Change

It's been said that change is good. What if, faced with a major change, your comfort level alters? I hope that I can adapt to whatever changes come my way. The potential is there, I just hope I can face the change head on and embrace it. Sometimes the theory is better than the reality. Let's hope that is not the case. Change may allow a person to grow and become a different, and hopefully, better person. Here's to changes...

Bait and Switch

If a homeowner contracts with you to do a job, can you please do the job. The owner hired you because of your qualifications, abilities, etc. It is not fair to an owner if you substitute other people in your place. Especially those who do not have any skills needed to do the job. A homeowner works darn hard for their money and have allocated a certain amount to do needed repairs, upgrades, etc to their home. Please have the decency to show up to do the job YOU signed on for. Don't disrespect the owner by doing a bait and switch. You charge high because of your skills, then substitute a worker with no skills. Do you then lower the price along with that? Of course not. It is so not fair to hardworking people. We are all getting gouged at the gas station, grocery stores, etc but we know what we are getting for our money and we make that choice ourselves. The poor homeowner thinks he's getting one thing, but is soooo not. If they only knew what goes on while they are away working to earn that elusive dollar. My husband is a contractor, and he feels very bad for these unsuspecting people. Please, in an industry based on customer service and relations, value your clients and show them some respect. And if possible, try to take a few minutes out of your schedule one day, and drop in when they are not suspecting. You'd be amazed at what you find.

Easy Money

There's no such thing as easy money. Now, as a disclaimer I will freely admit that I am not an expert on the construction area, but I have been married to a contractor for over 16 years, so I know a little something about the industry. But, speaking as a consumer, I would have to beg you, as a professional, please treat my money with respect. I know that everybody needs to make money, but please, can you do something to earn it? My husband came home, again, frustrated with the other contractor on the job. Now this contractor negotiated with the owner directly. My husband and him walked the job and my husband gave him his professional opinion about what he would charge. The contractor then added quite a few more thousand to that price and bizarrely enough got the job (that's another blog). My husband has been on this job doing the work every day (except for the one day he took off, for my son's field trip), the other one has yet to show up. Now, at the end of the project is it fair that each make the same amount of money? I don't think so. The other contractor has been sending laborers (as in they don't have the specific skills needed for the job) in his place. He wants their pay to come partially out of my husband's share and not as a price to be paid for not showing up on the job himself. That was the choice you made, to now show up. The secondary problem with sending other people to the job is that my husband has to take the time to show them what needs to be done. When he gets to the job and finds people standing around just talking, spending working hours continually on the phone, leaving work early, etc. that is a problem. There's a deadline people!!! The job has to be completed within a certain time frame for them to get paid. 1) sending unqualified people that need to be babysat takes time away from the job; 2) wanting to get paid for just showing up is not cool either. A body means nothing, at least pretend to be working. Your casual attitude towards your customers, towards work, etc. is impacting my family's income. That affects my children and that makes me angry. Whatever happened to an honest wage for an honest day's work?

Traditions

Trying to set a tradition so the kids have something to look forward to. For us, it's Pizza Night Fridays. Now, we have started making our entire pizza from scratch. Needless to say, we have our ups and downs with how it's turned out. Last week the pizza got a little brown, all right, black on the bottom. Tonight, although it took longer than usual, it turned out great. Too bad I can't say the same thing for the homemade ice cream. Guess it would help if we planned ahead. Remember, freeze the container. Cold is apparently important in making ice cream. So next week starts a new tradition. Pizza and Ice Cream Night Friday. At least that's my hope. Traditions aren't quite the same when they implode on you. Hope all your traditions are good ones.

Celebrate Good Times, Come On

Yes, I am dating myself, but oh, well. Kool and the Gang's song came out around the time I graduated. With that said, who wouldn't want to celebrate life. More so, who wouldn't want to live in a town called Celebration. I was just just informed that this town existed. After much research, the is the ideal town to live in if possible. The town was created by Disney back in the 90's. Has its own school, banks, post office and has very little crime. Ultimate small town Americana. Beyond that, it has its own road straight through to Disney World. If I could manage it I'd move there tomorrow. Too bad I didn't know this town existed earlier. Would have changed a couple years of my life. So, if I had to live anywhere, it'd definitely be in the town that the mouse built. My cats will enjoy their twilight years with the rodent. Here's to the celebrations in your life.

