Just… wow! Why am I having such a hard time with this?! Our landscapers were supposed to come on Friday to give us a quote to dig up the sod and dig down 6 inches and then remove the existing pavers. Well we weren’t home Friday night, so I come home Saturday morning and no quote from the landscaper. I call him up and he says, “Oh, I have you down for today.” Me: “Ok great, I will be home, just ring my doorbell.” No call, no show.
We got up early on Sunday and decided to go to breakfast before we hit Menard’s to go try and buy our materials for the second time. At Menard’s, there was no one out in the garden area to help us! So I stormed up to the manager’s desk and told them how we were there on Thursday and had terrible customer service. I told her that we were given all the wrong information, so they almost lost out on our sale because I could easily go to Home Depot or Lowe’s. I said, can you please have someone help us. She said I’ll help you and she did, she took us over to the assistant manager in building and he helped us order everything we needed. We even got free delivery for the bad experience we had earlier in the week. I was telling this guy how we’ve had so much trouble getting people to call me back, he was surprised and gave us the numbers to 3 other landscapers. So we came home and call our landscaper and these other three. No answer. No call back.
Yesterday (Monday) my landscaper called me around 8 a.m. he said he had been over on Sunday and rang the doorbell. Well, we had been at breakfast at that time. He didn’t see the marking we left on the sod, but he was going to stop by again and leave a quote in our mailbox.
I was very excited to get home to see this quote. When I opened the envelope all I could do was laugh. $920! He’s out of his effing mind!
So I spent almost all last night on the phone. I have a friend of friend coming out today to give us a quote and I’m hoping it’s good! We also had to reschedule the delivery of our material for next Wednesday.
All in all, we’re losing another week but I feel better about putting it off another week. I don’t feel so nervous because we aren’t rushed to try and find someone to do this.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Nothing is ever easy… the Patio Fiasco continues
Yesterday was sure fun (insert sarcasm font here). I call the Village to ask if we need a permit. We do, we also need a dig number. Call the dig people, get a number. Talk to a few co-workers asking about the permit and such and they tell me there is no need for a permit. So I made Frank call and cancel the dig service.
We met at Menard’s after I got off work and we were all ready to buy all of our materials. The store was full of 18 year old employees. The kid helping us had no clue what he was talking about. What we figured out and what he was telling us resulted in the price being tripled. We were pretty upset thinking now we really cannot do this project. The main price difference was with the sand. It’s $9 a bag and when we asked how much square footage each bag yields he told us 3.5 sq ft. Whoa! This would make the cost of the sand over a grand itself. So we left.
So we come home and are looking through the flyer again. This kid really was an idiot. The bag of sand covers 40-60 square feet! We figured it all out and were back to our original price. Now I am going back to Menard’s on Saturday, reading the manager a riot act and buying the stuff we need.
Now, we want to hire the landscapers to remove the grass, dip the hole and remove the existing pavers we do have. I called him back last night, as we spoke on Tuesday, to give him the depth at which we need it dug. I tell him 3 inches. He told me that that is not enough and you want at least 6 inches so you can do 3-4 inches of paver then a layer of sand then the paver. He was like, I don’t want to mess your cousin up but you are my customer and I am going to be honest with you. So he is coming out today to take a look at it and give me a quote for 3 inches and 6 inches including the price to remove the existing pavers. Let’s hope we can afford it.
If the landscapers are able to do this, then it will save my cousin 2 days of work at least. I really hope this all works out and we are going about this the right way.
I cannot wait for this to be over with so I can sit on my new patio with a beer and call it a day!
We met at Menard’s after I got off work and we were all ready to buy all of our materials. The store was full of 18 year old employees. The kid helping us had no clue what he was talking about. What we figured out and what he was telling us resulted in the price being tripled. We were pretty upset thinking now we really cannot do this project. The main price difference was with the sand. It’s $9 a bag and when we asked how much square footage each bag yields he told us 3.5 sq ft. Whoa! This would make the cost of the sand over a grand itself. So we left.
So we come home and are looking through the flyer again. This kid really was an idiot. The bag of sand covers 40-60 square feet! We figured it all out and were back to our original price. Now I am going back to Menard’s on Saturday, reading the manager a riot act and buying the stuff we need.
