What would you rather have?

I work for a plumbing company as the "head" dispatcher/CSR. I have many duties to my position but my main one is answering the phones and scheduling services calls for the technicians. We do not charge by the hour, we charge by the job and we send the tech out to the home or business at no charge. This allows the tech to see the job at hand and to assess what needs to be done to fix the problem. He will give the customer a guaranteed written price before hand and we only do the job if the customer approves the price.
Is there a catch? No. If the customer does not like the price the customer does not pay one red cent. We also warranty all jobs for one year. If a faucet that one of my technicians installs develops a problem down the line we send the tech out at no charge and fix the problem at no charge. It doesn't matter how many times in one year we are called out for that same faucet. The only exception to the rule are stoppages. They have a one year one time return warranty because let's face it people how many times have you used too much paper and flushed a huge wad thinking that your toilet is invincible? Same thing goes for garbage disposal stoppages.

Before going to work for this company I have never heard of a plumber going to someones house at no charge and then possibly leaving that house with no money because the customer didn't like the price.

We average about 50 calls a day and I book on average 35 of those calls. The remaining 15 that didn't place a service call was because they could not get past the simple fact that we do not quote over the phone nor do we charge for a service call.

Most mechanics can not tell you over the phone exactly what is wrong with your car. You most likely have to bring your car in and have them hook it up to the computer for a diagnostic reading and then they let you know what your in for. Even if you do not have them do any work on the car you still have to pay them for the diagnostic fee. So why is it so hard to understand that we do not give pricing over the phone?

What would you rather have happen to you? Having a company that stands behind their work enough to warranty it for a full year and have the assurance that if there is a problem with what the tech came out for will be taken care of with no more cost to you. Or. Would you rather have an hourly rate along with jacked up prices for parts and when the job does fail later down the road or quite possibly the very next day you have the same company come out and get charged a second time for a job that should have been done correctly in the first place? Of course there are defective parts to consider but even with the hourly company they still charge you for a new part where my company does not. Hmmm... wouldn't this be a no brainer?

Some people have nerve.

We recently received an invitation from one of Chris' co-workers to attend her baby shower. Now I am not a huge fan of this girl because I can not tolerate stupidity and she just exudes it from every pore on her body.
When I was reading this party announcement I was completely dumb founded when I realized that the baby shower will be held at one of the business partners house. Are you fucking kidding me? I looked at Chris in amazement and asked him what the hell possessed this man to allow an office managers baby shower at his house. Chris just kind of smirked and said that he kinda had to since 60 people were invited and a lot of them are their very own clients. WTF! This "office manager" has a lot of fucking balls to invite clients of the company she works for.
The invitation also states that the price of admission is a pack of diapers. Truly tacky. I asked Chris' mom if she was attending and she laughed and told me that the price for admission was too much... haha.. although I am pretty sure that Chris' dad has to go since he is partner and there will be clients there.

Chris and I will not be attending this event but Chris feels obligated to get her a gift. I saw this advertisement for testing your breast milk for signs of alcohol over at Kat's site. It would be part gag and part real gift. She definitely likes to drink(although I have been told that supposedly she is not drinking at the moment). I thought about also getting her a breast pump but she probably couldn't figure out how to use it :)

It's official...

I have been accepted by PayPerPost. After months of debating whether or not I wanted or needed to make money via my blog, I have decided that any money I can make for my family is a good thing. I am hoping that any of you readers and fellow bloggers will be honest with me with how well I do.
This blog will slowly be undergoing a make over so from time to time when you visit do not be surprised by any changes. I am comparing this change to a caterpillar entering the cocoon stage.
As I have become more comfortable sharing my life, thoughts and most importantly my family with my blogging friends I figured I might as well make this site a permanent place in my heart.
I can't wait to see what the future holds!

Just hanging out with good friends.

Yesterday the family and I had a blast with Kat and her boys. Every time we get together it most certainly is never boring.
Poor Sebastian heard the Ice Cream Truck and took off two streets down to get something while Chris and Katie waited at the end of our driveway for the Ice Cream Truck. After he came back all out of breath and enjoying his popsicle we noticed that the Ice Cream truck was getting louder and then stopped right in front of the driveway where Chris and Katie were waiting.
Kat and I laughed our asses off at Sebastian and on top of that when he learned about the ice cream sandwiches in the freezer his poor jaw dropped.
Jeff and Mark just sat on the couch playing on the Xbox for hours. I swear it's the age. That's all they want to do.
Chris told me today that we should have the boys spend the weekend with us sometime. He is so thoughtful sometimes. He just has the biggest heart.
I think we will need to stock the fridge before we have them for the weekend. haha..

Kat and the boys were supposed to come back over for a cook out but Mark's Big would be keeping him until 8pm and Kat's back was hurting so we decided that we will get together another time. Who knows maybe the boys can spend next weekend with us and Kat and I can go out!

