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Honored Contributor
Posts: 54,451
Registered: ‎03-29-2012

Re: A.M. Style Live Chat, 7:00, 7/29

Here is my long winded story from yesterday, that I will share in several installments.  I am thinking of spending the day in my dark basement today!Cat LOL

 

Yesterday I had to go to the eye doctor for my annual exam, but promised MIL that I would come over after the appt., when I could see.  I had eyes dilated and had those junky plastic protectors they give to wraparound and then I put my "better" sunglasses over the plastic.

 

It was an overcast day, thank goodness, so I drove towards my house, got gas, and then headed to Lowe's to get sand for MIL's patio umbrella stand.  This was a request from a few months ago that BF had still not taken care of, so I "manned up" to get it done for her.

 

I parked in the garden center of Lowe's, looking fly (and dangerous, IMO) in my sunglasses, nearly blind from the overhead light.  I don't "see" any sand, but it doesn't mean that it's not there, but I decide to ask anyway.  The man tells me that it's actually on the other side of the store (of course!) in construction, so I have to walk through the store to get there.  As I'm walking, they're having their team rah rah meeting and I have to walk right through it (still looking fly).

 

I go up and down the "construction" aisles and see everything BUT the sand.  I go to the register (the one person who is not engaged in the team floor meeting) and she tells me "aisle 20."  No joke, I cannot SEE which one is aisle 20, but of course it is one that I already went down.  This time it's blocked off, because they're using a forklift.  I stand in the aisle and the guy comes over to check and I tell him that I'm looking for (but cannot see) the sand bags.  He asks me how much I need, and I say one bag, which should be enough.  I hear him say "15 pounds" and he puts it in my cart, but I can feel that it's actually "50 pounds" which is the smallest size they sell.  I get to the checkout, pay, and by the time I get out it has started to rain.  I am sprinting through the parking lot with my cart, dark glasses, and sand bag (sort of like Cross-Fit for the temporarily blind).  I get to the car, shove the sand bag on the floor of my passenger seat, and head home.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 17,024
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: A.M. Style Live Chat, 7:00, 7/29

The weather here has been crazy - we had a few days of heat and humidity, then it was cold, this morning its cloudy and windy.

I hope it makes up its mind - tonight we are going to see Sutton Foster up at Caramoor which is a semi outdoor theater see on a beautiful plot of land

Stop being afraid of what could go wrong and start being positive what could go right.
Honored Contributor
Posts: 54,451
Registered: ‎03-29-2012

Re: A.M. Style Live Chat, 7:00, 7/29

I message BF on FB to say that I think the big storm is headed towards us (he is a weather nerd so he's always checking the radar).  I cannot see when people have their lights on, with a halo effect, so I don't want to be on the highway (30 min.) to her house while it is raining.  He tells me to wait an hour to leave.  I can't text because the font is too small, and I can barely see what he has written on FB.  I ask him to text his mother that I'll leave in one hour so she can expect me at 11 or so.  

 

I leave for her house and it's raining, but I arrive in one piece.  I have my 50# bag of sand, a lunch, sneakers, drinks, and whatever else I may need.  I surprise her with the sand, so we go out on the deck to put it in the patio stand.  I ask her for a funnel (she has none) so I settle for a pointed measuring cup and get started filling a hole the size of a 50 cent piece.  I fill it a couple of times and it stops.  We look at it, and realize that there is a DIFFERENT hole for sand, on the side of the stand, like a canteen opening.  I have to dump out that sand and start over in the new hole.  I ask for a newspaper to make a temporary funnel, but the work is slow going.  We get that done (finally) and then I have to take the sandbag down to the basement to put it in storage.  

Honored Contributor
Posts: 42,223
Registered: ‎03-12-2010

Re: A.M. Style Live Chat, 7:00, 7/29

@house_cat  I like the Denim & Co top you bought.

There are many elements: wind, fire, water
But none quite like the element of surprise
Honored Contributor
Posts: 17,024
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: A.M. Style Live Chat, 7:00, 7/29

Susan Graver -" its one of the most important peices I hae made in 20 years," - give me a break lol 

Stop being afraid of what could go wrong and start being positive what could go right.
Honored Contributor
Posts: 36,574
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: A.M. Style Live Chat, 7:00, 7/29

@lolakimono

This is an awful story.... you cannot see.

