Late Report

Oops, Fio forgot to post. She's been going back and forth from Husband's rehab center every day, plus meeting with two groups of writing buddies, plus welcoming Minnesota son back to the heart of Texas.  Son is not only a boon companion, but he's committed himself to cutting the rawhide dog bones in two for Sonia dog and fixing some things around the house. He's also great when it comes to electronics. And, no, you can't have him.
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Fiorella plans to start laying down rocas again soon. There are still parts of the driveway edging that need shoring up, and she also wants to shovel up the smaller, leftover rocks to use in other projects. Then there are newly-planted cast iron plants, which all seem to be on their last legs. Fio may have to pay a visit to the Home Depot garden center this fall, but what's new?
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La Piloto is speeding toward its bloody finale. Now that half the population of Mexico has been killed off, the major villains are turning against each other, one of them even shooting himself in the head. In another thread, after being identified as Amanda's murderer, Sulima turned her pistola on Yolanda, la piloto. then took off in la avion (the airplane).
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You do realize, of course, that Fio has always written. And always will.

The Yard

 Facebook is, as advertised, really great for connecting with old friends and acquaintances. Of course, Fio always tries to put her best foot forward.  The photos she posts are framed and cropped so no one will know Fio has a pile of mulch in a corner of the yard and the bayberries still aren't hiding the AC units the way she wants them to.
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Fio's latest outside endeavor, aside from the driveway edging, is lining the west side of the house with cast iron plants. The flowering sages, which had reigned there for about ten years, caught some kind of fungus infection and Fio had to whack them down to the roots, then ask Fernando, her wonderful yard man, to finish the job. But, alas, Fernando comes just once a month so Fiorella has to do the replanting replacement all on her own. Dig, Fio, dig!

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The only drawback to having a driveway lined with rocks is that a riding mower can't get over them gracefully, which is the reason Fio and Husband replaced the rocks with easily-movable four-foot-long landscape timbers at strategic places along the way.  Then Fio realized that although Husband can get his own riding mower through four-foot gaps, Fernando's professional mower needs a five-foot gap. So, yes, that was Fio you saw at Home Depot having eight landscape timbers cut to five-feet plus (just to be sure), lowering the passenger seat of Husband's car as far as possible so the timbers could be loaded, then driving slowly and carefully home and unloading them.  And one of these days,  she promises, she'll get them distributed.

Up and Down

Fiorella's world goes up and down, from Friday's visit with Austin Son and his wife and the joy, the ecstasy of holding Baby in her arms again to the teeth-grinding irritation of having both her good watch and her secondary watch go out on her on Saturday evening. Not only that, but the two keys she took back to Home Depot because they hadn't opened any doors, still don't work. neither does the TV sound. To top it off, Fio can't find an important tax return page she needs.

But Fiorella will survive. She always does. But meanwhile she'll blame it all on Trump.

GIRL POWER!

Fio feels empowered today.  She studied the upper kitchen cabinet door that had fallen off and discovered one of the hinges had frozen, which means that all it will take for a repair is a new hinge.  Hello, Home Depot!

Then she traced down her telephone service carrier and found out that an unwanted service had been triggered, which was the reason she and Husband hadn't been getting phone messages even though the phone blinked and blinked and blinked.  A simple phone call from Husband, whose name is on the bill, will fix that.

With two bears under her belt, Fiorella examined the instructions for the firewood hoop she and Husband had been trying to put together last night.  Hey, maybe one set of those support legs should gone the outside of the hoop.

Three down, but now will come the hard part, retrieving Fio's manuscript from the bowels of the machine. T Carando, Fio needs you!.

Stressed Out

Well, folks, yesterday didn't turn out to be as glorious as Fio thought it would be.  She had to take her computer in--again--because the email was acting up--again--so she left it overnight this time, which meant she was adrift all day. Yes, your Fiorella is addicted to her laptop.  She couldn't work on her book, couldn't research the thousand and one random questions she comes up with each day, couldn't follow what was happening in the world, and couldn't communicate on email or Facebook.

So what she did do (because Fio is also addicted to activity) was drive over to Home Depot with a photocopy of one of the checks in re the scamming handyman that Amy Bullock had said she hadn't received and ask their people to send Amy an email copy of it.  This was the fourth "send" of the pc of the check, and Fio had sweated blood over getting it out of the bank.  Fio will admit it--she almost broke down and cried from total frustration.

Fio does not understand why Amy didn't receive the three previous "sends," but maybe whatever was wrong with the Nemesis's email may have caused it.  ("The Nemesis" is Sonia Dog's name for Fio's laptop.)  On the other hand, she said she received the first one, then "lost it."

Fio also went through the house and wrote down (on a paper tablet) the overheads that were out--fifteen in all, and noted down the three areas that need new drywall because of the mold, called the yardman and the neighbors to arrange a get-together on Monday for us all to talk about a property-line fence, put together some promotion ideas for Where The Heart Leads, made a start on her Christmas sonnet, paid bills, thought about Austin son's upcoming birthday, mentally reviewed the refinancing of the house--and wilted.

She tried to take it easy yesterday evening, then awoke in the early morning with a burning mouth and a rumbling tummy.  GERD.  Three hours later she'd pretty well cured it a powerful antacid pill and milk, but it still lingered.  Husband is going to pick up potato chips, vanilla ice cream, and bagels at the store for her.

Fio dragged you through her personal hell because (1) she is a modern Samuel Pepys, and (2) this morning she realized that what she eats plays only a minimal role in her affliction.  STRESS is the  key factor.  Fio is responsible for many, many things,  and having to operate without a computer was only the tipping point.

