Thursday, July 31, 2008

I Hate My Builder!!

Sorry, but this one will not be very entertaining to read. We met with the builder at the house yesterday and the realization finally hit me that hell will freeze over before our house will be done on time. Mike asked Jeff ("Loser Builder") if we were on schedule to be done on time. Loser Builder's response was "I don't know, when is it supposed to be done??" Are you kidding me!!!!! We've only been on his case since before day one about getting it done in 9 months. Of course before we signed the contract this was "No problem!". About the time Loser Builder made that comment, I thought I was going to pass out, literally. But that's another story (I gave blood yesterday). Extreme Home Makeover is in Charlotte this week and they are building a house in 80 hours and I can't get my house built in 9 months!!

We are supposed to close on our construction loan and convert to the final loan on October 22nd. So, if we don't, there is a penalty for every day we go past the original closing date. Not to mention that our lease at our crappy rental house is up at the end of October too. Have I mentioned that I hate my Loser Builder??

I haven't really gotten too mad or depressed about it until now. I know there is nothing I can do about it, but when you sit down and think about all that is left to be done, you just know that at the snails pace that Loser Builder works at, it's not going to happen. Since the sheetrock was put up TWO weeks ago, essentially nothing has happened on the interior. The brick mason decided to make an appearance at the house a few days so far this week. So, that was impressive! It is just really really frustrating!!! Oh well...I just wanted to vent. I think now I'll just sit at my cubicle and pout all day, thank you very much! :(

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Random...

I was going to blog about something else today but this has kind of been bugging me and then I read Lisa Stone's (Harland's) blog today and I couldn't hold back any more. She has got this girl that always posts comments to her blog, Kim. I figure, OK, they must be friends. Then I read a comment this Kim girl posted about Lisa moving to LA and she refers to the fact that she's NEVER met Lisa. Well, I can't say that Lisa and I are close friends. She is my sister Kathy's best friend since forever. So, I have at least laid eyes on and spoken to Lisa face to face over the years.

Ok, now I'm thinking that Lisa has a stalker. Kim appeared to be very upset that Lisa was moving. I don't know who this Kim is, but I'm worried. But, I push that thought aside. I don't want to voice my opinion out loud, hence someone think I'm nuts. The next significant post I remember is by Lisa's husband. It has a video of Lisa bowling at the end of the post. I've heard from Kathy that Lisa bowls funny, she does this hop before she releases the ball. Anyway, he posted a video of this. It was cute. But guess who also bowls like that...KIM!!! Yeah right, like she also does a little hop before she throws the ball. Well, that was the last straw, I think Lisa needs to take out a blog restraining order against this chick!!! Lisa, I hope you read this and take all the necessary precautions!!!! If you're not worried, maybe you need to rent the movie, Single White Female!!!

Monday, July 28, 2008

3rd Annual Baltimore Baseball Trip

We drove to Baltimore this weekend (actually we drove part of the way on Friday) and saw our favorite team (the Angels) play the Orioles. Baltimore and Tampa Bay are the two closest American League cities to Charlotte. We usually go to Baltimore because Camden Yards is a such a great place to watch a game.

This year we stayed at a Hampton that is right across the street from the stadium. This was much better than riding the light rail line to the stadium. On Saturday we went to batting practice. We had great seats for both games, two rows behind the Angels dugout. The Angels won Saturday's game but lost Sunday's.

It rained, more accurately it poured, before the Sunday game. We had our raincoats, so we didn't mind. We were just happy that we were able to enjoy our favorite treat before the game. A food vendor outside of the stadium makes crab cake sandwiches and they are the best. We were looking forward to that all weekend! We got three...Mike ate two! After the game on Sunday we drove all the way home (7 hours!) and went to work on Monday morning. Now that's dedication!!

This is the view from our hotel room:

A few pictures of our favorite players:

Finally, this was the strangest (& funniest) thing we saw all weekend. The guy sitting two seats down from Mike slept through the entire Saturday night game. We had to wake him up to get by to go to the concessions!

