If You Can't Stand the Heat, Don't Come to My House

I don't want to be a whiner, but it is REALLY hot outside.  Why today--the hottest day of the summer so far--did my air conditioner have to break?  Is it some cruel cosmic joke?  Of course, I understand there are many, many worse things going on in the world and I am infinitely blessed, but I just hate being hot.  I don't know that I could have survived before air conditioning came along.  I probably would have been one of those women who always got the vapors and needed my fainting couch.

I digress.  I write this post to vent my frustration with companies who choose to be so greedy at the time people are in worst need of their services and to say that I'm thankful that in this instance I wasn't at their mercy. We happen to have a family connection who will be doing the work for us, but he couldn't get to us until tonight. To find out what was wrong and get the parts, we put in a service call with a national chain.  Said chain quoted $1000.  We thanked them kindly for their diagnosis and sent them on their way.  

The parts necessary to complete the repair as they quoted (I won't get into the fact that we probably don't even need everything they quoted) cost a total of $220. Our family connection has told us these types of repairs take 2 hours or less.  Assuming the national chain can get the parts at a similar price, that leaves roughly $800 for the 2 hours of labor--$400/hour!?!  Even if you calculate in the technician's wages (he probably only gets $15/hour), benefits, workers compensation, liability insurance, etc., I can't imagine it would be anywhere close to $400/hour.  Ridiculous!

I feel better to have vented, and I will close by saying that I am SO grateful we weren't at the mercy of this company.  Thank you Josh!

TGIF

This is my first post testing out my new blog app to see how I like it. So far so good. I'm ready for the weekend. I must say the summer always makes me wonder why I didn't become a teacher or choose some other school related career. I sometimes daydream about sleeping in and having the time off with my kids. Then, of course, I snap back into reality and acknowledge that I'm not all that fond of many other people's children, nor am I patient, so everyone is probably better off that I took a different path.

For those of you who are educators, administrators, or counselors, thank you for all you do. I hope you enjoy the summer with your family.

Loreney Weenie

Behold my amazing crafting abilities!  Disclaimer: A stuffed bunny may have been harmed in order to make my niece's birthday wish come true.

Just Another Day Living in Missouri

I guess it takes all kinds to make the world go round.

Here's Wishing We Could Go Back Tomorrow...

Delayed Appreciation

As my children get older each year, I must say that I learn to appreciate what I put my mother through while I was growing up.  Currently, I am reminded of my adolescent years as a bit--well, maybe more than a bit--of a know-it-all as I am dealing with my own 12, soon-to-be 13 year-olds.  How frustrating it can be!

This short entry is only to say "thank you" to my mom for persevering in raising me and not giving in to those (mostly) fleeting moments of wanting to strangle me.  And also to voice the hope that I can follow in her example.  God be with me...

Proud Mama

For Mother's Day this year, I received a special gift.  Brady and Bryant were baptized at church.  They were saved back in March, but we wanted to be sure "Pappy" could be home to see them get baptized.  When we picked the day I didn't even realize it was Mother's Day.  But it was a blessing to get to combine the two events.  Nearly my whole extended family attended church--which boosted attendance to near Easter proportions. =)  We then enjoyed our regular Mother's Day meal at my mom's to give Grandma Frances the day off from cooking for us all.

I am thankful to have a family who raised me in church to learn the values by which I do my best to live my life and pass on to my children.  It was truly a wonderful Mother's Day.  I don't think there can be anything more rewarding in your life than seeing your children grow into whatever they will become and know that you had a hand in it.  I hope all of the other mother's out there had as blessed a day as I did.