Window Shopper

Growing up, I heard about custom window treatments all the time. My Dad had a shop that sold all of that but he went to the home and did all the custom work. But now, in this age of the do-it-yourselfer or DIY, people want to decorate with their own custom Window Treatments, Drapes, Valances, Swags. FabricWorkroom.com has it all for you, the DIY person. You can visit the website and check out the window treatments plus much more right there at your fingertips. There is no mystery. They have the measuring tools for you as well.

Now, you are not limited to just window treatments. There are also upholstered headboards, shower curtains, fantastic luxury bedding plus a lot more. You need not worry about those extra costs like hourly decorating fees, no travel expenses. This is perfect for the DIY in you!

I can tell you that when someone else comes into your home to do the work, it is going to cost you a lot for the materials and the time. But, when you go to FabricWorkroom.com you can pick out what you want and then put it up yourself. When you choose the type of window treatments you want, there is a selection of the best fabrics but there is so much more; all the best styles right there for you, free swatches for a more informed decision. The cost is way down because you are the DIY in your home. And you also get free shipping for most orders. Your budget is small? Not to worry. They have pricing for all sorts of budgets. The main thing to note here is that by buying through FABRICWorkroom.com you are saving money! And it will be done the way you want it. You cannot beat that. Go check out FabricWorkroom.com today! You will not be sorry.

After the bathroom do over, I should tell you about some of the things that need to get a major change in the rest of the house. Our house is not what you would call spacious. We have a small, compact, very full house. When we moved in some years ago, we believed that we had some space. Not so. Within a very few years, we have more than filled it to capacity. And in that filling, we have lost some things due to crappy lighting. We can’t SEE it, whatever IT is. That’s why it’s lost. See?

The problem is that we have dark paneling on the walls. Because of that, the house seems quite dark. Then you add that the only indoor lighting is hanging from a ceiling fan, it just isn’t giving the light needed for the livingroom. So, what we needed to do was get a floor lamp. On a side note, my husband tried that once. What a disaster. We have laughed about it since. He bought a lamp that had to be shipped. When we got it, the thing was nothing like he thought. But it was hilarious. Looked like an octopus, a really short octopus. LOL! Yes, it went back.

Frankly, I wish we could just get rid of the paneling. It belongs in the house of the 80’s, that’s true, but I would love to modernize our house a bit. That means tearing out the paneling and paint the walls a nice soft tone, maybe blue. I cannot tell you all those colors of blue. Blue it is. Of course, this means getting new furniture. Definitely, we need that. Right now, our furniture is early garage sale. All in all, we could use a lot of change. One thing at a time.

I have to admit that bathrooms are not my first thought when I think of remodeling. Of course not. The first thing I think of is the livingroom and the kitchen. Those are the rooms I see each day and are the first things visitors see as well. However, I probably should change my mind about this since visitors almost always see the bathroom too. That’s because….well, never mind. You get the idea.

But we need a bathroom do over. You might call it a remodel. I like “do over”. Something about that phrase sounds good. And our bathroom certainly needs it badly. Because of a leaky hot water heater from several years ago, our floor in the bathroom is getting difficult to navigate. The floor is starting to give way. Small spots which had been wet from that leak are actually cracking and breaking. Okay, since the house, and therefore the fixtures in the bathroom, was built in the early 80’s, I think maybe it’s about time to change lots of things.

The floor has the most hideous carpet. It has to go. Ditto, the bathtub. That’s one of those molded things that looks like the house was built around it. And the sink is looking a bit ancient too. I did say “do over”, didn’t I. If I were going to pick right now, the carpet would be something that looks right at home in the bathroom. Some really do not. Now I happen to like deep pile carpet but I doubt that would work in the bathroom when the floor gets wet. But that’s what I would like. It’s fun to run your feet through that.

We have no problem whatsoever putting in a large shower instead of the tub. If it was the size of the tub, there would be lots of room. I like that idea. It could be tiled in a minty green, a soft cool color just perfect for showers. The sink needs a complete overhaul too. Maybe it would be good to have Danze faucets instead of the really boring and gunky faucets currently in use. Of course, I would love to put some room stretcher into the room and make it about twice as big too. Now that is not likely to happen. Limited space to work with. Ah well.