I hate migraines....

but apparently they love me.. I can't go a week without getting at least 3. Ever since my family moved to Florida which is three years now, I have noticed that the allergies I had up north are far worse down here. I am thinking that my migraines are a symptom of my allergies or it could be stress. It's hard to really pin point the problem. Tylenol, Ibuprofen and Imitrex do not touch this headache and percoset just deadens the pain. It's still there but tolerable. I definitely do not want to get dependant on percoset for these migraines but until I find something that helps it's all I got.

Kat and her boys will be having dinner with us later on today. Katie and I will go pick them up and head on over to the mall to hang out and let Mark collect applications from the places hiring. Jeff will be working already and when he is done we will all come home for a nice steak dinner and the boys can play on the Xbox. Chris will enjoy a couple of peaceful hours while Katie and I are gone. He loves the idea of that.

My new cell phone...

Rocks! Chris' company decided to upgrade their cell phones and switched from Nextel phones to Sprint. I finally have my camera phone. I love it. I have been playing with it all day. So much to learn and figure out. I will definitely be using this phone. The other one had a dying battery and it wasn't worth replacing so I rarely used it. The stupid thing would run out of power hours after being charged. I don't have to worry about that now!
My bosses wife has been trying to get a good rate on their Nextel phones for months now. As soon as Chris delivered mine to me at work, She is even more determined to get a good deal and is calling Sprint tomorrow.
We mainly use ours at work for direct connect features to keep in contact with our technicians. My phone has the "ready link" capability but I do not have that activated on my phone. If they do proceed with switching their phone account from Nextel to Sprint I will then have two identical phones.
Jeff may get lucky and get the one from Chris' company. He has been wanting a camera phone. He would so appreciate that since his Metro PCS phone monitor took a shit. He can't tell who is calling him or how to look up numbers. He pretty much has the speed dial memorized.

Google Meme

I found this meme over at Fab's site and thought I too should google my name. It's simple enough. You just type in your name and include 8 words with it. The 8 words are:
needs
is
likes
wants
gets
says
does
eats.
Here is what my name brought up.

Mindy needs a home where she can have food down all day for snacking, and she needs to have an attentive owner -hmm... I guess Chris would be considered my owner?

Mindy is a very simple, serial molecular dynamics program derived from NAMD source code. - Simple? hah... try telling that to the people who know me. haha

Mindy likes insulting people, as it makes her feel better about herself. - Well the first part is true anyway

what Mindy wants, Mindy gets - now that is what I'm talking about and don't you people forget that!

Mindy says:. "This is the perfect gift for that important person in your life - yep that's true and you people need to check out Regalo Boutique.

Mindy Does Minneapolis - Well.. this is embarrassing ;)

Mindy eats and eats and doesn't gain an ounce - Now that is a crock of shit.. I wish


Ok.. Anyone who wants to totally humiliate themselves feel free to do so, but if you do email and let me know so I can read the dirt on you.

Got my car running...

it wasn't the starter or alternator but the friggin' battery. $140.50 to diagnose the problem, put in a new battery, new battery and an oil change. Well at least it's running and I can go places. The only thing is... I don't go anywhere except for work and carpooling the kids around. Oh well at least I have my car. I did find out that my serpentine belt will need to be replaced in the next three months but right now that's all that needs to be done. The car only has 38,500 miles on it. Not bad for a 2001.
I didn't get a chance to ask my boss about the retroactive deal because he was on the phone for two hours this morning and then snuck out of his office. I swear he has stealth powers. The General Manager however told me that "right now was not the best time to do that kind of thing seeing as we are watching our budget more closely now that "season" is over". Bite my ass.... then why did we hire two new techs and a helper? Huh? Makes sense to me. NOT!!!! The company is worried about making budget and not being able to give the employees their raises but we can hire more people. Yep, that settles it I am officially a corporate mushroom. Keep me in the dark and feed me shit. Gotcha..

My little girl is growing up...

Katie has informed her dad and I that she is old enough for chores and the pay that comes along with it. So we started her out with keeping her room clean which includes making her bed every morning, setting and clearing the dinner dishes, getting her clothes ready for laundry and of course helping Jeff with feeding the dogs. Along with extras as they come along. We agreed that $5.oo a week would be a good start for her to save for the things she wants and at 7 years old that is pretty much everything she sees.

Katie has been saving pennies for almost two years now because she wants her own cell phone. She approached her daddy two years ago and told him she was ready for a cell phone. He told her that she would have to save her pennies to be able to buy one herself. She took that literally to heart and I am not about to tell her that she has more than enough to buy one right now. That girl has about 10 spaghetti jars filled to the rim with pennies. I estimate about $20.oo dollars a jar. She has never once wanted to cash in her collection which I am pleased with but on the other hand why should she spend her own money when all she has to do is bat her eyes at daddy and she gets what she wants. I swear when she is a teenager she is going to be set for life.