A Day at the Zoo

Yesterday was family day at the San Diego Zoo. We had not done something unique for quite some time and we were really looking forward to it. I forgot how much walking is involved in touring that zoo. You could walk all day and probably still not see everything. Now we couldn't beat the price to get in - it came to a whopping $10 for the four of us. This was thanks to my son's school. Field trips rock!!! Now what we saved in admission, I think we more than made up for it in food. One soda is $4. I think we ended up spending about $50 in food. And we didn't really buy anything. A few sodas and lunch. That was it. Good grief, did I buy rib eye steaks with a margarita? I had a sandwich. Oh well, at least it goes to a good cause. Support the zoo. Now we did find some interesting animals. Some make you scratch your head. What is the purpose of a naked mole rat? That poor critter is probably one of the ugliest rodent out there. Sorry Rufus... We did enjoy the meerkats. And of course the red panda, which looked more like a fox than a bear. And of course, my ultimate dream bird. The hyacinth macaw. Someday, sometime, somewhere, I am going to own that beautiful bird. Not that it could ever replace Bandit, who I still miss terribly.

Now this account of the day would not be complete without a shout out to my son, who rescued the fuzzy duckling. Yes, spring was in full force at the zoo, with lots of baby ducks racing behind their moms. One little guy escaped from his fenced enclosure (that small, fit through the bars), and wandered into the walkway. Poor thing was sitting there crying pathetically for his mom. My son, inheriting the pet lover gene from me, picked him up and tried to put him back in. He was successful, but it took some doing. The fences are not only designed to keep the animals in, it is also designed to keep the people out. He thought that was so cool, handling this baby duck. Baby was ultimately reunited with mom, but she had to come back and get him, as she had taken the rest of the troop to the water. Unfortunately my 2 year old daughter could not figure out why a duck would not come to her and willingly climb into her lap so she could hold one too. Poor thing was heartbroken when we finally had to leave and she was unable to convince a duck to be held. Maybe next time...

Twists and Turns

Sometimes in life the course takes some twists and turns. It may not be the way we want it to be, but alll we can do is follow it through. Just be true to yourself and that's all that life can ask from you. Life sometimes brings some unexpected surprises, but if you ride it out, you may be surprised at what lies around the corner. Let's just hope it's a good surprise....

Good Intentions

Have you ever had good intentions go terribly awry? Seems to happen to me on a daily basis. Last week I tried to help my husband from making, what I thought, would be a very bad business decision. I didn't want him making a mistake by reacting on emotions and not using his business sense. Yeah, that worked real well. Made for a very long weekend. Just this week I try to use my business side and not emotions and provide assistance. Yet again, that went over really well. At this point I can't win. I always seem to forget the Ames Factor. Whenever you think something will work well, trust me, it won't. It's ironic that right after my good intentions had just gotten revealed as being not helpful, my son had one of his own. Sat down at the table to eat lunch. When I got up I wondered why my pants were all wet. Daughter down for a nap so no one else was around. Those of you with pets, especially old ones, will always jump to worse case scenario. I asked my son if he knew why the chair was sopping wet and he looked up at me with these big brown puppy dog eyes and said that the chair was dirty and he was trying to clean it. As I stand there with soaked pants all I could think of was "good intentions..." and what good timing. Just had to laugh and give him a hug. Sometimes in life that's all you can do...

Brother Can You Spare A ....

