Very Random, not very well written, junk thoughts and long ramble...

[susandennis]

Polly's dog got hit by and car and killed yesterday. Polly takes care of my Mom. She's kind of a concierge for the elderly. She takes Mom hither and yon and helps her organize her closet and rummages through her purse every once in a while to ensure something important isn't lost there. And she provides vital cheer and joy. If it weren't for Polly, I could not enjoy or be grateful for my 3 timezone/3,000 miles/thankyoujesus buffer.

Polly's three Cavalier King Charles Spaniels are her life and her joy. My Mom is not a pet lover of any kind but even she understands what these puppies mean to Polly. (They have a standing periodic play date with some other dogs. For some reason, neither Polly or I can fathom, Mom calls it Doggie PTA. "Polly, will be by this afternoon but she has to split early cause she has Doggie PTA tonight.")

Anyway, yesterday Mom got a call from one of Polly's other clients that one of her precious puppies had been killed. We are both very sad about this and wish we could fix the pain that Polly must be feeling now.

There's a guy who sits in a cube on the other side of this room. I have no idea what he even looks like because he's kind of in a dead end part of the cube maze. But he is allergic to something. About every other morning - he has a sneezing fit. I mean he sneezes about 25 times right in a row... will stop for 10 mins and go again. It makes my nose hurt to hear him. Poor guy.

But, speaking of noses, unless I've just hit a patch of remission, I think my nose is fixed. Seriously. For about the past 3 or 4 months, I have had varying degrees of no sense of smell/taste and altered sense of smell/taste. Sometimes it's just horrible. Sometimes it's just annoying. But, now, it seems to be gone. I noticed it last night. I put a graham cracker in my mouth and got more than texture. I could actually taste it. This morning I had a bagel. Bread has been particularly a problem as it has developed a funny smell/taste. So much so that I have had to give up sandwiches. I think I'm going to try a sandwich for lunch.

I'm going to be so happy if this is really fixed.

The nose/smell/taste thing is what finally got me to seek out a dentist. And my first appointment is Monday. Timing... But, I'm into the dentist thing now that I have found out that sedation dentistry is not uncommon. canuckgirl had an entry yesterday about it that spawned a bunch of really interesting and very encouraging comments. Plus, the woman I am dealing with at the dentist where I'm going on Monday has just been wonderful. She sent me the nicest reminder email yesterday. I'm ready. Really ready.

Fixing my mouth will be my new project since the condo is pretty much flying on it's own now. Sheri sent a long and wonderful response to yesterday's note. She had a good answer for everything and her timeline is very reasonable. rsc will be happy to know that Cute John The Handyman will likely be the one building my shelves. Her other vendor's price was too high and his schedule too full and both she and I were impressed with John's work last week. Plus she said he jumped on the opportunity. So I think we have a winner. He'll be starting next week. But, sadly, not on camera... unless... I happen to swivel one of the cams around... In addition to the hall shelves, he'll be building shelves over the sink in the kitchen. That could net some good cam shots.

So my hot water heater guy mentioned - very casually - that installers get some kind of reward for happy customers. He was so casual in his mention that it nearly got by me. But, he was - once he got there - very good and efficient and respectful and informative. So last night I looked up the 'call us if you have trouble' number on the waterheater and wrote it down and today I called.

It was a fun experience. The guy who answered the phone and wanted to know how to direct my call was delighted when I told him what I wanted. The customer service guy made me wait until he fired up his email and then he took down every single word I said and thanked me profusely. It was a fun experience.

And I have a new chair... Here's a hint... it swivels!!!! I checked yesterday and discovered that the shipping website had moved the delivery date from the 16th to the 19th. But, when I got home yesterday the phone rang and even though I never answer that phone, I did and it was the trucker who was in front of my building with the chair!!! He is the same one who delivered the chest and the couch so we are best buddies now. "When I saw the order this morning, I knew you weren't going to be home until late so I left you for last but I was afraid you weren't coming home at all. I'm glad I tried one more time!" Sure enough, there were 4 messages from him on the machine!

I have many many pictures to take this weekend of all the new and wonderful stuff. But for those of you who cannot wait another minute, I did make sure the new chair was in the path of the webcam.