Now, we want to hire the landscapers to remove the grass, dip the hole and remove the existing pavers we do have. I called him back last night, as we spoke on Tuesday, to give him the depth at which we need it dug. I tell him 3 inches. He told me that that is not enough and you want at least 6 inches so you can do 3-4 inches of paver then a layer of sand then the paver. He was like, I don’t want to mess your cousin up but you are my customer and I am going to be honest with you. So he is coming out today to take a look at it and give me a quote for 3 inches and 6 inches including the price to remove the existing pavers. Let’s hope we can afford it.
If the landscapers are able to do this, then it will save my cousin 2 days of work at least. I really hope this all works out and we are going about this the right way.
I cannot wait for this to be over with so I can sit on my new patio with a beer and call it a day!
The Sump Pump took a Dump - Part Duex
Guess what? Not an easy fix. 4 days of trying to get our plumber friend over and after 6 calls yesterday from Frank, he finally got back to us. We were at Menard’s and he said he was sending his partner and our other friend; they were to be there in about 90 minutes. We got home within that 90 minutes and they still weren’t there. I called and they said they would be there in another hour. Great, right in the middle of our show’s season finale and we don’t have DVR/TiVo. So they come, all they were going to do was install a new battery and make sure the sump pump was working right.
TWO AND A HALF HOURS later and they tell us the sump pump backup is dead. We need a new one and it will be $250-500. Awesome! He cannot make it back until Saturday or Sunday. I am praying for Saturday because Sunday is our anniversary and I am going to be pretty pissed off if we have to wait for him all day and miss our dinner reservations at the Melting Pot! I told is partner, please let him know that Sunday is our anniversary and we have dinner reservations so if he could come earlier that will be great.
Let’s hope this all goes off without a hitch.
TWO AND A HALF HOURS later and they tell us the sump pump backup is dead. We need a new one and it will be $250-500. Awesome! He cannot make it back until Saturday or Sunday. I am praying for Saturday because Sunday is our anniversary and I am going to be pretty pissed off if we have to wait for him all day and miss our dinner reservations at the Melting Pot! I told is partner, please let him know that Sunday is our anniversary and we have dinner reservations so if he could come earlier that will be great.
Let’s hope this all goes off without a hitch.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
The Patio Project Lives!
Wow, I could have sworn tons of people were out of work right now in this economy. You would think people would be jumping at the opportunity to make a couple grand right now. I guess, not so much. Remember when I mentioned that we should have 5 quotes by Monday to mull over? That didn’t happen. Here’s the lowdown of how things went.
Concrete Guy #1 – blew me off on Wednesday. I had a feeling in the puit of stomach he wasn’t going to show. He called while we were trying to put the new flusher on the basement toilet. He wanted to reschedule for Thursday or Friday. Well, I had an appointment with a client Thursday night so I told him I would probably be home all day on Friday. On Thursday night, after I called off for Friday, I sent him a text letting him know I wanted him to stop by tomorrow morning or afternoon. He didn’t text me until 5:45 p.m. Friday night after the sump pump took a dump I knew his prices were going to high and didn’t want to waste his time. I lied and said we had a sump pump emergency and now we couldn’t afford it. He was only for stamped concrete anyways
Concrete Guy #2 – Now this guy I was really excited about. He was a family friend and I was told the prices were going to be good. I spoke with him (well, if you call that speaking… he has the strongest Italian accent and I could barely understand him on the phone) on Tuesday and he was to come over Saturday morning. I canceled brunch with a friend, who I seriously need to catch up with, for this meeting. That morning, I drove frank to work, ran some errands and got home around 8:45. I had 45 minutes before I expected him, so I started cleaning my newly defrosted fridge. 9:30 came and went. I was pissed. He didn’t even call. Oh well, at least my cleaning momentum stuck with me and the house is spic n span!
Concrete Guy #3 – My mother, being the talker that she is, stopped a concrete guy (in the middle of a job) and talked to him about our project. She got a card and I called to schedule an estimate. The guy must have asked me to repeat my name 4 times and said he’d call back to set up an estimate. No call.
Our landscapers – never called me back
Paver Estimate – I was looking through Craig’s list and was able to email a guy pictures of our space with a description of what we wanted. He gave me a quick estimate that way, but it seems a bit high.