With rising costs everywhere I can understand the need for being frugal with money. Gas prises are up, food costs are up, utilities are up, and of course wages are down. It is hard to get people to part with their hard earned income. You see people outside the stores trying to get people to even contribute 5 cents to their cause, yet they rush by ignoring them, hoarding that 5 cents. And yet I understand that, who knows how long it will take to earn that 5 cents back. What I can't understand is why people are so frugal with things that are free. What happened to volunteering? Now I know time is money, but I am referring to that extra time people can always seem to find that would otherwise get wasted doing inconsequential and meaningless things. That is not to take away from quality time spent with kids, but what about teaching them the value of volunteering? Giving of oneself. And what about something as simple as a smile? It's free, people!!! Yesterday, I was at the grocery store and spent 13 minutes just in the checkout line (and there were only 2 people in front of me). During that time the checkout line I went through did not crack a smile once. She looked miserable at being at work that day. Didn't acknowledge customers in the least. The checker in the next lane was flagging down every employee she could find to tell them it's time for her to go home. I get off now, come and close me off was being chanted over and over again. She even left her spot to walk around and close her lane down. And what was sad was, there were only 2 lanes open and a minimum of 5 people standing in each lane. Again, customer service, people. If you are so unhappy with your jobs that it spills onto your customers I think it's time to find a new job. Oh yeah, there aren't many jobs out there. Then grin and bear it. It doesn't cost anything and who knows, after a while, a chain may start. Customers may smile back and you may find your job is not so bad as you thought. Pay it forward people. Starts with a smile.

Need Help

Well, as many of you know I need help on multiple levels. I will settle for input regarding dieting. I followed through and went to the Biggest Loser site and typed in the requested info. Boy was I surprised. I never thought I actually looked like some of the women who are on the show, but apparently I am. I need to lose 20-30 pounds to be at a healthy weight. Now I need to come up with a plan. I do like to cook, but don't have a problem cooking healthy if I need to (which I apparently do). Exercise is difficult even though we have the treadmill and exercise bike. The problem is it is in our bedroom. Doesn't seem like a problem but it is, especially with a 2 year old. Using them while she is asleep causes her to want to jump on and join in leading to potential injury. Using them while she sleeps is another problem. She naps in our bed and the noise from them will wake her up. I am not a big eater and tend to eat for the first time after 2:00. What will help me to lose the weight I need to be healthy? What are your thoughts?

Taking Up a New Cause

Ok, now I have a new cause to take up. As most everyone knows the economy is down the tubes. You just have to drive down any given street to see the dead grass leading up to the weed infested abandoned homes. Yet these homes are not abandoned at the willing choice of their owners. Meet big banks. And while the owners scramble to find new housing, packing in a hurry to avoid meeting the sheriff with the eviction notice, there is an unseen victim as well. The pets that are left behind. I just finished reading that shelters are now flooded with family pets having to be left behind as their current position in life does not allow for them. One family had to give up their golden retriever of 12 years. Imagine the devastating impact that has on a confused animal,who does not know what is going on, as well as the children who are already giving up what they know, and now are losing a beloved friend. Animal groups rush in during times of natural disasters to rescue the animals. If this isn't a disaster I don't know what is. We all need to put our heads together and help with this crisis. If you leave your home for good, please don't leave your animal inside...they cannot feed themselves, or get water, so please don't make a bad situation worse. I know money is not there to help everyone who has lost their homes or will lose their homes, but even if you donate one can of food to a local shelter maybe they will be able to take in one more abandoned animal. Or volunteer, be a foster for one of these confused family pets. It's the least we can do to repay their loyalty to us.

Irony

It is ironic that a couple of my favorite shows happen to be on the same night and yet are totally opposite in content, attitude and spirit. We begin with the Biggest Loser. There, trainers are there to nurture and guide people on the path of health and fitness. There are sweat, tears and pain. The host asks probing questions about how they feel as they drop the weight, how they like the "new" person being discovered under those layers of fat. Emotions run high as people go on their emotional and physical transformations. Then there's the show after ---- Hell's Kitchen. Gordon Ramsey is my secret addiction. He is loud, rude and rather obnoxious, and needs his mouth washed out about every 2-3 minutes. This show has lots of crying, yelling, and swearing, although being bleeped out. I do feel sorry for the censor on that show. These aspiring chefs are sure put through their paces. They are sweating throughout the show too. If knew a person like Gordon in real life we probably couldn't stand to be around him for more than 5 minutes. Yet, here I sit, glued to the tv every Tuesday evening. And even worse, we have tracked down another show of his on the BBC. I haven't found out why I like the show so much, but it might because I like to watch other people suffer. Most of the contestants are so full of themselves they need to be brought down a little. So we go from low-cal, low-carb, low-fat to chefs learning how to cook high caloried meals with decadent desserts. Nurturing and caring to screaming and swearing. Kind of like taking an elevator, with its soft soothing music, and opening the doors to a heavy metal concert. And what is sad, I am responsible for other people getting hooked on Hells' Kitchen. To you I apologize and say get out while you can-save yourselves. And yet, I am excited beyond measure that my favorite reality show is back. Although I do like the Amazing Race and Survivor (yes, I know, wandering)..... and with all this talk of food I will take my wandering self to the kitchen to eat breakfast....hmmm, a danish or a banana.......wonderfully tasty or practical..... sorry, the Biggest Loser is a vague memory from last night by now, so I'm going to the dark side. Bon Apetit.

