CafeChatNoir

So, yesterday Tiffany & Co. had a very good day in the market thanks to a jump in profit and an increase in their holiday outlook. Overall, I think when luxury retailers are doing well, it’s a decent sign for the economy. Lots of talk about it on CNBC and while they were covering it, a phrase came up that I can’t say I’ve heard when it comes to jewelry.

“They’re buying ‘investment grade’ pieces.”

OK, I like shiny things as much as the next gal, but for some reason, the idea of an “investment grade” piece of jewelry doesn’t conjure up a vision of something pretty and sparkly…

What the hell kind of jackass steals $1500 worth of Christmas trees from the Jaycees?

Seriously – what the hell is wrong with people? Nice job guys, stealing from kids. I hope you’re proud of yourselves.

This may end up sounding rather angry, but really, I’m feeling quite good about things right now.

So, I had a little revelation this evening, which has been years overdue, but hey, I always have been a procrastinator.

I’ve struggled with Christmas for many years. It’s not that I don’t like Christmas, I do. Lots of things I don’t like (Macy’s decorating before Halloween, people getting in fistfights in malls, the whole $$ spent on presents = love), but there are lots of good things. Giving. People actually being decent towards their fellow man, even if they can’t manage to carry it past New Year’s. Christmas cookies. Christmas lights. Spending time with people you care about. (Yeah, that goes on all year, but there’s something about it at Christmastime…)

The struggle comes with my grandmother. She has stayed for a month every year. This year, it’s only two weeks. We’ve never had anything really approaching a good relationship. I sort of understand the reasons, but she’s basically been a thorn in my side my whole life. How many 6 year olds ask their mother, “Why doesn’t grandma like me?” Yeah. There is nothing I can do that is right in her eyes – never has been. I’m used to it, but I still let it get to me. But it makes it incredibly difficult to enjoy a holiday when you have someone in your life who pretty much disapproves of everything you do, and lets you know it, and you can’t avoid them.

A while ago, I told someone who was letting some jackass get to them, “Do you really want to give them that kind of power to screw up your whole evening?” Hmmm, physician, heal thyself.

Tonight I decided, I don’t care anymore. When she arrives, I am sure she’ll find something wrong in the house in the first 24 hours. She will resent every time I leave the house, be it to go get groceries or actually go spend some time with friends. She will tell me “I’m trying to do too much” the minute something burns on the stove, and then obsess about the oven blowing up. I am sure she’ll have some choice words about my decision to go back to school. There will be fantastic dinners but the portions will be too large.

This is my life. The key word being there is MY. Not hers. If she doesn’t like what I do with my life, my time, my money or my house, that is HER problem. Not mine. Realistically, she has no power over me whatsoever – there is nothing she can do to me if she doesn’t like the way I live my life.

I will probably have to remind myself of this several times over the course of her visit. But, I like Christmas and I’m not letting it get fucked up yet again. I just want to enjoy this holiday, and I fully intend to.

Child’s Play

My absolute favorite Christmas shopping.

They’re now working with hospitals in the US, Canada, the UK, and one hospital in Egypt, and have managed over 1 million in donations of books, games & toys since 2003. Pretty spiffy.

You don’t fuck with me.

More importantly, you don’t fuck with people that I care about, and I assure you, that list ranges far and wide.

If you do, and I find out about it, I will do everything in my power to make your life a living hell, because I have more protective instincts than you can possibly imagine.

That is all.

A Charlie Brown Christmas will be broadcast on Tuesday, November 28th, 8:00 PM EST on ABC.

Remember, watching this erases all your sins for the year.

Didn’t sleep well last night at all – lots of weird dreams, dealing with the townhouse, this house, classes, the estate, and managing what we’ve distributed from the estate so far.

Apparently my brain has decided that these are now my full time jobs and is obsessing accordingly.

Usually when I start having “work” related dreams, it means I’m starting to lose focus and/or things are teetering on the brink of heading downhill if I’m not careful.

So, this means I need to redouble my efforts to stay on track and keep getting things done, otherwise who knows when I’m going to get a decent night’s sleep again.

Last week, our bartender Jess had a birthday, and there were lots of cameras all over the place. She was sweet enough to get me a copy of this one. :)

Me & my guy.

OK, yes, I am one of those people that will actually sit and watch drumline competitions when they’re on TV. Love it. Picked up this link from Fark.com – it’s easily the best I’ve ever seen.