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Sheetrock, Finally!!

Well, the house finally got sheetrock. After many weeks of promising sheetrock, the promise was finally fulfilled. All looks good except for the placement of the lights in the living room. The lights have been roughed in for probably a month and a half. But once the sheetrock was installed, it became obvious that the lights were off center from the fireplace in the living room. We're going to have two ceiling fans in that room and they should be equidistant from the fireplace. However, they are not. Now is the worst time to get those moved. We had every opportunity to notice the mistake before now, but we missed it. So, I'm sure the builder and electrician will be thrilled! But I've got to get that fixed because it does look bad. Maybe now the fun stuff can get started, like the hardwoods and tile.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

I Tried...

Mike has been complaining about how much I pay for a haircut. I really don't think that it's that expensive. I think I pay $40 (before tip). And I still go to my girl in Charlotte even though I live in Mooresville (soon to be Statesville) now. But it's really not that inconvenient since I still work in Charlotte and I just stop by after work for a cut.

Anyway, my girl was out of town so I decided to try a place that is right near the house in Mooresville. It was supposed to cost $28. The appointment was yesterday at 5pm, but she changed it to 5:30. That was fine, I showed up at about 5:25. When I get there the lady is still working on her previous client's hair. She comes over and goes into this long rant about what she's having to do to change this girl's hair color and says it'll be just a little bit before she's ready for me. OK, fine. So, I waited and waited. After a 20 minute wait, I decided that at 6pm I was leaving. So, with 3 minutes to spare, she comes and gets me at 5:57. You can imagine my delight. Then, after making me wait an eternity, she asks if I want my hair shampooed or can she just use a spray bottle. What the heck??? She made me wait and now she's trying to skimp on my services (probably so she can get back to the color chick). But, of course, I relent. So, she's trimming away and I'm trying to give a dang about her life story she's telling me. Then, out of no where she says she's finished. I look at the clock and it's 6:07!!!! She only cut my hair for 10 minutes!!! I could not believe it. She ended up only charging me $20...which is pretty steep if you ask me for 10 minutes worth of work. I refused to tip her and told her I didn't need to make an appointment for next time. She said to just give her a call, and remember "my name's Anita, like Anita haircut (get it)!" I wanted to slap her by then.

As I was driving out of the parking lot I was already on the phone with my regular place and making an appointment with my regular girl. At least I can tell Mike I tried to find a cheaper place, but it was obviously cheaper for a reason.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

This One's for Dad

Well Dad, I finished the book last night and as we discussed briefly, it was not my favorite. For those that don't know, Lee Child is (I think still is) my favorite author. He has written 12 books about a bad ass character named Jack Reacher. I turned Dad on to my Reacher obsession and he too has read all 12 books.

This Reacher adventure wasn't much of an adventure. It started out in typical Reacher fashion and I was intrigued. But the story never really developed. It took forever for anything exciting to ever happen, if it ever really did. I was never excited about any part of the book and there was never a section that made me want to stand up and cheer for my main man Jack. He wasn't his typical bad ass self, but there was the use of his signature move, the head butt, which is always a crowd pleaser!

I just couldn't get excited about the story and then once the plot/imminent threat finally was revealed, it seemed that the book was written for the sole purpose of allowing the author to express his displeasure with the Iraq war. And having read all 11 previous books and knowing that Reacher was an MP, I'm not sure that I'd buy into Reacher's acceptance of AWOL soldiers. But Reacher is known to do whatever he dang well pleases, so who knows.

I haven't given up on Reacher just yet, I'll look for the next installment to be much improved!

Now Mom, your job is to make Dad read this because I know he dang well won't do it on his own. Also, FYI Dad, last night I also started on your new character of interest, Joe Pike. I must say, I'll probably have to read all of his books too!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Yana: King of the Kong

Just had to pass along pictures of my crazy dog Yana. Yesterday she was unusually restless when I got home. So, I decided to tire her out by playing with her Kong. She absolutely LOVES that toy. She is obsessed with it and will chase it and play with it until she passes out if I'd let her. She refuses to stop playing in order to get water. So, she pants very badly and sounds like she could drop at any moment from dehydration.

