Five Dollar Foot Wrong

I have never been one to participate in phone surveys, write reviews or submit an online complaint when my experience goes south. People have off days, things happen, and I most always give people the benefit of the doubt.

Well, on our way to Colorado, an experience with Subway -- where you eat fresh, forced me to make it a first.

Here's what I submitted online via the website:

I don't typically comment on food service experiences, simply because I worked in a restaurant for 6 years. I understand things happen, and certain things are unavoidable. However, my experience today was extremely disappointing.

My husband and I are on our way to Colorado to visit family, when we stop in Limon for a quick bite to eat. While my husband opted for McDonald's, I chose Subway, knowing it was a healthier option and I would eat fresh. Upon ordering, I am told they are out off chicken for the sweet onion chicken teriyaki, the sandwich I always order. A little disappointed, I order turkey. When choosing my toppings I am told they are out of pickles, green peppers, cucumbers and banana peppers, four things I always put on my sandwich. At this point, I am pretty shocked that a sandwich shop is out of pickles, probably the number one choice for a sandwich in America next to mayo and mustard.

As if the visit couldn't get any worse, I ask for apples, but find out they don't have any of those either. Ok, I'll take chips. I am then charged for a drink when I just said chips and a glass of water, but I go with it anyways, not a big deal. The icing on the cake was not having a lid to place on my drink to continue on our trip in the car. There was a label posted by the lids saying "lids not compatible with Subway cups." How can a Subway located directly off a highway not have lids?

The whole experience was quite disappointing considering I have always chosen Subway, knowing I will eat fresh. Not so much today. My experience was much less than refreshing.

I might have been a little harsh, but this trip to Subway was a complete disaster. Literally, nothing was right. I probably wouldn't have taken the time to write this if we hadn't been driving to Colorado, but I didn't have much else to do.

I received a response from the general manager of the store today apologizing for my experience. Apparently, they weren't able to get a truck load in until the next day with America's favorite sandwich toppings. She didn't address the mischarge or the lid issue.

I'm not really surprised. I've always considered Subway to be a mediocre sub shop where I only go if I'm feeling broke or in a small town with limited options.

Way to go Subway. You could have at least sent me some free coupons for a fresh sub. You even asked for my address when I filled out the survey online. What did you need that for?

I'm bitter people. Can you tell?

Anybody else have a bad experience with a fast food place that forced you to write a blunt, but honest review?

Route 44 in my Near Future

What do you do when a City water line breaks near your office and eliminates plentiful running water and working toilets in your building?

You call Johnny. Johnny on the spot that is.

Yes folks, I have been spending my Friday walking outside of my office to use the restroom in a porta-potty. It's cold outside. It's not too desirable. And it's just weird.

A johnny is something you don't mind using at a tailgate, but not something you want to use at the office while wearing dress slacks and heels.

Not to mention, I am really thirsty. The email about the broken line went out at 7:00 AM so I didn't make my morning coffee before leaving the house and I have been forcing myself from drinking much of anything.

Oh well. At least it's Friday and I have the weekend to look forward to. I will get my fix of fluids tonight over a couple glasses of wine:) And maybe a Route 44 from Sonic on the way home.

Tonight will be for relaxing, catching up on DVR shows from this week, and watching the CATS game.

Saturday, we will be finishing up our Christmas decorations (We are almost done! Just a few last things including outside lights on bushes/trees), attending a holiday party, start stuffing/addressing/stamping envelopes for our Christmas Cards and Christmas shopping. Ugh.

Yeah, I said it. I dread Christmas shopping. Sorry, but sometimes it's just so hard to come up with gifts for certain people. I hate stressing myself out about things like this!

Oh and I almost forgot. I will start my homemade holiday gifts projects that I'm super pumped about.

Here's some of the items I will be using:

What do you have planned for the weekend?

Not-So-Nice Thursday

My day didn't exactly start out great today.

Not that these three things are complete buzz kills to a great day or anything, but worthy enough to blog about, I guess.

Number 1:  I woke up to a blaring alarm across the room. Yes, across the room. I have an issue with getting up in the mornings so Brian started a new strategy yesterday -- moving my phone (I use it as my alarm) to his dresser, which is across the room, forcing me to get out of bed to turn it off.

