot tech called the HOME phone, got no answer, and cancelled my appointment. He did this 20 minutes AFTER the dispatch office had been given (AGAIN) my mother's cell phone, and told that yes, she had to leave to go pick up the kids, but 1) the gate is OPEN and 2) the neighbor would let him into the house. (Said neighbor wasn't IN the house, because he has cats. I have dogs that LOVE (to eat) cats. It's...yeah, fun when he comes over. :snicker:)

SO....Mom called them and chewed them out, to no avail. Nope, they won't inconvienience their reps by making them do calls after 5 PM (it was 4:30 at that point - just sayin'). No, no one can come out tomorrow - we only make calls for refridgerators on Mondays and Wednesdays. You have to reschedule.

I turned Sweet Geek on them. The rep told him someone would call him this morning to get someone out Today (TUESDAY). I said 'someone's lying!' which...pissed off Sweet Geek. (Hint: Don't piss off a Marine. It ain't pretty.) He called back......20 minutes later, he gave up, because apparantly, in India, when you say "The gate is open and I'll be Right Back" it means "Take the rest of the day off!" :bangs head:

Wednesday isn't really gonna work, since Herself has a doctor's appointment (and it CAN NOT be changed. It's for her meds...and we ain't gonna do without her meds. It's not pretty.) :sigh:

So...yesterday was wasted. The horses had to do without breakfast this morning, because Mom had to hang around the house waiting for the non-existant repairman to show up instead of picking up grain to feed the hungry multitude. (Which....the horses are more important, frankly.) I have lost all of Himself's asthma inhalers (you keep them in the 'fridge so they last longer - they have now all overheated and gone :puff:), ALL of the horse injectables (that's gonna be pricey to replace.....Procaine Penicillan ain't cheap. :sigh:).....Wednesday, Sweet Geek is taking off of work. So...he's lost a sick day for this.

When I worked for Sears (back in the late '80s) this sort of thing would NOT have been tolerated. It was drilled into our heads - WE were overhead, the Customer was PROFIT. Guess which was gonna be cut first? :sigh: Now? They don't care. (And me with a house full of Sears appliances. Next time one goes out, I'm heading to Home Depot. Screw Sears. I hope they go Ch. 11. Just sayin')

Yes, I'm ticked. I'll get over it....but the same thing happened when my diswasher broke (only then, the repair guy finally showed up, fixed it, and told me Next Time, *I needed to order the part and fix it myself*. Ummm.....why did I pay for a warranty, then?)

At least my Vintage kit arrived last night - I had some pretty yarn to fondle.

I'm so Pissed.Off at the electric company, I can't stand it (I had all night to stew over this).....the BS they gave me yesterday? Doesn't make any sense. Oh, but seriously - No.Sense.At.All. Let me show you my train of thought:

( Warning: Math ahead. I've done the hard work, though! )

looks like I'm on Ms. boss's shit list today. She snarked at me ALL BLOODY DAY. About Nothing. :sigh: Some days..........:deep breath:

Oh, well - I'm at the point I do.not.care anymore.

Today? We had done a Gigantic spreadsheet with all the charges the bank has hit us with; we hadn't updated it since July. No biggie - Cyn discovered that somehow or other we had missed 1 page of charges on the July 31 statement. NO BIG DEAL - the bank doesn't have this sheet, and we haven't updated it since July 31, so, y'know, whatever.

She informed me that she was surprized, since "You're always pointing out everyone else's mistakes." WTF???? I have no clue WHAT she meant by that...but that was just the start. Didn't matter that *I* suggested we update the stupid spreadsheet, or that *I* set up another spreadsheet to track what one of our vendors owes us.....*I* am the stupid one today. :shrug: (It also doesn't matter that I *always* own up to my mistakes, and get right on correcting them. And putting stuff in place so I won't make the same mistake again.)

She's gone now, so........I can breathe and get her outta my system. Tomorrow it'll be Cyn's day to be on the list, and I can roll my eyes at her. :grin:

OK...we live in the country. We have an anaerobic (sp?) septic system. You are required by law to have a maintenance company for said system.

I have one. The guy that installed it did it up until this year; he found me another company, they mailed the contract, I signed it, put it in an envelope with a check, and mailed same. The check cashed 2 weeks later. No big deal, right?

Right...only some yahoo idiot thought it would be fun to sue me for a sanitation violation re: no contract on my septic system. Yeah...so what's this pink signed copy doing in my desk? :sigh:

So. Monday I get to call the courthouse and see what needs to be done about a stupid idjit that doesn't know how to research his "facts" (the contract? happens to be on file, according to the law. :sheesh:)

Do I think it has anything to do with my other problems? Not really, no. It could - I am going to research the filer. Wonder if I can get him on perjury charges...since he "swears this is the truth". :heh:

Hhmmmmmummmph.

:sigh: Kids. Gotta love 'em. Even when they do totally stupid stuff.

