I just had to share this…

As most of you know, I am a legal secretary. One of the areas of law we practice is Social Security Disability, which is where we help people get their disability started.

It has become almost impossible to deal with the Social Security Administration.  I had to call them today, and after pushing this button, entering this information, pushing that button, talking to the animated woman, that I hate, and holding for 28 minutes to get a REAL person, the call went something like this…

Me:  I need to get some information regarding a client of ours.

SSA:  Okay, we have to get six pieces of information from you first.

Me:  Okay.

(I give them my clients name, SSN, DOB, address, mothers maiden name, current address and where they were born.  Yeah, I ain’t even lyin’).

SSA:  Okay, now what can we help you with.

Me:  I need a copy of the Notice of Award.

SSA:  Is the client there with you?

Me:   Noooooooo.

SSA:  I can’t help you.

Me:  Why not?

SSA:  Because you are not them.

Me:  We are their attorney/personal representative.

SSA:  Oh, okay.  I will need the attorneys name, firm name, address, phone number.

(I give them all of this)

SSA:  Okay, now what did you need?

Me:  A copy of the Notice of Award.

SSA:  Is the claimant with you?

Me:  No, she is still not here.

SSA:  I can’t help you.

Me:  Why not?

SSA:  Because the claimant has to be with you in order for us to speak with you.

Me:  Okay, they have never had to be with me before, but let me get this straight.  You have the information showing that we are her attorney right?

SSA:  Yes.

Me:  And you still can’t talk to me…

SSA:  Right.

Me:  Okay, sooooooo…..we can get their medical records, send them to you, fill out all the paperwork to show that we are their attorney, file the appeal, set up a hearing with the Judge, go to the hearing, get a copy of everything that you send to the claimant, I can tell you everything about them including their mother’s maiden name and where they were born, but I can’t get a copy of the Notice of Award?

SSA:  That is correct.

Me:  This has gotten to the point that it is comical!!!

SSA:  ***silence***

Me:  helloooo?

SSA:  Well, since 9/11 we have had to implement certain procedures…

Me:  Honey, I have never had a problem getting any information I needed in order to be able to assist our client….until today! 9/11 was quite a few years ago and last time I checked I was NOT a terrorist

SSA:  Well, is the claimant there with you?

Me:  You have got to be kidding me!  No, she has still not turned up since the other two times you asked me if she was here! 

SSA:  You are going to have to tell the claimant to call us themselves.

Me:  Okie dokie.  Well, can you tell me if you even have the Notice of Award before I call and have her go through all of this trauma before she actually gets to a person?

SSA:  No, I can’t tell you that.

Me:  OH MY GOSH!!!!!

I call my client, I tell her to get some kind of a sedative or maybe an alcoholic beverage ready, cos’ she is going to need one or both!  She calls SSA and calls me back and says, I got a man and he said there is no such thing as a Notice of Award!!!!

SHUT UP!!!!!!!!  How much do these people get paid???  That is what I want to know!!!!

Now, any of you that work for SSA, I do not mean to offend…however, I am about to LOSE IT!!

So, I leave work to go home, still twitching from the conversation I had with SSA.  I stop at a red light, a woman in front of me is going to turn left.  No problem.  We sit there through THREE lights!  Yes, THREE!!  She never moves an INCH!!  I gently honk my horn at her after light number TWO and she flipped me the bird. 

I very nearly had a COMPLETE come apart!  I COULD NOT believe that she flipped me the bird!!!  I can’t get over because traffic is backed up a flippin mile because of her, and everyone else is getting over so I am stuck!  We sit through ANOTHER light!  She only has about, I don’t know, 15 opportunities to turn!  She does not move!  I FINALLY got over and went on…she was still sitting there…

A day….in my life…..

NIFTY THRIFTY FINDS

I wanted to participate in Nifty Thrifty finds Tuesdays with Linda at Coastal Charm, however, I didn’t find anything thrifty this past week…

SO…I decided to share some thrifty finds I have found in the past…

This is the entry to my house…almost everything on this table was a thrifty find of some sort….

The pink wreath is a boa wrapped around a styrofoam wreath form…definitely thrifty…

These lambs I bought for my mother because she loved them….after she passed away, I got them…every time I look at them…I smile….and think of her…

The silver tray I found in a consignment shop for a few dollars….