I need a vacation

the only problem with that is that I only have one vacation day left until August. I know that Memorial Day is next Monday and that means a three day weekend but for some reason I am not looking forward to that kind of time off because that means that I will have to share that with my family.. I love my family but sometimes I need to get away for awhile. Y'know get some "me" time. Kat and I have been tossing the idea around about having a girls night out or something but we haven't yet committed on a day. My car has kind of limited me since it has a mind of it's own and starts when it wants to. I am pretty sure it's the starter. I took it to an mechanic that my company uses for their service trucks to look at tomorrow. I am hoping he doesn't give me some outrageous price.
I should go to my boss and tell them that I will take them up on their offer of having the work done on my car as part of the retroactive raise they are supposed to give me. Back in August of last year I had a Jeep Grand Cherokee that needed the A/C revamped and they were going to have that done for me as part of my raise but we sold the Jeep and got a better vehicle. Hmm... yep I think I shall bring that to their attention. Wonder if they will do it.
Anyway... I am just needing so time off. I have a feeling that the headaches I have been getting are stress related. I hate that shit.

Local Restaurant Meme

Kat has tagged me and I will pass it on to anyone that wants to participate.
The complete rules:
1. Link to the name of the person who tagged you.
2. Include the state and country you’re in.
3. List your top 5 favorite places to eat at your location (locally).
4. Tag 5 other people (preferably from other countries/states) and let them know they’ve been tagged.

Here we go:
I reside in Sarasota, Florida

1) Dutch Heritage - On Bahia Vista. Amish cooking at it's finest. All home made goodies.
2) Cheeburger Cheeburger - At The Landings on S. Tamiami Tr. Definitely a place with nostalgia and great burgers and old fashion Cherry Cokes. Mmmm ;)
3) Mrs. Chens - Also on S. Tamiami Tr. A wonderful buffet of scrumptious Chinese food. The best Wonton soup hands down.
4) Mi Pueblo - Corner of McIntosh and Bee Ridge - The best authentic Mexican restaurant and reasonable prices.
5)Millie's - Clark Road - This quaint, geriatric hangout has enormous portions for decent prices. They make the best sausage gravy and biscuits.

Ramblings

I haven't had the time I wanted to post on a daily basis but I am making time now....
Jeff is doing so much better after his episode last Friday. Although the girl that broke his heart occasionally talks to him he is involving his time to allow other friendships grow. Tomorrow he will going to another friends house after school and then they will be going to the mall to see Spiderman 3. Whew!!!! I was so anticipating another struggle with him.

Chris and I had to attend a C.A.R.E meeting (this is a intervention counsel that evaluates children who are at risk of learning disabilities) at Katie's school on Wednesday to discuss Katie's placement in first grade next year and what evaluations need to be addressed the first weeks of school in the fall. I know I have not mentioned this before but Katie had to repeat kindergarten because she suffers from a hearing impairment. Katie had to have tubes placed in her ears in March of 2005 because fluid kept building up behind her eardrums. She also had to have her tonsils and adenoids removed. It's not fun hearing your daughter breathing half way across the house when she slept. She inhaled so deeply with each breath I thought her chest would cave in. It's called sleep apnea. It was a warning sign that something was wrong with her air way passage. After several attempts pleading with her pediatrician I finally got a referral to an Ears, nose and throat specialist. I hate HMO's by the way.
I was so happy when he looked at me after evaluating her hearing scores and spent 30 minutes looking into her throat and ears and said "Mom, we need to discuss getting those tonsils and adenoids removed and she definitely needs tubes inserted in her ear drums. Surgery will be scheduled for Friday" She had 50% hearing lost in both ears. I can't even imagine how she heard things. I don't know how she even learned to talk. She started kindergarten on schedule but boy did she have the hardest time. Retaining letters was a nightmare, not to mention pronouncing the sounds that the letters make. However she scored off the charts in math. They held her back because of her hearing issues which at first Chris was not happy about. Although this year she improved greatly she still scored low on tests that were given every quarter. It's not that she doesn't know or understand the things that she is tested on it's that she freezes and then becomes unsure of herself. Let's face it some people do not test well. So... I am not quite sure what to expect next year. Katie is reading and she is retaining what she is learning much better. However, Katie's attention span is very short and it's not because she doesn't have one it's because she gets bored way too easily and if she is being taught something she has no interest in forget it. She is too much like her father in that respect. I just don't know how to guide her in her learning. Anyone have any suggestions?

Do you feel lucky? Well.... do ya?

