No More Second Chances

If 2019 taught me anything, it is that I have to stop giving people second chances.  Each and every time I have done that it has bitten me in the ass worse than the first bite.  I always want to see the best in others, want to help them and most of the time it is appreciated, however, in a very small percentage, it is not.  That is what hurts.

It hurts to help someone and then to find out they have been totally sabotaging you, your reputation and relationships the entire time.  When you hear it from one person it's a fluke, two, it's a concern, but when you hear from so many people it makes you sick to your stomach, you know it's true.  You don't want to believe that someone that you did so much for would repay your kindness like that.  Some have cut me off with no explanation, I can't even imagine what was said to them to take that action.

Then you look at past patterns of behavior.  There was always someone that did them wrong. I guess now that person is me.  I am so sorry that I was trying to help you and provided you with opportunities for personal growth and success.  I am so sorry that you need me to blame for everything that is wrong in your life.  I truly hope it turns around for you and that you get the help that I believe you need.

Going further, I am no longer giving second chances.  If you prove to me that your character is not true, I will no longer give you an opportunity to do it again.  I am a firm believer of not burning bridges, however, if someone starts the fire themselves, I will no longer rush to grab water to die it out.  I don't hate you, but I will not allow you take up negative space in my mind and life.

Getting an Inground Pool? Buyer Beware.......

We entered into a contract with Nichols Pool Company in Jeannette, PA/Irwin, PA, whatever address they are using now, in May 2017 (They have disabled their FB page after I reviewed them). Work was to start on July 10, 2017 but work never started until July 31, 2017 and they never finished. We never got any of our equipment or cover. We owed them $3800 and didn’t give them a dime more than we already had given.

We spent nearly $10,000 purchasing equipment from a local pool company and having them finish as well as having an excavator fix our destroyed yard and second driveway.

For more information on owner Nolan Nichols and what he did to others before us please see news video here https://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stories/contractor-accused-of-taking-money-but-never-doing-the-work/580839512 and be sure to check out his record here https://ujsportal.pacourts.us/DocketSheets.aspx

We wish someone had shared this information with us before we contracted with them. Our goal is to never let this guy scam anyone else.

 We were so excited this day.  They were to start on 7-10, but three weeks later we have a hole!

 My nieces and nephew enjoying the hole two weeks later.

 We have a frame

 Getting ready for concrete

 Still getting ready for concrete

Concrete poured.  They had to rip out the whole left side because concrete set too fast

 They finally lay the concrete on the left side again.

 Finally come back to power wash the release powder off of the concrete

 Working on pool bottom

 Still working on pool bottom

 Still working on pool bottom

 Pool bottom finally finished

 Liner installed and filled with water.  We find out later that they never put the light in the light fixture.

 No safety cover, they covered with a tarp for the season.  This was the las time they were on our property.

Now we start with a local company to fix this mess.

Remembering Gaga

Yesterday, I took one of the most beautiful photographs of sunrise in Nagshead, NC. A few hours later, I knew why. A very special woman in my life had made her journey beyond. I am certain that the beautiful sky was created and sent by her.

She was my two best friends grandma. She was the hippest, coolest grandma ever. We called her Grandma Gaga, after she revealed to us years ago that she liked Lady Gaga. She became my Grandma Gaga as well. Hell, she was everyone’s Grandma Gaga.

She was quick witted, with a sharp tongue, she was everything you looked up to as a woman. She would do anything you asked her to do, just like in my favorite photo of her. We all wanted and still want to grow up to be like her.

If you visited her, she always offered you a beer, that she kept in the cardboard containers that a 12 pack of pop came in. It wasn’t to disguise her beer, she said that beer should come in boxes like that so it was easier to put into the refrigerator.

Don’t try to use her microwave, it was full of toothpicks for some reason. She loved toothpicks, they were everywhere.

I was with her when she took her first shot of Tequila. She said she always wanted to try it. So while we were all visiting and playing Skat, we did a shot. Votive cups were her shot glasses. She took her first shot and exclaimed, “That tastes like gasoline!” Yes, Gaga, it does.

Those who know me, know that I do a mean chicken impression. She always reminded me how I traumatized her former parakeet, Blue, by clucking like a chicken at him. Her newest parakeet, Tweetie, will be living with me once I return home. I think I will change his name to PeeWee, which is a nickname that some family members called her.

I am disappointed that I won’t be at her memorial service on Sunday, since I will be in California working a show. But I will be there in spirit.

I never imagined life without her. I am going to miss being “Gagafied”, which is when she would go on Facebook and like about 100 old pictures in a row, so that your notifications were all from her. I am going to miss her jokes and puns. I am going to miss her wit and sarcasm. I am going to miss her.

