Another busy week for Phillipia....

and I hope to have time to blog about it later in the weekend.

But in the meantime....

To all my friends and relatives who have sent me chain letters,
"angel" letters, or other promises of good luck...

NONE OF THAT SHIT HAS WORKED FOR ME!!!

So, please... just send cash, Jose (yeah, cuervo), chocolate,
cheese cake, Italian food, white zinfadel, Molsen, Little Kings,
or air line tickets (to somewhere warm & sunny).

To those of you who have sent me threats of what
would happen if I do not pass along your email...

I DO NOT BUY INTO THAT SHIT !!!

So, please just leave me the F alone....

Thank you.

Hmmm...

I'd say I could relate, but then ya never know who is reading this blog...
Mom has never tried it, never will, honestly, as God is my witness...

My name is Phillipia and I am a stumble-aholic...

April Fool's Fun Gone Wrong...

The sending of real fire-alarms may be
eliminated for fear of burning to death
before the man with the key arrives to
release you from the claws of death...

Wonder what spoil-sport tried to sell this idea....

Makes AdSense....

So, I thought I would try to make a little cash by posting ads on my blog...


I know nothing about what I am doing, obviously...

But the ads ....well, they feed off of my content...I guess...

Ads have been displayed for getting rid of geese, disciplining your children, Philips products (oh, yay), online dating....


Soon, there should be ads for plumbing services and art supplies...

Even if I make nada in cash, the entertainment is worth it. I think I will find a google ad I like (ok, that may take some doing) and then write content to see if I can get the ad to appear on my page.

Better yet, I will take suggestions. Find a google ad you like (or would like to see on my page), and I will try my best to get it there...

Mom the Artist....Wannabeee...

CareBear, my favorite daughter, is a student of Art History...she loves it...she loves it so much she has decided to continue her education until she has enough knowledge to obtain the position she wants...

Anyway, being more of the techy, science, math person, I am lost in the art world. I am trying to learn, really...but I am a slow learner if there are not numbers or words involved....

Pictures look pretty much the same to me...a field is a field is a field; a mountain is a mountain is a mountain; you get the picture. The problem is, I don't. But that is ok, because CareBear likes sculpting best. That I can handle. There is so much creativity in sculpting; and if my first 30 guesses about what it is are wrong, that's ok. 'Cuz it can be whatever I want it to be.

Lately I have been trying to come up with ways that I can make a little extra money to help pay the bills and be able to do some fun stuff, too. (Example: the ads on this blog - yeah, that hasn't worked out so well, now has it, but I digress...more on that in a future post).

So as we are walking through the museum, taking pictures we were not supposed to be taking (just to see what the guards would do) we came up with some money making ideas. CareBear decided she could turn my house into a museum; the Phillipia museum. Hell, I never throw things out. I have every ruler I ever smacked knuckles with; I have every candied apple....ok, not quite. But I do have a lot of junk. Much like the junk we saw on display. Seriously, if someone can sweep their floor and put the dustpan full of shit in a wooden box and call it art, so can I.

Sample of collection boxes I could artfully fill (in addition to the rulers and candied apples):

Cords, Cords, and More Cords
Spare Computer Parts Sorted by Gender
Holy Bibles left behind in PSR class
Holy Cards (found in the Holy Bibles left behind....)
Dust Bunny Cat Toys
Half Used School Supplies
Coins Surrounded by Couch Fuzz
Petrified Hair Balls
Frozen Insects - Clearly Identified

Yeah, I was saving CareBear's 7th grade insect project for G-Man, cuz I was not about to capture any more of those things. But as luck would have it, the school opted to trash that ongoing (for the last 30 years) project just as I was about to hand the frozen buggers over...damn, I was so ready.

As soon as the Phillipi Museum of Art opens, I will invite you in for a tour.

After we were finished seeing all there was to see at the Art Museum (I would tell you more about it, but...yeah, I have no clue) we decided to head to dinner at Luigi's - one of our all time favorite Italian Pizza places. I do not get there as often as the kids, since I live a little farther North nowadays, so I was especially looking forward to it. I ordered a white pizza with black olives and anchovies. I love it...watching the face of the waitress as I ask for anchovies.

Please, don't make me look at those things - you really want anchovies?

Yes, double anchovies, please. Alright, alright, no doubles.

This particular waitress was kind of rude about it. She held the pan at arm's length and scrunched up her nose as she delivered my pizza. But I enjoyed it, then and for lunch the next day. And I left her a nice tip for her inconvenience: "Anchovies do not bite, they are dead fish."

As we were leaving, we noticed that there were bottles of different kinds of wine lined up behind the bar. One was called Pizza Wine. I never knew there was such a thing.

"It's beer, Mom." The wisdom of CareBear, my favorite daughter - did I mention that before?

OSTWTW

So, as I started to tell you in an earlier post...

Last Wednesday, I was all settled in to relax a little after work, when for some odd reason I thought I should check on laundry (maybe because G-man was whining about running low on compression shorts). So I head to the basement laundry room, not really watching where I was going, and stepped in a huge puddle of water - only it wasn't just a puddle. I had an inch of water covering most of the basement floor. OSTWTW was my first thought. That's "Oh shit The Water Tank Went" in case you were wondering how I think. And right I was - as usual. Water was still pouring out of it - as fast as it was flowing into it....

I tried to shut of the water intake valve, but it would not budge. Time for G-man. Apparently I forgot the lefty-loosey righty-tighty rule cuz it turned off pretty easily for G-man.

