What Would Jen Do

Archive for August, 2009

sure, they look happy but don’t let that fool you.

i pulled that mattress off of the trundle bed and on to the floor for the dude.   that mattress was carried over next to the bed so that he could sleep next to us, we think he wants his own mattress now.

sure the cabin looks cute, on the surface.   Aside from being Adobe themed , pretty much the exact opposite of what I like.   i also think cabins are made from wood, but that’s just me.

i’ll spare you the pics of inside those cabinets.  the orange rafter in the above pic just to the left of the rug hanging on the wall is where mr. mouse was running around.   i’ll spare you the pics of the rafters.

good news, the owner apologized profusely, said if we ever decided to come back, which he assumes we won’t, we’ll get a free night.

First of all my birthday was great.   I did start out the day by finding my cell phone in a random mystery puddle of water in the middle of the kitchen counter   SIM card fried.  But I found an AT&T store about a mile away and they gave me a free SIM card!  Then I got three deliveries in about a half hour period.  Presents from my husband, flowers from my in laws and then more presents from my husband.   I took a bath in the middle of the day, went to Kohls and then ate at Golden Corral.

About two months ago I booked a dog friendly cabin up north at a small ranch.  There are only four cabins on the property and I picked the one that I really liked.   I have a very specific idea in my head about what a cabin should look like and this one seemed great.  They are decorated in themes.  I prefer a romantic victorian theme or a downright rustic lodge theme.  so i picked the victorian.  I read multiple reviews and everyone loved the place.   I’ve really been looking forward to this for two months.  TWO MONTHS.  omg family vacation, what could be better?

so we get up there and the actual owners are not in town, their friends are watching the ranch.  and i say i have a reservation and they say oh for cabin #1 and I say no I booked cabin #2.  and they said ok go to cabin #2.  when we get there, there are peoples things in the cabin.

so back to the office and the owners friend proceeds to call the owner and makes me talk to him on the phone.  i get some story i won’t go into.  i guess that was supposed to make the whole situation better because now i’ll feel sorry for them. but i don’t.   and he tells me that cabin #2 the one i booked two months ago was booked 2 months ago.  yeah, when i booked it it became full. I have confirmation that this is the cabin i booked.  I checked cabin availability and it was free, matter of fact they were all free at that time.  so he puts me into cabin #1 with out my knowledge.  then he tells me we talked about this last week.  we did not, i have never spoken to him.  also.  i hate cabin #1. i never in a million years would have booked that specific cabin and don’t like being pushed into it.   point being, if that specific cabin i really wanted was NOT available that weekend, i would not have booked that weekend.   i’m sorry i’m picky, but if you want my business, which i assume you do, you’ll honor my contract and not assume I’m good with a room themed like Nogales.   The Nogales thing is important later in the story.

at that point i probably would have turned around and driven home, but it’s a three hour drive and my dogs are not good travelers and we’re all beat.  so we get to the cabin and i hate it.    i have the best husband in the world, he said lets go home.   because he doesn’t like it when i’m unhappy.  i said no lets do a night, he said we can always leave in the morning.   he kept reminding me that whatever i wanted to do was fine.  but i just made the man drive three hours, he needs a break.

I want to point out that I get what a ‘cabin’ is.   it’s set off in the woods and there are trees and dirt and bugs.   I also feel that when you book a cabin at $130 a night there are certain expectations.  i don’t expect it to be a five star resort, tho ‘cabins’ like that do exist, this wasn’t one of them.

I have stayed in what was basically a hut on the beach in the middle of a rainforest.  there was nothing to keep the bugs out. doors and windows were bascially shutters.   mostly you dealt with tree frogs coming into your room and random flying bugs at night but you were provided with a bed net and a citronella coil.  it’s all good.    so i’m not super squeamish, but i do have certain expectations.

i live in a suburban area where I have to live with things most people who live in the middle of the city don’t have to deal with.  scorpions, snakes, bats, frogs, vultures, etc.  I have even had a peacock fly over my backyard!   as the years go on, the numbers of these creatures goes down, which is really kind of sad.  very large lizards and coyotes have walked past or near me at work.  i’m down with the random wildlife.  but not really so much scorpions. ok not at all with the scorpions.  bastards.

anyway, my expectations.  they do not include sharing space with mounds of mice poo in every cabinet and on the rafters and the live mice to go with it.  it does not involve dusty linens that smell like dirt.   and when you hit said linens on the bed you will be sleeping on they should not have clouds of dust fly off.  the carcasses of dead bugs should not be there, a dead mouse outside should not be there.   i feel a room should not be dusty, the cabinets should not be full of random garbage, the provided dishes should not have spiderwebs in them.  i am positive that room had not been properly cleaned in at least 2 months.   and really most certainly i should not be subjected to the health hazard of mice and poo and filth.   motel 6 down the street has a cleaner room for less than half the price.   hookers and all.   so really this place was not only decorated and themed after mexico, it was about as clean as Nogales or Tijuana.

i cannot stress enough the ickiness of this room.  thank god the bathroom was mostly clean, i just wished I hadn’t opened the cabinet under the sink.   if i had a swiffer duster i would have been all over that room.

I have been camping in the dirt for two days and walked away cleaner than I did from that place.

even my dogs hated the whole experience which isn’t too surprising because they hate anything that is not their house.   after one night we were so out of there.

there are a lot more things i could say about this place but i won’t.  charges will be disputed. pictures of poo were taken in case they want to fight back.

but not all was lost.  after we got home, everyone got In-n-Out, even the dogs.  who BTW were so happy to be home (as was I)  Then we went to see District 9.  we both still have today off because we were supposed to drive home from the cabin on monday.   So we’ll be spending today lounging around  and TCB’ing instead of driving home.   in the end, maybe it worked out better this way.

Tomorrow is my 35th birthday.   I honestly do not care about age other than hoping i never look mine.   Lots of people expect you to be sad about turning 35, if anything it might be 40 that gives me a few eye twitches….

They decorated my desk at work last week to throw me off because they know I hate surprises and am not down with the decorations.  All day people kept coming by to tell me happy birthday and none of them believed that it was NOT my birthday.

So I have taken Wednesday off work.  And it’s working out pretty good that my birthday falls mid week.  This way I get to work from home Tues, off Wed and work from home Thurs. I do not have to leave the house for THREE DAYS!  and I only have to drive in to work twice.

My plans so far are to sleep in until 6am, drink a pot of coffee and play Sims.  Other than that, no idea.  I don’t like to put too many expectations on myself.    But i’m sure TV, potato chips and dogs will be involved.  I also get to eat at Golden Corral once per year for my birthday.  Icey hates it but goes because he understands my love of buffets.  I’m just not sure if that’s on the agenda for tomorrow or maybe Friday!