October 2007 Archive

October 28, 2007
Weekend News Report
What a weekend.
Friday, Amanda and I did Foundry for Halloween. I'm pleased that two men won the costume contest and that the judging wasn't entirely based on audience applause. I don't bother entering such contests because I'm not popular enough or hot enough to win. Why bother? But I enjoyed my Little Dead Riding Hood costume. I do it for fun, after all. I'm glad to report that dancing in heels is like riding a bike. You don't forget how. I haven't danced in anything with a heel for at least 5 years. After a couple of songs, I was fine.
Gay Spock hit on me for a while. I usually try not to be overtly rude, but it took turning my back to him before he finally took the hint and went away. Although, that didn't stop him from poking me and running away about 10 times during the night. What, are we in 5th grade? Shoo! Shoo Gay Spock!
Saturday, I slept in and then laid on the couch like a lazy, lazy potato. I tried to nap but just laid there. But I got plenty of sleep and rest in before going out again Saturday with Amy. This time, we were BOTH Red Riding Hoods by some sort of psychic accident, except she was "before" and I was "after." I was enjoying myself, talking to Amy and Laura Purtle. Then, I spotted the bane of my bar existence. He will remain unnamed. I don't like trashing people, just in case it comes back to bite me in the ass.
But Captain Unknown was a BF of He Who Cannot Be Named. Capt. U has always been SUPER nice to me, and he told me a lot of the really shitty things HWCBN said about me to his friends in that circle. Unsurprisingly, all of them were lies. It's what he did best, after all. Capt. U also said that it wouldn't have mattered what I did when I was still with HWCBN because he was never happy with anything I did, and his friends pointed that out to him to no avail. Toxic. And not in a Britney Spears kind of way.
Anyway, enough grousing about HWCBN. As I was saying, Capt. U is a really nice guy and quite physically attractive. But for some reason, he annoys the living hell out of me. Every time I see him, I'm accosted with "I wish I'd have snapped you up when HWCBN dumped you" at least 10 times an hour. Right. Because I have no say in who I date? I wouldn't have WANTED to date him. He's just not my type.
And usually, I have to put up with an endless stream of racist and sex jokes. *yawn* I had a feeling he was going to be there, and I was able to avoid him for most of the night. But Amy and Laura wanted to go outside for some air (it was an inferno inside), and I had spotted Gay Spock at the bar. (argh.) Laura didn't want me to sit alone, since that's every-man's queue to close in for the kill, so I finally decided I'd join them.
As soon as we're outside, I'm blocking the wind from a shivering Laura, and some drunk freakbot begins to accost her. He pretends to kiss her and acts like a raving lunatic. He puts his gay-ass pirate hat on my head, and I inform him that ramming hats on a woman's head is a sure-fire way to piss her off. I didn't do my hair that night to have a f-ing hat rammed on it. That, and he looked like the type of renny that could possibly have lice. Ugh.
So after about 5 minutes of putting up with this, Amy joins us. She had gone back inside for something I think, and when she walked up, crazy man gets crazier. I finally say to Laura over her shoulder, "I think I'll take my chances inside." And I walk away. I've had my freak quota for the month, thank you. Laura apparently doesn't know my tendency to run like a rat from a sinking ship from situations that annoy the hell out of me. I'd rather just not deal with it.
And lo and behold, as I'm walking back across the bar, Capt. U is RIGHT in my way, and I HAVE to acknowledge him. /sigh He bit me on the shoulder twice (what the HELL) and did his usually "I wish you were mine" spiel. I smiled and laughed uncomfortably because I just don't have it in me to be mean to him. He was one of the few people from my former life that was ever kind to me, and I don't take that lightly. So I endured the annoying crap for about 10 minutes and then told him my feet hurt, and I needed to sit down.