And I, I walked over to the, to the bench there, and there is, Group W’s where they put you if you may not be moral enough to join the army after committing your special crime, and there was all kinds of mean nasty ugly looking people on the bench there. Mother rapers. Father stabbers. Father rapers! Father rapers sitting right there on the bench next to me! And they was mean and nasty and ugly and horrible crime-type guys sitting on the bench next to me. And the meanest, ugliest, nastiest one, the meanest father raper of them all, was coming over to me and he was mean ‘n’ ugly ‘n’ nasty ‘n’ horrible and all kind of things and he sat down next to me and said, “Kid, whad’ya get?” I said, “I didn’t get nothing, I had to pay $50 and pick up the garbage.” He said, “What were you arrested for, kid?” And I said, “Littering.” And they all moved away from me on the bench there, and the hairy eyeball and all kinds of mean nasty things, till I said, “And creating a nuisance.” And they all came back, shook my hand, and we had a great time on the bench, talkin about crime, mother stabbing, father raping, all kinds of groovy things that we was talking about on the bench.

Happy Thanksgiving, all.

Now THIS is hockey.

Watching the 5th fight in 30 seconds of clock time in the game against the Thrashers.

I think both teams are going to run out of players, and there’s only 42.8 seconds left.

Experts* tell me that today is the biggest bar/drinking day of the year.

Now, at first I was surprised, but then I thought about it – given all the family drama that tends to take place on Thanksgiving, I can see why folks would head for the liquor cabinet with faced with spending the following day with their loved ones.

*OK, it was a bunch of drunks at the bar, but they would know.

Currently watching a special on Warren Buffett.

I honestly think if all CEO’s were like him, Corporate America wouldn’t be such a suckass place to have to be.

Deep Fryer Mishap Destroys Mobile Home

So, is it just me, or does it seem that for every person you know or deal with that not only does their job and does it well, there are at least 2 complete fucktards you have to contend with?

Got into the broker this week and got a new account setup for myself and thy did their magic to get the “big” estate account split for us. Frankly, I was kind of dreading it – among other things, I just envisioned mountains of paperwork to get this accomplished. Well, our broker rocks – got there, all the various and sundry pieces of paper were already filled out and ready to go, so we ended up sitting around shooting the shit for a while and I signed 3 pieces of paper and it was all done. They’re doing the split electronically, my new account is up and running (saw it online today) and the funds should be moved either today or Monday. Finally, something went easily!

Back in the day Dan (our broker) & my Dad worked together, and back then he was just a broker like everyone else there. Looking at his business card, I discover his title is now now Senior Vice President – Wealth Management. Oh my. Which may explain the ever so slightly confused look on the receptionists face yesterday when my brother & I show up in our usual uniforms of blue jeans & work boots (woulda been Tevas if it was summer) saying, “Hey, we’re here to see Dan!” There is nothing about us (including our bank accounts) that says, “these people need wealth management, and the attention of the SVP in particular.” It really is all about who you know, I suppose. :)

The annuity people are now putting a rush on the last 3 contracts since there is no reason they shouldn’t have been processed by now. Granted, it’s not the end of the world that they apparently got stuck in a bit of limbo, but I just want to get those crossed off the list.

It’s also been an existentially angsty week – which is incredibly annoying, cause I really should be over that given my age & stage. Lots of “Why am I here and what should I be doing?” questions and annoyances. It’s mildly frustrating to have some of the places you want to be in life dependent on time and other people, and well, I’m running out of time and the right people can be hard to come by sometimes, so sometimes you need to set some ideas aside. Ah well.

Not all bad, as a 10 year plan has emerged from the fog of questioning – I’m just going to take over the world. Let me know what job you’d like. (Please keep in mind some spots have already been filled, so do have a second choice at the ready.)

Couple sitting on the couch getting all kissy faced with each other. One is wearing an Ohio State shirt, the other is wearing a Michigan shirt.

Tagline: Without sports, this wouldn’t be disgusting.

Yesterday it was 70 and sunny, today it’s cold, grey, bleak and well, November.

Any outdoor activity today will be me running from car to building and back.

Went out for a nightcap last night, and sat there with my notebook and wrote up a to-do list. My lordy it’s long.

At the townhouse yesterday, I realized that the place REALLY needs new windows. The existing ones are crappy (original), they were crappy when I got there in 1994, and they’re definitely worse now. I honestly don’t think I can put it on the market with those windows. They’re near 30 years old, and it shows. The upside is that I’ve only got 9 windows in the entire place, I know a good contractor to do the work, it’s not that ungodly expensive, and shouldn’t take more than a day for the actual work to be done. The fun will be pushing the approval through the HOA.

The bulk of the estate will be split into our own accounts this week, so after that, I can really go great guns with the contractors, as I’ll actually have money to give them. :) (Weird how they like that.)

