Happy Leap Day, Internet! I am spending this extra day trying to decide whether the benefits of cold medicine (reduced headache, mild cough suppression, drying of the sinuses) outweigh the ill effects (drowsiness, zombie brain).
We had a good run of it, Internet. And by “it” I mean good health. Carla’s class has apparently been stricken by a boatload of illnesses and, after volunteering at a school event last week, I have brought one home.
It started Sunday with a sore throat, then moved along through the normal URI progression, so I thought I was getting better. But today I woke up with no voice and a fever of 101.5. I feel like someone is trying to escape the inside of my skull by hacking at it with a pickaxe and he’s standing right on my lungs while he hammers away.
Carla was fine at first, but woke up with a fever yesterday, so she is home with me for the second day. So far it doesn’t seem to have hit her quite as hard. She’s feverish but cheerful. And sniffly. I hope her illness goes in the proper direction, though.
I am bummed because I had weekend plans, but even if I do feel better by then, I am sure to be hacking up a lung which doesn’t sound pleasant for me or those around me.
This post is not about me whining about being sick though. It is a celebration of productivity!
I know you are dying to know whether the internet magic of mentioning something on my blog made it happen, and it did! Via the power of public humiliation (although you made me feel understood rather than humiliated), I have made some progress on my to-do list.
While my preference would have been for Suz to come over and tackle my to-do list for me (you DID offer, Suz), I decided to take Jenny’s advice and do a Power Hour.
In my house, a Power Hour is a way to gamify a to-do list. I have heretofore only used it on my daughter, and pretty much only as a cleaning challenge. Although, to be fair, she will not do a Power Hour unless I am also doing a Power Hour – she is a competitive being – so I end up doing one alongside her. We haven’t done one in a while. But I have never really made myself do a Power Hour.
Monday, I came home from school drop-off and took a nap until 11:00, then allowed my guilt for napping to propel me into a Power Hour. I will tell you, first, that the Power Hour is a misnomer because it took THREE HOURS.
1. First, I made a list on my new custom notepads that my husband and daughter got me for my birthday.
2. Instead of calling the landscaper, I instead looked up an email she’d sent me in August with a recommendation for a tree trimming/removal company. I had called them, around that time; there’d been a storm that wreaked havoc on a lot of local trees, so the tree service said they would call me back and then never did.
I called the tree company and someone is coming out to look at the tree in question and offer an estimate. Should I call someone else to come give a second estimate? Probably.
3. Gigi said I needed to handle the rot in my siding sooner rather than later, so that was next on my list. She’d suggested calling a general contractor, so I spent some time looking at previous texts with friends whom I’d asked for contractor suggestions. None of them seemed right, and one of them mysteriously has NO Internet presence at all. Like… his name doesn’t exist on the internet. And it’s an odd name with an unusual spelling – something like Grygg – and I know the spelling I used was accurate because the friend who’d recommended him said, “Oh, I spelled his name wrong in the contact I shared; it’s Grygg instead of Gryyg.” Nonetheless, neither spelling came up with ANY hits online.
So I turned instead to people who deal with gutters. This is what Marg had to do, at an approximate cost of $1500 for a similar issue. (THANK YOU, Marg, for the benchmark pricing!) We had our gutters cleaned regularly at our old house, and it was fairly reasonable price-wise, but the REAL price was in future phone and text spam from the company. So I didn’t want to call them. Moving has been a nice excuse to part ways with some companies I felt bad about parting ways with. I looked up some highly rated gutter service companies in our area and then called.
The person who answered at the first place was so kind. I said that I had no idea whether she could help me, and she said, “Well, let’s just see!” and I explained my problem, and it WAS something she seemed familiar with. She even gave me an estimate for replacing that rotted wood right off the top of her head ($475 in case you are wondering). But then she told me that sometimes getting all of your gutters cleaned can help address the problem, and that adjusting the gutter would be part of the cost of that ($495 in case you are wondering). I don’t think replacing the rotted wood would necessarily have been part of the gutter cleaning cost, but then again, I’d be getting ALL the gutters cleaned, which needs to be done anyway. She was so warm and knowledgeable that I wanted to book her right then and there, but… well, I have been swayed by warm and knowledgeable people before (I’m looking at you, Guy Who Said I Needed to Replace My Garage Doors When Really They Only Needed a Small Much-Less-Costly Adjustment), so I told her I would talk it over with my husband and call her back.