The good part is she entertains herself with the Kong. She'll lay down and chew it and it will inevitably pop out of her mouth. When this happens she jumps up, stalks and then pounces. She then proudly trots back as the conquering huntress!! Then the whole cycle starts over again. She's nuts (but adorable!). Luckily I have the crazy pills now so I doped her up and put her to bed and she forgot all about her obsession!!

Sunday, July 13, 2008

House Update

Well, there isn't much to update. This week they installed insulation and...yeah, that's it, that's all they did. The brick mason didn't step one foot on the property all week. He had some lame excuse like his wife had her gall bladder removed. WHATEVER!! Anyway, this week our builder is not working but he says the sheetrock should be installed this week. I'll believe it when I see it. I just wish it was done and over with. If it gets done on time (ha ha) then there should be a little over 3 months to go. Below are the latest pictures...

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Yummy...Sushi!!

I know, I'm a bit behind the times. But I had sushi for the first time today at lunch. I was skeptical, and a bit scared, but it was really good. I couldn't use the chopsticks. I had to find a fork. I don't know if it was the sushi I liked or the soy sauce flavor. And I really don't know what I ate. I do know that I didn't eat anything that really looked like raw fish. I had those rolls...you know, a small amount of actual fish with a lot of other stuff.

I must say, I'm getting to be pretty damn hip. First the blog, then sushi...who knows what's next!!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

A Little Something Fun




This is for you baseball fans out there. Mike and I are participating in the Major League Baseball challenge called Beat the Streak. You have to try and beat Ted Williams hit streak. It's free and if you can do it, you win $1 million dollars. You pick one hitter a day that you think will get a hit. You can pick the same hitter as many times as you like. The website is pretty user friendly. (As an aside and a pat on the back: I'm getting so dang good at this blog stuff that I added a link to the website. You just have to click on the title of the blog and it'll take you to the site. I know, you're impressed!!) It has all the games for that day along with the scheduled starter and their ERA. Then you can click on the game for more details about the opposing teams batting average against that pitcher and for the year.

I started yesterday and I must say I got off to a rousing start...my guy went 0 for!!

All well, at least I didn't have a long streak going. Mike has like a 4 game hit streak going. The longest to date by anyone has been 48 games (I think).

Gotta run, I'm supposed to be working!

Monday, July 7, 2008

Things I'm Excited About This Week



1. Finally, Nadal beats Federer at Wimbledon!!!!! Nadal is so cute (despite the constant butt picking) and is so much fun to watch!! That was the longest match ever!! I just knew that Nadal was going to blow it and I was really stressed for him. But he pulled it out (not his underwear, but the match)!!!



2. I'm hoping to get Yana off the cone this week. She has a bacterial infection on her leg and she wants to constanly lick it. She's on some medicine and her leg is looking much better. So, I'm hoping that the cone can come off this week because she's having to sleep outside and she does not like that. When she comes in the house she just goes and stands beside the door that leads to the garage because she wants to go to her pin. It just breaks my heart!!! Poor baby!!



3. Burn Notice starts back up on Thursday. This is one of my favorite TV shows. It runs on Thursday night at 10pm on USA. This is obviously past my bedtime. So, I'll be DVR'ing it. For all you people who are lame and haven't watched...you need to tune in!!

Sunday, July 6, 2008

July 4th Family Gathering


The Ford Family trekked to Hendersonville, NC for a cookout at my Aunt Annette's house. Annette and her husband Robert have a beautiful house that sits on a scenic mountain lot. Robert has cut walking trails throughout the wooded lot. He took us on a walking tour of the property via the trails he'd cut.

Mike and I brought our little Weber Grill from home and we grilled out hamburgers and hotdogs. We played a board game, girls vs. guys, and the girls let the guys win!!

Then we commenced with the usual family gathering activity...pictures!!!




It was fun to have everyone together and we look forward to the next get-to-gather. Maybe it'll be at our new house!!