My heart skipped a beat this morning when her face showed up in my notifications. It was reminding me that it was her birthday. What better way to spend your birthday, but in Heaven with the man you loved, sending us beautiful sunrises.

Happy Birthday and Godspeed Gaga.

Laws Are Made For the Guilty

If you’ve never been the victim of something, I have news for you, the laws are there to protect those who mean to harm you.  Those who threaten you, who stalk you and who harass you, they have rights.  Even though you may be a victim, they have the right to do those things to you until you finally get to the point where the system will finally stop them.

This is something that I never realized.  I guess it may be that I try to follow the rules, follow the laws, that I was oblivious to this.  I never realized how messed up our system was until I had experience with it first hand.

An individual can be mentally ill and be allowed to repeatedly harass you, threaten to kill you in many ways, threaten others and even invade your personal space, but they still have rights.

Some of those rights are the right to be able to walk around and continue the threats and harassment.  The right to have a family member bail them out only to have them run and be unaccounted for.  The right to show up for plea court with no representation, so that the trial is continued for another month while they TRY to get them to accept a public defender.  This has happened three times now.

So as a victim, you are left, clearing your schedules to make court appearances, to testify against them, only to have those trials continued another month because they showed up again, representing themselves, and they are deemed not competent to do so by the court. 

What does it take for family and the system to see that they are dangerous?  Do they actually have to harm or kill someone?  It’s a sad state of affairs.

Family members will bail them out and then dismiss you, as someone, who is  overreacting.  “They don’t know where you live” yet they come to your home when they aren’t permitted within 50 yards of you, your home or your workplace.  “They don’t have anything on them to hurt you”, I guess that means weapons, yet the deadliest weapons we all have are our hands.  “I guess you are happy now” when they fuck up for the umpteenth time now and are going back to jail.

Its time to stop making excuses for these people.  Stop coddling them.  Stop bailing them out.  Start making them accountable for their actions, get them the help that they need.

Tomorrow, I hope we are finally on the way to stopping this destructive behavior we’ve been dealing with for years, most seriously since November.  It’s time to get this person the help that he needs.  He doesn’t need to be out, running amok, living as a homeless person, unaccounted for.  It’s time he is either in an institution or a jail cell.  He lost his right to live as he wants to a long, long time ago.

It’s time to take our lives back, one without fear, one without having to constantly look over our shoulders.  A life that doesn’t begin with having to check into SAVIN and the PA Docket application each morning to ensure that he is still in jail.

Tomorrow, we pray that it begins to be our time.  We are going to be able to stand and look at this individual and say “FUCK YOU”.  You don’t own us.  You have no right to treat us this way.   Our rights outweigh your rights ten to one.

Sticks and Stones.....

Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me.  Whoever said that first is an asshole.  Some things are just hurtful and yes, maybe that makes me weak for being hurt by the opinion of someone who really doesn't matter at all.  But hey, I'm human.

Everyday, we are surrounded by bullies.  Some are big, some are small, some are kids and some are adults  Well, I was taught this week, by my friend, Kim that to ensure that the bully doesn't win, to stand up to them.

I will not be as classless and childish as they are and call them out, personally.  That would only give them more power in my life.

I was sent a screenshot of someone referring to me as The Purple Piglet.  Someone else commented further about all the food that I would be eating.

First of all, I would like both gentlemen to go right now and take a good look at the women you both married and look at their asses.  You will see that they are not small.  They are not supermodel size.  They are not much different than mine.  So, would you say the same thing to your wives?  To the mother of your children?

Second, last time I looked it was Big MAC not Mack.  Personally, I prefer Wendy's or Dairy Queen, but you seem to be very knowledgable in McDonald's food, so you should know how to spell it.  Then again, maybe not, because a quick look at your profile on FB, shows that you don't know the difference between they, their and they're, to, two and too, our and are.  Mr. Troth, God rest his soul, is rolling in his grave.

So, why the hell should I care what the fuck either of you think of me?  I have done nothing but try to be nice, try to do the right thing and this is what I get.  Well I sleep at night, knowing I am a hard worker, I am a very active member of my community, I donate time and money to a lot of organizations and charities.

I then am shown where you were discussing how I am a spoiled bitch and have never worked a day in my life.  That, right there, proved to me that you have absolutely no fucking clue what you are talking about.  I grew up in a cock roach infested apartment with a single mom.  I've worked since I was 12 years old.  At times, I worked four jobs at a time.  Don't you ever say I never worked a day in my life.  Fuck you.  You don't know me and I could give a shit if you ever do.  You are an asshole.

I feel sorry for your children and grandchildren.  I have witnessed first hand how they have been taught to hate for no reason.  It's quite sad.  I pray for them.

Now, you have hurt me, but, being the "BIG" girl that I am, I am getting up, shaking it off and giving you both a a big, double, middle finger, crissie cross fuck you.  Be on the lookout for the new LA Taco that is LOVINGLY being called The Purple Piglet.  I am honored to have a taco named after my big, fat ass!