So now, I’ve lost another week and am not much farther than where I started. The good thing about all this waiting is the fact that we were able to really figure out what will be best for that space. When our one friend came over Friday to look at the sump pump, he said that pavers are the way to go. Turns out my cousin’s husband knows how to do this. So he is going to come spend the work week at our house next week (to save 2-3 hours in traffic during rush hour a day) and get it done.
I am so relieved to finally have a plan in motion. This week will be a bit hectic because we need to get a lot done. I want to see if I can get the landscapers to dig up the grass for us and then take the old pavers when we remove them. However, this would require me to actually get a hold of them. Then we will need to procure the permit with the village. Lastly, go select the pavers & set up the delivery.
I can’t wait to get this started! I really like the design of this one here, so I think this may be our inspiration!
The Sump Pump took a Dump
I took a, very much needed, mental health day on Friday. I tend to take on too much and then burn myself out, so I was very much looking forward to having two whole days of cleaning and relaxing.
Frank woke up, as usual, at 5:30 to get ready for work. I rolled over and was dozing off when he came upstairs to tell me there was water in the laundry room. Apparently, I thought this was a dream or just didn’t think much of it, so I went back to sleep.
When I finally woke up at 8:30, sure enough, there was some water in the laundry room. I mopped up what I could but the kitchen rug we have under the shelving unit in there had been soaked. As it turns out that this water was overflowing from the sump pump. Awesome. Not knowing what to do (hey, give me a break, I’ve never lived in a house before!) I called my parents and they weren’t sure what to do either. I called Frank and he had already made a call to our good friend (and contractor) to come over to take a look at it.
He came over later that morning. The surge protector that holds the plug, tripped and apparently did something to the battery. He told us he would send over a shop vac (for the rug) and a charger for the battery. He helped me put a space heater and fan in there to air it out and we opened the window, shut off the light and closed the door.
We’re very lucky to have a plethora of friends who do things like this for a living and are always willing to lend a hand. So the next night we talked to our other friend (who owns his own sewer & drain company) and he asked us to send him a picture of it and he’d tell us exactly what needed to be done.
The drying out of the rug and room took a couple days, especially since the shop vac really didn’t do a thing. When I got home yesterday, the house smelled musty. I’m sure it’s from the rug, so I Febreze-d the heck out of it, opened the window and turned the fan back on. Nope, still stinky this morning! The rug has got to go, but it’s under a shelving unit housing hundreds of pounds of stuff.
Our fiend is coming over later to install a new battery for us and then we’ll be all set. I told Frank to get his help to slowly lift each corner to grab that rug and toss it. I certainly can’t do it!
So much for my mental health day! It never fails that every time I try to take a day off work something happens to me. (Last time I took a day off to recover after a weekend full of events, I woke up with food poisoning). Oh well, at least it’s all under control and relatively inexpensive.
Frank woke up, as usual, at 5:30 to get ready for work. I rolled over and was dozing off when he came upstairs to tell me there was water in the laundry room. Apparently, I thought this was a dream or just didn’t think much of it, so I went back to sleep.
When I finally woke up at 8:30, sure enough, there was some water in the laundry room. I mopped up what I could but the kitchen rug we have under the shelving unit in there had been soaked. As it turns out that this water was overflowing from the sump pump. Awesome. Not knowing what to do (hey, give me a break, I’ve never lived in a house before!) I called my parents and they weren’t sure what to do either. I called Frank and he had already made a call to our good friend (and contractor) to come over to take a look at it.
He came over later that morning. The surge protector that holds the plug, tripped and apparently did something to the battery. He told us he would send over a shop vac (for the rug) and a charger for the battery. He helped me put a space heater and fan in there to air it out and we opened the window, shut off the light and closed the door.
We’re very lucky to have a plethora of friends who do things like this for a living and are always willing to lend a hand. So the next night we talked to our other friend (who owns his own sewer & drain company) and he asked us to send him a picture of it and he’d tell us exactly what needed to be done.
The drying out of the rug and room took a couple days, especially since the shop vac really didn’t do a thing. When I got home yesterday, the house smelled musty. I’m sure it’s from the rug, so I Febreze-d the heck out of it, opened the window and turned the fan back on. Nope, still stinky this morning! The rug has got to go, but it’s under a shelving unit housing hundreds of pounds of stuff.
