Moe isn't a knitter's cat

I've come to the conclusion that Moe needs to find his forever home really, really fast before I do something .... like duct tape his mouth shut when he's not eatting. Sounds a bit extreme but I'm about at the end of my rope. We're up to 4 ruined double points and 2 ruined circular needle. I wouldn't mind except he's now knocking over things to get to the needles. Obviously he's not a knitter's cat.

Moe says: Maybe I'll just hang out a little out of reach for a while. Is it my fault that those bamboo sticks are tasty?
In spite of the fact that I'm running out of needles I've been finishing up on some socks that were languishing in the bottom of the knitting bag.
And casting on more.
Of course I'm drowning my sorrows in my blog contest prize from leaving a comment on Julie's blog. She's got a cute little granddaughter who is featured on her blog all the time. Isn't that what grams are supose to do?
Hubby and I went on a little vacation to Rhode Island last week. I love Rhode Island. We went to the Nordic Lodge for dinner and ate lobsters and king crab legs until we waddled out the door.

We went to the Roger Williams Zoo in Providence. Nice little zoo where you can actually see the animals. We also went on the Providence River Walk. Really nice way to see the city while strolling along. The have fire holders in the water which they fill with wood and light every so often. It must look really nice.

Made sure I was home in time to spend Sunday with Dad. We've got a new routine since he really can't get out much. I go over and bring along a movie that I know he'll like. Last week it was Casino (I told my mom that I was paying dad a quarter every time they said fuck and that I was up to $4,000 before the movie was half over). This week I brought along Master and Commander. He's kind of in and out of it because of some heavy duty pain medication but at least he's not in discomfort.

Gotta go find some more double points and finish some knitting. W and N need new socks for starting school and I have to finish up a couple pair for A for her birthday.

Signs of spring are everywhere

Flowers, flowers everywhere you look. My daughter was complaining that she couldn't find any cute little girl shoes around so I picked up a pair of cheap canvas sneakers and painted them with flowers in girlie colors.

If you live in CT Laurel Ridge is one of the best kept secrets in the state. Back in 1941 a couple in Litchfield, CT decided to plant some spring flowers on their farm. They kept adding to them year after year and the flowers themselves kept multiplying year after year.
And this is only a small fraction of them on a lovely Sunday stroll with my hubby.
This entire hillside is covered in flowers. Flowers everywhere.
And me thinking ..... hummmmm I know how to plant flowers .......

Thomas the Tank Engine recall

I've mentioned a couple times that my grandsons are really into Thomas the Tank Engine and how I've probably invested way too much money buying trains, buildings, t shirts, etc. We have a great time sitting on the floor playing trains for hours at a time. They learned colors and numbers from playing with the different engines.

So imagine my suprise to find news of a recall in the paper this morning for Thomas things between 2005 and 2007. I looked up the recall info on the US Consumer Product Safety Commission website and found the list. HOLY CRAP!!!

Red James Engine & Red James’ # 5 Coal Tender
Red Lights & Sounds James Engine & Red James’ #5 Lights & Sounds Coal Tender
James with Team Colors Engine & James with Team Colors #5 Coal Tender
Red Skarloey Engine
Brown & Yellow Old Slow Coach
Red Hook & Ladder Truck & Red Water Tanker Truck
Red Musical Caboose
Red Sodor Line Caboose
Red Coal Car labeled “2006 Day Out With Thomas” on the Side
Red Baggage Car
Red Holiday Caboose
Red “Sodor Mail” Car
Red Fire Brigade Truck
Red Fire Brigade Train
Deluxe Sodor Fire Station
Red Coal Car
Yellow Box Car
Red Stop Sign
Yellow Railroad Crossing Sign
Yellow “Sodor Cargo Company” Cargo Piece
Smelting Yard
Ice Cream Factory

The bold indicates the ones I have that need to be sent back. If you know of anyone who might have newer Thomas stuff please share this information and RC2's website which has the form needed to get replacement things.

Gotta love the quality of things coming from China. "We need to make the toothpaste taste sweeter but want something cheap. Let's add antifreeze." "What's a cheap filler for this petfood? How about some chemicals used in plastic?" "We need some paint to finish these train cars that will be played with by small children. Hummmm, well this stuff has a high contect of lead but what the heck. We'll only use it on 1.5 million units."

How to get great customer service .....

I use to be a customer service rep so I basically know how the system works. Sometimes it can work to my advantage. So let me share my experience to assist you in getting help faster.

I had to call ATT on a phone issue. My daughter had the phone transfered to the new house but there's no line from the street to the house. Repair line says wait time is about 25 minutes due to a high call volumn. 25 minutes!?!?!

Hummmmm, hang up the phone and call again saying I wanted a new service. In about a nano second there's a very nice lady on the phone just waiting to help me out. "Oh sorry but that's not something I can help you with. While it is a new service it's actually just a transfer of an established service. It's a repair issue so I'm going to have to get someone on the line who can assist you," she says in one of those overly happy voices that would normally piss me off.

I wait for maybe 5 seconds and get transfered directly to a repair person who is happy to take the info from me. "So sorry this happened. We'll have someone out there tomorrow morning and the repairs will be completed by 1." Total phone time? 7 minutes.

The key is to: Be pleasant so whoever is on the phone wants to help you. Even though you've intentionally called the wrong department make an excuse like "well since it's a new location I figured it was a new service." They feel bad that they can't and most companies have a policy called "warm transfer". Warm transfer is that they will not put you into a que of phone calls to wait your turn. Instead the rep you are speaking with will stay on the phone and call someone internally in the department to assist. The internal reps don't have time to waste on hold so their calls are answered asap.

**Since this is a knitting blog I'd just like to share that there are 2 lace shawls on blocking wires in the attic room drying. In addition I'm on the foot of the sock for D1. Oh the things I do to get to cast on another project!

Laser gum surgery today

Thanks to my dad I have awful teeth. It's not really his fault since he didn't have a choice but because of this I've spent far too many hours at the dentist than your normal 2 times a year cleaning routine. My dentist's son was accepted to his first choice of college and I'm proud to say I've probably at least paid his books for 4 yrs.

Today was a fun packed day of laser gum surgery. I procrastinated this as long as humanly possible. Now, 6 hrs later I can honestly say it's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. It only took 1 1/2 hrs (although he had scheduled 2) and I was home and back to work in no time at all. The worst part was actually the novicane injections before he started.

I'm on motrin for 2 days to reduce swelling and an antibiotic for a week so there should be no infection. It's just a little uncomfortable; not really painful. Just amazing.

My hubby had the traditional surgery about 10 yrs ago with all the cutting and stitching. This is nothing like that at all. The only down side is that I'm on a soft diet for a while. Just when this heals I'll have to go back in 2 weeks to get the left side done which means another 2 weeks of soft diet.

So if you know anyone who is looking at gum surgery I'd recommend a little research and laser if possible.