Dual Ablation Time

When I had my first ablation in October, we pretty much knew it was not a success since most of my electrical activity was on the back wall of my heart, which they could not ablate without burning my esophagus.   Despite that, I felt better and when I went in for my check up in May, I thought I was totally fine.  Wrong.  They didn't like my readings.  At all.

So, today, I will be in the fine hands of two amazing doctors.  Dr. Moreca will go first and ablate my heart from the outside.  Once he is finished, Dr. Thosani will go inside and clean up, like he did during the first ablation.

I will be in the hospital until Sunday or Monday, so I am sure I will be going crazy again.  There is an 85% success rate for me and these wonderful doctors developed this dual procedure.  I am in good hand and both of them are really easy on the eyes!

Feeling Fabulous

Here is the update on my heart.  It's doing it's job and I feel amazing.  I mean, I felt pretty good for awhile, then felt bad, then felt good, but once we finally got this all worked out, I feel better than I can ever remember feeling!!

Last time I updated, I just had my ablation.  It was to take three months for my heart to heal.  I did feel good however, I went into Afib and never worked myself out of it, which is what always would happen.  When I went to my three month check up, I had reported that I was getting really short of breath constantly and this was new.

I wore a halter monitor for 24 hours and was scheduled for a stress test.  In between those two things, I had another Cardio Aversion, where they stop and then shock my heart back into rhythm.  I felt so good that day, then in two days I was feeling awful again.  I went to my stress test.  To say I failed the stress test was an understatement.  I lasted 2 minutes and 45 seconds on a slow, uninclined treadmill before I was so short of breath, I nearly passed out and felt like I was going to puke.  I was convinced I was in Afib again, but I was not.

I was so discouraged at this point.  I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life feeling like shit.  I was almost to the point where I was going to admit defeat.  Then, my Pittsburgh doctor recommended that I stop all of my heart meds for a week to see how I felt.  Those meds were keeping my heart rate low and I mean low, like 52-56 low.  I agreed to do it and call in one week to give a report, since I would be on vacation.

Day seven came and went and I totally forgot to call, I was feeling great.  I called on day 10 to report that I felt fabulous.  I feared that it was mind over matter, since I was not only on vacation, but I was in Hawaii.  Who wouldn't feel fabulous there?

As the days wore on and turned into weeks and now at the one month mark, I am convinced that I have beat this!  FINALLY!  I feel amazing.  I still have my meds just in case I go into Afib and need to slow my heart rate down.  I will still, most likely, keep taking my blood thinner just in case I would go into Afib since I am at risk for a stroke if I do.

So no matter what your struggle is, no matter how long you have been struggling, do not ever give up!  There is a light at the end of the tunnel and when you reach that point, you will be so thankful for all that you still have left to live for and the ability to live it with joy!!

Final Manicure

I've been in the business for 13 years now.  We've lost a few clients, who have passed, but most were sporadic clients, that only came a few times a year and were elderly.  I knew the time would come that we would lose someone we are close to.  It happened.  Twice this month.

The first one was one of Kylie's clients.  Miss Elsie just lit up the room when she walked in the door.  She was one of our original Hip Grannies.  She always had us in stitches.  Kylie worked on her and worked on her and finally, we got her in glitter.  In the fall, she asked Kylie to remove her nails, take her out of the book and not ask any questions.

Elsie was a proud woman.  We knew what was going on, yet deep down, we hoped she would beat it. Sadly she did not.  We did find out when she came home with hospice care.  We sent her flowers and told her that we loved her and missed her.  We hope that she got to see and enjoy the flowers and know just how much she touched our lives.

More recently, one of my personal clients passed.  I had heard last week that she was in the hospital and then heard the devastating news that she would most likely, not be coming home.  I offered to do her nails in the hospital with gel, since it has no smell.  I wanted to have one last chance to talk to her, even if she couldn't answer.  I never got to do that.

I was asked by the family to do her nails for her service.  I never hesitated.  Kathi loved her nails and to be honest, she would have been pissed if they didn't look great on the final day people would see her.  I was nervous.  I never worked on someone once they had passed.  I am glad Kathi was my first.

When I arrived, her stylist was doing her hair.  She had been growing her hair out, so she was unsure of what looked best.  I gave her my input and she ended up doing her hair beautifully.  She then helped me out, since she knew it was my first time.  We chuckled and talked to Kathi, just like we would have had she had a regular appointment with us.

I am so glad I did this.  This was my final gift to this wonderful woman, who knew everything about me, my life and especially my fur babies.  See, she was just as much of an animal lover.  I know there are industry and business experts that preach to us that our clients are not our friends.  I wholeheartedly disagree.  You can't hold someone's hand for an hour, every few weeks and not have a connection with them.

