Saturday, January 1, 2011

New stuff.....

Well, its not only a new year for me but there are a lot of other new things going on. Some of it is good.....some of it was unexpected.....but since none of it was horrendous, I'm not going to whine.

We will be starting out the new year without a boss; our new one will probably be sworn in within a couple, three weeks. The whole building is apprehensive because no one knows what to expect. They have not even picked him (or her) yet! Our old boss is now a senator and we wish him well. I am confident that he will be an asset to our State. I can say one thing.....he will forever be in my memory as the boss that gave me the most expensive Christmas present I ever received in all my years of working. It was a check and it was very generous.....I nearly cried. He also gave each of us a huge Poinsettia plant which still looks fabulous, by the way.

I also have a new garage door opener. This was not expected. One morning about a week ago I went out to go to work. I pushed the wall button to open the garage door..........nothing. Why is it that when you try something and it doesn't work.....you have to try it again and then just one more time.....just to be sure? Well, here it is 7:30 in the morning, dark outside, temperature is about 15 and my garage door won't open. I have a 15 minute drive to work and I have to be there by 8. I grabbed the garden rake and snagged the manual override handle. I got the door open and then shut it manually but couldn't lock it. That day I called the garage door place and made arrangements for another door opener. Since my old one was 26 years old.....I didn't even think about repairing it. They came out the next day while I was at work and put in the new one. (I just LOVE this business....they are always willing to work with you on stuff like this) Wow....this opener is so quiet! On my drive to work, I realized that I have become a very spoiled old woman. When I was a young girl, I had to park my car in the barn on our farm....opening two huge barn doors to get out and then having to shut them again.....and not from the warmth of my car by pushing a remote either. Back then I considered myself extremely lucky to have shelter for my car so I didn't have to scrape snow.

Anyway.....moving on. I bought some movies for Christmas so we could watch them as a family. Despicable Me, Knight and Day and The Sorcerer's Apprentice. We got all snuggled down and put Despicable Me into the player and.........nothing. Now this VCR/DVD player is NOT user friendly at all. Matter of fact I really detest it for that reason. Its supposed to record on DVD and also transfer from VHS to DVD if you want....but I never could figure out HOW. I considered myself fortunate that I figured out how to simply PLAY a DVD in the durn thing. Well it went out on me....some sort of red light was flashing INSIDE of one of the knobs and I have NO idea why. I figure the thing was fried. Its about 2 years old and hasn't been used that much because its so hard to figure out. I usually look at DVD's on my computer when I watch them alone. But the family was here. Anyway I have a very old VHS/DVD player in the den and my grandson switched them so we could watch the movies. (why is it that kids can figure out electronics in a flash but it looks like calculus to most grown-ups?) So....now I guess I will have to replace that item and its a sure bet I won't get the same brand as I had in the living room before. (cha-ching)

Still moving on.....I went to cook Christmas dinner.....turned the knob on my stove for one of the burners and it came off in my hand....broke cleanly in half. So now my stove looks charming with just a post sticking up with no knob. I am hoping that knobs can still be bought for this stove that is probably 30 years old (counter-top). In the meantime....House Beautiful Is Not Me.

And lastly.....but not in any way least.....the drugstore shorted me 30 blood pressure pills. This was supposed to be a 90 day supply and I never thought to count them when I got them. I didn't notice it until I had only 1 left and realized something was very wrong here. Tomorrow I'm making a trip over there and we'll see what happens. They probably won't believe me since blood pressure pills are really in demand for the 'get high' crowd. Seriously though I hope they will believe me....I've only been a customer there for 30 years or so. My only saving grace may be that the bottle they were given to me in would....in no way....hold 90 pills like the label says it does. So....wish me luck. How they handle this will determine if I change pharmacies or not.

I guess I can say that the "new" year has started out with a bang for me but I'm not gonna whine. I've got food, shelter, an income and I woke up this morning! Have a great evening y'all. (remember....keep smilin'). I'll do a review on the movies in my next post.

20 comments:

Linda Medrano said...

Happy New Year, Sweetie! Look at the bright side, it's always there just beyond the fog on the window!

Coffeypot said...

Your year didn't start off bad...just interesting. Hope the rest of year is fun, too.

JY69 said...

Happy New Years! It can only get better!

Joy Des Jardins said...