Home Depot Has a Disgruntled Customer

Fiorella is not happy with Home Depot.  First, their reference arm, Red Beacon, gave her the name of the scamming handyman.  Next, when she called to report the problem, Red Beacon told her the hnadyman was not on their list.  Next, when she reported the situation in person to the store, their personnel got in contact with RB and Fio was asked to send photos of the work and the checks, which, with a great deal of computer trouble, Fio did.  And, while Fio's den remains a mess and she has stuff that should go on the new shelves still stashed all over the house, she's heard nothing since.

Christmas is coming.  Fio is thinking of putting coal in Home Depot's stocking.

Mosquitoes--3; Fiorella--1

Three or four deer were standing by the side of the road as Fio drove home this evening--and those were just the ones she could see.  It was like they were hitching a ride.
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Despite the spray, the mosquitoes are out in full force again.   And, unfortunately, Fiorella is their kind of gal.
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Don't hold your breath, but Fiorella may get some recompense for the crappy job ol' Jason did.  She's talking to Home Depot about it.  Next time she needs something done, she'll work up a contract.
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And, at the same time that Fio was writing this blog, she (1) was bitten by another mosquito, (2) she squashed the beast in mid-air, and (3) she accidentally let a replacement mosquito in the house when she opened the door for Sonia Dog.



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Handy Dandy

Fiorella and Husband want to hire someone to take out a corner cabinet and replace it with shelves. Home Depot recommended three handymen, but one of them never responded, which cut the field down to two.

Candidate #1 came over immediately and measured everything, but postponed making an estimate.  Candidate #2 came over the next day and not only measured everything, but made a reasonable estimate.  However Candidate #1 will accept credit cards, while  Candidate #2 does not.

After four days, Fio finally called Candidate #1 for the promised estimate.  He said he thought he'd already sent it, but would do so again. He also said that his wife and son would come along on the job to help him.  And that he couldn't start work for a couple of weeks

Candidate #2 said he would do the work all by his lonesome and could start on Monday.

Fio would love to get those extra frequent flyer miles, but Candidate #2 is the winner.

Renovations in Casa Fiorella

Call HGTV!  Fiorella and Husband did their own renovating this weekend, and it worked out great.  They redesigned their mudroom--really the entryway to the kitchen from the garage, on the wall of which they'd fastened a 28" long coat rack, a small rack for their keys, and a smaller rack for their dog leashes and collars. But, since they were  too lazy to tote jackets to the coat closet in the foyer, the outdoor apparel usually piled up on the mudroom coat rack.

Fio being Fio, she decided to do something about it,  She studied the area, measured and figured, and dragged Husband into her scheme, Her first step was to remove the bulletin board off the wall beside the coat rack and rehang it on the corner wall.  Then she moved the smaller racks further over behind the kitchen door ( the key rack above the leash rack), and husband screwed them into the wall.  Easier said than done, but it worked, which was very encouraging because the next day they tackled the old coat rack. After Husband got it off the wall, Fio measured the length of the space and decided they needed a 48" coat rack, which Home Depot wold surely have.  They hopped in the car.

After two false starts with orange apron losers, Husband located a Home Depot employee who actually understood what we were talking about and led us to the coat racks, none of which were 48". Fio's heart sank. She looked over the rest of the stock, did some quick mental math, and decided to take a chance on three identical 18" racks.  If the measurements didn't work out, they could always return the racks.

Half an hour's labor, mainly on Husband's part, did the trick, and Casa Fiorella has a brand new, more accommodating mud room.

Ta-da!

Credit Card News

Good thing that Fiorella hadn't memorized the number on her new credit card, the one issued to her when Target was hacked, because now Home Depot has been hacked and Fio's getting another replacement card with yet another new number on it.

What's next?  Starbucks?  FedEx-Kinko's, Barnes and Noble?

Pretty soon the credit companies are gonna run out of numbers.

Nameplate

For the past week, Fiorella's pet project has been polishing up the brass nameplate that used to be on her parents-in-law's front door. Husband bought Dremel polishing pads and some jewelers' rouge at Home Depot for her, but Fio's most effective treatment so far has been Mr. Metal, paper towels, and elbow grease.  Every time she goes over to the sink for something, she takes another swipe at the nameplate.

Why is she doing this? Fio and Husband have no real use for the nameplate, and it would only be a dust-gathering relic to the kids, but still Fio polishes and shines.  It's like tending a grave--the process  counts more than the result.

Retail Relations

Thursday night Husband and I went to Home Depot, where we had lately been receiving very good customer service, to look over bookshelves. We decided on unassembled six-footers, three of them, costing almost $100 apiece. No sales people were anywhere in evidence so we started calling out for assistance. Another couple, also standing around waiting for help, joined our yodel.

Finally a smiling, aproned employee arrived, answered our inquiries, loaded the heavy boxes onto a cart, and towed them up to the front of the store for us. We were very grateful.

As our sedan's trunk is not built to accommodate six-foot lengths, we got in the line to sign up for delivery. It would cost more than $50, we were informed, and the store would tell us the day but not the time. Okay, we said, planning to set a date when I could stay home all day.

Then came the rub. Explaining that big flatbeds can't negotiate our long, winding, narrow driveway, I asked about the vehicle that would be used. We were then told that Home Depot's deliveries are only to the curb, which meant our bookshelves would be off-loaded on the road, at the entrance to our driveway. Husband and I would have to figure out a way to get them the 100 or so yards to the house ourselves.

I balked, Husband balked, and we departed, leaving the bookshelves still on the cart beside the check-out.

We won't lose out. We can find the same shelves somewhere else with better delivery services. But Home Depot did lose out, not only a quick $300 sale, but our good will.

It's no wonder retailers are going under.