Success!!

I have a bed that's no longer sitting on the floor! Yay!

Which leads to my Home Depot rant promised on Monday, but it'll be brief because I'm tired and have no pictures. (If you work with me you may as well not read this, because you've heard the story at least twice.)

So, as everyone knows my box springs did not fit up the third flight of stairs in the new house, which left me without anything to set my mattress on other than the floor where it's been the past 3 weeks. With much debate, it was determined that I would purchase particle/OSB board for to separate the mattress from the frame. A queen size bed is 60"x80" by definition, so I went to Home Depot (one in Alexandria because I happened to be in the area, but it is far from my new home and the office) and purchased 2 pieces of 4'x8' plywood (the only applicable size that wasn't huge) and had the Home Depot staff cut 4 pieces measuring 60"x20" for me. I said over and over to the two men cutting my precious plywood, "Please make sure it is 60"x20"." They measured it and proceeded to cut it in a rather lackadaisical manner while speaking in a foreign tongue I could not recognize. They then told me they'd help me get it in my car (which never happened). So, I load the wood into my little civic by myself, drive home to DC, unload the car, carry the wood pieces up three flights of stairs, set up the frame, attach the frame to the headboard, and go to drop the plywood into the frame of the bed.....

Dun, dun, DUNNNNN....

The plywood is LITERALLY 1/16" too long. Since the frame has an 90 degree edge that the boards must drop into, I cannot use the boards. So I have to undo the frame from the headboard, break the frame down, put my mattress back on the floor, take the wood back down the stairs and RELOAD my car. It's as if you pushed Rewind on me, and I did everything again but in reverse. I was so LIVID that the reloading didn't happen until the next evening.

The next day I call Home Depot in Fairfax to see if they'd help me out at lunch to save me the trip back to Alexandria. I ask to speak with the manager after the girl at the counter couldn't help. And do you know what he tells me?!
HD: "I'm sorry but we cannot make cuts less than 4" ma'am, so unfortunately we cannot help you. Did the people that helped you not inform you that our cuts are not precise?" WHATTTTTT?
Me: "Excuse me, are you saying that the none of your cuts are precise, and you can't cut less than 4" so basically the boards I paid good money for are useless."
HD: "Well, ma'am, I don't know why they cut them wrong, but I'm saying we can't change those boards."
Me: "Again, so my boards are useless?! So what are you recommending I do sir. I'm a single female living in the city with absolutely no access to tools or a mover to do this yet again, and I think what you are telling me is absolutely ridiculous." 
HD: "Well you can bring the boards back and I will make a special case for you to return them."
Me: "But sir, you are also saying that you make no guarantee that this exact situation won't occur with another set of boards."
HD: "That is correct ma'am, we cannot make precise cuts due to the machine."
Me: "I am a little baffled at this situation."
HD: "Well I am offering to take the boards back in their entirety ma'am."
Me: "I don't HAVE the whole board!! I got it cut, and left the leftovers at the HD because they won't fit in my tiny room."

HD: "I'll take them back as is, just bring your receipt. And, I won't be here tomorrow when you bring them in so you'll have to speak with one of the managers and tell the (name omitted) approved the transaction." 

I got off the phone with the manager, and stormed down to Son's office (my voice of reason many days). Fortunately handyman Eric overheard me ranting and offered to cut the boards for me over the weekend (it was Thursday). After the whole issue with HD, I was very eager for someone else to fix the problem they had created, so Eric it is! And just a few days later... I have perfectly cut boards that hold my bed up just great! I would take a photo, but it's night time and one thing this room is lacking is an overhead light, and I've yet to get a floor lamp. So, pictures will come later.

I hope you enjoyed my rant and imagined me telling it in person. :) xo

A big hoorah for the man in charge

As the rain pours down outside and the cars whir by on the not too distant interstate, I'm reminded that time moves on around us even when we wish for just a moment it would stand still. I know this must be the case for my dear friend Allen Klump tonight as he celebrates the success of a year full of hard work in a victorious election for his candidate, Jeff Duncan. I helped him pick out his victory outfit 500 miles away this afternoon via blackberry messenger, and I made sure he shaved the run-off beard he's been growing. I'm so proud of him! But as proud as I am of him, I'm even more thrilled that he's one step closer to being my bud on Capitol Hill. We've already got patio parties planned for next summer in the Hill/Market neighborhoods. So if you live in SC's 3rd Congressional District, mark your calendar now for Nov. 2nd!

