Life is Good

Well, I know I'm not very good at blogging, but that's only because there's so much going on in life - and it's good. J and I are continuing our romance, and it is wonderful. I don't know the words to describe how good this feels. Who would have thought that at this point in life - mid-50's - I would find a new love. And that's what he is! This past week we both put into words how we felt about each other - I am deeply in love with this man, and he is in love with me. We laugh, we have long talks, we share similar tastes in music, and are both very committed to our families. Being together is the best part of my day - and the days when I'm not with him, all I can do is think about when I'll be seeing him next. Yep, I'm hooked! I don't know what the future holds for us - and I certainly hope for a long, wonderful future with him. But at this point, I'm enjoying every minute.

On top of that, I am enjoying being a Nana. My baby granddaughter is now 3 months old and is such a little sweetheart. I get to see her at least 1-2 times each week, which isn't enough but that's ok for now. Watching my daughter - who was never around babies much - love being a mother is such a fabulous experience. She's truly in love with her baby, and is doing a great job. What a joy this is.

Yep, life is good!

New and Improved!

Wow, I've not blogged for such a long time. And so much has happened - a lot of new things.

First - I'm a new grandmother - Nana to be specific. Daughter dear had a beautiful baby girl 2 weeks ago, and I'm loving every second I get to spend with her. And it has been such a wonderfully awesome feeling watching my daughter go through her pregnancy and become a mom. I've always known that being a grandmother would be wonderful - but I had no idea HOW I would feel. Indescribable! I want to be with her as much as I can, to bond with her, to make sure she knows how much she is loved, and to have a very special relationship with her. This is the start of a whole new life, literally and figuratively.

Second - I've met a wonderful man, J, and it is going very well. We've got so much in common - including having lived in the same small towns in Western PA before moving to NC. Our paths have almost crossed so many times in the past, yet we never met until this year - well actually it was this past Christmas Day. He's such a good man, so intelligent, very funny, and we spend hours just talking and laughing, listening to music. I don't know where this is headed at all -but right now I don't even care, I'm enjoying the journey very much. He melts me the instant I see him again - and my heart races when the phone ring and caller ID says it's him. I get some delicious emails from him - I find them when I check my personal email while at work - and it puts a smile on my face for the rest of the day. Wow.

For Valentine's Day, he gave me 2 cards - one funny, one heart felt telling me how much he enjoys spending time with me. And that's what mine said to him - that I'm so glad that he's in my life. When he comes over, he frequently (usually) brings his little beagle Jake with him, which is very nice - so I now have a container of dog food here for when Jake visits. And now - he's actually left a toothbrush. I've never been here before - but that small thing has touched my heart in a way I can't explain. This is just amazing.

Yea, there are parts of life that aren't perfect for me - I still worry about my kids, about other family members, about money, and I have serious issues with my job. But life is good. And that's a great feeling.

TA DAAA!!!

I did it! Today at lunch, I went to the courthouse (accompanied by my friend Janice), and file the necessary form to change my name back to my maiden name. I've been thinking about doing this for a very long time and some recent events finally pushed me into action. That's step number 1 - next I have to go to the Social Security office, followed by the DMV, and then my bank. And THEN I get to change the millions of other records, bills and places that involve my personal information. Yea, it will be a big pain in the butt - but this is important and I feel so strongly that this is the right thing to do. So it's worth all of the hassle.

Now, for the laughter - here's my "MasterCard commercial" moment. You have to understand that Janice is perhaps the sweetest person on the face of the earth - never says a cross word, doesn't drink, smoke, cuss, or do anything else "bad", and is the office "goody two shoes". It was HILARIOUS!

Cost of parking at the courthouse - 50 cents.
Cost of filing the "resume former name form" - $10
Watching Janice be frisked by the security guard - PRICELESS!

Customer Service?