~Have a Kind Heart, Fierce Mind, Brave Spirit~
Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,935
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: A.M. Style Live Chat, 7:00, 7/29

So, here's what's happening at my house:

 

Yesterday, DH said he needed to borrow my car to pick up some toilet bowls. He chats a lot, so have to admit I was only half listening.  He came back with three brand new toilet bowls, in boxes, a total of 6 heavy boxes and 3 not so heavy ones.  I helped him unload them out of the car, so now both of our backs are broken and I have a garage full of toilet bowls.

 

Here's the part I wasn't listening to when he first said it - he applied for this program from my local water company - they are giving away free water-saver toilets because of the drought.  Well, now it's time for me to go back to school and we need to have three new toilets installed.  I'm having a group of ladies for lunch on Tuesday, so I told him they had better stay in the garage until Wednesday.

 

I just wanted to mention this in case anyone thought I led a dull life, lol.

~ house cat ~
Honored Contributor
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Registered: ‎03-29-2012

Re: A.M. Style Live Chat, 7:00, 7/29

Up next is FIOS.  When FIL died, they decided to drop the DISH for sports (that was his thing) and go to FIOS.  BF assisted MIL in the setup of the account, moving things into her name, blah blah.  I have FIOS as well, and there was a "problem" with the TV.  She has DVR, and had watched a show, and at the conclusion exited to live TV, but had no picture.  It was like seeing a still shot of SG showing pants.  I'm thinking to myself that she probably hit some button that undid his settings that he set up for her, so I'm going through all of the setting choices to see if it is user error.  In the meantime, my mom had texted me wanting me to talk to her co-worker about  having cats with stomatitis.  I called her at work, but the co-worker was in a meeting and would call me later.  So I'm pushing remote buttons, talking on the phone, and trying to see the font on the TV, answering MIL's questions and talking to the other lady.  After an hour of this, nothing is working and the "in home diagnostics" don't fix anything.  I decide to call Verizon for assistance.  I pretend to be MIL, because although she finally accepted that she can't hear and got tested, the hearing aids haven't been fitted yet.  The man probably thinks I am an idiot because I am repeating everything, like "you need the FIOS PIN to be able to access the account?" while she is looking for papers.  This takes almost an hour to get the *%$@ fixed, through numerous remote programming, unplugging/restarting, etc.  While on the phone, I ask if it's possible to update the caller ID to say her name, instead of FIL's name.  He has to transfer me...

 

FIOS man #2 says that we are paying $50 more a month than we need to because MIL is set up "month to month" instead of on a contract.  Again, I am repeating what he says so that she can hear and she said they did do a contract.  He checks the account, sees that they received the first payment, but she has not enrolled for automatic payments, which need to be activated within 24 hours of receiving the e-mail/text link.  He resends the link, he get signed up, and supposedly everything is "fixed" with payments, Caller ID, and the TV.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,935
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: A.M. Style Live Chat, 7:00, 7/29

[ Edited ]

@lolakimono

 

I'm impressed that you could accomplish that with your eyes dilated.  Last time they did it to me, they sent me off on a crazy bright, sunny SoCal day, I don't know how I drove home. It was a horrible experience.

~ house cat ~
Honored Contributor
Posts: 54,451
Registered: ‎03-29-2012

Re: A.M. Style Live Chat, 7:00, 7/29

MIL also needs help connecting Bluetooth to her phone.  The car that she is driving full time was FIL's, so she has never connected the phone.  I tell her that I will go out to the driver's seat with her in the passenger's seat, but we need to have the air on in the hot, humid, rainy weather.  We get out the manual, and I look up how to program the numbers.  Of course, this does not work either, because she only wants to program CERTAIN numbers and it wants to copy her address book.  The certain number is taking me around a loop that doesn't work, so I tell her that we are going to import the whole phone and create the quick dial links.  She goes back into the house for a bit and I finish the job, with 5 contacts.  That job was "sort of" completed, although she can now call her 5 VIPs from the car.  Whether she can hear them is another story, LOL.  On the way out to the car there was an envelope (FedEx) on the front porch, so I picked it up and threw it back inside while we tackled the Bluetooth.