On a congressional note, I've been reading an intriguing article in this month's Vanity Fair since Sunday when I met Sarah for a relaxing afternoon basking in the hot sun. The article is entitled "The White House's Dinner Theater", and it is a very detailed (and long) report on State Dinner's since the first in 1874 between President Ulysses S. Grant and King Kalakaua of Hawaii. I may have found a new life goal. :) Allen... I need you to be elected President so I can be your Social Secretary or at least get invited to all the State Dinners. It's not the glamorous people or the fantastic entertainment that excites me but the idea of planning it all right down to the who should be seated next to the bachelor national security-advisor (Social Secretary Brethitt had to do this regularly for Henry Kissinger). Although, several people have said I'd make an excellent politician's wife, so maybe I could be the First Lady instead of the Social Secretary. Either way, FUN!

I picked this month's Vanity Fair up when I joined Sarah at her cousin's neighborhood pool for a brief afternoon of tanning. I'm going for that sun-kissed glow as opposed to my ghostly (and I think ghastly) winter blah. But don't worry, I wasn't there long enough to get burned since I went to church at Capitol Hill Baptist (yes, mom, I finally tried it!) which lasted a good two hours, and I have standing dinner plans on Sunday nights that meant I had to drive back into the city to shower and drive back to Alexandria. So needless to say, afternoon sun-bathing time was limited.

The evening was a fun one, as always at the Converse Alumni House of DC. :) Valerie, Jordan, and I made mini pepperoni, green pepper, and onion pizzas on boboli crust with peach cobbler and moose brownies for dessert. The pizza was fabulous, and we each had a share for lunch on Monday with our own little pack of mini pepperonis. Jordan made the desserts with love and a little too much water, but then Valerie added her own special touch which looked more like cave art than a culinary creation. Judge for yourselves...

The culprit was her moose cookie cutter from her travels.

Sarah W. joined us for dessert and the movie. What would a "Netflix" night be without a movie after all? The evening's selection was the quirky comedy, "The Invention of Lying" about a place where no one can lie, in fact it's like they have no filter at all, they just say what they think, and since no one can lie, they just automatically believe anything anyone says. There's a laundry list of big names, and it is a well-done funny film, although it leaves you contemplating the way people really view things, especially how non-christians view Christianity's take on Heaven/Hell, Sin/Salvation.But on another note, it also addresses how we perceive people, and the fact that looks don't determine a person's validity. If you can handle off-color humor, then I recommend the movie. If you can't.... don't bother. :) Personally, I thought it was funny.

Bedtime!! xoxo

I have internet!

Yay! I have internet. Finally, I can sit in my bed (that's still on the floor) and type my thoughts to you guys. I'm in bliss, well if my bed were off the floor then I'd REALLY be in bliss! But that should be tomorrow thanks to Eric from work who took the wood home to re-cut it for me since Home Depot was incompetent (that's a blog post for later this week, because it's quite a funny rant).

For tonight's post I wanted to share with you the charming area that enticed me to drive a little further to work every day.

A) I haven't gone to far from the South. :)

 

 My metro stop.
And the street it's on. ;)

I have to cross Virginia and North Carolina to get to the market.

My actual intersection *please don't be a creepy stalker* I'm not telling the internet which house it is. I'm working on composure of images. Am I getting any better?!

B) The neighborhood reminds me of all the charm of beautiful Converse Heights, but in row houses rather than stand alone homes. But don't be deceived, some of these houses are actually twice as expensive as some of the most expensive homes in CH. It is also very reminiscent of Savannah. Love it!

 The trees form a canopy over the sidewalks. It makes for a nice shady walk, although quite hot in 90 degree weather!

Maybe a future place of employment?? Haha, or maybe just volunteering.

Our own little rainbow row. This is the new development section I live in. (Remind me to tell you the crazy naked lady story this week!)

The naked lady needed to be walking into our neighborhood (corner) church. It's an AME church I think, or something of the like.

C) Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme.... (singing) the market is a staple of my weekend. I go with only $20 in my pocket, and an open mind. Oh, I'm in culinary heaven. :) To many people's surprise, you can get almost everything there except dry goods, for which I drive over to the nearby Harris Teeter and park in the garage that's underneath the store and ride the escalator that's inside the store. Ahh, the city life!

The market!! Inside the building there are protein vendors of all sorts, a bakery, a florist, and a well renowned restaurant that only seats people at one long counter so people wait a long time just to eat crammed at a counter by someone they don't know. Outside the building, there is an abundance of craft vendors and produce. MMMM. I'm hungry just thinking about the mouthwatering choices!

Speaking of mouthwatering choices. ;)

I hope this gives you a little taste of my neighborhood since most of you won't actually be able to come walk the streets with me for a little while now. 

I just re-read this post, and it's a little over the place and lacking in flow, so for that, I do apologize. I gotta get back in the groove.

On tap this week:
Crazy naked lady story
Home Depot's Incompetencies
Sunday Night Netflix at the Converse Alumni House
Saturday's Housewarming
And anything more that actually happens this week as opposed to the last three. ;)