What a bad, horrible, aweful night!

On our way home tonight from work, I asked Steve if we could use one of our coupons from the new Gold C Book to order pizza. He agreed, so when we got home, I called them up. I wanted to use a coupon for by one medium pizza, and get a second one free. He told me it would be $15! I was like FOR ONE MEDIUM PIZZA? And the guy didn't see anything wrong with it. So I changed to fewer toppings, and it was still $11! I was like um never mind I'll order from somewhere else. Then I saw a coupon for the same place that was two 2-topping large, an order of cheese bread, and a 2-liter of soda for $20. So I called back and ordered that. Luckily, it was a different person, or they would have thought I was weird.

So while we waited the hour for the pizza, we went to do some things in the garage. I was putting a fourth coat of stain on the new fish tank stand, and Steve was going to drill something. So we are working away, and in about 30 minutes, the pizza guy drove by, so Steve was going to go inside and meet him at the front door. THE GARAGE DOOR WAS LOCKED!!!!! This is the third time this has happened, except the first two times I was in the house, so no big deal. Now we are both out, the dogs are inside, the pizza guy is on the porch, and we have NO KEYS! We should have probably learned the first time this happened, but no. I even thought about this a few days ago. Hmm, if that door ever locks, we can’t get in. Did I put a key outside somewhere, NO!

We were rattling the door trying to get the lock to maybe wiggle to the open position, and we could hear the doorbell and the guy calling my cell phone. (Both phones were inside by the way.) Eventually I went and told him we were locked out and the money was inside, and he said he would have to take it back. I felt kind of bad, but he was nice enough to say he hoped we got in. So now what do we do? I suggest asking a neighbor to use the phone and call a locksmith, but Steve said that was too expensive. He suggested putting on his climbing shoes and climbing up the outside of the house because the bedroom (second story) and loft (third story) windows were open. No. Then I suggested using a large drill bit and drilling through the lock. I read too many books, this doesn’t work. We ended up totally tearing apart the door handle for about an hour with the drill, screwdriver, hammer, and dremel. It FINALLY opened, but we for sure have to get a new handle. Oh well, cheaper than a whole new door (we thought about just busting through) or the locksmith I guess.

So I called the pizza place to see if they would send it back. I told him what happened, and he was like you should have called I would have just given it to you! Oh man! They did send a new order, just got it at 9:00 pm, and ate a piece real quick before starting this paragraph! Luckily, all three times I called today it was a different person, and two different delivery people. I guess we just weren’t meant to have pizza tonight…




What remains.


Box of parts we ripped off.


Trying to drill through the lock doesn’t work.


Pretty doorknob.


What if looked like when the knob came off.

Common Sense

Another rant... I dont generally complain about everything but the more money gets tight the harder it is to earn my business, and the more businesses fail to meet my expectations.

I have been dabbling in DIY projects and have started to build a stand.





I was convinced to order cabinet doors instead of making them myself because you can buy them for cheaper than the materails and save a lot of time and energy.

I bucked up and bought 6 cabinet doors. I needed 2 doors at each dimension. The doors arrived in 11 business days, which is right in the time frame they gave me. I busted open the crate they came in to find out the dimensions I gave them were not the same as recieved. I over reacted like always and was pretty ticked. After measuring every side of every door, I came to the conclusion one door wouldnt work as it was 1/4" short. That too could have been fudged if it wasnt one of the two that was on the front of the stand and thus once mounted leaving a 1/4" gap in the middle of the doors. Im not sure how you mess up someones dimensions when you do this everyday. If I was doing this in the garage I would almost expect it and accept it but not when Im paying you to do it.



My second gripe is that two of the doors are very small. 12" x 7 1/2" these still require 2 sets of hinges which I paid extra to have the holes drilled for. So where do you think these holes are? Put door in your jig and drill press the hole, turn around do the same. Yeah that doesnt work with eurohinges genius. I have 2 holes centered in the door about 1/8" apart. Do you even look at what your doing? Any third grader would know that wouldnt work. Now I will have to buy the Forstner bit set and redrill the holes to where I can actually put two hinges.



I called them this morning not very happy, and he said they would replace the door that is 1/4" short. Which is nice, but is now holding staining up. Common Sense and a tape measure would come in handy for this job.

Follow up Email in response to the above photo. Replacing those doors as well. I personally enjoyed the common sense comment as I did not make mention of that to the owner. Im glad they are making it right!

"Steve,
I am truly sorry for the problems and unfortunately I can't watch everything that goes on around here. Sometimes when new employees are being trained, the trainer takes it for granted that "common sense" will prevail. Obviously by your photo that would be a false assumption. I'll have the doors remade and shipped out right away. Your disappointment is my disappointment but as long as I have employees I'm sure they won't fail to disappoint at times so again, I'm sorry for the trouble......thx"

We need two trampolines!

How dumb, but totally funny if you have ever been around boxers. We need two of these things!!

Dog On Tramp @ Yahoo! Video

Do It Yourself

We haven't updated in awhile, so I feel the need to update even though nothing has really been going on. We have just been working and doing our normal everyday routine. Steve has been hard at work on our new fish tank stand, which is coming along very nicely. I am still reading away down my list of books. I am currently reading every book James Patterson has ever written, about 10 more books to go. I recommend "Suzanne's Diary to Nicholas."

A few months ago I posted all the cool things I learned in "Green Housekeeping." I have been cleaning our house the green way (vinegar, baking soda, olive oil) for a few months now and love it. It cleans better, doesn't dry out your hands, and costs a whole lot less. I will be trying to run the dishwasher and washing machine the green way in a few more weeks. That book recommended "Natural Beauty at Home" to make your own soaps, lotions, etc. I read it this weekend and there was some pretty simple stuff in there. Last night I made face wash, cold cream, and lip gloss. I need a few more ingredients before I can make the shampoos and a few other things. LOVE the face wash the 2 times I've used it. Been using the lip gloss all day and love it. Not so sure about the cold cream yet. It seems more like an intensive care lotion. Beware come Christmas time, I may be giving you Ashley Made Beauty Products!

** After work I took an electric mixer to the cold cream, and the consisteny is much more cold cream now!