Bling Bling

As I've mentioned before, James has a little problem with keeping his ring on. For me, I leave it on for almost all activities--showers, cooking, sleeping, working out, etc. I'm not saying that's better though because my ring got dingy really fast. It's true that I get a little frustrated when James forgets it and then later loses it. So far, we've been through 2 rings (1 1/2 years later). I guess that's not that bad. The most recent loss was in St. George a few weekends ago, and since then, James has been looking for cheap rings online. How about 3 rings for $30 (with S & H) on Amazon? I have to say they look pretty nice too. I'm very happy that he has a ring again, and he's pretty happy that he has choices and backups. The ring on the right even has a center that spins, which will give James something to play with without taking it off! James sure knows how to find a good deal.

The Results Are In

As James said... Heater Man #2 got more done in 20 minutes than #1 got done in 3 weeks. Arriving at an astounding ten minutes EARLY, Heater Man #2 even came with an assistant, took out the old furnace, left for an hour to do some metal fittings for installation, and finished up the job all in a few hours time. Incredible! I was so happy that I asked James if he wanted to give him a tip. James replied, "Well, I was actually already thinking about offering him a cookie!" You have to know that homemade chocolate chip cookies are very dear to James's heart and are difficult to give up. That was a HUGE tip in his mind. I convinced him otherwise, however, because Heater Man #2 didn't seem like he wanted to be buddy buddy, much less eat strangers' cookies.
At the end of the day, we realized that we don't want a friend in our Heater Man; we want a man who can do his job and do it well.

Baby, It's Cold Inside 2

Notice that on "Baby, It's Cold Inside" Part 1, I strategically wrote "Our last hope" and not "We'll be warm again." Well, today came along, and there is another story to tell...

Heater man was supposed to come this morning at 8 am. At 7:30, he called and left a message saying he was going to be late because his son had to go get an x-ray. He supposedly needed his son to help him with the job because he was still sick and weak. His son was mysteriously further delayed, so James called and offered his large muscles. Heater man's response was that he just couldn't do it today after all... no response to James's offer. He kindly offered to come back Sunday (even though he mentioned he didn't like that idea) and Monday to finish it up. Well, James had had it by then, so he told him absolutely not. Today or that's it. James then got in contact with the landlord and the landlord fired heater man. Interestingly enough, before he was fired, heater man came to pick up the furnace and tools. I have to wonder how he was able to put the large furnace on a dolly and prop it up a half flight of stairs being so weak.
Well, anyway, our landlord contacted another company, and low and behold, he showed up right when he said he would! He left us some more space heaters and set up an appointment for Monday morning. Cross your fingers!

Baby, It's Cold Inside

So our heater issue is still going strong, and I've got to keep a record of it. It's just too good to forget. Here's the basic run-down minus a few juicy details we didn't want to put on the blog. Again, it's not as good as sewage flooding our apartment, but it's something to talk about.

Day 1- heater man decided we needed a new furnace and planned to come Thursday.
Day 2- called 5 hours after he was supposed to come and explained he couldn't come because he had to mediate a fight between his parents. heater man isn't young.
Day 3- furnace was "damaged in transit" and no more were available...must wait for another shipment
Day 4- shipment was late
Day 5- shipment was late again
Day 6- came over late because of family issues--couldn't finish because he couldn't remove our old furnace
Day 7- came over 4 hours late when James was at class and he forgot about our arrangement of leaving the key under the mat (no call when he couldn't get in)
Day 8- came over late again because of family issues and sat in his truck for 3 hours in our parking lot (it was raining)
Day 9- called several hours late to explain that he couldn't come because the furnace got wet in the rain (see Day 8), and it needed to dry out
Day 10- funeral
Day 11- started working in the afternoon but was unable to remove old furnace again. left the furnace and dolly in our front room.
Day 12- 6:20 am phone call that he had diarrhea. went to the doctor.
Day 13- strep throat
Day 14- tomorrow--our last hope

So far it's been 19 days. Who knows how many more? We don't mean to be insensitive to heater man's personal life, but we're just amazed by the plethora of excuses. We feel like we know too much about our heater man, and we're pretty sure we're being Punk'd. The only thing that doesn't add up is that we're not celebrities.
Oh well. Soon enough we'll have our heat again, and we'll be sooo grateful for it!

St. George

James and I made a last minute decision to go down to St. George last weekend, and we're so glad we did! It was his grandma's birthday (I consider them my grandparents too), and several of her kids and grandkids came to surprise her. It was a nice, relaxing, warm trip, but it was too short. Thankfully, Chris and Christina allowed us to stay at their house, and that was so fun. We got to spend good quality time with them and with their cute kiddies. I'm so lucky to have acquired such cute nieces and nephews! Besides James losing his ring, it was an awesome trip! It's only James's 2nd wedding ring. =) Poor guy. He just doesn't find it comfortable to wear all the time as I do, so he's more likely to lose his. I think we'll look into getting him a $20 ring for the future. Here are a few pictures from the trip--wish we had some of the grandparents and cousins, but this'll have to do for now.

Emma

I just found this picture Dane took at Christmas time, and I had to put it on. It's our family with our sweet old friend, Emma. When we were growing up, Mom thought it'd be nice to have a little help around the house, so she hired Emma to come a few times a week. I think Emma really liked being at our house, and Mom and Dad were so sweet to her, so she stayed around for several years. Still to this day, I remember her rocking me and singing to me in our garden room. I also remember that she wore a white dress with her hair in a bun, and she always smelled like peppermint. She called my mom "Miss Jill" and Mom remembers her as one of the most positive ladies she's ever met. When it was a rainy day, Emma would always say, "Don't worry, Miss Jill. It'll clear up!" I love that.
The best part about Emma is that when we visited her this Christmas, we found her to be the same optimistic person we always knew. Now in her nineties, she lives alone in a run down house that felt the effects of the hurricane, and she stood the whole time with her cane and reminded us that God is good. It was such a wonderful experience to hear her tell stories about growing up and always believing in God. She also commented about the youth at her church, who are always in a hurry; she thinks people need to slow down and enjoy life. Of course, it melted my heart when she asked where her baby Christina was. It had been so long, that she didn't recognize me. I'm grateful she's part of my memories of growing up. Here we are on her front porch.