Propane Wars and Economic Stimulation

I can hardly believe January is nearly over. I was standing in a store the other day with John and realized it was "only" 11 months until Christmas. Where did that thought come from? I refuse to think about the holiday season this far removed from it!
My classes are going well so far, but then I haven't taken many tests yet, either. I'm not sure how well I'm retaining the information until I go to take the tests, so we'll see. I'm nervous about my online courses. I am keeping up easily with one, but the other one...not so much. I am keeping up with the work, but the work I do in my workbooks doesn't seem to "stick" when it comes to going online and completing assignments. I think more studying is in order.

We got our income tax return Friday, and like good little consumers, we set out to stimulate the economy. That was after paying a stack of bills, of course. Always business before pleasure. We hit some wonderful sales and I now have sweaters and warm shirts. I only had a few long sleeved shirts, all of which were more fall weight than winter weight, and I've been pretty chilly lately. I also splurged on a pair of knock-about shoes. I am trying to preserve my walking shoes strictly for walking. I spend a lot of money on my walking shoes and I am pretty particular in what conditions I'll walk in just to save the soles a bit longer. I wanted something as comfortable and casual as a sneaker without actually being a sneaker...something I could dress up or down, so I wound up with some brown Skechers bowling-type shoes. They are mighty cute shoes.

A couple of weeks ago, we realized we were nearly out of propane, so we called the company requesting a delivery. They informed us that they wouldn't deliver until we paid our bill. Er....what bill? This is the first time we've requested a delivery since we took ownership of the house. After much fiasco, we found out they HAD delivered fuel TWO MONTHS ago and tacked the bill onto our back door. The last owners used the back door frequently as the business entry for their daycare, and I suppose they would have found a bill placed on their door. We certainly didn't and were completely unaware it had ever been there. They never mailed a bill, never called to ask if we had received it...nothing! What truly upset me was that they had been out a week before and had checked the gas tank amount, so they knew we were almost out. A courtesy call at THAT point even would have alerted us that we had an outstanding bill with them. But nooooo. They did deliver gas, but after going round and round with these people about the way they do business (this was just the very smallest problem with had with them, by the way...it gets far worse), we have decided to find a new company. I have personally never seen an office run in such a terrible manner. When you call in to ask to speak to a manager and the owner himself won't even admit to being in charge (plus LEAVES when you specifically say you're coming in to talk with him in ten minutes), that doesn't signify good business. This might be the second business in town I have to report to the BBB this month. What a nightmare.

I just realized that the only pictures I have taken this entire month are dark, fuzzy photos from our time spent huddled in the bathroom all night during tornado sirens. A tornado passed 10 miles to the north of us and another about 15 miles to the south of us that night and the sirens came on and off all night long. I let Katy stay home from school the next day because she was so exhausted from it all and I am not one to let kids miss school for silly reasons.

That's my update. When Katy's hair gets dyed teal in a few days (just two streaks), I'll post some pics.