He leaves me alone for a while but then decides he has to come over and sit down next to me, forcing me to shove Amy down the row of seats to accommodate him. Then he gets up, comes back again, and gets up again, meanwhile biting my shoulder again a couple of times (seriously, WHAT THE HELL). I'm especially annoyed because LXP is playing, and I'm trying to enjoy the music. He's one of those guys that has to make devil horns with his hand and exclaim how much he loves "alcohol, cigarettes and rock n roll." Quote, unquote. And I'm especially not interested in how his alcohol tolerance has become so high that he needs pot to get remotely buzzed. Grow up. This isn't the 80s. You're not impressing me.
I dunno. I've somehow progressed past all this bar bullshit, and it has zero appeal to me. I can't really drink anymore, not that I ever particularly enjoyed feeling sleepy all evening, but really, what's the point. I just don't get it. I never have. My view of being in a constant state of drunkenness is that you're so unhappy with yourself that you feel the need to be impaired just to exist and not kill yourself. I'm not in that place. Never have been. Likely never will be. So I just can't relate to the appeal of being in a constant drunken stupor. The occasional drunken shenanigans, I get. But not ALL the time.
The last time he got up, I told Amy that I HAD to sneak out. I just couldn't take it anymore. So we ran out the door and into the night. I watched some late night TV and went to bed.
I at least got to enjoy Lollipop Factory, who's in the vein of the 70s metal revival. My beef with live local bands is that they crank up the guitars so loud that you can't hear a single lyric. You can't even hear the voices. At all. What's the point? Why not just make instrumental music if you're not going to bother playing every aspect of your songs to the public? But LF is one of the VERY few that had that under control. I was really pleased with them. Laura said they used to have 7 members and did some insane harmonizing, which I'd kill to hear. But even with the 3 remaining members, they were awesome. Michael Pingue looked like the hot, dirty Italian lovechild of John C Riley. Oddly sexy. Maybe because he was wearing a mini skirt. Hmmm...
Today, I repaired the couple pairs of pants I bought at GAP Outlet, so I can wear them this week. Fixed a shirt, sewed on some missing buttons, did laundry, cleaned a bit, took the trash out, changed the kitty litter, and shuffled the TV stand around. We're trying to figure out how to balance it in the wall space. I have some ideas. I was planning to go to Amanda's and take a couple of loads out of her basement, but her hubs cancelled his play date with my hubs because they had family visiting. So I figured I'd just wait so as not to be in the way.
I didn't get to the grocery today, which means I'll have to find time tomorrow. But I want to go to the gym tomorrow, too. Hmmmmm… Posted by Karabou at 8:14 PM EST
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October 25, 2007
Aaaand...I'm done.
I'm gearing up for the weekend. I'm going to be bushed by Sunday. Friday, Amanda and I--and possibly Sam--are going to Foundry for the Halloween party, and Saturday, Amy and I are going to the Monster Hop at Canal Street. It's a good thing I don't drink, or I'd be broke... and vomiting till I died. I intend to lay around like a beached whale and try to force myself to sleep all day Saturday. I fully plan for my weekend to be super lazy. Although, I do have to do some trailer checks this weekend, so I'll have to leave the couch long enough for that, I suppose.
And through some funny twist, Amy and I are both going as Little Red Riding Hood. Well, almost. I've been working on my Little DEAD Riding Hood costume in anticipation of the Zombie Ball at Foundry, and I figure I'll just do double duty with it for the Monster Hop. I have a wolf's head to carry in a basket, a bloody knife, and a somewhat slutty-but-dangerous outfit. I think the damn wolf's head cost me more than my entire costume did.
Do you KNOW how hard it is to find a wolf's head? I had to settle for the cheapest mask I could find, and it wasn't nearly cheap enough. But it will do. I just hope I can dance in my Mary Janes I picked up. I used to dance in shoes like them--I just haven't for a loooooong time.
Posted by Karabou at 9:34 PM EST
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October 24, 2007
And now my charms are all o’erthrown, and what strength I have’s mine own.Saturday, Amanda I went to GAP Outlet in KY, and I made out like a bandit. I got a fleece jacket, sweatshirt, 16 short sleeve shirts I can wear to work, 3 long sleeve shirts, and 4 pairs of pants (all GAP except for a couple), and I spent $150. Most of it will be for Xmas, so mom will reimburse me. Heh That's the best haul I've made there in quite a while.