This is one of my favorite things…the egg and bird I found in a little antique store and paid $5 for it.  I keep it out year round….

pot of flowers, yard sale find….$2

You have probably seen this candlestick before…I found it at my favorite consignment shop called Esther's.  Just a few dollars for this too.

Well, that is all I got tonight!  Please hop over and check out Linda’s party and visit everyone!  Hope you are all having a great week!!

Lou Cinda

HEEEELLLLLOOOOOO???

I am still here!!  Barely……

I have been busy doing some things around the house.  I made this wreath from hydrangeas….since that is my favorite flower!

It was messy as the dickens to make….hydrangea flowers were everywhere!

But I do love it!  Just don’t move it!  It will shed….

I made the bow out of the stuff you use for upholstery webbing.

My birdcage, ready for spring….

I found the little rocking chair at the GW and painted it black…added the bird and a couple of nests.  The little eggs I found out in the yard the other day…

A key and tag finish her off!

This is the bedroom carpet before…ugly, UGLY green…..

AFTER!!  Fresh neutral carpet!  This is the only room in our house that has carpet….

It looks soooooo much bigger and brighter in here now!  I will say though, it was a BEAR getting all the furniture and everything out to get the carpet installed….a pain….but worth it!

A little update!

We found another car for Seth!  He is mobile again, and that is a good thing…I guess…I wish he was two years old and in a stroller!  However, that is not the case….

He is 20 years old and apparently termed “High Risk” now…

According to Alfa Insurance anyway….and they call the shots…

They are cancelling his insurance in August when our policy renews…isn’t that just ducky??

No…it isn’t.   We pay insurance for flippin EVER!  Then, heaven forbid you have to use it….

We are sorry but he is “high risk”….cancelled…

Hey Seth!

Welcome to reality sweetie…..

 

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Friday, Mandy and I went to a couple of Estate Sales.  On our lunch hour of course!  I bought a few things that I really was excited about!

I didn’t take a “before” of this table, but it had a terrible paint treatment…something with spots!  I don’t know WHAT they were thinking! lol  But I saw potential!  I am going to paint my patio furniture too!  I have got to get busy!!

I loved this frame and map.  Really BIG map!  Not so fond of the most unhappy lady though…she’s gonna go!

The frame is chippy(definitely chipped)!  But I only paid $5 for it, so I can deal!

The table in the bedroom.  We needed another bedside table in here and I think this works!  Steve had this bedroom suit when we married and I do love it!  BUT the ex got the other bedside table!  Who DOES that???  Just sayin’

Of course Bella!  I still need to get the trim on the other lamp shade.

The frame painted black…

LOVE!!!

I am linking up with Linda at Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday!  Please be sure and visit her blog and check out the participants!!

Thank you so much for stopping by!

 

Blessed….

This beautiful Easter weekend I had so many reasons to be thankful….

Thankful that Christ died on the cross for my sins…

Thankful that he arose…

I had other reasons to be thankful this weekend….

This is Seth, my oldest son’s car…

He was on his way home Saturday when a cat ran out in front of him….

He veered to miss the cat….lost control of the car….started flipping….hit a deep ditch and a brick column at the end of a driveway…the column looked like it had exploded…

I got the call that we, as parents are TERRIFIED to receive….thankfully, the call was from Seth.

“Mom, I had a wreck.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yes. I am fine, just scared.”

“I am on my way.”

He was only TWO blocks from home.  When we got in the car I could see the flashing lights from my house!  They say most accidents happen within 5 miles from your own home.

I was very calm…I didn’t look at the car too  much Saturday…

I knew better…

Seth was shaking when we got to him…I can’t imagine the fear he felt, being so helpless in a car out of control…

I saw the car the next day and I remained calm, until I was all alone, then…I lost it….

I know a mother whose son had the SAME thing happen to her son two months ago…he veered, over compensated, lost control, flipped and hit a tree….he died…

I am so thankful that Seth was wearing his seatbelt…
I am so thankful that God was in that car with him and kept him from harm….

I am thankful that Easter morning, I had both of my boys with me in church….

Thank you God…..so much….

 

Some New Stuff

I have been crazy busy the last few weeks and  I apologize for my tardiness here in the blog world.  I have been visiting your blogs and trying to keep up with the wonderful things you all are doing though!

You guys keep me inspired….

