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Monday, September 25, 2006

Weekend Worker

This was a busy weekend. Some fun...some stress...

Due to the really heavy workload we've had recently at work, I decided to go in for a few hours on Saturday. Yes Christyn, I know. I am certifiably insane. But, I did get some pressing tasks finished. A bit less for me to stress about when I got in this morning. (Don't worry, there was still plenty to stress over.)

After finishing up at work, I drove up to Christyn's and we headed out to dinner. I love The Olive Garden, but don't they always have the longest wait time? After that, we rented a few movies, and had our co-worker and her sister come by. We ended up watching Date Movie, which had some good laughs, but was really pretty mindless.


Sunday was laundry day. I swear that the next place I live will have a washer/dryer in it!! I walked down to the mailboxes to get the mail I had been neglecting for the past 3 days. And guess what was waiting for me there...

Go ahead...

Guess...

NOPE! You're wrong. It was a notice from the collection agency stating that my failure to respond to their previous notice (as ranted about here) had resulted in a judgment being placed against me. Even though I really had responded within the required timeframe. In person. At the court. Within the 10 day period. So, I immediately called the collection agency, though I fully expected to get a recording telling me to call back during office hours. Surprisingly enough, they have people manning the 800 number on the weekends. They were not much help though. All she said was that she'd make a notation of what I said. Which to me sounded rather patronizing. And after getting off the phone with her I was really upset and called my Mom to vent. Apparently it was really bad timing, and I actually got in a fight with my mother and hung up on her (which I think I've only ever done once before). It's okay now though, she called back, I had my say, and we are good again. She was really stressing out too and felt helpless when I called. I told her I just needed her to listen, not to actually solve anything. See - bad day...

And I called the collection agency again today (and asked specificallly for the person the court had referred me to originally, last month), to make sure they did have a record of my court date, and the fact that I responded with the specified timeframe. She was actually helpful. She said the system does show that I responded by showing up in person and setting a court date. The person that input that information had not updated the account status correctly (seems like a trend there, doesn't it?). So, while I was on the phone with her, she updated the account to put a stop to the collection process until after the court decision. And this time I took notes on our conversation, and marked the date and time of the call. I hung up and felt immediately better.

In other news, I've been getting a lot of crochet done lately. Here's a cupcake pincushion I attempted. (Didn't have any fiberfill, so used old pantyhose, cut up into small pieces, for stuffing.) My gauge was a little large, so it's slightly bigger than it should be. But, since I'm not putting it into a muffin tin or anything, I figured it didn't matter. (Oh, and I need to give props to Gloria, who's blog I found these on to begin with. Hers came out cuter though.)

Below is the 2nd square I finished for the Grandmother Purl knitalong, in the blocking process.
And, here are both squares ready for mailing. They went out Saturday, and hopefully Kristy will have them soon.
You know, I kind of like making little projects I can finish in a day. Instant gratification definitely has its benefits!

6 comments:

Gloria said...

It took me 6 tries before I got a cute cupcake (they're all sort of hidden in my picture so you can't see how ugly the bases are). I ended up sewing beads onto mine for sprinkles since I was giving them away. Your cupcake looks great!

I also like projects you can finish in an hour or less, because then you actually feel productive.

David Tellez said...

I have to agree with Gloria...your cupcakes do look sweet. If I sewed or knitted or whatever it is you have to do to have one of those thingys, I would so want one for my collection.

And I hope all goes well with the collection agency. Been there and done that, and I will agree with you that the whole system is screwed up. Nobody documents anything, and if they do, it's all the wrong information. Then there's all those phone calls, all those deluded operators...it's enough to make anyone go medically insane. So I'm prayin' for ya!

Anonymous said...

Ugh! Again sorry for the torture of government agencies. At least they think they have it straightened out for now!

Such cute crafts!! Makes me wish I had the patience. I don't. I can wrestle with sewing patterns, but just ask me to count...no tollance for such arts.

:)

Yea you!!

Kai said...

Great pincushion! Love it! And I have patterns for crocheted cakes, pies, ice cream cone, cupcakes, banana split, & a heartshaped box of candies if you want copies. Wish I could crochet you an 'out' for your collection agency headaches. Sigh. It's always something, huh?

Anonymous said...

You have such talent and such CRAP to deal with all at the same time! I can't believe the collection agency. Geez.

Oh, and going in on a Saturday? You'll never catch me doing that! Ugh.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I saw your squares on flickr and somehow I missed this post when you first made it. What beautiful crochetwork you do! Wow! I just mailed in my square, and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, but it's not as pretty as yours. :)