You get 100% of what you don't ask for.

That's Mike's saying.  And he's right.  And I hear it ring through my head often.

When we walked through the house before we bought it, we noted the not-so-faboo appliances.  They were all brand new, mind you, but not of a quality that was satisfactory to us.  The worst offender was the dishwasher.   Door flopping all over the place, parts rattling around if you touched it.  It kind of became a joke to touch it any time we walked through.

Because our flipper seller was such a .......jerk...... (is the nicest thing I can say) and hadn't installed a washer and dryer like he was supposed to have, he called up and ordered them while we were sitting at the closing table.  Like we were supposed to be impressed with him and his wielding of phone power or something.  Please.  He told us what store they were coming from and when.  Hearing Mike's phrase bouncing around in the space between my ears, I decided to call the store and see if they'd take back the washer/dryer then give us the credit to use towards different machines.  To my amazement they said yes.

On our way to the store, Mike said, hey, let's see if they'll take that dumpy dishwasher back as it hasn't been used.  I said yes please!  Then we both thought, hey, do you think they'd take all the appliances back and give us a credit?  You get 100% of what you don't ask for, right?  So let's ask!  And guess what, we have a whole suite of new appliances that we love because we asked.  Granted, this store is also known for its high quality customer service (Abt* in Glenview by the way) but taking back a slew of appliances that had been sitting in an empty house for three months was quite the customer service friendliness I won't soon forget.

There are a lot of ways to apply Mike's phrase in one's life if you think about it.  I rarely used to ask, which is why it's of importance to me now.  And it was just something I wanted to share because he couldn't be more right (I know babe, you can alert the media that I said you're right about something).  I also thought I'd share it with you today because I'm pooped from changing insurance companies.  Oy, why is that process always so exhausting?!  But really, it's mostly because Hailey is snoring behind me and I don't want to disturb her by getting up and working on something around the house.

Hailey, who is doing fantastic by the way.  We are getting nervous about our follow up visit with the pending chemo discussion this week, especially since she is returning to her normal happy clear-headed self.  We're loathe to make her feel awful, though we can only speculate not having talked to them, but if chemo can zap whatever bad stuff may be floating in her blood stream, we'll do it.

In sitting here not disturbing a little pea, I think I figured out my stripe pattern for the wall.  I hope it's not too busy.  The nice thing about the snap line tool I have, and what I learned in scene painting class way way back in college, is to put powdered charcoal in it instead of the colored stuff.  The charcoal erases while the other stuff doesn't really disappear and can bleed through your paint.  So, when you get a snap line, make sure you get an empty one so you can fill it any way you'd like.  Dan Conway, my scene painting teacher.  One of the best teachers I ever had.

So, yeah, low key day around here as it turns out.  Pretty disappointing for you, sorry!  Heh.  But, don't forget, be sure to ask as you never know.  I'll start snapping my lines and doing some stripe painting with colors I have tomorrow for sure.

*The Abt link is an Abt affiliate link.  Mwah, thanks!  Please see the "boring stuff" tab for more info.