I have been using the "bundle" deal from my cable company for the past several years and, at first, I was happy with it. It was fine at my former residence, but for the past 2-1/2 years, since I bought my townhouse and moved here, I've had nothing but problems with my telephone. Dropped calls, no dial tone, poor quality phone line, etc. - plus I've had to replace the modem for my phone and Internet 4 times during that time. I'd about decided to start looking for alternates when problems REALLY kicked in. My phone was in and out, along with my Internet (but not necessarily at the same time) for the past few months. I've called and complained, but really did not get any long-term solution to these problems.


However, Labor Day weekend was the beginning of the end. That Saturday morning, I discovered that, once again, my phone wasn't working (but Internet was). I called for service, and after numerous "do this, do that's" they said they would send a service person to my home. I told them that I needed to leave at 5 PM but would be home until then - and they assured me that was no problem. By 4 PM, I hadn't seen anyone so called again. This time they assured me that someone would be out that evening. Evening? I asked - meaning what time? 5-9 PM I was told. I politely stated that I was promised to have someone BEFORE 5 and they apologized and said they'd see if they could get someone sooner. A few minutes later, a service guy showed up and told me he had been told not to come before 5 PM (am I surprised?). Then he looked at my modem, agreed that it needed to be replaced, but stated that he didn't have one for me. Great, so why did he come? He re-scheduled me for the following morning. Later that evening, to my surprise, my phone started working again, and continued to work the following morning. So I canceled the service call - BIG MISTAKE! An hour or so later, you guessed it - phone was out again. So I AGAIN called for service and was promised that someone would come by 8 PM that evening. Just what I wanted to do on a holiday weekend - sit at home and wait. By 7 PM, no one had called or come so AGAIN I called. This time I was told that my service was scheduled for 8-9:30 AM the following TUESDAY! No way would I have done that - I have to be at work, so I would never have scheduled that time. They refused to do anything any sooner, and I told them not to bother sending anyone then, because I wouldn't be there. And that I was going to start looking for service elsewhere.

My Internet was working, so I started researching and decided to go with the "regular" phone company. While online, a customer service person chatted with me, answered questions, and I decided to go ahead and order the phone connection. This person assured me it would be in place by the following Friday (9/11). I could deal with just cell phone for a few days, so ordered it and figured all was well. For the next couple of days, I experienced occasional use of my phone, but it was out most of the time. Internet was in and out somewhat too, and I'm sure it was because of the modem. But then I got an email from the phone company confirming my phone connection that would happen on the 22nd. That's NOT what I was told, so I tried to call the woman who had signed the email. I made 3 attempts, left voice mails and my work and cell phone numbers - and got no response. The following day, however, she called me on my home number, and magically got through when it was working and left me a message. And she THEN called me at work later that day, and told me that the hold up was due to me wanting to keep the same phone number but it looked like it would be available on Wednesday the 16th. Ok, I can live with that, I thought.

On Monday, the 14th, I returned home from work and found that my modem was TOTALLY down. No phone, no Internet. I called the cable company and was told that my phone had already been shut off because I was changing carriers and apparently they had shut down the entire modem by mistake. I was on the phone with them for over an hour, getting more and more angry about this, while they attempted to get my modem back "online". They finally conceded that they needed to send service out to my house to replace the modem, and that would happen between 7:30 and 8 PM. A couple friends stopped by and sat with me while awaiting the service person, cell phone in hand in case they would call (and YES I have given them my cell number repeatedly). At 8:10 PM, I again called to see why no one had yet come, and was told that my service call had been canceled. Why? I asked? Because they had called me and I had not answered the phone. They called my home phone number! I LOST IT, went completely ballistic on the guy. My friends were telling me to calm down, because I was so upset they feared I was going to have a stroke! How incredibly STUPID - they cut off the phone, then call that number and don't come for service because I don't answer!!!!!! I cannot even begin to imagine the thought process that enabled that to happen. I DEMANDED that they send someone immediately, he put me on hold for 25 minutes, then came back on and told me he couldn't get anyone this late. I told him that was NOT acceptable, and demanded to speak to a supervisor. He put me on hold, then cut me off. I called back, wove through the menu and finally got to a woman who said she was the assistant to a supervisor. I blasted her, told her about the events of the evening, and that I had HAD it with this terrible service. She managed somehow to get my modem back online so I would have Internet, apologized and offered to send someone the next day. I declined because I couldn't be there and was sick of dealing with them anyway. After that Wednesday, I could take the modem back to the cable office and exchange it for a non-phone, Internet-only modem, so decided to do that. But I told this woman that if anything else went wrong, I was done.