Sunday, I saw 30 Days of Night. I really liked it, except that it just sort of ended. But I enjoy a good vampire movie, so thumbs up. It didn't hurt that Danny Huston, character actor extraordinaire, was the lead vampire. I love that guy. He was great in Constant Gardner and Children of Men. I'd love to see him get some lead roles.

I worked on my Halloween costume last night, and it's coming along nicely. I have a few things to figure out, but I picked up some fairly inexpensive Mary Janes, and despite taking me an hour in the mall to find, I finally scored some thigh-high white stockings. You would not believe how hard to find ANY white pantyhose are, whether they're knee-highs or support hose. Freddie's had some awesome ones, but not in giant size, so I left, even though they were pressuring the hell out of me to buy them. Why would I buy something not in my size? I finally found them at Hot Topic. I don't know why I didn't just look there first. /sigh

I just have to shorten the skirt, put a lace-up front on the fake bodice, and then shred the ends of the sleeves and skirt and put some claw marks in it. I need to ask Amy if I can come over and put some of her giant dog's dirty paw prints on the shirt. I'm Little Dead Riding Hood who kicked the wolf's ass. I still need to grab a cheapo basket or borrow one and cut the head off a stuffed wolf or something. And pick up a bloody fake knife and some fake blood.

And I came across this article about David Chase discussing the Sopranos series ender this morning and was amused.
Posted by Karabou at 10:36 PM EST
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October 18, 2007
Mmmmmm
Tired all the time? No sex drive? No energy? Don't know how to eat healthy? THINK you're eating healthy but really just fooling yourself? Watch You Are What You Eat on BBC America. It will change your life. Kev and I have overhauled our diets and are finding it easy to stick with. I'm even eating (and enjoying) fish. *gasp* I've also had loads of energy the last two days. I've also been trying foods I never would have thought of--and loving them.

Fresh homemade fruit smoothies once a day = me sleeping through the night for two whole nights in a row. Unbelievable. Major magnesium, zinc, and B6 deficiency, apparently. Tonight was a raspberry, blackberry, pineapple, banana, and peach smoothie. It was the best one I've made so far. Don't be afraid to go wild with it.

Tonight was my turn to make dinner, and I made the best tootin' jambalaya I've ever had. It blew the pants right off that boxed crap I used to think was awesome.

Ingredients
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cups finely chopped yellow onion (I omitted)
3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper (I use yellow for a milder taste)
1/2 cup finely diced ham (I substituted 3/4 of a lite turkey sausage)
1/2 cup chopped celery
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper (to taste--a little goes a looong way)
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups uncooked long-grain brown rice
1 pound baked, diced chicken breasts

Preparation
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, bell pepper, ham (turkey sausage), and celery; sauté 5 minutes or until onion is tender. Add garlic; sauté 2 minutes.
Stir in parsley and next 4 ingredients (parsley through tomatoes plus chicken). Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes. Add broth and rice; cover and simmer 30 minutes or until rice is tender. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
You could also use a rotisserie chicken to save time.
Posted by Karabou at 10:30 PM EST
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October 16, 2007
When the day is done...
Friday night I saw Elizabeth: The Golden Age. It was good. I'm a sucker for Queen Elizabeth I. She was such a badass.

Saturday, I popped out to the Street Fair in YS. I had my Cajun, my crepe, and my lemon shake-up, and all was right with the world.

Kev and I watched Sleuth on Sunday night. It was odd. Being older than I am, it was fairly predictable, though. I'm sure people were fooled by Michael Caine's disguise at the time, but all that make-up and bad wiggery just seems silly now.

Kev also made salmon Sunday night. And it was delicious. Part of me wanted to hate it and run screaming, but I swore I'd try it if he made it. And I ended up loving it. I was a little iffy on eating the leftovers the next night. The oils come out in it after it sits, and it definitely had an odd flavor the next day. But I ate it. He's going to make Tilapia tomorrow night. I've read it has very little flavor, so that might bode well for me. I can't stand that fishy taste.

Last night, we watched Accepted. It was okay. We chuckled periodically. It was worth Tivo-ing off HBO.

Amanda and I are planning to go to the GAP Outlet in Hebron, KY on Saturday. They usually have good deals, so long as you don't go between November and February. They're totally picked over during then from holiday shopping and people spending their gift money/cards; don't waste your gas driving down there then.