Our fiend is coming over later to install a new battery for us and then we’ll be all set. I told Frank to get his help to slowly lift each corner to grab that rug and toss it. I certainly can’t do it!
So much for my mental health day! It never fails that every time I try to take a day off work something happens to me. (Last time I took a day off to recover after a weekend full of events, I woke up with food poisoning). Oh well, at least it’s all under control and relatively inexpensive.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Broccoli & Shrimp Scampi Pasta
- 8 oz spaghetti
- ¼ cup butter
- 2-3 tsp minced garlic
- (approx) ½ cup Italian bread crumbs
- (approx) ¾ cup dry white wine
- 10 oz small shrimp
- ½ pounds of broccoli chopped into florets
- ¼ tsp of each of the following seasonings: cumin, red pepper flakes, basil & onion salt
1. Cook pasta al dente
2. Boil broccoli
3. In a skillet, melt butter and sauté minced garlic. Add in all seasoning & wine, simmer for a moment. Add in shrimp and cook, tossing frequently, until pink. Slowly (a tsp at a time) mix in breadcrumbs. You may or may not use all the bread crumbs, just continue adding until your mixture has thickened up a bit.
4. Drain pasta, do not rinse. Put back in hot pot with drained hot broccoli and mix in shrimp scampi.
5. Serve garnished with freshly grated Romano cheese
Thursday, May 13, 2010
VEGAS BABY!
The times I have been have been for bachelorette parties – my best friends & my own. I went with ‘experienced’ Vegas gals and I have learned a lot of do’s & don’ts. I am by no means any expert! Just have found some of these tips to come in handy.
Hotels
THEHotel at Mandalay Bay: The suites have an extra bathroom/powder room which helps when you have 4 girls sharing. The room was amazing in itself. The pool is the best on the strip. Bring your own inner tube for the lazy river though and get down there early to find chairs.Luxor: eh. I wasn’t too impressed with this hotel. We stayed in the pyramid spa suite which was cool to have the hot tub in the room. However, the service was terrible!! Our air was broken and it took forever to get them to fix it. Then the house keeping sucked; I recall one day we went to eat came back to the room and it still wasn’t clean. Well, housekeeping was next door and was just about to start on ours so she asked us to come back in an hour. It was a long walk to the pool, spa and walkways to Excalibur. The pool was nice, but nothing spectacular. The spa was amazing! Best.massage.ever.
Clubs
Rain - When my husband went for his bachelor party, they did bottle service @ Rain... and because they showed up late they got a private room with a balcony overlooking the dance floor. He said it was AMAZING. He just loves Rain, but a lot of people say it's just too crowded for them. Paul Oakenfeld is the resident DJ tho, so I can't wait to get back to Vegas to see him.Tao Beach @ Tao – When we went from my friend’s party we did bottle service here and it was amazing! We bypassed the lines and were escorted up an elevator and then another flight of stairs to the top of the Venetian. It’s basically a pool area with cabanas and the like. The pools are roped off and it’s just a big party up there. The music was great. We had a waitress, bouncer & busboy. They were all great. Waitress & busboy kinda hung out and partied with us a bit, made us drinks and shot if we wanted them. The bouncer was there to watch our stuff, escort us to the bathroom and club (had we wanted to go, we never made it down there though since we were having such a good time). I would definitely go back.
Studio 54- We went on Thursday night for my party. We had walked past earlier in the day during our roaming and they put us on the list for free admission, so we figured we’d check it out. We had just come from LAX and even had a drink in our hand as we walked in. Um, best freakin’ music ever! We seriously danced our butts off for 6 hours, only stopping to drink water. We had a bottle service there on Saturday & it was just alright. We were kinda crammed in a booth right off the dance floor with 2 other tables. (Incidentally, the table at the end was a group of guys from Chicago… who we then sat in front of on the plane right home, lol). I kinda felt like it was a waste of bottle service there. I’d definitely go back, but on a Thursday night again, for free =)
LAX – We stopped here on Thursday night since it was inside our hotel, Luxor, and we got free admission. We went early, so it was dead. I hear good things though and it seemed like it would be a good time. We just didn’t stay to see it happenin’.