Kathi was my friend.  Elsie was my friend.  Hundreds of others are my friends as well.  They trust us with their deepest secrets, their fears, they share their joys and milestones with us as well as their failures.  They celebrate our successes with us as well as support us when we have bad times.

I was honored to help make Kathi beautiful in the end.  I know she would have appreciated it.  I am going to miss her.  I was just looking through all of the nails of hers I took photos of.   She was always one that asked, "What did you learn new?"  She would let me try anything.  Sometimes, I wasn't happy with the result, but she always was.

I hope in heaven that you look up Tom Holcolmb.  I know, without a doubt, he will be doing your nails and so fabulously that you will be saying "Rhonda, what the hell were you doing all of these years??"

Godspeed Kathi.  I will miss you.

Control+ALt+Delete=Reboot Tomorrow

Well it's been three months since my ablation of my heart.  I felt amazing UNTIL I was on my way home from California on November 18.  I got off of my first flight and my ankles were so swollen, they hurt to bend I was also very short of breath.  When we arrived in Pittsburgh, after my second flight, it was worse.  I was sweating, dizzy and thought I was going to have to go immediately to the hospital.  I tried to play it cool so I would not alarm my travel companion.  Thank goodness she was the driver.  By the time I got home, I felt better.

From that day forward, I never felt good again.  I've been horribly winded by simple things, like walking to the car, getting dressed.  I am constantly hot, sweaty and clammy.  It makes me crabby and irritable, restless and gives me a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness.  I am very forgetful and I sometimes have problems thinking straight.

I saw my local cardiologist on Monday, he put a 24 hour monitor on me and ordered another stress test for this coming Monday.  I had my follow up with my Pittsburgh cardiologist, yesterday.  He was the one that did my ablation.  He wants to cardiovert me tomorrow.  It's pretty much a reboot of my heart to get it into regular rhythm and see if I can stay there.  So tomorrow morning to Pittsburgh I go.  I already had this procedure a year ago in December.

If this doesn't work then they will do the ablation again with a second doctor, who will be able to use a different catheter that can try to cauterize the back wall of my heart, which is where all of my electrical activity is coming from.  They couldn't do that with the original ablation because they would have burned my esophagus.

So, wish me luck and if I've been crabby, impatient towards you, snapped or just not seemed like myself, please know it's not you.  It's all me and I hope to be back to my jovial self soon.

Oh, Sweet Heart of Mine

I haven't blogged in forever.  This seems the easiest way to update everyone about my current condition.  For those catching up, I was diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation last June.  This was after YEARS of complaining of being tired and winded all of the time.  It was blamed on being overweight and diagnosed as acid reflux.  I was put on meds.

In December, I had a Cardio Aversion, which means they stop then shock my heart, hopefully getting it back into a good rhythm.  See, Afib causes the top part of your heart to beat faster than the bottom, so blood will pool in there running the risk of stroke.  So blood thinners are a must.  When I work a 24 hour heart monitor then, my pulse rate fluctuated from 189 to 59 in twelve hours.  The Cardio Aversion seemed to have worked, or at least I thought it did, see, I can't tell if I am in Afib.  I guess I am used to feeling like shit, so that's normal.

When I went for pre-op testing for my hysterectomy in July, I was found to be in Afib.  I will admit, I was surprised, since I thought I felt good.  So, who knows how long I have been back in Afib.

It was determined that I was a good candidate for a Heart Ablation, where they take a catheter into the top chambers of the heart and cauterize the areas that are misfiring.  They then try to put me back into afib and proceed until they can't.  The goal of this procedure is to get me back into rhythm and off of all of my meds, since I am young and essentially healthy.

I had this procedure on Friday.  They cauterized electrical activity on the front wall of my heart and all along the top.  I had a lot of electrical activity on the back wall of my heart, which they could not do anything with, due to my esophagus being right against it.  I woke up feeling great.  Then an hour later, I went back into Afib.

To day I was devastated, is an understatement.  I looked at the nurse and said FUCK.  She then looked at me and said "You want to cry, don't you" and you know what, I did.  And boy did I cry.  Like a big baby.  I had one hell of a pity party for myself that night.

Once all of the anesthesia wore off, which was a lot, since I was sedated over six hours, I remembered that this is okay.  That my heart was just burned and needs to heal.  I calmed down and made the best of it.  Sometime that night, while I slept I went back into rhythm.  The next day, right after dinner I went into Atrial Flutter, which is similar to Afib, just a higher pulse rate.  I stayed in it.

Yesterday, I finally came home after a three night stay.  Before I left, I went into and out of Afib four times.  The docs think that's a good sign.  It will take three months for my heart to totally heal and this may happen until it's healed.  If I continue to go into Afib and stay in it, they will shock me again.

