Everyday Randomness

Mood Swings & Bullies

Do you ever have one of those days when you feel like you could just bust out in tears for no reason at all? That’s how I feel right now. I don’t know why. Nothing’s wrong, it’s not “that time” of the month, and I’ve been perfectly happy for most of the day. For some reason I just have this sickening “I need to cry” feeling in the pit of my stomach that just won’t go away.

I’ve tried to figure out what triggered it, and so far I’ve had no luck. The only thing that I can remotely see as a slight trigger would be the fact that I was looking at local adoptions a little while ago, and I saw a dog that looks just like Bubba. They have him listed as either a boxer mix or an Olde English Bulldogge because they’re just not sure at the shelter, but he could be Bubba’s identical twin brother if he weren’t 2 years older than Bubba. He’s also a little guy, only 30 lbs for roughly 3 years old. Bubba’s on the larger side of the scale for Olde English Bulldogges, but still in the proper weight range with 67lbs at 16 months.

I came very close to filling out an adoption request for him, but I decided to wait because hubby wouldn’t be too happy if I did it without talking to him. Also the dog, Amigo, is at Blue Ridge Boxer Rescue in Hickory, NC. That’s a few hours away from here, so I’m not sure what our chances would be of adopting him. Thankfully he’s at a bulldog rescue now because he was found at a kill shelter. Then he was adopted to a family, but that family is moving and had to return him to the BRBR. If I can’t take this little guy home I hope someone wonderful will. He deserves a great family and a forever home!

This is Amigo.

And this is Bubba when he was roughly the same size as in the photo.

and

They’ve got to have at least some similarities in the bloodline, and I would love to bring that guy home.

I still don’t think that’s what triggered this mood swing though. This is one of those times I wish I could just cry over nothing and get it over with, but no matter how hard I try I just can’t trigger the tears.

Open Letter To Henry’s Body Shop In Walhalla, South Carolina

*Please be aware this rant/letter contains graphic language.*

You’re going to fix my shit, and you’re going to give me a rental car because this has nothing to do with my insurance company. This is your fuck up. Do you hear me Wayne? How dare you call my husband today bitching him out because he contacted our insurance company wanting to know how to handle the situation. Our adjuster called you, and you got in trouble? BOO FUCKING HOO! If your shop did the job right in the first place you wouldn’t have to fix it again.

You’re pissed off because we have to drop the Blazer off again, and Nationwide called you out on it? FUCK YOU. We waited 7 weeks for you to fix our one vehicle because you took your own sweet time and waited until the last minute to order parts. I’m a liar? Would you like me to fax you a copy of the paperwork you gave me that shows the dates you ordered each part and the date you received it. Hell the interior plastic hasn’t even arrived yet. Why? When checking my final copy of the paperwork that you gave us when you released the vehicle I see you didn’t order the part until January 22nd. Why? You informed me on January 18th that the vehicle would most likely be ready for pickup on the 23rd.

When I called you to discuss the situation because you had the nerve to call my husband bitching at him for calling our insurance adjuster you have the nerve to tell me the conversation never took place? You never contacted my husband? Would you like to see the call records from his cell phone? Would you like a copy of the records from Verizon showing you called and how long the conversation lasted? Would you like to hear the conversation?

My husband is smart enough to know to hit the record conversation button on the side of his cell phone when conversations like this take place. I was fortunate enough to listen to the entire conversation, and I was not happy at what you may consider “customer service”. Under no circumstances do you have the right to yell at your customer because your shop didn’t do the job correctly.

Finally you say, and I quote, “just drop it off and I’ll get to it when I can.” You’ll get to it when you can? Did you not just have the vehicle in your shop for 7 weeks for a proper repair? Do you think I want to sit around waiting for you to “get to it” when we have no other vehicle? No! You will repair the vehicle promptly, and you will either provide a rental car or reimbursement for a rental while you complete the repairs.

Let’s take a look at the Nationwide Guarantee for a minute:

Quoting directly from the Blue Ribbon Repair Service Guarantee that you signed:

With Blue Ribbon Repair Service, you’ll receive:

• a thorough appraisal of the damage to your vehicle

• an easy-to-understand explanation of all your repair options

• a detailed description of any charges

• a complete and precise repair for your vehicle

• a promise to repair any defects in alternative parts and workmanship on the appraised and completed repairs for as long as you own or lease the vehicle we repair.