I picked up some fabric for the two remaining pieces of my Halloween costume. I had a change of plans and have compiled pieces for under $20. Woot.
Posted by Karabou at 9:34 PM EST
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October 13, 2007
Look maw, I gots mah fancy T-shirt on. Let’s go to the thee-ate-er!So Sam and I went to see Loreena McKennitt tonight, and it was incredible. The first half of the show was just perfect. She's one of the few artists who sounds as incredible live as she does on CD. I was impressed at the technical difficulty of some of the songs she chose for her and her ensemble to play live; some of them I never would have guessed as being pulled off so well.

But, as with every rose, there were thorns. Like I said, the first half of the show was phenomenal. The second half was marred by some drunk sugar daddy with his too-young thang that he couldn't keep his hands off of; they decided to sit next to us, and his incessant rubbing of her arm sounded like sandpaper rubbing against sandpaper mounted on a cheese grater. I'm guessing they were sitting up above us and decided to sneak down into the Loge where we were after the intermission and take the two empty seats to my left because when they sat down he said, "THIS is where I wanted to be," as his too-young thang clanked the ice in her bag-in-a-box-of-wine pink Chablis.

And with uncanny accuracy, fancy-t-shirt wearing old hack (he broke out his dress T-shirt for the night) talked as loud as a human can possibly talk without actually yelling during every song. During the first song, I looked at his too-young thang and said, "Come on. Please." He was seated on the other side of her, so he didn't hear me. She looked at me knowingly and kind of nodded. But the talking continued. Apparently, the baleful glares of EVERYONE in front of him didn't sink in. Finally, I exploded, turning to him and saying a bit more fervently than I probably should have, "JUST SHUT UP! I PAID A LOT OF MONEY FOR THESE SEATS, SO PLEASE JUST SHUT THE HELL UP!"

Needless to say, King of the Drunk Dipshits was affronted that I would shush him for acting like a Drunk Dipshit. He continued talking but a bit more quietly, and I was determined not to let him ruin this possibly once-in-a-lifetime chance to see Loreena live. So I ignored him. During the last song, Drunk Dipshit gets up (mind you we're in a theater for a sit-down classical concert) makes everyone on the other side of him scrunch to let him by, throws away his cup in a trash can, and then comes back and makes everyone scrunch again...while Loreena is still performing. Put the god damn cup between your feet and wait 5 minutes for the show to end. Unbelievable.

When Loreena did the fake "I'm leaving the stage, so you applaud, and I come back for an encore," the people on the other side of Sam jumped up and left. They apparently don't know about the faux stage-leaving at concerts. So Sam and I moved down to the end of the row to get away from him. He jumps over his too-young thang and slams down in my previous seat, slapping his arms around like a 5-year-old who just found out he wasn't getting that fire truck for Xmas.

After the encore song, we jump up to leave because we wanted to get to the stage door without all the hassle of people trying to exit. But I'm vigorously tapped on the shoulder. I know who it is...

"You know, I just wanna tell you ya made this show a total downer fer me yellin' at me like that. Ya rilly runed this show fer me. <> And I think you were a bitch."

I blinked, looked him in the eye as I towered over him from a step above and said, "Oh really? Well I thought you were a total f-ing DICK for talking during the entire second half of the concert and ruining it for ME. It was rude. How'dya like that?" And then I turned on my heel and walked off, leaving him sputtering. His breath was making me drunk from a foot away. /gag

The evil, insane part of me that likes to dress up in grandma's clothes and look out the window while holding a butcher knife was chock full of glee that I ruined his night. I was marinating in it. There are times when I'm ecstatic when I know someone deserving has had their enjoyment totally, utterly destroyed, and that was one of them. I hope he got a DUI on the way home, too. Or maybe died in a fiery car wreck.

You can dress white trash up, but you can't take the trash out. The world is full of assholes, and it's just downhill from here.

