What Would Jen Do

Archive for January, 2010

Yesterday when Icey was trying to do our taxes and went online to get our mortgage info, the website said we owed almost $800 in late fees!!!   We can’t possibly have late fees, we are on auto pay.   One quick phone call to the mortgage company and we found out it was an error on the website, those fees weren’t even showing up in the banks system.  ONLY on line!   so it’s nothing for us to worry about.  WHEW!!!

Petsker is slowly but surely gaining momentum.  It’s finally starting to show up on Google searches and the Twitter site has a lot of pet friendly followers.    If this site takes off then I can quit my job and do that full time instead.

Operation termite should be taking place next weekend, we just need to sign the paperwork and then clean around the perimeter of the inside of the garage and the outside of the house.  If one good thing comes out of these termites it will be the cleaning that has to go along with it.

Yesterday when I got home from work Oprah was doing her cage free chicken show and I had to to turn it off really fast, because I didn’t want to relive what i’ve seen before.

About two years ago I accidentally saw less than a minute of a video showing the condition caged chickens live in and almost threw up.

I borrowed this from another site

Cage-Free Systems

Because of public opposition to battery cage confinement, many egg producers are switching to cage-free systems. While these systems generally offer hens a higher level of animal welfare than do battery cage systems, the mere absence of cages doesn’t necessarily ensure a high level of welfare.

Most cage-free hens live in very large flocks that can consist of many thousands of hens who never go outside. However, unlike battery hens, cage-free hens are able to walk, spread their wings and lay their eggs in nests. Cage-free egg producers who obtain certification under the better welfare standards programs must provide perching and dust-bathing areas for the birds as well. These advantages are very significant to the animals involved.

While I don’t believe that cage free hens are running around smiling I do believe their quality of life is higher.   And that’s why I will spend double on cage free eggs.  I also cannot bring myself to buy white eggs anymore, but that’s a whole different quirk.

Don’t even get me started on the whole organic happy meat thing, i’m working on it and that’s another battle.

My house has termites, which apparently a lot of houses do.   And that Termite guy who randomly showed up is coming back tomorrow so we can sign the paperwork to get this taken care of.   bye bye money.   There are definitely other things I had in mind for that money.

So while I cannot buy the cheaper eggs, I cut corners everywhere else that I could.  I either cut or completely eliminated some bills and am now not only thinking twice about purchases, i’m thinking three times.  This year is about saving money, making things happen, taking care of business (figuratively and literally) and maybe a little bit of self improvement.  and so far so good.

Also today I totally repaired a leaky sink with my own two hands

Yesterday was the first day in almost two weeks that I felt good enough to actually do things.    I made breakfast, we did some shopping and then my husband cut my hairs!  After an at home Mani/Pedi it was like a spa day for free.  

The beautiful monogrammed silverware that we got turned out to be pieces of crap.  The knives started rusting after one time thru the dishwasher and slowly the other pieces started joining them.   That’s what you get when you order online and can’t see or touch the silverware in person.   I won’t be making that mistake again unless it’s from a well respected brand.   The set was easily returnable since we got it from Amazon and then we set out to buy a whole new set.  I’m apparently very silverware picky (who knew) and two malls and five stores later I finally found a set I love.   Lots of silverware comes in a service for 5 set and I just like to have more silverware than that on hand.  The one I ended up getting has service for 8 and even came with serving utensils.   fancy.

Over the weekend my husband realized there is not a good online community for asking questions about your pets.  Or if there is we couldn’t find it.  There are some boards that are run by ‘veterinarians’ but they aren’t checked often.  If you have a quick question or need advice from other pet lovers, it was hard to find a place to go.    Or maybe you just want to talk about your pet and share your experiences.    

So he created Petsker.  http://petsker.com/     It’s brand new, one day old and there’s not a lot going on, yet.   Petsker even has its own Twitter page  http://twitter.com/petsker

we finally got some rain and real weather and even a tornado watch a few miles from my house. it’s not like a Wizard of OZ tornado or anything.   But we’ve gotten over 2 inches of rain in a couple of days which is a big deal because we get like 7 in an entire year.  if that.  so everything floods and the washes fill up because we’re just not set up for lots of rain.   some jackass always thinks they can drive across a wash because it doesn’t look deep.  but the water runs fast and they’ll get swept away and then they end up on top of their car waiting for a helicopter to come rescue them.   then the news always makes fun of them.   it’s like common AZ knowledge, do not cross a flooded wash.

I have been sick for like a week and I swear every other day it’s worse. I start feeling better and think I’m good to go and then the next day I’m feeling sick again. I cannot miss any more work, I missed last Thurs and Fri.  I went to the Dr last week to make sure it wasn’t bronchitis (it’s not, at least not yet) The Dr. gave me antibiotics to fill ‘just in case’ and I’m right on the verge of filling them in the hopes that whatever it is i have goes away.   Not a smart move, I know.  I’ll wait and see if my snot turns colors first! 

As soon as Icey started feeling better he started doing all kinds of things around the house.  He replaced the garage door opener mechanism, like the whole little box thing that controls the garage door.  Ours was old and super cheap and decided that it wasn’t going to close anymore unless you used the control inside the garage.   so there was a lot of pushing the button and then running out of the garage and jumping over the sensors so they wouldn’t see you and then stop the door from closing.   or just getting out of your car, going back into the garage, hitting the button, going inside and then using the front door.  pain in the butt, but that’s done.

right in the middle of that a man walks up to the house and says “Icey?” and he says yes, and the guy says he’s here from terminix. and Icey is like i didn’t call you.   and the guy says i talked to you last night. turns out he wanted a guy by the same name one street over but the same house number.  but as luck would have it, we needed a termite guy and were fixing to call one anyway!!!  so he came back after that call and gave us a quote.

then Icey replaced the kitchen faucet which had decided to constantly leak and then replaced the track lighting in the kitchen which burned out bulbs in about 4 days. if it still burns out bulbs then we need a real electrician out.

one year ago this week I started working from home.

that was the first day when I went to take a picture of my work station and Voo ran by.

my house has been a sick house since last year.   Icey came down with bronchitis and then just when I thought i’d escaped it, I came down with something.  I don’t have bronchitis (so says the dr who gave me a prescription for antibiotics ‘just in case’) I just have a cold or something x 10.  It’s just enough to keep me at home on the couch feeling slightly miserable and full of snot.   So i’ve been home sick for two days and will probably spend the entire long weekend still sick on the couch.  can someone come clean my kitchen please?

new years was like any other night, we haven’t gone out for new years in a long time.   We watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.  We had a nice dinner of steak, baked potatoes and fresh green beans.  normally I drink champagne but the thought of alcohol has been grossing me out lately.    It was another ‘no burn’ night which bummed me out. we have been having a lot of those lately.  meaning you can’t use your fireplace.  Christmas eve was also a no burn night.   As you can see the dogs were pooped.

I had been laying there with my head on those pillows, then he came up behind me, which was fine.  he nests up in those pillows.  next thing i know his paws are flying thru and he almost hit me in the head. i ended up screaming like a girl because it scared me.