Gutter person number two was also very nice. He immediately asked if I could text him pictures of the issue and I did. But then he wanted to continue the conversation via text, which was a little less satisfying than being on the phone? I think, mainly, because a) we were discussing terms I wasn’t familiar with and b) the guy is not quite so wordy as I am (shocker) nor as wordy as I would prefer he be in responses. He said he thinks the issue is that “it” (the gutter?) just needs to be “pitched toward the downspout,” all of which are words I think I understand, but am not 100% sure I know exactly what that means? He can also replace the rotted wood and he is coming out to look more closely and give me an estimate.
4. On to the pool service task! I had one recommendation from a friend, one company my husband had suggested, and another company the previous owners’ pool guy had suggested (note: we used the previous owners’ pool guy last year and he does not provide the cleaning/maintenance we are looking for, plus he is impossible to deal with – like, he will just show up unannounced in the backyard). I called and left messages at each company. I believe I have left messages with each of these companies before; only the friend-recommended guy ever called me back, and then said his brother would be in touch, and then the brother never got in touch. WHY IS THIS IMPOSSIBLE?
5. There is a drip in our furnace. Plus, I got a text that said this was my LAST CHANCE to schedule the free furnace maintenance that comes with my membership to the HVAC company. I was confused, because I am SURE that we had someone come out last fall to look at the furnace; I remember very clearly because he told me that I was still eligible to get the extended warranty on the furnace, and then I called the warranty company and they needed my title within 90 days of the home sale, and the title hadn’t arrived, and I went back and forth with the title company and eventually we got the title but it was after the 90 days. So. No extended warranty on the furnace.
But I looked in my calendar, and it said the same company did an air conditioner inspection last September, so perhaps that’s what I was thinking of? So I called the HVAC company (my god this is a VERY BORING POST but somehow I cannot curb my desire to write out all the tiresome details) and the cheery gal I spoke to said yes, it had been an A/C checkup. So we scheduled a furnace inspection. Whew.
6. Next! I first updated our family calendar with all the important dates from my daughter’s 2024-25 school calendar. Good lord, there are a lot of days off. Like, so many days off. Then I called the dentist and scheduled her next checkup. This, if you are keeping track, is the only actual task I have completed.
7. Then I turned to the electrician, which has a very convoluted backstory. The TL;DR version is that I successfully scheduled an appointment for the electrician to come out and address multiple issues. The slightly longer version is that the company that we use has a very complex system that probably makes a lot of sense to them but is difficult to deal with. One person comes out to see what’s wrong, another person prepares an estimate for you and works with you to figure out exactly what work you want to do, then a whole other person schedules the appointment with you. On the day of the Power Hour, it took me multiple phone calls and multiple emails across multiple hours to finalize the work order and schedule a day for someone to come out.
8. I wrote a check to the orthodontist and put it in my car. I still need to take the check to the orthodontist’s office, but that can be done at a later time.
9. I followed up on a work email (and have still not heard back siiiighhhhhh).
10. Bonus task! I talked to Carla’s teacher on the phone and then made a follow-up phone call based on our conversation.
These were the tasks I got through before it was time to pick up Carla from school. (Although I did exchange three separate phone calls, two texts, and an email with the electrician and the estimate person while in the car, so that was fun.) (The email and texts I handled while in the car line, not while driving.)
All in all, it was a productive Power Hour. But do you see, Internet? DO YOU SEE WHY I HATE THESE TASKS?
I would like to note once again for the record that I spent THREE HOURS Power Houring my way through all these phone calls and emails and to-do lists and I accomplished one thing. Yes, yes, I got a lot of other things underway. But NOTHING ELSE is complete.
And there are still so many, many items at which to pick away.
One of those tasks is to call the hair salon and schedule an appointment for my husband. Since I have no voice, Carla is going to get to learn how to schedule an appointment today. Which is clearly a crucial skill every human must master.