So, I am hopeful.  I realize now, how long this has limited my life.  I have suffered with this for years.  Scarily, I suffered with this all through playing roller derby.  It is a miracle that I never had a stroke.  All those times, I was using my inhaler because I was told I had sports induced asthma, I was in Afib.  All of those times my legs were so tired and felt like bricks and I was screamed at to pick it up and had eyes rolled at me because some thought I was just fat and lazy, I was in Afib.  Scary shit.

So I guess what I want to say, is, stop judging people.  Yes I am overweight.  Trust me, I try to eat healthy.  I cook four meals a week and try to make them as healthy as possible.  Yes, I drink soda, however, I don't drink near as I used to and I totally drink clear sodas, which don't have caffeine.  I have given up coffee, expect for the one cup I am allowed each day, which I savor.  The only think I can't do is be active.  I just can't physically do it any longer.  Just walking up the stairs from our basement exhausts me.

I look healthy, I act healthy, so to most, I look like an overweight person, who is too lazy to do things.  This couldn't be further from the truth.  I want to do things.  I want to join my BFF at Zumba and have a good time.  I want to take my dogs for a walk.  Somethings, I just know I just can't physically do any more.  When we were in Vegas last week, there was a day we were all going to walk to shop at the mall, a favorite thing for me since there's a Hello Kitty store there.  I had to stop when we got to the bridge at the end of our casino, because I knew I wouldn't make it.  I sent everyone on without me and spent some quiet time alone.

I am sick of feeling like this and I pay to God that soon, I can get my life back and get more active.  So please stop looking at people as being fat and lazy.  There are some of us, who just can't fix it, even though we want to.

Religion - Attending Church

As most of you know, I was raised Catholic.  I went to Catholic school.  My mother wasn't an avid church goer, but she thought it was important that I be raised Catholic.

After my eighth grade graduation from Catholic School, I have maybe stepped into a Catholic church at the most, three times, most likely for either a wedding or a funeral.

My husband was raised Catholic as well.  His father was married previously, and his wife left him.  So, when he married Nick's mother, it wasn't recognized as a marriage in the Catholic church, therefore when Nick came along, they refused to baptize him.  After Nick's grandmother made a nice donation to the church, they changed their mind.

Mr. Bruises is what I refer to as a Chreaster.  It is someone who goes to church on Christmas and Easter.  I, personally feel that if you are going to go on those two holy days, you should go regularly.  I choose to not go at all.

I still believe in God.  I still try to live my life in an honest and giving way.  I still try to do the right thing and still try to find the best in people.  I just never felt the need to go to church.

Recently, BFF Jill invited me to attend Pittsburgh East Community Church with her.   It's in Plum, which is almost an hour drive.  She lured me with driving past the Abby Lee Miller Dance Studio, from the show Dance Moms, which is just down the road from the church.  I was IN!

The first thing I asked her is what should I wear.  She said jeans and a nice top.  Really?  Jeans?  That was frowned upon the last time I was in Catholic church, but hey the times have changed so maybe that's permitted there now too.

When we pulled in, I was astounded at the size of the parking lot.  I felt like I was going to a concert.  Little did I know, I pretty much was.  The parking attendants were all very happy and cheerful.  You could tell that everyone wanted to be there.  Everyone walking in was in a good mood.  The greeters at the door made me feel like I was an old friend.  It was a VERY inviting atmosphere.

Next thing I noticed was people walking around with coffee, soda, danishes, muffins, you know FOOD!  This would never be permitted in a Catholic church.  Then everyone was talking.  Some loudly.  Again a Catholic no no.  I was so out of my element, I didn't know what to do, so I just sat and observed.

They had a live band on stage that played current music and then some Christian songs that you would never guess were church songs.  The lead singer was wearing Chuck Taylors, he had a faux hawk, an earring in his year and boy could he sing and capture your attention.

After about four or five songs, with encouragement and words on a big screen to sing along, we were asked to meet each other.  Perfect strangers met me with a smile and a hand shake.  The pastor and his wife came on stage for the sermon.  This was the beginning of a six part series called True Love.  It was all about making relationships work.

I sat and listened to them.  They never professed to be perfect.  They actually told us of their failures and how they worked to overcome them.  After the sermon, we ended with another popular song and it was time to go.  Time just flew!!

After that I got my reward and got to do a drive by of the dance studio.  On the ride, Jill asked me what I thought.  I was still a little out of my element and really couldn't answer since it was nothing like what I expected.  It was nothing like I had experienced in the past.  It was so different, but in a good way.

After about a week or so, I told her I wanted to go again.  We went this morning.  The same things were apparent.  EVERYONE wanted to be there, even the kids.  If you would see the area that they have for the kids, you would understand why.  Everyone was so happy, welcoming and genuinely friendly.  The sermon was another good one and I found myself applying the suggestions multiple times later today.