Kat is having a contest.
You could win either the The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer or the new James Bond film, Casino Royale (2 disc full screen edition) By the way these items are brand new.
All you have to do is visit Kat's blog and follow the easy instructions. This will be a great opportunity to get to know a fellow blogger and possibly win a cool gift. So what are you waiting for?

Whoever said that raising boys

is easier than raising girls needs to be shot. Seriously! I have a clue when it comes to girls and how they tick but I thought boys would be much easier since they are supposed to be less emotional right?
Not Jeff, he is the most emotional kid I know. His heart gets broken easily, his self esteem is crap and he has a very hard time dealing with things. I guess I never realized that boys have just as hard of a time with their feelings as girls do. hmm.. I remember what I was like at that age and being a girl was especially hard and frustrating but seeing Jeff deal with certain issues reminds me so much of myself it's downright scary.
I know that not having his real father in the picture has played a role in his trusting people or maybe it's an abandonment issue he suppresses.. whatever it is it makes it extremely difficult for him when someone he truly cares about suddenly walks away from him. Jeff had a real hard time at the beginning of the school year when his first real girlfriend decided that she just didn't want him as a boyfriend.... Chris and I were put through hell trying to help Jeff cope with his first heart break. Constant calls from school informing me that Jeff was having very severe anxiety attacks where he would just shake uncontrollably.
Taking him the doctor proved that he was healthy and that they weren't brought on by anything medical. Finding him a therapist to help him deal with things because no matter how much I assured him that he could talk to me about anything was proving fruitless and I was at my wits end. After about three months of counseling Jeff seemed to be back to normal until last Friday when I got another dreaded phone call from the school nurse informing me that it was happening again. What? He isn't dating anyone... what the hell brought this on? Apparently his best friend, who happens to be a girl, was tempting with the idea of them becoming more than good friends. They had gone to the movies a few weeks ago and they got real close and they kissed. When Monday rolled around she acted like it never happened. Jeff got all confused and hurt because she acted like it was all fun and no harm no foul deal. When Jeff apparently told her how he felt she backed off and stopped talking to him altogether. I know it's all a part of growing up and dealing with the real world but I can't stand to see Jeff so hurt. He is taking it much better the second time around because I think he is trying to suck it up and brush it off but sometimes I look at him and my heart aches.

MOMMY MEME

All about your first born. Taken from Kat
1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED?
NO
2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME?
NO
3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS?
How the fuck did this happen?!!!! haha....:)
4. WAS ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU?
Nope... No way in hell!!!
5. HOW OLD WERE YOU?
19
6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT?
Terrible cramps, rushed to the hospital.... Doc's thought it was a tubal pregnancy at first but found out that a cyst had ruptured but the baby was safe
7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST?
Parents
8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX?Yes.
9. DUE DATE?February 2, 1991.
10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS?
No.
11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE?
Home cooking.
12. WHO IRRITATED YOU THE MOST?
Anyone who looked at me.
13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILDS SEX?
Boy.
14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING?
No.
15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? Fucking 35 pounds
16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER?
yes
17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW?
I actually had two. One I knew about the other was a surprise.
18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY?
Yep... breech baby emergency C-section
19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH?
Berea, Ohio
20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR?
7 1/2 hours
21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? Parents
22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH?
I had a C-section but my mother did go into the OR with me and stayed for the birth of my son.
23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION?
C-section
24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN?
Spinal baby!!!!
27. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH?
7lbs. 6oz.
28. DID YOUR CHILD HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS?
I wouldn't say complications other than that he was born with one lower front tooth that the Pediactric Dentist had to pull the next day because there was no root and he was also born with Coloboma... His Pupils are not round they are oval. The bottom part of his Iris never developed all the way. Genetic trait because my daughter's eyes are the same way. Lucky them....
29. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER?
Jeffrey Alan - Jeffrey means peace giver and Alan means handsome.
30. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY?He's 16.

Working on the business...

and slowly but surely it is really starting to take off... I would rather it grow slow and continue at a steady rate as a way to support my family than to have it take off full blown and crash hard in a year. Doing my research a lot of new businesses close after two years because of the volume of growth but no way of handling the responsibility. I want to be able to pass down this torch to my children if they wish to get involved when they are older. I will periodically post the progression of the products and give you a heads up when another sale will be starting. So drop by anytime and visit Regalo Boutique and take a look at all the wonderful products we have to offer.

I need sleep....

but sleep seems a million miles away. The last couple of nights I have had such a hard time falling and staying asleep. I must be way too stressed out about something. Not sure what it is though. It's kind of hard to pin point a problem when you are me because to me EVERYTHING is a problem;) haha... I stress on just about anything, not sure why I am like that but I know it isn't healthy for me, case in point, I can't go to sleep! Fucking A I hate this shit.