Even if you didn’t get a lot completed, you got a lot started and that is at least 75% of the work. It is just so much easier to do things later.
Thanks, Jen. It IS progress, but I am dreading all the follow up before I can cross things off the list.
And FURTHERMORE, I get very annoyed/tired of/irritated by all the people who don’t call me back. I DID my half of the work! Now do yours!
RIGHT?!?!
The phone calls scare me and you did so many!! Good job. I am really a wimp on the phone, but pretty commanding by email or text, so I always kindly ask my husband to handle the phone things for me. I feel like phones are just the bearers of bad news. Anyway, I also wanted to say that I too lost my voice, but only for one day and now it’s in that sexy stage. I drank Emergen C Immunity (the one with zinc) everyday, and I believe it helps, or at least makes me feel like I am doing something to help. I hope you feel better!
Phone calls are the worst!!! I would definitely offload them to my husband except he is never available to make calls and if even if he were, he hates using the phone more than I do.
I took some Zicam the first day I had symptoms and it did nothing to shorten my cold!!!!! But I’m glad your Emergen C is working for you!
LOL to the sexy voice. Reminds me of Phoebe singing Smelly Cat with her cold.
Wow, you got SO much stuff done! Good for you for jumping in a tackling it! I hope you feel better soon!
YES! Get a second estimate on tree stuff. We have had two trees removed since we moved in (the ash borer got our poor ash and a big storm knocked over a pin) and one tree place estimated it would cost us $5000 to remove the ash and the other estimated $1200. I will let you decide which one we went with.
Our bug guy does not have an internet presence. His is a legitimate-seeming business. He has business cards and a truck with his business named on it anyway? When people ask for bug guy recs on the town’s FB page, everyone recommends him. But you have to KNOW his phone number or you can’t find him. He’s a word of mouth guy is what he is.
When we first moved in, we had a series of continuous tiny things wrong with our AC. Nothing big and they HVAC dudes would come in and fix it, but they would stare in HORROR at our furnace. That thing is old, they’d say. But note that we had called them about the much newer AC which had consistent (small) issues. So we finally caved and bought a whole new HVAC system for many thousands of dollars. And the first winter we had to call like five million times about the stupid furnace. We should have kept the old one. All of this is to say that I am surprised you needed separate appointments for them to deal with the AC and the furnace.
Wow. I have a lot of words to say. I think you did AMAZING with your power hour. You are the champion of appointment making!
*pine* NOT pin
That was a TON accomplished even though some of it (most of it?) wasn’t resolved. It still counts! I need to call gutter people too about a spot of rot on the corner of my fascia (?). Is that the right word? I don’t even know how to spell it. 😦
OMG SUZANNE POWER HOUR!!! I am in awe, serious awe. That is a lot of things tackled and sure, maybe they aren’t all resolved, but the BALLS ARE ROLLING. This is really inspirational. I’ll tell you what I have been putting off and it’s the stupidest thing ever: I have garbage bags of clothing donations in my trunk and I can’t seem to drop them off. There are places to drop them off but I’ve never been there before and YES I HAVE GOOGLE MAPS but for some reason, the 20 minute round trip is just too much for me. I would rather drive around with my trunk half full, jamming all my grocery bins around them, than just go drop them off. But this post is inspirational, if you can make all these phone calls then I can find the drop boxes!
Way to go, Suzanne! Although you may feel like you didn’t accomplish much; you actually did! And now things (hopefully) will start getting knocked off that list since you made those calls.
I’ve noticed with a lot of trade people (not with a big name company) they really don’t have much of an Internet presence at all; if any. I think they are more focused on doing their jobs and counting on word of mouth for marketing.
Oh! And I hope you (and Carla) are feeling better soon!
This is so much. SO MUCH! I actually had minor heart palpitations reading this because I can relate so deeply and these things are soul-crushing in totality. You nailed it and progress is SO important. But also, being an adult just really sucks so badly sometimes. I feel this hard!