Here's another thing that I realized.  This is a church that doesn't judge.  They don't care how you dress, how you wear your hair, if you have piercings or gauges, if you are tattooed, if you are in a relationship with someone of another race or in one with the same sex as you are.  You are welcome and loved no matter what.

I think this is the biggest difference.  Whether the Catholic church wants to admit it or not, they judge.  You never feel worthy to be a Catholic.

I will most definitely be going back.  The energy in that church is just infectious.  It's no wonder people are filling their parking lot.  Church is FUN!  It's entertaining!  It's educational!  Oh and I can sing my heart out, drinking a coffee, wearing jeans with my tattoo sticking out!  I'll take it!!

How Long?

How long do you imply that I am not good enough for you before I start to believe it and realize I am better?
How long do you continue to blatantly exclude me before I no longer want to be included?
How long do you continue to do this to people over and over again before you have no one left?
How long before I realize I don't have any more second chances to give?
How long before I realize I can't overlook things any longer?
How long before I realize that I am worth way more than I am given credit for?
How long before I go my own way?

Not very long.  Not very long at all.

Car Shopping FAIL!

So, after 10 years and 100,000 miles on my 2003 Honda Civic, and the fact that I can't easily get up my new driveway when it's covered in snow, I decided it was time for a new vehicle.  A four wheel drive one.

I am a Honda girl.  I've bought three in my life and it's the only brand I have driven except for my first car, which was a Pontiac Sunbird that was a hand me down from my Grandma.  I decided that I wanted to get a Honda CRV LX.

I did my research online.  I found one in the color that I liked at Honda North in Butler.  Mr. Bruises is on vacation, so he went over on Thursday and worked out a deal with "Jerry".  I was between two colors, since Mr. Bruises was trying to talk me into the Kona Coffee color instead of the Mountain Air Blue one that I liked.

We were to return the next day, which was yesterday, to look at the two colors and sign they papers and drive off with it, since I was already pre-approved.

We arrived at Honda North at 9:30, at 9:30, I sat at the salesman's table after making my color decision.  Jerry wasn't there, he was out sick.  I ended up with "JJ" who is a Jonathan Penner (From Survivor) look alike.  All was going well, I had to be at work to start for noon.

Then everything took a shit dump.  First, I was going to trade in my Civic.  The link to the trade in value from their website said that it would be work $3,177 in Fair condition since I need the front bumper replaced.  We would have been happy with $3,000, even though we could sell it for more if we replaced the bumper.  Well, he came back and started the value at $3,000 an deducted all these amounts for ridiculous things like my brakes are half worn, yet they are one year old and no one removed the tires to look at the brakes.  He said my drivers seat wobbled, which we verified on the way home that it didn't.  All in all, he offered me $1,100 for it.  I looked at him and loudly asked if he was smoking crack.  We said that we would be leaving with the car.

At 10:30, nearly an hour later, I told him that I needed to be on the road by 11:15 to go to work.  He assured me that we would be on time.  At 10:45 I reminded him again.  At 11:00, I said he had 15 minutes and he wanted to give me a tour of the service area.  At this point, we have not even seen the finance guy.

At 11:15, I grabbed my stuff and we left.  at 11:25, he calls me and asked "Where did you go?"   Seriously???!??  I gave him an earful and told him that we would NOT be back.  10 minutes later, the Manager called and wanted to let him know what happened.  I told him that they have serious problems if they can't get a car off the lot within 2 hours when it was pretty much a done deal.  He offered me $250 off for my trouble.  WOW!  I told him that even if the car was FREE, I no longer want it, we would be going somewhere else.  He then tried to blame the delay on me, saying that I misspelled my name on my online credit application I filled out.  I told him that was funny, since I used AutoFill to fill in most of the areas.  I guess I am misspelling my name all over the Internet.

Mr. Bruises drove me to work.  I called Delaney Honda in Indiana and talked to a wonder salesman named Matt.  I gave him the story and told him that if he could match the price I was given, including the $250 they were going to give me for my troubles, and the interest rate, that I would be over on Monday to sign the papers and leave with the vehicle.

Not only were they able to match that price, they will be able to give me 1.9% financing.  Now THAT is customer service.  All done over the phone.

Honda North needs to work on their customer service.  I should have went to Delaney's to begin with since that was where I got my first Honda.

Monday, I will be driving a Mountain Air Blue Honda CRV LX and can't be happier.  Thank you Matt and Delaney Honda for treating us like we should have been treated at Honda North.  When Mr. Bruises purchase his Honda Pilot, we will definitely be coming back!!

