Day 195 - July 14

This sign brought to you courtesy of "Prop 65."  I get the general idea, kind of like the standard warnings on cigarettes and alcohol.  But this phrase is EVERYWHERE.  Pretty much everywhere we've been so far today has had a sign similar to this one.  It was even referring to the windows on an office building in one instance!  I have to wonder if anyone pays attention to it, seeing as how prevalent it is.  I know that I'm not concerned, and I've only been bombarded with it for about 4 hours now.

Vacation Report:
Today we flew from Baltimore to Birmingham to Phoenix to Burbank.  We landed at Bob Hope International Airport which was slightly bigger than Kona's airport.  We got to use stairs to get off the plane and baggage claim was outside (but electric and covered, so it's slightly fancier than Hawaii.)

For dinner we went to BJ's Brewhouse and Mike enjoyed their beer sampler.  There were about 9 different kinds.  I am assuming another California law or prop is responsible for the fact that in addition to the menu and beer/wine list, we also received a "Nutritional Guide" to each menu item. 

Free parking seems to be non-existant around here.  Even for a brewpub, it was valet only.

Day 194 - July 13

Snapshots of the newest 8x10's in our collection.  Clockwise from top left: Amalfi Coast in Italy, The pyramids in Egypt, Sunset from the 2nd place we stayed in Hawaii and Mykonos, Greece (With a lovely reflection of the kitchen lights).  Ritz had a "try our new online program free" sale, so we both took advantage of it. :)  Then I took advantage of JoAnn's 60% off frames sale.  We still don't have any doubles of frames.  There are a LOT of 8x10 black picture frames out there!

Day 193 - July 12

Ok, so this is a terrible picture.  But he was driving and it was raining and so I took a picture through the windshield. :) 

We're getting a Famous Dave's BBQ in place of the old Pizzeria Uno.  I do not like Famous Dave's.  I know people who have had good meals, but I've been to 2 different branches a total of 3 times and had 3 different meals and never have I had something good.  And I'm a person who likes meat slathered in BBQ sauce!  I was really disappointed that this is the restaurant that won, because of all the chains out there, there are many that I'd prefer come to town.  The hubby was hoping for a Carabbas to go with the Outback & Bonefish that are already at that intersection ... I wanted them to raze the building and put in a Sonic. ;)

Day 192 - July 11

Today, we hit up 7-11 for a free slurpee.  They were tiny, but they were tasty.  And we were lucky enough to both get our favorite flavors!  (Cherry for me and Mtn Dew for him)

Day 191 - July 10

Today, I turned 31.  It has been a LONG 365 days since I last had a birthday.  Between the housing situation, my health scare, my husband's injuries that kept him from running which is his favorite thing to do, and a general feeling of loneliness for a long stretch, I would not put this past year on my "I'll relive THAT one!" list.  I am anxious for this coming year to be better! 

For my birthday present, we're taking the VIP Warner Brothers Studio Tour and going to Disneyland for a day.  (WHEE!!!)  However, my husband wanted something that he could wrap.  He was in Hallmark last night and realized the Christmas Ornament Unveiling Party was in the morning.  (Seriously? On July 10?) So he went back today and picked me up a "New Home" ornament.  It was pretty much the best thing that happened in the last 12 months, so it is fitting. :)

To round out my day, we headed to the Melting Pot for dinner.  I always enjoy it, but the men in my life have tended to roll their eyes in the restaurant's general direction.  (Father, Brother, now Husband) :)  But he said he was on board so off we went!  They do have a fun, different summer menu with a lot of "island flair."  He had these crazy lettuce wraps instead of a salad and we had a Caribbean flavor broth for cooking instead of the regular stuff.  For dessert, we picked Smores because we hadn't had that before.  YUMMY.  I picked up a library movie called "Post Grad" with the girl who played Rory in Gilmore Girls and the boy who is Matt in FNL.  It was not that good, but it probably wasn't the worst movie I've ever seen.  It made me laugh in parts.  Carol Burnett was the grandma and Jane Lynch was the mom, so that made it worth it.  It was probably a fun movie to make. :)

Day 190 - July 9

Our saviors!  These guys have been the bright, shining spot in the midst of this AC insanity.

Wed morning, we called HMS Home Warranty to report our AC broken.  They gave us a claim number & service provider and offered to set up the fixing appointment.  She put me on hold, and came back to tell me that she had left a detailed message for them and if I hadn't heard anything in 2 hours I should call HMS back and they'd contact a second provider.  I was told that broken AC was considered "high priority" when it was going to be over 100 degrees.  (Thank you Baltimore for your broken records?)

2 hours later, Mike called them back because we hadn't heard anything.  He was told that we had to wait *4* hours before they would call a 2nd provider.  Fine, ok.


He called back at the 4 hour mark because we had yet to hear anything from the original place.  I wasn't expecting to be fixed in 4 hours, but I thought they could have at least called back.  HMS put Mike on hold, came back and said they left messages on 5 providers machines and had an appt for us for Friday. They gave Mike the contact info and said the company would call to set up a time shortly.

Meanwhile, since I didn't know Mike had called HMS back, I called the original provider they told us about.  I thought maybe they hadn't checked their voicemail or our paper had gotten lost or whatever.  The lady was not happy with me.  Well, really, she wasn't happy with HMS but it was me who got the brunt of it.  Apparently HMS called them to cancel a Monday appointment, but as the lady said, "I never MADE an appt for you for Monday!" 

Ok fine, so we had an appt set for Friday and we were ok with that.

By Thursday at lunch, Mike still hadn't heard from the Friday appt people with a time.  We were trying to figure out if we were going to stay at our house or go to his parents and weren't going to bother leaving if they were coming early Friday.  I was not exactly surprised when Mike called them and they said the same thing as the first company - We never HAD an appointment.

Mike went nuts (in general, not at the company, since it wasn't their fault) and called HMS back.  The man he talked to explained that HMS is supposed to call and speak to people at 3 companies and that messages don't count.  He didn't know how this got so messy and gave us permission to call anyone who was licensed who would accept 3rd party billing.

Enter these guys - Maryland Climate Control.  They said if we didn't mind waiting til 8pm, they could come that night.  Spectacular!  So they came last night, dx the problem, gave us a cost, and said they'd be back in the morning to fix it.  And they did.  So we are now laying next to AC ducts, cooling our core temps back into the normal zone. :)

I've been without AC in the summer plenty of times, since the beach house didn't have it.  However, the beach house was made for a cross breeze and this house wasn't. That made it harder even with all the windows open.  The main problem I had with this situation was the apparent non-rule following of the HMS employees.  I'm thinking not enough people complain about it because 2 different employees did this message thing and "thought" they made appointments.  Bizarre.

Day 189 - July 8

This is what our living room looks like today.  As you can see, it's a little discombobulated.  Last night, it got up to the mid 90's in our bedroom, so we migrated downstairs because this room has a sliding door with a screen facing the breeze.  Our room windows were open and we had some fans, but it wasn't working.  This room was actually ok.  And now you can see the remnants of a slumber party!  (Not shown: 10 popsicle wrappers, a few empty gatorade bottles,  and a lot of melted ice. We know how to live it up!) :)

Oh, and the printer box and crate are full of pirate legos.  His parents have been threatening to give them to us for awhile, and they finally appeared. :)