Well, you guessed it, the following day I came home and the modem was back out. So I called the phone company and ordered DSL through them. Once it comes, I'm pulling the plug on the cable modem and will take it to the office and THROW it across the counter at someone.

On Wednesday, my new phone line was installed. On the day it was promised. Without a hassle. What a concept! And on Friday, my new wireless gateway for Internet was delivered. Amazing.

Thus, the end of the cable story. Unreal, but true. I'm leaving television with the cable company because, so far, they haven't managed to muck it up. But, unfortunately, it'll happen in time.

Customer service, in this industry at least, is apparently a thing of the past. Sad.

I've finished the wedding gown alterations! Well - almost, but the hard part is done. It was very scary to actually CUT into a 40-ish year old wedding gown, but I took a deep breath and did it. The rest was easier, the neckline is finished and it looks quite nice, if I must say so myself. Here's hoping the bride-to-be is happy with it. I still need to make the bustle, but that's nothing more than covering a button with a scrap of the satin removed during the alterations, sewing it onto the waistline on the dress, and then making a thread "loop" at the right place on the back of the dress (and yes, I have the place marked). So I'll do that tonight while watching the first Steeler game of the year.

I'm heading to the southern Virginia mountains tomorrow to spend the weekend with some sewing buddies - and this should be fun. I think there will be 6 of us, and the requirement is to bring something I've made, plus directions to share with the rest of the group. We're going to bring laptops and swap embroidery designs too. I need to decide what I want to work on, and then pack up all that stuff tonight. Laundry is in the dryer right now, so I can pack clothes in a little while and have that ready. I'll have time tomorrow to come home after work, because I'm going to a wedding at 7 PM, and will leave for the mountains right from there. Should be fun - and there's the joy for the weekend.

Procrastination

I've always stated that I am the QUEEN of procrastination. And I'm still convinced that I hold that title. Not only did I NOT finish my daughter's maternity dress yesterday as planned, but it is now 8:15 PM and I haven't started sewing on either that or the wedding gown as planned. Yea, I did a couple of chores around the house that needed done but that's not the point. I am going to re-set goals here, finish the maternity dress tonight - and work on the wedding gown on Wednesday and Thursday evenings. That way I'll still have it done by this weekend, and that's the ultimate goal, after all.

The reason I didn't sew yesterday as planned is because a friend G and I went to the local baseball game - and decided to leave earlier than originally planned. We got a great parking spot, and the game was very good. The weather cooperated too - it was a lovely evening to be sitting outside and enjoying the atmosphere of the baseball park. I met up with a couple of co-workers and their families, and that was nice, plus had a delicious ice cream cone. However, the real fun happened as we were walking back to our car. We took a short-cut through a parking lot and discovered, once we got to the end of that lot, that there was a railing and a 3-4 foot drop down to the next parking lot en route to the car. G climbed through the railing and jumped down. I fought the urge to turn around and walk the whole way back and go around the lot - and did the same thing! As I was crawling through the rails, my cell phone went off - so we were giggling to "Mama Mia" while I was jumping down the drop and then collecting our things from wall where we'd set them.