First up are two precious snowmen that Jane at Mamie Janes sent to me.  If you have never visited her blog, I strongly encourage you to go there!  She is creative and talented beyond words!!  I have loved these snowmen ever since she posted about them back before Christmas!  I mean I REALLY loved them and it was to the “covet” phase.  I got a package in the mail the other day and inside……

Were these!!!

Jane sent them to me because she KNEW how much I loved them!Are these not the most adorable things you have ever seen????  I SO love them!!  Thank you so much Jane!!!!  You are the best!

Then from Donna at The Decorated House I ordered these two prints.  Beau and Abigail.  I LOVE them!!!  I am a rabbit person, if you didn’t know….not the Roger Rabbit type, not that there is anything wrong with Roger Rabbit mind you….but I like a more classy type rabbit.  lol  Donna has an Etsy shop that is WONDERFUL!

Here is Beau….

And Abigail…

And together….

I bought the frames and mats at Hobby Lobby…50% off of course!

Here is the geranium print I got for a dollar at a yard sale a couple of weeks ago.  I got another frame and mat at Hobby Lobby…

Yeah, I know….another rabbit…I can’t help it…

This is the other side of the mantle.  My mantle is VERY long!

My bedroom is in a state of chaos!  We are having new carpet installed Tuesday, and Steve pulled up the old carpet today…it is attractive in there now, let me tell you.  I finished the trim on my lampshade that I covered and made this runner to go on my night stand….

I used fabric I had left over from the bed skirt and lampshade projects.  I glued on some trim and two buttons…

This is my favorite pot!!  Notice the mega CRACKS??  I have had this pot for years and decided to wash it today…As I was drying it off I dropped it in the sink and B~R~O~K~E it~~hence the cracks cos’ honey I glued her back together….looks like the wrath doesn’t it?  I may try to do a paint treatment on it to try and hide all the cracks…I am TRULY the clumsiest person I know!!

Another rabbit….

Last but not least, I had seen on a blog one day how she covered the ugly labels on candles…so I did the same thing….I wish I could remember which blog it was, I would gladly give her credit…

Same fabric and some twine…

Thank you so much for stopping by!  I will try to do better in the future on my posting!  I do have an interesting story to share and will do that later this week!

I am linking up to:

Make It For Monday – Cottage Instincts

Met Monday – Between Naps on the Porch

Thank you so much for stopping by :)

Thrift Finds

Last Friday my girlfriend Mandy and I decided to check out a Yard Sale.  We LOVE when they start them on Thursday or Friday because we go and check them out on our lunch hour.

Now, last Friday was a rainy, yucky day and we knew that the possibility existed that they may have opted not to have the yard sale because of the rain, but we decided to chance it!

When we got there, we didn’t see any signs, and then we spotted a little bitty sign on a car at the end of the driveway!  It was ON!

First I found this print, which is a companion print to two larger ones I have in my den by C. Rowan that I had ordered off of Art.com.  I love these prints…

I am going to get another frame for it….but it was just $1.00.

These are the two other ones I already had….

The glare is terrible on this one…

Then I got these lamps…

I got two of the table lamps and one floor lamp for $10.00!  I love the wrought iron and the twist in the middle.  They did not have shades and this one I covered and am not finished with it yet.

On another note, I made a bedskirt for my bed using an idea that I saw on a blog some time ago.  I wish I could remember whose it was!

And let’s ignore this hideous carpet, it is getting replaced next week!  It looks like a putting green to me….hate it….

Okay, on to the bedskirt…

I bought the fabric and a board 2” wide and 6 feet long.  I cut my fabric to the correct width and used the raw edge on the bottom so I would not have to hem it.  I am SO NOT good at sewing!  I stapled the fabric onto the board adding pleats as I went.  Then I just slid the board between the mattress and box springs.  It took me all of about 20 minutes to finish!  SO EASY!!  (Listen to me giving a mini-tutorial)…

Another shot of the lampshade.  The fabric on the lampshade is the same fabric as the bedskirt.  I have not done the finishing trims on the lampshade and still have to get that done.

All in all it was a very good day at the yard sale!  I also got a comforter set for Cameron’s room and I am in the process of doing a facelift in there, so more on that later.

I am linking up with Linda at Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday!  I am so excited that I FINALLY found some Thrifty Finds to share!

Please check out Linda’s wonderful blog, she is so talented and SO sweet and kind!  Also all the other participants of her party!!

Thank you so much for stopping by!