Thursday Unbelievable

• On Thursday, January 22, I took my mother to the credit union to deposit money so she could pay for her new windows. We finally got to the window inside of the credit union and a teller asked what she could do for her. My mother handed her a card with her bank number on it and then she handed her an envelope with several thousand dollars in it. The teller picked up the envelope and turned around and said she would be right back. She disappeared into the area where the drive through tellers are located. I was surprised that she didn't count the money. We stood there for about five minutes. I told my mother that she should have counted the money before she walked off to confirm the amount was correct. I felt the need to speak to a manager about this and that's what I did.

• I walked over to an information desk and asked to talk to a manager. A manager of the tellers came out and I told her what had happened and she was dismissive to a certain degree. She said the teller had to work the drive through and the front desk. I told her it didn't make any difference and that she should have counted the money first. She said there were cameras all over and they would have caught the problem. I told her that a camera can't see inside an envelope and count the money. If there had been a difference in our total and the tellers total then what would they do? This manager still didn't seem to be concerned about what had happened. She said she talked to the teller about it and it wouldn't happen again. It bothers me that she had such a flip attitude about this matter. I have never had a teller do that before. The name of the credit union is Tinker Credit Union. I plan to make another complaint to the managers supervisor. I should have done it then but I had to take my mother to her doctors appointment just after that.

• Earlier that day, Thursday, my mother called me and told me that someone from the company that installed our new windows had called her. They were wanting to go to her house and pick up another check. They said that the check we had given them the on Monday, January 19, had the wrong name in the 'pay to' space. I had written the check to the company that made and installed the windows, Champion. This person on the phone told her that because she had decided to pay payments for the windows her bill would be turned over to a finance company. They were going to charge my mother 21% interest. My mother was having a fit of anger and nerves. She said she was not about to pay anyone 21% interest. She was fit to be tied. I thought it was pretty bad business practice for the window company to have waited until that moment to tell her about this amount of interest. When the window company's salesmen went to her house to sell us the windows, she told him she would be making payments. She planned to pay at least $500 a month. The salesman never said a word about a finance company or the 21% interest. What a RAT. I think he is a jerk for not telling an 84 year old woman on a fixed income about what the finance interest would cost. If she had not had the money to pay the bill in full she would be stuck with the outrageous interest. Now I won't recommend this company to other people. I may even report this to the BBB. I don't know if that will help but I'm going to try. They need to change the way they do business. They need to be up front with people and tell them the interest they will be paying.

I know this is out of order according to the way things happened that day. Sorry but I'm too lazy to copy and past them in the right order. So hang on.

• After my mom and I finished at the credit union I drove her to her doctors appointment. You have to understand one thing about me that has been true for some time. I have a problem with being on time. In order to combat my lateness I now give myself a lot of time to get places. That is what happened Thursday. I write down appointments and meetings in a large red day planner. It's a very nice book with plenty of space to write appointments.

• I had written down 2:45 pm in the day planner for mom's appointment for Thursday. That was actually the exact time of the appointment. No problem, right? Well, mom had gone to have an MRI on Tuesday and that appointment was 2:15 pm. No problem, right? Wrong. I have a problem with numbers. I see numbers fine but when I write numbers or remember numbers I sometimes flip them. On Thursday I remembered the time for Tuesdays appointment, 2:15 pm but our appointment was for 2:45 pm. We arrived at the doctors before 2:00 pm. The doctor didn't see us until after 4:00 pm. We waited in the waiting room from before 2:00 until well after 4:00 to see the doctor. Guess how long the doctor was in the room checking my mother. Five minutes. That's right, five minutes.

• After we left the doctors office we drove to the window company to give them a check for the full balance of the windows. My mom was real weak and tired from all the things she'd been through that day. She didn't say much to them. The person who called her on the phone earlier that day was not out front. That person was very rude to my mother on the phone. He had been instisting that he be allowed to go to her house and pick up another check. I'm glad she told him she had two appointments that day. What a jerk. We gave them a check for the balance of the windows and they gave us a printer receipt with a zero balance.

• My mother had gotten a bathroom window that had a half of the window etched. It isn't etched enough because someone standing inside her shower can see her form. We now have to buy something extra to put on the window. What a bummer. New windows that cost thousands and we now have to add something to them. We will now be searching the local stores for some kind of film that looks like stained glass or etched glass.

• Here is an idea for the stained glass look. We haven't gone shopping yet and I have no idea where to find this locally. Here's hoping.

