Thursday, July 31, 2008

Carpet Difficulties

How many people does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Or rather how many people does it take to shampoo a carpet? That is my real question here.
When I renewed my lease recently they offered to have my carpets shampooed and I gladly accepted. Granted they would have to come in and just go around my furniture, but it was still better than nothing, or so I thought. And since they only do carpets on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I went ahead and scheduled mine for this past Tuesday. But I needed to vacuum before they came. Ugggh. So me being the over achiever that I am I went ahead and moved my furniture around and stacked some up and out of the way. I figured this way it would be easier for the people to shampoo my carpets and not have to maneuver around too many things. Riiiight...that's the only reason I moved things. It was definitely not because I felt that I should get everything I could out of this service, that's not it at all. So since we all agree that I only had the best interests of the janitorial staff in mind, I went ahead and moved some furniture. Then I vacuumed the whole apartment. And I felt pretty good about what I had accomplished, so I went to bed.

-Fast forward to Tuesday night about 6:30pm when I get home from work-

I walk in the door and think hmmm....I wonder if they came and shampooed my carpets today? It doesn't really look like it...I will go to the office and ask. So I go over to the office to pay my rent and ask about the carpet stuff. Only the lady in the office doesn't know if it got done or not because she just got back from vacation today. Yeah so I should call the office tomorrow and find out. Whatever. I assumed they did come, or they didn't, but either way I needed to move my stuff back. It just felt too weird with it all stacked up. The little fact that I couldn't get in my closet and reach any clean clothes for work the next day was not a problem at all. SO I moved all my stuff back assuming I would have to call for another appointment sometime. Stuff happens right and I didn't pay for it and I got a cleaner apartment out of it so no huge deal right? Right.

-Fast forward to Wednesday night about 6:30 pm when I get home from work-

Hmmm...It's really cold in here...did I leave the AC turned down this morning? Wait the tracks on the carpet look different from when I vacuumed...I think...maybe the carpet people came today even though they were supposed to come yesterday...typical...hmph...wait did they really come? So I check the thermostat and jeez its as low as it can possibly go! Crud! I have no problem if you come in and turn the AC down while you are in here but jeez don't leave it like that all day! The electricity people, the electricity! Why don't you just take some money from my tree out on the porch too! Well okay maybe you thought the carpet needed to dry, but as low as it can go!?! Really now! Darn people, never come when they say they will and always mess things up...grumble...grumble...grumble. Oh well at least most of the carpet got cleaned right? Don't be mad that you moved all that furniture all by yourself for nothing. Don't be mad. Please don't get pissed. Don't get mad because you knew, you just absolutely positively knew that the minute you put all your stuff back that they would come anyways. Just don't do it! Oh heck, its too late, you're pissed, just admit it. Grumble...Grumble...GRUMBLE!!!

Oh well, lets just fix dinner. Wait whats this? A present? The tool fairy hath visited my kitchen! What's that you say? There is no such thing as a tool fairy? Well then, how would you explain the brand new set of nifty plier thingies that have appeared near my sink? I claim tool fairy, hmph. Fine I suppose you non believers do kind of have a point...after all, all the other fairies are our parents right? And they usually leave money in exchange for something valuable like teeth, not just tools as presents. But it could be the tool fairy, right? No? Oh fine I suppose its just another thing the carpet people messed up on. Yeah you were right, I bet you noticed that funny round metal piece sitting next to the plier thingies and you probably even knew it went to my sink didn't you. Well no one asked for a smart alec. But dangit you are right. They had to take apart the faucet and couldn't even manage to put it back together or take their tool with them when they left. Why am I not surprised?

Sooo...if I were to be serious about this whole situation I would start to question a few things. Like why the people didn't come on Tuesday like we had scheduled. And if they ONLY come on Tuesdays and Thursdays then how come they came to my place on a Wednesday? And really why did the AC have to go so low, I mean I think 70 or 75 would have done the job. And so you needed a water source that you have to screw things into so the carpet shampooer thing will work, fine. But can't you put my sink back together when you are done? And do you really have so many tools that you can just leave them in random apartments? Did something happen and you had to leave really quickly, like maybe tamales for lunch in the office or the flying dog chained to my porch scared the piss out of you and you cleaned my carpet twice and then ran?

But I prefer to be less serious about the whole thing and just simply ask:
How many people does it take to shampoo a carpet?

...and come on time...and leave the AC at a reasonable temperature...and clean up after themselves...and not leave tools behind...

I should have just kept the darn pliers!

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

The Beginning

Hi,

Welcome to my place of Internet residence. I suppose we should begin with some introductions. I will go first, that being only proper. (And there is no need to worry that I will hold it against you when you fail to reciprocate, considering I really am not sure who you are yet. Shoot, you probably don't know who you are yet either! And since I don't know you, and you don't know you, I am sure you can be trusted to keep the secret that I really don't know who I am yet either. Shhh...I won't tell if you won't.)

My name is Karen, this is my blog. I have curly hair, hence the name of the blog, which I figure defines me pretty well, or at least well enough to use as my title. I have no really specific plans for this place just yet and it is kind of empty and drafty to tell you the truth. Perhaps once you have identified yourself you would be willing to help me make some decorating decisions. I would like that. But until you figure out who you are I suppose I can tell you a little more about me. So I like books and I like to read, a lot, a whole lot. Mostly I stick to mysteries but I like anything really that reads well and I can just get wrapped up in. And while I like to read a lot, you may notice that my own grammar and writing style leaves something to be desired. But you will just have to get over that, because I plan to write like this is more of a conversation, and conversations may not look to pretty when you get down to the technical mumbojumbo but it sure reads a whole lot better. Plus its my place and I am simply going to be me here. If you do not like me, I find that sad for you but trust that you can find other friends to occupy your time with. So if you can get over the inappropriate use of prepositions and commas and whatnot and you are still with me, great! and glad to have you. So since I like to read so much I thought it might be fitting to have a few posts about the books I read. I will probably do some reviews and maybe just some lists. But I do tend to go through books kind of fast so I might just post about the ones that really move me.

In addition to books I like food. I like food a lot and I am from the South where you fall asleep planning breakfast and wake up planning dinner. So I am sure that I will be posting about food, perhaps about yummy things I find at restaurants, or more than likely about fun adventures I have in my own kitchen. And I am kind of picky and don't like too many raw veggies or strange things so anything I find to be really good will more than likely also be really simple too.

When I am not reading or cooking or eating I very well may be painting. I have just begun to really explore some fun new techniques and I am having a lot of fun. So I am sure I will be posting some pictures too.

Other than that I am a pretty simple person. I really just like to have a good time and enjoy the company of friends and family. I do look forward to finding new friends and family here on the Internet. I don't have a lot of specific plans for this place yet, but I want it to be comfortable and inviting. I know it will be random since that is just my nature. I am the person who will start laughing in the middle of complete silence at something that happened days ago. So there will definitely be some random musings here, it just wouldn't be home without them.

I guess there is not much else to say but sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride!

I know I will!