Honestly, the mornings are a MAJOR problem for me. I am simply not a morning person AT ALL. I'm also a very deep sleeper. I sometimes turn off the alarm not even knowing I do it.

Well, I guess the obnoxious alarm is working because I definitely am noticing that it's going off now. 

Number 2: I forgot my freshly brewed cup of joe this AM. And it only took me the entire 22 mile drive to work before I realized I had left it on the counter.

Seriously, I am addicted to coffee. Why you ask? Please refer to Number 1. I only have one cup each morning, but it is a must for me. I never thought the day would come when I had to have it. I used to smell my dad's black coffee when I was little and think to myself, "I will never drink coffee. It's for old people."

Let's just say that leaving my perfectly, fragrant cup of Caribou Coffee Morning Blend brewed from my oh-so awesome Keurig maker just made my insides roar. The coffee at work is horrible. I don't know why I dislike it so much, but I won't drink it unless I absolutely have to. On a sidenote, I love our Keurig coffee maker and highly suggest it if you only have one coffee drinker in the house.

Number 3: My nephew was up for Player of the Week on a Southeast Kansas Sports website due to his baller skillz on the high school football field. Well, he was in the lead as of yesterday when all signs pointed to him winning! Next, we realized that some of the contestants were cheating!!

I'm not just being a sore loser now either. Everyone knows I'm competitive, but they are cheats I say! One of his contenders had 400 votes at 8:00 this AM and was over 1200 by 10:30. I was watching it online by refreshing and his votes would go up by 10 every few seconds. They have now taken down the polls. I wonder why...

My IT guy at work told me how to cheat the system and vote more than once on a computer. As any fair, honest person would do, auntie Krista chose not to partake in the game.

You mess with my family. You mess with me. (LOL! Name that reality TV show!)

Anyways, tomorrow is Friday! Yipee!

When It Rains, It Pours

NOTE: I must apologize in advance for how incredibly whiny this post is. It has an uber complaining tone to it. Maybe it's just because it's Monday and I'm feeling exhausted, but I needed to get it all out.

When it Rains, It Pours
This common saying fits my life perfectly right now. Actually, it fits the whole month of July and August to a perfect T.

It has been raining for quite some time now. Pouring to be exact. So much that I feel like I can't breathe.

Just to give you a little idea of how crazy my life is right now, I'm going to complain. A lot.

I can't believe it is the end of July. Better yet, it's almost August. Does anyone else feel like summer just started? Seriously? Where did it go?

Brian and I have been out of town every weekend since July 4 and will continue to be until our first free weekend on August 14. That's 6 weekends in a row. Don't get me wrong, I love that we planned all these fun weekend trips with friends and are staying busy with exciting adventures, weddings and other events, but I simply cannot keep up with the home life.

Our master bathroom is so disgustingly dirty right now, I was embarrassed when a friend stopped by last week. It is that bad. I am scared to see how much dog hair our vacuum would pick up because it has been that long since I turned on the Bissell.

FYI, I am a total neat freak. I can't stand things to be dirty. There is definitely something wrong if the house isn't clean. Luckily, Jakey Boy received a bath last night. Up until then, he was receiving mexican baths. AKA, getting sprayed with Febreeze and then rolling around on the carpet like a freak trying to get it off of him. He hates the mexi-baths.

For the past three weeks, I have worked way too many hours for my own good. It's weeks like these I wish I was paid hourly. I had two important proposals due with very tight deadlines. I was also dealing with other work-related issues that I will choose not to exploit on the world wide web. All this, coupled with extreme stress. My job rarely stresses me out beyond belief, and last week was one of them. I have never cried over work. Can't say that anymore. Thank God this week is going to be stress free at work.

I am starting to get really nervous about this Triathlon this weekend. Whose idea was this!? I know I did it last year and know what to expect, but really, it aint going to be easy.

More to complain about in reference to the home life: The long never-ending list of home improvements.  I can't stand that some of these items have been on the list for more than a year. Finish the trim, install trim border around master bath mirror, hammer in nails that are popping out of our walls then spackle and repaint over them, the list goes on and on...

I should probably refer to the list as a honey-do list. Let's be real here, Brian mostly takes care of anything involving a hammer, drill or paint. Not because I don't like to paint. Because I don't do a good enough job for him. He is super particular. I got banned after we painted our guest bedroom.

