...I would like to wash my hands of all telephone companies. I was fed up with SWB prices and switched to Sage about a year ago. I've been happy with them up until today. I called to set up a date for a second phone line to be installed. I found out that they don't do any of the inside wiring. All they will do is connect the wire to the outside box. I talked to Rita earlier and she couldn't believe they won't install the jacks or wiring on the inside. After our conversation I thought about it and called Sage Customer Service again to verify the fact they don't do inside wiring. I heard them correctly the first time. I also told them I have a real issue with that situation, especially since they are charging $38.00 just to hook up a wire to a box. Of course all the Rep. could do was apologize.
I'm thinking seriously about switching back to SWB. I did some research on the WWW and saw that SWB only charges $30.95 to install a second line. I'm not sure if they do the inside wiring either. It was too late for me to call customer service to find out more details. I guess it will have to wait until my next day off which is Friday. Unless my sister reads this beforehand and posts a comment with more facts and figures. ;)
Have I mentioned that I despise US Cellular?? My two year contract is up in March and I can hardly wait. I will never again be a slave to a binding contract for wireless communication. I've done more research on the pay as you go plans. I'm pretty sure I'm going with Virgin Mobile and will be purchasing their top of the line Kyocera Slider V5 phone. My only obligation will be to purchase $20.00 of talk time every three months to keep my account active. I currently own a Nokia which is a piece of crap. The battery will have a full charge one day and the following day it will be almost dead. On the one day (the day Mother went to hospital) it was of utmost importance to be reached, Matthew couldn't get a hold of me because I was unaware that my cell phone had discharged and turned off. I've even had problems in the past with the phone turning off on its own accord due to a loose battery connection. I did manage to solve that problem by tearing off a piece of a credit card, folding it up and sticking it between the back of the phone and the battery. I might not wait for March to arrive. I'll just pay off the rest of the contract and be done with it.
This is probably going to turn into another long winded entry. My platter was full to overflowing on both days.
Christmas Eve
I slept in late on Christmas Eve. I only got about four to five hours of sleep the previous two nights and had to work twelve hours Mon. & Tues. I awoke around 11:30am and hopped into the shower. Around 1:00pm we started opening presents and didn't finish until 3:30. Jer had to go work at Red Lobster by 5:00, and afterwards they both had to go to there Grandparent's (Kevin's parents) house to open more gifts. All of us received numerous and very nice gifts for Christmas this year. I received a cordless GE phone for the bedroom, boombox for Delphi Satellite radio, Homedics back massager w/heat, a gorgeous pendant w/chain (my birthstone with three small diamonds), Timex Ironman watch, DVD pedestal with turnstile, perfume, jeans, shirts, and a curling iron with ten heat settings. Kevin received a leather jacket, jeans, matching sweatshirt w/ pants, several sports t-shirts (mainly Tampa Bay Bucaneers, Houston Rockets, & Oklahome Sooners), Musclehedz figurine, Max Payne II for the Playstation. Jer & Ash received too many items to list, but there biggest gifts were 20" tv's for their bedroom from Kevin's parents and we bought Ashley a cordless phone for her bedroom. Yes, she will have her own phone line, thank goodness!! Jer's big gift from us was a Bazooka w/ amplifier for his truck. I'll certaintly feel sorry for the garbage guys when they come to pick up our trash. We probably will have close to 20 bags if not more on trash day. Finally straightened up the living room after the gift exchange. Its going on 10:00pm and I have to start baking for Christmas Day. I had to double two recipes (Sweet Potato Casserole and Pink Salad), because Jeremy is allergic to pecans. I also made a Cream Cheese Cherry Pie and then boiled eggs for Deviled Eggs. While I was waiting for the casseroles to cool down, I took down and cleaned about 25 rectangular pieces of glass that surround the dining room lights. It sure does shine now. It's 5:00am and I'm hitting the hay. I still have more baking to do when I awaken.