Then time for a trip to the local home improvement store. Of course, by then it was near closing time and there was noone who knew anything (at least about water tanks) working in the appliance department. So I picked out a tank all by myself. I picked one that was just a few dollars more than the installation fee because I could not bring myself to pay more to get something installed than I paid for the something...turns out, the posted installation fee did not include the $85 local permit - but I decided to settle...pride only goes so far when you are cheap and or broke.

Then I realized I only had enough credit on my consumer credit card to pay for the tank...uh oh...there is no way I can install this thing myself. So I begged...more credit please...

"...sure, we will double your credit and give you 12 months same as cash 'cuz we want you to keep shopping here and we can tell that you would totally screw up the install and then claim our product was bad....And we can deliver tomorrow morning...."

But I do not WANT you to deliver tomorrow morning. I have an all day training class at work that was originally scheduled for a day I took as vacation and I begged them to reschedule, so I NEED you to deliver it Friday, ok?

"Sure, Friday it is, we will call you to set up a time..."

Sure enough, Thursday morning, I am in class and I get an interrupting call from local home improvement's contracted plumber...

"I have your water tank and am ready to install it...it says here you can wait til Friday, but I can install today if you want - I can be there in a few mins..."

Well, ain't that nice, 'cuz I cannot be there today- I am in a class all day, remember? And I have plans with my daughter tonight, which is why I said I NEED, not WANT, you to deliver Friday.

"Well, if you're sure you do not want it today..."

I wanted it last night, and I want it today, but I CANNOT have everything I want, OK?

OK, so by the time I am out of class and been to another two hour meeting, I am ready to relax with CareBear and KB. I head down to Kent to pick them up and we head to the Akron Art Museum which is only open late on Thursdays, which is why I did not reschedule this event to get the water tank installed....in case you were wondering...but I digress....



Friday morning I am busy cleaning up the mess in the basement...damn, the water did not dry up on its own...oh, maybe because the tank is still leaking; seems I missed a valve...not that an inch of water covering the floor would have dried up on its own anyway...thank goodness my condo fees pay the water bill.


About 8:30 am I get a call from the contracted plumber, informing me that he will be there in a couple hours with my tank. He then proceeded to ask me all kinds of questions about my current tank, like size, what kind of intake valve (apparently one that does not work too well), blah, blah, blah. To which I not so politely responded..."hell if I know, come and see for yourself; if I knew all that stuff, I could probably install it myself, probably being the key word there...."


So two hours and a fairly dry basement later, the plumber makes his entrance. He tells me I can just stay out of the way - he will handle things (since I know nothing anyway). He does tell me that I need some additional hardware (a.k.a. a new valve) that will cost me a slight (-ly phenomenal) fee.

As I watch from afar, he takes out the old tank, brings in some hoses, pipes, misc hardware, and finally, the new tank. About 90 minutes into the the job, I hear "oh, shit" coming from the basement. And then I notice that my computer has switched to battery back up - as has the cable box and all the clocks. Well, ok, I exaggerate, the clocks would have swicthed had I installed the 9-V battery, but those things are expensive. Besides, my phone has an alarm...

Plumber man (who by the way does not have the usual plumber crack showing - actually he is a decent looking plumber, but I digress, again) non-chalantly comes upstatirs and tells me...

I am finished with the install and it went well. I just need you to sign a couple of things and I will be on my way. By the way, do you have another main fuse box around here somewhere because you may need to flip the breaker to get your power back..."

Say what? You are going to just leave after you knocked out my power?

Well, I did everything right and I cannot help it that when I turned the hot water tank on your power went out. I am not an electrician. But you probably should call one...

Ah - why don't you call one?

Because that is not part of my job...Call the store that I contract for and they will tell you what to do....

Ah...why don't you call the store?

"OK...can I use your phone?...Yeah, I am at the customer and blah, blah, blah, yeah that's what I told her....You need to call an electrician. We don't do that stuff...."

Well, I called the electric company instead and reported a power outage...funny, I was the only one in the area with an outage....

And now I know that there is a main breaker box on the outside of my condo....right in plain sight of any worthy plumber....

Yeah, I'm a girl and I know nothing (unlike most girls)...that is why I hire professionals...or try to anyway...

Last Week in Review

I thought last week was pretty busy, till this week showed up....

Monday I got a text from G-man around noon informing me that he got a letter of invitation to visit the University of Buffalo in a couple of weeks - that makes two D1 colleges showing some interest in his football skills - is there a way to fudge the GPA?

Tuesday I worked from home during the day and then met some Team Moms at the local Irish Pub to plan for feeding the football team (yeah, drinking helps plan for the feeding) during doubles and after pre-game practices this fall. Any food or monetary donations will be graciously accepted...these boys can eat.

Wednesday, I was all settled in to relax a little after work, when for some odd reason I thought I should check on laundry (maybe because G-man was whining about running low on compression shorts). So I head to the basement laundry room, not really watching where I was going, and stepped in a huge puddle of water - only it wasn't just a puddle. I had an inch of water covering most of the basement floor. OSTWTW was my first thought. That's "Oh shit The Water Tank Went" in case you were wondering how I think. And right I was - as usual. And that adventure is a post in itself...coming soon to a blog near you...

Thursday I was in a training class at work till 1:30 PM and then off to a two hour meeting - long, boring day....But I headed out of that meeting, barely stopping ta my desk to collect my jacket and out the door I was. I had plans with Carrie and her boyfriend to hit up the Akron Art Museum and have dinner. That was a fun and interesting evening...details coming soon to a blog near you...

Friday I worked from home again to experience the final saga in the OSTWTW adventure...yeah, details coming soon to a blog near you...

So yeah, this post was just to let you know I had a busy week last week and lots to blog about, but not enough time to blog all about it yet....