Just Another Day In Paradise

I stayed up too late again last night. This time I swept and moped my dining room and kitchen floor. I must have had a burst of energy or insanity because I went on to clean the front of my kitchen cabinet doors. I just happen to notice that the cabinet door pulls were Very dirty and went on to clean those. After using a nail brush to clean the door pulls I happen to notice my kitchen stove was looking shabby. The oven has a glass door and it was streaked with who knows what. I got out the ammonia and cleaned that. I tried to clean the back splash of the stove. The part where the florescent light, the clock, the oven settings are located. I say I tried because the stove is stainless steel and doesn't lend itself to much cleaning with steal wool or the like. I settled for a good try and left it at that. Then I noticed the rugs needed washing so I put those on along with my house shoes. PeeUU. I finally got to bed about 2:30 am. I am usually sitting right here at the computer doing research or looking at other peoples blogs at that time of night. This has got to stop.

My mother had her new windows put in her house today. She called me at 8:00 am to let me know that the installers were there. I tried to get up but wanted to sleep a little more. I did cover back up and tried to sleep. That didn't happen because my mind had already started to work. I got dressed and made oatmeal with apple and blueberries. I feed the two parrots and they had their screaming time. Parrots usually have two times of day they scream or get loud. When they first wake up and just before they go to sleep or in the evening. I finally made it to my moms house by 10:30 or so. I walked because I need the exercise. The installers at her house were the same men who installed at my house. Great pair of guys. I opened and closed all mom's windows and noted two small problems. One window only had a half screen. It needs a full screen because all of the windows are double hung. That means they open from the top and the bottom. The order form on her windows said that she ordered full screens. The other problem was one of the small tabs that you pull in to allow the window to lean in and clean it, it didn't spring back and the window didn't close properly. I told the installers and they said there was no problem.

I made my mom a salad for lunch and we ate. Then I walked home to make some banana pudding for my grandsons who were coming over. In fact when I got here they were waiting in the driveway. They had only been here for three minutes. What timing.

The window installers came to my house and checked out the problems I have with their install. Between them and my son I see now that my fears of more growing mold are out of proportion to what they need to be. My son told me that the new windows won't have the same condensation and water won't form on them so there probably won't be any more mold. He said I did need to replace my window sills because the paint is peeling off and there seems to have been mold growing in there. He also said that the wall paper that was on the facing around the window is where mold would have come from because mold eats paper. He said it needs fuel to live and grow and that paper was it's source. The installers told me virtually the same thing. If there isn't a lot of moisture in the air in my house then the windows won't sweat and so no mold would grow on them. So now I have to start thinking of how to replace the window sills.

At the Home and Garden Show I saw a local paint company that has a paint they developed themselves called 'ePaint'. Below is a quote from their Website. I got a coupon for one free gallon of this ePaint. When I get to the point of redoing the walls and area around the windows I'll pick up a gallon of this paint. I have until 6/1/09 to get it.
"Antimicrobial, Low VOC (volatile organic compounds), Low Odor and features a Limited Lifetime Warranty. This product contains Bio-Pruf™ antimicrobial agents which provide long-lasting inhibition of the growth of stain and odor causing bacteria, mold, and mildew on the paint film. "

I have bought paint from this company before. What I like is they make the paint right there. It's a small local company as far as I know. They have a nice Website. www.hispaint.com. I went two summers ago to buy some paint and first went to another company here in town and I about died of heat stroke in the building. I had to wait for them to match the color and I was using a wet cloth to try to stay cool. Later I went to get more paint but I went to HIS Paint instead. What a difference. They had air conditioning and they store was clean. I didn't have to wait as long for the paint to be matched. I'm looking forward to trying some of this ePaint. I am hoping it will help keep down any mold around my windows.

Today when I was telling the young man who installed my windows that they had left the metal frame from my old windows, I started crying. I have been fighting this battle with mold for about ten years. We didn't have the money for new windows before. Now that we have some money to have several windows put in, the thought of having mold on them or around them just is more than I can handle. I thought my mold worries were gone. I couldn't stop crying after I talked to the installer. I didn't realize it had been such a big deal until today and I started crying.

My son and his sons, who are young boys, helped me put my mother's furniture back in place. That was really nice. My son is a Chemist and is really busy with his job and building a new home. He is learning and teaching American Bushido-Kai Karate. My youngest grandson is leaning karate also. I have a wonderful son and he is a great dad.

I have another son who is really super too. More about him later because kitchen duty is calling.