Hmmm...the New Year has already been interesting for you, hasn't it? I can't imagine that you would have a problem over those blood pressure pills....especially since you've been such a long-time customer. We've had some similar things going on....I didn't get a new garage door opener recently, but I DID get a new garage door a few weeks ago. Had to be done since the bottom of my old one was eroding away. The knob on my stove didn't break off; but I had to put a taped sign on one to tell everyone NOT to use it because the heating element wasn't working properly. I've been meaning to get around to replacing it....but of course, I haven't yet.

Happy, Happy New Year my dear friend. May you have many blessings come your way in 2011. Love, Joy

Mikey said...

Happy New Year! We're surviving out here. All the animals have good coats on them, just the water freezing presents an issue. We're not used to these temps down here like this. I was hoping for a mild winter.
We take our knobs off the stove. It's gas, and I know someone who's dogs burned down their house by turning the knobs on. You know my geniuses would do the same!
Can I borrow your grandson? Our DVD/VHS player took us 6 months to figure out how to hook up. It's supposed to record too, but danged if I can even begin to figure out how. I'm hoping Mercy will show me someday.

Peruby said...

Yeah. My appliances and mechanical belongings ALL know when I get some extra cash. They just know those things. And they all have to jump ship at the same time. Sheesh!

Kids and electronics. Nimble fingers for connecting those silly cables and nimble minds for figuring out those silly buttons. That's my theory.

lucylocket said...

We have a DVD recorder similar to yours. I have no problem just playing DVD's, but Christmas Eve I tried to set the timer to record while we were out. It didn't happen. My husband worked for hours (with the instruction manual) before he figured it out. We've had this one for several years. I never figured out the timer thingy on any of our VCR's either, lol.

Josie Two Shoes said...

Ok, lets just go with the assumption that all the little things that can go wrong in a year have popped up immediately so that you'll be able to take care of them and slide thru the rest of the year free and clear! Not believing? Well, it would be nice if it worked out that way! Funny how a bunch of stuff seems to act up all at once, and it can be so frustrating! You get that "what's next" anxiety. I am grateful on your behalf that nothing truly major has gone wrong, and that you got a lovely Christmas bonus!

I understand new boss anxiety too. I went thru four of them in the 19 years I worked at my previous job, and I can't say it got any better or easier as it went along. Eventually everyone figures out the new heiarchy, roles and relationships and work goes on, but it can be really vexing at first. Change comes hard to us ol' ladies! ;-) I'll be sending positive energy your way!

Glad to see you up and running for the new year, let's see what we can make of it!

Smocha said...

Happy new year!

Jamie said...

Well Good Heavens. What a bunch of stupid little stuff that will make you crazy all alone, but put together could send many of us over the edge. But, not you. That's why I love you so, just so even keeled...taking the bs as it comes. I hope the little pita's are over for you now.

Happy New Year. Big hugs and love. J. :)

gayle said...

You sure did have a lot of things go wrong! I love you outlook on them!!

Have a Wonderful 2011!!

Forsythia said...

I was about to comment, "In with the old, and out with the new," but fortunately I realized how nutty that sounded before I committed it to print. :-)

Nancy/BLissed-Out Grandma said...

Good luck with the pharmacy, and let's hope your little trials and annoyances are over-- for a while, at least! Happy New Year!

Debbie said...

Well gosh. I play with my garage door opener little thing for at least 5 minutes after I pull out of the garage to get it to close. I keep thinking it will get better.

I also have a VHS to DVD machine that I also have only managed to figure out how to play the DVD!

I felt like I was reading a blog post I could have written LOL

It's gonna get better :)

happyone said...

Hope that the new year brings you happiness and that all your electronics keep on working!! :-)

Leann said...

I sure hope you got all of your Holiday fixes done. Seems to happen over the holidays when there is virtually no one around to fix things.

I wish i had a garage. I have a street....with a piece of cardboard to shield the windshield from building up ice. That's country for ya :-)

Thanks for always being so faithful and posting in my comments. I truly appreciate it.

All my best for 2011!

Blessings, Leann

Cheryl said...

Think of all the new stuff you have! That's one way of looking at it :) Like you said, it's all good. Let's hope that's the end of the unexpected necessary stuff for now.

token said...

I had a garage once --- when we lived in the deluxe apartment in the skyyyyyyyyyyy!

desert dirt diva said...

I have missed reading your posts so much....glad to be back!...

Anonymous said...

Val-what happened with the pharmacy?