A few years ago, we had a really bad hot water heater leak that went all over the hall floor. It migrated into the back bathroom floor as well. We got it soaked up and dried and never thought another thing about it. Recently, a guest walked into the bathroom and the floor went down. Then, we all have had a turn at that. The floor is giving way. Bad news for us. For one thing, it means our bathroom, the one with the tub and shower, will be out of commission for a while. YUK! But it can also mean a bathroom do-over.

The carpet is a crappy color. I hate that carpet. And it will need to go. So will the hall carpet since it apparently is starting to rot. Oh boy, this is sounding kind of expensive. But the really great thing would be to replace the bathroom sink with a glass sink. Have you seen those? Very nice. They have some that are sort of like a fountain with cascading water into three different sink bowls. I don’t know right now. It will depend on what all has to be done first. Ah well. Fun while it lasted.

Before Katrina, I had gone to New Orleans to deliver a load for the military. I sort of got a tad lost and ended up in a part of town I KNOW I should not have been but I am so glad I did see it. All along the street were these amazing antebellum homes that were just awesome. They had these columns in front like the old southern homes had in all the movies. I drove down the tree-lined street, looking at probably 50 homes that seemed to be from the civil war period. Awesome!

It’s a bit harder to see those columns anymore but they still exist. You know what I’m talking about, right? Now if you build a home with that type of construction, you can have the same effect with fiberglass columns instead. It sure looks pretty but I would think it saves money and the effect is the same. The house we used to live in up north had the columns too. But they were starting to deteriorate because the wood was getting really old. If I were going to build a home for our family, I would love to have those columns. There’s something about that look that I just adore.

Yesterday, we were out and about voting and getting provisions for the possible bad weather coming through our county. Stopped at a couple of stores and got some nice produce and a boneless ham. I love the ham salad we can make with that ham. It’s truly great. After that, we went home to watch the weather and news. Our niece headed over to my Mom’s house because it was karate night.

The tornado came through knocking out the electricity so that we could not watch the weather reports. That reminds me that we are going to get a battery operated scanner sometime soon so that will not be a problem anymore. My sister called in hysterics because my bro-in-law was IN the tornado coming through close by. He got picked up and rolled around and set back down right side up in the minivan he was driving. Neither he nor the van sustained more than minor damage.

But now, the devastation is horrible. Many businesses and homes are now gone or damaged beyond repair. Too many folks are dealing with this. But there is a bright side. There were no deaths or major injuries in our area. There were several deaths and injuries in other parts of our states and the state east of us. We were truly blessed.

In the days after the storm, I am certain that people will pick up the pieces and begin again because that is what happens. Many of the businesses that are gone will rise again because that’s what we do, endure and keep going. It is expected that there will be power back on for most of the region this week.

We live in a rural area of the Ozarks in Arkansas. Because of that, there are three ways to receive a television signal. First, there is the outdoor antenna. You can find them at electronics supply places. We have a couple here. The ones that would work in a rural area are those that reach for the sky, in other words, very tall. Those are pretty much going to cost about $150 and up. Anything shorter and you have nothing.

Second possibility is a satellite dish. Not bad there. They aren’t that expensive, get a lot of channels…depending on your package and so on. Not bad. I am not talking about them tonight.

Third, you can get cable. In our area, cable is available and we have a subscription to it. With cable service, you do not have to put your financial info out there for all to see and if you are strapped for cash, this is the way to go. We have plenty of channels and pay a bit to see them all but our service has been really great. In fact, we have had the satellite service before and every time it snowed or rained, we got service interruptions. We do not get that with our cable company. I believe that we have had the service interrupted a couple of times since 2005 when we got it.

However, we have had a problem with our current company, Charter Communications. In the beginning of our service, we received what appeared to be an older receiver box and remote that the installer said was new. When my husband asked for a manual on the box and remote, he laughed and walked out the door. Sigh. But the one thing we did see was that the channels came in clearly and steadily.

For these years of service, we are pleased…except for one thing. When we started with Charter, the programming guide on the screen was extremely helpful. It showed us almost 4 days ahead with what was on. We loved that. During the years since, the guide slowly shrunk to about 2 days of programming but that was just fine. We were very happy with that too. Quite recently, they put in a new programming guide. We waited with anticipation because of the promises of better service and quicker loading.

Hmmm, things did not pan out quite the way they promised. Our guide never went any farther than about 2-4 hours on any day. You could not get the thing to go past about 5 hours, even with the “to be announced” announcement. This was aggravating, to say the least. So, what do we do now?