After the show, we waited out back to meet Loreena. Some barely legal hyperactive college band nerd latched onto us in line and began talking in sounds that were much like that of a turkey gobbling. I really have no idea what she was saying, as I was already at my threshold for stupid people that day and was doing an excellent job of pretending she didn't exist. In my mind, I kept hearing, "And one time, at band camp..."
Loreena's a bit older than I thought but still exquisite and incredibly nice. We were disappointed we couldn't get a picture with her, but with the amount of people waiting, we'd have been there half the night if she had to stop and pose constantly. She hugged me and Sam, joked a little bit, and then signed our programs. It was huge fun getting to meet her. I'm not disappointed.
Posted by Karabou at 1:53 AM EST
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October 9, 2007
Tre pensieri casuali per voi
I made some absolutely awesome hummus tonight. Yum. Even Kev was enamored.
What the hell happened to Jenna Jameson? She looks like a starving alien, and that's saying something.
I'm seriously so excited, I'm about to cry. Sam and I are going to go see Loreena McKennitt this Saturday. It's a pagan dream come true. I have loved her music for over 10 years, and this is her first US tour in 7 years.

I'm freaking out.
Posted by Karabou at 10:30 PM EST
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October 8, 2007
It's not too late. To whip it. Whip it good.
This weekend was good. Went dancing with Amanda Friday night and had a good time. Just had to avoid the crazy woman that's a neighbor of one of Leah's friends. She was something.

Saturday, I decided to take Amy out for lunch and get her out of the house. We did some shopping for an end table, with which I had no luck. Everything was between $150-200 and nothing like what I wanted. I got online last night and found the exact nightstand I want for a bit less. I knew I would; I just wanted instant gratification. Oh well. I'll order it when I order my carpet.

Saturday evening, we rented DOA. It was like Mortal Kombat with boobs and hootch aplenty. Bizarre. We tried Potbelly Sandwich Works for dinner, and while it was tasty, I was disappointed in the price for the size of the sandwich. I'm all for smaller portions, but the prices should correspond. Smaller portion should = smaller price.

When I left for the grocery on Sunday morning, I noted that it was annoyingly hot. When I came out of the grocery, I nearly melted on the way back to the car. It was stupidly hot yesterday, and today it's going to be 90 again today. Where the hell is fall? As Amy put it, what's going to happen is it will be 90 today and then snow Friday because that's how it works in Ohio. /sigh

I also bought some fabric Saturday, fur to be exact, to work on my Halloween costume. But it's just not turning out the way I want it. I think I'm going to go look at costumes in a bag. All I have to do is get one that's a little too big, and I can take it in to customize it and make it fit. I dunno. I was seriously thinking of just getting a brown 3-piece pinstripe suit at Goodwill, some white Chuck Taylors, and just going as a crossdressing Doctor. I dunno. I'm not feeling terribly imaginitive this year.

I watched Music & Lyrics yesterday, which happened to be pretty damn funny. When he's not sleepwalking through a role, Hugh can be good. It's just not often. Last night, we watched Blood Diamond. When I realized Leo's accents wasn't supposed to be British, I was less annoyed. It was a good movie, but honestly, it wasn't anything I didn't already know.

If you haven't heard about conflict diamonds, the civil war in S. Africa because of them, and child soldiers, you must have been living under a rock for at least the past 5 years. It's been all over the news in every possible media format. It's why I really don't like diamonds. They're so overrated, the prices are artificially inflated by a man-made scarcity maintained by the De Beers diamond cartel, and quite honestly, they just don't do much for me. Even people on welfare have diamond rings. So what's so amazing about them?
Baby got mango
Two funny things.

This.

And how often do you truly have a brand new flavor experience in your adult life? I ate a mango for the first time ever, and all I could say through a mouthful of juicy fruit to Kev was, "Where has this been all my life?" Yeah yeah, I've had mango flavored drinks and whatnot. But that's like saying strawberry lip gloss tastes like real strawberries. Not even close. I have a new love.
Posted by Karabou at 10:41 PM EST Top

October 4, 2007
Cheesecake, baby.
I ate at Cheesecake Factory for lunch yesterday, as we got free cheesecake for doing a huge project at work. And as always, I got sick after eating there. I reheated the remainder of my sandwich today just to take a look at it, and it was dripping with grease. Bingo. I just can't handle that anymore. The grilled eggplant sandwich is delicious, but before it was grilled, it was apparently soaked in grease or oil. Blech. I've eaten there 5 times, and all 5 times, I've been sick afterwards. I think I'm done with their entrees.