What did you give us?

Every time I discussed an appraisal with you, I got the run around. You told me to call our adjuster. The adjuster told us since it was a Blue Ribbon repair I had to get the appraisal from your shop. I never received an easy-to-understand explanation of the repairs because you didn’t even give me any clue on what would actually be repaired until we got the adjuster to call you demanding you give us the paperwork you were supposed to supply in the first place.

After taking a look at my vehicle and seeing the shape you returned it to me in, I definitely didn’t receive a complete and precise repair. Lastly, the promise to repair is the main part. We wouldn’t be in this situation if you had properly repaired the vehicle in the first place, but so far your actions have not proven to me that you fully intend to properly fix the vehicle.

I am completely disgusted with your company at this point, and the fact that you have been a friend of my family for many years will not sway my opinions at this point. When choosing to do business with your body shop I took into consideration that long standing friendship and the fact that many others recommended you as a reputable body shop. It seems to me they have been proven wrong at least in the case of our vehicle.

At this point I can assure you our vehicle will be properly repaired, and it will happen on our terms. I will not hand my only vehicle over to you for an undetermined amount of time without any compensation, and I can promise I will never give you my business again. I also promise to tell everyone I know about my experiences so they can avoid the same horrible experiences in the future.

Need A Little Help From The Cat Mamas

My fellow cat mamas unite! I need your opinions! For awhile now I’ve been trying to convince hubby to let me buy one of those self cleaning litter boxes. We’ve only got the one cat, but I swear he poops like we’ve got 10. He’s also super picky, and he won’t pee in the same litter box he uses for poo, so we have to keep two litter boxes at all times. I’ve got the poo box in the bathroom, and the pee box stays in the utility room off my kitchen. If I don’t keep two boxes he’ll pee in the floor, on the laundry, or wherever he feels like it.

First of all I hate having to clean two litter boxes just because I have a super picky cat and I’m super lazy. Secondly we’ve got the dog to worry about. No he doesn’t steal little kitty logs from the litter box (thank god), but he has developed a new habit. If we don’t clean out the poo box within minutes of Alley using it, Bubba will attempt to use it himself instead of going to the door to let me know he needs to go out. I love the fact that my dog’s interested in using the litter box, but he can’t seem to aim properly, and he ends up pooping half in and half out. That leaves me with a bigger mess to clean up.

I told hubby I thought getting a self cleaning litter box might solve both problems. Not only would it clean up the box every few minutes so I wouldn’t have to, it would also keep the kitty logs out of the box so maybe Alley would learn to use just one. It also is a lot easier than having to manually give each box a good scrub down every week. Plus I’ve already mentioned earlier in my blog that hubby and I are now officially trying for a little one, and we all know some stages of pregnancy and used cat litter just don’t mix.

I think a self cleaning box would be a good investment, but I don’t want to buy the first one I see. I want opinions! Who uses them, which ones, and how well do they work? No matter which brand I’ve looked at, they all cost a pretty penny, and I don’t want to waste that much money on something that isn’t worth it.

Every time I see the Cat Genie commercial I want to buy one, but I’m not paying $300 ($369.99 from PetCo! for it. I seriously can’t afford it even though it seems to have a super high rating on all of the pet sites. If the price were a little lower I’d be all over it with how sanitary it is and all. Plus I can just hear the dollars adding up that I’d save not buying cat litter every week.

Seriously guys, what are your thoughts?

The Life Of A Night Owl

Today is set aside for one very important thing. Yes, I’m flipping my sleeping schedule again. I tend to do that often don’t I? I just can’t help it. No matter how hard I try to stay on a “normal person” schedule, my body reverts back to night owl/sleep all day mode within a couple weeks. Hubby doesn’t complain about it, but I know he gets frustrated with it when he doesn’t have me lying in bed with him or when he has to come home and wake me up just to find out what we’re doing for dinner.

When I’m on my night owl schedule I also cook less, clean less, and just really care less about things. The house completely goes to shambles, and I have to spend a couple weeks putting everything back together again. Then comes the day (like today) when I wake up in the late afternoon to evening, stay up all night, then I keep myself up all day just so I can sleep the next night.

I know it’s not good for my body, but what else can I do? I get tired of being up all night, and it gets to a point where it’s boring. When I’m on that schedule I don’t talk to my friends and family as often, and I feel like I’m pretty much neglecting everyone.

I seriously hate that.