To top it all off, I am sitting here at my desk with a damn ThermaCare self-adhesive, disposable heat wrap on my lower back. Yep, my back hurts that bad from water skiing over the weekend. I am like an old freakin woman. It hurts to walk, sit down, bend over or lift anything. Lucky for me, I had some leftover ThermaCare pads from my neck injury to use this morning.

So could August 6 just get here already? I am greatly anticipating this weekend for two reasons. One, it's my last out of town weekend and I can finally get back to relaxed home life, and more importantly, it's a bachelorette party lake weekend with all the girls! Should be full of shenanigans and too much fun as usual.

Two weeks later, I'm off to the Big Apple for a girls trip. I can't wait.

Swamp

When did it decide to get so freakin' hot outside? It is literally miserable.

110 heat index today? Are you serious? I hate this weather.

So much I'm tempted to say I hate Kansas summers because of it. And that's hard for a Kansas girl to say because the summers are all we have to look forward to. The winters don't offer jack, it's all about the summers baby.

Days like today make me ecstatic I work in a freezing cold office. So cold that I still use my space heater at my desk almost every day. I know it's crazy, but it's freezing in our office. But I'd rather be freezing than have swamp ass.

Kansas weather truly makes me question why I live here sometimes.

Here's five things I hate about Kansas' hot and humid summer days:

Jake and his hair:
Hot weather means more shedding. Which means more cleaning for me. I hate it.

Big ball of hair after brushing him. Ewwwwww.

Breakouts: 
My face keeps breaking out due to the sweat and nastiness. Especially on my forehead and in my hairline where my bike helmet rests. 

Laziness: 
This heat keeps me from wanting to exercise. I know I can workout in the gym, but as of lately, I really need to be biking and running outside to get ready for my Triathlon. 

Droopy Plants:
My poor plants. They can't even stand the heat. This is what they look like every day when I get home. And yes, I am watering them. A lot.

Hot, Sweaty Mess:
Nuff said. You can't even run errands in this weather without having to take a shower afterward. The air conditioning in the house can't keep up either.

Boo.

Severe A-D-D

I spent the last two days sitting in a room full of energy-guzzling computers taking a Photoshop class. Both Thursday and Friday, 8:30-4:30 at a computer training facility in Overland Park.

My company is really big on training. They encourage it at all levels. So, as one of my yearly goals, I wanted to take a Level 2 Photoshop class. Really because I needed three goals to achieve, and this was an easy one:)! I know the program to an extent, but it is so complex, I felt I needed the extra knowledge.

After taking the class, a few thoughts:

1. I know Photoshop more than I thought I did (at least some of the material that was covered, I already knew).

2. I'm not cut out for all day training courses. I have uber A-D-D. I kept finding myself fidgeting in my chair, watching the clock, constantly looking at my phone for new emails/texts or waiting for it to be over.

3. Annoying people that ask really dumb questions over and over drive me absolute nuts. I almost couldn't stand it. It was really hard to just bite my tongue and not yell "If you were freakin' listening and paying attention to the instructor, you wouldn't have to ask over and over how to do it! Open your ears and use your brain!"

4. It reminded me of being back in school. My opinion, not fun.

So, I would like to give a shout out to all my friends that are pursuing (or have already) a new degree or Masters! I now understand it's not an easy endeavor at this time in our lives, and I give all of you major kudos!

I think I have everyone:)? Sorry if i left anyone out, but this is who I know of!

Megan Green
Adriane Falco
Bethany Sterrett
Ashley Lang
Mark Wellmeyer
Lauren Bakian
Julie Bowen (she obtained right after her graduate degree, but she still deserves kudos)

If it's not one thing...it's another

We are still without air conditioning. In fact, I am sitting here in the hotness right now. It sucks. The AC guy had to order a part and it won't be here until tomorrow. So we will be shackin' it up again tonight.

To top it all off, we have pesky, nasty carpenter bees!! And they are eating our deck!

Thanks to my web diagnosing nature and my ability to not procrastinate (ahem, brian), I found out we had them via the internet. We have actually had them for quite some time (they come out every summer), we just didn't know they were the type of bee that causes damage.

We truly thought they were just large bumble bees that were attracted to our sweet smelling hydrangea plants. Well, we were wrong...big time.