Rain was coming down in buckets for a while last night and I’ll admit I had a small panic attack over the townhouse gutters and then remembered…they’re already taken care of. Whew.

So, time for a quick trip to the market for soup supplies (mmmm, baked potato soup), some laundry, get some more boxes emptied (yes, I still have unpacked moving boxes), maybe swing by the townhouse and pickup some of my remaining kitchen stuff that is still there and generally try to get this place a little more under control.

OK, really, going. I swear. God, this weather does NOT help me get motivated.

After a couple 70 degree days, we walked out of the bar this evening to the winds whipping up and the coldfront coming through.

Now, I’ll admit, I like it more when these come through in the summer vs. the other seasons (me <> cold tolerant), but there is something about Mother Nature just deciding to have a bit of a hissy fit and bringing in new and different things.

Like Dave said, “There’s nothing like a good blow” – and he’s completely spot on. I absolutely love when a front comes through, even if it does mean I’ll be freezing my ass off in the next 24 hours. There is something about the wind that just really gets to me. There is so much raw power there that absolutely no one has control over – to just stand out in it and just revel in the experience can be amazing. I suppose that’s why I also tend to stand outside in the summer when the storms come through.

Just heard from him – he cleaned the gutters, blew out the junk that collects on the windows, blew out the front & back yard, and found the spot in the eaves/soffits that the HOA was talking about that had the damaged board.

AND HE’S GOING TO FIX IT FOR ME!!!! He apologized for not having the right tools on the truck to do it right now – it will be done within a week.

Seriously, if you need a really sweet, conscientious, trusting, old-school good ol’ boy who does good work in NoVa, let me know and I’ll forward his information on to you.

I get an AP alert saying the Dems have control of the Senate, yet there are still headlines out there saying the Va vote counts are “still being scrutinized” – so, which is it??!?

OK, so I need to seriously stop tempting fate with some comments I make… The upside is that I can truly see the absurdity and humor in it all…

On a roll this morning, kicking ass and taking names and generally getting shit done. Then I left the house… We’ll just leave the Terminix experience at: what a complete friggin’ waste of time, and I left the townhouse a little riled up to say the least.

Off to the Cox customer service place in Herndon since I was over that direction anyway. They told me I needed to bring in the death cert so I wouldn’t have to deal w/ any reconnect fees. I’m thinking, “Cool, at least they’re not trying to screw me on fees.” I get there and discover that apparently the cable was in my Dad’s name, not my Mom’s… Yeah, something I should have checked ahead of time… Of course, I don’t carry around his death certificate. At this point I’m already not in a pleasant mood, so I tell them screw the reconnect fee, just do it. Nope – they can’t even disconnect without the death certificate. OMFG. I tell the guy that I realize this is not his rule, but this is damn ridiculous and this should not be THAT difficult.

Dominion Power, Washington Gas, Verizon, Fairfax County Water Authority. All transferred with a phone call, no questions asked. This is a damn cable bill, not a numbered Swiss bank account.

Get in the car and sit for a minute and of all the things to think about, I realize that none of the trance I have is on my ipod, and I should tend to that when I get home. I think it was trying to drown out the other part of my brain that wanted to drive the car through the lobby.

Go back home, take a little time to attempt to compose myself, realize I still need to drop the check for the gutters at the townhouse. Checkbook? God knows where, of course. So, on to the next book of checks from the box…

Get the other death cert and head to the office in Kingstowne since it’s actually closer. First, they must get a lot of angry customers at that location, cause they actually have a security guard there. Get things put in my name, and then I ask for the full account number, since I know I’ll need it if I want to get registered online. Guess what? They can’t give it to me. They can give me the last 6 digits, but they don’t know what the full account number would be. WTF? Whatever, I’ll just wait for the bill I suppose. I confirmed more than once that there would be no interruption in service and this was a transfer on the billing side only – oh no, no interruptions, no worries.

Head home, stop & drop off the check for the gutters, and then arrive at the house to be greeted by a cable box that has - – - - instead of the time, and a message on the screen that says “Your Explorer Settop is not authorized for use. Please call 703-378-8422.”

This is where Cindy’s head explodes. I took a moment, picked up the phone and called. I did not yell or take off anyone’s head. They had it fixed within two minutes of getting on the line, thank god. Had it been any longer, I would have someone’s head on a stake.

Cox Communications is going to get such an angry letter…if I can ever actually get the damn account switched over.

And I need more trance for my ipod.

AP is reporting that Rumsfeld is stepping down. This has been an interesting election.