Himself decided that the perfect solution to getting angry was to tear up his (unbreakable) glasses. Unbreakable? Well....technically, yes. Un*bend*able? Nope.

They looked like a pretzel when I got to the daycare. *Totally* twisted around. :sigh:

Fortunatly for me, one of the Dads was there, and offered to try and fix them. He was a bit hesitant at first - after all, children's glasses run about $250 - but after I pointed out that hey, he couldn't *wear* them as they were, and honestly, they couldn't get much worse, he went to town on them.

They are wearable - just. They are wonky, they are crooked, they are lopsided - but he can wear them. (The dad? Ex-MP. Kinda handy to have around - I envy his wife! :grin:)

Now, I gotta figure out how to replace them ($35/eye exam, $200+/new glasses) on this paycheck ($400/daycare, $100/phone bill, $178/horse feed, $130/groceries, $120/gas...oh, yeah - the paycheck? $800. :bigger sigh:) No more $$ will hit the account until the 27th.....I'll work something else. I can skip the groceries this go 'round, thanks to the canned goods extravaganza and my freezer full of ground meat...I think I'll have to cut a deal with the daycare. That's going to be the easiest way. Can't cut the horse feed (ever been in the way of a hungry horse? I have 5 adults right now...NOT a pretty sight!) or the gas......

Can't dip into savings - there IS no savings. The attorney and car took all of it (yeah - transmissions are NOT cheap items. The kicker? My "pet" mechanic told me "Oh, don't worry about it - it's FINE." Yeah, fine. If by fine you mean "it won't actually KILL you when it dies on the freeway during rush hour traffic, it'll only scareyou half to death" :grrrrrr: This should explain the attorney fees, no?)

Ah well - it'll work out. It always does. I just needed to vent a bit.

Boy....our gov's got himself into it now. Yesterday, all everyone babbled about was "Oh, noes, new mandate! What to do????!!!111" Today, more info hits...

It's an executive order mandating the vaccine, and, according to the Gov's office, the Lesgiature has no authority to repeal it. (I dunno....the Att'y Gen has been asked for an opinion.) It takes effect as of September, 2008, for ALL girls entering 6th grade.

He has directed state health authorities to make the vaccine available free to girls 9 to 18 who are uninsured or whose insurance does not cover vaccines (don't know how that'll affect *me*, but, as I said before - it doesn't matter. I'll pay out of pocket if I have to.) He's also ordered Medicaid to offer it ot women ages 19 to 21. (I also read/heard somewhere that he is ordering regular insurance companies to cover it.....but I may be imagining things, as I can't find it now.)

So, I feel a little better, knowing that he is trying to make it affordable for everyone...but. He still doesn't have the right (I feel) to make this decision for anyone but his own family.

I don't mind the required vaccinations for school - Mumps/Measles/Rubella, Chickenpox (well..that one I do, but whatever), polio, Hep B (and A? I think - can't remember), TB - my doc and I discussed each one, the possible side effects, what would happen if I *didn't* give the shots (you can get a parental waiver for religious or philosophical reasons - I do NOT know if that waiver will include Gardasil; there was no specific mention of that) and they were exposed....and I said, OK. I felt I had enough facts at hand to make a rational decision. Not all parents discuss these things with their doctors; not all doctors volunteer the pros and cons, they just come in with a shot and say "Here ya go!". :grin:

Now, another thing to make me feel *I* made the right decision - my MIL informed me that Steve's side of the family has a strong history of cervical cancer :bigeyes:. I didn't know.....would this have swayed me if I didn't feel comfortable with the shot? Probably. While I don't know if there is a genetic link to cancers (and I haven't researched it - bad me! I need to take the time...but I gotta find the time, first), I don't know that there *isn't*.

piraterogue raised a good point - what of the 1 in a million girl who has a fatal reaction to the shot? Especially if her parents didn't want to get it in the first place, and only got it because of the executive mandate? What then?

Even more questions....but still - I feel that the government has NO RIGHT to interfere with my parental rights. :sigh:

We'll see how this plays out....if it holds, Texas will be the first state mandating the vaccine. Other states, watch out!

Whew! Finally got a minute....it's been wild here. Traffic sucked this AM; right after we got to the office it started sleeting. It's currently just cold and dreary, but there's a 50% chance of freezing rain this afternoon.

J's sander should be here today - UPS claims it's out for delivery. Not bad, considering it was slated for delivery Monday (so, what's 2 days?).

Himself's teacher has decided that he is the smartest and most creative child in her class, so, of course, he needs the biggest/hardest after-school projects. They are gearing up for Open House in March - the theme this year is "Texas" (who'd'a guessed?)....Himself has to build the Alamo. ("Mama, it's the most important thing!") :sigh:

It's my fault, really. After the Chrismas Winter Holiday break, she asked the class to "Build a Snowman". She sent home a large piece of butcher paper, but she specifically said in her instruction sheet "Be very creative. Use building materials, pasta, marshmellows, etc - I sent some paper home you can use, but the more creative the better!"

