Elegant

I was out to dinner at a fast food restaurant last night. There was a long line so many people had a family member sit at a table to reserve it for when they had their food. One family asked their young daughter, who looked about twelve years old, to be the designated sitter. She was a pretty Asian girl. Before she sat down, she gathered some forks, spoons, knives, napkins and condiments. As her family was waiting on line, she proceeded to set their dinner table. Each place setting was meticulously wrapped with a fork, spoon and knife. They were rolled into an individual wrap and the top corner was folded down one way while the bottom corner was fluffed out to look like a flower petal. The center of the table was then arranged with a design of sauce packet and extra napkins. She made the table look elegant and inviting. When her parents put down the food, it looked as if they were dining in a fine restaurant. I was so impressed.

Out Of The Box

When I redecorated my house, I threw out some furniture pieces. I was not sure what to replace them with. I have a corner of the living room that is empty. My new hobby is doing mosaic pieces and everyone seems to love them. They are unique one of a kind designs. I decided to buy a small cabinet and completely mosaic it. I have been looking in stores and even on the street in case someone has thrown out "the perfect piece". Last night I went to Home Goods just to browse. The cabinets were nice but not what I wanted. Then I saw it. Something totally different. It was not a cabinet or table but it "spoke to me". It was a six foot ladder with shelves as the rungs. I loved it . This was the piece I was looking for even though I did not know it. I could mosaic the shelves and make it a totally different look. There would be no other one like it. After placing it in the corner, my husband agreed that it would be beautiful. Sometimes you have to think outside the box and have a vision.,

Just Ask

I have been visiting my son in New England for 11 years. I always stay at the same hotel. The rates are from $109-$139 depending on the time of year. I went online to book the room for end September and the rate had jumped to $169-$229. I tried all discounts available from AAA, AARP and senior. Nothing was lower. I tried Expedia, Trivago and Hotels.com. Still no change. I decided to call the hotel directly. They also quoted the same high rates. Then I asked for the hotel manager. A very pleasant women got on the phone. I told her that I have been staying there for years and she looked up my name. She saw that my reservations go back to 2004. I told her that I really want to stay there but it got so expensive. She said that she could help. She offered me the room for $115. Of course I thanked her ten times. All I had to do was ask.

Mistaken Identity

Yesterday afternoon my doorbell rang. When I looked out of my peephole I saw the handyman who did some work for us a few weeks ago. I opened the door and he apologized for being a bit late. I was confused as I did not know he was coming. I called for my husband and he came upstairs to say hello. He asked why the man was here. He said that we had called him and asked him to come. We said we did not call. He immediately got a look on his face that said, "Oh, sh*t. Where am I supposed to be?" He said he could have sworn that it was my husband that called. Not only was he now late, but he had no idea where to go. This had never happened to him. He scrolled his phone to look for the last few calls he had taken. No number looked familiar. He said goodbye and walked out shaking his head.

Punish the People

I am by no means a radical. I believe in justice for all. I believe in equality. I also believe that our government is not using its common sense. This is the reason that we are keeping our minds open to political newcomers that see things as we do. Since the new healthcare laws have taken place, Americans will be fined for not having healthcare. Can someone please tell me that if being insured is so important to the president, why is he allowing illegal aliens to cross the borders and have the same rights, or even better ones, that the American citizens? If we are being punished for no healthcare insurance, why is he giving the services away to people that do not deserve them? Why are we allowing people rights for jumping boarders? Why are my taxes paying for someone who pays no taxes? What at first seemed like a foolish campaign now makes sense.

Hidden Treasure

My bathroom was remodeled a few months ago. I had another workman at my house a few weeks later and he used the restroom. When he came out, he told my husband that part of the new baseboard heating system was missing. I guess that since he does plumbing his eye just naturally looked at someone else's work. It seems that baseboard heating has internal finials that distribute the heat evenly and without them there will be much less heat. We didn't understand why the other plumber did the installation without them. He should have known better. The second workman said that he could fix it to be correct but we would need to buy a whole new unit as the finials are not sold separately. We purchased the unit and the job was done correctly for a minimal fee. On Monday, my son installed high hats and needed go into the attic. He called down to us that there was a box in there. He brought it out and low and behold, it was the baseboard finial. For some reason the other plumber put it into the attic before the bathroom wall was closed up and maybe he was too embarrassed to say that he misplaced it. Had we not done the high hats, it would have sat there for eternity.

Don't Lie

I hate fighting with liars. It tends to get nasty. When I came into work yesterday I had a note to call a mother. Her son cancelled his appointment at the last minute and we charge for late cancellations. It was a two hour appointment so the charge was $500. First she said that her son was calling all day and could not get through. I told her that was not true as I was there all day and the phones were slow. Then she said he called early and my receptionist wrote the wrong time down. Again, I said I was there till 2pm and no call came in to cancel his 3pm appointment. Then she said he emailed the doctor but I said we do not give out doctor's emails. At that point she knew she was being caught in lies so she accused me of yelling at her. I never raise my voice at anyone. I told her that there were many people in the room and they are witnesses to my tone so if she says I am nasty or rude they will back me up as only being professional and business like. At this point she started crying as she knew that she could not win. To put her out of her misery, I told her that we would split the fee and she would only be charged $250. She took a deep breath and said thank you. What she did not realize is that if she told me nicely that her son made a big mistake and she was sorry he did that, I would have charged her nothing.