You're UGLY - Contributing to Today's Delinquent Youth

I'm exhausted.  I've worked my ass off this week.  I am not feeling 100%, yet I still had to stop on my way home to get Swiffers and garbage bags for the salon as well as cat litter.  So, I braved WalMart.

I knew it would be horrible.  I put on my cheerful face. I was patient, maneuvering my cart around people, blocking aisles while bullshitting with others, people who stop in the middle of a main aisle for no apparent reason, you know, just a typical trip to WalMart times ten because it's December 22.

I was polite.  I was cheerful until I could take no more.  I followed a mother and her two children along the ENTIRE length of WalMart to get to the section that had my three items.  During this long walk, her son bounced a ball.  Bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce.  Bouncing it off of shelves.  Bouncing it off of the mother, bouncing off of other people.  I stopped counting the bounces at 252, because that is when I snapped.

I turned into the cat food aisle and she came in behind me.  Even after giving her "The Look" twice, she was clueless.  I told her that it was annoying.  She replied "The ball?", I said yes, to which she replied, "Tough, deal with it".  Then I really snapped.

I told her that it was annoying everyone and that this is not a playground, it was a store.  She looked at me and said "YOU are not everyone".  I told her, lady, did you not notice the looks that just about everyone that passed you gave you, because I did.  It is annoying many people.

She didn't say "Kids will be kids" not "Honey, don't bounce the ball" no, she said "Your UGLY".  I think I would have had more respect for her had she said "You're a bitch!"  At which point I said, well you are a crappy mother, allowing your kid to act like an asshole in public.  I told her that people like her are what's wrong with this world.  You need to teach your kids to have respect for others while in public.

At this point, the boy had already put the ball into the cart.  I looked at him and smiled and thanked him for doing so.  See, was this so hard?  The child obviously knows things and just needs some guidance.

I am sick to death of people, who have kids, and just turn a blind eye to them, it's like they ignore them. This is just the beginning, they are young and not respecting others, next it will be them doing heroin, all while the mother turns a blind eye to it.

Parents are responsible for giving their children a moral compass.  They need to teach them the difference between right and wrong.  They need to teach them to have respect for others.  I guess it is kind of hard to teach your children that, when you, yourself, don't possess those things.

My mother ruled me with an iron fist.  I was not allowed to act like that in public and if I did, she beat my ass.  Guess what?  I've never been arrested.  I've never shot and killed anyone.  I've never taken drugs, hell I've never even assaulted anyone, unless you count that one time I slapped Gin Harmon across the face while working at Jamesway, but she asked for it.

Start parenting.  Stop the promotion of delinquency in America.  Your children want your guidance and attention.  You birthed them, you owe it to them to give them at least that.

How to Lose Me As a Customer

Poor Customer Service is how you lose me as a customer.  This one has been a long time coming.  So, let me start from the beginning.

Two years ago, at Premier Orlando, I purchased three UV lights from Dashing Diva.  I loved the look of the lights, they were affordable and they had the way cool, slide out bottoms for use on toes.  We took them to the salon, set them up and went to work.

On day two, while Regina was working and the light was not in use, all of a sudden, we heard a POP and a big puff of smoke came out of the light.  The light was fried.  I called home office and was told that I needed to mail the light to them, they would inspect it and determine if they would send me a new one.  TWO DAYS OLD.

So, I paid to ship it to New York.  Two weeks later I get a new one.  No refund for my postage.

Three months later, Kylie's lamp quit working.  I called home office and was told pretty much since it was over 30 days I was basically shit out of luck.  I was told that I could ship it to New York (again at my expense) and they would have their "Maintenance Man" look at it and see if he could fix it.  I said hell with that.  I took it apart myself and fixed the problem, the wire going to the start button was broken.

For the past two years, I have bought replacement bulbs for the three lights every four months.  The last time I purchased bulbs was in March and the shipping was $10.95.

Imagine my surprise on July 23, when I went to order 12 bulbs and the shipping was now $24.98.  I thought, damn, did they raise their prices for shipping, so I checked their website and this is the Shipping Scale.

So, I sent them the follow email:

I just placed an order for 12 UV bulbs and a few other random items.  The total came to $119.40.  I was given the ridiculous UPS Ground shipping price of $24.98.  I just looked on your site and it shows that shipping for that total should  be $17.95, which is still ridiculous.  Can you please tell me why I am being charged $7.03 more than your shipping scale says?

I never got a response from them.  I still needed bulbs, so I ordered 16 Phillips bulbs from another manufacturer for our other light and these three. and they were shipped for FREE.  When I got the bulbs, they didn't work in the Dashing Diva lights.  They flickered like a strobe light.  These Phillips bulbs are the best on the market.  It was apparent that I had to use bulbs directly from Dashing Diva.

So, on August 8, I called.  I was told that they would look into it and get back with me.  There was NO offer to take my order over the phone and charge me the correct shipping amount.