Complete with Starbucks run. Which can only mean the rest of the day will go to shit, LOL!

Woke up WAY too early to the sound of my phone ringing – it’s Terminix confirming the appointment for this afternoon… Um, I made the appointment yesterday – yes, I’d say I’m still aware of it. (Yeah, I know they probably don’t have that in the system when they make those calls.)

Decided as long as I was up, might as well make some more phone calls. All the utilities are now in my name, with the exception of the cable. Have to take a death certificate to the cable offices to get it switched over. (Otherwise there would be a bunch of disconnect/reconnect fees.) Switched over water, electric & gas. Telephone was already done. Am I forgetting anything?

Appointment with broker is next Wednesday at 1PM. At least one of the annuity contracts is liquidated – checked the website this morning and it’s only showing 3 of them instead of 4. So, obviously they got the last bit of paperwork yesterday. Also got on the horn with E*Trade & got the excess earnings that went with my excess IRA contribution processed and en route to me. (They calc’d the earnings, called me and told me what they were, but didn’t actually distribute them with the contribution…why not, I’m still not quite sure.)

Figure I’ll hit the cable place after Terminix, then do the marketing, if I can figure out what I want to make for dinner.

The other task at hand for the week is getting this place cleaned up – looks like a tornado hit it. However, I’m not so sure that is going to happen today, considering that I’ve discovered muscles I didn’t know I had from yesterdays yardwork blitz. Ouch.

Well, I guess Allen wasn’t conceding last night after all, since no one seems to be able to say who won. CNN.com is showing 1.170M for Webb and 1.162M for Allen, with 99% reporting in.

Is it too much to ask for an election that doesn’t have to have a recount at the end of it?

I’ll fully admit I didn’t like either candidate for the Va Senate. Was sitting up at the bar, and looked up, and Allen was on TV…

Gregor: He’s conceding…
Me: I don’t know, his wife sure is smiling a lot.
Gregor: Nope, he’s throwing in the towel…
Cut to return graphics with something along the lines of 99% of precincts reporting in…
Me: Holy crap, her Prozac must be kicking in big time.

Honestly, I didn’t expect that in a million years, and at the same time, I can’t say I’m terribly disappointed.

At the moment, it would appear that the Dems have taken the house, the Senate is still even. I’m VERY glad the FBI is looking into the “you’ll get arrested if you try to vote” phone calls, cause I don’t care which side of the fence you’re on, that is JUST WRONG. Voter intimidation is the stuff that ugly dictatorships are made of, not the US. Or so I keep telling myself. Keeping my fingers crossed that this turns into a very large, ugly, public spectacle that keeps it from happening in the future.

As much as I’d love to stay up and see all the results, I’m tired as all get out, and it’s not like going to sleep will change any outcomes.

Sometimes all you can do is laugh.

So, I was off to a pretty rockin’ start today – phone calls and appointments galore made… Headed over to the townhouse…

First, Black & Decker’s cordless string trimmer is a great idea on paper. In reality it is a total POS and will not hold full power for more than 5 minutes it seems. Fine, I’ll go over to Hunter Hardware and get what I need for the windows and figure out what’s next. Much to my dismay, they have 50% off inventory liquidation signs up… :( Yes, one of the few decent hardware stores left will be closing, cause the landlord has jacked up the rent big time. (I’ll spare you my very non-PC conspiracy theories on the new landlord at this particular shopping center.) Was able to get what I needed, but I still needed a decent/working string trimmer.

Dave & I had been discussing our common loathing for Home Depot, and had been trying to figure out where the closest Lowe’s was – we were sure it was in Fair Lakes. Well, if it was, it’s not there anymore. So, not wanting to spend even more time wandering around, I went back to Home Depot, got a corded trimmer and back to the townhouse.

Get the trimmer out and plugged in and…the extension cord I have apparently no longer works. Insert cussing here. Rout around in the utility room and find another one. Then it’s off to the races. Can you say, “scorched earth policy”? I knew you could. :) Got the back and front taken care of as best I could considering the somewhat soggy conditions, figure I’ll hit it again in the next couple days to take care of any missed spots. (Actually it was a good day for yardwork – nice & cool.)

Here’s what I love – I looked around and at least half the townhouses on our block of units need to have their gutters cleaned as well. And I’m the only one that seems to have raked the leaves from the rear terracing.

While I was finishing off the front, my left-neighbor (I’d take a bullet for the little girls that live there) wife came by and we exchanged pleasantries and next thing I know, she’s suddenly raking the leaves out of her yard. Nothing like a little peer pressure, LOL. Of course, I can’t help but notice that I am *bagging* the stuff from the front, and it looks like the rest of the neighborhood is just sweeping them into the street. Next thing I know, right-neighbor (of the email) drives up. Cue awkward moment.