Christmas Day
I set my alarm for 10:30am. I can't believe I didn't sleep right through it, but I managed to drag myself out of bed knowing I still had lots to do before Mom and Matthew arrived later in the afternoon. Between the hours of 10:30am and 4:00pm I baked a traditional pumpkin pie, apple pie w/lattice top, green bean bundles, cheesy potatos, and the ham. Mom and Matthew arrived around 3:45pm and we exchanged small gifts. I bought Mom a talking wrist watch and Matthew received a gift certificate to Books-A-Million. I gave Mom a small amount of everything I had fixed (minus the pies) and she almost ate the entire plate. She said she was full and wanted to save room for pumpkin pie. She didn't have any problems finishing off the desert. We sat around the kitchen table afterwards and I tried to call Bryan, but he wasn't home. I then called Kris and David and talked to both of them, then I passed the phone to Mom, then onto Matthew. A short time later around 6:30 Mom and Matthew headed for home with a couple of pieces of apple pie and the green bean bundles. I headed for the nearest chair to relax, log onto the Internet, and type this entry. I'm sure anyone reading this will be glad to know its coming to its conclusion. It's 8:00pm and I'm heading to Movie Gallery to check out some movies. I think I'm going to rent Freaky Friday, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and the Medallion. Hope everyone had as nice a Christmas Eve and Day as we did.
I figured out what I was doing wrong when I was trying to insert links in the Shopping Spree entry. I didn't realize I had to be in editing mode for the URL button to activate. I now have links pointing to some of our purchases in the Shopping Spreee entry.
I received my Lowe's credit card in the mail a couple of days ago. I was checking out the interest rates for purchases and noticed they listed two different rates. One was 19.9% and the other one was 13.9%. The catch on getting the lower interest rate was making a "Big Buy" purchase. I noticed my credit line was for $1000. I called Lowe's Credit to find out the definition of "Big Buy". Unfortunately, for all of three minutes I didn't qualify, because "Big Buy" purchase equaled $2000 or more. I asked the rep if she could increase my credit line to $3000 to qualify me for the lower interest rate. No problem, I was approved.
We set out for Lowe's early this evening. We had a couple of items that were a must buy. A Maytag side-by-side refrigerator and a cabinet and top for the front bathroom. Our current 10+ year old fridge is in pretty sad shape with a broken shelf in the door and a broken icemaker. The connection to the icemaker busted leaking water all under the fridge and we've definitely outgrown it size wise.
I've been without a vanity for over a year now. We've just been making do with the stand alone sink in our bathroom. Kind of inconvenient now there are 4 people in the house instead of 2. We are purchasing a 3 piece modular vanity and had to special order a 61" (standard size) top for it.
The above totaled $1948 tax and all and I realized we were going to have to do a little more shopping. We also purchased the light fixture for over the bathroom mirror, matching shelf storage for over the commode, chrome toilet paper stand, 4 (need 11) boxes of 12" x 12" ceramic tiles for the kitchen floor, and hardi board that is layed under the tile for support. We did go over the qualifying amount, but nothing is going to go to waste.
Its been a very busy time for me preparing for Thanksgiving and now Christmas. I cooked Thanksgiving this year and the meal was wonderful. I bet we ate leftovers for four days. We still have a little bit of ham left which I think will have to be tossed. I made my usual...Spiral Cut Ham with brown sugar/honey glaze, Sweet Potato Casserole, and Pink Salad. Every year I try to come up with a couple of new recipes. The new recipes this year were Sweet Green Bean Bundles, Grandma Ople's Apple Pie, and Double Layer Pumpkin Pie. The new recipes were a huge success and if anyone would like recipes I will be happy to send them your way. Kevin even contributed to the meal making Potato Salad and Deviled Eggs.
We put up the Christmas tree the day before Thanksgiving. I think that is the earliest we've ever done it. Most of my shopping is already done with the presents wrapped and under the tree. Usually, I procrastinate about doing either. This year I think I'm really going to enjoy the holiday more since most of the hard stuff is out of the way. It may not save any money by shopping on the Internet, but it sure is convenient. I did buy about four items on the Internet this year because they could not be located or bought locally. Now, all I have to do is plan the Christmas dinner and kick back 'til the day arrives.