Happiness and joy - hmm. Well, I did enjoy having my daughter and son-in-law stop by to rescue me. I was attempting to install my own programmable thermostat - how hard can it be! I ran into one small hitch, tried calling the customer service number and got nowhere, so called in the family electrician instead. I still need to go over the programming but at least it's installed. It was great seeing them (and my growing grand-baby-to-be), chatted with them some about some new things going on in their lives, and planning some future things with them. It's truly a joy to see the two of them so happy with each other, things are going well for them and their growing family - I love both of them so much. Work was ok today - not too stressful and I did receive a couple of compliments from customer and one of my bosses on some work I had completed - so that's a good thing. The constant noise from "the other side of the wall" was still a problem, and I have no idea if and when any of that will ever change. So I'm trying hard to focus on changing ME and how I deal with it. But I'm not sure I'm winning that one.

I DID have a lovely chat with the attendant at the Costco gas pump when I went at lunchtime. That sounds like a small thing but I'll find a happy moment whenever I can.

Going off to do a few things, perhaps sew? More blogging soon, I promise.

Accountabililty and Joy

I've decided that I need to use this blog for something more than whining about my day. I enjoy reading sewing blogs online, so one thought was to do something in that line, partly to help me accomplish more and make me more accountable for my oh-s0-limited sewing time. However, I want to go one step further - and make it about finding joy. I'm working on some personal improvements and one of my "assignments" is to notice how much joy I experience each day. So, while I will continue to relate the strange tales of my life to provide humor to those who read, I am going to include a sewing blog, which is one of my true loves, as well as other experiences that have resulted in happiness for me. That said.... drumroll please......

Yesterday I made a big purchase - a Elna 344 serger. I've been using a practically-antique Pfaff 3-thread serger that I've had for close to 20 years, and it was used when I bought it! Technology has changed so much and the machine has gotten to the point of being practically unusable. Granted, if I spent a bunch of time tweaking the settings, I MIGHT be able to get it back to a decent overlock stitch. But that's all it is good for. Without the 4th thread, it does not sew a stable seam at all, so everything is a 2-step process (sew on the sewing machine, then serge on the serger). My new serger will eliminate that and allow me to sew and serge a the same time, offering a secure seam AND finished seam allowances. AND I can easily change to a flatlook stitch, and a rolled hem. I got a really good deal on this machine, too good to pass up, so I decided to go for it. I've unpacked and set up the machine in my sewing room, threaded and tested it, and I'm ready to go!

My current sewing project - and this is one that I intend to finish today - is a cute sun dress/jumper for my daughter (early maternity wear). I had it finished but needed to amke an adjustment in the fit of the top, have the side seams ripped out and just need to put it back together again and topstitch. So as soon as I finish emails (and blogs), and read the Sunday paper - I'm off to do that.

I have designated Monday evenings as "sewing night" for some time now, so I'm going to set my goal for tomorrow night's sewing project now. I have been asked by son #1's fiance to make a neckline alteration on her wedding gown (her mother's) and need to get that done. They will be here in town in a few weeks and that has to be the final fitting. I bought the lace I needed to finish the neckline, and have a game plan. So tomorrow I'm going to "do the deed". I have to admit that I'm a bit nervous about cutting into a wedding gown, but I need to get over that and move ahead. I will blog about that after I take a deep breath, pick up my scissors and .........

About joy - It's just slightly after noon but I have two moments of joy to report.

First, I went to church this morning, and sang as usual with the contemporary choir. I really enoyed a couple of the songs, and could tell that some members of the congreagation seemed to feel the same. Very nice.

Second - my daugher and son-in-law have just agreed to rent a house and plan to move in a couple of weeks. So after church, I took a drive to find the house and get a first-hand look at it. I had looked it up on Google maps, so knew how to get there from home, and found it to be a lovely and easy drive. Even with 1 minor wrong turn (I passed the turn but knew it immediately), it only took me about 20 minutes from home, not bad at all. I'm concerned about cell-phone coverage in the area so have to remember to ask them about that. But the house looks lovely, and I can picture them living there, and I know they will enjoy it. I can't wait to see the inside too.

More to follow. Until then - find JOY in your life.