After a week of no response, I just sucked it up and purchased three lights from another manufacturer that my Phillips bulbs will work in.  Today is two weeks since I was told someone would get back to me.

I decided to check their site out today to see if they fixed the problem.  Imagine my surprise when I saw this today.  They not only haven't fixed the problem, as you can see it has escalated.

So, Dashing Diva has lost my business due to a looooonnnnnng history of poor customer service.  BUYER BEWARE.  Check your shipping costs before you agree to purchase online from them.  Again, they have known about this for ONE MONTH!

Having an Opinion

I am a very opinionated person.  Sorry.  Why is it, though, when you have an opinion, people love to try to tell you and show you that your opinion is wrong and you should honor THEIR opinion?  I don't do that to others.  I respect their opinion and you better damn well believe I am going to defend my opinion.  Last time I checked having an opinion was still a right.

I Love Myself, So What?

Tonight, we went out with friends to celebrate 20 years of marriage.  Like always, we had a blast and took lots of photos and shared them on Facebook.  Well this picture struck a nerve with a dickhead, who I am NOT friends with on Facebook, but one of the people tagged in the photo was.  He commented on the photo as such:

your so in love with yourself its fucking sickning!!!!!!! get a fucking life

What a sad life a person has to have to make a comment on a photo of people celebrating a milestone with friends.  I feel very sorry for that person because obviously they are missing out in life.

First, YES, I love myself.  Doesn't everyone?  If not, they should.  Loving yourself is the first step and the only true way you will experience true love for someone else or have that reciprocated.  As for getting a life.  Ummmm, I obviously have one.  One that someone seems to be jealous of.

So, to the douchebag, who made that comment, I would like to say, YES, I am in love with myself.  It's sad that you obviously don't love yourself.  

Jeffrey's Big Adventure

Jeffrey had a big day yesterday.  If you don't know who Jeffrey is or his story, you can read all about it here.

Wednesday, I was preparing for my surgery and being off, so I took care of all of the animals.  I cleaned Lettie and Lilah's cage and I filled Jeffrey's tank up and cleaned his filter.  Well his filter was giving me troubles turning back on so I ended up having to fill his tank almost full.  Usually I fill it to about four inches from the top and I have never had a lid on his tank.  I never needed to.

Later that night, I noticed that he had his big, floating log over towards the right side, he was up on it and the bastard was trying to climb out.  Mr. Bruises pushed him back in and moved his log to the other side.

Yesterday, Mr. Bruises had to take me to the hospital for 6:30 am.  Once I got settled, I sent him home to get some sleep until I was ready to be picked up.  He got up and was eating his breakfast and he said something was amiss.  The turtle usually sits there and watches him eat his breakfast.  He looked in the tank and he was gone!  He was on the kitchen floor, right where he fell from his tank.  He was on his back and flailing all around.  Mr. Bruises noticed that both the cat and Travis were both over in that area nosing around.

We have no idea how long he was out and upside down, but he is back in his tank and being just as surly as ever.  I bet he won't try that again!

My Favorite Tree

Back in April, I took a photo of my favorite tree and blogged about it in early May, comparing the photo to one I took of the same tree January 9, 2011.  I vowed to take a photo of that tree every season.

While riding Tootie today, I realized it was July, which is one of the months I was to take a photo of the tree, so we rode out and took some pictures.

It's amazing how much greener things looked in April.  We have had a heat wave and little rain.  I guess that's why everything looks brown.

See you in October, favorite tree!!

Photo taken April 30, 2012

Photo taken January 9, 2011

Toxicity Level: LOW

For years now, I have put up with a person.   An immature person.  A one upper.  You know the kind, no matter what you say to anyone, they have to butt in and either try to correct you or one up you.  It's so annoying.  I am not the only one this person does it to.  They have probably been doing it their entire life to just about everyone in their life.

I thought this person was a friend, but it became apparent years ago, that this person was not.  They liked to tell untruths, liked to cause drama, liked to throw in vague little digs here and there.  I tolerated this person, because, for the most part, for a long amount of time I had a large amount of respect for them.

I have been wanting to rid myself of this person for awhile now and almost did in March.  The toxicity level that this person was putting out at that time was tremendous.  She was vile to more than just me.  At the time a friend asked me why I was even friends with them and my answer was a simple "I don't know".  I've done a lot of thinking about that question over the past few months and I really could not come up with a good reason for remaining in contact with them.

I know how this person works though.  If I broke it off, she wins.  I will never let a toxic person win.  Sorry, I am stubborn like that.

I am happy to say, the toxicity level in my life has dropped to an all time low and I am ecstatic.  The ball was in my court and I just hammered the final nail in the coffin and couldn't be more at peace.  Life is way too short to have toxic people in your life.