I hope you’re feeling better today ❤
My husband has been in the trades for almost 50 years. Not all of the best people have an internet/marketing presence. They rely on reputation and word of mouth rather than advertising. They don’t really need anything else; the best ones are always busier than they can handle. And it’s an unfortunate but common part of all service industries these days that they’re AWFUL at getting back to anyone. Again, it’s a great market for them–they’re incredibly busy. Keep working the phones if you want to get anything done. It’s ridiculous, but that’s the market right now.
I’m sorry you’re sick and glad you had a productive Power (3) Hour(s), even if so much is still in progress. Don’t feel guilty for napping though, especially when sick. You need the rest.
It IS frustrating not to have completed more than that, for all that effort, but wow, you did do such a lot! I had to make ONE phone call this week, and I did it–I called and asked if the answer to my question was A or B, and he said C. I said no, my question isn’t about that, it’s about the other thing, and he kept saying C. So I gave up and was annoyed with him all morning. Listen to the question! Why do these things all have to be so difficult.
Great job on your Power Hourx3!!! Just getting those things underway is an accomplishment. And, I’ll bet you feel good that you don’t have them all hanging over your head.
I already read the post after this so I know you and Carla are both feeling better. Losing your voice is SO annoying though! That happened to me in December (I didn’t feel sick at all, just lost my voice???) and it was really frustrating- I never realized before how many things i have to say!
This is why it is so baffling to me that LITERALLY EVERYONE ELSE is not in the I Hate Phone Calls Camp with me!! Everything takes FOREVER!! Often one phone call results in MORE PHONE CALLS! Often a phone call leaves a person actually LESS WELL OFF THAN BEFORE THE PHONE CALL!! Often I have to WAIT FOR A CALL BACK!! and then the call back MISSES ME, so then I have to CALL AGAIN and WAIT FOR ANOTHER CALL BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A power hour is a great way to get things rolling,.. even if the power hour is actually three and you only get one thing checked off your list. Big breath, Suzanne. I totally get why this is TERRIBLE but we all have to do these things unfortunately. Sigh. I agree though, there must be a better way.
Suzanne, I am so impressed with you! You made so many phone calls! You did so much work! And yes, it’s hard when you don’t actually get to mark things off your list but you got the ball rolling at least. You’re at least one step closer than you were before this Power Hour(s).
Wow. First I am late here and I hope you are feeling better by now. I am laughing at Carla making the appt for you. I feel so accomplished when I get things off my never ending list, so I get how annoying it is to spend so much time and cross off very few items. Ugh.
How do some of these people stay in business? When not returning calls, etc?
Wow you did so much!! Well done! I wish more could be brought to completion. But when you are at the whim of service people that just doesn’t happen these days sadly. My dad owned a HVAC/electrical company which my BIL has now taken over and they never would have not returned calls! But when Phil had to hire a tree trimmer he didn’t get called back by multiple people and then we weren’t really sure the people he hired were actually going to show up at the appointed time… they ultimately did but wow it was a frustrating experience.
I am sorry you are feeling so ill! That sucks. I hope by now you are feeling much better!
I love that you are enlisting the help of your daughter with her voice! yay. She will learn early on that phone calls are ok. They can happen and life can keep moving on.
Suzanne, although only one thing was completed, girl, you did a lot in three hours! I’m sure you were wiped out, but you’ll have other tasks completed soon enough with all this prep work!
I hope you are feeling better. The crud has been going around here and it’s afflicted my husband terribly!
I’m sorry you’re sick. I hope you’re feeling better.
I HATE MAKING PHONE CALLS. HATE ITTT.
I love those note pads from Etsy. I am heading down the rabbit hole now. So many cute ones there.
I did a similar list on 2/29, and it took me 25 minutes to schedule dentist appointments. The lady on the phone was lovely but OMGGGGG. Also #8 made me LOL because Minnie’s school contract and tuition for next year has made it from the laundry room (forgotten on the day it was due) to her backpack– but it has not yet made it to the preschool office.
I my gosh I feel your frustration. Putting in three hours and then only being able to cross of one things. All day very busy but “nothing” to show for. Which is not correct but the feeling. Arghhh.
I hate those tasks too. All the waiting, all the brain it occupies to stay on top what is going on where. Exhausting. I am hoping that the effort you put in is at least moving all those tasks forward.