Kev and I went for a walk last night and saw this magnificent house at the other end of our street. It's huge and only $112,000. Although, it was built in 1920, which can be bad. But it was so cool I had to get online and look at pics of it on dabr.com.

I'm still slammed trying to get things done before the tradeshow, and I still have the monumental task of the newsletter ahead of me next week. On top of that, I have the marketing weasel at my sister company wanting a million things done. Right. I'll get right on that. He's such a freak. I swear to god, the entire hour we were in the meeting, all he did was whine about how fat he was. And I thought women were bad.

I tried some Valerian last night to see if it helped me sleep. I think it would have, if it hadn't made my heart freak out. It pounded and fluttered all night, but I do feel rather relaxed today. I slept in a bit and came in to work an hour late. And since my leftover sandwich was the yuck, I ate some leftover broccoli, a piece of whole wheat bread, and a half a piece of cheesecake for lunch. I half expected Gillian to leap out from the desk next to me and beat me with her purse for making such a poor choice.

I've been a little nostalgic about college lately. I really loved it. And having just graduated with my BA a few years ago, it's still pretty fresh in my memory. I'd love to go back and get my Masters eventually, but I want to get a good 10 years of experience before I do. It's a kiss of death if you don't have enough experience to back it up. But I kind of miss the attainable goals and the structured learning.

Posted by Karabou at 10:06 PM EST Top

October 2, 2007
Magic carpet ride to hell
I am so disgusted and uninspired at this moment that I feel like laying down in front of a slow-moving train.

I'm trying to make some simple, animated banner ads, and I feel like my brain is made of cotton. I know it's because I doubled my anxiety meds; that's the one side effect I hate (mainly because it destroys my ability to do my job). But I've been sleeping without Ambien, and I'd like to enjoy that for a while. I suppose I could cut back just a little, but I have to get to the gym regularly, and I cannot miss yoga.

Friday I was jonesing to go dancing, but I decided to get some sleep instead and go out with my m-i-l on Saturday for lunch and shopping. We ate at Flavors Eatery in Centerville; it was interesting. Not the best but not the worst. I'd try it again. We checked out that furniture consignment shop at Crosspoint; wow, was that a bunch of crap. I suppose you might find the occasional gem there, but you're going to have to go there regularly to catch it. No thanks.

Saturday evening, Amanda and I went to my employer's Taste of Premier dinner. The food was good, except for the cheesecake-like pie that tasted EXACTLY like the old pink penicillin goop I had to take every time I got bronchitis or strep. EXACTLY. /gag This year, we had Filipino dancers, Czech dancers, and belly dancers. They were all pretty decent.

Sunday, I ran some errands, mowed the lawn, and finally got to play some Halo 3 with Kev. Monday was my employer's golf outing at New Albany Country Club on the other side of Columbus. It was pretty boring this year, as we didn't play beer wench. The club has refreshment carts that, in theory, deliver drinks to the people on the golf course. But of course, lazy teenagers don't like to do real work, and they just sort of drove past all the teams without stopping.

Has anyone been watching You Are What You Eat on BBC? That woman is brutal; it's great. I highly recommend it; although, you may have to catch it with your DVR, as I think it's on at a strange time.

Today, my mortgage auto-payments are STILL not sorted out. It was supposed to automatically debit on Friday, and it still hasn't…and today is Tuesday. No one in their customer service department seems competent enough to sort the problem out, and I now have to wait 72 hours to see if it's fixed…again. Don't EVER bank through Wells Fargo. As soon as we can refinance the house somewhere else, we are. It's been an unending, hellish nightmare.

And my carpet…don't even get me started on my damn living room carpet. I've been told it's shipping at least 3 times, only to find out it's been placed on back order…again. If I can't get it in the next 24 hours, I'm getting a refund and ordering the more expensive rug. I am so sick of this.

I'm swamped at work. I don't have time to deal with all this. And it's just not getting better.Posted by Karabou at 9:57 PM EST
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