Almost Over

I will be glad when next Tuesday is over. I am tired of waking up Wednesday morning hungry. Normally we eat dinner later in the evening, which I have heard is probably not the healthiest thing to do, but again I wander off.... It is very disconcerting to sit down on a Tuesday evening, with your dinner plate piled high, and turn on the tv to watch ----- the Biggest Loser. Here we sit, stuffing our faces, while watching people exercise until they drop and eat celery and carrots. You sit back with your glass of wine and watch them toast to each others' success-with water. Last night the chef Rocco Dispirito came in to tell them how many calories their favorite meals had in them. What was sad was, Ali, had the same weakness I had. Well, come to think of it Mark did too. Ali's favorite meal was Prime Rib and baked potato. Yes, my all time favorite. Fortunately, with the economy the way it is (not that I'm happy about the economy) my days of indulging in prime rib are few and far between. Mark's favorite was ice cream, which I also love. They had to give up their way of eating to lose the weight and be healthy. Kind of loses something when you are rooting for them--the "you go girl" with mashed potatoes in your face. Fortunately, next week is the season finale. Hungry Wednesdays will be a thing of the past. I don't know if I will be happy because I can eat again, or my guilt will be gone. You see, I should apply myself to be a contestant. Watching those people have the self-discipline to stick to a diet and better themselves makes you take a look at yourself. Who cannot be impressed with people who lost 100 pounds. And be healthier while doing it. I think I will sign up today at the biggesloser.com and see if I can be a healthier person today... Wishing you all a healthier you.

Did You Know...

Did you know that, at least in California, you can be a Deputy Commissioner of Marriages. You can marry someone, at least for the day you are commissioned. Isn't that great. You can find out so much information on the internet. A bride and/or groom can have anyone they want marry them. Fathers or mothers can marry their children, brothers can marry sisters etc. I think that is such a great idea as it makes for such a personalized and individualized special occasion. You don't have to be married by an impersonal third party such as a justice of the peace. This is also useful for people of an inter-religious union. No more squabbling about which "church" member will marry them. Of course that will impact on their profits as they make money performing such ceremonies. Also great for private ceremonies. Surprise!! One can elope, yet still make it personal, with a little advance planning. I think it's the romantic streak in me that finds this such a great idea. Imagine the possibilities....

Professional Courtesy

What has happened to professional courtesy. As a real estate agent in California I do not have info on properties in other states. Today I called a "sister" office in another state requesting basic info regarding a property in their locale. Did I get any help? Of course not. I got a generic "we'll call you back." I got creative and found out the info all by myself. But, if a need arose, would I call this office back offering them business. Heck NO!!! What is sad is this has happened twice now with the same company, albeit in a different state. The joys of being a part of a nationwide company. I left multiple messages a year ago requesting info on a parcel of land. Not even the courtesy of a reply. Very frustrating. Ever heard of building a relationship?? Not that you would do things for an ulterior motive, but if you make friends with others it's much better karma (not that I believe in karma, but couldn't think of another appropriate word). I have no problem giving out info to friends who I know are not in the market of buying/selling something, just because they need the info. Did it hurt me in any way? No. Takes probably all of 5 minutes of my time. On the flip side, there are others who use people just for info, then go in a totally different direction, but I digress.... All I ask from people is to display a basic human kindness. But if people are not helpful, be creative. Answers are out there...use your imagination, be resourceful and you'll find them.

New to Blogs

Ok, Mei, here goes. If you can do it I hope I can too. As usual, your advice usually is right on the money. Tried a new way and it works (at least so far).