(My apologies to those have already read this on facebook. With the summer busyness and lack of creativity, I've been hardpressed to come up with original material for this blog as well as facebook. Please don't hold it against me!)
The set up:
Housesitting/dogsitting in Albany, expecting friends for dinner in about an hour, hopping between doing laundry, drying my hair, starting dinner prep, talking on the phone with Joni, and getting ready to start the bbq.
The fun begins:
As I'm giving Joni driving directions, I head out to the garage to look for the grilling tools and start up the grill. The second the door closed behind me, I realized that in my efficiency to keep any door that I wasn't using locked, I'd locked the door behind me. Oops. Just to be sure, I try the door... locked. Hmmm, I try the other garage door... locked.
It took about two seconds for the severity of the situation to hit me: I know for a fact that all the other doors are securely locked, my keys are sitting nicely on the entry table INSIDE, the homeowners cell phone number is written down on some notes INSIDE, the dog is INSIDE (and the beast can't open any door for me), any friends or family that could pick locks are in Corvallis and busy, I have no idea who the local locksmiths are, and my friends are due in about half an hour for dinner.
It gets better:
After giving Joni a frantic narrative of my prediciment (and her trying to console me but to no avail), we end the call with the hope and expectation that I'll find a way in shortly and our dinner plans can continue as planned.
I head over to the neighbors house hoping they'll have a spare.
After introducing myself and explaining my predicament, the gentleman that answered the door informs me that he too is housesitting and is going to be no help whatsoever. Oookay. Next neighbor: the teenage daughter answers the door and tells me that people in this neighborhood rarely entrust spares to their neighbors. He probably has one hidden somewhere around the exterior of the house though! Dandy... (for the record: she was sweet and offered to help me look).
I take assessment of the situation again: no way to get ahold of the owner (I only have his home phone in my cell, so helpful).. can't find a spare anywhere around the house.. keys, phonebook, and dog all inside.. absolutely nothing that would be of help in my car.. no way to break in (and I tried).. time to call a locksmith.....
My cell phone beeps. It's dying.
Not wanting to spend the money on 411, I call Diana - the "co-host" for the dinner who also lives in Albany. She graciously went through the phone book looking up local locksmiths, gave me one number (without a pen and paper, that was all I could remember), and said she'd be over asap with a phone book and the food. As soon as I got off the phone, I tried the number to the AM PM Locksmith only to get a recording saying "Our hours are Monday through Friday, 9 to 5, and we do not take after hours calls." ???? Umm, what happened to the AM PM thing.... At this point I decide that the best option is to keep hunting for a spare until Diana shows up with a phone book and fully charged phone. Oh, and I started the grill. Might as well have that ready.
People are supposed to start arriving at 6:30 pm. It's now about 6:26 pm.
Jeff, one of the guests that is unaware of the hiccup, is the first to show up. After bringing him up to speed, he uses his phone to demonstrate the handy little trick of texting to Google. Now with a list of locksmiths at the tip of our fingers, I try another another number. Meanwhile, Jeff tries his luck at finding a key around the house. This locksmith sounds promising saying that he can get me in only if I'm able to prove that I do reside there. With my keys and ID inside, that shouldn't be a problem. Now, here's the other big question: how much will this cost? $105. *ouch* I didn't exactly hide my shock from the guy on the phone. He says he'll cut me a deal: if I pay by cash or check, he'll just charge me $75. Figuring this was my last option, I agree. He gets the address and says he'll be there in half an hour. Great.... now, to wait.
Jeff comes around the corner saying he found a key. Thrilled, I jump to my feet only to find he's holding a rock and was offering to throw it through a window. Not helpful. Diana shows up with the chicken and her phone. We entertained ourselves by searching once more for key. Fortunetly it was a pleasant summer evening and after awhile we took advantage of the comfortable back porch furniture. Jeff broke out the chips and salsa he'd brought. We discussed the current options for dinner: raw chicken, powdered strawberry-lemonade mix, chips and salsa, corn on the cob. Not terrible options considering we had a hot grill and hose handy. The dog started at us, confused and hungry, and barked for his dinner.
Joni arrives. She gets a good laugh out of the fact that the situation hasn't really improved since I got off the phone with her... almost an hour ago. The whole dinner party is now here and we've no dinner. Potatoes, hummus, artichokes, and brownies are all sitting in the kitchen waiting to be cooked or eaten.
Finally, at 7:10 pm (slightly over half an hour) the locksmith arrives. I ask how much proof he'll require that I am who I say I am, and reassures me that if my red purse is by the door with my ID, like I say it is, there's pretty much the best proof I can give him. The front dead bolt proves uncooperative so he tries door in the garage. After the longest eighty seconds ever, he twists the handle and the door pops open.
HALLELUJAH!!!!!
My purse and keys are laying right there like I left them. I write out the check and send the locksmith on his merry way. I try to console the dog as I make my way to the back door to let my friends in... finally.
It's now 7:30. The house is unlocked. The dog has stopped barking. Diana is getting her delicious chicken on the grill. Joni's chucking corn. Jeff's mixing up strawberry lemonade. I'm trying to locate proper pans, platters, and tools in the kitchen. Potatoes are boiling. Music's playing and my cell phone is charging. Everyone gets a tour of the house.
Brad and Andrea show up before dinner's ready (they were originally going to miss dinner as they were coming late). They get to hear the whole story. They also get a tour (it really is a beautiful house). Brad can't get over the size of the dog (it's a Siberian Mastiff).
Dinner finishes cooking. We finally get to eat. Everything's delicious. Conversation is hilarious.
The rest of the evening goes over without a hitch.
All's well with the world.
Everyone got home safely - even Joni, who was afraid her car might break down.
I'm very careful about where the housekey is and what doors are locked.
Excepting hungry stomachs and $75 out the window, no harm was done.
We all got a good laugh out of it.
End of story.
:-)
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
100 Books
This is an interesting list that's been going around on facebook. I haven't read nearly as many as I'd like (that bucket list just got a little longer :-D) but it's still fun to check out.
- Carrie: I'd be shocked if you'd read less than 40 on this list. They're classics.
- Caryn: So sorry to ruin your fun, but I thought it was high time to get some new material on here. :-)
The BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up? Instructions: Copy this into your NOTES. Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen X
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien X
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee X
6 The Bible X
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
Total: 4
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott X
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien X
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
Total: 2
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell X
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll X
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame X
Total: 3
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis X
34 Emma-Jane Austen X
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen X
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis X
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hossein
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne X
Total: 5
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery X
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
Total: 1
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen X
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens X
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquezx
Total: 2
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas C
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville X
Total: 1
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens X
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett X
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno – Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
Total: 2
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens X
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White X
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle X
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
total: 3
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute X
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas X
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl X
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
total: 4
Grand total: 27
Sad... so many of these I just haven't gotten around to reading.
- Carrie: I'd be shocked if you'd read less than 40 on this list. They're classics.
- Caryn: So sorry to ruin your fun, but I thought it was high time to get some new material on here. :-)
The BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up? Instructions: Copy this into your NOTES. Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen X
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien X
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee X
6 The Bible X
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
Total: 4
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott X
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien X
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
Total: 2
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell X
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll X
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame X
Total: 3
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis X
34 Emma-Jane Austen X
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen X
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis X
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hossein
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne X
Total: 5
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery X
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
Total: 1
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen X
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens X
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquezx
Total: 2
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas C
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville X
Total: 1
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens X
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett X
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno – Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
Total: 2
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens X
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White X
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle X
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
total: 3
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute X
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas X
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl X
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
total: 4
Grand total: 27
Sad... so many of these I just haven't gotten around to reading.
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