After jumping on the web and researching many different bees, it came to me. Crap, I think we have carpenter bees. I tell Brian and he just pretty much ignores me and acts like it's no big deal.

So, tonight after work I headed to Home Depot to get the weapon to kill these disgusting little insects. Notice, it's for termites too. Because these little sons of biatches eat wood just like termites. Don't worry we had those last year too. Good times.

And then I made Brian get out there and kill them. Well, sure enough, underneath the deck he found tons of holes where they had built a colony.

Here's the holes with the white spray in them. 

 

Some of the holes were so deep that the red straw on the bottle went all the way inside the hole. Brian was worried.

The even crazier thing was that we could hear the bees inside the wood going nuts and flying all over. I have a feeling there are many more inside the wood than I really want to know about.

While he was taking action, he had the spray in one hand and a towel in the other. The spray to shoot up in the holes and a towel, to swat them with as they came flying out.

It was too funny watching him get all flustered and swat at them. He kept saying things like, "Ha Ha sucker!", "Got ya biatch" and "Come back and see what happens!"

See for yourself.

He was really getting into it. Hopefully they'll be gone after we fill the holes.

Shackers

I walk in the door yesterday evening to find a little surprise.

A hot, sticky, humid house at a whopping 88 degrees!

Damn, I think to myself, the AC isn't working. Well, tonight is going to be super comfortable.

Brian calls an HVAC guy, but of course, he can't come out until today. I was actually surprised he could make it that fast. I assumed this is the time of year everyone's AC isn't cooperating.

We open all the windows and start watching TV with high hopes of it cooling down. We uncomfortably sweat for two hours as we keep looking at each other trying to decide if we can handle this all night or not. Still no temperature change.

Needless to say, we shacked it up at the Bowens. We just packed our overnight bags and headed on down the street! I admit it, we are so spoiled and just couldn't handle it.

Jake didn't like it either. He wouldn't stop panting because he was so hot!

Hopefully, the AC will be fixed by tonight!

The Use of Reply All

Annoying. Unnecessary. Overused. That pretty much sums up the use of reply all.

I had an instance today with this wonderful little feature in email that really got to me, so I decided to blog about it.

So, I'm on this committee at my company where we help to plan fun events, philanthropy campaigns, community involvement, etc. Well the person that heads up the committee sent out an email to the other 11 committee members to ask something about this bowling event we have Friday.

What happened after that was a string of 21 (I just counted them) pointless emails that just really made me mad. Numerous people's opinions flying everywhere that were really dumb. What goes through ones mind when replying to an email with a ton of people on it again, and again and again? I just don't understand it. Don't get me wrong, there's certain times when reply all is appropriate, but not about pointless crap that most don't care about.

Excuse my anger and frustration, I have a busy week ahead and today was a typical undesirable Monday. ugh.

Wednesday Woes

1. The Cats lost to KU. Boo. We played well the first half, but fell apart near the end. I guess a No. 2 seed will suffice.

2. I attended a United Way lunch event today for work. This is what I had to say no to. They didn't even offer another option for dessert. It was hard not to indulge, but I did it!


3. To all KU fans, you make me mad. One of these days, you're going to talk all the crap you do and it won't end in your favor. Stop rubbing it in. We already know you're good, and we don't care about your stupid Rock Chalk chant.

4. Still nursing my stress fracture. For anyone that doesn't know, I started having pain in my shin about 5 weeks ago (when I walked) and had to stop running. I diagnosed myself with a stress fracture:), but after talking to several people including professional trainers, I'm pretty sure my diagnosis is legit. Well, I tried running Monday and today for the first time in weeks, and it still doesn't feel normal. I think I might try new running shoes even though I just bought the ones I have not that long ago. Such a damper on my motivation to get in shape for Mexico.

5. Why do I choose to start laundry at 9:00 at night? Just one more thing I can mark off my mental "to-do list". That's the control freak in me... I don't like to have too many things jumbled in my mind. I have to eliminate some things before I go crazy.

Here's to a late night getting to bed and an early morning of Brian trying to wake me up. I'm absolutely impossible in the mornings. Bless him for being so patient with me:). If he was smart like my mom (when waking me up in high school), he would throw a cup of water on me!