CEM for Charity

Cafe Etsy Moms Street Team has a special shop set up for charity. Right now the charity is the March of Dimes. Click on the link below for more information and to see the cool items available.
www.cemforcharity.etsy.com

I know it's just stuff but....

UGH!!

Well, our garage flooded when we had an all day deluge, came all the way up to the door leading into the house. The stuff at the front of the garage was sitting in about 6 inches of water. The front porch was so flooded it came into the house. Lovely.
That was several weeks ago. We couldn't get to everything in the time frame needed.

We just keep finding more stuff damaged by the flooded garage.
My portfolio (of senior projects, studio jobs, first design job) ruined, in the trash. My original artwork from school (pencil and pen illustrations, some framed, all ruined) in the trash. The file with all my school papers (letters, transcripts, certificates) trashed. Framed prints, Mexican folk art, books, trashed.
My Grandmother was an artist and I only have two of her original watercolors. Found one last night, completely wet. Salvaged it from the frame but it has mildew on it in some places (at least that can be covered by a mat). I don't know where the other one is, hopefully it's in the house somewhere.
I wasn't worried about the antique china but now I feel like I need to go through the boxes as they are covered in soaked newspaper. I hope the furniture is dried out fine and not too messed up. I really dread opening another box.

I feel for those that have lost all their belongings in a total house flood or fire.

Bring on the refund....

because we need a French drain. Ugh. No more rain please (and no more high dollar surprise expenses!)

What's new at Brannock Artsy Etsy store? French barrette clips. As usual the store is a work in progress.

And lastly but most importantly, please visit the blog of an Etsy friend whose hosting a charity auction for her brother to help support his ministry, knitsandknotsweb.blogspot.com. Check out the auction items....cool stuff!

We aren't the only ones.....

So, those of you who know us...what has been our big gripes since moving here from Austin?

This letter was in the April 16, 2008 issue of the Oklahoma Gazette. Other than the bits about the NBA (cuz we could care less), it's right on (but if bringing the NBA here causes these changes to be made, then so be it).
Mr. States, we feel your pain.

Still Stagnant After All These Years
I say that Oklahoma City is really not ready for the NBA. The Oklahoma City Council and the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce need to lobby the state to change Oklahoma's liquor laws and court some new stores such as Costco, Whole Foods Market and H-E-B.
We need to show America we are more than a Wal-Mart state. If the mayor thinks having an NBA franchise in Oklahoma City is going to bring new residents, he is sorely mistaken. People of nearby states - Texas, Kansas, Missouri - are used to having choices in where they shop.
To compete with true NBA cities we need to change. We need to be able to offer strong beer and wine in the grocery stores or wholesale clubs. We need there to be alternatives and choices.
I moved away from Oklahoma in 1995 due to its stagnant economy and views and moved to Austin, Texas, where I found an abundance of choices and bright ideas. I have since moved back to Oklahoma and found not a whole bunch has changed at all. Still stagnant in choices and views.
-Jeffery States, Tuttle

That was close.....

Um, okay, when I said "bring it on" I meant thunderstorms, NOT TORNADOES!

About 1:00 am the siren goes off. Good thing I was awake from the storm and hail or I wouldn't have noticed it. We turn the TV on to find out the "hook" is a few miles away, headed in our direction.
Then we lose power. I hate that, not having any information. So we get in the closet and come back out, not feeling really threatened but I was concerned. I was trying to remember all the signs a tornado was near that you learned when you were a kid. All I could remember was all is quiet, no rain and lots of quick flashes of light. Well, it was doing that! It bypassed us though, hit a neighborhood southwest of us where we had our rent house.
It was too close for comfort in my book. Thanks goodness we really didn't have anything more than water in the garage. Of course that soaked the boxes in there and who knows what's ruined. Mostly books and we tried to get those unpacked but it's a nasty sight. And we discovered water filling up our floor vent in the entry way last night. Can't figure that one out either. Maybe it had something to do with our flooded front porch.
Needless to say I didn't get much sleep and woke up in a "fine mood" that just got better once we discovered the soaked garage.

Welcome to Oklahoma.

This week at Hacienda Brannock

Addicted to felt:
I've just added some bracelets to my Etsy store. I've been working on several things, finding cute ways to utilize felt.

Maggie:
Well, she still has infections in both ears. Not good. She's on a stronger antibiotic and if this doesn't work then off to the ENT specialist.

Insurance:
SUCKS! We finally get our "real" policies and they cancel Maggie since they didn't get their premium this month....that THEY deduct from my account. Figure that one out. So I have to redo some paper work, no biggie (I hope). I just wish it was in place since her new antibiotic was $92. I can send in a claim but it's the whole principle really. Hey, I don't need any ammunition to go off on insurance companies. (Was that a pun?)

Weather:
What a beautiful day today! I am SO ready for warmer weather. Not to mention those good ol' Oklahoma thunderstorms of yore. Bring it on!!

I hate Walmart

I hate shopping at Walmart and I hate that the closest place for us to buy groceries is Walmart. If I can, I will go a few miles farther to the first grocery store, but when I need something in a hurry (with kids!) that is where I have to go.
So there we are today, specifically because we needed to get new phones and a new service plan. Ours expired March 15 and ironically both of our phones crapped out shortly after. We thought we could just go in, pick out our phones and be done with it.
Oh no.
We were told that when we switched our numbers to another region it automatically renewed our contract for 2 years. WHAT? No one told us that. When I called to change the numbers they didn't say that nor did they bring it up when I asked when our contract expired (March 15, 2008 is what they said). So the Walmart gal gets on the phone with AT&T and she talks to them, we talk to them and finally they agree to let us renew now (upgrade really).
So that is worked out, but since our old plan is no longer available she can't key it in to ring us up, she needs an over ride from a manager. She calls for one several times, trying several different ways. Not one manager ever showed up. We didn't want the higher rate plan because it would be an additional $20 a month and we don't even use all the minutes in the plan we have. So she keyed it in at a higher rate plan just to get it to go through and then back on the phone with AT&T to make sure we still get our old plan. We walked away with new phones, our same plan and didn't pay a thing. (I guess we'll see come our first bill).
So, how long were we at the Walmart phone counter with two small kids? An hour and a half. Probably spent 2 hours total in that stupid store.
AT&T fixed their problem.
Walmart just added to theirs.
I hate Walmart.