Yeah. So, I made the mistake of Asking Himself what he wanted to do.

M(e): So, do you wanna do a 2-D snowman, or a 3-D one? (Yes, at 6.5 he knows the difference)
H(imself): I wanna do a 3-D one!
M: Do you want to do it with the paper, or -
H: No. I want to do it 3-D. Maybe with Wood!
M: (thinking frantically), well, snowmen are made of snowballs, right?
H: Yeah
M: So.....how about...maybe.....balls of some sort, that you cover with paper, or something to make them white?
H: Yeah! We can use snow!
M:......ok. Fake snow. Gotcha. Oh?! How about styrofoam balls? You can get them in different sizes.
H: Yeah! Big. It's gotta be Big.

You can see where this is going, right? We ended up with 3 styrofoam balls (the largest was 9") and 8 bags of faux snow, 2 bottles of glue (the wrong type, as it turned out), a flat piece of styrofoam for a base, and 2 sheets of black fun foam.

He did all the glue application. I helped stick the snow on the balls (lordy, what a mess!); J. helped assemble the snowman. 2 black beads for the eyes, 1 orange oval bead for the nose, 8 small red beads for the mouth, a fun foam top hat, and an i-cord scarf later, we had a snowman. Oh, yeah - and green mohair locks for hair. (I didn't ask......it was better that way. Seriously.) The thing is about....2.5' tall. 2 sticks for arms - it's cute, and looks like a real snowman.

So, he takes it to school, and...He is the ONLY child with something other than a paper cut-out. What happened to "be Creative"?????? The other parents are wimps, I tell ya.

Unfortunately, we now have a rep for being creative and talented. Today the Alamo, tomorrow......oh, I just can't think about it. I don't want to think about it! :grin:

I did some quick googling last night, and will do more tonight. It looks like we'll probably make a run down to San Antonio, though - J's never been to the Alamo, and thinks it would be "educational". Yeah. I've put him in charge of the actual building - I told both guys I would do the research, and print out whatever they needed, but I was NOT building the Alamo. No way, no How (which means, of course, that I'll end up doing it. Murphy's Law in Action!)

Why did I sign up for this, again?? :lol:

Oh, wait - almost forgot. I asked him if he knew what the Alamo was. He said "Well, Ms. A said it's got a tower!" :bangs head: "No, son - it doesn't. The Alamo was a chapel. Inside a Palisade. No Tower." "Uh Huh! She said it was a tall tower!" My googling proved her wrong. (His response? "Oh. Well....she's confused then, huh?")

How the Hell can you be a teacher IN TEXAS and not know what the Alamo looks like? It's, like, on Every F*****g piece of propaganda that goes out of Austin! Plus in all our Texas History books! (and, she's not a new teacher - she's been here quite a while.) I mean, San Jacinto, sure, I can see that...but the Alamo???? :shakes head:

or, any parent, actually. I know a lot of folks who are either new parents or expecting parents or wanting-to-be parents, and...well, they're clueless. It's not their fault - society has gotten so eff'd up that they've forgotten what the goal of parenting is: NOT to be your child's "best friend", but to raise a fully functional, contributing member of society.


This rant is brought to you by the trainwreck we had with the daycare lady earlier this week. (More on that later)

( Warning: Long-winded ranty-ness ahead )

Wow - I feel better now! If you waded thru all that, go get yourself a cookie or something.

Let's see - I broke the printer network at the office. Our computer guru can't figure out what happened, so HE called HIS guru, who will be in tomorrow.

When *I* break something, I do it right! (And actually, I didn't do anything. I think the anti-virus software I updated yesterday did something; I was printing just fine, then I downloaded the new version, and the printer was gone.)

Got a measuring wheel (finally!) yesterday, and spent about 30 minutes tonight turning it into a yardage meter. It seems pretty accurate; I skeined off my novelty yarn that will be posted for sale soon; the meter read 97.2 yards, I calculated 95.1 (not counting the loose ends - I, err, umm, just started counting wraps on the top of the clock reel. Bad me!)

Also got my photo tent - Huzzah! I'll be setting it up this weekend and taking lots of pictures. Some will go on the sale page, the rest will just replace the (crappy) ones that are there now.

( Ranting ahoy. You've been warned! )

OK, *that's* out of my system. I'm working on a post on spinning and selling the output, but it's going to take some time for me to formulate things coherently. Meanwhile, I need to go spin! I've got some Emerald Green superwash Merino on tap, and it's calling.

This is because of an entry on one of the spinning groups here on LJ. I've ranted about this before...but, rather than argue with someone, I'll post this here, in my own space. If you're not into fiber, you might wanna skip this.

( Enter at your own risk )

It's sad that this topic keeps coming up....I am hoping that a lot of these beginners (for it seems that a lot of the art yarn spinners ARE beginners) will decide that they want to make lasting items and improve their spinning. Until then, us "normal" spinners are going to have to keep fighting the good fight to prove that handspun yarns aren't crap, and *are* worth spending money on.