Monday, July 19, 2010

Is that a bird nest in my dryer vent?

A few weeks ago, I noticed that the dryer was taking an extremely long time to dry clothes. After making sure everything was attached properly, I determined that something was blocking our outside vent. Because we live on the second floor of an apartment building, our dryer vent is about 7000 million feet above ground. I called maintenance to have them come and blow out our vent. One week and 3 phone calls later, they finally show up, blow air through the vent and out pops a HUGE bird nest! But instead of pulling the vent flap (or whatever that thing is called) back down, they left it open, and guess what! The birds came back and rebuilt that nest! We could see them flying in and out of the vent while we sat in our living room. I think they were taunting me: "We are building a nest and there is nothing you can do about it". Stupid birds! Once again, I placed a call to maintenance, because not only was the nest making it next to impossible for our clothes to get dry, it was also a fire hazard. And I knew if our apartment caught on fire, a bird nest would be the least of our problems. After numerous phone calls over the span of 10 days (and one threat about calling the fire department to take care of the nest!), maintenance FINALLY showed up to remove the nest. Instead of using the blower thingy, they used a very tall ladder and their hands to remove the nest...bare hands! No gloves! I don't even want to think about what type of rash that guy may develop. Birds are dirty creatures.





Sunday, July 11, 2010

What's the point?

I hate pumping my own gas...hate, hate, HATE it! I will do everything possible to avoid it. Thankfully, my car can go about 420 miles (675 km) on a tank of gas (thank you Toyota for making such a fuel efficient car!), so I don't have to fill it very often. However, I have come up with a few clever ways to avoid pumping my own gas. My favourite trick is this: When Husband and I have to go somewhere and I know my car is low on gas, I will convince him to take my car. Once in the car and driving, I will casually look over to the gas gauge and exclaim in surprise "Oh, looks like we will have to stop for gas". I am sure he knows my little trick by now (I've done it enough times!), but he just sighs and heads for the gas station. After he pulls up to the pump I always look at him sweetly (while batting my eyelashes) and say "Would you like me to pump it?" He, of course, always says "No, I'll do it" and gets out and does it (If he ever answers "yes" to my question, I'll send him divorce papers!). Well, yesterday, I took Husband's car to run a couple of errands and I noticed that he was low on gas, so low that he would have to stop on his way to work (at 6am) to get gas in order to make it. I thought I would be a nice wife and get gas for him. Now that you all know how much I hate to pump gas, you can understand that it is a big deal for me to stop and do this for Husband. This is definitely going above and beyond my wifely duties, but he has been working long and hard hours and I wanted to let him know I appreciated all his hard work. So, I stop, fill his tank (in 100 degree heat) and then go home. Later that evening, we get in his car to go out, and I am sitting there, hoping that he will notice the gas gauge is on F. He doesn't notice. I was a bit disappointed, but I didn't say anything. The next morning (Sunday), he had to go to work. After he left, I waited about 20 minutes (I figured that was enough time for him to notice his tank was full! Have I ever mentioned I'm not very patient?), but he didn't call me, so I called him. I say "I left you a surprise in your car". He says "Where? I don't see anything." I tell him to look at the instrument panel, and finally, he says "Oh, you put gas in the car....thanks." That was it. No mention of how great I am, or how I am a wonderful wife and he is so happy/lucky he is married to someone who is willing to make sacrifices and to go above and beyond the expected wifely duties. That's the last time I do something nice for him! If I have to tell Husband when I do nice things and make huge sacrifices, what's the point in doing them?

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Mystery seed update

It's been almost 2 months since I planted my mystery seeds. I guess it's safe to say that no marijuana plants appeared. In fact, hardly any plants appeared. After weeks of watering and sunning the pots, this is what grew: One pretty yellow flower and some green thing that looks like the start of a bush. I was excited about the flower and hoped more would grow, but it didn't happen. I should also mention that the flower died about a week after it bloomed. I shouldn't be too disappointed: At least the mystery seeds didn't land me in jail!