LAVO - STAY AWAY! It’s so small and uppity, I hated it. Here is the review I wrote on Trip Advisor: In August of 2008, I visited Tao Beach Nightclub & had bottle service reservations. My experience was magnificent. We had the best customer service from our VIP host, waitress, bus boy & bouncer. So when the same host sent me an e-mail telling me to check out Lavo, of course I was excited to do so. We arrived around 10:45 on a Saturday night and were quickly escorted to our table. The club was very small & I could tell it would be very crowded later that night. The hostess & waitress were quick to take my credit card and get our bottle setup, but that was probably the last time I saw them. When I was at Tao, if you touched your bottle, they would take it right out of your hand and say no no no, and make the drink for you; if your water carafe was less than half full, a new one instantly filled its place. Lavo did not provide any such service. Then, there were no security guards monitoring who was coming into the 'VIP area' (which was 2 steps off the dance floor... so there were a lot of people coming in and sitting in seats of tables where the guests have not yet arrived.) We had to make sure to keep an eye on our table so no one was drinking out of our bottle & that our belongings were safe. The tables have about 2 feet of distance between them; so if you had more than 3 in your group, once the club got crowded, you could not all sit down. Also, while dancing we had people's bottoms literally sitting in our ice bucket because of the ridiculously close conditions. We kept asking for water & were flat out ignored, or it took 30 minutes. Upon leaving the club, we got in a cab & realized that they never gave me back my id and credit card, so I had to go all the way back into the club (which was about 40 stairs once you walked over the restaurant and lounge) and wait another 20 minutes for some bouncer to retrieve it for me. Needless to say, I was very disappointed. I will forever highly advise people not to go there.
Bars
Inside NYNY: Pour 24 outside of Coyote Ugly– it’s a nothing place but for some reason we always ended up there every night and met the most interesting people (probably from everyone walking by) and had so much fun! .
Coyote Ugly – I am going to give this place the benefit of the doubt because in talking to others, I had a unique experience. We went on Thursday night of my friend’s party. They wanted a $10 cover change, even though the place was dead, and we were 7 ladies. I pursued them (with trinkets we had on, lol) to let us in for free. They had part of it roped off to make it look fuller with the lack of people there. They wouldn’t let us on the bar to dance and they closed at 2. It was nothing special, but I hear it’s a place when it’s packed & bumpin’.
Bar at Times Square – NY NY is one of my favorite hotels (and where I plan on staying my next trip) so we always passed this dueling piano bar and it always sounds like a party in there. We stopped in early on a Thursday and it was jam packed. It’s pretty much standing room only, unless you pay for a table (which I think involves having to buy food or something). We didn’t stay long as we nearly had some frat boys drinks all over us multiple times, and we had to get back to our room to change to start the night anyways. So again, not the best experience, but I’ve always heard so much good about it, that I’d try it again.
Harrah’s:
Carnival Court – it’s an outdoor bar/grill with live music, a dance floor and tons of fun. This place is a blast! We went during the day and spent pretty much our entire afternoon there. We saw an Elvis Impersonator and a break-dancing battle!
The Piano Bar - They do karaoke during certain times that is supposed to be fun. We never made it inside, the yard stick long islands our new friends bought us ended with us doing a 25 person conga line through the casino and then the karoke bar looked too mellow for us, haha!
Mandalay Bay:
Rumjungle – this place is supposed to be cool. We went on a Thursday night when it was a lounge, so it was NOT what was happening & ended up leaving. But Friday & Saturdays it’s supposed to be sick.
Forty Deuce - it's 1940's themed with pin-up waitresses and a gangster DJ. I've never been but want to go SO bad! They do 2 burlesque shows a night that’s free when you pay cover to gain admission.
Minus 5 - inside Mandalay Place (between MB and Luxor) is an ice bar and they put you in fur coats and lead you to a full blown ice bar – we went looking for this in the Venetian the first trip and no one knew what we were talking about then found it after we got our hair done the second trip and never went inside but I hear good things.
Random:
Rock House – Located outside of Imperial Palace, my husband really liked this bar. We stopped in because my friends wanted a guitar filled drink, haha! They have beer pong & they play pretty good music.
Nameless Dive bar – Behind Bill’s Gambling Saloon down Flamingo Rd is a little strip mall with a liquor store/bar on the end and Battista’s hole in the wall restaurant next to it. It is truly a dive bar, but they have every drink for $1 (we were drinking $1 vodka red bulls, can’t beat hat!). The bartender was giving us free drinks when we put $5 in the poker machines on the bar.