Looking for Windows, Heating, Air Conditioning, Insulation, and Roofing

Just got back from the Oklahoma Home and Garden Show at the state fair grounds. I got there late and so only saw one building. I was looking for windows, heating, air conditioning, insulation, and roofing. I'm really glad I went because now I'm even more confused about windows. I had a company named Champion install several windows last Monday. I love the windows but they left a part of the old window which is aluminum and it plus my old windows had mold on them. I had cleaned the mold off but it kept coming back. I'm really worried that the part they left from the old windows will begin to grow mold again. In fact I am feeling very depressed and crying for no apparent reason. At the Home and Garden Show tonight I saw the man who sold us the windows and I told him the problem and he said that Monday he would have someone come out and check the installation and find out what the problem is. He called someone and I heard him say to them on the phone, "No, I won't." I wonder what it is he won't do? I thought to myself maybe he was told by the other person on the phone not to admit to any problem or they were wrong.

I have spent the last eleven years cleaning the mold and moisture off the windows in this house. I would love to have time to do other things. I have a cough that is very deep when there is mold on the windows. It gives me headaches. It's no wonder I'm feeling very depressed.

The windows that were in this house when we bought it were two sets of aluminum storm windows. There was a dead space in between them. That space would fill with moisture and then mold. I would have to leave one of the windows open in order to dry out the space in between. If it rained there would be a half to an inch of water standing in between the windows. I had to use so many towels to dry and clean these windows nearly every day it wasn't funny. I have put paper towels between the windows but that didn't help. When it is cold outside there is ice on the frames. I wanted to take off the outside set of windows but the screws holding them on were rusted. I have used bleach on the windows to clean the mold. It comes back every few months. I bought a chemical that I had to buy and use a hazard mask with a respirator on it. I had to buy expensive chemical gloves and huge plastic sheets. I put the plastic sheets up on the doorways with tape to keep the fumes out of the rest of the house. I have parrots and the fumes would kill them. I'm so sick of this mess I can't even begin to put it into words.

Now that I have expensive new windows and the installers left part of the old window I'm just sick. I went to the Home and Garden Show to find some other company to put in the rest of my windows.

I was looking for another source of heat for my house too. Last winter, 2007, we had an ice storm here and it knocked out the power to nearly all the homes in this city. We had nearly 600,000 homes and businesses without electricity Tuesday. There were 15 deaths. There were more than 100 reports of fires mostly from tree limbs crashing into live power lines. The sound of branches snapping under the weight of ice echoed through Oklahoma City neighborhoods. It was so loud that it would wake me up in the middle of the night. I was terrified that something would fall on one of the surrounding houses and they would catch on fire. Our neighborhood has trees that are 90 to 100 years old. Maybe more.

Interstate 40 west of Okemah, Okla. was ice-covered and four people died in one accident that involved 11 vehicles, including a tractor-trailer rig, said Highway Patrol Trooper Betsey Randolph. All 11 vehicles burned, she said. Eight other people also died on icy Oklahoma roads. A transient died of hypothermia in Oklahoma City.

Colder than Siberia

It's colder than Siberia today. Well, not really but in North Dakota it surely is colder than Siberia. Wikipedia says, "the annual average temperature about 0 °C (32 °F) and roughly −15 °C (5 °F) average in January and +20 °C (68 °F) in July."

Yep, I just looked and North Dakota has a temp of -21 degrees right now. I'm not sure which city that is. Tonight will be worse. My son told me that it gets down to -50. Burrrrrr.
Tonight is the meeting at the computer club. Hope I win a prize tonight. I haven't won one yet and I've been a member for years. Oh well.

Monday several new windows were put in my house. I like them because the old ones had mold growing on them because of all the moisture on them. I had to clean them constantly. The old windows had two sets of storm windows on them. The space in between the windows was impossible to clean. It got so dirty that you couldn't see outside very well. That was the first thing I noticed with the new windows was the ability to see outside. The next thing I noticed was how heavy the windows are and the noise reduction. I love the windows except for one small thing. The coating on the glass that keeps the sunshine from entering the house. The sun used to warm up the rooms a bit. I know I will like it in the summer but right now it is in the teens outside and any sunshine is welcome. Also, I don't like the fact that at night I can't see outside the windows. I thought that the windowpanes would not be cold to the touch but they are. The vinyl around the windows is warm. I have seen a very small amount of moisture on the window at the very bottom.

Monday afternoon I went to Lowes to check out the windows and they sell some very nice windows by Pella. I just tried to look at their Website and it is super slow. Someone needs to work on that thing. PLEASE.