My husband chose to call the customer service repair line. He did get someone who was willing to track down the problem but he worked on the weekend and we needed someone during the week to help us. When he called back during the week, he talked with someone who pretty much refused to work with him in any way. My husband then asked for a supervisor who essentially told him that since the guide only showed 2-4 hours, that’s what ya get….get over it and live with it.

Uh no. We chose not to live with it. My husband was mad so he blogged about it. After he published the post, he received a comment from someone who works at Charter Communications and gave a phone number to contact them. WOW!!! He did that. The next day, a man called and asked what the problem was. My husband told him and this man agreed that the current situation was not acceptable. He scheduled a trouble shooter to come to our house and fix the problem.

Today, the man came and replaced the box, which he said was 25 years old, with a much younger model!!!! He told us that the guide should show about 2 days ahead. At this time, it is showing much farther than the other one did. We can expect the guide to fill in for a day or so more. Oh yes, the original caller from Charter Communications called back to be sure the guy showed and that he was able to help us. We gladly told him that things were better. He then told us that if we had any other problems or if that one is still not resolved…to call him!!!

The result here is that you do not want to assume that each employee of the company is willing to be nice and work with you. Some are definitely not. But if you keep talking, most companies do care about their services and are willing to work out some arrangement to your satisfaction.

Kudos to Charter Communications for their help in solving this problem pretty quickly!!! YAH!!!Thanks, Charter!!!

UPDATE: The onscreen guide now goes for about 4 days and is quite thorough. We are pleased. We would like to thank the gentleman at Charter Communications in St. Louis who took the time to look into this problem for us. We also would like to thank the lady who first saw my husband’s blog and contacted him to give him the phone number for St. Louis which is the corporate office of Charter Communications. Every penny we paid them these years has been worth it! Thank you!!

I confess, we have ratty chairs and the couch has gone “boing” at least a few times. That was not pleasant. Yet, we have that really lived in look in our livingroom. I know. It sounds more like a trailer park. But no, we live in an actual house with an actual foundation. What we really need is more modern furniture. Not likely to happen these days, of course. Why? The Google mess, of course.

See, Google slammed those of us who like to earn money at home working on our computers. So, now my income has dropped and we no longer can think about new furniture. Sigh. Some day soon, we will rise up again, sort of like the machines in the three Terminator movies. ROFL!!

Usually, at this time of year, thoughts of home improvement take a second seat to the holidays. But actually, now is a great time to find that one contractor to do your improvements like the siding on your home or office that you have been wanting to get for a long time. But it is so hard to find good contractors that are honest.

Now, you can find the Siding Contractors that will work for you from a service that does the search work for you. If you are seeking someone to install siding on your home or business, these folks will find the best available contractors who can see what you require, not what they want you to have. These folks are pre-screened for their professionalism and quality of work. They are licensed and insured to give you a peace of mind that you need when bringing someone to your home or office.

But they do more than just siding. This service will find those who will do any type of home improvement work you need. You go to the website where you select the project you have in mind. They will search the database and give you three possible contractors to do the work. You then select the one you want. Simple. Here’s one of the great parts about this. These are three FREE estimate appointments. Yes, I said FREE!!!

So, what are you waiting for? Now is a great time to set up appointments for after the holidays. Hey, you never know how busy the contractors are so you want to get in there as soon as possible.

In our world, you never know what is lurking in your house. At this time, we have some resident aliens in the form of fur critters. They certainly qualify as strange if nothing else. These fur type people do some of the weirdest things I have ever seen.

But the weirdest one of all is our little boy cat, Gizmo. He came to us about 5 years ago. He still looks like a kitten since he is much smaller than our other cat, Kitty (Yes, I know. Very imaginative name, right?). Gizmo is very particular where he sleeps (he IS a cat…an alien cat. Anyone else seen the Cat From Outer Space? You just never know).

In the winter, Gizmo goes into the bathroom, shuts the door (he loves doors), parks directly in front of the heating vent, bunches and nests up the throw rugs. There is usually evidence that he has been in and around the sink as well. You know, one of these days, I want to get one of those bathroom vanities because I really think that would throw him for a loop, at least for a little bit. Right now, the mirror is not low enough for him to notice it. But if we had a vanity, he would have to look straight into his own eyes. That would be a treat to see his reaction. We have to think about doing that!!