He’s all nice and wanting to know if there is anything he can do to help out, blah, blah, yada, yada. Pointed out that, gee, looks like it’s not just MY place that needs the gutters cleaned, and he allowed as how, no, it wasn’t just me. Also discovered that he’s not actually seen any mice whatsoever, it’s left-neighbor that thought he saw something… I adore left-neighbor, but I’m not sure he could tell the difference between a mouse & a chipmunk, and there is an azalea in the front of my house that usually has about 30-50 little brown birds playing in it during the day, and when they get going, it sounds like a very large animal is mucking around under it… Will know for sure tomorrow, I suppose.

Then it was on to the friggin’ windows. I now at least know the best way to get latex paint off glass. A liberal application of goof off, followed by razor blades. Works much better when you have a good little holder for said razor blades (thank you HH) – didn’t take too much time to get it done, but between using the string trimmer for a good long time, the raking, and the scraping, my hands are damn cramped up this evening.

While I was working on the windows, left-neighbor husband drives up and sees I’m there and knocks on the door. First words, “We miss you!” I love these folks. We talked for a bit, he wished me the best of luck with a smooth sale on the house when I get it on the market, and asked if I was sure I didn’t want to move back. :)

I’ve just faxed off the “It’s fixed, now please, PLEASE stop pointing out every one of my shortcomings” letter to the HOA, including a note that yes, the gutters will be cleaned on Thursday – I know when they go to check that things are as I’ve said, they’ll notice – figure I’ll save them the trouble of informing me they need to be cleaned.

Seriously, I’d love a full day to go smoothly when it comes to the whole townhouse/estate stuff. Eventually. It has to, right? ;)

ETA Oh, and today’s escapades resulted in another item to add to the list for ‘right before going on the market’…carpet cleaning. Managed to drag in dirt/mud on the floors. Linoleum is easy enough to deal with, but the new carpet? Gonna let it dry, vacuum it up and then bring in pros to spot clean it so I don’t manage to make it worse.

“When I die, I want to come back as me.”
- Mark Cuban

Yep, more townhouse & estate shit. ;) I find writing about it keeps me a little more on track, so lucky you, LOL.

Sent off 3 of the 4 sets of paperwork for the annuity stuff week before last(?) – little bro missed a signature on 1 contract so I held that back so I could get him to sign it. Got a letter from the annuity people saying they had everything (how, I still had 1 set of papers…), except the death cert. How did I manage to miss THAT?? So, last week the last set and the death cert went out. Just got off the phone with them, only thing left is the death cert, which I’m thinking they’ll get in the next day or so, then it’s 5-7 days for processing. Excellent. The paperwork said something about don’t plan on getting anything w/in 30 days, so that must have been on of those “just in case things are more complicated than usual” timeframes.

Once those cash out, then the mortgage will be paid off, and I’ll have some cash freed up to finish off the more expensive townhouse stuff. (I’m semi broke right now, cause I’m carrying 2 mortgages and all the expenses out of my own funds. I can always write a check off the estate account, but trying to avoid it if I can – I’d rather things get split, *then* write checks off “my” funds. I’m keeping meticulous track of the couple times I’ve had to do that so far, as well as what I’ve paid on my own, so it’s not like little bro will get screwed or anything, but you know what I mean…)

Then it’s clearing the NFCU accounts (waiting until after the mortgage is paid off since that is w/ NFCU as well.) Also getting with the broker soon to get a couple new accounts setup so we can (hopefully) just do a direct transfer from the “big” estate account into accounts for my brother and myself. After that, just a few small bits and pieces left. Woot.

Terminix is coming out tomorrow to inspect the house and figure out what’s going on with the neighborhood critters. If nothing else, everything will get sealed off as a preventative measure, otherwise I’m figuring bait/trap/remove/seal if there is anything wandering about.

Friday I get a free termite inspection to boot. Can’t hurt to have a recent one of those when I put the house on the market.

Now it’s off to finish the yard and windows. Going to hit Hunter Hardware for decent gloves and any good removing-latex-paint-from-glass advice they have.

Gutters will be done on Thursday. Of course, it’s supposed to rain between now and then. Don’t care if it rains this afternoon, I will still be in the yard.

Next “big” townhouse task is getting the painters in once we get some more cash freed up from the estate, which looks like it will happen in about a week or so with the annuities.

Seems like every time I see a light at the end of the tunnel, it turns out to be an oncoming train. Let’s hope that trend has passed.