Restaurants
Battista’s hole in the wall - If you are looking for a cheap restaurant for all, check out Battista’s. It's behind Bill's Gambling Saloon. You get salad, soup, a pasta dish, dessert & unlimited wine for $24-27 a person. The food is nothing special.Dick’s Last Resort – inside of Excalibur is awesome for a fun lunch. Same goes for margaritaville (inside the flamingo I think) and kahunaville (inside TI).
Trattoria Reggiano – inside the Venetian. Order the spaghetti & meatballs (they make them with filet mignon) but expect leftovers unless you share! Sit al fresco and enjoy the view of the indoor gondolas.
Ruffles Café – Inside Mandalay Bay. Awesome breakfast!!
Kokomo – inside the Mirage, this is a really nice upscale steak place if you are looking for a nice dinner one night. It is pricey though (as most steak places are) but the food is magnificent.
N9NE Steakhouse – Inside the Palms. The hubs did this for his bachelor party and loved.
Do’s & Don’ts
DO try to bargain for your hotel room price! Here’s what I’ve done in the past and it’s worked: Sign up for emails to receive promotions from the hotels you are interested in, when you see a good deal book it (give yourself a couple months before your trip to do this). A month or two later (keep checking promotions to make sure there isn't a better one out there) call and say you've found a better deal at another hotel and would like to cancel. They are likely to offer you the latest deal (typically not advertised in emails and the like) which will be your cheapest rate. We did this with a pyramid spa suite at the Luxor - our first booking was for ~$800, we found another promo for ~$650, so I called to cancel my first reservation and they offered it to me for $550! Couldn't believe it!
DO carry flasks!! It’s a great favor to give your guests as a thank you for coming to your Vegas bash... and great to carry on the strip instead of stopping in a bar to get a $5-10 drink. We often stopped at a vending machine for a lemonade and added our own vodka out of the flasks.
DO bottle service for groups of 5 or more. It may sound like a lot, but it's totally worth it at the right spot. You get express admission & your cover is included. They escort you to your table (which you will NOT get unless you have bottle service) and then you get a waitress, a bouncer & a busboy. They are constantly by your table, hanging out, taking your pics, making you drinks and shots (if you want). The bouncer walks you to the bathroom, dance floor or inside the club (like at tao beach we were upstairs, so if we wanted to go into the actually club, he would have taken us there). Plus it includes unlimited mixers and water. Without bottle service in a club expect to wait 10-40 minutes to get a drink from the bartender, NOT have a table and wait 20 min- 3 hours to pay a $10-50 cover. In my experience, it is very much worth it.
DO keep liquor in your room. We always ask the cab driver (on the way from the airport to the hotel) to take us to a liquor store off the strip so we can stock up on bottles for the room, so we can pre-drink while we are getting ready and then take a cup with us. Plus you'll need it for your flask!
DO keep snacks in your room. Room service is SO expensive and sometimes is SUCH a far walk to the food court and can be very pricey there too.
DO check out a spa. I had the best massage of my life at the Luxor spa although it was pricey - $150 for an hour – I got full use of the steam room, Jacuzzis, saunas and then I even showered there and did my hair since they have all kinds of styling tools and products. You can also come & go into the spa all day that day you do your service.
DO make reservations for nicer restaurants for dinner; even if you are calling the same day.
DO grab the little Vegas 24/7 book in the cab. It will give you free show times (for things like Bellagio fountains [see it both day and night], Mirage’s Volcano, TI’s ship show, etc.), numbers to restaurants for reservations, etc.
DON’T plan TOO much. You want to be able to do spontaneous things, while still being able to do everything you want to do see. I recommend just planning your nights out and play it by ear throughout the day.
DON’T take anything ‘for free’ from anyone off the street or let anyone off the street talk you into buying bracelets for bars or clubs. Nothing is really free, do yourself a favor and keep walking.
If you are gambling mainly for the free drinks – stay out of the nicer hotels; their drink service sucks – especially Mandalay Bay. I’ve found Harrah’s to have the best drink service yet. My husband likes Bill’s Gambling Saloon because they have $1 Michelob’s.
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