Well, the thing I took leave for today actually took me the shortest time to accomplish. I thought I was going to get more of an argument. You see, I needed to have a little talk with TruGreen. First, they keep forgetting to telephone before they come, so sometimes they show up, no one's home, and the back yard doesn't get treated. Last week they did this again. So I had to call to ask them to come back. I also needed to address the accidental overpayment. Last November James accidentally paid them the payment meant for the exterminator. But it turned out we do have a credit. We don't have to pay the bill for the last treatment or the next and the one after that will be discounted.

However, I still had to address the aeration problem. In 2009 I paid in advance to have the back yard aerated. I was told this would happen in mid-autumn. Well, they telephoned three times, twice in October 2009 and then at the beginning of November, and said they were coming next day, but then never showed up, even though I teleworked all three days and would have been here had someone knocked on the door. We went on vacation, then when we came back, we still hadn't heard from them. Surprise! Monday the 30th they showed up without calling first and, of course, couldn't get into the backyard. I still have the note; they said it was too cold to aerate anyway; they would contact us in the spring of 2010. The lawn still hasn't been done, despite my having complained about it in the fall of 2010 and last fall as well. So the woman I talked to made arrangements for the service manager to call us to arrange for an appointment for the aeration.

If I don't hear back from him it will be another phone call. Really...what is so hard about this?

But I started out the day doing what was supposed to be a fun thing. It turned out well, but into a weight-lifting event: I went to the Cobb County Library Book Sale. That trip is chronicled in my book blog; let's say I came home with two reusable grocery bags of books...all for the bargain price of $29!

I also went up to JoAnn. This weekend they are having a 25 percent off everything sale, even clearance and sale items. I hoped to pick up several things, but at least one thing I hoped was still there was gone, and and I could not make my mind up about a floral decoration for the front porch. All of the less expensive items were springtime only, and I just want something out there that will last from March through August, as summer isn't welcome around here. The arrangements more suited to spring and summer were twice the price.

I did get a few nice things to use as gifts for [mumble] and [munble], bought a nice storage box with adjustable compartments, and found a British cross-stitch magazine with designs for different seasonal holidays. Two of my favorites are the designs featuring Nelson, a cute kitten, and Tibs, a little blue bird. Adorable!

By the time I finished at JoAnn, it was almost one o'clock, so I instructed Tinker to find "Panera Bread near me," and there it was, up on Chastain Road, all right turns except the last. I had a bowl of chicken soup with a baguette with butter on the side, with some water, a dandy lunch!

At home I put the craft things away and arranged the books in stacks; it turned out I did have one of the ones I was uncertain about, but it was only a dollar, so it wasn't much of a loss. I took Willow out, got the mail, and then attended to TruGreen, and have just finished fussing over the DVR, which is not updating properly. I need to get all the recordings off it and then phone Dish and make a fuss. I was looking at their "Hopper" today: it's a DVR that records up to six things at once, and, with a gadget called a "Joey" (the Hopper is represented in advertising by a red kangaroo), will also provide cable wirelessly to another television in the house. I bet that little rascal is expensive; nothing Dish comes up with is cheap.

(BTW, I think it's very funny that I'm discussing this just as Skippy the Bush Kangaroo is playing behind me!)

Labels: books, chores, shopping, television

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